Ms Rush Reads

copyright date: February 2014 primarily marketed for: young adults (high school) I have been a fan of Lynne Ewing ’s Drive By for years.   It is a short, easy to read story about a boy whose older brother is gunned down in a drive by while they are walking home together.   At first, it seems to be a case of an innocent child in the wrong place at the wrong time.   That is, until the younger brother is approached about taking his older brother’s place in a gang.    It is a story filled with action and tough choices.   So, when I saw that Lynne Ewing’s new book The Lure , I immediately knew it would be one I would want to share.   Ewing gives us a hard core look at life in the inner city.   The Lure is the story of Blaise, a self-reliant teenage girl, living with her grandmother.   She has a rough history and often eats ketchup packets and sugar packets as meals to leave enough money for her grandmother t...

copyright date: March 2014 primarily marketed for: middle grades (4 th -7 th ) I didn’t expect to fall in love with this book.   I was hoping it would be worthy of recommendation to some of the less enthusiastic readers in my classroom.   I guess I did not expect much beyond an engaging basketball story and a fast-paced poetic rhythm.   Not only does The Crossover by Kwame Alexander deliver on all aforementioned accounts, but it is also a beautiful story of the bond between a father and son, the power of cultural history to shape a person, and the evolution of brotherly love as young men come of age.   It is the story of 8 th grader Josh Bell and his twin brother Jordan, who have inherited their father’s talent for basketball.   On the court, they are a lethal combination, teaming up to lead their team to the championship.   Off the court, Josh struggles with growing distance between his brother and him since a gi...

copyright date: February 2014 primarily marketed for: young adults (high school) Reading Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith felt like being let in on a secret.   The flap copy had me completely baffled as to why I wanted to read a book about an unstoppable army of hungry, horny, giant praying mantis creatures.   However, after reading Winger , I was sure Smith’s writing would be brilliant, and the buzz amongst my social media connections was that the book kept people thinking long after they finished reading.   There was no way to know for myself other than to jump right in and start reading, to hear the secret firsthand.   From the very start I was equally shocked, amused, and charmed by Austin Szerba and his friend Robby Brees. They are pretty typical teenage boys living in a small town in Iowa.   Austin is struggling with typical teenage boy things, like confusion over his feelings for his girlfriend and his best frie...