Reading Rockets Interview w/ Lawrence Yep

Ever daydream about being a writer? Author Lawrence Yep includes daydreaming as part of his job description. In this Reading Rockets Interview you will discover what books he preferred when he was in school, what motivated him to pursue a career as a children's author, and how someone's personal life doesn't need to resemble a shipwreck in order to write believable stories.

Summer Reading List

Thanks for suggesting the summer reading list Isaac!

If you are in need of book recommendations, please look through BCBookTalk archives located in the right column. Otherwise, here are a few suggestions off the top, but it is certainly not an exhaustive list. At the bottom are some other resources you may also be interested in.

Tried and True Middle School Fiction:

Dealing with Dragons by Patricia Wrede
Define Normal by Peters
Gregor the Overlander series by Collins
Heart of a Samurai by Preus
Hero by Lupica
Leapike Ridge by N.D. Wilson
Penny Dreadful by Snyder
Romeo and Juliet Code by Phoebe Stone
Saving Zasha by Barrow
Septimus Heap series by Sage
Maze Runner by Dashner
Stolen Children by Kehret
Wednesday Wars by Schmidt
The Puzzling World of Winston Breen by Berlin
Listen by Tolan



The following lists include titles that I'll be considering for booktalks in the fall:

New Non-fiction:

Ghosts in the Fog by Seiple
Many Faces of George Washington by McClafferty
Surviving the Angel of Death by Kor
Tom Thumb by George Sullivan
How They Croaked by Bragg

New Middle School Fiction:

Al Capone Shines My Shoes by Choldenko
Bloodlines series by Sherman
Darth Paper Strikes Back by Angleberger
Sidekicks by Santat
The Ascension by Carroll
The Last Martin by Friesen
The Throne of Fire by Riordan
True by Hannigan
Relic Master Book One: The Dark City, by Catherine Fisher
Okay for Now, by Gary Schmidt
The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens
The Luck of the Buttons by Anne Ylvisaker

New YA Fiction (8th grade and up):

Death Cloud by Lane
Divergent by Roth
Phantoms in the Snow by Duble
This Dark Endeavor by Oppel
Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

If you are a student at CLMS you are welcome to email me (mschoeneck@chisagolakes.k12.mn.us) for a summer reading recommendation. In a pinch you could also give Book Seer a try, but this program doesn't always match readers with books as well as your humble BCBT librarian. Another resource you could try is the Database of Award Winning Children's Literature (DAWCL).

Mr. S.

P.S. Don't forget to check into Big Noodle Books. Our school gets part of the profit when you buy from Big Noodle Books.