How fast do you read?

Source: Staples eReader Department

This is an awesome way to quickly find out how quick you are at reading. My first go put me at 494, but you better believe I'll give it another try! 

Potterwookiee: The Creature From My Closet, by Obert Skye

Liking cooking, books, and girls(!) is a deadly combination for a Middle School boy, Rob. A Potterwookiee can only make things worse. Of course, a Potterwookiee is a combination of Harry Potter and Chewbacca that has emerged from Rob's closet with the intention of ruining or improving his life...it has yet to be seen. The sketches throughout the book portray the Potterwookiee as looking like a miniature big foot with a scarf and glasses.

Potterwookiee turns out to help more than hurt as Rob navigates entering a cooking competition, dealing with bullies, and trying to figure out the oddities of the opposite sex. The drawings take up as much of the page as the words, similar to Kinney's style, but this approach along with the issues presented are easy for kids to relate to and make the book go by in no time. 

Infinity Ring: Divide and Conquer (Bk.2), by Carrie Ryan

Vikings attacking Paris! Why didn't I learn about this in school?!? Ryan delivers, yet again, with this thriller relaying the events of November 24/25, 885 when Paris fell to the Vikings, as seen through the eyes of Dak, Sera, and Riq who are time travelers given the task of preserving history. The trio is given various codes to crack in order to know where to be and who to meet in order to complete their mission. However, they weren't counting on Dak being captured and forced to work for the Vikings as Sera and Riq chip in to aid the Parisians in defending their city. 

The large stature and heathen like dress of the Vikings is detailed along with information about the discussions between monks and the invaders that led to the Treaty of Sainte-Ckaur-sur-Epte. A dash of romance is thrown into the mix, as Sera forms a connection with a fellow historian from 885. Wonderfully researched and craftily told to ensure that there is hardly time to blink, Ryan leave's her readers begging for the next historical foray.

Kizzy Ann Stamps, by Jeri Watts

Summer is coming to a close and Kizzy Ann Stamps is getting ready to start a new school year, but there are more difficulties on the horizon for her than getting school supplies and waking up early, she is going to a new school due to integration. Her former teacher, Mrs. Warren, challenged the students to write to their new teacher, Miss Anderson, so Kizzy Ann writes the first letter that leads to many more leading up to the start of school when her new teacher gives her a journal to continue to record her thoughts. 

Another constant in Kizzy Ann's life is her border collie, Shag, who doesn't look at her differently due to a scar on her cheek; a result of a farming accident involving a neighbor boy, Frank Charles. He and his father are nothing but mean to Kizzy Ann, which makes it all the more surprising when Frank Charles begins to follow her around to see her training Shag with the help of Mr. McKenna. The training is in preparation for a sheep herding competition that there is no certainty she will be allowed to enter due to the color of her skin.

The training provides a much needed distraction from the uncertainty among the students, despite having such a wonderful teacher. Kizzy Ann's brother is in High School and is not so lucky. He has to deal with teachers who refuse to teach the students of color, claiming that just because they were forced to take black students doesn't mean they have to teach them. He's also frustrated with being forced, along with the other black boys, to be on the JV team without the chance to make Varsity. 

Watts does a remarkable job of combining historical events with the endearing tale of a girl trying to get her footing in a world that is constantly shifting underfoot and a dog that she can always steady in her love and dedication. 

Benjamin Franklinstein Meets Thomas Deadison, by Matthew McElligott and Larry Tuxbury

In Benjamin Franklinstein Meets Thomas Deadison, by Matthew McElligott and Larry Tuxbury, the story is told of the Modern Order of Prometheus, an elite club that stands apart from the rest. It's members are dead! Actually, the group is made up of preserved great inventors, like Benjamin Franklin and Orville and Wilbur Wright. However, there is one preserved member, Napoleon (aka the Emperor), that is out to do away with them all if Victor, Scott and Ben don't step in.

Victor knows a lot about the order, since his parents were the caretakers until they went missing. To make things even more difficult, Infinity light bulbs have been distributed for free to all of Philadelphia, but in addition to light, the bulbs give off radiation that turns people into zombies. Just what the Emperor needs to take over!

The short chapters and spattering of diagrams and illustrations throughout the book make this a fast read that incorporates a pinch of historical information and gobs of adventure and mystery.

Where Things Come Back, by John Corey Whaley

The story of life is written by the people, places and events that come and go, which is what makes the constants, however, boring they may seem at times, so important when all else seems to change. Where Things Come Back follows individuals searching for a life outside of the small town of Lily, Arkansas. Though, in the end they are all searching for a way back.

Lucas' cousin dies of an overdose and his Aunt is left to drudge through the guilt and heartbreak of losing her son. Soon after, Gabrielle, Lucas' brother, goes missing. The appearance of what was thought to be extinct woodpecker keeps the story from the headlines, but it turns Lucas' life upside down as his Mom slowly retreats to her son's room and his Father stops working to focus on finding his son.

Lucas' best friend spends most of his days and nights at Lucas' since his home is no place to call "home." Yet, his spirits are always high and the care of his girlfriend, Mena, make the future something to look forward to.

Ada Taylor is the girl that all the boys dream of, including Lucas, but all the boys she dates die. There's only been two, but the whole town is waiting for the next to go. When her boyfriend, the Quitman, is paralyzed in a car wreck, the curse seems true, but this doesn't keep Lucas from giving into Ada's coming on.

Meanwhile, in Georgia two college students, Alma Ember and Cabot Searcy, find one another during a time when their lives are in flux. Alma soon find that she is pregnant and the two marry in a flurry. However, the fast love is quick to die as Alma finds Cabot's obsession with the book of Enoch, which started with the death of his college roommate years before, too much to handle and moves back to her hometown, Lily.

Some, like Cabot, see Lily as their destiny, as he thinks, "Everything that had, in some way or another, led him to some nothing town where, as it seemed, things could come back from the dead, mistakes, could be rectified, lives could be started over" (207). Others, can only see it as a prison, but what Whaley makes clear in his seamless third-person writing from Lucas' perspective, the perfectly uncomfortable first-love feeling, and the spot-on description of the mind-numbing feeling of losing a brother, son, and friend is that life is chock-full of horrendous days and months that are made bearable by the tremendous moments that keep bringing us back for a second helping of life. 

The Magician's Elephant, by Kate DiCamillo

 

Peter Augustus Duchene is quite the name for an orphan with more questions than answers. For a person with little fortune so far in life, the appearance of a fortune teller in the street baring news of where to find his long lost sister is more than good news; it is a life changing event. And that is how life goes. Anything is possible and that is exactly what DiCamillo touches on: the impossible becoming possible. 

Meanwhile, a magician performs the best trick of his life with dire results. With the wave of his wand an elephant comes crashing through the tent ceiling, paralyzing a well-to-do woman. Also, a man and his dog find their own magic in the air, it seems, and Peter's lost sister is given mysterious signs leading her to her brother. 

Lives pass one another and at times crash unappolegetically, as DiCamillo masterfully brings all of them to a breath-taking head. There are wonderful additional resources for incorporating this classic in the making into your classroom.