Bound

By Donna Jo Napoli
Genre: Historical Fiction/Fairy tale retelling
Rating: 4 1/4 stars

Xing Xing's father is dead, and Xing Xing is now basically a servant in her own Chinese cave home to her stepmother and stepsister Wei Ping.  The whole goal of her stepmother is marry off her daughter well so that the rest of them will be taken care of and to that end, Wei Ping's feet have been bound in the traditional way to help make her walk in that desirable way.  As Wei Ping suffers the pain of bound feet, Xing Xing's only joy is the beautiful fish that lives in the nearby spring that comes to her when she calls.  Xing Xing believes it is her mother's spirit, helping her.  When Stepmother sends Xing Xing off on a journey to sell nuts to a doctor, for the first time she begins to find a little independence and self-reliance.  And slowly, Xing Xing realizes she may be worth more than the nothing she was always taught she was.  A Cinderella tale set in China during the Ming dynasty which will hold readers with its very different setting.

Okay for Now

By Gary D. Schmidt
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 5 stars

If you haven't read The Wednesday Wars by this author, that's okay, you don't need to for this book to make sense, but I recommend it highly.  In this story, Doug Swieteck is forced to move with his family up to nowheresville Maryville, New York in the summer of 1968 to a house Doug quickly names "The Dump."  Both his father and older brother are abusive, and Doug feels like the whole town is going to label him a stupid thug, too.  Then he wanders into the local library and sees a painting that changes his life.  It is of an Arctic Tern and it is an original plate by the famous Audubon.  Doug is fascinated, and although drawing is stupid, he can't resist when Mr. Powell the librarian begins to teach him how to draw.  And although every time it seems like something is looking up for Doug, something bad happens, still, life begins to balance out a bit more.  Then his older brother Lucas comes back from Vietnam, missing his legs.  And everything goes bad one more time.  But if there is one thing Doug begins to learn, it is if you don't want to be a chump, you have to be the one who makes the effort to change how people see you.  This is a fantastic story and readers will be hard put to not fall hard for the wonderful character of Doug and all he goes through to come out the other side.  Wonderful, through and through.

The Running Dream

By Wendelin Van Draanen
Rating: 4 1/4 stars

Sixteen year old Jessica is a star runner on the track team.  Then the unthinkable happens--an accident with their bus on the way home from a meet causes the death of one teammate and Jessica loses a leg.  When running is the core of who you are, how do you even think about going on?  But go on, she must.  Jessica works her way through the many stages of recovery, and very very slowly, as she finally gets a prosthetic leg, starts to feel a tad bit better about herself.  Then her coach shows her a video of people actually competing with special prosthetic legs.  Jessica is excited until she realizes the price tag of such a leg is $20,000.  How can she focus on that when her own family is struggling to pay the medical bills?  But each time Jessica wants to despair, she finds another reason to hope, especially when a new friend in the form of Rosa, a girl with cerebral palsy enters the scene.  Readers will be moved by Jessica's struggles and may even shed a tear or two at the end of the book.  Fans may want to read a similar comeback story in Izzy Willy-Nilly by Cynthia Voigt.  Good stuff, striking all the right notes.

Daughter of Xanadu

By Dori Jones Yang

Genre: Historical Fiction

Rating: 4 1/4 stars

Emmajin is a Mongol princess, the granddaughter of the great Khan who has helped to take over much of the known world, including nearly all of China.  While many Mongol women are now used to the easy life of court, Emmajin would rather become a soldier like her cousin Suren.  She can shoot arrows from horseback better than almost anyone, man or woman, and wishes she could join the army and help expand their glorious empire.  But the odds of the Khan allowing a woman in the army is remote.  Instead, Emmajin continues to sabotage any attempts by her family to marry her off, much to her younger sister’s dismay.  There are many foreigners at court, and the Khan decides to have his grandchildren befriend them to try and gather intelligence about their countries and see which would be the most likely for the Mongol Empire to conquer next.  Emmajin is assigned to the famous Marco Polo and his uncle and father.  At first Emmajin is standoffish and severe, but Marco’s easy manners begin to charm her and her thoughts about the rightness of the Mongols takeover of the world wavers the longer she spends in his company.  When Marco unwittingly trusts her with some vital information that could influence an attack on Christendom, does Emmajin remain loyal to the Khan and get the place in the army as she has always desired?  Or does she follow her heart which bends more and more towards Marco?  This well-written story is all the more interesting for being told from the first person view of the Mongols.  While a few of the twists and turns may be guessed at by a savvy reader, most of us will just follow along, fascinated by details in the story and by Emmajin’s conflicted emotions.  A thoroughly enjoyable tale with a historical note in the forward as well as a helpful map to help us sort fact from fiction.

Alice in Charge

By Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Rating: 4 stars

Alice is back in her 25th book and she's finally a senior!  As she takes on her last year in high school, she is feeling overwhelmed.  Not only is she Features editor of the school paper, The Edge, but she is also tapped to be part of the new Student Jury to pass judgement on crimes by students.  Add to that the pressure of visiting and applying to colleges, missing her boyfriend Patrick away at college in Chicago and doing her normal schoolwork, and Alice is a blur of busy-ness.  Then things become even more complicated when the new student from Sudan, Daniel, gets a Nazi hate symbol placed in his locker.  Some other signs of a supremist group pop up as well--who are these kids?  And when Alice gets a piece of hate herself for going to the dance with Daniel, she knows they need to do SOMEthing at the school to get a dialogue going.  She finds herself worried about other issues as her school year moves along, like whether or not she should go to college close or somewhere far away, and whether or not the substitute teacher Mr. Granger is being inappropriate with students.  As always, there is plenty of laughter mixed in with Alice's family and friends, and readers will enjoy the funny parts right along with the more serious moments.  Another solid installment in the series, and fans will look forward to the next book about the second half of her senior year.

The Cardturner

By Louis Sachar
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Rating: 4 1/2 stars

Alton's rich Uncle Lester is a bit of recluse.  The last time Alton actually saw him, he was only 6 years old.  His parents call him every week, hoping to stay on his good side so that when he dies, he'll leave them some of his millions.  Then Alton gets a summer job--turning cards for his uncle when he plays bridge at his club.  Part of the illness his uncle suffers from has left him blind and he needs someone to tell him what cards are in his hand and to turn them for him as directed.  Alton has no choice but to take the job from Trapp (what everyone else calls his uncle).  At first, Alton has no clue how to play bridge and suffers the rudeness of his uncle's comments, but he becomes more and more drawn into it, especially when pretty Toni gets involved, too.  But Alton has to contend with his friend Cliff's attentions to Toni as well.  Trapp has decided to make one more try at the National Tournament but then something unexpected happens.  Can Alton take up from where Trapp has left off?  This is a great story, filled with lots of information about bridge but more about love, life and what happiness means along with just a little bit of magic.  Wonderful!

Sapphique

By Catherine Fisher
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: 4 1/4 stars

In this sequel to the fascinating Incarceron, we take up where we left off.  Finn has managed to escape the prison and is acknowledged as the long lost prince of the Realm.  However, dealing with Protocol and all the princely duties annoy and bore him.  Besides that, the Queen and others are still plotting against him, and without the help of Jared and Claudia, he would long be lost.  They search feverishly for a way to fix the Portal and reopen a way back to the prison.  Meanwhile, back in Incarceron, Keiro and Attia are still trying to find a way out of the prison and to Finn.  They make reluctant partners as they search for an artifact known as Sapphique's Glove, which is known to have magical properties and is in the possession of a showman by the name of Rix.  But the Warden, now in Incarceron himself, is in league with the prison, helping it with its dream to create its own body and escape to the Outside, and it needs the Glove.  Is there a way everyone can have a happy ending?  This book is just as fascinating as the first one, and fans will be drawn right back into this unhappy world where nothing is what it seems.  A great two book punch.