From the outside, Kirsten and Walker have nothing in common.  Kirsten is a rich, white girl who lives in a nice home with her parents and sister.  Walker is a black boy who lives with his single mom in a run-down part of town.  Choldenko writes an interesting story about two middle schoolers who start out as strangers, and end up supporting each other through the trials of family and life in 7th grade.  In the process, Kirsten and Walker discover that they have more in common than they ever could have imagined.

Francine has always been the “good girl.”  She goes to school, obeys the nuns, obeys her parents, doesn’t ask question, and never gets in trouble.  When Sophie moves to town and joins Francine’s class, a new world opens up to Francine.  Sophie rarely obeys anyone, always asks questions, and seems to enjoy getting into trouble.  From Sophie, Francine learns to pay attention to the world around her, question things she doesn’t understand, and most importantly, to speak up when someone is wrong.

A fascinating memoir about the author’s five year banishment to Siberia. Esther and her family were Jews who lived in Vilna, Poland. At the outset of WWII, when Russia and Germany were still allied, Russian soldiers invaded her town, labeled her family as “capitalists” and shipped them off to be slave laborers in the gypsum mines of Siberia. Esther’s family faced slavery, starvation, frostbite, disease, persecution and the winters of Siberia with courage, resourcefulness and humor. Throughout five long years, their love for each other was the only thing that held them together.

On a slightly unrelated note, the jacket design for the first printing of The Endless Steppe was done by Nonny Hogrogian. She is the author and illustrator of the Caldecott Award winning book, One Fine Day. This retelling of an Armenian folktale is one of my favorite children’s books.

I have been waiting a long time for this book. I had to settle for the CD version, as the print copy still isn’t available in the U.S. However, listening to the book on CD made exercising and housework fun for awhile!

On the whole, it is a worthy addition to The Ellie Chronicles. The war is now done, although there is still plenty of “unofficial” violence. Ellie is working her parent’s ranch, and caring for Gavin, a troubled war orphan. She tries to balance these responsibilities with her desire to help protect her country. Ellie is a very analytical person, and her reflections on friendship, responsibility, war, terrorism and violence add a deep dimension to a book that otherwise could be just mindless action scenes. This leads to my main complaint about the book. Some of the action scenes seemed to be needlessly drawn out by Ellie’s inner monologues. Sometimes they would go on for so long, I’d forget that she was driving a jeep through the outback while being shot at by enemy helicopters. However, since I was listening to the book instead of reading it, I think this bothered me more than it normally would. Usually, I just skim if the action slows down, but that’s hard to do on a CD!

On a side note, I very much enjoyed the reader, Mikaela Martin. She is so easy to listen to, and her Australian accent is delightful.

Although Anna is only 15, she’s always cared for her five-year-old sister Mandy and seven-month-old brother Casey. The 3 children love their mom, but she is an abusive alcoholic who can not be relied upon. Anna is determined to keep their little family together at any cost. When she discovers her mom’s death, Anna must decide what is best for herself and her siblings.

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