Families of All Kinds

Families…Of All Kinds

Book Talk Narrative Lisa Wright

ABSOLUTELY NORMAL CHAOS by Sharon Creech

Have any of you ever kept a journal for school or just at home for yourself? Mary Lou has been assigned to keep a journal for school. As she begins, she's certain it will be terribly boring! Plus she has to keep the journal over the entire summer! Absolutely Normal Chaos is that journal. As she writes it, she discovers she likes keeping a journal and we get to learn about her annoying boyfriend-obsessed best friend Beth Ann, her romance with Alex, and her lackadaisical cousin Carl Ray (who comes to live with her family for the summer). Carl Ray hardly ever talks, can't make his own bed (Mary Lou has to do that), can't get a job, and eats everything in sight. But Carl Ray has a secret … and when a neighbor dies, Carl Ray inherits a ring and money for college.

SON OF THE MOB by Gordon Korman

Vince Luca is just like any other high school guy. Mostly…… Though when other guys open their car trunks, THEY probably don't find a guy tied up in their trunk, like Vince does. But this is what happens when your father is in “the vending machine business”. Vince wants nothing to do with his father’s business. But he feels bad for the guy in the trunk, and in trying to help him, gets sucked into his Dad’s stuff.

To make things worse, just when Vince finds a girl he thinks is really great, it turns out that her father is the FBI agent who’s had Vince’s house bugged for years and is trying to take his father down. Will Vince be able to stay out of his father's business? Will his girlfriend's FBI dad arrest Vince's father? Can there be a future for Vince and his girlfriend?

ORPHAN TRAIN RIDER by Andrea Warren

There are actual pictures of children who rode the Orphan Trains. The Orphan Trains ran from 1854 to 1930 and took over 200,000 children from the East to new homes in the Midwest and the South. Though called orphan trains, most of the children were not orphans, they had at least one living parent. Those parents were either unable or unwilling to care for their children, usually because of poverty.

For some of those children, the orphan trains brought them to a family they may not have had any other way. For other children, it brought a life of hard labor without comfort …or worse.

The Orphan Train Rider is the story of Lee Nalling's experience on an orphan train and for him it was a blessing. … He got a real family. He was "orphaned" after his mother died and his father sent all seven children away. Lee and one of his younger brothers were sent to an orphanage where they lived for two years until they rode an orphan train to Texas. As you find out what happens to Lee and his brother, you will also learn more about the orphan trains and what happened to some of the children that rode them.

AN ACQUAINTANCE WITH DARKNESS by Ann Rinaldi

This story takes place in Washington DC at the end of the civil war just as Abraham Lincoln has been assassinated. But Emily has troubles of her own. Her mother has just died of consumption and her friend's mother, Mary Surratt, who was going to take her in, has been accused of taking part in Lincoln's assassination.

An Acquaintance with Darkness tells the story of Emily who has no choice but to move in with her Uncle Valentine, a respected doctor in Washington but a man her mother never trusted. She doesn't know what to make of his off-limits laboratory or his secret meetings. Rumors are flying about body snatchings. Who is her uncle really? What sort of doctor is he? And what will happen to Mary Surratt (who really did exist and really was implicated in Lincoln's assassination)?

GRANNY TORRELLI MAKES SOUP by Sharon Creech

Rosie is so mad at "That Bailey" … Rosie and Bailey have been best friends and neighbors since birth. Rosie has just spent a whole year learning Braille so she could read like Bailey does, and Bailey got mad and told her "To get over herself!" and slammed the door on her.

If that's not enough, a good looking girl just moved into the neighborhood and thinks "her" Bailey is pretty cute. Bailey has even offered to teach the new girl to read Braille.

In GRANNY TORRELLI MAKES SOUP, a wise old Italian Granny not only makes soup with Rosie and Bailey she also makes peace.

THE COOKCAMP by Gary Paulsen

This book takes place during WWII, a time when road building was important to the "war effort". In it a five year old boy is sent to live with his grandmother who is the cook for roadbuilders in the wilderness of Minnesota. The men are clearing a path through a forest to lay a road, as they do they allow the boy to ride in the big trucks and "help" them.

Despite the excitement of working with the men and the love of his grandmother, he dearly misses his mother. Read The Cookcamp to find out why he was sent to his grandmother in the first place and how his grandmother gets him back home to his mother. Gary Paulsen has written a number of wilderness adventure books, so if you like this type of book, you may want to check out his others. HEY, DAD, GET A LIFE! by Todd Strasser

Wouldn't it be nice to have someone do your math homework, make your bed, or help you out during soccer games? Well, Kelly and younger sister Sasha have someone to help them..but it’s a ghost and the ghost is their dad. In Hey, Dad, Get a Life we also learn about the consequences of having a ghost dad do things for you that you probably should be doing for yourself. Find out what those consequences are and what happens when the girls' mom finds out dad is back … as a ghost. This book is about a boy named Justin. Justin's family life is a mess. His father has left his mother. His mother is depressed and sleeping a lot. His brother is being deployed to Iraq. His best friend, Ben, is no help at all, as he spends all his time with his new girlfriend.

It's no wonder then that Justin sometimes needs to tune out the world, zone out, and enter what he calls "the big nothing". But during this difficult time, the real Justin emerges, and he's far from a big nothing. With the help of his neighbor, Jemmie, and her family, Justin discovers his special talent for music. Read The Big Nothing to see how Justin is able to find himself after the people he has always depended on have let him down.

THE BIG NOTHING by Adrian Fogelin Fourteen year old Aggie and her two older sisters have been on their own since their dad died and their mother left. So when they inherit a house from a grandfather they never knew, they imagine new possibilities. Unfortunately, it seems all they have inherited is a derelict property, their father's bad reputation, and eccentric Aunt Lily, who must move in the house with the sisters or they will lose even the derelict property. Panicked that her sisters will abandon her if they lose the house, Aggie sets out to get Aunt Lily to move in and keep her family together. Will Aggie succeed? See how this works out in a surprising ending.

IN SPITE OF KILLER BEES by Julie Johnson

When Tessa’s brother is killed in a drunk driving accident, Tessa’s world is torn apart. Tessa must sort out the guilt and grief she experiences as a result of knowing her brother was out that night with someone he wasn't supposed to be with, and she didn't tell her parents. Her mother’s grief is too much to bear since she felt Scott was her kindred spirit. When Tessa’s mother leaves to spend the summer with her sister on Cape Cod, Tessa feels abandoned and alone. When will her mother come back to the family? Will Tessa’s life ever feel normal again? How will she heal?

BLUE EYES BETTER by Ruth Wallace-Brodeur