Keeping Literature Lit with Mrs. B

  BIBLIOGRAPHY Telgemeier, Raina. 2014. Sisters . New York: Scholastic Inc. ISBN 9780545540599 PLOT SUMMARY Raina always wanted to be a big sister and she was given that dream with not only a little sister, but also a little brother. Raina and her little sister Amara’s relationship is a rollercoaster in itself. Raina soon realizes that having a sibling might not be all it is cracked up to be. The sisters squabble over everything over the years until they are forced to take a three-week family road trip from California to Colorado. The girls begin to notice that things aren’t quite right between their parents and come together when they realize that there are issues in their relationship. In the end, they realize that sisterhood is stronger than bickering about their minor differences each day. CRITICAL ANALYSIS A magical autobiography using humor and graphics to tell the story of her and her little sister's relationship. This is the second book in the series by Telgemeier, and she ...

  BIBLIOGRAPHY Jamieson, Victoria. 2015. Roller Girl . New York: Scholastic Inc. ISBN 9780545934978 PLOT SUMMARY Twelve-year-old Astrid is a bit different from other twelve-year-old girls she knows. She doesn’t care for bright colors like pink and yellow, has no interest in boys, and always wants to hang out with her best friend, Nicole. However, once she is introduced to Roller Derby by her mother, something happens in her friendship with Nicole, who likes girlie-type things. She first gets a little upset when Nicole prefers to go to a Dance summer camp versus the Roller Derby summer camp. Suddenly, Astrid is upset and doesn’t understand her emotions as to why it hurts her that Nicole is moving on to another friend. In the end, Astrid grows a lot during the summer camp and begins to form new friendships, while still keeping a friendship, just a new style one with Nicole after hitting many bumpy spots.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS In this realistic fiction graphic novel by Victoria Jami...

  BIBLIOGRAPHY Craft, Jerry. 2019. New Kid . New York: Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers. ISBN 978006269120 Craft, Jerry. 2019. New Kid. (J. Del-Orden, N. Bullock, R. Miles, G. Lockard, P. Lusk, R. Soler, D. Bittner, P. Stroke, and M. Thompson, Narrators) [Unabridged Audiobook]. Audible https://www.audible.com/pd/New-Kid-Audiobook/0062885324?action_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp&shareTest=TestShare   PLOT SUMMARY In this amazing realistic fiction story, told in graphic novel form, Jordan Banks is an African-American seventh grader about to start a new school. His parents have moved him to a wealthy private school in hopes to offer him better opportunities academically than his public school could. Almost immediately, he feels like has to change to fit in just leaving the house. He learns that even though some individuals are not outright stereotyping, they have ways of showing that they each in fact do stereotype one another, especially those o...

  BIBLIOGRAPHY Alexander, Kwame. 2014. The Crossover . New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. ISBN 9780544107717 PLOT SUMMARY This young adult book is told as a novel in verse through wonderful poetry. The storyline follows the experiences of twelve-year-old basketball star Josh through his seventh-grade year at Reggie Lewis Middle School.  Josh is the identical twin brother of Jordan, who also is a basketball star. Their father is a well-known famous basketball player and they are setting up to follow in his footsteps. Life begins to change for Josh as his brother gets a girlfriend and begins leaving him out of the things they used to do together. Josh becomes jealous of his brother and ends up doing something that gets him to be put on suspension from playing the game that he loves. In a turn of events, their father undergoes unexpected health issues and takes the story deeper into how families deal with love and the loss of a loved one. In the end, both boy...

BIBLIOGRAPHY Schiltz, Laura. 1991. The Hired Girl . New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. ISBN 9781549091698 PLOT SUMMARY This storyline takes place in the early 1900s. Joan Skraggs, told from her perspective, is a fourteen-year-old farm girl from Pennsylvania.  After her mother passes away, Joan is left to step up as the woman of the household and care for her fathers and brothers. She does all the work and is mistreated often. She finds an escape often in books, which her father disagrees with. He ends up burning her books when she requested to be paid for some of her duties as she was growing up and needed money of her own. Joan decides to run away, lie about her age, and start a new life as a hired girl in a Jewish household. She changes her name to Janet and must learn to navigate her new life and the culture that goes along with it. Her diary thoughts take the reader through her daily life all through 1911. In the end, when things seemed at their worst for J...

  BIBLIOGRAPHY Cushman, Karen. 1991. The Midwife’s Apprentice. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. ISBN 9781549091698 PLOT SUMMARY Cushman sets this novel to take place in the medieval Europe era, where a homeless orphan girl is the main character. As a young girl with no home, she did not even know her own name. However, she went by “Brat” as that is what most kids and other people called her. She is constantly taunted by the boys in the village where she sleeps in a barn near a heap of dung to keep warm. She eventually finds a cruel, harsh midwife named Jane Sharp, who renames her “Beetle” from her sleeping near the dung. She allows this child to hang around for the dirty work but refuses to teach her any ways of being a midwife due to fear of having competition from the child. However, the child learns from a distance. While she is not able to learn much, it is just enough as she grows up. She ends up running into someone who mistakes her for someone he knew ...