Alone By Megan E. Freeman

Alone

By Megan E. Freeman

I picked this book because it is an Iowa Children's Choice Award book. It is a novel in verse book so the 416 pages go by quickly. 

When twelve-year-old Maddie hatches a scheme for a secret sleepover with her two best friends, she ends up waking up to a nightmare. She’s alone—left behind in a town that has been mysteriously evacuated and abandoned.

With no one to rely on, no power, and no working phone lines or internet access, Maddie slowly learns to survive on her own. Her only companions are a Rottweiler named George and all the books she can read. After a rough start, Maddie learns to trust her own ingenuity and invents clever ways to survive in a place that has been deserted and forgotten.

As months pass, she escapes natural disasters, looters, and wild animals. But Maddie’s most formidable enemy is the crushing loneliness she faces every day. Can Maddie’s stubborn will to survive carry her through the most frightening experience of her life?

 

Two Degrees by Alan Gratz

Two Degrees

By Alan Gratz

    Davis and I are reading this book together right now. WOW! It is a great read!

Fire. Ice. Flood.

Three climate disasters.

Four kids fighting for their lives.

Akira is riding her horse in the California woods when a wildfire sparks--and grows scarily fast. How can she make it to safety when there are flames everywhere?

Owen and his best friend, George, are used to seeing polar bears on the snowy Canadian tundra. But when one bear gets way too close for comfort, do the boys have any chance of surviving?

Natalie hunkers down at home as a massive hurricane barrels toward Miami. When the floodwaters crash into her house, Natalie is dragged out into the storm--with nowhere to hide.

Akira, Owen, George, and Natalie are all swept up in the devastating effects of climate change. They are also connected in ways that will shock them--and could alter their destinies forever.

(Source: Publisher)

 

The End of the Wild by Nicole Helget

 The End of the Wild

By Nicole Helget

It's been a while since I have read a book without one of my kids at my side. We got this book at the book fair this fall and it turned into a quick read for me. One of the things that interested me the most about this book was that her book was inspired by an effort to protect a prairie in southern Minnesota... that is so close to us!

Eleven-year-old Fern doesn't have the easiest life. Her stepfather is without a job and Fern is responsible for making dinner and taking care of her two younger brothers. In addition to that there is a fracking company that promises jobs at the cost of losing her special grove. Can Fern save the forest?

Making Bombs for Hitler

 Making Bombs for Hitler 

By Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

This book had just enough new details about WWII to keep Davis and I wanting to read more. It tells about a lesser known part of WWII.

Lida thought she was safe. She was not Jewish. But, nobody can escape the horrors of World War II. Lida's parents are ripped away from her and sister Larissa is separated. Then, Lida is taken to a brutal work camp, where she and other Ukrainian children are forced into backbreaking labor. Starving and scared for her life Lida forms a bond with her fellow prisoners. That's when Lida and her friends are assigned to make bombs for the German army. Help the enemy? Lida cannot stand this thought and decides to sabotage the bombs. Will she get caught? Will she ever see her sister again? 

Great read! (And there are more written by Marsha!)

Saving Zasha

 Saving Zasha

By Randi Barrow

This book was a great read for Davis and I. We both are interested in WWII and LOVE dogs! Bonus to this book is there is a second one... Finding Zasha. 

After WWII Russia is left with almost no dogs. Thirteen year old Mikhail finds a dying man and his German Shepherd, Zasha. After Germany attacked Russia it is dangerous and some would call you a traitor to own a German dog. Mikhail wants to keep this beautiful dog alive, but a pesky girl Katia is determined to find this dog she is sure Mikhail is hiding. In addition, a new neighbor, Dimitri is breeding a new Russian dog and he too is suspicious of Zasha's existence. As if this is not enough to handle, Mikhail and his family have to be careful of dangerous dog thieves. 

This book gives another perspective on life after war and how a young boy and his family find courage, hope and forgiveness when they least expect it.

The Fort

        The Fort

By Gordon Korman

The story of a middle-school "band of brothers" -- five friends who need to stick together after they set up a hideout in an abandoned bomb shelter and discover that the only way to be true friends is to reveal their secrets and help each other out.

The morning after Hurricane Leo rips through the town of Canaan, residents awaken to widespread destruction -- power outages, downed branches, uprooted trees, broken windows and damaged roofs. Four eighth-grade friends -- Evan, Jason, Mitchell, and CJ -- meet to explore the devastation. The tight-knit group is dismayed to find that Evan has brought along a stray -- Ricky, who is new to their town and school, and doesn’t have any friends yet.

Ricky is the one to find the strange trap door that’s appeared in the middle of the woods -- the door to an old bomb shelter, unearthed by the hurricane. Inside, the boys find a completely intact underground lair, complete with electricity, food, and entertainment (in the form of videocassettes). The boys vow to keep the place’s existence to themselves.

Things soon get tense. Some bad locals keep snooping around. And what started out as a fun place to escape soon becomes a serious refuge for one of the kids who is trying to avoid an abusive home situation. In order to save the shelter, the friends must keep its secret... and in order to save themselves, they’re going to have to share their individual secrets, and build the safest place they can.

After Davis got done with his virtual author visit he wanted me to preorder Gordon Korman's newest book The Fort. It came to our house this summer and we were so excited to get started on it. If you are looking for a great author for your kids to get hooked on Korman is a solid choice. Davis and I still read books together (it is the only time I get to be one on one with him). Gordon Korman likes to write from his characters' perspectives. Our bookmark usually has each character and notes about them. That way when we start the next chapter we can remember who the character is; this is especially helpful at the beginning of the book. 

If you are interested in more Gordon Korman books here is his website: https://gordonkorman.com/

Linked

 

   Linked   

By Gordon Korman

In the 2021-2022 our 4th and 5th graders did a virtual author visit with Gordon Korman. My son, Davis, came home with this book and could not wait to read it. Davis and I have read lots of books about World War II so he has a pretty good background on the Holocaust. This book ties the past with present day, making it easy for any kids to relate to. Gordon Korman once again did a fantastic job bringing his characters to life in this mystery. GREAT read!

Link, Michael, and Dana live in a quiet town. But it's woken up very quickly when someone sneaks into school and vandalizes it with a swastika. Nobody can believe it. How could such a symbol of hate end up in the middle of their school? Who would do such a thing?

Because Michael was the first person to see it, he's the first suspect. Because Link is one of the most popular guys in school, everyone's looking to him to figure it out. And because Dana's the only Jewish girl in the whole town, everyone's treating her more like an outsider than ever.

The mystery deepens as more swastikas begin to appear. Some students decide to fight back and start a project to bring people together instead of dividing them further. The closer Link, Michael, and Dana get to the truth, the more there is to face-not just the crimes of the present, but the crimes of the past.