January/February 2004
— A young violist struggles with harsh criticism and self-doubt before finding confidence through an orchestra audition, culminating in both musical success and a first date.
— Melanie Martin Goes Dutch by Carol Weston; Alfred A. Knopf: New York, 2002; $15.95 How would you feel if your parents told you that you were going to Holland for...
— A twelve-year-old girl whose father hunts wolves for pelts rescues an orphaned wolf pup and, with help from the Animal Society, eventually convinces her father to stop commercial hunting.
— A boy captures his father through three vivid scenes: carpenter at his desk, football coach on the field, and dad reading bedtime stories.
— A snake's morning routine along the Mississippi River ends abruptly with an encounter with a wheel, told through sensory details and simple movements.
— During the 1953 Netherlands flood, twelve-year-old Sieke is separated from her family and spends a terrifying night caring for a lost little girl before both are reunited with their families.
— A Union soldier at Gettysburg confronts the death of his best friend while wrestling with memories of his father and the meaning of war as 'a game of chess.'
— Shatterglass by Tamora Pierce; Scholastic Press: New York, 2003; $16.95 Shatterglass, a fantasy novel by Tamora Pierce, touches ingeniously close to the real world. Pierce is able to weave a...
— A Chinese-American girl visits her father's rural hometown and meets Qing, a cotton farmer whose dangerous work with American pesticides reveals the harsh realities behind cheap clothing.
— A girl finds her late mother's locket in her backpack, triggering memories of her fourth birthday party and the day her mother died in a car accident.