Bakerella. Cake Pops.So, so cute. So, so much work. If your idea of a good time is decorating cakes, but it's just not... challenging enough for you, this is for you, but it gave me a huge inferiority complex! I would have bought it for the school library, since it is enormously fun to look at, but it is spiral bound. Those last about six months.
Think I'm done trying to find cake and cupcake decorating books. They just make me feel bad.
Hautman, Pete. The Big Crunch.From the Publisher: "Jen and Wes, hanging around in the same circles, eventually decide they might like to be a couple, and even then are not sure if a relationship is what they want. "
Why it didn't work for me: For a romance book to work with middle school boys, it needs a little more zip. Humor. Pigs running loose in Victoria's Secret, ala Mark Fink. Just more of a high school title. People who liked it include Rayment's Readings, Teen Book Review Blog, Bart's Bookshelf, and Reading Nook.
Weeks, Sarah. As Simple as it SeemsFrom the Publisher: "Eleven-year-old Verbena Polter gets through a difficult summer of turbulent emotions and the revelation of a disturbing family secret with an odd new friend who believes she is the ghost of a girl who drowned many years before.
Why it didn't work for me: Weeks' Regular Guy series is hugely popular in my library, and I liked So B. It even though it was quirky, but this just didn't do it for me. Too young, partly. Unfortunately, other readers feel similarly.
Nelson, Blake. Recovery Road.From the Publisher: "Seventeen-year-old Maddie meets Stewart in a rehabilitation facility for drug and alcohol abuse, and they begin a relationship, which they try to maintain after they both finish treatment. "
Why it didn't work for me: Just too old. Nelson is always too gritty for middle school, but I keep picking them up because he writes on topics my children want to read about, for whatever reason. Skateboarding, I can understand. The obsession with drugs I don't. And I can't imagine ASKING my librarian for books about people on drugs. Or asking for Judy Blume's Forever when I knew darn well that it was scandalous. Oh, the times, they have changed.
I liked The Big Crunch, too, but I agree that it's very high school and not what you'd call action packed. Here's my review at Book Aunt: http://bookaunt.blogspot.com/2011/02/review-of-big-crunch-by-pete-hautman.html
ReplyDeleteI gave Cake Pops to a friend of mine who loves to bake. But I was interested in the Pete Hautman book because of the premise.
ReplyDelete1. On the cake pops front - someone sent those in as a class snack in one of our first grade classes. The parent confessed to the teacher it was one of the worst choices she's made and that she would have stopped midway through if it hadn't been for her kid.
ReplyDelete2. Your students must really like and trust you if they're willing to ask for things that would have made us blush. I think it's probably a tribute to how good you are.