…and now Miguel by Joseph Krumgold

Our Score

The “coming-of-age” story. When a boy becomes a man.

…and now Miguel is a great read for boys ages nine through thirteen. Joseph Krumgold really gets into the head of a kid during that in-between age, wanting to be respected as a man yet child enough that he’s not quite ready for a man’s responsibilities.… Read the rest

Onion John by Joseph Krumgold

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Twelve-year-old Andy Rusch walks to school and walks home for lunch. He’s    free to roam the countryside surrounding his small town of Serenity the whole day long, and his parents have no trouble with him befriending the village’s odd-man character, Onion John.… Read the rest

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell

Our Score

I read this Newbery winner when I was in junior high school. Ordinarily, I didn’t go for man-against-nature type of stories. I didn’t go for a novel told in first person present tense. But Island of the Blue Dolphins featured a girl who had to survive totally alone on her island.Read the rest

The Milk of Birds by Sylvia Whitman

Our Score

 

When a tree leans, it will rest on its sister.

Synopsis:

Fifteen-year-old NAWRA from Darfur lives in a camp for refugees displaced by the Janjaweed’s trail of murder and destruction. She can’t read or write but when an organization called “Save the Girls” pairs her with a girl in the states, she gets her best friend to be her scribe her thoughts and experiences.… Read the rest