Eight Keys by Suzanne LaFleur

Sometimes a book is so much better than its title might indicate. That is the case with Eight Keys. I guess I was expecting it to be an adventure-type book, similar to 100 Cupboards, which I recently read. Boy, was I wrong!

Beginning sixth grade can be a trying time for many kids. Elise gets a double whammy of difficult when she realizes that her best friend, Franklin, is so way not cool (in fact, he’s sort of embarrassing) and her locker partner is a snobbish bully who makes her life miserable at least once a day by dropping her books on top of Elise’s lunch. With her twelfth birthday coming up, Elise hopes that things will change, but a birthday didn’t work any kind of magic.

So where do the eight keys come in? On the upstairs of Elise’s Uncle Hugh’s barn are eight locked doors. Elise has never been allowed to see what is behind those doors. One day, she spots a key hanging up in the barn, and discovers it has her name on it. That begins a series of events which lead Elise to discover much about her family, herself, and the value of friendship.

The messages Elise receives throughout this book are messages that are speak to everyone, not just twelve-year-olds. Pick up Eight Keys for a great story that will give you lots to think about.

AR Level 3.8

AR Points 6

You'll Like It Here (Everybody Does) by Ruth White

Meggie Blue still has nightmares stemming from the day a crazy man burst into her third grade classroom wielding a knife and screaming about aliens. Even the move from California to a quiet little town in North Carolina hasn’t pushed those memories from her mind. Now, three years later, there’s talk of aliens again. And the finger points to Meggie’s family after an elderly local man suffers a stroke shortly after visiting with Meggie and her brother, David.

When the townspeople approach the Blue family’s home in the middle of the night, the family is one step – and light years – ahead of them. They pile into “The Carriage” and escape to another world. In her haste, Mrs. Blue wasn’t able to give specific coordinates for their arrival location, and they end up in the park of a place called Fashion City. The first person they meet is a policeman, who directs them to the housing authority. They are given an apartment, stamps to buy whatever they need, and are told where to go the next day to see about work. It’s when evening comes and the building manager comes for a head count, then locks them in their apartment that they realize Fashion City is not a place they want to stay.

The title of the book echoes the words they hear over and over whenever they meet someone new. Meggie Blue and her family are definitely not included in the “everybody.” But is there any way out? Ruth White has created a civilization that would put a fright into anyone, and she plunks down in the middle of it two strong, young characters who aren’t going to sit around and let other people determine the course of their lives. You’ll like this book. (Everybody does)

AR Level 4.5

AR Points 8

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

I'll start with a confession -- I prefer to get my information by reading rather than interpreting pictures. I don't need a picture of an oven temperature dial set at 450 degrees on my frozen pizza box, because I can read and understand written instructions. That said, the second part of the confession is that I just read The Invention of Hugo Cabret, even though it was published in 2007 and won the Caldecott Medal in 2008. It wasn't until I saw that it was coming to the big screen at Thanksgiving time that I decided to see what all the fuss was about. I understand now.
Hugo lives in a Paris train station with his uncle, whose job is to keep all of the clocks in station running. But Hugo must stay hidden, or his uncle may lose his job, and with it the small room at the station that the two share. When is uncle doesn't return one day, Hugo takes over the clock maintenance and continues to collect his uncle's pay checks, though he doesn't know how to cash them. Without money, he takes to stealing from some of the food vendors at the station. And he occasionally filches a small toy from a toy store in the station as well. You see,he needs parts from the toy to fix a machine his father had been repairing at the museum where he worked before he died in the fire that destroyed the museum.
Author Brian Selznick has told Hugo's story in 526 pages, nearly 300 of which are black-and-white illustrations which move the story through its paces. Not a novel, not a picture book, not a graphic novel, Hugo Cabret is a one-of-a-kind creation of story-telling full of mystery, history, determination and loyalty, with an ending that will leave you in awe.
Find The Invention of Hugo Cabret in the juvenile fiction section under S.

AR Level 5.1
AR Points 4