The Dragon of Lonely Island by Rebecca Rupp

from School Library Journal

Grade 3-6-Because their mother needs a quiet place to finish her novel, the three Davis children find themselves spending the summer in a Victorian house on a small island off the coast of Maine. A mysterious letter from their elderly Great Aunt Mehitabel, absentee owner of Lonely Island, helps the siblings discover Fafnyr Goldenwings, a three-headed dragon that sleeps deep inside a cave on Drake's Hill. It can be prickly and fussy, but takes pains not to frighten the children, assuring them at once that it is a vegetarian. Over the course of the summer, each head awakes in turn and tells a story about children that the dragon had helped. It drove away invading Mongols from a Chinese girl's village, saved an orphaned boy from the clutches of evil pirates, and rescued a brother and sister marooned on a desert island-but only after the siblings learned to think for themselves. The children learn that the sister in the last story was actually a young Aunt Mehitabel, who offered the dragon a sanctuary on Lonely Island. The Chinese story has the tone of European tales of exotic Cathay and the other two are reminiscent of earlier children's books, when adventures were more jolly than harrowing. This smoothly written confection may be a tad bland and predictable, but it goes down as easily as an entertaining, light read.

Margaret A. Chang, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams

Cornelia and the Audacious Excapades of the Sommerset Sisters - Lesley M.M. Blume

My new favorite book! Cornelia is the daughter of two world famous concert pianists - one of whom she has never met (dad), and the other she only sees briefly between flights to Morocco, Paris, etc. and non-stop hours of practice when she is home. This is what Cornelia believes defines her - she believes that people only want to get to know her to get close to her famous mother. She doesn't believe that anyone is really interested in her. Then one day, there are boxes all over hallway next door to their apartment. When Cornelia investigates, she sees a sign that says "Chien bizarre" then a little French bulldog comes running out of the apartment. This is her introduction to Mr. Kinyatta and shortly thereafter to Ms. Virginia Sommerset.

Halfway to the Sky by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

What a touching book - even when the premise is a 12-year-old girl running away from a homelife gone crazy. Her 13 yo brother Springer has recently died from muscular dystrophy, and the day of funeral, they came home and dad packed up and left. Since that day, Dani has been planning and saving to run away on a trip few 12 yo's would even tackle with their whole family working together - she is going to hike the Appalachian trail, from Georgia to Maine, 2, 167 miles, 6 months of walking. Her parents met their first night on the trail, got married halfway through, and were pregnant by the time they reached the end. Their children are named for the mountains at the beginning and the end of the trail. There is a lot of family history here - perhaps Dani is hoping to reconnect the dots of her life along the trail.

Of course, things don't work out as planned and her mother catches up with her the second night. There is a pull for mom on the trail as well, and she agrees to first a week and then two months of hiking. During this time, mother and daughter, and even father must work together to start pieceing together a new life, a life without Springer, a life with a new step mother and half brother. The hard work and expansive quiet of the trail, help Dani and her mother to work out their ways of dealing with each other, giving each other space or pressing in with hard truths as needed.

This book had much depth and is very well written. The characters are real and earthy. A very enjoyable read considering the heaviness of the subject matter.

I love Creative Commons!

Creative Commons in our Schools

From: markwoolley, 2 weeks ago

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A Creative Commons presentation presented to the Learning Technologies coordinators from the Wollongong Diocese.


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