BookFest 2012 Reading List Summaries

All Readers

Here’s How I See It; Here’s How It Is / by Heather Henson

Throughout the school year, budding actress June "Junebug" Cantrell feels like a fish out of water. Summers, however, are different. Working as a stagehand at the Blue Moon Playhouse, a theater run by her actor/director father, Junebug usually basks in the company of grownups "who think I'm this funny, precocious, mature-for-my-age kid." Unfortunately, the Blue Moon becomes less a refuge than a source of trauma the summer Junebug turns 13. Her father goes "totally gaga" over a pretty, young actress; her mother moves out; and Junebug is upstaged by intern Trace, whose odd behavior and soft stutter get on her nerves. Alternating Junebug's fantasies ("Here's how I see it: As a famous Broadway actress, there are so many demands on my time") with her more mundane reality ("Here's how it is: Office Duty"), Henson (Making the Run) creates a funny, bittersweet story filled with colorful personalities and plenty of backstage detail and drama.

Gregor the Overlander / by Suzanne Collins

Gregor the Overlander is guided by prophecies that take him on adventures through the amazing subterranean world under New York City. When 11-year-old Gregor and his 2-year-old sister are pulled into a strange underground world while on a quest foretold by ancient prophecy, they trigger an epic battle involving men, bats, rats, cockroaches, and spiders.

When the Whistle Blows / by Fran Cannon Slayton

Jimmy Cannon loves trains. And he wants to work on the railroad more than anything when he grows up. After all, his father is the foreman in Rowlesburg, and all the men in his family have worked the rails. But times are changing in the 1940s, and Jimmy's father sees a different future for his son. Join Jimmy on the ride of a lifetime, through midnight Halloween romps, the championship football game, and a secret society in this coming-of-age story set during the last of the railroad days.

7th and 8th Grade Readers

Code Talker / by Joseph Bruchac

The United States is at war, and 16-year-old Ned Begay wants to join the cause—especially when he hears that Navajos are being specifically recruited by the Marine Corps. So he claims he's old enough to enlist, breezes his way through boot camp, and suddenly finds himself involved in a top-secret task, one that's exclusively performed by Navajos. He has become a code talker. Now Ned must brave some of the heaviest fighting of the war, and with his native Navajo language as code, send crucial messages back and forth to aid in the conflict against Japan. His experiences in the Pacific-from Guadalcanal to Iwo Jima and beyond-will leave him forever changed.

The Compound / by Stephanie Bodeen

Eli and his family have lived in the underground Compound for six years. The world they knew is gone, and they’ve become accustomed to their new life. Accustomed, but not happy. No amount of luxury can stifle the dull routine of living in the same place, with only his two sisters, only his father and mother, doing the same thing day after day after day. As problems with their carefully planned existence threaten to destroy their sanctuary—and their sanity—Eli can’t help but wonder if he’d rather take his chances outside. Eli’s father built the Compound to keep them safe. But are they safe—really?

Virals / by Kathy Reichs

Tory Brennan, niece of acclaimed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan (of the Bones novels and hit TV show), is the leader of a ragtag band of teenage "sci-philes" who live on a secluded island off the coast of South Carolina. When the group rescues a dog caged for medical testing on a nearby island, they are exposed to an experimental strain of canine parvovirus that changes their lives forever.
As the friends discover their heightened senses and animal-quick reflexes, they must combine their scientific curiosity with their newfound physical gifts to solve a cold-case murder that has suddenly become very hot-if they can stay alive long enough to catch the killer's scent. Fortunately, they are now more than friends: They are a pack. They are Virals.

5th and 6th Grade Readers

Faith, Hope, and Ivy June / by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Ivy June Mosely and Catherine Combs, two girls from different parts of Kentucky, are participating in the first seventh-grade student exchange program between their schools. The girls will stay at each other’s homes, attend school together, and record their experience in their journals. Catherine and her family have a beautiful home with plenty of space. Since Ivy June’s house is crowded, she lives with her grandparents. Her Pappaw works in the coal mines supporting four generations of kinfolk. Ivy June can’t wait until he leaves that mine forever and retires. As the girls get closer, they discover they’re more alike than different, especially when they face the terror of not knowing what’s happening to those they love most.

Masterpiece / by Elise Broach

Marvin lives with his family under the kitchen sink in the Pompadays’ apartment. He is very much a beetle. James lives with his family in New York City. He is very much an eleven year-old boy. After James gets a pen and ink set for his birthday, Marvin surprises him by creating an elaborate miniature drawing. Then James ends up with all the credit, and is expected to do it again. Before they know it, the unlikely friends are caught up in an art heist that could lead them to a long-lost drawing by Albrecht Dürer. Of course, James can’t go through with the plan without Marvin’s help. But can a boy take a beetle to a museum and let him recreate a master work of art without anyone knowing about it? Even more important, can he bring the beetle safely back home?

Scumble / by Ingrid Law

This story follows the Newbery Honor-winning, Savvy, with a look at another family in which "thirteenth birthdays were like time bombs." It's been nine years since Mibs Beaumont's tumultuous 13th, and the spotlight now finds her cousin Ledge Kale. Ledge's "savvy"--inadvertently (and explosively) dismantling objects--has just hit, disastrously, when his family must travel from Indiana to Wyoming for a wedding.