Thursday, November 1, 2012

Tennyson by Leslie M. M. Blume


I heard about an awesome book called Tennyson by Lesley M. M. Blume, so I read it. I loved it! You should read this book. It is a fantastic piece of literature.

Tennyson is a cross between a fantasy novel and an historical fiction novel. It’s about a girl caught between her present and her family’s past. Tennyson, the main character, and her sister, Hattie, go live with their Aunt Henrietta after their mother leaves them so that their father can search for his missing wife. Aunt Henrietta lives in a crumbling mansion in Louisiana and is desperately trying to restore it to its former glory. She views her nieces as an opportunity to do just that. She uses the girls to attract rich suitors. All the while, Tennyson is trying to lure her mother home with family secrets in order to escape her aunt. In the end, no one gets what they want. However, each person realizes that they need something else entirely.

Ms. Blume does an amazing job weaving the past with the present. I enjoyed this book and recommend this book to 6th graders.

List of Recommended Books by Grade
 
2nd grade –
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
Miss Holly Is Too Jolly, by Dan Gutman
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
 
3rd grade –
The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman
Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Among the Impostors by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater
 
4th grade –
Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry
Louisiana's Song by Kerry Madden
The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan
The Golly Whopper Games by Jody Feldman

5th grade –
Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos
Benjamin Pratt & The Keeper of the School by Andrew Clements
Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park

6th grade –
Tennyson by Lesley M. M. Blume
The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman
Dewey, by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter
The Wanderer by Sharon Creech
The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg
The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare.
 
7th grade and up –
The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byers
Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi
Pendragon Book One: The Merchant of Death by D.J. MacHale
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
The Seventeen Second Miracle, by Jason F. Wright