Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan

Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan.

FIVE STARS!!!  The website dictionary.com defines music as an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color.  This is the perfect description of the book Echo.  This story is about seven children who live in different parts of the world during different time periods.  The bulk of the story revolves around the lives of Friedrich, Mike, and Ivy.  Each of the children has a special musical gift, but each has a crisis within their families that risks these gifts.  The one thing they have in common is a harmonica that may or may not be magical.  This is by far one of the best fiction books I have read in a very long time.  I’ll admit that I love music and that may be one of the reasons why I was so drawn to this book, but I really believe anyone (musical or not) would truly love this book.  Between the music references and the World War II history, I had a very hard time putting this book down.  At almost 600 pages I still read this book in less than three days.  I know the size will look intimidating to some, but just give it a try...you won’t be sorry.  To learn more about harmonicas visit http://www.pbs.org/americanrootsmusic/pbs_arm_ii_harmonica.html or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonica.  To learn more about Pam Munoz Ryan and her books visit http://www.pammunozryan.com/index.html.

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

Reviewed by Miss Dewey at Orenda

FIVE PAW PRINTS!!  It's the time of the Great Depression and Abilene Tucker and her father Gideon have always lived their lives by "riding the rails", looking for work and looking for food, but they have always been together.  But now it's 1936 and Abilene is 12 years old.  Gideon thinks it's time for his daughter to have a chance to "grow up" so he sends her to the town of Manifest, Kansas.  Gideon spent part of his childhood in Manifest and he thinks Pastor Howard (also known as Shady) would be a good person to leave in charge of Abilene while he works building railroad tracks in Iowa.  Though Abilene doesn't agree (she feels abandoned) with her father's opinion, she doesn't have a choice and she moves in with Shady.  While in Manifest, Abilene hopes to learn more about her father, who doesn't talk much about his youth, but instead she becomes friends with two local girls and ends up working for an old woman who doesn't have any family.  While spending time with Lettie and Ruthanne, they discover a mystery going back as far as World War I.  (Her time with Miss Sadie, the local fortune teller, is where she learns all about the people of the town from the past and the present.)  When you hear people say something is so good that "you'll laugh and you'll cry", you normally roll your eyes at the exaggeration of the statement.  This is one story where this description is NOT an exaggeration.  When I first started reading this story I thought I was going to have a terrible time keeping track of all the different characters from the different time periods.  Not only was the story so well told that I didn't have any troubles, but I didn't even need the list of characters in the beginning of the book.  I'm not sure words can fully capture how good a book this is.  You laugh when the underdog wins and you cry when the world comes crashing down on the same underdog.  But, to say anything else would completely give the story away.  RUN, don't walk to find a copy of this book and don't put it down until you finish reading.  To learn more about the author, visit http://www.clarevanderpool.com/home.html.
nook

Weird but True Tales by Allan Zullo

Reviewed by Miss Dewey at Orenda

Two paw prints.  Has anything really strange ever happened to you, something you couldn't explain?  Well, if you are interested in unusual events that can't be easily explained then this book is for you.  This book has true love matched by fate, twins separated at birth, lives saved by accident, and many more weird stories.  This book was definitely entertaining but it wasn't very good.  These are supposed to be TRUE tales but the beginning of the book states that names, dates, locations, and events have been changed to protect people's privacy.  Well, if you change names, dates, locations, and events, are the tales still true?  Unfortunately, these tales read like bad soap opera plots; in fact, I think I have seen some of these plots on TV.  Oh well, if you want some really interesting tales try visiting http://www.ripleys.com/ and you can decide on your own if you think they are true.  Or, you can visit http://www.allanzullo.com/ten_true_tales/ten_true_tales.htm to find more books by Allan Zullo.  (I have read other books by this author and they are normally much better.)

Fic Zul

The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Adam Rex

Reviewed by Miss Dewey at Orenda

Four paw prints. Steve has a problem. It's Friday, his teacher just assigned a report, and the report is due on Monday. This is bad enough, but his topic is quilting (he hates quilts) and his friend's topic is detectives (Steve wants to be a detective when he grows up). Life is just too unfair. For most kids this would be a huge problem, but Steve's life is about to get worse. He ends up spending his weekend trying to escape evil thugs, secret agent librarians (it seems they are mad he borrowed a quilt book from the public library), and he needs to find a missing quilt that holds the key to national security. Oh, did I mention Steve is only 12 years old? I love this book. It has mystery, action, adventure, humor, quilting, and some very intertesting librarians. What more does a good book need? How about a good sequel? It's coming...this book is the first book in a new series called The Brixton Brothers. If you want to learn more about books by Mac Barnett visit: http://www.macbarnett.com/.

Fic Rex

Murder at Midnight by Avi

Posted by Miss Dewey at Orenda

Four paw prints. Fabrizio has a problem. He is an orphan and this, of course, leads to other problems like where will he live, who will take care of him, what should he do when he is accused of helping a traitor to the king. Fabrizio is taken in by Mangus the Magician and his wife to help with small chores around the house. While he is there, Mangus is trying to teach Fabrizio how to read and to understand that there is no such thing as magic but it is possible for a person to create illusions to look like magic. Fabrizio and Mangus live in an Italian city where magic is against the law and everyone is surprized when Mangus is arrested for performing real magic and using magic to threaten the life of the king. Now Fabrizio has a real problem. Should he help the man who has given him a home or should he help the king and tell the king everything he knows. I really enjoyed this book. Even though I had an idea of how the magic was created I wasn't sure if I was right until the very end of the story. And, even though I figured out how the magic was made, I wasn't sure how Mangus would be able to escape the king since everyone, except Fabrizio, believed him to be guilty. If you like this book try reading the sequel Midnight Magic or visit http://www.avi-writer.com/ to find more great books by Avi. (This review was based on an uncorrected proof. The final edition was published on September 1, 2009.)

Fic Avi

The 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan

Reviewed by Miss Dewey at Orenda

Four paw prints. Amy and Dan have just lost the one family member who cared about them, Grace, their grandmother. Their parents died when they were young and Grace had been raising them until recently when they had been sent to live with Grace’s sister. Great Aunt Beatrice has no interest in children, refuses to live with them, and is constantly hiring and firing au pairs who take care of them. Aunt Beatrice has no interest in them until Grace dies. Grace doesn’t single Amy and Dan out (to their disappointment) for any special inheritance but instead leaves a number of relatives the same “opportunity”. They can each inherit one million dollars OR a clue that “might lead you to the most important treasure in the world and make you powerful beyond belief”. Unfortunately, if you accept the clue you might get killed. To escape from Aunt Beatrice, Amy and Dan turn down the money and accept the clue. This mystery is part of a new series that will be stretched out over 10 books with 10 different authors. The most interesting part of the mystery is you can try to solve clues with Amy and Dan. There is a 39 Clues website where readers can read and solve clues. The website is http://www.the39clues.com/ and if you want to solve clues with Miss Dewey see Mrs. Manore in the media center for the Orenda username and password.
Fic Rio

Shen Kids Read!

Your Orenda Elementary School library teacher (Mrs. Manore) and her library mascot (Miss Dewey) want to share good books with you! Take a look at what we are reading and often adding to the shelves of YOUR school library! If you would like, post a comment, but remember to use only your first name and last initial and the name of your school in order to keep safe on the web. Enjoy your summer reading.