Some of my summer favorites

The Candymakers by Wendy Mass

Do you love candy?  Did you love the book and/or movie, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?  If you answered yes here is another sweet yet delicious story that involves, candy, mystery and friendship.

In the town of Spring Haven, four lucky 12 year-olds have been selected to enter a National candy-making contest. Meet Logan, Miles, Daisy and Philip: four contestants with four very different stories about why they should win the contest. Each child must create their own delectable new and inventive goodie. The author does a fabulous job telling the story from each character’s point of view. But as the real story emerges there is really only one big mystery to be solved.  While the story covers only the short span of two days, these young apprentices try to create their own yummy discovery while forging new friendships and learning a little bit about life in the process.

Candymakers is a mixture of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Stewart.

Recommended reading for Grades 4-6. 

The Frog Princess by E. D. Baker

This is E.D Baker’s debut novel in the comical series about a young princess, Emeralda, and her many adventures. Princess Emeralda isn’t like other princesses she doesn’t like to wear fancy dresses and have fancy meals. She certainly doesn’t want to get married and enjoys spending her free time in the swamps by the castle. One day while visiting the swamp she meets a talking frog who insists that she kiss him so that he can turn back into a Prince. An evil witch had placed a spell on him and to return to his human self a princess must give him a kiss. After much thought, Emeralda decides to kiss the frog, but unfortunately the spell reverses itself and Emeralda turns into a frog as well. Together the two leap into many adventures to find the spell that can turn them back into their human form.  An amusing fairy tale for grades 4-7. This can also be a wonderful read aloud because of the sophisticated language.Check out the rest of the books in this amusing series.

Molly Moon’s Incredible Book of Hynotism

Molly Moon has spent all her life in Hardwick House, a miserable orphanage run by hairy-faced Miss Adderson whose favorite punishment is making Molly clean the toilets with her toothbrush. But Molly isn’t’ an ordinary orphan when she discovers a very powerful book and an extraordinary talent that she possesses.  She can hypnotize people to do anything she wants them to do, anything.  She finds that she can make the cook make her favorite Italian meals, she can hypnotize herself into becoming an actress on stage as well as living in one of the swankiest hotels in New York. And so Molly’s adventures begin. Read this adorable story about a very strong little girl. Rumor has it, there could possibly be a movie in the making. Read the series first, you won’t be disappointed.

Recommended for Grades 4-6

Some great teen reads

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Wonder by RJ Palacio

A very powerful read, yet one that I would highly recommend for kids in grades 6-8^th. This is a story about a young boy that has been born with some serious malformations of his face due to a genetic disease. Yet inside he is a very normal 5^th grade boy. Like we always say in life, don’t judge a book by its cover, and don’t judge a person by his/her face. This is a story with many lessons in it; this is a story that can provide for many conversations in a classroom. This is a story about life, for good or for bad. But mostly it is a story about kindness. I highly recommend this remarkable book!

The Fault in our Stars by John Green

Another powerful yet soulful story that I would recommend for teens, grades 8^th and up. This is a story about cancer, cancer in teenagers. It is about life, death, and love. Hazel is 16 with terminal cancer when she meets Augustus at her kids-with-cancer support group the two fall in love. The only caveat is they both don’t know how much longer they each have. A deeply moving story that will make you laugh and cry at the same time.  A powerful story written by an amazing author, a New York Times bestseller as well as a Printz Medal and Honor and the Edgar Award.

The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Macker

This is not only a great story for teens, but also a quick easy read for those of us who were teenagers during the mid-1990’s. It is a story that shows us what life was like when the Internet just became popular. When AOL sent discs in the mail so that everyone could go online and sign up for an AOL email account. Remember those days? Now think ahead, what would life been like in the 1990’s if you could see into the future, “Facebook” future. This is a story about two teenagers, Josh and Emma, that suddenly see into the future after logging onto their AOL account and find facebook 15 years later. They see what their life might be like. For good or for bad. a cute story that really shows us how Facebook has changed our lives.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

This is a very powerful book about teen suicide full of suspense and emotion. Hannah Baker is dead but before taking her life she talked about the reasons why she wanted to die and recorded them onto cassettes that she later sent out to the young people in her life she felt responsible for her death.  When Clay Jensen receives the box of her tapes in the mail he doesn’t want to have anything to do with the tapes. He feels her secrets should be buried with her but instead he begins listening to the tapes and his life is changed forever. This is truly a book that you will never get out of your mind but at the same time a book that probably has saved many lives as well. The author has created a story that many teens and parents should read on such an important topic.