Took: A Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn

Genre: Middle Grade, Horror

Source: Borrowed From My Granddaughter

From Goodreads:

“Folks say Old Auntie takes a girl and keeps her fifty years—then lets her go and takes another one.”     Thirteen-year-old Daniel Anderson doesn’t believe Brody Mason’s crazy stories about the ghost witch who lives up on Brewster’s Hill with Bloody Bones, her man-eating razorback hog. He figures Brody’s probably just trying to scare him since he’s the new kid . . . a “stuck-up snot” from Connecticut. But Daniel’s seven-year-old sister Erica has become more and more withdrawn, talking to her lookalike doll. When she disappears into the woods one day, he knows something is terribly wrong. Did the witch strike? Has Erica been “took”?

My Thoughts:

I discovered at Thanksgiving that my granddaughter Haylee and I share a love of books written by Mary Downing Hahn.  She expressed a desire to read Took. She said she’d been trying to get a copy from her school library, but it was always checked out. I made sure she got one for Christmas. She and her brother Jacob spent the Wednesday through Friday with us. We took them to the library yesterday. While she sat and read books to her brother, I borrowed her book and read it. Mary Downing Hahn’s books have that special creep factor that makes all of her books good.  You have a family moving into an old and creepy house. The children don’t like it. The kids at school don’t like them, and the parents are beginning to fight more and more. The author sets you up for a great scare. As you read and see how brave Daniel is, you are thinking to yourself, ‘I wouldn’t be brave enough to do that’.  One thing that makes this book so good is it has an urban legend. Every area has their own urban legends. This legend is based on an actual disappearance that had happened fifty years before. Now it is happening again. Is there truly a witch in the woods? 

I will definitely need to get another copy for my classroom shelves.

Cloud and Wallfish by Anne Nesbet

Genre:  Middle Grade, Historical Fiction
Source:  I purchased a copy from Scholastic

Take one boy named Noah and give him a stutter so he is an outsider. then turn his world upside down. That is what Anne Nesbet, the author has done to her character Noah Keller. Noah leaves his fifth-grade classroom and finds his mom and dad in a rental car. It is on the ride that they explain to him that his mom has the opportunity of a lifetime.  She is working on her dissertation about schools and children with problems like her son's. Noah learns that all of the German lessons he has been taking had a purpose. They will be flying into East Berlin. Noah has a new name and new rules. He is now known as Jonah Brown. He can't do anything that will bring attention to himself or his parents. He must not question anything because the walls have bugs. He isn't allowed to go to school even though he has taken their test. He meets a girl in his apartment building named Claudia. Because of his stutter, he ends up calling her Cloud-Claudia. She names him Wallfish.  What happens when they are caught up in something that they were not a part of. How will the secret he knows about Claudia affect their friendship?
Because I'm an adult and remember the fall of the Berlin Wall, this book was so important for me to read. I have always been fascinated by this topic. My father was stationed in Berlin when he was in the Army. This is such an important piece of history that unfortunately isn't really taught in schools. I do my best to at least introduce it to my sixth graders to the topic. I want them to start their own research on such an important topic.  I am impressed with the way the author handled the topic. The reader is right there and can feel the strain the people living on the East side of the wall must have felt, especially if they didn't agree with the politics at the time.  This is a book I will definitely promote to my students.  I had an extra copy so I passed it along to my granddaughter who had picked it up to look at. Thank you Anne Nesbet for creating a perfect book at the perfect time.

Hunt For the Horseman - Gita V. Reddy

Genre: Middle Grade, Adventure, Mystery

Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

For readers who have always loved the idea of exploring a house with hidden areas, this is the book for you. The children in this book are searching their ancestral home in India for a toy supposedly hidden by a cousin.  Family members for years have searched for this toy. Even more important they must try to find a very important paper. They are trying to save their ancestral home which is at risk of being taken from them. They need the paper to show they are the rightful owners of it.    Along the way the characters learn about their heritage. This was something I believe many of my students will be able to identify with.  Our school has a large Indian population.  I see the differences when some of them are born here in the United States and are clueless to their Indian Heritage. I also see how many of the students who were born in India and then moved to the United States handle the cultural differences.  I think a large part of the message found in this book is about family and embracing the differences within your cultural heritage. The adventure and mystery is something that kept me reading. I look forward to reading more from this author.