Timmy Failure Mistakes were made

Pastis, S. (2010). Timmy Failure Mistakes were Made. NY: Candlewick Press.

 A very visually funny story, Pastis depicts an unusual detective who never learns from his mistakes.  Tackling a no brainer detective job with a lazy polar bear side kick by the named Total, Timmy comes into redundancy scenarios. Timmy likes to spend his time solving crimes for the kids in his class. He will have you laughing and getting all the Timmy’s offbeat humor. He may not be very good but it’s something he wishes will one day make him rich. Not your typical hero Timmy he has a very interesting way at looking at things. Although he does not get school work nor can he keep his concentration on his assignment Timmy is determine to get his nemesis Corrina Corrina and keep his side kick out of the zoo. 

Rules

 Lord, C. (2008). Rules. NY: Scholastic

Rules is written in twelve years old girl perspective. Catherine has an autistic brother who gets into things so she creates rules to help him. She eventually creates rules for herself to fit in school and try to live an average teenage life. But with an autistic brother the obvious is hard to avoid.  She goes through a journey of being stern and impatient with her brother to tolerance and acceptance. Like most teenage girls, Catherine is anxious to fit in school and just be average but David's autism impends this, and so Catherine is force to choose between her brother and her friends. Catherine learns what is important in life and comes to accept her brother’s disability as well as her good friend Jason’s. 

Out of my mind

Draper, S. (2010). Out of my mind. NY: Atheneum

All thought some people assume Melody is mentally retarded; she is an eleven-year-old girl just like any other except that she is a bright child having to deal with cerebral palsy. The point of view of this novel is unique because it is in the voice of someone who cannot talk. Melody tells her story through thoughts in her head. Melody learns to converse through a computer that helps her team win a trip to Washington, D.C. for the national competition. Unsuccessfully Melody tries to warn her mother of her little sister heading straight to danger.  She gets hit by a car and Melody feels it was all her fault. As Melody attends regular school she comes to the understanding that not all people are perfect. Although the word disabled is rarely used Melody is normal girl living in a broken body. 

Bridge to Terabithia

Paterson, K. (1972). Bridge to Terabithia. NY: Crown.

Two characters that have to face life as it come.  Bridge to Terabithia provides a sensitive subject of death. Jesse Oliver learns to cope with his friend's passing. Written in a third-person, Jesse has to mature through life’s ordeals. The author gives the characters a place of rest called Terabithia.  The children create an imaginary land in which their friendship grows despite society looks. Jesse’s life will forever change because a freak accident that kills Leslie shatters the peace of Terabithia. Jess the only male child in his family is very much aware of how his parents' treatment of him differs from his sisters. As the only boy, he is expected to do the hard work. In which he milks the cow and picks the beans. His older sisters, meanwhile, are permitted to mope, complaint, and get to do nothing in the house.

Dear Mr. Henshaw

Cleary, B. (1983). Dear Mr. Henshaw. NY: Morrow

A child who has to deal with the ramifications of his parents' divorce, a move to a small house, loneliness, a father who broken so many promises, isolation from friends, a lunch bag thief, and the pressures of class. He tries to make sense of his situation which results in both maturity and contentment.  He reaches out to an author who helps him deal with life as a teenager from a broken family. There is some humor and the setting keeps changing from the second grade through fifth grades. First Leigh lives with his mother and father in a mobile home outside of Bakersfield, then a sixth grader struggling with a move to Pacific Grove on California's central coast where he comes head on with his parents' divorce. Lastly they move in a very small falling apart house next to a gas station which is furnished with items from a thrift store.

A crooked kind of perfect

 Urban, L. (2009). A crooked kind of perfect. NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Urban depicts a character of a ten-year-old Zoe Elias, a fifth grade girl who just wants to fit in with her group at school. She is a talented musician whose aspiration is to play the piano, which ends up winning a trophy in the Perform-O-Rama competition. She comes to find that her love to play the piano has a positive impact on her social life and parents. The setting took a role in the story, if it wasn't at her playing the piano at her living room, Zoe wouldn't have been able to have her piano lessons to play in the Perform-O-Rama. It is a feel-good message about how doing one's best and believing in oneself are what really matters in life. That even though you think you're not good enough to do what you would want, you should at least try.

Mercy goes for a ride

Mercy, Mercy, What a Pig. This is an adventurous pig that would like to take a ride in his owner pink car. A funny book of a pig name Mercy who every Saturday looks forward to taking a ride on the pink car until he finds an opportunity to cease the moment and jumps on the drivers seat while the owner was not paying attention. He takes them for a fast drive when the police tries to stop them for speeding sees that it really is the pig doing all the crazy driving.