Aquamarine (2001) by Alice Hoffman

Plot Summary:  Claire and Hailey have always been best friends and do everything together.  Sadly, Hailey's mom is being transferred to Australia for her job and the girls are devastated. How are they going to live without each other?  After a terrible storm leaves a mermaid stranded in the pool of Claire's family's beachfront hotel, the girls help her. 

Aquamarine tells them that she will grant them one wish if they help her find a boy.  Her father will allow her to stay on land for a few days before she has to return to the sea.  Both Claire and Hailey have always had a crush on the local lifeguard, Raymond, and when Aquamarine sees him she is smitten.  They figure if they help Aqua, then they can wish to stay together and Hailey won't move.  What follows is a sometimes funny story of first love, friendship, and the pains of growing up. 

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Subject/Themes:  Friendship, mermaids, wishes

Genre:  Fantasy

Reviews:  Booklist, School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly

Age Group:  Ages 9 and up

Nintendo Power

Summary of Contents:  This magazine is great for avid video game players.  Each issue contains a News section that highlights specific games and gives a detailed review of their features and pluses and minuses.  The two larger sections of each issue are the Previews section and Reviews section.  Previews covers new games that are coming out.  Each preview shows pictures from the actual game, and gives details on how the game operates.  It also provides information on the publisher, developer and the release date.  Reviews give a really in-depth look at current games as well as provide ratings. 

Power Profiles is a three page spread in the magazine that profiles and interviews a different game creator each month.  It's nice because the creators answer questions about how they got into the video game business.

At the end of each issue readers are given a preview of what's to come next month.

Format:  Magazine

Subjects/Themes:  Video games, wii, nintendo ds

Issues: Published monthly

Age Group:  All ages, but more specifically in demand by tweens.

High Interest Annotation:  This is a must for wii and ds players.  The information that Nintendo Power provides can give players a good idea of whether or not to purchase a game, as well as tips on how to play.

How To Train Your Dragon (2010)

Plot Summary:  Hiccup Horrendous is everything that a Viking isn't.  He just isn't cut out for dragon hunting.  When dragons attack the island at night, his dad tells him to stay inside so that he won't get hurt.  Hiccup wants to help, and using a slingshot of sorts,  Hiccup knocks a Night Fury dragon out of the sky.  The Night Fury is an elusive dragon that everyone has heard about, but nobody has actually seen or defeated.  While exploring the island, Hiccup finds the injured dragon and realizes that part of his tail is missing which is why he is unable to fly.  Hiccup tries to help him and eventually wins the trust of the dragon, who he names "Toothless." 

Hiccup works with the dragon secretly and rigs up a way for Toothless to fly with a substitute tail.  His dad wants him to train to be a Viking and learn how to slay dragons like the other kids his age, but Hiccup doesn't want to harm the dragons.  Especially since he realizes that they can be tamed, and even seems to have a talent for it.  But even Hiccup knows that you can't keep a secret for long.......  This movie is based on the hilarious series by Cressida Cowell.

Format:  DVD

Genre:  Fantasy

Rating:  PG

Series:  Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III  

1. How to train your dragon

2. How to be a pirate

3. How to speak dragonese

4. How to cheat a dragon's curse

5. How to twist a dragon's tale

6. A hero's guide to deadly dragons

7. How to ride a dragon's storm

8. How to break a dragon's heart

Age Group:  Ages 7 and up

Bridge to Terabithia (1996) by Katherine Paterson

Plot Summary:  This is a Newbery award winning novel by Katherine Paterson.  Jesse Aarons is a fifth grader who wants nothing more than to be the fastest kid in school.  He thinks that he has it in his pocket, until a new girl Leslie shows up and beats the pants off of him.  After his initial anger wears off, Jesse starts to realize that Leslie is pretty cool.  For one thing, she doesn't let anyone push her around.  Leslie also has no problem with standing up to the school buddy. 

These two form a friendship despite the huge differences in their family lives.  Jesse's family is poor and he has to wear his sister's hand me down girly sneakers, yet Leslie's family is well off and lives a different kind of lifestyle.  They get along and enjoy each other's company, fighting off the school bully together, and creating their magical make-believe world that they rule in the woods behind their houses.  In Terabithia, they defeat the monsters that try to get them and protect and conquer.  This story of friendship and tragedy is touching and real.

Subject/Themes: Friendship, bullying, death

Genre:  Realistic Fiction/Family

Rating: PG

Age Group:  Ages 10 and up

Chime by Franny Billingsley (2011)

Plot Summary: Briony Larkin knows that she is wicked.  She hates herself and is convinced that she is unable to love anyone.   This is all because she is a witch, and if it wasn't for her Stepmother helping her to hide her secret, Briony would have already been hanged.  Stepmother is now dead, killed by the very secret that she helped Briony to keep.  But now Eldric arrives and is convinced that there is more to Briony that she believes.........

Genre:  Fantasy


Subjects/Themes:  Witches,


Reviews:  Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, *Starred Review* in Booklist


Age Group: Grades 7 and up