One for the Murphys

Title: One for the Murphys

Author: Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Summary: Carly Connors has been separated from her mom who is recovering in the hospital and is sent to live with a foster family; the Murphys. It turns out that her mother wasn't a good parent and her mother's boyfriend was extremely abusive. Carly comes to the Murphys' home mad and angry at the world, but slowy becomes the person she never thought she'd be and gets the life she never dreamed of having. She has friends, goes to school, has brothers (or not real brothers; just the Murphy boys), and finally gets a loving mother and father. However, at the end, she gets surprising news from her mother, creating a dramatic and sad ending.

 

Comments: I LOVED this book! It was really powerful and conveyed a wide range of emotions beautifully. I was crying at the end (or almost), because it was just so sad and emotional. I wouldn't recommend this to children under 10, just because it is sort of sad, it deals with a flashback to her mother and boyfriend abusing her and all that, so it is a bit scary and of course, sad. It's a great book though, and besides being emotional, it is appropriate.

  This book is the perfect book for a day that one just wants to read a dramatic, sad and happy well written novel!

 

Rating: 5 stars!

The Year of the Fortune Cookie!

Title: The Year of the Fortune Cookie (Anna Wang Series)

Author: Andrea Cheng

Summary: This is the third book in the Anna Wang series, where Anna and her friends start middle school. Laura is going to a different school now, so Anna feels a bit lost with only 1 of her friends with her, but now Anna is making different friends and everyone is having a pretty good time. However, it is also around this time that Anna begins to question whether she really likes being Chinese and she begins to feel a bit insecure. Anna's old teacher is going to China to adopt a baby just like Anna's family did for Kaylee! Anna is given the chance to go with them to China to help them, and she accepts the offer. However, on the plane ride there, she begins to wonder if it was the best idea to accept, since she won't be with her family for the Christmas season, and she starts to feel homesick. It's getting better though, when Anna meets a new friend in China - a waitress in the hotel, and things get even better when Anna gets her wish to go and see the orphanage that Kaylee was adopted from, and to give cute crochet hats for each of the orphanage babies.

Anna then realizes that in the end, things are alright.

Comments: I really liked this story! I love when authors make age-appropriate books for middle schoolers (it is an easy read, but Anna is a 6th grader). The book also teaches you Chinese and is pretty educational! Anna is a relatable character that most kids are sure to love! (I know I do!)

Complaints: I sort of feel like it was a bit unrealistic that Anna got to explore the town and go to the park and down to the hotel lobby without any adult supervision, especially in a big city, but otherwise, the book was really good!

Rating: 5 stars!

The Year of the Baby

Title: The Year of the Baby (the Anna Wang Series)

Author: Andrea Chang

Summary: This book features all of the characters from The Year of the Book (I reviewed that one too!) - it's a sequel. Anna's family has adopted a baby girl from China (by the time the book starts, the baby is already home - they do not go to China in this book). However, Baby Kaylee won't eat and the doctors are starting to worry about her health. For their school science project, Anna and her friends see if she will eat when different songs are sung to her or when no songs at all our sung to her. Their science experiment is smart, and their results are quite interesting.

 

Comments: The whole book is a great, wholesome read that any child read about. Anna's love for her sister is so sweet, and Kaylee is just sweet in general. Anna is a great character that most people can relate to in many different ways. Anna is also a great role model for kids of today, and it's fun to watch her do such interesting and smart things with her friends in this uniquely written book!

 

Complaints: None! I feel like this book was a bit longer than Year of the Book, and my complaint for that book was it being too short, so this book is perfect!

Rating: 5 stars

Family Tree: Book #2 The Long Way Home

Series: Family Tree

Title: Book #2: The Long Way Home

Author: Ann M. Martin

Summary: Dana is an aspiring artist living a rich life in New York City. True to  the series name, "Family Tree", Abby, from Book #1 is her mother, and Zander is her father. Abby is very close to her Aunt Adele (Abby's sister). She also has two siblings, a twin sister and a younger brother who has Down Syndrome. Dana ends up publishing a book with Zander (she illustrated it), who is a famous author. One night, on a ferry while coming home, her father, who drinks too much quite often, had too much to drink while at a special event, and when his hat flies off of his head and into the water, he without thinking, jumps off the boat to grab it, and dies. Abby's family suddenly becomes poor and her mother works several jobs in order to keep the family in their house. Eventually, they lose their wonderful house, and they are forced to move from place to place just to survive.

Around the end of middle school for Dana, she realizes that she wants to go to an arts school in New York, so she is shipped off to live with her Aunt Adele who still resides in the city. Dana becomes distanced from her siblings and mother, and loses her relationship with them. Later, when she tries to go back to them, things do not go so well.

 

Comments: I really liked this book, but I think it was even sadder than Book #1. This series is really turning out to be deep, and I would definitely not recommend this for anyone under 10 years. The ending, for me, was really, sad (not the epilogue at the end - the end of the actual book). In fact, I was almost teary eyed (I am 12). There is so much faced in this book; death, relationships, standing out, and so much more. What the book deals with is much more low key than Book #1, but the way it is presented can make everything a bit sad or scary for some readers.

 

Complaints: I just didn't like the end of the book. It was sad, and I felt like it could've ended a bit better, but I do have to hand it to the author for creating such a shocking, dramatic ending (I am not talking about the epilogue or whatever, remember, I am talking about the ending of the actual book).

Rating: 5 star (I still liked it a lot!) 

                                                   

 

Family Tree Book #1: Better to Wish

Series: Family Tree

Title: Better to Wish Book #1

Author: Ann M. Martin

Summary: In the 1930s/1940s, Abby is growing up in Barnegat Point, a small town on the coast. She has a younger sister (and soon another younger sister and a brother). Her mother is very soft spoken and her father, her Pops, runs the show. The book is done in diary entries on a particular date (down to the day of the week and everything). There are about 2 diary entries per year of Abby's childhood starting from 7 years old and going up to her graduation day in high school.

Her Pops behavior is very rough. He doesn't like certain races or religions and even forbids Abby from seeing one of her friends (a boy he doesn't approve of). Her Pop is into his public image and is cruel at times. He even sends his five year old son (who has a few developmental disabilities) away to a "special school" without telling anyone - not even Abby's mother.

Her mother is very depressed because of the loss of her two children (they died before the book started) and she keeps rose bushes in memory of them. Eventually, her mother does end up dying and her father remarries to Abby's school nurse. The step-mother turns out to be terrible, and the book sort of wraps itself up from there.

 

Comments: Overall, the book was really good. Abby has seen it all at such a young age - siblings, moving, cruelty and abuse, prejudice, and even death (of her mother and friend and the two siblings that died before the book started). Abby and even her sister are so unique that I connected with them and they really did come alive for me, I felt like I knew them. This book is great, however, it is pretty deep and covers harsh topics throughout the book, so I wouldn't recommend it for children under 10. The death of her friend, for me, was very tragic. It's still a great book though, it can just be a bit scary or harsh for younger children at times.

Complaints: While the book may have been harsh at times, I wouldn't have had it any other way. The harshness wasn't too much for a child to handle, and it was just kind of eye opening. I loved it, so therefore, I have no complaints.

Rating: 5 stars