Turn Down the Music, Turn Up the Lights! It's Summer Reading Time!
The LAF staff and students have many great book suggestions to keep you reading all summer long!
All pictures below are linked to book lists/details.
Here are our top 5 book borrowers for the 2022-23 school year! Together they have borrowed a combined 550 books! Each student is holding their favorite LAF library book.
The first kidnappings happened two hundred years before. Some years it was two boys taken, some years two girls, sometimes one of each. But if at first the choices seemed random, soon the pattern became clear. One was always beautiful and good, the child every parent wanted as their own. The other was homely and odd, an outcast from birth. An opposing pair, plucked from youth and spirited away.
Jason - "The False Prince"
In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king's long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner's motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword's point—he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage's rivals have their own agendas as well.
As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner's sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together
Harry Potter has no idea how famous he is. That's because he's being raised by his miserable aunt and uncle who are terrified Harry will learn that he's really a wizard, just as his parents were. But everything changes when Harry is summoned to attend an infamous school for wizards, and he begins to discover some clues about his illustrious birthright. From the surprising way he is greeted by a lovable giant, to the unique curriculum and colorful faculty at his unusual school, Harry finds himself drawn deep inside a mystical world he never knew existed and closer to his own noble destiny.
Rhys - "Big Nate Blasts Off"
Soon to be an animated series from Nickelodeon! For fans of the hilarious Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, here comes the eighth novel in the New York Times bestselling series Big Nate. BIG NATE IS BLASTING OFF! Nate has a crush on Ruby. But after his scrap with Randy Betancourt makes headlines in the Weekly Bugle , he's got a problem WAY worse than detention! Can Nate bounce back? And will the annual Mud Bowl be a blast . . . or a bust? Meet BIG NATE, P.S. 38's coolest doodler and definitely NOT the teacher's pet.
Now an animated series with Paramount+ and Nickelodeon! In this series of hilarious Big Nate comics by bestselling author Lincoln Peirce, the jokes are flying, and the laughs are always on target! Big Nate is back, and the whole school’s on high alert. Can drama queen Dee Dee compete with Nate’s down-and-dirty gossip gathering? Will Mrs. Godfrey lighten up when she learns that she and Nate share a common obsession? And what happens after Coach John wanders into the flight path of a Nate-powered projectile? In this brand-new collection of Big Nate comics, the self-styled King of Detention is well-armed...so proceed with caution. Join Nate and friends for another laugh-packed installment of Big Nate comic fun.
Now that you are 4 weeks into summer and in full relaxation mode, take a look at some more book reviews to keep you busy for the rest of your time away from school.
Ms. Weglarz with a couple of her and her students' favorites!
Picture Book With a Powerful Message: Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell (32 pgs. RL 3.5) Even when the class bully at her new school makes fun of her, Molly remembers what her grandmother told her and she feels good about herself.
Heartwarming Fiction: Strays Like Us by Cecilia Galante (313 pgs. RL 5.9) Twelve-year-old Winifred is being fostered by the eccentric but kind Margery Dawson while her mother is dealing with addiction problems, and mostly Fred is determined not to form any attachments to anybody--until the condition of Toby, the abused dog next door, captures first her attention and then her heart, and somehow it becomes increasingly difficult to stay detached from the people who are helping her.
Famous Children's book authors such as Jeff Kinney, Cressida Cowell and others talk about their favorite books from childhood.
Valentino loves Wings of Fire for it's action and adventure,
Adventurous Fantasy: Wings of Fire Series by Tui Sutherland The seven dragon tribes have been at war for generations, locked in an endless battle over an ancient, lost treasure. A secret movement called the Talons of Peace is determined to bring an end to the fighting, with the help of a prophecy -- a foretelling that calls for great sacrifice.
Art for Wings of Fire by Valentino
Emotional Historical Fiction: Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson (251 pg. RL 5.0) It's late summer 1793, and the streets of Philadelphia are abuzz with mosquitoes and rumors of fever. Down near the docks, many have taken ill, and the fatalities are mounting. Now they include Polly, the serving girl at the Cook Coffeehouse. But fourteen-year-old Mattie Cook doesn't get a moment to mourn the passing of her childhood playmate. New customers have overrun her family's coffee shop, located far from the mosquito-infested river, and Mattie's concerns of fever are all but overshadowed by dreams of growing her family's small business into a thriving enterprise. But when the fever begins to strike closer to home, Mattie's struggle to build a new life must give way to a new fight—the fight to stay alive.
"Feels like you can't stop reading it because it's such a good book!" -Maddie C.
Fun Mystery: If You're Reading This, It's Too Late by Pseudonymous Bosc (385 pg. RL 5.0) The second book in the Secret series picks up with Cass and Max-Ernest. The due discover the Museum of Magic, unscramble more coded messages, and solve new mysteries in their attempt to thwart the Terces Society's ambitions of discovering immortality.
Art for If You're Reading This, It's Too Late by Allison H.
Magical Adventure: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (377 pgs. 4.9) Percy, expelled from six schools for being unable to control his temper, learns the truth from his mother that his father is the Greek god Poseidon, and is sent to Camp Half Blood where he is befriended by a satyr and the demigod daughter of Athena who join him in a journey to the Underworld to retrieve Zeus's lightning bolt and prevent a catastrophic war.
"It's a mix between Greek Mythology and modern life."-Ella D.
Big Nate "shows how Nate struggles in school but still is able to have fun." -Nathan C.
Tales of a Mischief Maker: Big Nate series by Lincoln Pierce Nate knows he's meant for big things. REALLY big things. But life doesn't always go your way just because you're awesome. Here comes BIG NATE, accidental mischief maker and definitely NOT the teacher's pet.
Big Nate artwork by Nathan C.
Mrs. Azzaro and Ulysses agree that Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures is both laugh-out-loud funny and meaningful.
An Unexpected Hero: Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo It begins, as the best superhero stories do, with a tragic accident that has unexpected consequences. The squirrel never saw the vacuum cleaner coming, but self-described cynic Flora Belle Buckman, who has read every issue of the comic book Terrible Things Can Happen to You!, is the just the right person to step in and save him. What neither can predict is that Ulysses (the squirrel) has been born anew, with powers of strength, flight, and misspelled poetry—and that Flora will be changed too, as she discovers the possibility of hope and the promise of a capacious heart.
