MOONRISE by Sarah Crossan

Joe Moon is seventeen years old.
He hasn't seen his brother, Ed,
since he was seven,
when Ed stole his aunt's car
and hotfooted it to Texas.

Joe remembers
taking a phone call from Ed.
There was an incident
a policeman was shot and killed
And Ed
despite proclaiming his innocence
ended up on death row.

Now, ten years later, Ed's execution is imminent,
and Joe travels to Texas
to see his brother,
and possibly to say goodbye.

A powerful (and horribly sad) story
of family
and love
and justice (or injustice).

FRED KOREMATSU SPEAKS UP

I love being a CYBILS judge, because I always learn new things. This year, for example, I learned about Toyasoburo (Fred) Korematsu, an American hero who I am ashamed to admit had never even heard of. The book, FRED KOREMATSU SPEAKS UP made it to the CYBILS nonfiction finalists. I hope it wins!

Toyasoburo Korematsu, born in 1919, was the third son of Japanese immigrants, who had moved to the United States in 1905. His first grade teacher could not get her tongue around his first name, and so Toyasoburo became Fred. When Korematsu was 23, all persons of Japanese heritage were ordered into internment camps. Fred refused to go, and was arrested and thrown into jail. While he was imprisoned, Korematsu was visited by the ACLU, who asked him to allow his case to become the test case to challenge the constitutionality of the government’s imprisonment of Japanese Americans. The case ultimately went all the way to the Supreme Court. Korematsu lost, but forty years later, new evidence was uncovered and Korematsu was pardoned. 

In addition to a compelling story of a horrific injustice, an interesting aspect of this nominee is the format. The book alternates between sections presented almost as a novel in verse, followed by other sections that read like a more traditional nonfiction text with photographs, propaganda cartoons, and timelines. A fascinating presentation of a true American hero. 

TWO BOOKS ABOUT KIDS WHOSE FATHERS WISHED THEY HAD DIFFERENT KIDS

Nick Hall is an eighth grader. A really smart eighth grader who loves soccer and hates school. Unfortunately, he has a father who is a linguistics professor afflicted with chronic verbomania* (he loves words so much that he has written a dictionary, Weird and Wonderful Words, which he is forcing Nick to read, one letter at a time). Of course, Nick's father is much more interested in developing his son's cognitive abilities than in supporting Nick's passion for soccer. 

Most of Nick's problems are typical middle school problems-- a budding interest in a girl, the school bullies, Don and Dean Eggleston, twins who steal Nick's bike, preparing for an upcoming soccer tournament.  At least most of his problems are typical until his parents inform him they are separating and his mother is leaving the state to return to her first love, training horses. And of course the book has a couple of caring adults- one of whom happens to be a former Grammy-winning rapper turned school librarian, Mr. MacDonald. 

What's not typical about this book are Kwame Alexander's poems. Alexander uses a zillion different poetic forms- including free verse, acrostics, found poems, and lots of others. Alexander also uses tons of  interesting and unusual vocabulary- codswalloped, limerence, cacchinate.

This book has been a huge hit at school. I read this in October, then put it out in the fifth grade classroom where I was substituting. I haven't seen it since- I had to check it out of the library because I wanted to reread it to write my review. 

*a love of words

GARVEY'S CHOICE, by Nikki Grimes, is another book that features a main character who doesn't live up to his father's expectations. Garvey's father dreams of having a football playing athlete of a son, but Garvey is a slightly overweight, space-loving guy whose older sister often steps in to protect her brother from her father's sports mania.

Garvey feels less than adequate, until a friend tells him to "Choose the name you answer to. No one can do that but you." Garvey finds his "name" in the school choir, and ultimately earns his father's respect. 

Another terrific novel in verse, done all in tanka, syllable pattern of 5-7-5-7-7. 

THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY- Laura Shovan

THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY

One fifth grade class
a dilapidated old elementary school
slated to be torn down
and replaced by a grocery store
 at the end of the school year.
A teacher/activist that requires her students
to journal every day.
18 students including:
George Washington Furst, the class president who really wants his mom and dad to reconcile.
Gaby Vargas, an English Language Learner.
Sloane and Sydney Costley, identical twins, BFF's, but very different.
Mark Fernandez whose father has recently died.
Newt Mathews, frog loving scientist, who happens to have Aspergers.
Hannah Wiles, missing her deployed mom.
and Norah Hassan, originally from Jerusalem,
who really don't want their school to close.

This novel-in-verse follows the 18 fifth graders,
each with their own unique voice,
as they progress through a school year.

I love the way the book is designed, with each student having their own icon that appears in the corner of the page.

End notes include a description of seventeen different poem forms, with the titles of mentor poems included in the book, 15 different poems, again with mentor poems from the book, and a glossary.

Looking forward to sharing this with our fifth graders on Monday!