Digital Booktalk

When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park Sun-hee and her older brother Tae-yul are proud of their Korean heritage. Yet they live their lives under Japanese occupation. All students must read and write in Japanese and no one can fly the Korean flag. Hardest of all is when the Japanese Emperor forces all Koreans to take Japanese names. Sun-hee and Tae-yul become Keoko and Nobuo. Korea is torn apart by their Japanese invaders during World War II. Everyone must help with war preparations, but it does not mean they are willing to defend Japan.

Matched by Ally Condie Cassia Reyes is a model student, daughter, and citizen. How could she not be when the Society has everything planned and functioning perfectly? All of her needs are met: food, shelter, education, career training, and even her future husband are selected by officials who know what is best for each individual by studying statistical data and probable odds. She even knows when she will die, on her 80th birthday, just as the Society dictates. At her Match Banquet she is paired with Xander, her best friend and certainly her soul mate. But when a computer error shows her the face of Ky, an Aberration, instead of Xander, cracks begin to appear in the Society’s facade of perfection. A series of events also shakes her dedication to Xander and puts her future in jeopardy.

The Natural by Bernard Malamud The book follows Roy Hobbs, a baseball prodigy whose career is sidetracked when he is shot by a socio-pathic serial killer. This story concerns itself with his attempts to return to baseball later in life, when he plays for the New York Knights with his legendary bat ‘Wonderboy.. Nineteen-year-old Roy Hobbs, a country bumpkin with a great pitching arm, is on his way to Chicago to try out for the Chicago Cubs. He is on the train with the Cubs’ scout, Sam Simpson. While on the train, Roy meets a woman named Harriet Bird, for whom he immediately develops a crush. He also meets a sports journalist, Max Mercy, who is on the train with a famous baseball hitter, the Whammer. Fifteen years later, Pop Fisher, the manager of the New York Knights, discovers he has a new “rookie” for his team—a thirty-four-year-old man named Roy Hobbs, whom the team’s owner, the stingy Judge Banner, has signed for a paltry $3,000. The story recounts Roy’s ups and downs and tragedy in his personal life.

Nothing but the Truth by Avi Ninth-grader Philip Malloy was suspended from school for humming along to the Star-Spangled Banner in his homeroom, causing what his teacher, Margaret Narwin, called “a disturbance.” This small incident soon ignited a firestorm of debate on that national stage. Was he standing up for his patriotic ideals, only to be squelched by the school system? Was Ms. Narwin simply trying to be a good teacher? Or could it all be just a misunderstanding? What is the truth here?

Start of a New Dan – Elise Leonard Series About Elise Leonard: Elise was a successful teacher of inner-city kids for over 20 years before starting her writing career. She now lives in Florida. About This Book: START OF A NEW DAN is the first book of the Junkyard Dan series. Details: Published: 2008. All the books in this series are 100 pages (+/-). Contains approximately 10,500 words. ISBN: 978-0-9815694-0-6. All books are Lexile 1 & 2 Storyline: Dan Corbett was a powerful man. He had it all. Money. Power. Respect. Big house. Nice cars. Beautiful wife. But then Dan got the note. And at that moment, the reason for Dan’s entire life was gone. So Dan leaves it all. Just walks away. Becomes a new Dan. Living a nice, peaceful life. A simple life.

The Name of the Star (Shades of London) by Maureen Johnson The day that Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London to start a new life at boarding school is also the day a series of brutal murders breaks out over the city, killings mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper spree of more than a century ago. Soon “Rippermania” takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him–the only one who can see him. And now Rory has become his next target.

Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff The story of the mutiny is told from the eyes of sailor Rodger Byam. He tells his story even as he is being dragged back to England to be put on trial for a crime he had no part in. Through Rodger we learn of Captain Bligh whose mission was to attempt to gather produce and trees for transplant. We learn of Bligh’s inability to lead his men and his violent tendencies. The crew spends six months in Tahiti, but once they are back on the boat Bligh’s mistreatment of them begins again. After the floggings and the cut in rations Bligh’s own first officer Fletcher Christian leads a mutiny against him. With their old captain adrift on a raft with his supporters, Christian leads the crew Back to Tahiti. But what happens when Captain Bligh shows back up?

Murder on the Iditarod Trail by Sue Henry The Iditarod, sometimes called “The Last Great Race,” takes mushers, (dog sled racers), and their dog teams over 1150 miles of some of Alaska’s roughest, most majestic terrain – jagged mountain ranges, iced-over areas of Norton Sound, frozen rivers, dense forests, desolate tundra and miles of windswept coastline. This year’s race has a major impediment to arriving at the finish line in one piece. It seems as if one of the contestants is eliminating the competition by cruel, unusual and permanent means. Top Iditarod mushers are dying on the trail in the most gruesome and bizarre ways. Three deaths have occurred before the halfway mark is reached in a race that has never claimed a life in its entire history. Jessie Arnold, the top female contender, is determined to win and not allow the terrible deaths/murders of her friends and colleagues to deter or distract her from her goal. State Trooper Alex Jensen, a gifted investigator, as well as a handsome bachelor, meets the attractive Jessie during the race and the two are immediately drawn to each other. Already committed to finding the killer before he/she can do any more harm, Jensen…

Money for Nothing – Elise Leonard Series About Elise Leonard: Elise was a successful teacher of inner-city kids for over 20 years before starting her writing career. She now lives in Florida. About This Book: MONEY FOR NOTHING is the sixth book of the Junkyard Dan series. Details: Published: 2008. All the books in this series are 100 pages (+/-). Contains approximately 10,400 words. ISBN: 978-0-9815694-5-1. All books are Lexile 1 & 2 Storyline: Bubba finds a bag of money in the back seat! Whose money is it? And why didn’t they know it was missing?

Moonlight Becomes You by Mary Higgins Clark High-profile fashion photographer Maggie Holloway is reunited with her fondly remembered estranged stepmother, Nuala Moore, after a reunion party in Manhattan. Nuala, a lonely widow, invites Maggie to visit her in Newport, Rhode Island, an offer she happily accepts. Nuala plans a dinner for a group of friends in order for them to meet her stepdaughter. But tragedy strikes – when Maggie arrives at Nuala’s home, she finds her dead, a victim of an apparent break-in and robbery. Maggie, heartbroken at the loss, is even more shocked when she discovers that days before her death, Nuala changed her will leaving Maggie to inherit her Newport Victorian home. Several wealthy people have an eye on the property, propositioning Maggie with generous offers for the estate. When she decides not to sell the home, she becomes the unwanted center of attention within the upper-class circles. Later, on a visit to Nuala’s grave at the cemetery with Mrs. Shipley, she notices that many of Mrs. Shipley’s friends have recently died as well. Suspecting that there might be more to these “random deaths” than meets the eye, Maggie becomes interested in uncovering the mystery behind Nuala and…