Thursday, September 27, 2012

New titles this fall

Thanks to the generosity of the PTO, a number of new titles were donated last spring in Ms. Browder's name. Other new titles arrived late in the last school year and are just making it to the shelves now. Here are some new titles that may interest you:

Wonder by R.J. Palacio is a fiction novel for middle graders about a ten year old boy who has a significant facial abnormality. When the story begins he is about to start school for the first time--he has been homeschooled because of the large number of surgeries he has had to endure. The author addresses both the ordinary challenges of pre-adolescence and Auggie's additional and unique challenges.

Annie Sullivan and the Trials of Helen Keller by Joseph Lambert is a graphic novel version of the story of Helen Keller and her teacher, Annie Sullivan. It reminds me of the fictional re-telling of Annie Sullivan's work with Helen Keller: Miss Spitfire by Sarah Miller. The story of these two women is frequently fascinating and inspiring to students.

Bookspeak! Poems Written by and about Books by Laura Salas is an innovative picture book of poems from the point of view of books (there's even one written by the index of your favorite nonfiction book!) and about books. Very inventive and well-written poems of all types.