This week, a chance to hear what our students are reading – in their voices:
One student, a 5th grade girl, has read nearly every book on our shelves. It’s awesome to watch her scanning the titles to see which ones she may have missed. So when she came to the desk last week, put a book down in front of me, and proclaimed it “the best book I’ve ever read,” she had my full attention. This is the book:
And here is her glowing review: “I loved this book so much. It was one of the best books I have ever read. I would totally recommend it for anyone, and if you read it, I hope you love it as much as me.” The Sea in Winter is about a young girl named Maisie who is both a dancer and a Native American. After an injury forces her to stop dancing, she has to find a way forward with the help of her supportive blended family.
Another voracious reader, a 6th grader, recently wrote reviews of several of her favorites.
THE WESTING GAME by Ellen Raskin – The Westing Game is a suspenseful mystery that is super hard to put down. A group of random people come together for the reading of Samuel W. Westing’s will, but soon find themselves in the middle of a plot-twisting mystery with blizzards, burglaries, and murderers. Any fan of Nancy Drew or just a general mystery lover will appreciate this book.
ENOLA HOLMES AND THE CASE OF THE MISSING MARQUESS by Nancy Springer – Enola Holmes and the Case of the Missing Marquess is the first of a six book series of mysteries set in the mid-1800’s London era. Enola Holmes is the sister of Sherlock Holmes, and sets off to solve a mystery herself when her mother goes missing. Enola is a character very easy to connect to, and it is easy to lose yourself in the investigations and clues of this story. Any fan of Nancy Drew or the Sherlock Holmes collection will enjoy this beautifully written mystery. There is also a Netflix movie called “Enola,” based on this novel.
THE WISHMAKERS by Tyler Whitesides – The Wishmakers is a funny and fun to read adventure/fantasy story. A boy named Ace opens a peanut butter jar one day, and a genie comes out! Ace is given a quest and finds out that he has only a week to save the world. It is the first in a two-book series, the second being, The Wishbreaker. I would recommend this book to fans of the Percy Jackson series, or possibly The Candymakers books by Wendy Mass.
We’re fortunate to work with many enthusiastic young readers, and right now we have a dedicated group of Upper Elementary boys who are almost daily visitors. Here are some of the series they are racing through:
The Bodyguard series by Chris Bradford
The Last Kids on Earth series by Max Brallier
Percy Jackson – and all of the series by Rick Riordan
Books by Allan Gratz
The Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz
The Storm Runner series by J.C. Cervantes
and not surprisingly…..the Harry Potter series
The middle school students, to support their study of WWII, recently read Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli. Milkweed is the heartbreaking story of a young boy living in Warsaw during the Holocaust. As their culminating project, the students each created one page interpretations of the novel. Here are three of them:
I’ll leave you with a cloud – but not a dark one. This is the cover under the dust jacket of a new book about the water cycle called When Cloud Became a Cloud by Rob Hodgson.

I hope there are more sunny days ahead than cloudy ones – Happy Reading!