It’s amazing to me that the same author that wrote The Giver wrote the book I'm reviewing today because they couldn’t be more different. The Birthday Ball by Lois Lowry is a nontraditional fairytale about a princess who’d rather live among the people than follow any ridiculous royal decrees. (Roman Holiday, anyone?) Now that she’s turning 16 years old, Princess Patricia Priscilla's expected to marry one of the three suitors who are courting for her hand. Each man is more ghastly than the last. A lot of time is spent describing these hateful men (and the illustrations by Jules Feiffer really drive it home how disgusting and despicable her choices truly are. As in much of middle grade fiction, her parents are blind to her discomfort and unhappiness as they are caught up in their own lives and interests. (Dad is obsessed with butterflies and Mom is preoccupied with her wardrobe and appearance.) So neither takes any notice of her switching places with her maid and escaping out into the village to go to the local school. Dark humor coupled with the somewhat realistic portrayal of what it's like to be a village peasant plus the fantastic illustrations make this a quick, fun read. 7/10

What I'm Currently Reading: The Invited by Jennifer McMahon

I have read The Giver and Gossamer from Lois Lowry and I loved them both.

She is one of my favorite authors and I enjoy her books very much.

This book is basically about these creatures that come out at night to give humans dreams or nightmares.

They are creatures that live on the memories of objects in the house.

What they do is gently touch the items to get a pleasant memory and use it to make a dream for the human.

In the story, there are 3 main human characters.

There is an old lady, a foster kid child, and his mom.

The boy has had a very bad past and he thinks the old lady is abusive.

He has nightmares and the dream giver tries to give him good dreams, to make him strong so he won't be vulnerable to the nightmare creatures.

This story is similar to The Giver in a way because they both have to do with memories and dreams.

5/5 stars.

I read and loved Anastasia Krupnik as a kid. (The book seemed so much longer then.) Great, realistic contemporary middle grade fiction. A lot happens in a very short book. Made me love Wordsworth. 

This book brings you to a place where everyone is assigned distinctive jobs.  For Jonas his whole life changed when he was chosen to be the next Receiver. The book shows Jonas's struggle of this emotionally field job and how he will impact his world.The leveling system is The Lexile, reading level 760L. Students can work on what, when, why, and hows by writing an essay on a memory that has stuck out to them.

     When the German troops threaten their way of life, Annemarie Johansen's family takes in her best friend, Ellen Rosen, and conceals her as part of the family. We watch as the Danish Resistance moves almost the entire Jewish population out of Denmark and across the sea to Sweden. This book is all about the struggles Annemarie's family faced.

      This books reading level is ages 10 and up making it a more mature read. A great way to use this book in your classroom is to discuss Germany and World War II. What challenges did the family have to face? Was this normal? Open a discussion for the struggles during World War II.