I read quite a few books this summer and I wanted to tell you about a few of them. My first kid’s book was The Necromancer, the fourth book in the Secrets of the Immortal Nicolas Flamel series. This series is a challenging read because there are quite a few characters to keep track of and multiple plot lines. However, I highly recommend it for anyone who is a Fantasy/Adventure lover. The first book in this series was the The Alchemyst. Essentially it’s the story of two twins who turn out to have magical powers. Not only are they magical, but they are the only ones who can save the Earth from the Elders, a group of magical beings who wish to do away with the human race. Every character in this series is from a famous myth or legend. Billy the Kid even shows up in this latest installment! If you’re looking for a challenging adventure story then I highly recommend this series to you.
I also read Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith. This story takes place during World War II. Ida, is African-American, a girl, and a trained pilot. Her daddy taught her to fly on his crop duster. Unfortunately women don’t have very many rights during this time and African-American women have even less rights. When Ida hears about a program that is enlisting women to fly planes for the Army so that more men can go to fight in the war she is faced with a decision. Will she sacrifice who she is in order to fulfill her dreams? Will she use her light skin to pass for a white person so that she can join the program? This book had a slow start, a great middle, and a strange ending that read more like a biography than a piece of fiction. There are gems in this book and the issues it brings up are worth reading and discussing. However, I think it would take a really committed reader to get through it.
My most recent read is one of the best 5th grade books I have read in a long time! The Strange Case of the Origami Yoda. Tom Angleberger has taken this school story to a new level and infused it with mystery and adventure. Dwight is a real weirdo, but his Origami Yoda gives seemingly accurate advice about all kinds of topics. Is Dwight just pretending or does the Yoda really have the power to tell the future? Tommy is going to find out, because his life depends on it. This book is constructed like a notebook and is a collection of the different stories of people’s experiences with the Origami Yoda. It’s not too challenging if you remember that each chapter is written from a different person’s perspective. I highly recommend this book to all readers, whether you’re a Star Wars fan or not!
