SO B. IT by Sarah Weeks

Realistic Fiction, Mentally Disabled, Identity, Mothers and Daughters, Conduct of Life, Hero's Journey

245 pages.

Description

"Twelve-year-old Heidi It and her severely mentally disabled mother survive through a combination of good luck and their next-door neighbor's loving attention. An undeveloped roll of old film leads Heidi to embark alone on a risky cross-country quest to answer questions about Mama's past. Narrator Heidi's realistic voice lends authenticity to her unusual circumstances." (Horn Book)

My Comments

A compelling page turner. Perfect for grades 5-6-7. Heidi is a brave girl who is seeking the truth about her mother's past. She is often frightened and lonely on her incredible journey across country, but her courage and help from kind strangers sees her through. Beautiful and riveting to the end.

Read the sequel: Soof

Description

"In this stand-alone follow-up to Sarah Weeks's beloved So B. It, a girl who the world might see as weird finds her footing and stands her ground.

All her life, Aurora has heard stories about Heidi and all the good luck she brought Aurora's family. Aurora, though, doesn't feel very lucky. The kids at school think she's weird. And she's starting to think her mom thinks she's weird, too. Especially compared to Heidi.

On the eve of a visit from Heidi, more bad luck hits Aurora's family. There's a fire in their attic, destroying a good part of their house. And, even worse, Aurora's beloved dog goes missing. Aurora and her family have always believed in soof -- Heidi's mom's word for love. But sometimes even when soof is right there in front of you, you still need to find it -- and that's exactly what Aurora is going to do." (The Publisher)

GOODBYE, CHUNKY-RICE by Craig Thompson

Graphic Novel, Hero's Journey, Grief, Loneliness, Friendship, Courage

 

Important lessons about friendship, loss, and loneliness.

 

Kirkus Reviews (April 15, 2006)

 

"Though the title and the deceptively simple character drawings suggest a kids' comic, rarely are graphic novels aimed at adults as sweetly affecting as this.

Chunky Rice is a very cute turtle. Dandel, his girlfriend, is an equally adorable mouse deer (as identified by the book, though she appears more rodent-sized than cervine). Chunky must explore the world by water, for that is his nature. As he says, "My home is on my back." Dandel must remain on land, for that is her nature. Before his bittersweet but inevitable departure, the two construct an entire world of sand castles, and he proceeds to tell her a bedtime story, the tale of the doomed lovers of Greek mythology, Orpheus and Eurydice (or, as rendered by graphic-artist Thompson, "Or-fee-us" and "Yourid-uhsee"). It's unclear whether what follows the bedtime story is dream or reality, but Chunky seems to emulate the example of another mythological hero, Odysseus, as he makes his way to what looks to be an ocean-bound tugboat with a grizzled, mercenary captain. Chunky has brought all his prized possessions, including his collection of Motown records, but the country-and-western-loving captain tells him he must travel light for a life on the sea. His shipmates include female Siamese twins, whose different sizes and sleeping patterns complicate their attachment. As Chunky sails the ocean and Dandel drops love letters into bottles carried by the waves, not much happens to propel the narrative. Yet the artistic range displayed within the black-and-white drawings, as Thompson evokes the turbulence and majesty of the sea, shows a more sophisticated command of technique than he employs with his characters (who are almost Peanuts-like). Originally published in 1999, this reprint represents the debut of another promising artist within the Pantheon stable.

For characters who must pursue their own destinies, love is as boundless as the sea."

 

My Comments

Intriguing. Not an easy read, but incredibly creative. Put this out there and the right kids will find it.

 

 

Hero's Journey Middle School Books

THE LOST YEARS OF MERLIN by T.A. Barron

Merlin, Wizards

A young boy who has no identity nor memory of his past washes ashore on the coast of Wales and finds his true name after a series of fantastic adventure. Series

 THE DARK IS RISING SEQUENCE by Susan Cooper

 Good and Evil

A group of children in Cornwall, including the three Drew siblings, Will    Stanton, and a mysterious boy named Bran, are drawn into a dangerous battle between the forces of Light and the Dark. Series

A GIRL NAMED DISASTER by Nancy Farmer

While fleeing from Mozambique to Zimbabwe to escape an unwanted marriage, Nhamo, an eleven-year-old Shona girl, struggles to escape drowning and starvation and in so doing comes close to the luminous world of the African spirits.

THE KEYS TO THE KINGDOM by Garth Nix
Mister Monday-Grim Tuesday....Series
Arthur Penhaligon, destined to die at a young age, is saved by a key shaped like the minute hand of a clock, but his survival invokes the wrath of the mysterious Mister Monday who will stop at nothing to get the key back, and Arthur is forced into a desperate quest to unravel the secrets of the key and discover his true fate. Series






MORE DIFFICULT

GUINEVERE by Sharan Newman

Tells of Guinevere's childhood when she was guarded by a majestic beast and prepared for holy sacrifice by the disciples of the Earth Mother. 

"Sharan Newman has created a portrait of what Guinevere might have been like--not a cardboard character who has been both deified and vilified over the centuries, but someone who was as bound by prophecy as Arthur and whose will ultimately was not all her own."< https://www.fantasticfiction.com/n/sharan-newman/guinevere.htm>