Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd

Another book by Dowd (she wrote The London-Eye Mystery) about an Irish boy in the 1970s, when Ireland was going through the Troubles and Irish prisoners were going on a hunger strike. Fergus is digging for peat when he discovers the body of what looks like a young girl. She turns out to be a mummy from several hundred years before. Dowd weaves her story with Fergus' as they both struggle with family problems, growing relationships, and doing what's right for the sake of the many -- and of the one. Dowd is a wonderful writer, Fergus a great character, and kids will learn something about what was happening in Ireland just 30 years ago.

Rules by Cynthia Lord

Catherine is 12 years old and has a brother with autism. While she waits with her mother in the waiting room at his physical therapy session, she meets Jason, a boy her age who is in a wheelchair and can only communicate by pointing at cards with pictures or words. She begins making new words for him and develops a relationship with him. Then comes the school dance . . .

You can almost see the plot thicken in this book as the day of the school dance approaches. However, Lord does a good job of showing Catherine's frustration with and understanding of her brother at the same time. Having a brother with a disability gives her a better understanding of Jason, but also of what it is like living with someone with a disability.

I enjoyed this book; Catherine is a good character who grows just a bit during the book. I've noticed that many recent books have endings that don't tie everything up all nice and neat, but at least the endings are tied into reality; this is one of those books.

Stripes of the Sidestep Wolf by Sonya Hartnett

Hartnett is an Australian writer and this book takes place in a small town in Australia that is slowly dying. Satchel O'Rye lives with his parents in the unnamed town, dying because the new highway takes people right past it. His parents refuse to recognize the fact that his father is suffering from dementia. While picking up wood in the outback, Satchel sees a strange creature; when he describes it to a local girl, Chelsea Piper, she discovers an astonishing fact, one that could save Satchel's beloved dog when he injures her by mistake.

Hartnett perfectly captures the feeling of the dying town by comparing it with Satchel's own sense of slowly dying under the weight of his father's illness. While the ending doesn't make everything hunky-dory, you do realize that Satchel, in the end, will be just fine.

The Wolf by Steven Herrick

The Wolf is an example of what I mean by children's books being amazing in their complexity and simplicity. It's the simple story of two teenagers who live in the Australian outback on sheep farms, who come together one memorable day to find the wild dog -- or perhaps it's a wolf? -- that they hear howling at night. It's not a very long book -- it's written in free verse and took me a lunch hour to read -- but it packs a pretty big punch. So much happens in the story with so few words it is amazing. Herrick's spare style realistically conveys Lucy's isolation from her family and Jake's closeness to his.

The conclusion is satisfying without being didactical or cloying. I enjoyed this book and hope to read more from this Australian author.

2006, PA: Front Street

The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy, by Jeanne Birdsall

The Penderwicks is an example of what I would call an " good old-fashioned read". It's a recent book (published in 2005) and it happens in modern times -- but the only reason I know that is because there is a brief reference to a computer owned by Mr. Penderwick. Otherwise, it's one of those secret garden kind of books where the kids enjoy the summer by having great outdoor adventures, not by watching tv or shopping at the mall or playing Wii.

The Penderwick family consists of four girls, Rosalind, 12, Skye, 11, Jane, 10, and Batty 4, their Dad, a widower, and the dog Hound. The story follows them on summer vacation at a small cottage that sits on the grounds of a large old house, owned by a rich lady who doesn't care for the rollicking Penderwicks. My favorite characters were Skye, who is a total tomboy, and Jane, who narrates aloud everything around her because she is writing a book. They meet Jeffrey, the son of the rich lady, and through the course of the book they help Jeffrey gain the courage to communicate openly with his mother -- he wants to be a pianist, but she wants him to go to military school.

The characters are well written, the pace is great, and there's a little bit of something for everyone -- romance, games, dress-up, and of course a satisfying conclusion. I see that Birdsall has already written a sequel and I can't wait to visit with the Penderwicks again.

2005, NY: Knopf Books for Young Readers