Ms Rush Reads

I read and fell in love with The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans in 1995.   I immediately recognized his name when I came across this, his first young adult title.    Although the story seemed like a far cry from the touching message of love and hope in the first book I had read by Evans, I was confident the quality of writing would be of the same high standard.   And it is. Michael Vey has a special power that nobody else knows about.   Well, nobody except his mother and his best friend.   He can deliver high voltage shocks of electricity without the help of a taser.   When he finally gets tired of being bullied at school and uses his power to stop the bullies from going too far, his secret is compromised.   At first, he seems to benefit from the newfound attention.   He is happy with his new friends, especially the cheerleader who witnessed the electric incident.   However, his happiness short circuits when the people who are responsible for Michael’s power in the firs

copyright date: May 2011 primarily marketed for: from 5 th grade up What if your parent’s car was stolen and you were in the back? OR What if your dad was a car thief and the car he stole contained a young girl? At first, I thought the plot was reminiscent of April Henry’s Girl, Stolen .   However, Helen Frost takes the premise in a whole new direction.   As usual, Frost tells a fascinating story from multiple viewpoints through a beautiful form of poetry that she invented especially for this book. Wren Abbott is accidentally kidnapped when she is 8 years old.   Her kidnapper, Darra’s father is unaware that she is in the car, even after bringing the car home to his garage.   In fact, Darra is the only one other than Wren who figures out she is there.   The kidnapping is told through each girl’s eyes, in two different poetic forms.   However, the kidnapping is only the beginning of the story of Wren and Darra.   The real truly juicy part of their story takes place six year

“Every time the monster moved, Conor could hear the creak of wood groaning and yawning in the monster’s huge body.” In her review for the New York Times , Jessica Bruder refers to A Monster Calls as, “A story that lodges in your bones and stays there.”  This, I believe, is an understatement.  I am afraid my words, mere pixels on the screen, cannot begin to honor how truly special this book is. From his words in the Author’s Note, Patrick Ness held me spellbound.  Siobhan Dowd had developed an idea for a book about a monster and a boy whose mom had cancer.  Breast cancer cut her life short and she was unable to finish her story.  Patrick Ness, when asked to craft something from the seed of a story Dowd left behind said, “…the thing about ideas is that they grow other ideas.”  And so, A Monster Calls was born out of Dowd’s seed and Ness’s nurturing. I suppose a book with that kind of conception was bound to be incredible, but I am sure not even the editor who entrusted him

copyright date: 2001 primarily marketed for: grades 4-8 In honor of No Name-Calling Week, the idea for which originated with this book, I thought I would post a review of The Misfits by James Howe.    This book has one of my favorite leads: "So here I am, not a half-hour old as a tie salesman and trying to look like I know what I am doing, which have got to be two of the biggest jokes of all time, when who should walk into Awkworth & Ames Department Store but Skeezie Tookis. " I think I like it because it is such an inviting introduction to Bobby and Skeezie, two of the four friends referred to in the book’s title.   Bobby, Skeezie, Addie, and Joe are seventh graders who decide to create their own political party to run in the student council election.   Their goal is simple: to put an end to name-calling.   Who doesn’t think that is a good idea? The wonderful things about this book aren’t limited to the positive messages about acceptance and kindness that i

I had seen this book all over the place since I attended the NCTE convention in November.  Every time I see it, I am drawn to the cover.  The cover claims that Playground is “The Mostly True Story of a Former Bully.”  However, I was hesitant to buy it because I had little faith that it was quality literature.  Sure, it might be appealing enough for some of you to pick it up and read, but was the story really going to be the kind of message I wanted my students to read?  Was it really based on 50 Cent’s experience?  Would it really send a message about the negative effects of bullying?  Then I came across Crazy Quilt Edi’s book review of the book.  She said after reading she wondered, “Did 50 Cent really write this on his own?”  That was all I needed to know.  Her question told me it must be better than I thought it would be.  And it was. Aside from the gratuitous use of mild swear words and some minor, but noticeable editing failures (i.e. the word “think” instead of “thi

copyright date: Sept. 2011 primarily marketed for: 5 th grade and up The Only Ones is a post-apocalyptic story where all adults mysteriously vanish from the earth and a small group of kids seem to be left behind.   Martin Maple, the protagonist, is a young boy who was odd prior to the apocalyptic disappearance of adults from the earth.    His mother had disappeared about the same time he was born and his father, though he cared for Martin, was not very nurturing.   Until the mysterious vanishing of adults, Martin and his father lived a very secluded life on an island.   Martin was discouraged from talking to anyone for fear other people will find out about the machine Mr. Maple was building.   After the disappearance of the adults, Martin ventures to the mainland and meets up with other kids who were left behind.   The story that ensues is reminiscent of Lord of the Flies by William Golding, including plays for power, manipulation, violence, mental illness, and even murd

You knew it was coming.  How could I not share?  EVERYONE MUST READ JOHN GREEN’S LATEST WORK OF ART: THE FAULT IN OUR STARS .  Throughout my life (well, at least from 4 th grade, when I was introduced to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl until now, the 7 th month of my 34 th year of noticing the universe) the name ‘Augustus’ immediately evoked an image of a chubby, stubborn, chocolate-loving boy, doted upon by his mother, with the last name of Gloop.  The name ‘Augustus’ made me giggle about this character’s gluttonous follies inside the chocolate factory. Until reading John Green’s beloved new book The Fault in Our Stars . From now on, the name ‘Augustus’ will forever evoke an entirely different image and an entirely different set of emotions.  A casually hot, lean, limping ‘Augustus Waters’ has forever replaced the ‘Augustus’ of the book I treasured as a child—an unlit cigarette held loosely between his lips.  A longing sigh will escape my lips every tim

I had to post these two books together.  They are both about Vietnamese refugees during the Vietnam War.   (You know I love a good war story.)  They are both told in verse.  And they are both REALLY good.  ALL THE BROKEN PIECES by ann e. burg copyright date: April 2009 primarily marketed for: grades 6-8 Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Book Award Nominee 2012 Tells the story of a 12 year-old-boy whose mother is Vietnamese and father is an American soldier that never returns.  When life becomes too dangerous in Vietnam, Matt’s mother seizes the opportunity to send him to America as soon as she is given the chance.  Matt is adopted by a loving couple, but that doesn’t mean the memories of a war-torn Vietnam and the family he left behind don’t haunt him. Although it is not likely all the experiences would happen to the same kid, it sure makes for a moving story.  Matt not only battles his past, but he also struggles with bullies on his baseball team and the demons of wounded V

  copyright date: January 2008 primarily marketed for: young adults I love poetry, so books in verse are always appealing to me.   I picked this one up because of the poetry, even though ghost stories are not my thing (I like books about dead people, but not ghost stories, go figure).   At the opening of the story, Ava’s boyfriend Jackson has already died.   She is trying to figure out how to go on with her own life without him.   But he won’t leave her.   Although the verse in the book is dead on (no pun intended) and often gut-wrenchingly powerful, the way Jackson haunts Ava is very unsettling to me.   I was more drawn to the way Ava struggles to embrace the new shape her life has taken on since Jackson’s death.   Ava’s struggle is universal—the struggle to deal with loss.   Not all of us have lost a loved one due to death, but all of us have experienced loss of some kind—loss of a best friend, loss of a boyfriend or girlfriend, distance in a sibling relationship.   Being

copyright date: 2005 primarily marketed for: adults Extremely Loud andIncredibly Close is the grown-up book that made me fall in love with grown-up books again.   Or, at least made me open to reading them after years of sticking solely to young adult literature (aka Good Literature).    This book arrived on my doorstep as a surprise gift from a friend I’ve known since second grade, which made it that much sweeter.    I can’t decide whether to be excited or disappointed that this book is being turned into a movie now.   Everyone needs to know this story- it is incredible!   I just can’t imagine the movie possibly doing the depth and layers and format of the story justice.   One of my favorite qualities of the book is the way pages of images are smattered throughout the story. The images are jarring the way that they interrupt the story, and yet they are perfect in the way that they enhance the story—deepen my thinking as a reader.   How is the movie going to do that? Ano

copyright date: 2011 primarily marketed for: young adult (7 th grade and up) I have been thinking lately about the way I am drawn to books that are told through lists of some sort.   Once I got started thinking about it, I came up with quite a list (imagine that) of books that involve a list or series of some sort.   I think this may have to be another blog post sometime soon.   In this case, You Have Seven Messages contains a series of messages left on a cell phone.    So, here are my seven messages about this book: 1.      The basic premise is totally intriguing: Luna’s mother died when she was hit by a taxi.   A few months later, Luna comes across her still activated cell phone (plot details like this are pretty well accounted for and feel realistic in the context of the story) and finds there are seven messages.   The seven messages help Luna uncover more information about her mother’s death, reveal some of her family’s secrets, and ultimately help her move on. 2.    

copyright date: 2009 primarily marketed for: 8 th grade and up I am fascinated by books featuring a character who is already dead ( The Lovely Bones , The Afterlife , The Sledding Hill , Everlost , Elsewhere , Heaven Looks A Lot Like the Mall to name a few of my favorites).   That’s why I picked up this one.   The Everafter tells the story of the immediate afterlife of Madison Stanton.   Somehow the author is able to explain her version of being suspended in nothingness so that as a read I could almost feel what Madison felt, or rather what she experienced since she is no longer capable of feeling.   While floating, existing, in the everafter, Madison encounters objects she lost in life.   The objects appear to her in the form of x-ray-like images (like the orchids on the cover).  By touching these objects, she is transported back to certain moments from her life.   As she visits, she experiments to figure out the rules of her new state of being (which is one of the aspe

copyright date: 2010 primarily marketed for: Grades 7 and up The premise of this book promises a good story and April Henry delivers just that: a good story.  Cheyenne Wilder’s stepmom has left her lying in the backseat of the car while she runs into the pharmacy to pick up medicine to help Cheyenne fight off pneumonia.  Cheyenne begged her to keep the car running so that the heat would stay on.  When Griffin sees the Escalade running with the keys inside, he thinks he has scored big time.  He jumps in and takes off with a stolen car to impress his criminal-minded father.  Griffin has no idea there is a girl in the back, which means he also doesn’t know she is the daughter of the owner of the Nike corporation.  Cheyenne is in trouble.  She has pneumonia.  She has been kidnapped.  And she is blind. This story is satisfying.  It has just the right amount of creepiness, the right amount of character development, the right amount of plot twists, and the right amount of resol

copyright date: 2009 primarily marketed for: middle school and up Helen Frost is one of my favorite authors.   I have adored every book I’ve read by her.   In fact, the copies of some of her books in our school library have disappeared because I am apparently not the only one who appreciates her work.   Her stories, told in poetic verse, are always moving and then I am always amazed to discover there is a specific format she follows when writing the poetry for each book.   You might remember her book Diamond Willow , which was a recent Caudill nominee.   Crossing Stones is the story of four teenagers during World War I (two sets of brothers and sisters who are neighbors).   The boys, Frank and Ollie, end up going off to fight in the war, while the girls, Muriel and Emma, each face their own struggles at home.   The voices of all four characters are threaded throughout the book with grace.   The poetry alternates viewpoints and includes letters written from the battlefront.

  If anyone asks, you did not hear about this book from me.  In fact, let’s just pretend I am not even writing this right now and you, well, you are not really reading it.  You would understand why all the fuss if you knew what this book is about, but you won’t hear it from me.  I am certainly not going to tell you it is a book about an unfortunate (universal) experience of boy suffering through puberty.  That would be…awkward, especially coming from me. So, I guess I also better not explain that even though this HILARIOUS book had me laughing out loud (and reading passages out loud to Mr. Levine) page after page, it was also a book with substance.  I won’t mention that amongst the puns and humor, is a story of kid who just wants to get it right.  I am not going to mention that he learns (and therefore teaches us, the readers) an important lesson about the benefits of doing the right thing and being yourself.  I will also avoid saying that the relationship between the prot

copyright date: 2009 primarily marketed for: 5 th -8 th graders Matthew Cody is going to be our visiting author this school year.   He seems like a funny enough guy based on the book trailer for Powerless , which was nominated for the Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Book Award this year.   Yep, Matthew Cody seems like a funny enough guy, but I didn’t expect to like Powerless .   I love when I am pleasantly surprised by a book!   Powerless is the story of Daniel whose family moves to Noble’s Green to take care of his dying grandmother.   It doesn’t take Daniel long to realize that there is something odd about his peers.   He quickly earns the trust of the kids in his neighborhood and is let in on their secret: they have superpowers.   However, upon turning thirteen their superpowers disappear.   Who or what is taking away their powers?   <cue ominous music> From there, the story takes the shape of a traditional good guys vs. bad guys comic book action hero quest.

copyright date: 2012 primarily marketed for: young adult readers Sometimes being a teacher has perks—not just the heartwarming, fulfilling in a my-life-is-worthwhile-and-I-love-what-I-do kind of way—but actual, honest-to-goodness tangible material perks.   Like this book.   When I went to the National Council of Teachers of English conference in November, I was given a FREE copy of Beneath a Meth Moon , which I was able to have signed by Jacqueline Woodson .   This book doesn’t even come out until next month.   How cool is that? I believe Woodson is cool incarnate—if cool was a person walking this earth, cool would be Jacqueline Woodson (or poet Nikki Giovanni, just saying).   She just has a way with words that is smooth and fluid.   Although Beneath a Meth Moon is not written in verse, it is grounded in the language of Woodson’s poetic soul.   It is not just the language that drew me to this story, though.   I was also drawn to the protagonist herself—Laurel.   Laurel