Los Angeles is a place of movie stars and fast cars, but there's also drive-bys and death. This book is about another L.A. Among the gangs in the barrio, Arturo goes to school, celebrates holidays, and makes friends. According to his father, 'In life there is bueno and there is malo. If you do not find enough of the good, you must yourself create it. Any small goodness is of value.'

Reviewed by: sc

Date read: 4/28/2009

ISBN-10: 0439189365

ISBN-13: 9780439189361

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Jason, a twelve-year-old autistic boy, is an excellent writer. In fact, he wants to be a writer someday. Jason loves posting on his Storyboard website. Here, he can just be himself and not a boy with autism. He develops an online friendship with a girl named Rebecca, whose stories he regularly comments on. When Jason's parents surprise him with a trip to the annual Storyboard writers conference, Jason is so happy! Jason's happiness begins to suddenly deflate when Rebecca writes him that she too will be at the conference. He doesn't want her to meet him and treat him differently because of his autism. In this book, Jason shares his perspectives on life in such a way as to really give the reader a glimpse into what it is like to have autism.

Awards nominated: 2013 Rebecca Caudill Nominee

Reviewed by: jb

Date read: 3/27/2012

ISBN-10: 1416963782

ISBN-13: 9781416963783

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Meet Ry. He is off on a train to summer camp when he reads a letter that came a few days ago. The letter says not to come to camp. When he gets off the train to call his grandfather, the train leaves him with his backpack of belongings still on the train! Ry's luck goes from bad to worse to much worse throughout this book making the situations seem (almost) comical. Ry believes that maybe his luck is getting better when he hitchhikes and a man named Del stops to pick him up. Just as fast as good luck comes upon Ry, bad luck returns when Del's car stalls. The journey that Ry makes through the course of this book is amazingly easy-as easy as falling off the face of the earth, that is.

Awards nominated: 2013 Rebecca Caudill Nominee

Reviewed by: jb

Date read: 5/14/2012

ISBN-10: 0061870900

ISBN-13: 9780061870903

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On the Fourth of July, The Aurora County All-Stars baseball team plays its one and only game of the year. This year, a pageant to celebrate the town's birthday is scheduled for the same day and time. All of the team has been signed up by their mothers to be in the pageant. (How could their mothers do that to them?) The director of the pageant is a tiresome girl ('Just call me Finesse.') who broke the elbow last year of House Jackson, star pitcher and team captain. Because he couldn't pitch, House spent the year sitting with and reading to a dying old man, Mean-Man Boyd, who would have a big impact on House's life. House needs to think of some way to end the stand-off if he wants to play ball. Welcome to small-town America where everything and everyone are inter-related and everyone has a story to tell.

Awards nominated: Bluestem Award 2011

Reviewed by: hap

Date read: 6/2/2010

ISBN-10: 0152060685

ISBN-13: 9780152060688

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Mallory is happy enough at her new house on Wish Pond Road. She has a wish pond on her street and a new friend right next door, but she's not prepared for the start of third grade. Then, she finds out her mom will be the new music teacher! How can she survive as the new kid when she has to have her mom at school with her? In this installment of the Mallory books (following Mallory on the Move, about Mallory's move to the new town), we get to know Mallory further as she deals with her mom's new job, a classmate who steals her ideas, and a neighbor who might not be the friend she thought he was.

Reviewed by: emc

Date read: 1/25/2010

ISBN-10: 1575056585

ISBN-13: 9781575056586

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