The Miraculous Journal of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo & illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline

This is a story about a bunny made of china who lives with a little girl named Abilene.  He is pretty content with life until he gets lost.  There is a great message in this book.  It is a cute, fun story.  I didn't think a story about a bunny would interest me too much but, I really enjoyed this story.

Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt

Turner is a young boy who moves to a new community because his dad is the new minister. He doesn’t really like the new community. They play baseball differently, they aren’t that nice, and his dad is trying so hard to impress the community that he is extra strict with Turner.

Turner meets a little girl named Lizzie. She is from an island founded by former black slaves. These people live a very simple life. Turner and Lizzy become friends and discover a plan that the community has will leave Lizzy and her people without a home.

This is a story about friendship and about cruelty of people and of the goodness of people. This book is based on an event that actually happened. It is an impressive book and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

It deserves the Newberry Honor, and Printz Honor Awards. I loved it from beginning to end.

Lost and found by Andrew Clements

Ray and Jay have noticed that people look at them as one person. So when their new school, loses one of their files on the first day when one is sick, the twins decide to use the situation to be thought of as one person instead of a twin. This book is just simply FUN!! It is well written and a super fun read. Cute story.

Smart Dog by Vivian Vande Velde

Amy happens upon a dog who can talk. He is trying to escape the college that he tells her has used him as an experiment. Amy tries to help him.

A talking Dog? The book makes it seem quite logical that this could happen in real life. The book feels very real.

The story is one of courage that Amy learns and of friendship. This is a very sweet book.

The Adventures of Spider by Joyce Cooper Arkhurst Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

These are West African Folktales.

This book is great. I enjoyed reading it. It does have what I think would be the feel of listening to someone tell a few West African Folktales. I like it that they say spider is “just like a naughty little boy.” Spider is clever, mischievous, greedy, loves to eat, hates to work, and he plays a lot of tricks. It as the introduction says can be like us or like me.

These are fun stories. Each one teaches a lesson. I sat and read this book straight through. They are fun tales.

The pictures are fun. They are so appropriate for the subject. They remind me of what I think a folktale from West Africa would look like. He uses only a few colors on some. Those colors repeat on different picture pages. I like the colors and how they are dispersed. I also like that every once in a while they throw in a drawing without any color.

Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

I like it when the author suddenly talks to the reader. It happens all throughout the book. She adds, “Dear reader” to her sentence and it is like she is telling me the story. The author even had me look up the word perfidy. It’s a good tale. I was hoping for the little mouse. I didn’t think I’d like a book about a mouse. I do though. It is very good.