Book Reviews from a Teacher's Perspective

Author:  Robert Beatty Themes:  Good vs. Evil Love conquers all The Power of Friendship Coming of Age Genres:  Fantasy Historical Fiction Recommended Age for Reading:  Depending on the reading level of the students, I'd recommend this book for upper elementary and middle grades.  There's nothing inappropriate for younger readers in the story, but the series gets a bit dark at times.  Overall the series is enjoyable for kids all the way through adulthood.  It would be a fun series to read as a family.  Plot: In "Serafina and the Black Cloak," the reader is introduced to a little girl who lives in the basement with her father.  Her father works as a maintenance man for the Biltomore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina.  At the beginning of the story, all we know about Serafina is that she's a "creature of the night."  No one knows that she and her father are living in the basement, and no one except her father

Author:  Charles Dickens Themes:  Coming of Age; Individual vs Society Genres:  Classic Literature Recommended Age for Reading:  The Lexile level for this book is 1230, which according to this chart  Lexile Level Chart  is in the high school range.  However, there's nothing in the content that would be inappropriate for a student in a grade below high school, although the student would need to have a strong reading ability.  I think this would be a great read for children who are gifted readers and looking for a challenge.  For struggling readers, the audio version is a great alternative:  Great Expectations Audio Version on Audible . Plot:  This story is told in first person from the main character, Pip.  Pip is an orphaned boy who is raised by his adult sister and her husband.  He dreams of rising from his social status to become a gentleman.  He doesn't have much hope in this happening until an anonymous benefactor provides the monetary mea

Author:  Neal Shusterman Themes: Coming of Age; Change vs Tradition; Death Genre: Science Fiction Recommended age for Reading:  The reading level is 6.5 which is about where the content level should be.  There's mild language throughout the story and there are parts with strong language, but not many.  Both books get a bit dark since death is a central theme to the story.  There's also a few violent scenes.  Scythe Plot: In this particular futuristic society, humans have conquered natural as well as accidental death.  People no longer die from illness or disease and if a tragic accident occurs, they can be taken to the nearest hospital for a resurrection.  This seems ideal, but colonizing other planets hasn't happened yet, so planet Earth can only sustain so much life.  As a result of this, an occupation some can aspire to is that of a scythe.  A scythe's main role is to end life at random in order to keep the world population at a reasona