Ms Rush Reads

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 ...

copyright date: February 2011 primarily marketed for: intermediate readers (grades 4-6) Love, Aubrey by Suzanne LeFleur is nominated for the 2013 Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Book Award in the state of Illinois.  I can see why.  This is one of those stories that is good for the soul, and the craft employed to tell it is just as nourishing.  At the start of the book, Aubrey is home alone.  She keeps referring to her mother as if she will be coming home.  However, it doesn’t take long for readers to figure out that her mother is not coming back.  At first, Aubrey tries to hide her mother’s disappearance in an effort to protect her.  Eventually, though, she is discovered and is taken to live to with her grandmother while her mother is located.  Life with Aubrey’s grandmother is not smooth sailing for Aubrey.  She is still mourning the loss of her younger sister and her father in a car accident.  She needs her ab...