KidReads View All Entries »

One Came Home by Amy Timberlake.  

A sister lost. A body found. The truth buried.

"Ma said I was old enough to face the facts.  So I went with Ma and Grandfather Bolte out to the McCabe stables to "identify".....There wasn't a lot of the body left (the sheriff said that it'd been exposed to animals).  There wasn't a face.  There wasn't a left or right hand.  The body was wrapped in fabric from Agatha's blue-green ball gown.  There was a clump of auburn hair..... I'm glad I looked. I know what I saw.  I also know what I didn't see." 

When wild west, sharp shooting, 13 year old Georgie Burkhardt, is called on to identify the body of her older sister,  she refuses to believe that her sister Agatha is laid out in that coffin.  Georgie sets out on a journey through the western frontier with her sister's former fiance' to find her sister and bring her home.  She will track every last clue about the murder but can she prove her sister is still alive?  And if that's not her sister, then who is the girl buried in her sister's grave?  Don't miss the mystery and adventure of One Came Home.   Grades 5+

Follow Follow

In Reverse

Dark Life by Kat Falls

Earthquakes and rising oceans have devastated the dry land and forced people to live either in overcrowded stack cities or in the wide open ocean depths.  Ty has spent his whole life on the ocean floor and never plans to leave the deep water for the overcrowded land topside.  He loves the adventure and danger of life underwater.  Then in one day everything changes for Ty.  He discovers a wrecked sub with no survivors (while escaping from sharks) and he meets a girl named Gemma who is in search of her missing brother.  She's an orphan, a topsider and basically a lot of trouble.

Both Ty and Gemma have their secrets and they don't really see things the same way. Gemma is afraid of the watery world that Ty loves and Ty is freaked out by the idea of going topside where everyone would stare at him (he glows like a deep sea fish!).  Together they have to face down deep sea outlaws, sharks, and creepy sheriffs and that's just for starters. 

There is mystery, action and adventure that starts out immediately and keeps sailing along until the last page.  Supposedly there's a movie coming in the near future which would be very cool!  There is also a sequel called Rip Tide so if you get hooked on the adventure of the watery depths you can keep on reading. 

The setting is the Wisconsin frontier in the year 1871. Georgie Burkhardt's older sister, Agatha, runs away from home and shortly thereafter a mangled body is found wearing Agatha's dress. Everyone believes Agatha's been killed. Except Georgie. Georgie knows her sister is still alive. One Came Home by Amy Timberlake is the story of Georgie's mission to find her sister, no matter what it takes.

Reminiscent of the classic western True Grit, this story pulls you in with Georgie's narrative voice. Georgie is a no-nonsense girl, but the reader can feel her ache for her sister underneath her tough exterior. She travels to the town where Agatha was last seen with Agatha's suitor Billy McCabe on horseback. The journey is treacherous. Facing down cougars and criminals, Georgie must use all her cunning and her sharpshooting skills to survive.

This is an exciting, heartfelt and sometimes harrowing tale. The author also ties in the true story of the biggest passenger pigeon nesting ever recorded--millions of wild passenger pigeons nested in Wisconsin in 1871, but the birds went extinct in 1914.  

This book was reviewed for You Choose the Next Newbery at KCLS!

Dreaming Up:  A Celebration of Building by Chrisy Hale

"If they can dream it, they can build it."

~Madhu Thangavelu

And they did!

This tribute to amazing architecture found around the world is a joy to share.  Each double page spread features a beautiful photograph of a famous building, like Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water, and an illustration of a familiar childhood activity, like playing with blocks.  The awe-inspiring structures featured in this book highlight achitects who were truly "Dreaming Up" and speak to the builder in all of us.  In the back of the book you will find an informational section discussing the buildings and their designers.  It is perfect to share with youngsters preschool through grade 3.

Baby birds are hatching all over the place so you might be getting more questions than usual from your youngest naturalists about our feathery neighbors.  About Birds:  A Guide for Children by Cathryn Sill is an excellent, kid friendly introduction to many common (and not so common) birds and how they live.  With very little text per page and lovely illustrations you can introduce children to nesting, eggs, habitats and more.

The main part of the book is extremely simple with the pictures sharing most of the information but for those hungry for more the afterword adds greater detail (but not too much).  Take this book with you on a wandering (and wondering) walk through the yard and see if you can find a feather, a robin, an eagle's nest or a hummingbird.  Go outside and have an adventure!

Samuel Blink and his sister are facing huge challenges in their lives after the loss of their parents.  Martha has stopped speaking and Samuel is angry at an unfair world that seems out to get him at every turn.  When they are shipped to Norway to live with their odd Aunt Eda he just knows they've gone as low as they can go.  Things just couldn't get worse... could they?  Yup, they can get a lot worse and definitely weirder. 

Aunt Eda and Samuel don't hit it off right away.  She has a lot of rules and Samuel means to break every single one of them as quickly as possible.  There's the rule about cheese (you'll have to read it to understand this one).  The rule about not going into the attic.  And then there is the big one:  don't go into the woods.  Samuel disrespects the cheese, heads up to the attic and ends up chasing his sister into the deep dark woods all in one short morning.  It turns out that his Aunt Eda really had good reasons to keep him out of the woods.  It's packed with strange and dangerous mythical Norse creatures who either want to eat him or blow him up or worse.

Samuel and his Aunt Eda's dog are lost in the forest and they have to figure out how to survive long enough to rescue Martha who has been captured by a group of the nastiest creatures in the forest.  Not only does he need to help his sister and escape from the wood but they all need to figure out what has gone wrong with the forbidden forest that has caused so many good creatures to go bad.  According to the Truth Pixie (who wants to blow him up) his chances are not good.

This is an action packed page turner with trolls, witches, pixies, evil geniuses and bad cheese.  You'll laugh and gasp and keep turning those pages.  Samuel Blink and the Forbidden Forest by Matt Haig is happily just the first in a series of unique and exciting adventure stories.

What Can You Do with a Rebozo? by Carmen Tafolla and Amy Córdova

A rebozo is so versatile!  Mamá spreads it like a butterfly and wraps it into a cozy cradle for baby brother. Big sister braids it in her beautiful hair. Grandma uses hers to keep warm when it's cold at night. The little girl in the story uses the rebozo to play. Made of silk or cotton, rebozos are traditional large shawls that have been used by women in Mexico for centuries. Carmen and Tafolla and Amy Córdova celebrate the lovely tradition of el rebozo in "What Can You Do with a Rebozo?". "What Can You do with a Rebozo? was a 2009 Pura Belpré Honor Book. 

English: Seated woman with teal rebozo shawl on her head. Hand-colored photograph by Luis Marquez.