Battle of the Books 2010 -2011 Milkweed

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Battle of the Books 2010 -2011

Milkweed n n n n n Written by Jerry Spinelli Misha is an orphan in Warsaw, Poland during World War II. The only reason he has a name is because his friend Uri made it up along with a story of his family. He had no memory of anything before he met Uri. Misha is very naïve, he does not understand what is happening around him. The only thing he really knows how to do is to steal and run. He always wears a yellow stone around his neck. Uri told him it was gift from his father before he died. He also told Misha that he was a gypsy, which Misha thought was better than a Jew. But he doesn’t understand what either is. The day the “Jackboots”, the Nazis occupied Warsaw, Misha thought it was a parade. He was impressed by the soldiers and wanted to be just like them in spite of not knowing what they were doing. During one of his daily expeditions for food, Misha found a ripe tomato in the backyard of a little girl. Her name was Janina Milgrom and she was Jewish. She invited him to her birthday party, where he ran off with the cake. He thought they were burning the cake. So he blew out the candles and ran off with it. To make up for his mistake Misha stole another cake and put the candles from her other cake on it and left it on the step. Misha began bringing Janina and her family food and coal. Janina would leave gifts on the step for Misha, a gum drop, a candy cigarette, a button, a glass dog. Misha’s favorite food was hazelnut crème candy. Uri loved pickles.

Milkweed n n n n Dr. Korczak was the man that ran the orphanage. Uri and Misha would steal coal, “black pearls” and food and take it to the orphanage. Misha never identified himself as an orphan. He always had great pity for them, but never saw the sorrow in his situation. A wall was built to partition the city off into an area designated as the ghetto. That is where all Jews and gypsies were sent to live. Misha was able to travel through the wall because he was small enough to fit through a drain hole. Misha told all of his friends that Janina was his sister, but they all knew she wasn’t. He just made things up. Inside the ghetto, Misha lived with the Janina- Milgrom family- her mom, her dad, and uncle Shepel. Janina’s dad was a pharmacist and had horded medicine to trade. He used a bottle of medicine to pay for their trip to the cemetery when Mrs. Milgrom died. One night when Misha went through the wall he found Uri, He was working as a bus boy in one of the restaurants where Misha liked to come and take food. With his red hair, Misha could pass as a non-jew. Inside the wall food was scarce. Once Misha bought a “roasted squirrel”, but didn’t understand because he hadn’t seen any alive. It was a rat. The jackboots starting loading people in the ghetto onto a train. The day everyone was loaded on the train Misha was separated from Janina and her father. Misha was hit in the head with the butt of a gun. When he awoke everyone was gone. He walked down the tracks to find them. He ended up on a farm where he worked for several years until the war was declared over.

Milkweed Misha went to America. He stood on the corners of streets telling his story. He got married, but his wife left him just as they found out she was to have a baby. n Years later the daughter found Misha. She had waited to find him so that He could give her daughter her middle name, Janina. Misha moved in with his daughter. n He dug out a milkweed plant and planted it in the flower bed. n Misha thought about all of those who “told” who he was: thief, studpid, Jew, Gyspy, and now to his granddaughter he’s Poppynoodle! n

The Weirdo n n n n Written by Theodore Taylor Sam, finds a dead man in the Powhatan Swamp, NC. It was in front of her house, in a ditch. She was 9 yrs. Old. Now she’s 16. Uncle Jack and Aunt Peaches leave her in charge of their prize winning dog, Baron Von Buckner “Bucky”. He runs off into the swamp chasing after a bear. They say he’s worth $50, 000. Sam doesn’t find the dog, and ends up spending the night in a tree stump in the swamp. She sees a “swamp walker” the next morning carrying something over his shoulder to the sand sunk. She thought she saw a foot hanging out of the bundle. It reminds her of the dead man Alvin Howell. She finds her way to the spillway house where John Clewt and his son lives. Their dogs bite her, and chase her up onto the roof. Charles “Chip”, John’s 17 yr. old son comes home and finds Sam. He wears a baseball cap to cover his half bald head and scarred face from a plane crash. Chip soaks Sam’s feet, gives her a pair of fuzzy slippers, fixes her a watercress sandwich, and lets her call her Mom.

The Clewt is a painter and a taxidermist. He started Weirdo (contin. ) n John n n painting as part of his therapy, he was an alcoholic, but became well-known for his work in New York. Chip has been working with Tom Telford, a graduate student of NC State, who is studying the bear population of the Powhatan. He wants the see if the population has increased enough to lift the moratorium, ban on hunting, in the spring. Chip wants to save the bears, but the area he lives in is full of avid hunters who do not share his enthusiasm for preserving nature. Tom and Chip catch a poacher in the swamp. Tom is declared missing when he doesn’t call anyone for a week. He never made it to Raleigh. Chip and Sam find his Jeep hidden in shrubs off of trail #8. After the announcement of the campaign to save the bears is published in the local paper, Pilot, the Clewt’s windows are shot out with buckshot during their Thanksgiving dinner. Chip wants Sam to get hypnotized to help her remember the “swamp walker” she saw the morning they met, hoping it would help them find Tom, or his murderer.

The Weirdo (contin. ) n n Sam’s father makes a steel trap to kill a bear for getting into his apples. Sam finds the bear, calls Chip and they tranquilize him to release him just as Sam’s Dad gets home. Sam stands up to her Dad and refuses to move from in front of Chip and the bear when he comes out with a pistol. Sam’s father organizes a rally at the community center for all of the hunters to express their outrage for the proposal to continue the ban on hunting in the Powhatan. Chip decides to go to the rally to explain his views even though he knows he will not be welcome. At the rally Sam stands up while her dad is speaking and moves to the other side of the auditorium to sit beside Chip. Only the 2 nd time in her life she’s ever defied her father. When Sam gets hypnotized, the detective on the Tom’s case, Ed Truesdale, finds out that Sam never saw the Swamp Walker’s face. But on the day she found Alvin Howell, she saw a brown truck with utility ladders on the side the day that she found Alvin Howell’s body. Sam tried to convince him there was a connection between the two incidents.

The Weirdo (contin. ) n n n n Uncle Jack and Aunt Peaches returned from Paris. They were disappointment that Sam didn’t take better care of Bucky. They though his scrapes and scars would prevent them from breeding him. Sam skipped school to go with Chip to the Albemarle County Courthouse to await the decision. The court voted to lift the hunting ban for deer, but NOT bears. Buddy Bailey, a painter from Sky town, was finally charged with Tom Telford’s and Alvin Howell’s murders after Jack Slade confessed to knowledge of Buddy’s connection with the victims. Buddy had promised Jack some contraband (outlawed) bear steaks, but never paid up. So Jack turned him in to the cops. Chip went back to Columbus, Ohio for more cosmetic surgery. He said his ear looked like “scorched biscuit”. He and Samantha stayed in close contact. She called him just as soon as she found out about Buddy. The swamp gave Chip back his father, a mentor and friend in Tom, a girlfriend, Sam, and it also helped him realize he did not have to hide from the world any longer.

Forged by Fire n n n n Written by Sharon Draper Gerald is a young African-American boy who’s mother is an alcoholic, drug addict, and likes to party. She leaves him alone for days at a time and doesn’t really take care of him. One day while she is gone, he plays with her cigarette lighter and catches the apartment on fire. Gerald is saved, but his mom is sent to jail for 5 years for child abandonment. Gerald goes to live with his Great Aunt Queen where he is happy, loved and treated well until his Aunt dies from a heart attack on his 9 th birthday while he is out riding his birthday present, a new bike. Gerald goes to live with his Mom, Monique, and her new boyfriend Jordan Sparks and their daughter Angel. Jordan is violent and physically abusive towards Gerald’s step-sister Angel and his mother never believes him that anything is happening. Gerald is very protective of Angel and tries to help her by confiding what is happening at his house to Mr. Washington, his friend Robert’s dad. Jordan is sent to jail and everything gets better for awhile. Gerald plays basketball for the Hazelwood Tigers and Angel dances, while Monique finds a job and actually takes care of her children. Jordan is released from jail, and Monique is hit by a car as she runs to get cigarettes for him and is barely alive. Gerald is again left alone to protect Angel from Jordan. One night, Gerald’s friend Robert is killed in a car accident after a ballgame and he is terribly upset. Gerald looses touch with Mr. Washington for awhile. In the end, he confronts Jordan in a battle in their apartment after it catches on fire from a hotdog that Angel left cooking on the stove. Jordan dies in the fire and Gerald, Monique, and Angel try to find a normal life for themselves.

The City of Ember n n n n n Written by Jeanne Du. Prau Lina is a 12 year old girl who lives in the City of Ember with her sister Poppy and her Grandmother. Her father died of the “coughing” and her mother died after giving birth. The City of Ember is dark and is lit only by large street lights and lamps in the home. Sometimes they have blackouts, which are happening more and more. The generator that runs the city is more than 250 years old, and people can’t fix it. Her Grandmother runs a yarn shop that she collects from old sweaters and blankets. Lina is graduating from school and hopes to become a messenger on assignment day. Instead, she is assigned to work in the pipe works. Dune, a friend of her trades with her so that she can be a messenger, running around delivering messages that people give her for. 20 cents each. He wants to work in the pipe works to explore the tunnels and find a way to fix the generator. He also collects bugs and draws their pictures for a book. He has a green caterpillar that he found on a cabbage leaf in a box in his room to study. On her first day, she ventures onto the roof of the gathering hall and disgraces herself. The mayor is upset. While there, Lina sees a picture of her Great Grandfather who used to be a mayor of the city. The City of Ember is in trouble, the stock room is running out and people don’t have food, vitamins, clothes or light bulbs! When Lina visits Looper’s store to deliver a message, she finds out that he has new colored pencils! She buys a blue and green one for $10. 00, almost all of her pay! In her closet one day, she finds a beautiful box with a strange lock, inside is a paper which Poppy tries to eat. When Lina recovers it, she finds that it is instructions left by the builders for a way out of Ember.

The City of Ember n n n n n Lina is left all alone in the world after her grandmother dies and she and Poppy have to go and live with their neighbor. Determined to decipher the letter, Lina shows it to Clary, the gardener who is trying to save the potato crop from a fungus. She also shows it to Dune and they begin to fill in the blanks. Dune explores tunnel 351 and finds a secret room filled with scarce supplies and the major in there eating! He is stealing them with Looper’s help! They tell the town police, but realize that they are in on the plan too and are receiving extra gifts from the mayor to keep quite about it. As Lina and Dune try to escape the City of Ember, they take Poppy and look for a way to invent a “moveable” light. The letter leads them down the pipe works tunnel to the side of the river near a rock with an “E” on it. There they must lower themselves down by rope to a secret door in the side of the wall. After opening it with a key, they find boxes of candles and matches, but don’t know what they are. The accidentally find a way to light it and then discover that the room is full of many boats, but don’t know what those are either. Lina, Dune and Poppy finally get in the boat and go down the river for many hours to find themselves in a new land. Here, Poppy find a diary of one of the original settlers and finds that they moved there to escape danger. 60 men, 60 women, and 120 babies who are paired up randomly into families. The babies are to never know anything about the land them come from – Earth. Lina and Dune see the sun & moon for the first time and are amazed at light. They also discover that their City of Ember is inside a deep cave beneath the earth. They try to send word to the residents left by dropping a note down into the whole that will land in the town square……. .

Out of the Dust n n n n Written by Karen Hesse Written as a series of poems in diary format. Billie Jo lives on her family’s wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Great Depression from 1934 -1935 when Roosevelt was president. There has been no rain for months and the wind and heat destroys every crop they try to grow. They owe money to everyone. Her Daddy wants to dig a pond to catch rain water, but her mother thinks it is a crazy idea, all she wants to do is keep her apple tree alive. Billie Jo spends her free time playing the piano while her friend Mad Dog sings. Her Ma has taught her how to play. While her Ma is pregnant, she tips over a bucket of kerosene while she’s cooking, and catches her clothes on fire. Billie Jo tries to put the fire out, but picks up the same bucket of kerosene that her father has left beside the stove, mistaking it for water, and catches her Ma on fire even more. Her Ma dies a few week later after giving birth to her baby brother. Her baby brother named Franklin dies as well and they are buried on a hill together. Billie Jo is badly burned on her hands from the accident and is unable to play the piano any longer. Her hands look like those of a monster. Daddy never speaks to her anymore because he is very sad, and neither of them speak to each other, because they feel Ma’s death is the others fault. Billie Jo finally tries to play the piano again and wins the only competition that she enters, but thinks that people let her win because she is crippled. In the end, Daddy meets someone and marries her so that Billie Jo will have a Ma. Daddy does dig the pond and the rain comes and fills it as the drought ends and the fields begin to grow.

The Outsiders Written by S. E. Hinton is about two weeks in the life of a 14 -year-old boy during the 1960’s in Oklahoma. The novel tells the story of Ponyboy Curtis and his struggles with right and wrong in a society in which he believes that he is an outsider. n n Ponyboy and his two brothers—Darrel (Darry), who is 20, and Sodapop, who is 16—have recently lost their parents in an automobile accident. Pony and Soda are allowed to stay under Darry’s guardianship as long as they all behave themselves. The boys are greasers, a class term that refers to the young men on the East Side, the poor side of town, that have long greasy hair. The greasers’ rivals are the Socs, short for Socials, who are the “West-side rich kids. ” The story opens with Pony walking home alone from a movie; he is stopped by a gang of Socs who proceed to beat him up. The Socs badly injure and threaten to kill Ponyboy; however, some of his gang happen upon the scene and run the Socs off. The next night Pony and two other gang members, Dallas Winston (Dally) and Johnny Cade, go to a drive-in movie. There they meet Sherri (Cherry) Valance and her friend Marcia, who have left their Soc boyfriends at the drive-in because the boys were drinking. Dally leaves after giving the girls a hard time, but another greaser, Two-Bit Mathews, joins Pony and Johnny. The boys offer to walk the girls home after the movie, but along the way, the girls’ boyfriends reappear and threaten to fight the greasers. Cherry stops the fight from happening, and the girls leave with their boyfriends. Pony and Johnny go to a vacant lot to hang out before heading home. They fall asleep, and when Johnny wakes Pony up it’s 2 a. m. Pony runs home, because the time is way past his curfew, and Darry is waiting up. Darry is furious with Pony and, in the heat of the moment, he hits him. Pony runs out of the house and returns to the lot to find Johnny. Pony wants to run away, but instead they go to the park to cool off before heading back home.

The Outsiders n n At the park, Cherry’s and Marcia’s boyfriends reappear. Pony and Johnny are outnumbered, and the Socs grab Ponyboy and shove him face first into the frigid fountain, holding his head under the water. Realizing that Ponyboy is drowning, Johnny panics, pulls his switchblade, and kills the Soc, Bob. Ponyboy and Johnny seek out Dally for help in running away to avoid being arrested for Bob’s murder. He gives them $50 and directions to a hideout outside of town. The boys hop a freight train and find the hideout where they are to wait until Dally comes for them. Hiding in an abandoned, rural church, they feel like real outsiders, with their greased, long hair and general hoody appearance. They both cut their hair, and Pony colors his for a disguise. They pass the time in the church playing cards and reading aloud from Gone with the Wind. Dally shows up after a week, and takes them to the Dairy Queen in Windrixville so they have something to eat beside bologna. Thanks to Dally, the police think that the boys are headed for Texas. Dally also brings them the news that Cherry Valance is now being a spy for the greasers, and helping them out against the Socs. She has also testified that Bob was drunk the night of his death and that she was sure that the killing had been in self-defense. Johnny decides that he has a chance now, and announces that he wants to turn himself in. They head back to the church and discover that it is on fire. A school group is there, apparently on some kind of outing, and little kids are trapped inside. Without thinking, Pony and Johnny race inside and rescue the kids. As they are handing the kids outside to Dally, the burning roof collapses. Pony barely escapes, but a piece of timber falls on Johnny, burning him badly and breaking his back. The boys, now viewed as heroes, are taken via ambulance back to town, where Pony reunites with his brothers.

The Outsiders n n Johnny dies of his injuries. Dally is overcome with grief, and he robs a grocery store. He flees the police and calls the gang from a telephone booth, asking them to pick him up in the vacant lot and take him to a hiding place. The police chase Dally to the lot, and as the gang watches, Dally pulls a “black object” from his waistband the officers shoot him. Overwhelmed, Ponyboy passes out. Ponyboy wakes up in bed at home. He has suffered a concussion from a kick to the head at the rumble and has been delirious in bed for several days. When he is well, he attends his hearing, where the judge treats him kindly and acquits him of responsibility for Bob’s death. The court rules that Ponyboy will be allowed to remain at home with Darry. For a time, Ponyboy feels listless and empty. His grades slip, he feels hostile to Darry, and he loses his appetite. At last, Sodapop tells Ponyboy that he (Sodapop) is angry and frustrated because of the tension at home. He tearfully asks that Ponyboy and Darry stop fighting. Finally understanding the value of his family, Ponyboy agrees not to fight with Darry anymore. He finds that for the first time he can remember Dally’s and Johnny’s deaths without pain or denial. He decides to tell their story and begins writing a term paper for his English class, which turns out to be the novel itself.

Heaven n Written by Angela Johnson -14 year old Marley lives in the town of Heaven with her Momma and Pop and brother Butchy. They moved there because her Momma found a postcard from there on a bench and thought it looked like a nice place to live. -She has an Uncle Jack who always writes her letters about his travels, but never visits. Her parents always send him money through the Western Union and Marley takes it to the store for them, it’s exactly 1637 steps from her house. The store stays open for 23 ½ hours each day and each time she gets a jawbreaker from the store to eat as her treat. -Marley has had lots of pets, 8 dogs in fact, all with the same name! -Marley’s best friend was Shoogy, but she didn’t really trust their family because they seemed too perfect. Shoogy was always in beauty pageants, but what Marley didn’t know was that Shoogy cuts herself to help her block out the pain. She cuts her thighs with a fork.

Heaven n Written by Angela Johnson -Life is fine in Heaven until they receive a letter from the church Deacon in Alabama, where they used to live, looking for baptismal records. The church had burned down and they needed replacements. -When this happens, Marley finds out that Uncle Jack is really her father and her mother had died in a car accident when she was really young. This makes her “brother” Butchy question his parents, so he digs through his parents closet to hunt through a metal box looking for his birth certificate. -Marley babysat for a little boy after replying to a purple flier that listed a major requirement as being able to sing the song “You Are My Sunshine. ” -Marley’s favorite thing to eat is rhubarb pie!

Heaven n Written by Angela Johnson - Marley’s father likes to listen to crickets out back when he is about to loose his cool. It relaxes him. -When the kids need to relax, they go to the wall around the garden and paint graffiti on it since the town allows it. -The water tower in the town of Heaven looks like E. T. ’s head. - Each Sunday the family fills the car up with gas and drives around town, but one Sunday they don’t because Marley can’t find a letter from her mother. -Marley learns more about her mother and finds out that she was afraid of thunder storms and lightening. She used to take Marley out when she was young to keep her from being scared.

Heaven n Written by Angela Johnson -Marley’s town celebrates Halloween in July and instead of carving pumpkins, they carve watermelons. -Marley also finds out that her mother loved yellow flowers. Once her Uncle sent her sunflower seeds to plant, but at the time she didn’t know why. -Marley likes to run around in cutoff t-shirts, knee-high boots, and frosted lipstick. Her bedroom is decorated with glow in the dark stars and the moon on her ceiling. -In the end Marley decides that a family does not only depend on biological connections to matter, it depends on the people who make it!

To Kill a Mockingbird n n n Written by Harper Lee To Kill a Mockingbird is primarily a novel about growing up under extraordinary circumstances in the 1930 s in the Southern United States. The story covers a span of three years. Scout Finch lives with her brother Jem and their father Atticus in the fictitious town of Maycomb, Alabama. Maycomb is a small, close-knit town, and every family has its social station depending on where they live, who their parents are, and how long their ancestors have lived in Maycomb. A widower, Atticus raises his children by himself, with the help of kindly neighbors and a black housekeeper named Calpurnia. Scout and Jem almost instinctively understand the complexities and machinations of their neighborhood and town. The only neighbor who puzzles them is the mysterious Arthur Radley, nicknamed Boo, who lives with his brother Nathan and never comes outside. When Dill, another neighbor’s nephew, starts spending summers in Maycomb, the three children begin an obsessive—and sometimes perilous— quest to lure Boo outside. Scout is a tomboy who prefers the company of boys and generally solves her differences with her fists. She tries to make sense of a world that demands that she act like a lady, a brother who criticizes her for acting like a girl, and a father who accepts her just as she is. Scout hates school, gaining her most valuable education on her own street and from her father.

To Kill a Mockingbird n n n She and Jem start finding gifts apparently left for them in a knothole of a tree on the Radley property. Dill returns the following summer, and he, Scout, and Jem begin to act out the story of Boo Radley. Atticus puts a stop to their antics, urging the children to try to see life from another person’s perspective before making judgments. But, on Dill’s last night in Maycomb for the summer, the three sneak onto the Radley property, where Nathan Radley shoots at them. Jem loses his pants in the ensuing escape. When he returns for them, he finds them mended and hung over the fence. The next winter, Jem and Scout find more presents in the tree, presumably left by the mysterious Boo. Nathan Radley eventually plugs the knothole with cement. Shortly thereafter, a fire breaks out in another neighbor’s house, and during the fire someone slips a blanket on Scout’s shoulders as she watches the blaze. Convinced that Boo did it, Jem tells Atticus about the mended pants and the presents.

To Kill a Mockingbird n n n Not quite midway through the story, Scout and Jem discover that their father is going to represent a black man named Tom Robinson, who is accused of raping and beating a white woman. Suddenly, Scout and Jem have to tolerate a barrage of racial slurs and insults because of Atticus’ role in the trial. During this time, Scout has a very difficult time restraining from physically fighting with other children, a tendency that gets her in trouble with her Aunt Alexandra and Uncle Jack. Even Jem, the older and more levelheaded of the two, loses his temper a time or two. After responding to a neighbor’s (Mrs. Dubose) verbal attack by destroying her plants, Jem is sentenced to read to her every day after school for one month. Ultimately, Scout and Jem learn a powerful lesson about bravery from this woman. As the trial draws nearer, Aunt Alexandra comes to live with them under the guise of providing a feminine influence for Scout. During the novel’s last summer, at the trial itself, the children sit in the “colored balcony” with the town’s black citizens. Tom is tried and convicted even though Atticus proves that Tom could not have possibly committed the crime of which he is accused. In the process of presenting Tom’s case, Atticus inadvertently insults and offends Bob Ewell, a nasty, lazy drunkard whose daughter is Tom’s accuser. In spite of Tom’s conviction, Ewell vows revenge on Atticus and the judge for besmirching his already tarnished name. All three children are bewildered by the jury’s decision to convict; Atticus tries to explain why the jury’s decision was in many ways a foregone conclusion.

To Kill a Mockingbird § Shortly after the trial, Scout attends one of her aunt’s Missionary Society meetings. Atticus interrupts the meeting to report that Tom Robinson had been killed in an escape attempt. §Things slowly return to normal in Maycomb, and Scout and Jem realize that Boo Radley is no longer an all-consuming curiosity. The story appears to be winding down, but then Bob Ewell starts making good on his threats of revenge. §Scout is in the Halloween pageant at school, playing the part of a ham. With Atticus and Aunt Alexandra both too tired to attend, Jem agrees to take Scout to the school. After embarrassing herself on-stage, Scout elects to leave her ham costume on for the walk home with Jem. §On the way home, the children hear odd noises, but convince themselves that the noises are coming from another friend who scared them on their way to school that evening. Suddenly, a scuffle occurs. Scout really can’t see outside of her costume, but she hears Jem being pushed away, and she feels powerful arms squeezing her costume’s chicken wire against her skin. During this attack, Jem badly breaks his arm. Scout gets just enough of a glimpse out of her costume to see a stranger carrying Jem back to their house.

To Kill a Mockingbird §The sheriff arrives at the Finch house to announce that Bob Ewell has been found dead under the tree where the children were attacked, having fallen on his own knife after “supposedly” tripping on a tree root. By this time, Scout realizes that the stranger is none other than Boo Radley, and that Boo is actually responsible for killing Ewell, thus saving her and Jem’s lives. §In spite of Atticus’ insistence to the contrary, the sheriff refuses to press charges against Boo. Scout agrees with this decision and explains her understanding to her father. Boo sees Jem one more time and then asks Scout to take him home, but rather than escort him home as though he were a child, she has Boo escort her to his house as a gentleman would. §With Boo safely home, Scout returns to Jem’s room where Atticus is waiting. He reads her to sleep and then waits by Jem’s bedside for his son to wake up.

Here Lies the Librarian n n n n Written by Richard Peck Peewee and her brother Jake live in Indiana in a small town by themselves after their mother has died and their daddy has left them. Paved roads are coming soon to replace the dirt ones, so they hope they will have more business in their car shop and eventually they might be able to buy their own to drive. The Colonel and Aunt Hat live beside of them and think that automobiles are from the devil. The Colonel also thinks he is still fighting in the Civil War. Peewee idolizes Jake who dreams of being a real auto mechanic as he works in their little car shop fixing flat tires for people. After a tornado blows through town in 1914, the town’s graveyard is unearthed and windows are broken out of the town’s library. The nearby town of Brownsburg makes fun of them and calls them “Rubesburg” because they don’t have a library. Irene Ridpath comes to town to look at the library and runs off the road and has a flat tire. She is shocked when she goes to Jake’s to have it fixed and finds out that Pee. Wee is a girl who’s real name is Eleanor! Irenen, Grace Stutz, Lodelia Fulwider, and Geraldine Harrison are all soriety sister and students of Library Science at Butler U who come to town to apply for the job. All were daughters of wealthy men who offered the library many upgrades, so they were all hired together with no pay.

Here Lies the Librarian n n Irene befriends Peewee and sends her a letter in the mail, the first one Peewee has ever had! She also teaches her how a lady should act and what she should wear. Peewee starts helping Irene to open the new library, when they go to retrieve books from the barn, Irene lets Peewee drive her Stoddard-Dayton, a very expensive car. When the town opens the new library with a party, Irene sends Peewee a new lilac dress to wear. Some boys who want to cause a stir, put a toad in the punch which gets stepped on. Two of the townspeople are scared when they hear a toilet flush for the first time! Grace’s Bearcat, another car, breaks down after her brakes are cut by the Kirby’s, a mean bunch of brothers who fix cars also. In exchange for his services, Grace give him a Brush wooden chassis from the barn so Jake can build his own car. The Kirby’s steal work from Jake and also things from his garage. One night, they even set Peewee’s dogs’ tail on fire as they try to lure them away. Jake and Peewee work on their car until it is finished and they name it the Peewee. They decide to enter it into the big Ten-Mile Auto race, but the night before, it is stolen. Grace loans him the Bearcat and becomes his sponsor. At the auto race, the Kirby boys throw a wrench and hit Jake in the head, knocking him out of the race. Peewee steps in and wins the auto race by crossing the finish line backwards! They do not give her the $50 prize money though because she is a girl, and girls don’t race! Jake moves to Indianapolis to work for Grace’s father at the Stutz Motor Car Company putting in electric headlamps, the new craze. Peewee moves in with the Colonel and Aunt Hat until she finished high school, and Irene leaves to join the American Ambulance Field Service for the war. It is only then that Peewee learns that the Kirby boys didn’t steal the car before the race, Irene and Grace had stolen it! The book ends in 1978 when Al Unser has won his 3 rd Indianapolis 500 race and her sister in law Grace and she are watching the race.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn n n n Written by Betty Smith A Tree Grows in Brooklyn begins on a Saturday afternoon in the summer of 1912 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where a tree called the Tree of Heaven grows amidst the tenement houses. Francie Nolan is eleven years old, and she and her brother are collecting junk to exchange for pennies. The first child of Katie and Johnny Nolan, Francie loves her neighborhood. This particular Saturday is typical. Francie runs many errands for her mother, makes a daily trip to the library, and spends a relaxing afternoon watching her neighbors from the fire escape. Although the Nolans live in a humble apartment in a run down section of town, they fill their home with warmth and love. Johnny Nolan, a young Irish man, sings and waits tables for some extra money, but most of the financial support falls to Katie, who works as a janitor in the building in exchange for rent. The beginning of Book II flashes back to a summer in 1900 when Katie and Johnny first met. Katie and her friend Hildy O'Dair worked in a factory, and Hildy dated a young boy named Johnny Nolan. When Katie first danced with Johnny, she made up her mind to endure any hardship, if she could only spend her life with Johnny. They fell in love and got married within six months. Katie came from a family of strong Austrian women; Johnny was one of many weak and talented men in his family.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn n n The young Johnny and Katie support themselves by working as janitors in a public school, but their lives become more stressful when Katie becomes pregnant. A year after Francie is born, Katie gives birth to a boy, Neeley, who will be her favorite. The stress of living in poverty and having children causes Johnny to become weaker and undependable, while Katie's fighting instinct kicks in. Johnny's drinking problem gets worse and the Nolans move after a binge on his twenty-first birthday brings shame to their family. They love their new apartment on Lorimer Street, and stay until Katie's sister, Sissy, makes some mistakes that shame the family. The house on Grand Street is the third and last of the Nolans's homes in Brooklyn. Neeley and Francie start school the same year. Francie has anticipated school with great delight, but finds the neighborhood school cruel and mean. Her love for learning is juxtaposed with the cruelties of the teachers and other children. One day, Francie happens upon a beautiful school that she wishes she could attend. Johnny figures out a way for Francie to transfer to this kinder school, where rich children are not favored over poor children like Francie. Although she never makes many friends, school becomes a more positive place for Francie. Growing up, Francie and Neeley enjoy all the holidays throughout the year. At this point in the book, the flashback ends, and we return to the point at which the book begins. Through many experiences, Francie loses the innocence that marks her character when the book begins. One of these experiences is the tree-throwing ritual. One Christmas, Francie and Neeley participate in an old Brooklyn tree-catching tradition. They remain standing while the biggest tree in the lot is thrown straight at them. Although they are thrilled with the thought of a Christmas tree, the reader understands the cruelty of this ritual, especially when Katie begins to worry that her children do not even know the hardship they live in.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn n n Another loss of innocence occurs with Francie's run-in with a sex offender. Katie is prepared with a gun, and shoots the criminal, and Francie emerges relatively unscathed. Still, this is Francie's first experience with sex of any kind; around this time, Francie also starts her period, and becomes more aware of the social taboos surrounding women's sexuality. Francie becomes more aware of her father's problems with alcohol. As Francie grows up, Johnny comes home drunk more and more often. Little by little, he becomes more worthless as a breadwinner, and ultimately, his dismissal from the Union puts him over the edge. Also, Katie is pregnant again, which the narrator suggests, makes Johnny all the weaker. Johnny dies Christmas Day, five months before his daughter, Annie Laurie, is born. Her father's death is an important event for Francie's character development. Up till this point, Francie has gone along with her family's Catholic traditions. Now, Francie stops believing in God. She also respected her teachers a great deal, and her English marks especially were important to her. Now, Francie begins to write "sordid" compositions in response to her father's death. Although the teacher disapproves, Francie refuses comply with her order to burn her ugly compositions, and instead burns the flowery compositions that had nothing to do with Francie's life experiences. Although Francie's attitudes toward school and religion may be seen as rebellious, she has not lost her sensitive, caring nature. Francie takes care of her mother in the few days before her delivery, and although she and Katie fight, Francie values her more, knowing the pain and suffering of losing a parent. At the same time, Katie can never replace Johnny for Francie.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn n n Sissy accompanies Francie to her school graduation, where Francie finds red roses sent to her from Johnny, who gave Sissy the money for them two years before. At this moment, Francie grieves for all that she has lost--Johnny, and the innocence that disappeared when he died. Francie and Neeley have to go to work the summer after eighth grade graduation, as Katie cannot support them all. Francie starts working in a factory and then gets a job in a clippings bureau, where she reads papers from all over the country, and learns about the world. One day, she and Neeley proudly present their first week's pay to Katie. Although Francie has a good job, she desperately wants to go to high school. Unfortunately, Katie allows Neeley to go back to school instead of Francie, since they can only afford to send one. The Nolans have more money now with Francie's job, and live more comfortably than they used to. Although Francie never does go to high school, she manages to enroll in college summer classes. America enters World War I, and the world is changing. Technological advances allow Sissy to give birth to a live baby in a hospital. One day Francie meets a young soldier, Lee Rynor who she falls in love with in 48 hours. Lee goes home and marries his fiancée before going to war, leaving Francie with a broken heart. Eventually, Francie finds that she enjoys the company of Ben Blake a successful boy she met at summer school. The climax of the novel comes when Sergeant Mc. Shane asks Katie to marry him; he is a good man who will make it possible for Laurie to grow up without hardship, and Francie and Neeley to go to college. The Nolans move out of their apartment the day before the wedding while Francie gets ready to leave for college at University of Michigan. And the Tree of Heaven in her yard keeps on growing.

Truesight n n n n n Written by David Stahler, Jr. Jacob is a young boy who is being raised in the utopian community of Harmony on a distant planet where everyone is blind, either by choice or by birth. While Jacob is playing with his friend Egan, he is hit by a horrible headache. Eventually the headaches hurt less, but he starts to notice that he can “see” things, at first only shades and shapes, but then he starts to see clearly. The first thing he sees is a bug eating another bug. Jacob’s parents often fight, but he doesn’t know why. When they do this, he hides in his room and listens to music from his metal music box. The music is a song that all children from Harmony know about children who grow up as flowers and are never picked. Jacob’s friend Delaney wants to leave Harmony, but since her father is the high counselor, she can’t. One night during the food delivery when all citizens are supposed to be in their houses, Jacob sneaks out since he can see. He finds Delaney hiding on a hill trying to run away, they are caught so they both run. Later, Jacob hears that Delaney has died, yet there is no funeral or burial. With a finder, Jacob tries to find Delaney but can’t so he knows she isn’t dead. Jacob’s mother is devastated since Delaney was her best piano student. Jacob finds out lots of things now that he can see. People are stealing food from the storehouse, his dad and the other field workers eat while they are picking, his mom and his dad don’t really get along. He also knows that his mother is having an affair with the high counselor of Harmony after he sees them kissing in front of his house.

Truesight n n n Jacob gets in trouble many times for not activating his sounder so others can hear him, but he doesn’t need it anymore since he can see. Jacob learned to recognize people by their faces now that he can see, not just the sound from their sounder. He knows Beth, a girl he likes, because she smells like lilac. Jacob confides in his friend Egan that he can see and Egan tells his father. The police come to get Jacob and take him to the high councilor so a decision about his fate can be made. He can’t live in Harmony like this since it makes people feel uncomfortable. Jacob is taken to the ghostbox, a machine from earth, that can do surgery on him and take away his eyesight again. Jacob learns however when the high counselor winks at him, that he can see as well, so he runs, knowing that they are not going to just fix his sight, they plan to kill him! The book ends with Jacob running past the boundaries of Harmony to find Delaney and escape to a place where he can live with his eyesight, because he doesn’t want to loose it now that he has it. He realizes that there is so much to see, if you only look.

The Land n n § § § Written by Mildred D. Taylor Paul-Edward Logan is born on a plantation in Georgia to a white man and his black mistress, a former slave. He has three white brothers—two who are older and one who his own age—and one black sister. His father is a fair-minded man, and when Paul is little, he sees little difference between his life and the lives of his brothers, especially the youngest brother, Robert, who is his best friend. Throughout his childhood, Paul, who is only one-quarter black and can pass as white, is tormented by the black children who live on the plantation, especially a boy named Mitchell. Eventually, Paul strikes a deal with Mitchell: Paul will teach Mitchell how to read and write, and Mitchell will teach Paul how to fight. Their alliance is sealed when Paul takes the blame for Mitchell, who rides and injures one of Paul's father's best horses. Shortly thereafter, Paul's father sends Paul to learn furniture making in Macon, and he sends Robert to a boy's school in Savannah. The two brothers, now immersed in separate worlds, begin to grow apart. This distance creates a developing rift, especially when Paul fights Robert and two of his white friends because they have beaten and hurt one of the family's horses. As a result, Paul's father whips Paul severely, not for fighting the boys, but for standing up to and striking white men.

The Land n n Several years later, Paul and Mitchell accompany Paul's father to a horse fair in east Texas. Paul is an excellent rider, and a man, whose jockey is ill, asks Paul to ride in a horse race. When Paul's father does not permit him to race, Paul disobeys his father, partially because he feels his father has a double standard about kinship. Paul wins the race but must flee on a train with Mitchell, both to escape his father's wrath and because Mitchell took money from the horse owner that should have gone to Paul. The two young men work as horsemen on a farm in Mississippi and then work in a lumbering camp. In the lumbering camp, the boss, Jessup, resents Paul, who looks like a white man. Eventually, the pair leaves the lumbering camp in search of a better life, and the two part ways. Paul ends up in Vicksburg, where he makes furniture for a friendly white storeowner. Paul carefully saves his money, determined to buy a tract of land south of Vicksburg. He meets an attractive and saucy young girl, Caroline, while making a rocker for her mother. He thinks about asking to court her, but before he can muster the nerve, he discovers that Caroline is betrothed to his dear friend Mitchell, who works at a lumbering camp nearby.

The Land n n n n Impatient to begin his life as a landowner, Paul makes a deal with a miserly white man, Filmore Granger, to clear forty acres of timberland for the man in exchange for ownership of the forty acres. Though this is not the land Paul wants to own, he hopes he can sell it later to buy the land he really desires. Mitchell agrees to work with Paul in exchange for a share of the land. Mitchell and Caroline get married, and the three begin a happy but demanding life that consists of clearing trees from the land. They are occasionally harassed, particularly by a poor white man named Digger Wallace, a worthless drunk. Finally, the land Paul dreams of owning goes on sale, and Paul stakes everything he has to buy 200 acres. Just after he makes the deal, however, Digger Wallace shoots and kills Mitchell. Paul and Caroline work desperately, selling off their belongings one by one to make payments on the 200 acres. When Granger rescinds his deal and seizes ownership of the forty acres, Paul and Caroline are ready to surrender. Just before they must leave the forty acres and foreclose on the 200, Robert appears with a letter from Paul's sister, Cassie. Inside the letter is Paul's inheritance from his mother and money that Cassie had saved—more than enough to pay for the land. Paul and Caroline get married and move onto the 200 acres together.

Surviving the Applewhites n n n n n Written by Stephanie Tolan Jake Semple is a scary kid, word has it that he burned down his old school and was kicked out of every other one in him state! Since his parents are in jail, he has been sent to live with his grandfather in Traybridge, North Carolina but he has thrown him out too! The only place that will take him is a home school named the Creative Academy, run by the most outrageous, forgetful, chaotic, quarrelsome family you’ll ever meet, the Applewhites. E. D. , pronounced E period, D period, NOT Edie is named after her mother’s favorite writer Edith Wharton. She is the most organized in the family. She as 2 brothers and one sister. Cordelia is a dancer, Hal is a reclusive artist who stays in his room to build, and Destiny is the little brother who is into everything! Aunt Lucille is a poet, Uncle Archie makes furniture, Zebediah is the patriarch, Sybil her mother is an author, and Randolph her father is a director. At Wit’s End, each child is responsible for their own learning, but Jake must shadow E. D. and do what she does. Her project is collecting butterflies and categorizing them. E. D. does not want Jake to learn with her since her project is almost done. She only has to find one more butterfly. Aunt Lucille thinks Jake will be fine though because he is a “radiant light being”. Jake does come up with his own teaching opportunity project, watching real caterpillars turn into butterflies. E. D. is furious however because she hadn’t thought of it first.

Surviving the Applewhites n n n n n Jeremy Bernstein comes to interview Sybil about her new novel she is writing. Instead he gets to meet the whole family and is fascinated that they all are related. As he is leaving Wit’s End, his car collides with Randolph’s and he is forced to stay until it can be fixed. E. D. is upset with Jeremy Bernstein in the house because he is always on the computer and she can’t get her math work finished. Jake and Destiny form a friendship and suddenly Destiny wants to be like him, he even puts wheat paste in his hair to make it spike up like Jake’s. He even wants to die it purple! The family dog, Winston, also loves Jake and will howl anytime he leaves! This drives all of the Applewhite artist crazy! Randolph is asked to direct the town’s play of The Sound of Music. Jeremy thinks it’s wonderful how Randolph is casting a color blind version! When he can’t find anyone who is good enough to play the part, he puts Jake in the play because he can sing “magnificent”. Jake and Destiny go to every practice together, but one night while Destiny is bored, he uses Jake’s cigarette lighter and starts a fire in the trashcan at theater. Eventually Randolph offends all members of the cast and is forced to cancel the play. Since E. D. can’t stand for all the hard work to be wasted, she decides to organize it herself and put it on in the barn at Wit’s end. Cornelia does the choreography, Lucille and Sybil make the costumes, Hal, Zebediah and Archie make the stage and props, while Jeremy plays the accordion. In the end, Jake is honored to be in the play which receives wonderful reviews, and he knows that he will somehow find a way to be on stage again.

My Dog Skip Written by Willie Morris n Willie grew up in a small town in Mississippi in 1943. n His dad bought him an English Smooth Haired Fox Terrier. He ordered him from a breeder in Springfield Missouri. He named him Skipper, but Willie called him Skip. n To Willie, Skip was no ordinary dog. n Skip “understood” what Willie would say to him. He “knew” what it meant when Willie would ask him to do things. n Skip did not like dog food. He ate mayonnaise and Ketchup sandwiches, squirrel dumplings, cotton candy, chicken livers , chicken gizzards, Moonpies, raisin bran, and most of all sliced bologna. n Willie made a leather pouch for Skip. He would put a quarter in the pouch and tell Skip “Go see Bozo and get you some bologna” and he would go to the grocery store and return with sliced bologna in his teeth. n During this time it was normal for 13 yr old to drive. So Willie’s favorite trick was to drive his dad’s old De Soto car and prop Skip up on the steering wheel and make it look like a dog was driving. n Skip almost died after getting into some poison. Willie and his Dad had to drive 40 miles to Jackson to the animal clinic. n Willie and the boys time Skip running the 100 yd. dash. n He ran it in 7. 8 seconds. They believed it was a world record. n

My Dog Skip was Willie’s partner is mischief. He tied a cardboard skeleton to Skip the night they scared John Abner in the graveyard. Willie played his trumpet to make a howling sound. n Skip and Willie brought a cow into the school auditorium and tied it to a chair to scare the teachers during play practice. n Skip loved to play football. Willie taught him how to be in the huddle, how to do the “Statue of Liberty” play. Willie cut the laces of the football so Skip could carry it in his teeth. n Willie and Skip spent the night in the graveyard as part of a bet. They ran into some drunken grave robbers. They made Willie drink a beer. When he awoke the next morning they had stolen his tent, canteen, and all his supplies. n Telephone numbers were short: 1, 27, 243. n During the summer time was marked by the Noon whistle at the sawmill. n “Love and loyalty are the best things of all and the most lasting. That’s what he taught me” n

My Dog Skip Rivers Applewhite is a girl that Willie has known n since they were 2 yrs old. He has a crush on her. She is the one who saved Willie from the Writing Spider the night of the Chinaberry fight. n A half-starved kitten showed up one day. Willie called Rivers because his family was a “dog family”. She brought a bottle, canned milk, and ointment for the kitten. She named it “Baby”. She and Skip nursed it, but then one day it died. n Skip’s contributions to the World War II efforts was picking up cigarette boxes. The needed the foil. The Camel boxes were the best. If you collected enough foil, you could get into the Kiddie Matinee at the Dixie Theatre for free. The manager let Skip into the movies along with the boys because had helped to find the cigarette boxes too. n In the summers, Willie and Skip would go to Jackson to visit his grandparents, and great aunts. n Grandpa Percy worked in a potato chip factory. They went to work with him one day and ate chips from 9 AM- 4 PM. They drank a gallon of water for dinner because of all the salt and grease. n Time is a Tricky Fellow”- Lewis Carroll n One Winter, Will took Skip sledding down the hill in the cemetery. The snow lasted 4 days. n At Christmas dinner at Grandma’s they ate ambrosia, roasted pecans, and mincemeat pies among the traditional foods. n “Willie’s room was adorned (decorated) with college pennants (banners), a cow horn, 1946 Cardinals Baseball photo, an old baseball glove, a rattlesnake rattle, Books from Mark Twain, Zane Gray, Charles Dickens, and Edgar Allen Poe, and pieces of dried mud from a riverbed. n

My Dog Skip got pinched on the nose by a crawdad while playing in the river. n Willie is a boy scout. He is always talking about his pledge, honor, and duty. n A tornado went through Main St. one day while they were at the movies. It carried bicycles through the air. n Willie got detention for throwing spitballs at a girl in class. Skip came to school one day looking for him when he didn’t come home, and he growled at Miss Abbott, the teacher. She threw a Reader’s Digest book at him. As a result, Willie got an extra week of detention. n Grandpa Percy tried to always keep up with Willie and Skip. He wished he could be a boy again. They were climb trees, and they even walked down to the POW (Prisoners of War) camp and looked at the soldiers through the fence. One of the prisoners petted Skip through the fence, he said Skip looked like a dog he had back in Germany. n Grandma took Willie with her to the Jitney Jungle store. There she pointed out to him the Queen of the Netherlands. n In the summer water trucks would spray down the roads. Half naked children would follow the trucks to play in the water and escape the heat. n During the War, Willie ran a Kool-Aid stand in the summer. He sold it for 2 cent a glass. While he was waiting on customers he would kill flies. He would pretend they were Japanese fighter planes. He would also kill ants and pretend they were German foot soldiers. n One night a Delta passenger plane landed on their small town airstrip. They had mistaken the lights of the city to be the Jackson Airport. n Summer of his 10 th grade Willie and Skip went to Boy Scout camp at Camp Kickapoo. He was make the camp bugler in charge of reveille and taps. The camp’s nickname “Tickapoo” because Skip came home with 20 ticks. n

My Dog Skip n n When Willie was in 11 th grade, Skip ran off. He called all his friends and rode on his bike around town looking for him. Skip had never run off and not come back. He searched for two days. He finally found in at the dump, trapped inside an old refrigerator. Willie and Rivers became a steady pair. They would take Skip with them on their dates, and then drop him off at home before going to the midnight movie. After graduation, they went to the midnight-to-dawn dance. It was a tradition. Skip stayed up all night too. Willie one a scholarship to study in England for 3 yrs after college. He knew he would never see Skip again. He got a transatlantic call from his parents when he died. They buried him in Willie’s 1952 State Champs Baseball jacket next to where they had buried the kitten many years before.

Singer of All Songs n n n Written by Kate Constable Tremaris is a three-mooned planet that contains many different magical lands. Throughout Tremaris there are “Nine Powers”, ironcraft, seeming, beast, ice call, windcraft, Fire, Tongue, and Power of all. Antaris is the mountainous region where the priestesses live inside their giant ice wall. They have the power of “ice-call” they can create ice, snow, and storms by singing “chantments”. Calwyn is a “novice” she is training to be a priestess. She does not do well indoors, so they put her in charge of the bee hives. During the “wall restoring” ceremony, Calwyn was strengthening her section of the wall and she discovered an “outlander”, a man not from Antaris, was lying on the ground. He was inside but there was no hole, crack, or any sign of wall penetration.

Singer of All Songs n n n Calwyn was surprised when the outlander began to sing as she approached him. His chantment was lower, but it felt as someone had pulled her back by her shirt collar. Calwyn took him to the Dwelling so Ursca, the keeper of the infirmary could help him. He had a bad cut on his face and a badly broken foot. As they walked, Calwyn noticed he was using chantments to help him walk. She never used chantments for “trivial” things. His name was Darrow. He said he flew over the wall. He is being chased. Marna, High Priestess, and Tamen , the Guardian of the Wall, met Calwyn and Darrow when the returned to the Dwelling. They though that Calwyn had brought him through the wall. Darrow was delirious with fever, Calwyn saved him by giving “Queen’s jelly” from the hive to Ursca, for Darrow to take. That was the 2 nd time she’d saved his life.

Singer of All Songs n Marna asks Calwyn to talk to Darrow to find out why he was in Antaris. Calwyn tells Marna of the “Singer of All Songs” and his power of seeming (the power of illusions- to seem to be anything).

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