Great Reading: Bookmark It!

Volume 32, Number 2, December 2004

Junior fiction

Betty Winslow

Making Choices

Because of Anya. Margaret Peterson Haddix. Simon and Schuster, 2002. $15.95. 0-689-83298-2. Grades 4-6.
Keely has been at the bottom of the popular crowd’s pecking order since kindergarten and usually went along with them, until their whisperings about Anya (who has alopecia areata and wears a wig to school) forces her to become brave.

Earthborn. Sylvia Waugh. Random, 2002. $17.99. 0-38590-060-0. Grades 4-6.
In this companion book to Space race (see below), Nesta’s parents reveal they are from the planet Ormingat, though she was born on Earth. When her parents are scheduled to go home, she runs away, forcing them to choose between leaving her or accepting exile in order to find her.

No more dead dogs. Gordan Korman. Hyperion, 2000. $15.99. 0-786-80531-5. Grades 6-8.
When Wallace refuses to write a glowing book report about a hated book, he’s put on detention and banned from football until he changes his mind. The ensuing problems help him figure out who his real friends are.

Space race. Sylvia Waugh. Random, 2001. $4.99. 0-44041-714-7. Grades 4-6.
Although Thomas looks like a typical English schoolboy, he and his father are from the planet Ormingat. When his father disappears before their spaceship’s departure, Thomas and his friends must find him.

Wagon train 911. Jamie Gilson. HarperTrophy, 2001. $4.95. 0-06440-988-0. Grades 4-6.
Mr. Marconi’s two-week-long virtual reality project “Wagons Out West” splits Grade 5 students into teams who’ll be graded on how well they cooperate and use their abilities and possessions to get from Missouri to Oregon.

Betty Winslow: Media Center Directory, Bowling Green Christian Academy, Bowling Green OH.
freelancer@wcnet.org