It's Up To You by Christopher Francis

 

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

ChristopherFrancis is one of my all time favorite authors. Whether he is writing for the younger reader or young adults, his books always have some sort of lesson to be learned. As a teacher of middle grade students I often see bullying at its worst.  It isn't just the name calling, and physical kind of bullying. Even worse is the bullying that degrades a person by ignoring them or leaving them out so they feel as if they are nothing. We see more of that in middle grades.  At the end of his book he has a game called stand up.  This is important not just for the youngest children, but for all ages.  When I teach about the holocaust, I do something similar called "walk the line".  We have to reach these kids when they are young. If we don't the consequences show up when they are adults.  This is a very important book that I highly recommend.

Student Saturday: Smile by Raina Telgemeier

 

Genre: Middle Grade, Graphic Novel, Realistic Fiction

Student Reviewer: Erika R.

Raina Telgemeier is an author who a book named, "Smile" about times throughout her life. Raina is a just a teenager but one day she trips and falls causing her front teeth to fall. She starts struggling about her personal life and worrying about her smile. I've related to her in a way because I had to worry about my smile. and have braces too. This book was fun and also serious. Comic books are fun books to read and this book was super creative. I recommend this to people who love comic books and any who are interested in like teen or just relatable books. I rate this book a 9/10, I read it multiple times!

Student Saturday: The Stonekeeper's Curse (Amulet #2) by Kazu Kibuishi

Genre:  Middle Grade, Fantasy, Graphic Novel

Student Reviewer:   Hannah T.

Emily is a bright, determined young girl, and her brother Navin is a young man with good leadership skills. They are in their great-grandfather's house, which is a colossal robot. The two of them, along with the great grandfather's robots, are looking for a cure so their mom can awake from her coma. They go to this city of waterfalls called Kanalis. While there, they meet a fox named Leon, who tells Emily he can teach her how to control her amulet better. But little do they know the elves followed them once they got to the city. Emily and Navin find out how to cure their mother. Will Emily and her brother find the cure? Or will everything take a turn for the worse?

I read this book and book 1, which met my expectations. I recommend this book to kids in 5th grade to 7th or 8th grade because I knew a kid who was reading the series when they were in 5th grade, and I'm reading it in eighth grade. I made somewhat of a connection though because when my mom is sick and she can't cook for us, i usually cook for everyone. This reminded me a lot of the fact that Emily is taking care of her brother while their mother is in a coma.