Cornelia Funke

She is a fantastic author and I loved her books when I was younger and I still do today. The Thief Lord and Inkheart were and still are two of my favourites.

The Thief Lord is a book about a group of young children in Venice who are just trying to survive. There are two brothers who ran away from their aunt to Venice and join this group who live in an abandoned movie theatre. Their leader is Scipio, or "The Thief Lord". He supplies the group with treasures to help them survive. This book is abot friendship and trust and is absolutely amazing!

Inkheart is a trilogy about a man and his daughter and he has an ability that when he reads from a book, he can bring things out of the book such as the gold or flowers but also people. But when something comes out, something else must go in. When his daughter was very young, he was reading and the villain, Capricorn, emerged but his wife had gone in and he vowed never to read aloud again. Except now, Capricorn has come in search of him.
There was a movie adaptation of this book made in 2009 with Brendan Fraser and Helen Mirren.

Both of these books are amazing and she has so many more that I am eager to read. Give them a go!

Pendragon Series

The Pendragon series by D.J. MacHale is an exciting fantasy series of novels for middle school aged students (and beyond).  It may be of particular interest to boys, based on my experience with two of my sons, who both loved this series and devoured all 10 books.

The premise is that Bobby Pendragon and his two best friends must save ten distinct territories, which are not part of Earth's space or time.  Each book deals with another unique territory and what Bobby and his friends must do to save it from destruction.  But how do Bobby and his friends end up in these territories?  They have been trained by Bobby's uncle to be "Travelers", able to travel through space and time to other dimensions. Part science fiction, part adventure, part fantasy, these books might just appeal to a lot of kids looking for a good read.

A Mango Shaped Space

A Mango Shaped Space, by Wendy Mass is an interesting (and sad) book about a young girl with a condition called "synesthesia" in which sounds, objects and words have colour.  Because she faces ridicule at school, Mia, the protagonist, hides her condition for as long as she can.  She eventually has to admit it, though, and as a result of a diagnosis from a specialist, meets a boy with the same condition.  There is a crush and obsession and forgetfulness that often accompany a first crush.  During this period of extreme distraction, Mia forgets to bring her beloved cat, Mango, in from the cold one night and, spoiler alert, the cat dies.

This is a book about being different, coming of age, acceptance, loss and love.  It is a multiple award winner and well worth reading at any age although it is recommended for grades 5 - 8.

The Song of the Lioness Quartet

The Song of the Lioness Quartet is a series by Tamora Pierce featuring a strong female protagonist, Alanna.  In the kingdom where Alanna lives, she is expected to grow up to become a proper young lady in the palace court and her bother, Thom, is expected to train to become a knight.  Neither want to pursue the path fate has for them and so they hatch a plan to trade places and assume each other's future.  The four books in the series follow Alanna's journey as she grows up, gains skills and wins hearts.

This series would be of interest to middle school aged students, possibly especially girls, although there is action and adventure enough for all kids to enjoy.

BloodyJack

"Bloody Jack" is the first novel in a series by L.A. Meyer.  It is about a young orphaned girl in the 1800's who, to navigate the harsh England in which she finds herself alone, pretends to be a boy and gets hired on as a Ships Boy.  She chooses this path knowing that it will keep her fed and clothed and that she has a better chance of survival as a boy than a girl in the world in which she lives.

Complications arise as "Jacky" matures and develops but you'll have to read it to find out how she deals with such things.  There are currently 12 books in the series.  In each book, Jacky encounters a huge obstacle to her well being (slavery, pirating, the law, war) and, in each case, through ingenuity and bravery, she prevails, winning friends and gathering supporters along the way.

These books are great for readers that can't find enough books to read.  A student can immerse themselves in the world of Jacky Faber for a long time.  They are exciting, interesting and adrenaline pumping and they feature a strong, irresistible female protagonist.

RED: A Haida Manga

Now this is an interesting concept (and well done!).  "RED: a Haida Manga" is exactly that - a traditional Haida story told in the Japanese Manga style as graphic novel. It is the story of a brother and sister who are separated by war and the brother's quest to find the sister and exact revenge on her captors.  It is a tragic story of heroism, a search for justice and blind fury.

The really interesting aspect that makes this story telling so unique is the creator's choice to tell it in the Manga style, marrying the two cultures seamlessly.

Another fascinating thing about this book is that if you disassemble it, and reassemble it in a certain order, it becomes a 4m long continuous poster telling the story (pictured below).  I recommend this book for graphic novel studies, for learning about the Haida culture and traditions and for introducing the Manga style.

The Lunar Chronicles

The Lunar Chronicles is a great series of books if you like fantasy, sci-fi, and fairy tales. It takes the stories that we grow up with like Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood, and puts a sci-fi twist on them combining into a great over-arching story blending the tales all together. The books center on a girl named Cinder who is part cyborg. Cyborgs are looked down on in society and for them to be an active member, someone must have ownership of them. I don't want to give too much away in case you read them (and I highly suggest you do!). There is so much more that happens in these books and they could bring up topics of conversation such as racism, dictatorships, government, community, and more.

Ghostopolis

Ghostopolis by Doug TenNapel is a graphic novel about a critically ill boy who gets accidentally taken to the afterlife (Ghostopolis) prematurely "I'm not dead yet!".  The images are quite dark at times and the subject matter can be heavy (death and dying, a deadbeat dad, broken family relationships, failed love) but it is also sprinkled with humour.  A skeleton king blushing, some bathroom humour and Benedict Arnold, a hapless traitor even in the afterlife.   There is reference to God (named Joe in this case), forgiveness, redemption and second chances.  Being a graphic novel, it is not text heavy and I think that even the most reluctant readers might be able to enjoy it.

@h_james18's Middle Years Book Recommendations

We had a BlueJeans chat with @h_james18 last Thursday. Check out her blog post with a list of middle years book recommendations!

BlueJeans Video Conference with @h_james18

Circle Talk: What We've Been Reading This Week

• Project Superhero by E. Paul Zehr - @MlleBallen
• Ned, the story of Bear 693 - @KaitlynMorino
• Night by Elie Wiesel - @JacquiOVictoria
• Star Girl - @Fernwoodteacher
• Word Nerd - @mariah_burt
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman - @Reading_Buddy1
• Fortunately the Milk - @kmychelle
• Silverwing - @caroc1968
• Jacob Have I Loved - @caroc1968
• Chasing Vermeer - @the_kelsi
  

 Look for more about these titles in our upcoming blog posts! 

@h_james18
Thanks to @h_james18 for joining us, and sharing your passion for middle years literature! You brought some really intriguing titles to our attention, and some really neat ideas about how to run literature circles. Some take-home messages that resonated with me were: 

• Read-alouds are important, even at the middle years level, and
• Literature circles can be expanded beyond classroom walls!

-Britney (@MlleBallen)

Jacob Have I Loved

In 1980, Katherine Paterson wrote a beautiful coming of age novel about the older, less celebrated twin, Sara Louise, and her struggle to find identity and value.  She lives in a time and place that does not privilege her unique gifts and interests which causes bitterness and envy of her beautiful, sweet and talented younger twin.  Sara Louise navigates her youth with neither charm nor grace but with feelings of resentment and envy overwhelming her at every turn.  I won't give away the ending . . . but my 11 year old daughter and I both read this book and it lead to engaging conversations about injustice, sibling rivalry and being comfortable in who you are.  I would recommend this book as a middle years literature resource.  It's not the newest book on the block but it stands the test of time.

On the wings of a . . . bat

I just finished reading Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel - a fantasy about an adventurous bat named Shade, a runt with a chip on his shoulder who would like nothing better than to climb the social ladder in his bat community.   It is a book about friendship, loyalty, determination, courage and love.  This book provides many opportunities for cross curricular studies in science:  a study of bats - different varieties, their special skills and their habits; hibernation; lightening and other weather patterns and the healing properties of plants.