Pony

 Pony by R.J. Palacio  289 pp.

Silas Bird lives with his father in a small town called Boneville. Martin Bird is a photographer by trade and the two of them have enough to get by. One day strangers come and kidnap Martin, calling him Mac Boat, a name Silas has never heard before. When a mysterious horse belonging to the kidnappers returns to the Bird house, Silas rides the horse in search of his father even though he is terrified of the woods he must travel through. His only companion is Mittenwool, a spirit presence who has been a friend of Silas since he was little. Soon he is joined by a Federal Marshal who is on the hunt for the kidnappers. They find the kidnappers but the Marshal is seriously injured. Silas then rides to the nearest town and gets the sheriff and his deputy to join in the effort to save his father. With their help the kidnappers are found and captured but the outcome is not a happy one. The end of the story is bittersweet, with a grown Silas heading off to college after living with the Sheriff and his family. This book is nominated for the 2023-2024 Missouri Mark Twain Award.

One Kid's Trash

One Kid's Trash by Jamie Sumner 231 pp. 

Hugo is a sixth grader who is very small for his age. This has been a constant problem for him at school and made him a victim of bullying. Now he is in a new town at a new school, having to start over with making new friends and settling in. The jokes and bullying begin almost immediately after arriving at school. Hugo's parents are having problems and appear to be heading toward a split. His one anchor at the new school is his cousin Vijay but they start having issues with each other. Things start to improve with his classmates when Hugo begins using his talent for Garbology - analyzing people by the trash they produce. Then it all goes wrong. This book is nominated for the 2023-2024 Missouri Mark Twain Award and is one of the selections chosen for our Treehouse Book Club. 

The Junction of Sunshine and Lucky

The Junction of Sunshine and Lucky by Holly Schindler, 230 pages

Auggie Jones lives with her Grandpa Gus in Willow Grove, MO.  He’s a junk hauler and Auggie loves spending summertime riding with him to the local junkyard.  But as summer ends, things in Willow Grove change.  Auggie’s neighborhood school has been closed so she must go to a different school – Dickerson Elementary.  But Auggie and her friends are different from the students at Dickerson.  And Victoria, a long-time Dickerson student, makes sure they don’t forget it.

Victoria has it out for Auggie.  First, she steals Auggie’s best friend.  Then she announces her position as a junior member of the House Beautification Committee.  Victoria has her sights set on Auggie’s rundown neighborhood.  If Auggie can’t clean up her neighborhood, it will be torn down.  Auggie gets inventive and begins turning junkyard scraps into decorations to make her house beautiful – but the people on the City Council don’t always see things the way Auggie does.  To find out if Auggie is able to turn trash into treasure and save her neighborhood, read The Junction of Sunshine and Lucky.

Written by a Missouri author, this 16-17 Mark Twain Readers Award nominee shows younger readers the beauty to be found in unlikely objects, and that all communities – classy or shabby – have their own points of pride.

A Million Ways Home

A Million Ways Home by Dianna Dorisi Winget, 242 pages

12-year-old Poppy Parker has lived with Grandma Beth all her life – until 11 days ago, when Grandma Beth suffered a stroke.  Now Poppy has to live in a children’s home while Grandma Beth gets better.  While on her way to visit Grandma Beth, Poppy witnesses a horrible crime – in fact, she’s the only witness.  To ensure her safety during the investigation, Poppy will stay with a police officer's family.

Poppy’s temporary home is much better than the children’s home, and she even gets to volunteer at an animal shelter where she takes an interest in a problem-dog with an uncertain future.  But Poppy won’t stay here forever – only until Grandma Beth gets better, or the suspect of the investigation is caught.  What Poppy wants most is for Grandma Beth to get better so they can be together again – but instead she seems to be getting worse.  Will things go back to the way they were for Poppy and Grandma Beth?  Find out by reading A Million Ways Home.

A 16-17 MT Readers Award nominee, and a touching read.  Readers  experience how the main character faces difficult changes – with both grace and impulse.

Red Berries, White Clouds, Blue Sky

Red Berries, White Clouds, Blue Sky
by Sandra Dallas, 237 pages

The year is 1942.  The bombing of Pearl Harbor is recent history, and America has entered WWII.  Japanese Americans in the U.S. are being treated as second-class citizens.

12-year-old Tomi Itano's father has been taken away by the FBI for no reason other than being Japanese.  Ironically, her father loves America and is proud to have raised his children to be exemplary citizens. Soon Tomi's family is forced to leave their home in California and they are transported to to an inland "relocation" camp in Colorado.  The conditions in the camp are barely habitable - more like a prison than a camp, but Tomi's family insists on maintaining a positive outlook as they wait to hear from her father.  Tomi spends several years in Tallgrass, and time takes its toll on the family.  Will Tomi ever see her father again?  And will years spent imprisoned by the country she loved change her opinion of America?

Red Berries, White Clouds, Blue Sky is the second novel by Sandra Dallas taking place at Tallgrass relocation camp, but offers a different perspective than the other novel - Tallgrass.

This title is a Mark Twain Readers Award Nominee 2016-17.  I look forward to using it as springboard for generating student interest in this piece of America's past.