Fat Cat

by Robin Brande

       Catherine may be really overweight, but she's also really smart.  She is in all AP classes with most of the same students every period, including Matt McKinney, her ex-best friend.  Her hardest class of the school year will be Mr. Fizer's Special Topics in Research Science class, where she is given a picture which will be the basis for a year-long research project.  For a student like Cat, who wants to go to a top-tier college, this project could be the thing that makes the difference between just passing the class and getting an outstanding recommendation and scholarship.  When Cat looks at the picture she has chosen, her heart sinks.  It is the picture of prehistoric people, naked and eating raw meat.  They are slim and muscular.  The woman appears strong and capable of hunting and taking care of herself--everything Cat isn't.  Cat stares at this picture most of the time she has to come up with her project proposal.  Her mind is blank.  The time is nearly up when she realizes exactly what she wants to do.  She will become her own project.  She will transform herself into a prehistoric woman--eat what they ate, live as closely to their lifestyle as it was practical to do.   For 207 days, Cat would eat vegetarian, walk most places, and live without her technology.  And at the end, she knew she would be a new person!  With the help of her best friend Amanda, Cat changes in just about every way possible, and gains the self-confidence she lost four years ago when she was betrayed.

       Funny, thought-provoking, and challenging, Fat Cat is a great novel for any teen, but especially for those who want to make themselves into someone better.  On the 2012 Texas Lone Star Reading list.  

       ~reviewed by Mrs. Sams 

Stuck on Earth
by David Klass

The first two chapters of Stuck on Earth are some of the funniest, most attention-grabbing first pages of a novel that I've read in a while.  An alien space ship orbiting Earth is checking out the planet for possible colonization by the Lugonians, a species whose sun is about to go super nova.  Katchvar III, a snail-like creature, has been sent to Earth to inhabit the body of a 14-year-old boy, to evaluate the human race and determine whether it deserves to live or be exterminated.  It is a well-known fact that humans are very violent beings with little positive to be said about them.  Ketchvar's host body, Tom Filber, and his family just seem to prove what is already known--humans are mean and destructive and don't deserve the beautiful planet they inhabit.
        While this story has a funny beginning, not far into to book it becomes obvious how miserable and dysfunctional Tom's life really is.  It is questionable whether Ketchvar is a real alien, or an alternate personality that Tom uses to deal with his unhappy life.  That question hangs over the remainder of the novel, causing the reader to constantly wonder if this is an entertaining sci-fi novel, or an intense story about a troubled teen.  The budding relationship with the girl next door, Ketchvar's environmental project to research the cause of pollution in the local river, and Tom/Ketchvar's struggle to connect with his father make this a novel which can be read on several levels. You will have to decide for yourself whether or not Ketchvar III is a real being from outer space or a figment of Tom's imagination.  Stuck on Earth is on the 2012 Texas Lone Star Reading List and highly recommended.
             ~reviewed by Mrs. Sams

The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet   by Erin Dionne

    Being invisible to anyone who might make your life miserable, or even uncomfortable, is the goal of many junior high students.  Nothing could be worse than saying the wrong thing, and opening up yourself to humiliation.  So, you don't say anything at all. You don't want to attract the negative attention of your teachers, so you do your best to pass your classes.  On the other hand, you don't want to be considered a geek by fellow students, so you certainly can't do really well in your classes. You must wear the same kind of clothes as everyone else, like the same music, watch the same TV shows, and generally do your best to fly under the radar.
     Such is the goal of Hamlet Kennedy.  Her higest wish is to have a good, normal 8th grade year.  She never could have imagined how difficult that would prove to be. It was bad enough that she has the strangest family anywhere, but now it appears that her genius 7 year-old sister will be attending her school to take some fine arts classes.  Can life get any worse?  An appearance in Renaissance garb by her Shakespeare-loving parents, a befriending of her little sister by her two worst enemies, and a secret admirer who keeps putting origami pigs in her locker say yes!
    A fun, light-hearted story, The Total Tragedy of a Girl named Hamlet, hits the nail on the head when describing the troubles and anxiety of an 8th-grade girl. On the 2011 Texas Lones Star list, and available in the library.
                    ~reviewed by Mrs. Sams
   



A Season

of Gifts

by Richard Peck

      I've got to admit, A Season of Gifts is a great example of my favorite kind of book--the plot not so important, but filled with funny, quirky characters doing sweet and hilarious things, filled with witty turns of phrase.  In this case, it's Mrs. Dowdel who lives next door to the new Methodist preacher and his family.  Mrs. Dowdel is old as the ground her dilapidated house sits on and as big as the side of a barn.  But she doesn't let that stop her.  She is busy from dawn till forever every single day, working in her garden and doing a variety of other things that keep her and half the town fed and clothed.  She hides a heart as big as all outdoors with a grouchy exterior.  She has a finely tuned sense of justice and has the creativity to see justice served when no one else is able to. Just ask Roscoe Burdick, the town troublemaker.  Most people either know to stay out of her way, or are foolish enough to think she's a helpless old woman.  Woe to the one who underestimates her abilities! 

      In A Season of Gifts, Peck follows the adventures of Bob and his sisters Ruth Ann and Phyllis as they settle in to small-town life next door to Mrs. Dowdel.  From haunted houses to a funeral for an Indian princess, Peck keeps the laughs coming.  Season is a companion volume to Newbery award winner, A Year Down Yonder, and Newbery Honor book, A Long Way from Chicago, which is in our school library.  This heart-warming story is a quick read and highly recommended.   ~reviewed by Mrs. Sams