2008-2009 Student Book Recommendations

Every year I ask my students to give me the titles of Ten books they have read this year that they liked well enough to recommend to other readers. This list is LONG (278 titles---I listed series as titles), but I thought some of you might find it interesting, especially if you are writing for middle grade students. Maybe you'll want to copy the list and print it out for a reading list of your own, or to share with your middle grade students. The kids who listed their books are all 7th graders. Some of you will find your own books among the titles!

Anderson - Maybird series

Anderson - Peaches

Anderson – Speak

Anderson - Teacher’s Pet

Anderson – Twisted

Anderson – Wintergirls

Armstrong - The Summoning

Avi – Wolf Rider

Baillet - The Calder Game

Balliet - The Wright 3

Banks – The Indian in the Cupboard series

Barklem - The Secret Staircase

Barry & Pearson – Peters and the Starcatchers series

Baxter – Sunstorm

Bellow – Michael Jordan

Benz – Grey Griffins series

Bettes – Where the Heart Is

Bierce - Civil War Stories

Blume - Superfudge

Bosch – The Name of This Book is Secret

Brashares – The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series

Brown – Angels & Demons

Buckley – Chickens in the Headlights

Buckley – Sisters Grimm series

Burnford - The Incredible Journey

Byng - Molly Moon series

Cabot – Aithead

Cabot – The Princess Diaries series

Carter – I’d Tell You I Love You But Then I’d Have to Kill You series

Cashore - Graceling

Cast – Betrayed

Cast – Marked

Chima – The Warrior series

Choldenko - Al Capone Does My Shirts

Clements – Frindle

Clements – The School Story

Clements – Things Not Seen

Clements - Room One

Colfer – Airman

Colfer – Artemis Fowl series

Colfer – Benny & Oman

Colfer – The Supernaturalist

Collins - Gregor series

Condie – Reunion

Covey – 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens

Creech – Bloomability

Creech – Heartbeat

Creech – Ruby Holler

Creech – Walk Two Moons

Crichton – Airframe

Crichton – Jurassic Park

Crutcher – Iron Man

Curtis – Bud, Not Buddy

Dahl – George’s Marvelous Medicine

Daley - Star Wars: Han Solo trilogy

Dashner – The 13^th Reality series

David & Draper - We Beat the Street

Davis – Garfield series

De la Cruz – Bluebloods

De la Cruz – Masquerade

De Mari - The Last Dragon

Delaney - The Last Apprentice series

Dessen – Just Listen

Dessen - Keeping the Moon

Dessen – Lock and Key

Dessen – The Truth About Forever

Di Camillo – The Tale of Despereaux

Dickens – David Copperfield

D'lacey - The Fire Within series

Elliott - Under a War Torn Sky

Evans – The Christmas Box

Fairstein – Entombed

Farmer - Sea of Trolls

Ferris – Once Upon a Marigold

Fitzgerald – The Great Brain series

Fletcher - Stoneheart trilogy

Forman – Adventurer’s Wanted: Slathbog’s Gold

Frank – Diary of a Young Girl

Friend – Perfect

Funke – Inkheart series

Gardner - Stone Fox

Gibson – Old Yeller

Gies - Anne Frank Remembered

Giff - Pictures of Hollis Woods

Goldman – The Princess Bride

Haddam - Cheating at Solitaire

Haddix - Palace of Mirrors

Haddix – Running Out of Time

Haddix – The Missing: Found

Haddix – Turnabout

Hale – Austenland

Hale – Book of a Thousand Days

Hale – Enna Burning

Hales – Goose Girl

Hales – The Princess Academy

Hansen – Macady

Heimerdinger – Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites series

Heinlein – The Final Frontier

Hiaasen - Scat

Hiaisen – Hoot

Hickam – October Sky

Hinton – Rumble Fish

Hinton – The Outsiders

Hobbs – Far North

Hobbs – Ghost Canoe

Hobbs – Jason’s Gold

Hobbs – Wild Man Island

Holt – Part of Me

Holt – When Zachary Beaver Came to Town

Hopkins – Burned

Hopkins – Crank

Hopkins – Glass

Horowitz - Groosham Grange

Horowitz – Alex Rider series

Horowitz – The Gatekeepers series

Hunter - Warriors series

Ibbotson – The Great Ghost Rescue

Johnson - 13 Little Blue Envelopes

Jones – King James: The Real Story

Jordan – The Eye of the World series

Kadohata - Kira – Kira

Kehret - The Blizzard Disaster

Kinney - Diary of a Wimpy Kid series

Klein - Con Ed

Koonz – Velocity

Korman - Kidnapped

Korman - Schooled

Kostick - Epic

Landy - Skulldugery Pleasant series

Lasky - Guardians of Ga’hoole series

Levine – Dave at Night

Levine – Ella Enchanted

Levine – Princess series

Lewis – The Chronicles of Narnia series

Logue – Dancing with an Alien

London – White Fang

Lord – A Night to Remember

Lubar - Hidden Talents

Lund – Fire of the Covenant

Lund – The Alliance

Lund – The Work and the Glory series

Lupica – Heat

Lupica – The Big Field

Mac Hale - Pendragon series

Mangum - The Secret Journal of Brett Colton

Martin - Missing Since Monday

Martinez - Parrot in the Oven

Mazer - The Missing Girl

McCormick – Cut

Meyers – Twilight saga

Mikaelsen – Tree Girl

Montague – Fireweed

Moody - Best Friends

Moore – Out of Jerusalem series

Mull – The Candy Shop War

Mulle – Fablehaven series

Myers - The Mouse Rap

Naylor – Shiloh

Nichols - A Walk Out of the World

Nimmo – Charlie Bone series

Nimoy – I Am Spock

Nix – Keys to the Kingdom series

O’Dell – Island of the Blue Dolphins

Osborn – The Magic Treehouse series

Palahniuk - Haunted

Paolini – Eragon series

Patterson – Maximum Ride series

Paulsen – Soldier Heart

Paulsen – The Car

Paulson – Hatchet

Pelzer – A Child Called It series

Peretti – Monster

Perez - Dead is the New Black

Peterson - Jip

Petterson – Max series

Pfeffer - Life as We Knew It series

Pratchet – Going Postal

Pratchet – Thud

Qualey - Hometown

Raskin – The Westing Game

Rawls – Summer of the Monkeys

Rawls – Where the Red Fern Grows

Reeder - Foster’s War

Rees – Pirates

Riordan – Percy Jackson and the Olympians series

Rodgers - Freaky Friday

Rottman – Stetson

Rowling – Harry Potter series

Roy - Yellow Star

Sachar – Holes

Sachar – Tales from the Wayside Schools series

Sachar – The Boy Who Lost His Face

Sage – Magyk series

Sanderson – Mistborn series

Savage – Far World series

Schreiber - Vampire Kisses

Selznik - The Invention of Hugo Caret

Sewell – Black Beauty

Shan – Cirque du Freak series

Shan – The Dementor series

Shreve – Light on Snow

Shrieber – Teenage Mermaid

Shusterman - Everlost

Shusterman - The Schwa Was Here

Skye – Leven Thumps series

Slaughter – Indelible

Smith – Elephant Run

Smith – Everest series

Smith – I.Q.

Smith – Island series

Smith – On the Run

Smith – Peak

Smith – Sasquatch

Smith – Tantalize

Smith – Zach’s Lie series

Snickett – The Series of Unfortunate Events

Somper - Vampirates series

Soto – Taking Sides

Sparks - The Wedding

Speare – The Sign of the Beaver

Spinelli – Milkweed

Staheli – When Hearts Conjoin

Stansfield – Christmas Melody; The Three Gifts of Christmas

Stansfield – A Promise of Forever

Stansfield – Barington Family series

Stansfield – Gables Face East series

Stansfield – The Eternal Bond

Stansfield – The Miracle

Stansfield – The Silver Linings

Stansfield – The Sound of Rain series

Stansfield –Stansfield – Towers of Brierly

Stansfield – Where the Heart Leads series

Stansfield –First Love and Forever series

Staub – Lily Dale series

Stine – Goosbumps series

Stine – The Evil Moon

Stine – The New Boy

Stine – The Overnight

Strasser - Help! I’m Trapped in Obedience School

Tarkington – Penrod

Taylor – Walking Up a Rainbow

Temple - Grab Hands and Run

Timlonson - Extreme Sports

Tolkien – The Hobbit

Traditional - The Arabian Nights

Trueman - Inside Out

Turner - Hard Hit

Updale - Montmorency series

Van Draanen - Runaway

Van Draasen – Flipped

Van Draasen – Sammy Keyes series

Various – The 39 Clues series

Wallace - Trapped in Death Cave

Warner - The Box Car Children series

Waterson – Calvin & Hobbes series

Weeks - Jumping the Scratch

Wells - Chance Encounters

Wells – The War of the Worlds

Westerfeld - Uglies series

Weyland – Ashley & Jen

Weyland – Charley

Weyland – Emily

Weyland – Megan

Weyland- Brittany

White - Surviving Antarctica

Wilhite - Bright Blue Miracle

Wilkinson - Dragon Keeper

Wright – Christmas Jars

Wright – The Eyes of the World

Wright – The Mine with the Iron Door

Wright – The Printer of Udells

Wright – The Re-Creation of Brian Kent

Wright – The Shepherd of the Hills

Wright – The Wednesday Letters

Yancey - The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp

Yorgason – Charlie’s Monument

Yorgason – One Tattered Angel

Zevin - Elsewhere

There, Their, They're

Okay, this is crazy to admit because I've been an English teacher for 30 years, but there are times that I still get confused on rules. When that happens in my writing, I breathe a sigh of relief because I know that the self-proclaimed word nerd herself, Annette Lyon, will tell me what I did wrong and how to fix it. Heck, half the time she can tell me exactly why what I've done is in error because she's already studied the problem or looked up its history in the OED she got a few years ago.

When Annette doesn't make it to critique, we all fret over those really technical points of grammar and usage, and a flurry of emails go back and forth the next day as we discuss the question and wait for Annette to respond.

But what if Annette is on (dare we say it?) VACATION and gone off to another exotic location for weeks at a time (like her trip to Finland)? How could we ever live without her?

Annette has just given us the next best thing---There, Their, and They're: A No Tears Guide to Grammar from the Word Nerd is Annette's entry into the world of educational writing. I've ordered a copy to keep by my computer at home, and I'm seriously thinking I might use some of my grant money next year to buy a few copies for my classroom. (No other grammar book since Warriner's has taught so much!)

If you'd like to get you own copy, visit the online ordering form at: http://lyfebooks.com/

Contest - Book Giveaway on Good Reads

I'm giving away three copies of When Hearts Conjoin on GoodReads.com. Come on over and join the contest at: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6401757-when-hearts-conjoin

If you've already read the book and you're a member of either Good Reads or Shelfari, I'd appreciate it if you leave a rating and review.

Thanks!

Local author pens Conjoined Hearts with Herrin twins' mom

Herald Extra: Spanish Fork Press

People all over the world watched the story unfold in 2006 as the Herrin twins, Kendra and Maliyah, underwent a twenty-five hour surgery to separate their shared lower bodies. And just two years later, in the fall of 2008, a local author was given the opportunity to team with Erin Herrin, the mother of the twins, to help co-write a book to share their story with the world.
Lu Ann Brobst Staheli is an accomplished educator and writer. She currently teaches English at Payson Junior High in addition to being a writer. Staheli is also a part of the Write Wise program founded by Richard Paul Evans and Robert G. Allen. Staheli has been able to teach and edit other authors work with this program. Evans was so impressed with Staheli and her work that he knew she would be perfect to help Herrin write a book about her experiences.
"I have worked with Lu Ann in our Write Wise program," said Evans. "I knew I could count on her and knew that she would be a natural fit in helping Erin share her story."
Staheli and Herrin began working on the project in August of 2008. They started out by sending each other information via the internet and talked over the phone. Staheli began putting together the information into a story form.
"When I was going through all these experiences there was no information about other families who had been through this and their experiences," said Herrin. "I really wanted to have information from other parents. The book was written so others will have that information and also because as time goes on our memories fade and I wanted something to document all of our experiences."
Staheli wrote the book from the notes Herrin wrote down during her experiences and the book is written as if Herrin had written it herself.
"It has been wonderful to work on this project," said Staheli. "The world has known about these little girls for the past seven and a half years and now they can know the whole story and that miracles do happen."
The story shares more than just the twin's experience, it starts at the beginning with the Herrin's dating and ends with an update on what the family is currently doing.
"The book is definitely an emotional book," said Herrin. "From the beginning Lu Ann was right on and worded everything the way I wanted it. The story flows so well. She has been wonderful to work with and has made the story exactly what I wanted."
The book, "When Hearts Conjoin," was released just a few weeks ago and is only available at the website www.utahtwins.com. All the proceeds from the books will go into a trust fund for the twins medical expenses. The book tells the families story and shares never before seen photos. It also has a forward by Evans, a #1 New York Times Bestselling Author. The twins will also be featured on a TLC special in June and then on the Oprah show to let others know about their story and book.
And now that Staheli has had her first successful experience co-writing a book, she already has three more co-written books in the works. She is currently working with Alan Osmond to share his story about life lessons, David Osmond to share his story about overcoming life's battles and with Jim Karol to share his story about a man with super mind and how he uses that mind to entertain and teach others.

When is Comes to Best of State. . .

Members of my critique group ROCK!

In 2007, Annette Lyon won the Literary Medal for Best of State Fiction,

In 2008, I won Best of State Educator K-12,

And on May 30th, 2009, Heather Moore will receive her medal for Best of State in Literary Arts: Historical Fiction for her Whitney Award winning novel, Abinidi.

How cool is that? We're three in a row.

Congrats, Heather!!!!

When Hearts Conjoin - Release Party

Last Tuesday was the official release party for When Hearts Conjoin. The party was hosted by Richard Paul Evans (The Christmas Box) who is our publisher. Here I am sitting at the autograph table with Rick, Erin and Jake Herrin, along with their children, Austin, Courtney, Kendra, Justin, and Maliyah. (I might have the twins' names backwards in both cases.)

We had a great time, did several newspaper and television interviews, and signed a ton of books. So many of my friends and family members came up as well. Thanks for all of your support, everyone!

Let me remind everyone that Mother's Day is this weekend and this would be a great book to get for your mother. Copies can be ordered from www.whenheartsconjoin.com or www.utahtwins.com. I also have a case of books at home if anyone needs a copy and they are concerned the ones ordered online wouldn't make it on time.

Be sure to check out the links to reviews, articles, or other blogs about this book on my main blog page, and a special thanks to Candi Higley of the Spanish Fork Press for allowing me to use this photo.

Motherhood: Martyr or Mentor

My latest article is in Desert Saints Magazine this week: Motherhood: Martyr or Mentor?.

Let me know what you think.