I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson 

Copyright 2014

ISBN 978-1-101-59384-4
Ages 14 +

Review by Good Reads

 4.15  ·  Rating Details  ·  66,516 Ratings  ·  9,217 Reviews

A brilliant, luminous story of first love, family, loss, and betrayal for fans of John Green, David Levithan, and Rainbow Rowell 

Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

This radiant novel from the acclaimed, award-winning author ofThe Sky Is Everywhere will leave you breathless and teary and laughing—often all at once.

Mrs. Flores's Book Trailer

The Boy on the Porch by Sharon Creech

A Sneak Peak from Newbery Medalist, Author Sharon Creech of

The Boy on the Porch by Sharon Creech

jacket design by Kate Engbring

Copyright 2013

ISBN 978-0061892387

Ages 8-12

Teaching Resources:  Teach Creech

Amazon Review: 2013

Richie Partington rated it 5 of 5 stars

Richie's Picks: THE BOY ON THE PORCH by Sharon Creech, Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins, September 2013, 160p.

"People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence"
-- Paul Simon (1964)

Jacob was not like other boys John and Marta had know.  He did not speak, not to them and not to others, but communicate, he did.  Jacob's music and artwork opened a door into his soul and John and Marta peered inside.  They encouraged his creativity, fostered his enthusiasm for finding happiness in the simplest of things, and they grew to love-- the boy on the porch.  This book will warm your heart.  

Mrs. Flores 

Love That Dog and Hate That Cat by Sharon Creech

Author Spotlight Page

Sharon Creech-- two novels in verse:  

These two novels take readers through two beautifully written stories about the connection of a boy named Jack to his dog Sky (and even a cat). It also illustrates a teacher's passion for teaching students about poetry and themselves, and a child learning to become something more than he first realized. Jack's exposure to Poetry-- reading, writing and appreciating this art form, is what binds the stories and the characters together.  The stories flow beautifully.  Whether you love or hate cats or dogs, love or hate poetry, you will love Jack's two stories about them them all.  I read each book in one sitting. 

Mrs. Flores  

Love That Dog

by Sharon Creech

Cover Art by William Steig

Copyright 2001

ISBN 978-1-404-66655-9

Ages 11-13

Teaching Resources: Love That Dog and Hate That Cat

Hate That Cat

by Sharon Creech

Cover Art by William Steig

Copyright 2001

ISBN 978-0061430947 

Grades 4-8

Teaching Resources: Teach Creech

Excerpt of a review from the School Library Journal about Hate That Cat:  

Jack is once again in Miss Stretchberry's class, developing his poetry composition skills and learning from the masters. Jack works his way into these concepts by means of Miss S's introduction to the work of Edgar Allan Poe, T. S. Eliot, William Carlos Williams, Valerie Worth, and Walter Dean and Chris Myers, and her constant encouragement of his own attempts. He also learns the poetry of silence as he and his mother communicate through sign language and tender gestures. It is a worthy sequel to Love That Dog.

Counting by 7's by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Book Trailer 01:

Counting by 7's
Author Holly Goldberg Sloan
Cover Design by Mina Chung
Copyright 2013
ISBN 978-0-8037-3855-3
[Fic]--dc23
Reading Level 5.6 ATOS
Lexile Value 770L
Teaching/Learning Tools: http://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?tid=35892&a=1

Being orphaned as a baby is something Willow doesn't remember; being orphaned again at twelve, is something she will never forget.

Willow Chance is someone I would want to know, to have as my friend.  She is a genius-- really, she is.  She is intelligent beyond her years, but she is also forced to grow beyond her years and learn to choose her own path.  She has faced disappointment, loneliness and immeasurable grief.

Willow had been adopted by amazing and loving parents and her life was full. . . until a medical supply truck, ran a red light, and took everything away from her.  This is a story of courage, endings and new beginnings.  It is about the love of family-- the family we choose to call our own and those who choose to love us.
Mrs. Flores

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Author Laini Taylor
Cover Design by Alison Imprey
Copyright 2011
ISBN 978-0-316-13402-6
[Fic]--dc22
Reading Level 5.8 UG
Lexile Value 850L
Teaching/Learning Tools on Author's Blog:  http://www.lainitaylor.com/p/books.html
California Young Reader Medal Nominee for 2014-2015

Author's BookTrailer 01

Author's BookTrailer 02

Critique:
"Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love.  It did not end well (Taylor, introduction page)."
Seventeen year old Karou will draw you in with her numerous adventures and internal emptiness. She will impress you as a heroine and have you reading into the night to find out where her next travels will take her.  As a reader you will "see" the pages of Karou's sketchbook come alive and you will climb into them to follow her to the underworld and beyond.
Mrs. Flores  

"It's to Taylor's great credit that evil incarnate and its love match in Daughter of Smoke and Bone are such imaginative interpretations and that the worlds in which this romance unfolds are likewise so unique: Telling a tale this apocryphal requires serious outside-the-box plot work to pull off. Taylor manages her self-imposed challenge with aplomb."
-The Los Angeles Times

Legend by Marie Lu

California Young Reader Medal Nominee for 2014-2015

Author's Book Trailer

This gripping, dystopian novel tells the entire tale from two points of view.  The chapters alternate between June's perspective and Day's.  The reader senses, and waits, for their paths to cross.  The setting is the future western states, now know as the Republic, a nation at war with its neighbors. 

June is a 15 year old prodigy, born into wealth and groomed by the Republic army.  Day, on the other hand, was raised in the slums and is referred to as a criminal.  There is no real reason for their lives to cross paths, but they do; it is difficult as a reader to put the book down, sensing the meeting will happen soon.

Day is simply trying to keep his family together and survive, but he is thrust into June's world as she seeks to avenge the death of her brother, Metias.  This unlikely pair begin to unravel the mysteries of not only Metias's death, but also the evil workings of the government he was serving at the time of his death.    

The novel is fast-paced and full of twists and connections.  The alternating perspectives places the reader inside the minds of both characters in a way that brings each to life.  If you enjoy dystopian novels, like The Hunger Games series, you will enjoy this novel as well as the sequels, Prodigy and Champion.
Mrs. Flores  

Excerpt from the novel:  

DAY

"In other words the Republic has no idea what I look like.  They don't seem to know much of anything about me, except that I am young and when they run my fingerprints they don't find a match in their databases.  That's why they hate me, why I am not the most dangerous criminal in the country, but the most wanted.  I make them look bad (Lu 2)." 

Girl Stolen by April Henry - TeacherTube

Book Trailer:  Girl Stolen by April Henry - TeacherTube

As a sick Cheyenne waits in the family SUV at a pharmacy for her step-mother to pick up some medicine, the Cadillac Escalade she is waiting in is car jacked.  An unsuspecting Griffin is in for more than one surprise:  He discovers that Cheyenne is in the car and that she is blind.  This adds to the terror of her plight, both for her and the readers.  She is in no shape to fight, blind and sick with pneumonia, but she is resourceful and determined to survive.  The fact that she is the daughter of a Nike CEO adds to the intensity of the story, and the value of Cheyenne as a hostage.

The novel is suspenseful and gripping from start to finish.  Told from two different perspectives, both Cheyenne's and Griffin's, the reader really gets to know both characters.  Griffin is not like his father, who has dragged him into the mess they are in; Griffin wanted to let Cheyenne go in the dark, but as soon as his father realized through the media who she really was, he saw the girl as a way to a wealthy future.
Mrs. Flores