The King of Mulberry Street–by Donna Jo Napoli

Napoli, Donna Jo.  The King of Mulberry Street.  New York: Wendy Lamb Books, 2005.

Beniamino’s family in Napoli, Italy, is very poor, but pretty happy.  They have each other, they have enough food to get by, and most importantly they have their Jewish faith.  When his mother wakes him up very early one morning and asks him to be very quiet while they sneak out of the house, Beniamino is excited at the surprise trip and enjoys spending time with his mom.  But then she gives him some rather mysterious instructions:

“‘First of all, simply survive…Watch, like you always do, watch and learn and do whatever you have to do to fit in.  Talk as little as possible–just watch and use your head…Nothing can stop you, tesoro mio.  Remember, you’re special, a gift from the Most Powerful One.  As soon as you can, get an education.  Be your own boss…Don’t undress with anyone around.  Ever.  Swear to me.”  (p. 23-24)

Just like that, he finds himself stowed away on a cargo ship, on his way to America.  Alone.  He vows to fight his way back to his mother in Napoli, and he does fight fiercely…but how much fight can you put up with no home, no family, no knowledge of English, no money, and no place to turn for help?

“Nothing was going right…I went back to the alley with the dead dog.  I threw pieces of a crushed wooden box into a half-empty barrell to make a clean layer on top of whatever was inside.  Then I climbed in…I recited every one of Nonna’s charms I could remember–charms to keep evil at bay.  That was where I spent my first night in America…” (p. 84)

Princess Academy–by Shannon Hale

Hale, Shannon.  Princess Academy.  New York: Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2005.

Up on Mt. Eskel, the villagers don’t get out much.  The only way to make a living up there is to work in the linder quarry, chipping out blocks of the marble-like stone and selling it to the lowland traders who come up the mountain every so often, and that’s exactly what they’ve been doing for countless generations.  Work in the quarry, barter with the traders, work, barter, and so on.  Everyone follows this tradition without fail—everyone, that is, except fourteen-year-old Miri, who’s been barred from the quarry by her father and left to feel completely useless to the mountainside village.

The village’s hundreds of years of routine are suddenly broken up, however, when the chief delegate from the kingdom down below the mountain arrives with an unbelievable announcement: the King’s chief priests have convened, and they’ve determined that the Prince will choose his bride from among the girls of Mt. Eskel.  To prepare the girls for this honor, they’re all going to be herded into a Princess Academy for a year, where they will learn to act like polished princesses instead of rough mountain quarry workers.  Miri is pretty torn about this; she doesn’t want to leave her Pa and her hometown (not to mention Peder, the guy she’s got a huge crush on), but on the other hand it would mean a chance to see the world, never being cold and hungry again, and best of all she wouldn’t have to feel so darn useless anymore.  She decides to go for it, but before she’s been at the academy for long, she discovers that not all that glitters is gold…

“Miri awoke to a tug and a horrible feeling…She felt it again, a tugging on her scalp.  Something was caught in her braid.  She wanted to scream, but terror clamped down on her breath.  Every spot of her skin ached with the dread of what might be touching her.  It felt strong, too big to be a mouse.  The tip of a tail licked her cheek.  A rat.  Miri sobbed breathlessly, remembering the rat bite that had killed a village baby some years before.  She did not dare to call out for fear of spooking the beast…She could not move, she could not speak.  How long would she have to lie there until someone came for her?” (p. 72-73)

The Higher Power of Lucky–by Susan Patron

Patron, Susan.  The Higher Power of Lucky.  New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2006.

Lucky is a regular kid: she has one awesome friend who’s going to be president one day, one annoying little kid friend who survives entirely on cookies, a paying job cleaning up litter after the 12-step meetings, and an impressive collection of bug specimens for future scientific exhibits.  Her mom died when she was eight, but she’s got a pretty good life with her Guardian, Brigitte.  One day, though, Lucky finds something that changes everything…

“Heading into the wind turned out to be way, way harder, even without her backpack and supply sack.  Lucky had to scuttle along doubled over, like an old woman, keeping her squinted eyes on the road.  Without the mask or the dishcloth her face was completely exposed.  She couldn’t see more than a few feet ahead.  She almost tripped over HMS Beagle, who trotted up to her with her head low to the ground, he ears whipping forward.  She touched Lucky with her nose and then abruptly turned and bounded back toward the town.  Maybe HMS Beagle was right and they should go home.  Lucky stopped.  “Hey, Beag!” she yelled.  Then, faintly, she heard a cat or some other animal crying, and saw that HMS Beagle was nudging that pile of rags.  Very carefully Lucky approached the thing, which was huddled in a tight ball.  It looked like the thing was rolled up in an old tablecloth or sheet.  Sticking out of the roll was a small sneaker with a toe poking through a hole in the side…”  (p. 111)

Elijah of Buxton–by Christopher Paul Curtis

Curtis, Christopher Paul.  Elijah of Buxton.  New York: Scholastic Press, 2007.

Life’s hard, right?  You have to go school, do what crazy grown-ups tell you even when it doesn’t make a lick of sense, and put up with being called “fra-gile” all the time even when you are clearly NOT being fragile.  Elijah gets this all the time, even from his parents!  He’s pretty sure the WORST thing on earth has happened to him after his mom decides to play a trick on him:

“…I moved my hand ‘round in the bottom of the jar, I felt one n’em rope cookies…and Mrs. Brown must’ve just brought these cookies over, ‘cause the last one left was still warm!  I pulled the cookie outta the jar.

“My heart quit beating, my blood ran cold, and time stood still!  My fingers were wrapped ‘round the neck of the worst-looking snake in Canada West!  I screamed, ‘Snake!’ and afore I knowed it, I was tearing off ‘cross the road into the woods.  By the time I worned myself out I must’ve run two miles.  I stopped and leaned ‘gainst a tree, waiting for my breathing to catch up to me.  Something made me look down in my hand.

“I screamed, ‘Snake!’ for the second time.  But this time I remembered to turn the snake’s neck a-loose and throwed it down.  I wouldn’t’ve thought I had enough strength left in me to run, but being afeared and being tired look like two things you caint feel at the same time.” (p. 19)

TOTALLY unfair, right?  Never mind that this was payback for putting the biggest toady-frog in Canada West in his ma’s sewing basket!  And Elijah gets it worse than anyone because he, the first child born free from slavery in the Buxton settlement in Canada, had a terrible accident as a baby…which unfortunately involved vomit and a visit from Frederick Douglass…but never mind that, just wait till Elijah gets growned, then he’s gonna show everybody!

But when there comes an opportunity to buy a neighbor’s family out of slavery, it looks like he’s gonna have to show how grown up he is sooner than anybody thinks…

A Dog’s Life–by Ann M. Martin

Martin, Ann M.  A Dog’s Life.  New York: Scholastic Press, 2005.

If you’ve ever had a dog, you know that they need lots of things, like food, water, baths, trips to the vet, walks, and lots of petting!  But Squirrel is a dog who has none of those things: she’s a stray.  She and her brother Bone must wander in the woods and between backyards, with nowhere to sleep at night, hunting for whatever food they can scrounge up.  They get mighty cold and hungry, but they’re together, so it’s not too bad.  One day though, when they’ve had no luck at all hunting and are beginning to worry that they’ll starve, the puppies smell something.

“The odor was coming from across the road.  I ran back to Bone, strained to see past the rushing cars, and when there was a little break in the traffic, I saw a paper bag lying on its side.  There was chicken in that bag, and Bone and I knew it.  My mouth started to water and I drooled as I stood at the edge of the field, separated from the chicken by two lanes of cars.  Bone took a step forward, then another.  I was right behind him, but when a truck whizzed by me, I jumped back, yelping.  Bone glanced at me, then faced the traffic again.  He looked as though he were getting ready to run-to bolt across the road and hope for the best—when suddenly one of the cars that had just sped by pulled to the side of the road and screeched to a stop.”  (p. 39-40)

And just that suddenly, Squirrel’s life changes forever.