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Anthem
by
Ayn Rand |
Plot Summary: A
stunning and brilliantly realized future
world in which individuality has been
crushed is the theme of Ayn Rand's
bestselling masterpiece, "Anthem". Rand
presents her tale of a man who dares to
make individual choices, to seek
knowledge in a dark age, to love the
woman of his choice. In a society in
which people have no name, no
independence, and no values, he is
hunted for the unpardonable crime:
having the courage to stand above the
crowd.
Why It's A Favorite:
The thought that "I" could be a foreign
concept never occurred to me.
Until I read this book, I had taken my
individuality for granted. I was a
typical disgruntled teenager wanting to
be just like everyone else. Then, I began to think
of people as individuals, with different
traits and different choices. I
looked at my own individuality, and
began to see the beauty behind it. |
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Beauty
by Robin McKinley |
Plot Summary: A
retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
Beauty has never liked her nickname. She
is thin and awkward; it is her two
sisters who are the beautiful ones. But
what she lacks in looks, she can perhaps
make up for in courage.
Why It's A Favorite:
This is the first fairy tale retelling
I'd read that looked at things from a
more grown-up perspective. I found
it intriguing, and it opened up a new
world of fairy tale retellings, and new
ways of thinking about old ideas.Horn Book
Fanfare List |
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Good Night, Mr.
Tom
by Michelle Magorian |
Plot Summary:
London is poised on the brink of World
War 11. Timid, scrawny Willie Beech --
the abused child of a single mother --
is evacuated to the English countryside.
At first, he is terrified of everything,
of the country sounds and sights, even
of Mr. Tom, the gruff, kindly old man
who has taken him in. But gradually
Willie forgets the hate and despair of
his past. He learns to love a world he
never knew existed, a world of
friendship and affection in which harsh
words and daily beatings have no place.
Then a telegram comes. Willie must
return to his mother in London. When
weeks pass by with no word from Willie,
Mr. Tom sets out for London to look for
the young boy he has come to love as a
son.
Why It's A Favorite:
This was the first story I'd read where
the main character had been abused.
The two main adults in this story, the
mother and Mr. Tom, seem to be so
similar in the beginning. Yet they
are completely different in the end.
What really hit home was this:
hard times can make hard people, but
one's true colors shine through when
faced with others in need. Are you
a strong soul who reaches out to them?
Or do you turn away and care only for
yourself?
Horn Book Fanfare
List |
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Harry Potter
by J.K. Rowling |
Plot Summary:
Rescued from the outrageous neglect of
his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a
great destiny proves his worth while
attending Hogwarts School for Witchcraft
and Wizardry.
Why It's A Favorite:
These books inspired me to write stories
for children. Now that I'm doing
it, it's a wonder I didn't think of it
sooner. But I'm just glad I did,
and I'm grateful to Harry Potter for
putting it in my head. |
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His Dark Materials
by Phillip Pullman |
Plot Summary: 1st
book - Accompanied by her daemon, Lyra
Belacqua sets out to prevent her best
friend and other kidnapped children from
becoming the subject of gruesome
experiments in the Far North. 2nd book -
As the boundaries between worlds begin
to dissolve, Lyra and her daemon help
Will Parry in his search for his father
and for a powerful, magical knife. 3rd
book - Lyra and Will find themselves at
the center of a battle between the
forces of the Authority and those
gathered by Lyra's father, Lord Asriel.
Why It's A Favorite:
I read these books in quick
succession - I couldn't have managed if
I'd had to wait for each book to be
published. These books had a
profound impact on me and how I view the
universe as a whole. Specifically,
my place in the universe. This was
a very personal revelation so I won't be
sharing. Suffice to say, these are
three of my all time favorite books.
Hornbook Fanfare List |
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The Hobbit
by J.R.R. Tolkien |
Plot Summary:
Bilbo Baggins, a respectable, well-to-do
hobbit, lives comfortably in his
hobbit-hole until the day the wandering
wizard Gandalf chooses him to take part
in an adventure from which he may never
return.
Why It's A Favorite:
I read an illustrated edition at a time
when I was having trouble transitioning
from picture books to books without
pictures. The illustrations
weren't on every page, so I had to form
my own images to piece the story
together until the next picture came
along. By the time I finished the
book, I found I had skipped some of the
illustrations in order to keep reading
and find out what was going to happen
next. This opened up a new world
of books to me, and I have been an avid
reader ever since. |
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Holes
by Louis Sachar |
Plot Summary: As
further evidence of his family's bad
fortune which they attribute to a curse
on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats
is sent to a hellish correctional camp
in the Texas desert where he finds his
first real friend, a treasure, and a new
sense of himself.
Why It's A Favorite:
Stanley Yelnats has a family curse, so
what does he do that sets things right?
Dig holes! Hard, sweaty,
exhausting work - much like digging
through your own past to deal with
issues that make your life difficult.
The parallel is so clever, and told with
the perfect balance of comedy.
Makes me wish I'd thought of it.
:)
National Book Award
Winner, Newberry Award Winner |
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Invisible
by Pete Hautman |
Plot Summary: Lots
of people think Doug Hanson is a freak
-- he gets beat up after school and the
girl of his dreams calls him a worm.
Doug's only refuge is building elaborate
model trains in his basement and hanging
out with his best friend, Andy Morrow.
Andy is nothing like Doug: He's a
popular football star who could date any
girl in school. Despite their
differences, Doug and Andy talk about
everything -- except what happened at
the Tuttle place a few years back.
Why It's A Favorite:
The plot twist in this story is
jaw-dropping. I've had a similar idea
running around in my head, but after
reading this story I've since put it on
a shelf. Until I can learn to
weave the story at least as well as Pete Hautman has woven Invisible,
it'll stay there. |
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The Moves Make the
Man
by Bruce Brooks |
Plot Summary:
Jerome Foxworthy -- the Jayfox to his
friends -- likes to think he can handle
anything. He handled growing up without
a father. He handled being the first
black kid in school. And he sure can
handle a basketball. Then Jerome meets
Bix Rivers -- mysterious and moody, but
a great athlete. So Jerome decides to
teach Bix his game. He can tell that Bix
has the talent. All he's got to do is
learn the right moves.
Why It's A Favorite:
Life requires so many things in order to
get through it without too much struggle.
So many people tell children that they
should always tell the truth, no matter
what. But is that how things
really are? There's truth, and
there's diplomacy. How much of
truth is in diplomacy, and vice versa?
What if a child isn't taught diplomacy?
Does this make the world black and
white? That seems to be the case
for Bix Rivers, since he went from
complete honesty to complete dishonesty
after realizing that complete honesty
doesn't always work. Sometimes you
have to fumble through the gray areas in
order to get to where you're going.
I admire Bruce Brooks for bringing such
intriguing questions to kids.
Newberry Award
Honor |
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A Single Shard
by Linda Sue Park |
Plot Summary:
Tree-ear is an orphan boy in a
12th-century Korean potters’ village.
When he accidentally breaks a pot, he
must work for the master to pay for the
damage by setting off on a difficult and
dangerous journey that will change his
life forever.
Why It's A Favorite:
What struck me the most in this story is
Tree-ear's ability to salvage.
More than just the salvaged shard of
pottery at the end, though. His
way of life was full of salvage: getting
what he needs to survive, saving food
for his companion by the river, but
mostly finding more out of working with
clay than the throwing. He
constantly looks at new angles - an
ability that probably arose from
survival, but that he kept using in
order to make his life better.
Very admirable.Newberry Award
Winner |
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A Wrinkle in Time
by Madeleine L'Engle |
Plot Summary: Meg
Murray, her little brother Charles
Wallace, and their mother are having a
midnight snack on a dark and stormy
night when an unearthly stranger appears
at their door. He claims to have been
blown off course, and goes on to tell
them that there is such a thing as a "tesseract,"
which, if you didn't know, is a wrinkle
in time. Meg's father had been
experimenting with time-travel when he
suddenly disappeared. Will Meg, Charles
Wallace, and their friend Calvin outwit
the forces of evil as they search
through space for their father.
Why It's A Favorite:
Before reading this story, it never
occurred to me that my faults could also
be strengths. I grew up
constantly hearing how stubborn I was, like it's a
bad thing. But this story showed
me that I could redirect it to
something more constructive. So I
did, and probably accomplished ten times
more in my life than I would have
otherwise. For this, I profusely
thank Madeleine L'Engle.
Newberry Award
Winner |
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