Brendan Buckley has developed a question notebook because of the encouragement of his fifth-grade teacher. He calls the notebook, 'Brendan Buckley's Book of Big Questions About Life,the Universe and Everything in It.' He has questions like, Do centipedes really have 100 legs? and Do boys fart more than girls? He answers the questions in his notebook by putting up his EXPERIMENT IN PROGRESS sign on his bedroom door and using his scientific methods to answer the questions. Brendan loves collecting rocks. One day on a visit to the mall with his grandma Gladys, Brendan stops to talk to a man with a rock collection display named Ed DeBoses. Grandma Gladys is shocked when she sees him talking to the man and ushers him away. Brendan pieces information together and discovers that this man is his grandpa(his mother's father) that he has never met. In his notebook, he writes down the questions he has about why he hasn't ever met his grandpa. Try as he may, Brendan just can't answer these questions. Just as he is about to give up and try to forget about Grandpa Ed, answers and forgiveness come!

Awards nominated: 2013 Bluestem Nominee

Reviewed by: jb

Date read: 6/8/2012

ISBN-10: 0385734395

ISBN-13: 9780385734394

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Emma is five years old when her mother is murdered in the Rwandan genocide of 1994. She manages to escape and is taken in by an old woman, who shelters and cares for her. Ten years later, Emma continues to have nightmares about this terrible time that resulted in nearly a million deaths in Rwanda. Can she find peace and healing? Will she ever be able to forget the things that she's seen? Read this sobering book to find out what life in Rwanda would have been like for a child survivor. The author based her story on accounts of young Rwandan genocide survivors.

Reviewed by: msp

Date read: 1/21/2010

ISBN-10: 0888998929

ISBN-13: 9780888998927

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Philip Love, 13, nicknamed Buddy after a character in an old Jerry Lewis movie, The Nutty Professor, is interested only in watching television, and watching girls. Growing up, Buddy thought cartoon characters actually lived in the TV set. He is the classic underachiever, and lackey to the cool kids in school. He never seems to take a stand of his own. Then his Dad wins a video camera at work. Triggered by his interest in TV, and making TV shows, Buddy decides to use the camera for a social studies project. The project requires him to explore his own history. Armed with the video camera, he finds out some surprising things about his relatives, and realizes that they are as interesting as the characters on TV. He also finds out things about himself that makes him a stronger person.

Similar books: Lily B. On The Brink of Love by Elizabeth Kimmel; Loser by Jerry Spinelli; Probably Still Nick Swansen by Virginia Wolff

Reviewed by: sc

Date read: 5/18/2009

ISBN-10: 0060246642

ISBN-13: 9780060246648

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Meet Gussie, an exuberant twelve year old. She and her mom have recently moved into a ramshackle house on a seaside cliff by in England. Gussie explores the life around her with enthusiasm and passion; the birds, the burying beetle, the views, the house full of books, and her new friends. Gussie also tells us about her parents' divorce and her much loved Grandma and Grandpop. Maybe Gussie embraces all that life has to offer because she has an incurable heart condition and is waiting for a heart transplant. Gussie fills her days with training a seagull to eat on her porch, watching the peregrine falcon's nest, reading books that she finds in their cottage, writing poetry and hanging out with her Aussie friend, Brett. With humor and a zest for life, Gussie reminds us that every day is precious. Two additional books about Gussie are 'The Bower Bird' and 'Inchworm.'

Reviewed by: hap

Date read: 10/21/2009

ISBN-10: 1905222084

ISBN-13: 9781905222087

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Is being a bystander to bullying ok? Eric Hayes, who is new to Bellport, Long Island,is pondering this very issue. He wants to make some friends at his new middle school and ends up making friends with a group of bullys. Eric feels like he is just hanging out with his new friends. He doesn't agree with their bullying but who agrees with everything that their friends do? This book allows the reader to think about bullying in an 'out of the box' way.

Reviewed by: jb

Date read: 1/19/2010

ISBN-10: 0312379064

ISBN-13: 9780312379063

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