#109 The Throne of Fire

The wait for this book was extremely long! I read the first book in the trilogy, The Red Pyramid, months ago and I couldn't wait to get my hands on The Throne of Fire.

Carter and Sadie Kane are back and continuing the quest they began in the first book. They now have trainees in their family home, the Brooklyn House, and are teaching them all that they know about magic, but they know that the world will be coming to an end if they can't locate the three scrolls and bring Ra, the sun god, back to his reign. The chaos snake, Apophis, is building his strength and will destroy the world if they can't find a way to stop him. However, many of the gods believe that what the Kane's are doing is wrong and that they should be stopped, so not only do they have the regular enemies against them, they also have those who should be their friends who now are fighting them as well.

A hilariously funny new character is Bes, the dwarf god, who is summoned as their driver and protector. Rick Riordan does such a great job with this character that I find him to be one of my favorites. At the end of the book Bes has been stripped of his ren - all his memories - and has totally lost his wild personality. I'm looking forward to the third and final book to see if Carter and Sadie can restore his memory and make him whole again.

I love the way Carter and Sadie alternately tell the story, and how they tease eachother as they narrate. My only frustration in finishing The Throne of Fire is that I will now have to wait until spring 2012 for the third and final book.

Here's a quick fun trailer for The Throne of Fire. Don't miss Rick Riordan's website: http://www.rickriordan.com/home.aspx

#108 The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had

Dit is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the new postmaster because he has heard that the family has a son just his age. He envisions a great friend to play baseball, go on adventures and enjoy the summer with. Imagine his surprise when the family moves to town and Emma arrives. Emma is a bookworm - a shy, quiet know-it-all who doesn't seem at all interested in playing baseball or joining Dit on his adventures.

Eventually, however, she begins to join him, and he finds that the two of them are able to have a little fun (even if she can't catch a ball or take fish off of a hook!)

In 1917 Dit and Emma think the biggest difference between them is that he's a boy and she's a girl, but many of the people who live in their little town see a much bigger difference than that. You see, Emma is black, and in 1917 that causes people to treat her unfairly.

Big things happen when the town barber is accused of a horrendous crime and Emma and Dit are determined to prove that he is innocent. There is much to learn about good and evil, and about black and white. Above all, though, is the friendship that Dit and Emma develop - turning what could have been the worst summer of his life into one filled with adventure and friendship.

The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had was Kristin Levine's first book for middle grade students. I certainly hope it won't be her last!

#107 The Lemonade Crime

Reading The Lemonade Crime was like coming home to old friends. It is the sequel to The Lemonade War (which I loved) that starred brother and sister Evan and Jessie.

You'll remember that Jessie is two years younger than Evan, but is also in 4th grade because she is so smart. They had a huge fight in the first book that lead to the challenge of who could make the most money selling lemonade. That book had an awesome ending, but one loose end was the question of who stole the money from Evan. Everything pointed to Scott Spencer as the guilty one, but the book ends without any answers.

This book begins with Jessie serving Scott with a warrant for his arrest. Scott has been bragging that he bought a new video game system with his own money, and everyone believes that the money he used to buy it must be the money he stole from Even. But is there any proof?

The kids decide to try him in front of a jury of his peers, so Jessie plans an elaborate scheme and sets a courtroom up in the playground. She even has a judge, witnesses, a jury, an audience, and lawyers.

Learning about the law is cool - and of course Jessie is all over that one! - but cooler still is realizing how much this event has affected Evan, Scott and their friends. Jacqueline Davies has come up with another spectacular book here. If you enjoyed the The Lemonade War you'll just love reading this one!

#106 True (...Sort Of)

Little Delly Pattison is curious, mischievous and full of life! In Delly's words, you could say she is Dellyventurous, or even fantabulous! But Delly would describe herself as horribadible...and it seems that everything she tries just ends up getting her in trouble. Whenever she tries something for fun it just seems to blow up in her face.

My favorite Delly expression is "Happy Hallelujah!" and when she says this you know that she is filled with the biggest amount of enthusiasm and happiness a person can muster.

But all of this enthusiasm does mean trouble for Delly, and things have gotten so bad that she ends up having to sit out at recess and is almost kicked out of school. The thing that saves her is the new kid in school, a little girl named Ferris Boyd. The most amazing thing is that Delly helps Ferris as much as Ferris helps Delly - and the events that take place teach her not only patience, but also teach her to be compassionate and sympathetic to others. In fact, Delly ends up becoming a real "hummin bin" - which is like a human being, only better. Hummin bins are kind, creative, gentle and good.

Katherine Hannigan is the author of one of our favorite books, Ida B. I think True (...sort of) is destined to become a favorite as well. It is perfexcellent!

#105 The Wednesday Wars

Holling Hoodhood is in 7th grade, and the only one in the class who doesn't go to religion classes on Wednesday afternoons. Consequently he has to stay in school and help his teacher. At first he cleans the chalkboard and pounds the erasers, but after a few weeks of this his teacher, Mrs. Baker, decides that he should read Shakespeare.

The thing is, Holling kind of likes Shakespeare, and he even takes a part in a community play (even though he has to wear feathers and yellow tights!)

Holling's family has to face some tough situations in the book. It is 1967. His sister is dating a long-haired hippie and becoming a flower child. The Vietnam War is going on, and there are as many people in support of the war as there are against it. Holling doesn't always know what to think: and I think this gives the readers a good chance to consider all of the ramifications of war.

This story takes place over the course of one school year. Mrs. Baker turns out to be incredible: teaching Holling to run, bringing professional baseball players to play catch with Holling and his friends after the game, and taking the whole class camping on the last day of school. She wins my vote as teacher of the year!

I'm not sure if kids will understand everything that happens in the story, but I do think you will be entertained by it. You might just want to share it with your parents though. I know they'll love it as much as I did!

#104 Technically, It's Not My Fault: Concrete Poems

Whether or not you like poetry, you have to admit that this is a great name for a book!

Concrete poems are poems written with a shape to them. These poems actually have an image to go along with the words. It makes reading the poems a fun laugh-out-loud experience, and really helps add meaning to the poems. It even made me feel like writing some concrete poems of my own. You may feel the same way!

One of my favorites wa the title titled The Thank-You Letter. It reminds me of a thank you letter I might have written when I received a gift I really didn't want. The poem is written with footnotes (little extra notes at the bottom of the page). Each one is numbered, and there are little numbers among the words so you can read them within the sentences if you look up and down. Another one I thought was pretty funny was How We Ended Up With Plain Pizza. It sounded just like my family!

When you're done reading this book, why don't you write a few concrete poems of your own? You could send them to me and maybe we could make our own book. We could call it something like It Really IS My Fault! Just think how many kids would want to read our book!

#103 Cheesie Mack is Not a Genius or Anything

Cheesie Mack had me laughing out loud from the first page to the last! I am now a huge Steve Cotler fan (he's the author of this book: I guess I should say that he's Cheesie Mack!)

I read this book on my iPad - which was really fun because Cheesie makes many references to his website, and on the iPad you can just click on the link and you're there! It's a fun way to read a book, that's for certain!

Cheesie and his best friend George have a mystery: George found an envelope with a necklace and a 1909 penny (oops, I mean "cent") in it. They decide that they should return it to the rightful owner. But...the rightful owner lives in the scary haunted "toad house" - and delivering it would mean actually meeting the lady who lives there.

Now at first the penny seems pretty meaningless, so George and Cheesie decide not to mention it, but when they realize it is very important to Ms G. J. Prott they decide they must give it to her. However, what should they do when they discover the penny is worth thousands of dollars? What would you do? (And more importantly, have you checked your pennies lately? What if you had a special 1909 penny?)

You will absolutely have to visit www.cheesiemack.com to enjoy more from the story. It's great.

And - a great big welcome to my new readers! I'm glad you've joined the students at PME: your comments have been awesome! Keep on reading!!