The Secrets of Tree Taylor

Mackall, Dandi Daley. The Secrets of Tree Taylor
May 13th 2014 by Knopf Books for Young Readers

Tree's father is a doctor in their small 1960s Missouri town where everyone knows everyone else's business, so when their neighbor, Mr. Kinney, has an accident with a rifle, Dr. Taylor is the first one on the scene. Tree thinks that the shooting is suspicious and wants to find out what really happened, even though Mrs. Kinney seems quite happy that her husband isn't coming home. Tree wants to use her investigation as the basis for a story for her high school newspaper, so that she can beat out a classmate for a position on the Blue and Gold, since her fondest dream is to be a news reporter. Of course, her other fondest dream is to be kissed by Ray, a boy with beautiful blue eyes, and over the course of the summer, she at least gets to speak to him. She also spends time with her best friend, Jack, dances to rock and roll music, and gets involved a bit in the politics of the time.
Strengths: This describes the 1960s very well, and is worth buying for that alone. The feeling of change is palpable and sad, and there's a tiny bit of mystery to keep the reader turning the pages. The romance will be the draw for most readers, however. I liked how Tree got to know Mrs. Kinney and came to like her during the course of her investigation. Very sad at the end. For some reason, this put me in mind of Carson McCullers' The Member of the Wedding even though I don't think the two have any similarities at all!
Weaknesses: It's apparent from the very first that Mrs. Kinney shot her husband, and it's hard to believe that Tree is really SO naive that she thinks anything else at all.

McClure, Wendy. Wanderville.
January 23rd 2014 by Razorbill

Jack, whose brother dies in a garment factory fire in the early 1900s, and Frances and her brother Harold, who are living in abject poverty, are sent on the Orphan Train out to Kansas. On the way from New York City, they are ill treated by the organizers, and hear horrible stories of the families who take children in. The three decide to run away and manage to find a community of other children who band together and try to survive. Book two is coming out in the fall of 2014. 
Strengths: McClure, who wrote the delightful The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie has a strong appreciation for what makes historical adventures so appealing, and brings in a wide variety of historical details that would make a good introduction to the genre for younger students.
Weaknesses: There were some historical details that seemed vague to me and would have been more effective if explained more. Was Jack's brother involved in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire? Was there actually a city of children who managed to survive? And were the families who took in Orphan Train children really that evil. (Think the Joan Lowry Nixon series as well.) I have a friend whose great grandfather and his siblings were sent from Wisconsin to Iowa after the death of both parents to live with a family unrelated to them, and they were well treated and ended up marrying into the family in several cases.

Jewish Civil Rights Activists

Greenberg, David T. A Tugging String.
Based on the real-life experiences of the author, whose father was a Civil Rights attorney who worked with Thurgood Marshall and Martin Luther King, this novel offered a different perspective to the Civil Rights movement. Duvy lives in New York City, but know that his father travels to the South to help the black citizens. When Dorothy Milton, a college educated woman living in Selma, Alabama in 1960 finds it impossible to register to vote, Jack Greenburg gets involved with the case. His life is in danger during several points in this process, and eventually the entire black community decides that something must be done, which results in a huge march from Selma to Montgomery to protest the hoops that blacks are made to jump through in order to be able to vote. There is a brief section of photographs in the middle, and plentiful footnotes describe real events and people and how the book has dealt with them for the purposes of the story.
Strengths: It was very interesting to read about David’s perceptions of his father’s work at the time, and helpful that he occasionally quotes from his father’s writing about the events. A different and intriguing perspective.
Weaknesses: This fell somewhere between fiction and nonfiction, and while at times I wanted it to be either one or the other, in the end this was probably an effective way to write the book. The title could have been a bit better-- this one is rather nondescript.


Brandeis, Gayle. My Life with the Lincolns.
Mina has a good life in Downer’s Grove, Illinois in 1966. Her parents run Honest ABE’s furniture store, and she and her two sisters attend a nice school, but Mina is convinces that her family all are members of Lincoln’s family reincarnated, and this gives her some worries. She doesn’t want to die (she’s Will), doesn’t want her mother to go crazy, and doesn’t want her father to be shot. There’s not much chance of that at the beginning, but as her father becomes more involved in the Civil Rights movement and starts attending rallies in Chicago. Things often become violent as people protest living conditions and differences in treatment. Her father, perhaps more motivated when he sees the synagogue he attended growing up converted into a Baptist church, starts to neglect the business a bit, and this causes stress in the family.
Strengths: Lots of vivid detail about life at the time-- Quisp cereal and medical encyclopedias at the grocery, family photos in prarie garb-- adds to the immediacy of the story.
Weaknesses: Could have done without Mina thinking she had angina because her breasts were growing-- she is so concerned about this that she takes someone else’s nitroglycerin tablets and ends up in the hospital! There are other descriptions that also made me uncomfortable and really didn’t add to the story.

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday is the brainchild of Shannon Whitney Messenger, who hosts it on her blog. There are always lots of good posts, so visit Shannon's post for a great list of blogs to visit today.

Missing Parents

Townsend, Wendy. The Sundown Rule.
Nominated for the Cybils by Nancy Hogan.

Louise and her father live an idyllic life in a small house in the woods, where Louise is free to roam and commune with animals. The only rule-- anything she has caught needs to be released at sundown. When her father gets a job in Brazil, she is sent to live with an aunt and uncle. She misses her cat, who has been left at the house, but soon makes a friend and manages to find animals to tend even in the suburbs. After the death of her cat, her father's attack of appendicitis, and the death of a crow at the hands of a friend's father, she relies on the help of her family and friends (as well as a new pet tortoise) to get over all the bad things life has thrown her way.
Strengths: Lots of good details about working with wild animals-- Louise even stitches up a bird's leg!
Weaknesses: A very, very sad book.

Steinhoefel, Andreas. The Spaghetti Detectives.
Nominated for the Cybils by Jen Robinson.

Rico lives with his mother, who works in a nightclub. She refers to Rico as her "proddity" because he has trouble with math and paying attention, but is good at other things. He fancies himself a detective, and frequently pays visits on the other residents of his apartment building. He befriends Oscar, who loves music and wears a helmet to protect his special brain. Rico's uncle is dying of cancer, so his mother leaves him alone to go visit him. During this time, Oscar goes missing, and Rico suspects the Aldi kidnapper (aka Mr. 2000, because he demands only 2000 Euros for the children he kidnaps, under $3000), Rico checks out everyone in the area to try to save his friend.
Strengths: Fairly interesting mystery, and the German setting (and mention of Aldi!) is new.
Weaknesses: This looks like a lighthearted book for younger readers, but is filled with mature content-- the mother's appearance, the fact that she leaves him alone, the Aldi kidnapper threatening to return body parts of his victims to their families-- maybe this is something that European children revel in, but this is definitely not for elementary students.

Acampora, Paul. Rachel Spinelli Punched Me in the Face.
Nominated for the Cybils by nanmarino.

Zachary and his father live in a rusted out trailed in Colorado, but after Zachary's mother runs off to work on a cruise ship, the two decide to move to Connecticut, where Zachary's father gets a job as the local policeman. The Spinellis are new neighbors, and Zachary soon takes to Rachel, even though she is harboring a lot of anger about her developmentally delayed brother Teddy and has a habit of getting into fights. There are many interesting people in town-- Rachel's family runs a diner in town (where her mother's ashes are kept in a coffee pot), there is a local ice cream parlor run by a Polish couple, and the mayor and teachers are friendly and accessible. Teddy, Rachel and Zachary spend the summer hanging out together and getting into various scrapes. When Zachary's mother wants to come back to visit, Zachary is enjoying his life so much that he doesn't want to see her.
Strengths: Nice humorous book with a romantic interest. Small size and funny cover will encourage boys to pick this up.
Weaknesses: There is great character development, but the plot suffers because of it. At first, the book is one introduction to a new character after another.

Avi. City of Orphans.
Nominated for the Cybils only in my mind!

In 1893 New York, Maks works as a newsboy. When the Plug Ugly gang threatens him, he is saved by the plucky but homeless Willa, whom he takes back to meet his hard working Danish immigrant family. Unfortunately, this is the night that they find his sister Emma has been arrested for stealing a watch from a guest at the Waldorf Hotel, where she works as a maid. Maks sister Agnes is studying but ill with tuberculosis and Agnes and the father are going to lose their jobs when the shoe factory closes down, so Maks and Willa try to find a detective to help them prove Emma's innocence. They find Donck, a former Pinkerton detective also dying of "consumption" who helps Maks get a job at the Waldorf so he can find the watch and the real thief. Willa helps the family out by taking over Maks news job, but the gang continues to threaten the two. Some odd coincidences help the two figure out the real culprit, and the family's fortunes improve.
Strengths: A fast-paced writing style and compelling mystery, combined with a few fun illustrations, make this one historical novel that students won't mind picking up.
Weaknesses: The persistence of teachers to overuse this author's older titles make him a hard sell. This is too bad, since some of his books are really great.

Wallace, Rich. War and Watermelon.
Nominated for the Cybils by Beth Mitcham (pending approval- thank you!)

In the summer of 1969, Brody is dreading junior high while looking forward to playing on the football team. His older brother, Ryan, has just graduated from high school and is stocking shelves at a grocery store, which makes Brody worry that Ryan may soon be drafted. The brothers attend Woodstock, follow the popular rock songs and the Mets baseball season, and try not to have too many generation gap fights with their (shocking!) mother AND father. Brody and his friends also spend a fair amount of time hanging out at the swim club checking out the girls, and the dance there is a highlight of the season. As the summer draws to a close and junior high looms large, Brody realizes that the summer, while busy and filled with some difficult moments, has helped him prepare for his future.
Strengths: Rich Wallace writes fantastic sports fiction, and this book makes it clear that his writing is so good because he remembers clearly what it is like to be a junior high school student. The historical details are spot on in this one, but set against a more interesting story line than a lot of other 1960s books. Boys will pick this one up for the baseball, football and girls and not even care that it is "historical". If books like this won awards, more children would read them! Has a sports book ever won a major award?
Weaknesses: There's almost too much going on, and I wish that Brody had not eaten the chicken salad that had been out all day and missed the moon landing! I would have loved to read Wallace's description of that, although maybe he, too, had some bad chicken salad that day! I barely remember being allowed to stay up to watch that; I had just turned 4!