Josephine “Miss Mac” McKeever had taught English and Theatre Arts at Rosemont Middle School for so long that her colleagues sometimes joked that she would die in the classroom. So when she does just that, students, teachers, and administrators are stunned. After getting over the initial shock of losing their colleague, the staff agrees that they need to do something very special to acknowledge Miss Mac’s fifty-one years of dedication to the students at Rosemont and suggest naming the school’s auditorium after her. When Mrs. Frymire, her long-time colleague and friend, discovers a play written by Miss Mac years before, she knows that it would be the perfect memorial to present the play, Thirteen Days to Glory: The Battle of the Alamo, in the school’s auditorium named after her friend. But the teachers quickly learn that presenting a play isn’t as easy as Miss Mac had always made it seem, and soon the entire school community is in an uproar as conflicts related to the play emerge. Seventh-grader and Golden Gloves boxer Marco Diaz is, at first, excited to be chosen to play Jim Bowie, the brave Texan who defended the Alamo against Santa Anna’s Mexican Army. But his friend Raquel, an undocumented immigrant, calls him a sell-out because she believes the play makes heroes out of the people who stole her ancestors’ land. And Sandy Martinez, Miss Mac’s much younger replacement, finds the Mexican characters’ dialogue not only politically incorrect but downright offensive. Miss Mac’s friends, though, are adamantly opposed to making changes. Ms. Martinez also tries to convince them that giving certain students plum roles in exchange for their parents’ contributions is wrong, but ends up leaving the production in frustration. Meanwhile, rehearsals only serve to increase the tension between Marco’s friend Izzy Pena and the school bully Billy Ray Cansler. And it’s only a matter of time before Billy Ray corners Izzy when Marco isn’t around to protect him. Weary from struggling with disruptive kids, teachers and kids dropping out of the play, and parents with unreasonable expectations, everyone begins to wonder if they should just give up and cancel the production. Is it too much to expect everyone to work together to pay homage to a long-time friend and teacher?
bullies
The Confessional
Mexican guy. White guy. Classmates and enemies from across the border and on each other’s turf. Big fight. White guy wins. Next day, he’s dead. Everyone’s a suspect. Everyone’s guilty of something.
Does what you look like or where you come from finally determine where your loyalties lie? Who’s Us? Who’s Them? Which side is your side? Is it Truth?
Contemporary politics, the consequences of guys-being-guys, and questions about faith and personal responsibility pulse throughout the pages of this provocative, eloquent debut.
Celandine (David Fickling Books)
Set seventy years before The Various, the second book in the trilogy follows the adventures of young Celandine at the onset of the First World War. Having run away from her detested boarding school, Celandine is too afraid to go home in case she is sent back. As she seeks shelter in the Wild Wood near her home, little does she think she will encounter a world where loyalty and independence is fiercely guarded, and where danger lurks in the most unlikely of places. Celandine’s troubled character finds both refuge and purpose among the secret tribes of little people that she alone believes in.The novels of the Various trilogy are full of mystery, beauty and adventure; this second novel is both page-turning and life-affirming.
Cookie
Cookie is plain and shy, not the confident, popular girl her father wanted when he named her Beauty Cookson. Her mother helps her cook up a clever scheme to change her image–but, as usual, Dad doesn’t approve, and this time his anger reaches frightening new heights. Will Cookie find the strength to stand up for herself? Honest and emotionally resonant, COOKIE faces tough issues with the unflinching directness and unflagging tenderness that make Jacqueline Wilson one of today’s most admired-and popular-authors for young people.
Bird Child
Bullying and the ability to rise above it are at the heart of this strikingly beautiful picture book. All school-aged children have either bullied, been bullied, or witnessed bullying, and all too often, they feel powerless to stop what has been set in motion. Such is not the case with Eliza. Her mother has given her “wings to fly” and the ability to see all the possibilities that lie before her. So, when bullies pick on the new student, Lainey, gradually robbing her of her smile and ability to paint beautiful pictures, Eliza wants to help, and she does, by finding a way to show Lainey all that she can be. Then in the schoolyard, Eliza stands up to the bullies. One by one, the other children add their voices, and soon the bullies have skulked away. Lyrical and eloquent yet realistic and down to earth, Nan Forler’s text is complemented beautifully with François Thisdale’s haunting images. This is a book for every child, every classroom, and every library.
Angel (Exceptional Reading & Language Arts Titles For Upper Grades)
Freya’s intense passion for angels led her into years of mental illness. Now, just when she’s starting to believe she’s normal again, a dark angel starts to follow her. Soon she learns a stunning truth: She is an angel herself. And an angel’s job is nothing like she imagined it would be…
The Fat Man
Herbert Muskie is The Fat Man. When he catches skinny, hungry Colin Potter stealing a chocolate bar, he forces Colin to become his partner in crime. This begins an ever-escalating cycle of dominance fueled by Muskie’s hatred of the people of Loomis–a grudge Colin doesn’t understand.
Finn’s Search
Although he is afraid of Andrew Aldie, twelve-year-old Chris Cooper agrees to help his friend Finn Lochlan look for a way to stop Andrew’s father from opening a gravel pit near their Scottish village.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
In his first book for young adults, bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author’s own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings by acclaimed artist Ellen Forney, that reflect the character’s art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he was destined to live.
Featured in Volume I, Issue 2 of WOW Review.
Ice Cream Con
Jake and his buddies are over being bullied by the thugs at the housing projects he calls home. That’s why Jake decides to play the goons at their own game by creating a fake gangster, the Big Baresi. But before long, the imaginary mobster seems to have taken on a life of his own! The stakes are raised when a stash of stolen diamonds goes missing. From behind the wheel of an ice cream van, Jake’s got to pull off the ultimate con–while managing to keep the mint chocolate chip from a meltdown. Because, as the Big Baresi knows, revenge is a dish best served cold.