The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Adams
The Asteroid Wars series by Bova
Ender’s Game by Card
The Foreigner trilogy by Cherryh
Marsbound by Haldeman
Ark Angel by Horowitz
Dragonriders of Pern series by McCaffrey
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Ness
This is a really fascinating book by the author of my favorite graphic novel, The Arrival. It’s a collection of 17 stories with a wide variety of illustrations, including a very dark-looking landscape in grandpa’s story, and an essay told in collage called Distant Rain (about what happens to all the poems people write) . The author has a very unusual viewpoint, which in this book he gets across not only with bizarre illustrations, but also with his seemingly unconnected short stories and essays. “Shaun Tan was born in 1974 and grew up in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. In school he became known as the 'good drawer' which partly compensated for always being the shortest kid in every class.” (www.shauntan.net) Check out the author’s website for some really cool line drawings and his thoughts on art, picture books and creativity. Review by Stacy Church
I love this book about crime scene investigation! It’s gory, but not too gory, because it’s in comic book style. It’s full of information about what evidence scientists use to solve crimes, interspersed with actual cases. There’s a list of who’s who in a criminal investigation, from the victim to the coroner and jury. There’s an illustration of a crime scene, showing what evidence was collected where: fingerprints, bloodstains, files on a computer hard disk. There’s even a chapter called Criminal Identity that includes forensic psychology, or profiling. In the back is a timeline of forensic science and some internet links for those of you who want to learn more. Review by Stacy Church
David Crandall attends the Arsenal private school in Maine where his father is headmaster. His main ambition is to be First Shot in his graduating year. Shooting is the only thing he believes he is good at. He feels like a loser and still misses his mother who was murdered two years before. The case was never closed and now the police are saying they have new evidence and want to search his father’s house. David sees his father go out in the middle of the night and bury something that looks like a rifle, and he is scared that his father might be the murderer. David is not prepared to let things rest after his father confesses to the murder. With the help of Misty (the literal hot shot, the main contender for FIRST SHOT), a transfer student and his old friend from fourth grade Leo Fallstaff (one of the townies), they uncover papers to prove who the real murderer is. The action really picks up, and even though the bad guy was predictable for quite a while there are one or two twists that make for a satisfactory ending. Review by T.K.
Here are some of the great books from the 6th grade summer reading list. Check out www.wwdbookbits.blogspot.com and www.yashowandtell.blogspot.com for reviews of individual books.
