Ninth Ward by Jewell Rhodes

Rhodes, J. (2010). Ninth Ward. New York: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. 

Summary

12-year-old Lanesha is an avid student who dreams of becoming an engineer and building bridges for those who need them. Lanesha can also communicate with the dead, including the spirit of her mother who died after giving birth to Lanesha. Lanesha's caretaker, Mama Ya-Ya is a healer and can predict the future. When Mama Ya-Ya senses a large storm coming towards their city of New Orleans, both Lanesha and Mama Ya-Ya must trust their gifts and close bond in order to survive Hurricane Katrina. 

Review

Wow! The dynamics of the characters, settings, magical elements, and foreboding disaster will capture even the most reluctant readers! Readers already know the terrible outcome of Hurricane Katrina but with the clever and honest writing, readers will truly believe this story of magic and heart. Readers who only saw the disastrous Hurricane Katrina on television will be able to live through this disaster in a suspenseful and haunting way. 

Genre

Fiction

Readers Age/Interest Level

9-13 years/ Tween

Similar Books

Moon over Manifest- Clare Vanderpool

One Crazy Summer Day- Rita Williams Garcia

I Survived Hurricane Katrina, 2005- Lauren Tarshis
Awards

2010 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award

Selected as one of the best books of 2010 by School Library Journal

2010 Parents Choice Foundation Gold Award

2010 Al Roker “Today Show” Book Club Selection

2011 Brown Bookshelf 28 Days Later selection

Readers Annotation

Lanesha can see spirits and Mama Ya-Ya can predict the future and together they must trust their special gifts and incredible bond to survive the nearing disaster of Hurricane Katrina. 

The Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero- Rick Riordan

Riordan, R. (2010). The lost hero. California: Disney-Hyperion.
Summary
New demi-gods at Camp Half-Blood, Jason, Piper, and Leo are just coming to understand their knew powers and abilities. Just as in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, there is a great back story and present upheaval of the Gods. Realizing that their parents are in their Roman personae rather than Greek throws them for a loop as they must rescue Hera, Queen of the Gods, or Porphyrion, who is a giant king created to destroy Zeus, will rise and kill all those who stand in his way.
The three take their adventure throughout the United States as they battle monsters and evil Gods, and grow and deal with their own inner battles of tween angst. Oh yeah, Percy Jackson is also missing and it is up to the three to find the lost hero.
Review
This is a great twist on the popular Percy Jackson books. Fans will love the fact that they stay true to the original story and characters, and readers still get brief glimpses of familiar characters Percy, Annabeth and Grover. I love the twist of Roman vs. Greek gods since this is always a confusing thing for some kids to understand and that the adventures took place in familiar places. Readers are thrown head first into new battles, new relationships, and new challenges and Riordan has done it again with giving readers a new series to fall in love with.
Genre
Fantasy Fiction
Reading Level/Interest Level
9-12 years old/Tweens
Similar Books
Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan
The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan
The Cronus Chronicles by Anne Ursu
Characters
Jason Grace: Jason, age 15, is a son of Jupiter (the Roman form of Zeus). Jason is the younger brother of Thalia Grace, who is the daughter of Zeus (the Greek form of Jupiter).  He was raised in a different camp who believe in the Roman aspect of the gods. Jason arrives at camp with no memory of his past, his family or his friends. Jason finds out that Hera has erased his memory in order to exchange the best heroes of both camps (the other hero being Percy Jackson) and make them fight together against the Giant's invasion of Olympus.
Leo Valdez- Leo is age 15, and is a son of Hephaestus. Leo is able to conjur and withstand fire, a rare ability gifted by Hephaestus that his siblings suggest may herald catastrophe. He is tormented by the death of his mother and believes his fire conjuring power caused her death. He had a nanny called Tia Callida (who was actually Hera in disguise) who would place him in danger and retell him that his future would determine the outcome of Olympus.
Piper McLean- Age 15, A daughter of Aphrodite. She has the ability to "charmspeak", or talk anything, or anyone, into doing whatever she wants except for other Charmspeakers. Her father is a famous movie star and is kidnapped by the Giants (the monsters). She is in love with Jason Grace and is upset to find all her memories of him were fake.
Readers Annotation
Sometime silence is golden, but not this time.

Bud Not Buddy- Christopher Paul Curtis

Curtis, C. (2004). Bud not buddy. United States: Delacorte Books for Young Readers.

Summary

Bud Caldwell is an orphan living in Flint, Michigan during the Great Depression.  When his mother dies, he is placed into different foster homes and orphanages and he only has a bag of stones, a photograph of his mother when she was a child and five concert posters for Herman C. Callaway and band that he can call his own.

The story begins with Bud being placed with a foster family that is cruel and abusive and after being tormented and locked up in a shed overnight with an angry swarm of hornets, he runs away determined to find Herman C. Callaway who Bud believes is his father. Readers will be encouraged by Bud's determination and heart as he makes it to Grand Rapids, Michigan and where he meets his "father" Herman Callaway and his jazz band.

Review

This is a great story about a young African American boy who does not let the circumstances of his race or the time of the Great Depression get in the way of his determination to find where he belongs. Author Christopher Curtis balances heartbreak, meanness, and racism with love, family, and humor and readers will want to read this book over and over again. It is hard for kids to get into reading historical fiction but this book, tweens will love because it generates a young boy's powerful fight to get what he wants, even if it means breaking a few rules.

Genre

Historical Fiction

Reading Age/Interest Level

9-12 years old/Tweens

Similar Books

Because of Winn Dixie- Kate Di.Camillo

Hatchet- Gary Paulsen

The Watsons go to Birmingham- Christopher Paul Curtis

Characters

Buddy Caldwell - Bud is a ten-year old African-American orphan boy who has seen and suffered through a great deal in his short ten years, but who is definitely a survivor. His determination to find his father and his ability to use his survival skills to do so make him a heroic character for the reader.

Mr. Herman E. Calloway - He is the band leader of a Depression Era Negro Band whom Bud believes is his father. He turns out to be a rather cranky old man who doesn’t trust Bud and acts mean to nearly everyone. He is actually a very sad man who yearns for the daughter he drove away with his need for her to be what he wanted her to be.

Angela Janet Caldwell - Although she has died before the story begins, her character is a very real presence for most of the other characters in the story. 

Todd Amos and his parents - This is the foster family from whom Bud runs away after he is abused. They are typical of some foster families who would take in children just for the money the state would pay.

                                                                       Awards

                                                        Newbery Award Winner- 2000

William Allen White Children's Book Award-2002

Coretta Scott King Award- 2000

Readers Annotation

Bud Caldwell has no mom, dad, or home and definitely has nothing to lose as he uses his only possessions to guide him to a place called home. 

Jack Blank and the Imagine Nation by Matt Myklusch

Myklusch, M. (2011). Jack blank and the imagine nation. New York: Aladdin. 

Plot

Jack's life is as blank as an unwritten book. He is an orphan living at St. Barnaby's Home for the Hopeless, Abandoned, Forgotten, and Lost and he has no memory of his past or how he ended up there. Just when he has lost all of finding who he is, he ends up destroying a giant mechanical monster and is then taken by the mysterious Jazon Knight to a floating island called, Imagine Nation, which is his where he is from. Imagine Nation is a place where ninjas, familiar superheros, and aliens coexist in a world that is under threat of zombie mutants and robot viruses. Jack must step out of his normal life and enter the life that includes hidden powers and moral obligations.

Review

I am starting to venture outside my fiction box and read books that I used to judge by their genre labels. Jack Blank is a mix between Percy Jackson, Harry Potter and all of the ordinary boys turned superhero. Like Harry Potter, Jack too has had an unhappy childhood and now is forced into a world where he must take on challenges for the greater good. Fans of superheros and science fiction will clamor for these books and the future series to come. 

Genre

Science Fiction

Reading Level/Interest Level

5th-8th grade/Tween

Similar Books

Harry Potter series- J.K Rowling

Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians- Brandon Sanderson

The Lost Hero- Rick Riordian

Readers Annotation

Just like Harry Potter, Jack Blank is trying to figure out where he came from. He is mistreated where he lives, always wrong when he thinks he is right, and hasn't got a friend in the world. Everything changes when his life and future is turned upside down by zombie monsters, alien invasions, and hidden superpowers. In order to find out who he truly is, he must survive first.