Ms Rush Reads

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: 2011 primarily marketed for: young adults (teens) The Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow opens with this quote: “There is one kind of sport which should be especially encouraged, although many people . . . consider it brutal and vulgar, and that is boxing . . . There is no other sport which equals this in developing the militant spirit, none that demands such a power of rapid decision or which gives the bod the flexibility of good steel . . . But, above all, a healthy youth has to learn to endure hard knocks.” -Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf As an opening, it is a perfect representation of Sharenow’s ability to craft a story that is at once rooted in history and grounded in contemporary relevance.   Karl Stern is a young boy growing up in Germany during Hitler’s rise to power.   He is Jewish by descent, though his family does not identify with or practice Jewish religion or culture.   His Jewish identity serves as t...

copyright date: December 2011 primarily marketed for:   young adults (13 and up) Maybe it is because I am not very athletic that this book appeals to me.  Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally is sort of an athletic girl fantasy story.  Jordan Woods is a teenage girl who is not just on her high school football team, but she is the quarterback of the team.  Not only is she surrounded by athletic guys, she also gets to lead them.  Talk about girl power.  At first it sounds like it might be a simple story about how difficult it is to be the only girl on the guys’ team.  However, Catching Jordan has much more depth than that.  Jordan does not face much resistance about being a girl who plays football from her teammates or even her rivals.  Her biggest challenger is her father, a pro-football player whose protective attitude prevents him from supporting his daughter, even though he has no trouble supporting her older brothe...

copyright date: March 2012 primarily marketed for: young adults “Someday an opportunity will come.   Think about Harry Potter.   His life is terrible, but then a letter arrives, he gets on a train, and everything is different for him afterward.   Better.   Magical.”             “That’s just a story.”             “So are we—we’re stories too,” Russ says. -from Boy 21 by Matthew Quick Boy 21 by Matthew Quick was a book that surprised me with its depth.   On the surface it is the story of a basketball player who is challenged when a talented new player, who is used to wearing the same number as him, moves to his school.   However, there are many layers woven into that seemingly simple story.   Basketball means everything to Finley.   The only thing that comes close to meaning as much to him is his girlfriend Erin.   When Fi...

copyright date: June 2011 primarily marketed for: (young adults, 8 th grade and up) This is what I call a “smart guy-book".  When you guys are ready to move away from fantasy into realistic fiction about teenage guy issues, Stupid Fast is one of the books you will have to turn to.  This is a book for you guys who read Invisible and Godless by Pete Hautman, Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson, Shift by Jennifer Bradbury, Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman, anything by Chris Crutcher or John Green, and especially About a Boy by Nick Hornby. Stupid Fast is the story of Felton Reinstein.  He is a Jewish teenager who was fiver years old when he discovered his father had hung himself in the garage.  That was the beginning of a lot of years of instability for Felton and his family.  Now that he is a teenager, Felton is struggling to grow up, take care of his younger brother, reach his newfound athletic (not to mention social) potential, and escape the dis...