Tag Archives: courage

The Piano Recital

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Momo is nervously awaiting her turn on stage at her first piano recital. As she repeats to herself “I’ll be ok”, she looks down and sees a small mouse saying the same words. The mouse tells Momo that she has a recital as well and invites her new friend to come watch. Momo follows the mouse to a wonderful concert hall filled with an audience of attentive mice and an incredible array of performers. There are mouse magicians, dancers, singers and an orchestra. They fill the concert hall with color and excitement. Finally, it is the mouse’s turn to perform and Momo offers to accompany her on the piano. They finish the piece and as Momo stands to take a bow, she looks out and realizes that she has just performed at her own recital!

What a beautiful book that is filled with imagination! Momo expresses the nervousness that many children feel at some point in their lives and that nervousness is alleviated in a sweet, magical way. Charcoal and pencil illustrations with a hint of color in the right places are a beautiful accompaniment to a sweet story. Recommended.

Max and Marla are Flying Together

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Max, a young boy, and Marla, a barn owl, are best friends. One day, Max decides to build a kite and he draws his face on it, so that he and Marla can “fly together”. Marla is not interested and he soon discovers that she is afraid to fly. They go to bed that night, each dreaming different dreams – Max dreams of Marla flying next to his kite and Marla dreams of Max and she quietly sitting together on the couch.

The next morning, they see leaves everywhere after the night’s storm. They go outside to rake the leaves and find his kite, which Marla finds when a gust of wind lifts it into the air with her on it! With Max’s shouts of encouragement, Marla takes flight and realizes that she is a natural. They triumphantly head to bed that night, both dreaming of Marla flying next to Max’s kite. And, they wake up to do just that!

This very sweet story of friendship, fears and gentle encouragement is accompanied by beautiful pen and ink illustrations that flow beautifully with the story. Buy this book (and the others in the set) and share it with all your students.

The Unicorn in the Barn

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Unicorn barn

 

 

 

 

Eric Harper’s grandma has been moved into a nursing home. Her home has been sold to help with expenses and Eric is having a hard time adjusting to that reality.  After all, the Harper’s have owned this land for as far back as Eric can recall. They’ve loved it and protected it. However, when he learns the new owner, a veterinarian, helps magical creatures, he decides he can learn to adjust. And when he is offered a job caring for some of the creatures he is overjoyed. The trick for him will be to learn how to get along with bossy Allegra, the veterinarian’s daughter.

As the story unfolds we see a hard won understanding and friendship develop between Allegra and Eric. They work together to try to restore grandma’s health. Did you know unicorn hair had healing powers? Neither did they until grandma picked a few stray unicorn hairs off of Eric and soon thereafter had movement in a once feeble hand.

Ogburn delves into the topics of death, loyalty, bravery, just treatment of all living creatures and friendship. The dialog at times seems a little stilted or dated, but savvy readers should be able to adjust. The overall story line is about natural consequences and Ogburn handles the topic well with just enough emphasis without overdoing it.

There’s a surprise at the end of the book that astute readers may guess at midway through.

A first person tale, told in eleven year old Eric’s voice, this realistic fantasy will have the reader wanting more. A sweet story with a little sadness. With a possibility for a sequel.

unicorn barn pic

Shyanna’s Song

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shyannaSince her father’s death, song has left Shyanna’s life.  She no longer sings nor does her mother. But this is the year the Shyanna decides to change that. Even though she has terrible stage fright, Shyanna decides to enter the Melody pageant that is held every year in the mermaid kingdom (think American Idol) . Shyanna wants to enter the competition in order to inspire her mother to love music again.  Shyanna thinks she has a pretty good chance to win until she meets her greatest competition, Rachel, the pretty mermaid who is new to town.

An engaging story for children and adults alike. Lessons on friendship, courage, perseverance and safety. An unexpected twist at the end made this an even more enjoyable read. The sporadic, full color illustrations will beg the reader to linger a little longer. Back matter includes: legend of mermaids, questions for discussion, writing prompts and the author and illustrator bios.

shyanna inside

 

Finding Zasha

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This is the prequel to Saving Zasha and is set in 1941 during the German invasion of Russia.

The main character is twelve year old Ivan. After an intense bombing of his home city of Leningrad, Ivan and his mother are forced to leave their home. The company Ivan’s mother works for is moving operations to the Ural mountains for safety and continued productivity.  Ivan is not allowed to go with her; therefore, she is forced to make the heart wrenching decision of separating from her only child.  Mom decides to send Ivan to live with her brother Boris who lives 70 miles away.

Ivan’s new city is soon overtaken by the Germans and Ivan inadvertently becomes an entertainer for the German commander, Major Axel Recht, a cruel and ruthless man. Axel has two German Sheppard puppies that he is training to hunt and kill Russian citizens. Ivan is horrified at the intended use of these beautiful creatures and appalled at their cruel treatment, so he makes up his mind to steal the dogs away from Axel.  Axel is a man who callously and blatantly punishes anyone whom he perceives to have crossed him in any way. Ivan realizes that Axel in all likely hood will literally kill him for what he is about to do, but he feels compelled to steal the dogs regardless of the potentially dire consequences he could face.

This prequel gives the reader introduction to characters and motivations that are in the first book Saving Zasha.  This is an interesting read for upper elementary and middle school students. Both boys and girls will enjoy the story. The beginning hooks the reader with the bombing of Leningrad.  The story lags just a bit in the middle and the end wraps up just a little too quickly; however, Finding Zasha is still a very engaging read.