Beyond the Blackboard by Stacey Bess

"Beyond the Blackboard" is full of stories from teaching at the "School With No Name."  This is a school offered to homeless children in Salt Lake City, UT.  The author gives touching story after touching story of teaching, homelessness, love, family, poverty, and sometimes even miracles.  This book helps get a glimpse of this aspect of society that no one really wants to think about or talk about because it requires a look at the reality of real troubles in society.  It's a book that will probably come to one's mind even after the book is closed.

Daphne's Book by Mary Downing Hahn

This book was fun.  As I was reading, I started to think about when it was written.  Things reminded me of when I was growing up.  Things like combs in the back pocket made me wonder how old the book is.  I looked in the front of the book.  It said: "First Avon Camelot Printing: May 1995"  and it said copyright was 1983.  So then I understood because it was made back in the day when I was the girls age.  That was kind of fun to think about.

This is a book about a girl named Jessica.  Jessica is really shy.  She is paired up in class with a girl named Daphne.  She doesn't dislike Daphne but doesn't want to have people make fun of her like they make fun of Daphne.  She's afraid to say anything. 

But, as Daphne and Jessica work together to on their school project of a children's book they become close.  Daphne draws and Jessica writes the story.  Then Jessica learns something about Daphne that is a secret and it is a secret that might be too big for Jessica to handle. 

This book was well written and I enjoyed it.