From her very first day there, Stargirl makes quite an impression on Mica High School. As her name suggests, Stargirl is a unique individual, with her own sense of style. She plays her ukulele in the cafeteria, practices random acts of kindness, and even has a pet rat that she carries with her. Her initial popularity quickly fades and the students turn on her. The book really makes you think about popularity versus individuality.

Reviewed by: sc

Date read: 3/27/2009

ISBN-10: 0440416779

ISBN-13: 9780440416777

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Ten-year-old Sally feels like her life has come to an end. Her older brother had rheumatic fever, and her family is planning to move 'temporarily' to Florida from their home in New Jersey. Sally has lived in NJ all her life ' she will miss her best friends, and her relatives, and school. Sally's favorite hobby is to make up movie stories, in which she is always the star. The year is 1945, and WWII has ended. In some of her scenarios, she saves her cousin, who in real life died in a concentration camp. In Florida, Sally meets some girls who are just like her ' teetering between little girlhood, and the teen years. Sally encounters an old man who, she is convinced, is Hitler masquerading as an old Jewish man. In this year she spends in Florida, Sally learns a lot about herself, and about those she loves.

Similar books: Anastasia Krupnick series by Lois Lowry

Reviewed by: sc

Date read: 3/27/2009

ISBN-10: 088103181X

ISBN-13: 9780881031812

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In one kingdom, a prince refuses to marry anyone but someone who can tell him a story the ending to which he doesn't already know. In another kingdom, a princess refuses her own arranged marriage, saying, 'I'd rather be washed overboard in a storm at sea.' As fate would have it, the princess is washed overboard in a storm, and she is stranded with only a sailor's clothes to wear in the kingdom of the prince. Upon hearing that she will win a glorious prize if she can tell the prince a story with a surprise ending, she sets out to win. Can she invent a story that will surprise the prince? What will happen when she learns that the prize is the prince's hand in marriage?

Reviewed by: emc

Date read: 6/11/2010

ISBN-10: 0399229248

ISBN-13: 9780399229244

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Twelve-year-old Claire loves skating on the cow pond in her yard. She doesn't like competing if a judge is anywhere in the building. She's good at math and knows she's needed to help run the family farm and maple sap business. So how can she accept a scholarship to train at Lake Placid? Claire enters the world of competitive skating and learns some surprising truths about herself.

Reviewed by: donna

Date read: 4/19/2011

ISBN-10: 0802720811

ISBN-13: 9780802720818

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The illustrations drawn by Raul Colon enhance the beauty and love in this retelling of the Rapunzel story. Sugar Cane is taken from her parents at one year old by the island sorceress, Madame Fate. She is nasty and envious. She builds a tower for Sugar Cane without any entrance or exit. Sugar Cane's dark hair grows and grows while she is in the tower with a pet green monkey, Callaloo. With the help of Callaloo and the King of Music, Sugar Cane is finally able to escape and end up in the capital of the island. Eventually, will she find her true love, King?

Reviewed by: cj

Date read: 7/12/2010

ISBN-10: 0786807911

ISBN-13: 9780786807918

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