The Field Guide to Parenting
Tools to Help You Raise or Care for the Young Children in Your Life

The Field Guide to Parenting
Children's Bookstore

Favorite Novels and Easy Readers

The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry
Houghton Mifflin 2008

Four children make do with neglectful parents until the parents go off on a long adventure leaving them with a nanny and a much-improved home life. Making reference to classic children's tales of old and with tongue firmly planted in cheek, the characters are winsome and the plot fortuitous--a journey home by a lost boy, the widower/candy-maker next door, odious parents, and even a baby left on the doorstop all intertwine in a most agreeable fashion. The parents place their house up for sale, even though the children still live there, but nanny and the four will not be defeated. They are destined for a happy ending, being old-fashioned children with good character who can pull themselves up by their bootstraps.

The writing is divine, characters well-defined or at least well-caricatured, and the language is glorious. If one does not know the meaning of words like "nefarious," "lugubrious," or "winsome," a glossary near the end explains and is as fun to read as the story itself. But above all, dialogue is king, masterfully crafted, and brings humor to even the humorless characters. Consider this exchange between the dolt-ish parents before they plot to abandon the children:

    "Do you like our children?"

      "Oh, no," Mrs. Willoughby said..."And then there are the two that I can't tell apart..."

      "The twins."

      "Yes, them. Why on earth do they look so much alike? It confuses people and isn't fair."

Refreshing, delightful, wickedly funny--what more can I say? Simply a best book of the year.

The Traitors' Gate 
by Avi (Author), Karina Raude (Illustrator)
Reading level: Ages 9-12 
Publisher: Atheneum (May 22, 2007)
London--1849;  14-year old John Huffam is a good lad in an awful situation. His father is being sent to prison for an unpaid debt and enters via the Traitor's Gate, the infamous entryway to the Tower of London. Father professes innocence and it is up to John to help clear his father's name. A grand mystery ensues with undeniably colorful friends and foe such as the elusive Inspector Copperfield, Mr. Snugsbe, Sergeant Muldspoon, and the clever Sary the Sneak, with twists and turns such that John hardly knows who to trust. 

The sights, sounds, and even smells of Dickens' London are so well described that you can easily lose yourself there and find yourself surprised when looking up from the book. Master Huffam is an attentive and articulate narrator. Just read his thoughts upon entering the court room:
"There beneath an ornate canopy, was an elaborate bas-relief of the great seal of the United Kingdom replete with lion and unicorn rampant on rear legs, like trick dogs at a circus."

Even more delightful are the conversations:

John: "But it's none of your business what I do."

Sary the Sneak: "Never said it was me business. But it is me business...Think o' me as a newspaper with legs. It's 'armless."

No one is better at taking readers to another time, place, or world than master-storyteller Avi, and The Traitor's Gate is Avi at his best. Avi fans won't want to miss this one, and if you've never read Avi before, you'll become a fan in no time after The Traitor's Gate.

Billy Creekmore: A Novel
by Tracey Porter (Author)
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Publisher: Joanna Cotler (June 26, 2007)

Billy begins telling his tale at the beginning with the details of his birth, and how he came to reside at The Guardian Angels Home for Boys. As you might expect of a West Virginia orphan home in the early 1900's, it is not a nice place, and when boys reach near a working age, they are sent to a glass factory, where the work is dangerous and many a boy are maimed or killed. Just in time, Billy's uncle claims him, and Billy begins a new chapter in his life in a mining community.

Forced to leave for fear of being killed as a union sympathizer, Billy eventually joins a circus. Throughout all the adventures and hard times, Billy hopes to find his father. In the end, he has to decide for himself the real meaning of family and home. Billy is an unforgettable character with whom you will laugh, cry, hold your breath for, and cheer. Honest, unsentimental, and real, Billy's voice is one you trust and believe.

The author's note at the end explains her love of the great stories of children who rise above misfortune like David Copperfield and Huckleberry Finn. "I loved the rise and fall of the main character's fortunes, how each chapter began with its own suspenseful title and ended with a sentence that made you want to turn the page. These books--suspenseful, traditionally structured, plot and character bound--became my model..."  Billy Creekmore is all that and more.

An excellent book anyway you look at it--one of the best of the year--bound to become a classic.

Could You? Would You?: A Book to Tickle Your Imagination by Trudy White
Kane/Miller, 2007

Could you imagine waking up one morning as a baby again?
Make a list of words you like saying.
Would you swap your arms for wings? 

An ENTIRE book of questions and creative suggestions to notice, explain, use your senses, and imagine yourself and the world--Fantastic! If ever a book should be read by parent and child, or teacher and student, or any caring adult and young child, this is it. I can imagine the beginnings of creative, unique conversations from every page. Not a storybook, but maybe even better; kids can use their knowledge and imagination to write their own stories.

LOVED Could You? Would You? -- Highly recommended!  

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
by Kate DiCamillo
illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline, Candlewick, 2006
Edward is the exceedingly well-cared for and loved china rabbit of a loving young girl. When Grandmother tells a story that doesn't end happily because there is no love, it goes right past Edward. Soon, his journey takes him away from the girl and to many unexpected places where different kinds of people take him in; he experiences many kinds of love, despair, hope and the stirring of love in his own heart. It's a long, arduous climb to love but the ending will churn warm feelings in your own heart. The magnificent gouache paintings on glossy paper are sprinkled throughout as are sepia-tone illustrations. The book itself reminds of the grand old Scribner's Illustrated Classics and is a joy to behold.  

Strange Happenings
by Avi, Harcourt, 2006
Ages 8 to 12

Five clever short stories that I guarantee will  surprise you: A cat who convinces a boy to change places with him, a queen preoccupied with beauty causes unique problems for her daughter, an alien in a green costume may be an alien, a shoemaker goes back on his bargain and gets more than he bargained for, a spoiled son takes a fantastic journey that transforms him. In each, strange things happen that you know couldn't happen, yet the writing is so believable that these magical stories come to feel all too real .

Out of Patience
by Brian Meehl
Delacorte Press, 2006

12-year old Jake Waters lives with his eccentric Dad and stepmother in Patience, Kansas (located in the middle of nowhere) which just happened to have been founded by his relative, Jeremiah, in 1866. Bank robbers, buried treasure, and the first plunger called the Scepter of Satan led to a curse placed on the whole town, and the sons, unborn sons, and unborn sons of the unborn sons.

Out of Patience is truly an original story that includes so many great characters and deftly weaves together the modern story of Jake and the old-time story of Jeremiah. Is the curse real or just hot air? Readers will have a delightful time pondering this right along with Jake and his friends. Funny, exciting, and just plain great!

Water Street by Patricia Reilly Giff
Wendy Lamb Books (Random House), 2006
Brooklyn in 1875 wasn't such a great place for everyone who lived there. Backlit by the enormous achievement of building the Brooklyn Bridge, the joys, fears, and sorrows of two families show the challenge of living at this time. Great characters like the boy Thomas who is destined to be a writer and Bird, who dreams of being a healer like her mother, are what drives the story. This book takes you to a time and place you could never really visit, and makes you feel like you are right there. Superb!

Willow Run
by Patricia Reilly Giff
Random House, 2005
In this companion to Lily's Crossing, Margaret learns that her dad has taken the next best job to flying places which is building planes and in their effort to help the war, they must move to Michigan. With her brother off fighting in World War II and threats being made to her German grandfather, Margaret feels the war all around her. Margaret comes to see that friends are in many places in this tender novel of growing up in difficult time. Well-written and with engaging characters, readers will get a real glimpse into what life was life for kids in the U.S. during World War II.

Each Little Bird That Sings
by Deborah Wiles, Harcourt, 2005
Comfort Snowberger is no stranger to death, living in a family-run funeral parlor in Snapfinger, Mississippi. Still, when her great-Uncle Edisto dies, her Great-great-great-aunt Florentine dies, and then her dog is lost in part due to the horridness of her best friend, Comfort's world is shaken up. The details of the story and the writing are so good that hardly notice you've come 245 pages. Comfort has a lot to teach us all about decorum and handling death, but she does so in such a gentle, extraordinary way that you end up wishing you had even more time with her. Well done!

The Book Without Words by Avi
Hyperion,. 2005
"Ah Master," said the bird, "what good was that life, if, by avoiding death, you didn't live?"
In the year 1046 in medieval England, orphan Sybil works for a mysterious master who possesses a book with blank pages and a talking raven. A monk has his eye on her master as does the city reeve (the person in charge of law and order).  A scary but riveting tale of death, coming back to life, magic, and the very meaning of living. Masterfully written as you would expect from the prolific Avi who leaves you with a sense that you have experienced something out of the ordinary and are all the better for it.

The Vacation by Polly Horvath
Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2005
Henry's mother decides to make a mission trip to Africa and drags his father along with her. His aunts, Pigg and Magnolia, come to care for him, but soon decide that more important that school is the vacation they haven't taken in twenty years. The odd trio set off on a wacky trip to wherever their heart desires and end up with some unexpected adventures. In the meantime, Henry's mother gets lost and his father contracts malaria. Along the way Henry learns some big truths about people and himself. Another winner from an award-winning author!

The National Book Award Winner is Now in Paperback! Godless             
by Pete Hauptman
Simon & Schuster, 2004
young adult

Jason Bock's punch in the face at the hand of the town bully lands him under the water tower and this turns into a life-changing event. Fed up with his church's youth group and his parents' religion, Jason converts an unlikely band of characters to a new way of thinking at the Church of the Ten-Legged  God. As the head kahuna, Jason believes he is in control of the Chutengodians but soon learns that his flock are not the passive sheep he expected them to be.

Godless is a tour de force in the inevitable adolescent questioning of God, life, and one's place in the world. The first person narrative of our here Jason provides the perfect voice for self discovery and the realization that being religious and having faith are two different things. The end leaves you knowing that it's not the destination but the journey that is important and interesting.

Paperback edition includes an educator's guide with discussion questions and writing activities.

Birdwing by Rafe Martin
Scholastic, 2005
young adult
The king's youngest son Ardwin, who happens to  be cursed with a swan's wing in place of an arm, decides he must be master of his own fate and leaves his father's kingdom in search of the colony of swans where he thinks he belongs. A parent can tell a child, "discover your road by walking it," and that it's not what you have but what you do that matters, but a child must find this out for himself through life experience. Is Ardwin tilting at windmills in his quest or will he find what he is looking for?

A marvelous, engaging rendering of the age-old story of a boy's struggle to become a man and find his rightful place in the world. Magic, wise animals, loyalty, betrayal, love and war all come together in Ardwin's search for the blessings of life. The writing is so engaging, the lessons so universal, and yet the story so unique in taking off from "The Six Swans" by The Brothers Grimm  that readers will feel blessed with a rare glimpse into the meaning of life by the end. A book no one will be able to forget.

 The End of the Beginning: Being the Adventures of Small Snail (And an Even Smaller Ant)  by Avi, Harcourt, 2004
A most charming book of delightful characters, Avon and Edward, who travel with a logic all their own. For all ages--great for reading aloud to preschoolers on up and still good for the independent readers, too. A FamilyFun.com Best Book of 2004!

Grandma's General Store the Ark
by Dorothy Carter,
illustrated by Thomas B. Allen
Prince and Pearl live next door to their Grandma and her magical store which is known as the Ark because Grandma says an ark is a shelter from the storm that keeps you from being tossed away. Even through it's the Depression, life is good in Florida until Daddy loses his job. When he and Mama head north to find better jobs, the children are left behind with Grandma. Though it takes some time before Daddy returns to fetch them, Grandma helps Prince and Pearl understand life including a visit from the Ku Klux Klan. Very well-written with engaging characters--takes you to a time and place of long ago yet seems as real as anyplace today.

Sixth-Grade Glommers, Norks, and Me by Lisa Papademetriou
Hyperion, 2005
Allie is about to enter the mysterious and life-altering world of... aaah! middle school. She's not so worried because her best friend Tam will be there with her. But when school starts, everything changes. A rare, smart spirit who speaks to us with much humor and her own original language. Allie makes sense of middle school, soccer, boys, and friends in a way that readers will be able to identify with and find reassuring.. The world of glommers ("friends who never go anywhere with each other, like they're tied together with invisible string") and road chickens ("someone who can't decide which side to be on, and ends up standing in the middle of the road...which is, of course, where the care are") is Allie's reality and you will love spending time in it with her. A wonderful, funny, coming-of-middle-school story that will make you laugh and warm your heart.

Mama's Window
by Lynn Rubright
Lee & Low, 2005
Before Sugar's Mama passed on and he went to live with Uncle Free in the Mississippi Delta, she raised money to buy a stained glass window for the new church. Life in a Delta shack in the early 1900's for a boy living with his uncle provides many challenges, but also many opportunities to grow and follow dreams.  Engaging writing with characters you grow to love make this a must-read book.

Easy Readers

Mercy Watson to the Rescue by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen
Candlewick, 2005
Is it a chapter book or a picture book? Who cares? It's just plain fun. When Mercy the pig feels good, it's like "hot toast with a good deal of butter on it." The best feeling in the world is that "buttery-toasty" feeling and this theme follows Mercy throughout the book. Though her neighbors dislike her, Mercy comes to the rescue (though rather inadvertently). Good humor and expressive illustrations will leave readers anxious for the next installment in the Mercy series.

Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa
by Erica Silverman, illustrated by Betsy Lewin, Harcourt, 2005
Ages 6-9
A cowgirl and her faithful cowhorse Cocoa are the heroes of four stories in this reader full of gentle humor. When Cocoa is too full to herd cows, Kate tells him a story of a hardworking horse. When Kate has trouble counting all the cows, Cocoa comes to her rescue. Together, they help each other fall asleep. If you liked Duck for President, you will enjoy the same expressive, colorful watercolors of Betsy Lewin as she brings a girl and her faithful horse to life.

Upstairs Mouse, Downstairs Mole by Wong Herbert Yee
Houghton Mifflin, 2005
Charming! Mouse and Mole are complete opposites in many ways but due to their generous and friendly natures, they overcome their differences to become the best of friends. Four short illustrated stories in the vein of Frog and Toad are sure to delight young

Travels with my Family
by Marie-Louise Gay and David Homel
Groundwood, 2006
When you hear the word "vacation," what do you think of? Beaches..and maybe even Disneyland?.. But not my parents..."
And from here readers are hooked into the quirky "off the beaten track" adventures of a family traveling with their cat. From alligators to tornadoes to a Mexican revolution, this folks have the summer vacation that could only be found in a well-written story such as this. 

The Field Guide to Parenting
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