My Name is Sally Little Song

by Brenda Woods   

Sally Harrison and her family are slaves on a plantation in Georgia. But when Master decides to sell Sally and her brother, the family escapes to seek shelter with a tribe of Seminoles who are rumored to adopt runaway slaves. After a perilous journey, Sally’s family finds and joins the tribe. But while her father and brother easily adjust to Indian ways, Sally can’t seem to find her place. Combining the poetry of Sally’s songs with the heartracing tension of the family’s escape, author Brenda Woods delivers a breathtaking story of a girl caught between worlds.

Bud, Not Buddy

by Christopher Paul Curtis   

It’s 1936, in Flint, Michigan, and when 10-year-old Bud decides to hit the road to find his father, nothing can stop him.

Maniac Magee

by Jerry Spinelli    

Jeffrey Lionel "Maniac" Magee might have lived a normal life if a freak accident hadn't made him an orphan. After living with his unhappy and uptight aunt and uncle for eight years, he decides to run--and not just run away, but run. This is where the myth of Maniac Magee begins, as he changes the lives of a racially divided small town with his amazing and legendary feats.

Chasing Redbird

by Sharon Creech  

It started out as an ordinary summer. But the minute thirteen-year-old Zinny discovered the old, overgrown trail that ran through the woods behind her family's house, she realized that things were about to change.

Right from the start, Zinny knew that uncovering the trail would be more than just a summer project. It was her chance to finally make people notice her, and to have a place she could call her very own. But more than that, Zinny knew that the trail somehow held the key to all kinds of questions. And that the only way to understand her family, her Aunt Jessie's death, and herself was to find out where it went.

From Newbery Medal-winning author Sharon Creech comes an intricately woven tale of a young girl who sets out in search of her place in the world—and discovers it in her own backyard.

Side Effects

 Amy Goldman Koss

As if it isn’t bad enough to have cancer, practically every time we pick up a book or hear about a character in a movie who gets sick, we know they’ll be dead by the last scene. In reality, kids get all kinds of cancers, go through unspeakable torture and painful treatments, but walk away, fine in the end. Isabelle, not quite 15, is living a normal life of fighting with her younger brother, being disgusted with her parents, and hoping to be noticed by a cute guy. Everything changes in an instant when she is diagnosed with lymphoma—and even her best friend, Kay, thinks Izzy is going to die. But she doesn’t, and her humor—sardonic, sharp, astute—makes reading this book accessible and actually enjoyable.

My Basmati Bat Mitzvah

by Paula Freedman

During the fall leading up to her bat mitzvah, Tara (Hindi for "star") Feinstein has a lot more than her Torah portion on her mind. Between Hebrew school and study sessions with the rabbi, there doesn't seem to be enough time to hang out with her best friend Ben-O--who might also be her boyfriend--and her other best friend, Rebecca, who's getting a little too cozy with the snotty Sheila Rosenberg. Not to mention working on her robotics project with the class clown Ryan Berger, or figuring out what to do with a priceless heirloom sari that she accidentally ruined. Amid all this drama, Tara considers how to balance her Indian and Jewish identities and what it means to have a bat mitzvah while questioning her faith.
With the cross-cultural charm of Bend It Like Beckham, this delightful debut novel is a classic coming-of-age story and young romance with universal appeal.

The Giver

Lois Lowry

Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. When Jonas turns 12 he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.

Stargirl

by Jerry Spenilli

"She was homeschooling gone amok." "She was an alien." "Her parents were circus acrobats." These are only a few of the theories concocted to explain Stargirl Caraway, a new 10th grader at Arizona's Mica Area High School who wears pioneer dresses and kimonos to school, strums a ukulele in the cafeteria, laughs when there are no jokes, and dances when there is no music. The whole school, not exactly a "hotbed of nonconformity," is stunned by her, including our 16-year-old narrator Leo Borlock: "She was elusive. She was today. She was tomorrow. She was the faintest scent of a cactus flower, the flitting shadow of an elf owl."

In time, incredulity gives way to out-and-out adoration as the student body finds itself helpless to resist Stargirl's wide-eyed charm, pure-spirited friendliness, and penchant for celebrating the achievements of others. In the ultimate high school symbol of acceptance, she is even recruited as a cheerleader. Popularity, of course, is a fragile and fleeting state, and bit by bit, Mica sours on their new idol. Why is Stargirl showing up at the funerals of strangers? Worse, why does she cheer for the opposing basketball teams? The growing hostility comes to a head when she is verbally flogged by resentful students on Leo's televised Hot Seat show in an episode that is too terrible to air. While the playful, chin-held-high Stargirl seems impervious to the shunning that ensues, Leo, who is in the throes of first love (and therefore scornfully deemed "Starboy"), is not made of such strong stuff: "I became angry. I resented having to choose. I refused to choose. I imagined my life without her and without them, and I didn't like it either way."

Fire Girl

by Tony Abbot

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"Tom's a normal seventh-grader, negotiating a slightly prickly stage in his long friendship with Jeff...The arrival of new girl Jessica Feeney, however, changes everything; Jessica, who is attending a local hospital for treatment, has been badly burned by a fire, and her terrible disfigurement shocks the class into confusion. This isn't the usual book about adjustment to difference; instead, Abbott brilliantly explores the kids' struggle to manage the intrusion of abnormality in their lives...this is a thoughtful exploration of a brief interlude's lasting impact."   

Rambunctious Readers Meet Author Cindy Callaghan

Cindy Callaghan, Author of Just Add Magic and Lost in London.  Her latest book, Lucky Me, will be out in July 2014.  She is in the process of writing two other books which will be out in 2015!

Out of My Mind

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by Sharon M. Draper

Eleven-year-old Melody has a photographic memory. Her head is like a video camera that is always recording. Always. And there's no delete button. She's the smartest kid in her whole school—but no one knows it. Most people--her teachers and doctors included--don't think she's capable of learning, and up until recently her school days consisted of listening to the same preschool-level alphabet lessons again and again and again. If only she could speak up, if only she could tell people what she thinks and knows . . . but she can't, because Melody can't talk. She can't walk. She can't write.

Being stuck inside her head is making Melody go out of her mind--that is, until she discovers something that will allow her to speak for the first time ever. At last Melody has a voice . . . but not everyone around her is ready to hear it.

From multiple Coretta Scott King Award winner Sharon M. Draper comes a story full of heartache and hope. Get ready to meet a girl whose voice you'll never, ever forget. 

Dash of Magic: A Bliss Novel

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by Kathryn Littlewood

This second book in the acclaimed Bliss trilogy mixes the down-home heart-punch of Ingrid Law's Newbery Honor Book Savvy, the always-on-the-edge-of-chaos comedy of Cheaper by the Dozen, and a humorous magic all its own to create a thoroughly original confection to please every reader's sweet tooth!

The Bliss family's magical Cookery Booke was stolen by evil Aunt Lily at the end of Bliss, the first novel in the series. Now twelve-year-old Rosemary has a chance to win it back: she challenges her aunt to an Iron Chef-style international baking competition in Paris. But the only way to beat the cheating Aunt Lily is to gather magical ingredients of her own. Together with her brothers and their talking cat and mouse, Rose races across Paris—from the Eiffel Tower to the Cathedral of Notre Dame to the Mona Lisa in the Louvre Museum—to gather what she needs to out-bake—and out-magic—her conniving aunt.

If Rose wins, the cherished Cookery Booke will return to her family where it belongs. If she loses—well, the consequences are too ugly to think about. . . .

Interview with Cindy Callaghan

Author of Lost in London

The Rambunctious Readers are so excited to interview author Cindy Callaghan  about her latest book, Lost in London. 

RR: How did you get the idea of getting trapped in a store overnight in Daphnes?

Cindy:  Did you ever read The Mixed Up Files?  In that they get locked in a museum.  I love that book and ever since I read it I've ben obsessed with places that I'd love to spend the night:  A bakery, hair salon, carnival....and DAPHNE's is like allllll of those places wrapped up in one.  Don't you think?

RR:  How did you come up with the names of the characters?

Cindy: The perfect character name is very important to me.  It has to "fit" the character I am trying to paint.  I can't really explain it exactly, but I know it when I find it.  Sometimes a character is just called X until I can think of the perfect name. 

RR:  How did you come up with Jordan's friends personalities and characteristics?  

Cindy:  I like to have a cast of characters that are different from one another, because that's how friends are in real life, right?  If everyone was the same, that would be so boring.  I try to think of different quirks.  I get a lot of them from listening and watching other people. 

RR:  Did you base any of the characters on anyone you know?

Cindy:  I don't base a character 100% on someone that I know, but I might take a trait or characteristic that I know or like about someone and give it to a character along with a bunch of made up stuff and characteristics from someone else.  They are kind of like montages of all different people. 

RR:  How do you come up with so many creative ideas for all of your books?

Cindy:  I suffer from something called Too Many Idea Syndrome.  I have an idea notebook just filled with ideas that I want to write about.  When I think of something, I put it in my notebook.  I could never write all of my ideas in a hundred lifetimes.  

RR:  When will your next book becoming out and what is it about?

Cindy:  LUCKY ME comes out July, 2014.  It's about superstitious Meghan McGlinchey who gets cursed when she goofs up a chain letter.  Unraveling the curse takes her on an amazing journey where she discovers a lot more than links of a chain. It's a very cool story that takes place in southern Ireland. 

About Cindy Callaghan: Cindy grew up in New Jersey and attended college at the University of Southern California before earning her BA in English and French, and MBA from the University of Delaware. She recently exited corporate America after nearly twenty years, and is now fully entrenched in business consulting, writing, and family.  She is very involved with her children’s activities, including coaching the occasional soccer team. Cindy lives, works and writes in Wilmington, Delaware with her family and numerous rescued pets

http://www.cindycallaghan.com/

Buy the book:

http://bit.ly/LondonBook - books a million

http://bit.ly/getlondon - Barnes & Noble

http://bit.ly/lostinlondon - Amazon

Cindy Callaghan will be checking the blog site periodically.  If you would like to leave a comment or a question she would love to hear from you.