The Toronto Star
March 10, 2005 Thursday
Red maple Rock the vote!
by Alex Kucharski, Planet Bookworm
This year’s Red Maple fiction books look very promising and I’m here
to give you Planeteers the up to date guide to the 10 fantastic books
that are nominated. The nominees span from the genre of historical
fiction to fantasy to mystery to animal adventures to current issues.
All Red Maple voters from Grades 7 and 8 only, will have a hard time
picking the book that shall win the 2005 Red Maple Award.
Here’s your clip-and-save guide.
Book: Airborn
Author: Kenneth Oppel
Plot: While on a rescue mission of an old man in his hot air balloon,
Matt Cruise, a cabin boy on board the Aurora, a “900-foot luxury
airship,” is told an amazing story of fantastical creatures that this
old man has seen flying through the clouds. Matt does not think
anything of this story, however a year later after a rich girl named
Kate comes on board with her obnoxious chaperone, ready to prove this
story of her grandfather true, Matt must put his doubtful thoughts
away and help Kate on her journey. Matt and Kate encounter pirates,
shipwreck and much more adventures, before they are able to figure
out if these creatures really exist.
Prediction: Airborn is a fantastic adventure story that will make the
top three for sure! As for winning the Red Maple Award, that’s all up
to the participants of the Red Maple program. However, this is sure
to be on the top of many favourites’ lists. 10/10
Book: The Heaven Shop
Author: Deborah Ellis
Plot: Binti is the star of a hit radio show in Malawi. She lives with
her brother, sister and father, in a small coffin shop. During the
day she attends a private girls school, while once a week she records
her show. To her, her life is perfect. But she is soon struck by
tragedy, when her father dies and she is left as an orphan with only
her siblings and evil relatives. Their relatives split the three
siblings up and put them to hard work, not caring about them.
However, Binti and her sister escape to their grandma where they
learn to live a poorer life but still manage to be happy.
Prediction: This sad story is very touching and extremely informative
about the current AIDS epidemic in Africa. A must read! Deborah Ellis
was nominated for the Silver Birch Award four years ago for the first
book in her Parvana series. My premonitions show me that she will
probably be in the top three or even the winner. But I can’t tell you
exactly. 9/10
Book: A Different Kind of Beauty
Author: Sylvia McNicoll
Plot: Liz and Beauty make a perfect team. Liz is a Grade 8 girl who
is training Beauty, a future guide dog. Throughout Beauty’s training
course, both come among many hardships, including startling news from
her sister, meeting a blind boy in their school, and the split of Liz
and Beauty, once Beauty’s training is over. It’s a puberty-filled
roller coaster of breakups and splits. The ending is full of
surprises and coincidences you could never imagine.
Prediction: I absolutely loved it! It’s fun, intelligent and full of
emotion. I actually had brief moments where I was surprised that I
could read or draw as I felt as if I were blind myself. This book
definitely has a spot in the top three. Will it make it win? I don’t
know. My crystal ball is stuck on that one, and so am I. 9.5/10
Book: Nobody’s Child
Author: Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
Plot: Three siblings, Miriam, Marta and Onnig, are orphaned by the
Adana massacre of Armenians in 1901 and travel back to their home in
Marash with their friend, Kevrok and his aunt, to go back to live
with their family. However, with such a big household, poverty soon
strikes and difficult choices are to be made. Miriam and Marta are
separated from their relatives and Onnig to go to a “special”
orphanage. Once they settle in and become part of the orphanage life,
the Turks start deporting and killing people from Marash. Can Miriam,
Marta, Onnig and their family along with Kevrok and his aunt survive
and reunite?
Prediction: This story is very sad, depicting these hard times very
realistically. I recommend this book to absolutely everyone. But I
cannot make a prediction for this novel. With further consultation of
my Tarot cards, I was still not able to decrypt this book’s future
success in the Red Maple Awards. 8.5/10
Book: Dead and Gone
Author: Norah McClintock
Plot: In the third instalment of the Mike and Riel series, Mike is
given 100 community hours for a box of cupcakes he stole back in the
first book of the series. While he is doing his community service at
the town recreation centre, he comes to know Emily Corwin, a rich
girl whose mother was murdered a few years ago. As Mike is thrust
into this mysterious girl’s life, he uncovers some dirty secrets that
should have been uncovered years ago, when the investigation for the
murderer of Emily’s mother was still going on. Alex
Kucharski
Book worm