VIRGINIA READERS' CHOICE ANNOTATIONS

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LIST 2007

Double Digit Club by Marion Dane Bauer (2004 Holiday House)
Sarah and Paige are looking forward to summer vacation until Paige joins the Double Digit Club, a snobby group of 10 year olds that Sarah had been avoiding.  Sarah now faces a lonely summer with no friends except for the blind lady who lives next door. It is in Mrs.. B’s house that Sarah thinks she has found the answer to how to reclaim her best friend in the form of an antique china doll. “Borrowing” the doll does not bring about the exact result that Sarah wanted, but does lead to a more honest sharing of feelings between the two girls.  This is a story about growing up and the true meaning of friendship.

Each Little Bird that Sings by Deborah Wiles (2004 Gulliver Books)
Comfort Snowberger is a ten-year-old girl with a family who owns and runs a funeral home in Snapfinger, Mississippi. Comfort has attended 247 funerals, writes a unique obituary column for the local newspaper (Life Notices), and is currently compiling recipes for a funeral cookbook. Death seems the norm in Comfort’s life until she loses her Great-uncle Edisto and shortly thereafter Great-great aunt Florentine. This is a great story about dealing with the loss of loved ones, changing relationships, and coming to accept the circle of life.

The Fish in Room 11 by Heather Dyer (2004 Chicken House)
Toby, an orphan, lives in a hotel by the sea where he is forced to work to earn his keep. When his friendship with Eliza and her mermaid parents arouses suspicion, he tries to disguise the mermaids as hotel guests. Trying to hide a family with fins and tails is tougher than Toby thinks.
       
Friend on Freedom River by Gloria Whelan, illustrated by Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen (2005 Sleeping Bear Press)
A last step to freedom on the Underground Railroad is the Detroit River. On a cold December night 12-year-old Louis hears a question coming from the bushes, "Are you a friend?" A runaway slave and her two children ask for safe passage across the icy river waters.  When his father left for a trip up north, he gave this advice to Louis:  “If you don’t know what to do, just do what you think I would have done.”  The danger of the task undertaken is well told with beautiful artwork.

Ida B : . . . and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World by Katherine Hannigan (2004 Greenwillow Books)
Ida B has an idyllic childhood  making friends with nature and talking to the apple trees..  All is perfect until her mother begins cancer treatment and can no longer provide homeschooling for her. Some of the orchard must be sold to pay bills and Ida B is forced to return to the public school.  Her anger and feeling of betrayal make her a most unpleasant child to her parents and her schoolmates, ending in a really nasty run-in with her new neighbor.  Told from Ida B’s point of view the reader sees how, with the support of her teacher and her parents, she comes to terms with the differences in her life.

Last Holiday Concert by Andrew Clements (2004 Simon & Schuster)
Life is usually easy for the popular sixth grader Hart Evans.  He decides to liven up chorus rehearsal because the songs are boring and the teacher, Mr. Meinert, is too tense. After a rubber band misfires and hits the music teacher, Hart gets put in charge of the holiday concert. Hart then must use his leadership skills to prepare the students for the concert.

Lowji Discovers America by Candance Fleming (2005 Atheneum/Anne Schwartz Books)
Lowji, a nine-year old East Indian boy tries to adjust to his life in a small Illinois town in a new country. His apartment has a no pets rule, but Lowji cleverly finds a way to make his landlord reconsider. In this humorous story, Lowji finds himself meeting and making new friends as he learns about America.

Lucy Rose, Here’s the Thing About Me by Katy Kelly (2004 Delacorte Books for Young Readers)
Eight-year old Lucy Rose’s parents separate and she moves with her mom to Washington, D.C.  Each day Lucy Rose keeps track of her problems, thoughts, and questions in her diary. She deals with her new experiences in a humorous way and tells the reader about them in her unique voice.

Mighty Jackie the Strike-Out Queen by Marissa Moss. Illustrated by C.F. Payne.
(2004 Simon and Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books)
This book tells an amazing story about a determined seventeen-year old girl who pitched in an exhibition game in Chattanooga, Tennessee. On a historic day in April 1931, Jackie Mitchell, the first professional female baseball pitcher, struck out Babe Ruth. This story details her incredible journey from a young girl throwing baseball with her father to the young woman who struck out the great Bambino.

Virginia Bound by Amy Butler (2003 Clarion Books)
Thirteen-year-old orphaned beggar Rob Brackett and his friend Nell are kidnapped from the streets of London and taken to 1627 Jamestown to work as indentured servants. They are separated and Rob has to work for a cruel tobacco farmer along with a mute Pamunkey Indian girl. The two become reluctant friends as they plan escapes.

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