What's New? Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews. Hop on over there to ogle what other bloggers got. Big week this week.

For review:

Into the Grey by Celine Kiernan. 290 p. Candlewick Press, August 26, 2014. 9780763670610.

Publisher synopsis: After their nan accidentally burns their home down, twin brothers Pat and Dom must move with their parents and baby sister to the seaside cottage they’ve summered in, now made desolate by the winter wind. It’s there that the ghost appears — a strange boy who cries black tears and fears a bad man, a soldier, who is chasing him. Soon Dom has become not-Dom, and Pat can sense that his brother is going to die — while their overwhelmed parents can’t even see what’s happening. Isolated and terrified, Pat needs to keep his brother’s cover while figuring out how to save him, drawing clues from his own dreams and Nan’s long-ago memories, confronting a mystery that lies between this world and the next — within the Grey. With white-knuckle pacing and a deft portrayal of family relationships, Celine Kiernan offers a taut psychological thriller.

Last-But-Not-Least Lola and the Wild Chicken by Christine Pakkala. Illustrated by Paul Hoppe. 194 p. Boyds Mills Press/ Highlights, September 1, 2014. 9781590789834. 

Publisher synopsis: Spirited, smart, and strong-willed Lola Zuckerman, who is always last but never least, returns for a second adventure. Still struggling with friendships, Lola doesn’t want to share her on-again, off-again best friend Amanda with Jessie (who seems to be around all the time) and new girl Savannah. But when the four girls embark on a school field trip to a local farm, a crazy encounter with a wild chicken may be just what’s needed to steer them all toward one another.

Hilarious and heartfelt, this latest caper starring loveable Lola will make young readers laugh out loud.

Friendship Over by Julie Sternberg. The Top-Secret Diary of Celie Valentine #1. Illustrated by Johanna Wright. 152 p. Boyds Mills Press/ Highlights, October 1, 2014. 9781590789933.

Publisher synopsis: Ten-year-old Celie has quite a few things on her mind—fights with her sister Jo, secrets at school, an increasingly forgetful grandmother, and worst of all, a best friend who won’t speak to her. How can a girl who hates change survive, when everything in her life is changing? By writing, of course. Celie’s often comical and always heartfelt diary entries include notes, e-mails, homework assignments, and pages from her top-secret spy notebook.

Voices from the March on Washington. Poems by J. Patrick Lewis & George Ella Lyon. 114 p. Wordsong/ Highlights, October 1, 2014. 9781620917855.

Publisher synopsis: The powerful poems in this poignant collection weave together multiple voices to tell the story of the March on Washington, DC, in 1963. From the woman singing through a terrifying bus ride to DC, to the teenager who came partly because his father told him, “Don’t you dare go to that march,” to the young child riding above the crowd on her father’s shoulders, each voice brings a unique perspective to this tale. As the characters tell their personal stories of this historic day, their chorus plunges readers into the experience of being at the march—walking shoulder-to-shoulder with strangers, hearing Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous speech, heading home inspired.

Rory's Promise by Michaela MacColl & Rosemary Nichols. Hidden Histories. 288 p. Calkins Creek/ Highlights, September 1, 2014. 9781620916230.

Publisher synopsis: Twelve-year-old orphan Rory Fitzpatrick lives with her younger sister Violet at New York City’s Foundling Hospital in the early 1900s. But when Rory discovers that Violet will be sent to the Arizona Territory to be adopted, her world is shattered. Although too old to be adopted herself, Rory—brave and smart—is determined to stay with her sister, even if it means hiding out on a train traveling west. When Rory and Violet arrive in Arizona, everything that could go wrong does go wrong. Will Rory give up? This uplifting novel about the power of faith and the true meaning of family launches the Hidden Histories series, spotlighting little-known tales from America’s past, and the children behind those stories. Includes authors’ note and further resources.

Strike! The Farm Workers' Fight for their Rights by Larry Dane Brimmer. 172 p. Calkins Creek/ Highlights, October 1, 2014. 9781590789971.

Publisher synopsis: In the 1960s, while the United States was at war and racial tensions were boiling over, Filipino American workers were demanding fair wages and decent living conditions in California’s vineyards. When the workers walked out of the fields in September 1965, the great Delano grape strike began. Did the signing of labor contracts with growers in 1970 mean an end to the problems of American field laborers, or was it a short-lived truce? Award-winning author Larry Dane Brimner follows the five-year-long strike through the rise of César Chávez and the United Farm Workers. Brimner’s riveting text, complemented by black-and-white archival photographs and the words of workers, organizers, and growers, tells the powerful story. Includes an author’s note, bibliography, and source notes.

Blue Birds by Caroline Starr Rose. 391 p. G.P. Putnam's Sons/ Penguin Young Readers Group, March 10, 2015. 9780399168109.

Publisher synopsis: It’s 1587 and twelve-year-old Alis has made the long journey with her parents from England to help settle the New World, the land christened Virginia in honor of the Queen. And Alis couldn’t be happier. While the streets of London were crowded and dirty, this new land, with its trees and birds and sky, calls to Alis. Here she feels free. But the land, the island Roanoke, is also inhabited by the Roanoke tribe and tensions between them and the English are running high, soon turning deadly.
 
Amid the strife, Alis meets and befriends Kimi, a Roanoke girl about her age. Though the two don’t even speak the same language, these girls form a special bond as close as sisters, willing to risk everything for the other. Finally, Alis must make an impossible choice when her family resolves to leave the island and bloodshed behind.
 
A beautiful, tender story of friendship and the meaning of family, Caroline Starr Rose delivers another historical gem.
 

The Less-Than-Hidden Secrets and Final Revelations of Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang. The Popularity Papers #7. by Amy Ignatow. 208 p. Amulet Books/ Abrams, September 9, 2014. 9781419712708.

Publisher synopsis: Lydia and Julie have been through many adventures as they navigated junior high, popularity, families, and friendship. In the final adventure in the series, the peaceful world of Hamlin Junior High is rocked when Lydia and Julie learn that they’re going to have to play host to new students whose school burned down. The outside threat bands the Hamlin kids together against a common enemy—for a while. When the enemy gets their hands on Lydia and Julie’s notebook, no one wants anything to do with the girls. It’s the biggest threat to their friendship (and a pretty definitive failure of their quest for popularity), and it can only be solved one way. Two words: dance battle.

Drones by Martin J. Dougherty. 96 p. Scholastic Inc., July, 2014. 9780545664769. 

Publisher synopsis: As small as a fly or as big as an aircraft, Drones are changing the face of military warfare. Drones will be the first title available for young readers on this topical subject.

Drones, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), have become an essential and controversial tool for the U.S. military. Capable of targeted killing, they can be as small as a fly or as large as an aircraft. They can be used to spy on a neighbor, to undergo long reconnaissance missions, or to bomb a military compound. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are changing the way wars are fought.

Using fact boxes, diagrams, photographs, and specially commissioned, computer-generated color illustrations, DRONES is an exciting, accessible work about the latest in aviation technology.

The Scarecrows' Wedding by Julia Donaldson. Illustrated by Axel Scheffler. 32 p. Scholastic Inc., July 2014. 9780545726061.


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