Ms Rush Reads

copyright date: June 2012 primarily marketed for: young adults (14 and up) “We spent the rest of the evening together, hanging out in my room, my mother telling my father and me the stories behind each and every one of those worn swatches of fabric.   As I listened, losing myself in each little tale, I realized that the quilt would not have been the same, not nearly as beautiful, without the sadness.   The robin’s egg blue patch from a baby blanket that had belonged to my uncle who died when he was two, the purple satin ribbon found after a tornado destroyed my grandparents’ first home, the black silk from the dress my grandma wore to her father’s funeral—those slices of life, they were just as important as the rest.” -a taste of the amazing book One Moment by Kristina McBride Thanks to my friend Ruth , I am a Kristina McBride junkie.   After reading her amazing first novel, The Tension of Opposites , I was excited to hear she had a new book com

copyright date: 1943 primarily marketed for: everyone The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint- Exupéry was a reread for me.   I read this book for the first time when I was in high school.   All I remembered about it was that I expected it to be too complex for me to understand, and I was surprised when at its charming simplicity.   I always remember feeling like I had a special place in my heart for The Little Prince , but I didn’t remember exactly why. It was written so long ago and is translated from French that it is no wonder I first expected to find its meaning elusive.   However, I am sure that if you pick up this book, it will nestle itself into a special place in your heart as well. Simply, The Little Prince is the story of a clever man who has never lost the child inside of himself and finds himself stranded in the desert after a plan crash.   In the desert, he happens upon the little prince who is traveling to earth from his distant asteroid, seeming

copyright date: August 2009 primarily marketed for: young adults (13 and up) Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater is not new to the world, but it is new to me.   I have had it on my shelf for years and just didn’t get around to reading it until a friend convinced me it was well worth it.   She is a good friend.   With impeccable taste in literature. Within the first few pages I was enchanted.   Shiver is not just an enchanting story, but the way it is written is beautiful as well.   Lines like this make me want to stop and marvel at Stievfater’s way of crafting words to trigger the readers’ emotions: “Behind the counter, I slouched on my stool in the sun and sucked in the summer as if I could hold ever drop of it inside me.” Shiver alternates between the voice of Grace and the voice of Sam throughout the story.   Grace was attacked by wolves as a young girl and saved by a single wolf out of the pack.   Since then she has spent her winters watching for

copyright date: August 2012 primarily marketed for: young adults (12 and up) Although there are still a few days until UnWholly by Neal Shusterman is released on August 28 th , I managed to get my hands on an Advanced Readers’ Copy, thanks to Mrs. Foreman (formerly Miss England).   This book confirms what I have believed for years: Neal Shusterman is brilliant.   Why he isn’t winning awards left and right is beyond me.   If you haven’t read the first book in this series, Unwind , you have to start there.   The basis of the story is that it takes place in the near future, after the fictional Third World War, which was fought over the issue of abortion.   In an effort to end the fighting and reach an agreement, both sides compromised, banning abortion as we know it, and sanctioning the retroactive abortion (through a process called unwinding) of teenagers whose parents okay it.   But that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the brillia

copyright date: April 2012 primarily marketed for: young adults (14 and up) Dying to Know You by Aidan Chambers was a book I couldn’t wait to read because of what I’d read about it.   Negative reviews said things about it being narrated by the voice of an older man, an eccentric author.   They said teens wouldn’t be able to relate to his voice.   I was sure that wouldn’t be true.   Positive reviews said things about what a powerful story the book told.   Having read the book, I have determined that it is definitely not the kind of story everyone would enjoy.   It is a very philosophical story.   If you are not an intellectual sort of reader, this would not be the book for you.   However, if you are the kind of person who wonders about his place in the world, about why people act the way they do, about his purpose in life, then the is most definitely the book for you.   You will be as charmed by Karl as I was.   Karl’s story is largely told through

copyright date: February 2012 primarily marketed for: young adults (14 and up) I started Dead to You by Lisa McMann one night before I went to sleep.   I also finished   Dead to You by Lisa McMann before I went to sleep that night.   I just couldn’t close the book without knowing the end. Dead to You is the story of Ethan, who was abducted when he was only seven-years-old, returning to his family as a teenager.   As he tries to adjust to his current life at home as a teenager with his younger brother Blake and new younger sister Gracie, Ethan struggles to make sense of his past.   Blake pushes him to find out why he got into that car with strangers and challenges Ethan’s memory every chance he gets.   Gracie is too young to understand who Ethan really is, since she grew up in their family without him.   Ethan fights to remember the family he left behind and struggles to understand his need to protect Ellen, the woman who he has known as “mom

copyright date: February 2010 primarily marketed for: intermediate and middle school readers (5 th -8 th ) A Mrs. Rush-Levine confession:   I had to wear headgear when I was in middle school (thankfully, not to school, but I did have to wear it overnight).   I am wondering if the fact that I feel like this is a book about my own youth might not be the reason I am madly in love with RainaTelgemeier ’s graphic text Smile.   Somehow, Smile made me see the humor in my own humiliating past.   Smile is an autobiographical story of the author as a young girl.   It is drawn in full-color comic strip style illustrations and tells the story of Raina’s dental woes, beginning when she knocks out a tooth in a nasty spill.   The initial damage causes a large gap in the front of her mouth and leads to multiple dental procedures.   The rest of the book continues to follow the story of perfecting her now imperfect smile at the same time as it tells the story of

copyright date: March 2012 primarily marketed for: young adults (12 and up) Despite the fact that the teacher in me sees so many lesson possibilities in Kevin C. Pyle’s graphic novel Take What You Can Carry , you should read it simply for the grace of its stories.   The artwork is as striking as the stories it tells.   Using artwork in two different colors and styles, Pyle tells the stories of two teenage boys living years and miles apart.   And yet, he communicates the universality in their experiences.   One boy is a Japanese American forced to move into an internment camp during WWII.   His family struggles to maintain their dignity and sense of peace under unbearable conditions. The other is a rebellious boy with an attitude whose reckless behavior causes him to wind up in trouble with the law.   To make amends, he finds himself completing community service hours in the most unlikely place.   I found myself reading and rereading pieces

copyright date: February 2012 primarily marketed for: young adults (12 and up) This summer I officially became a fan of graphic novels.   Somehow, I am more willing to suspend my disbelief when reading a graphic novel.   Friends With Boys by Faith Erin Hicks is no exception. Maggie, who has been homeschooled up to now, is starting high school.   Her only companions have been her older brothers, who become her only support system in high school as well.   That is, until she meets Lucy and her somewhat elusive brother Alistair. Maggie, Lucy, and Alistair eventually find themselves in the midst of an adventure involving a museum, a graveyard, and a soul plagued with a sense of unrest. While Maggie gets to know her new friends and works through the adventure they’ve uncovered, she also gets to know herself better.   There is depth to her personality and although the ghost story Maggie’s life becomes is fanciful, the dynamic within her family is achingly realis