Fearless Elizabeth Author: Francine Pascal. Pages: 73. Price: $2.75. Publisher: Bantam. Have you ever felt discourged when someone made fun of you? This is how Elizabeth Wakefield, a character in Fearless Elizabeth, by Francine Pascal, feels. The boys in Elizabeth's class make fun of her because she wants to try out for the soccer league. This book tells about Elizabeth and her hardships while

Inventors Who Left Their Brands On America Author: Frank H. Olsen. Pages: 196. Price: $3.50. Publisher: Bantam. Inventors Who Left Their Brands on America is interesting and full of uncommon information that is fun to read and neat to know. Frank H. Olsen tells the stories of famous "household-name" inventors and entrepreneurs, such as Levi Strauss, Charles Goodyear, Walt Disney, Will Keith Kel

Many people never get the chance to leave their mark on the world. Nineteen-year-old Ned Vizzini already has. While Vizzini was growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y., he did not spend his spare time watching television. Instead, he wrote essays, which appeared in the New York Press, a free weekly, and now appear in his recent book, Teen Angst? Naaah . . . . Vizzini has loved to write ever since first grade

Reading Sybil at Sixteen is like watching a soap opera. This 182-page drama is about how the Sebastian family is affected by something that happened more than 20 years ago. Caught between the present and the past, the Sebastian family must make a serious decision. Although the plot is quite interesting, it is also confusing. Too many things are thrown at the reader at once. It reaches a poin

SHARLENE TONEY, 14 From the time Deirdre was little, her parents had never really cared about what she did or why she did it, and she often wondered why. Around the Bend is about 13-year-old Deirdre and her struggles as she approaches adolescence. Deirdre's mother begins to notice how much time Deirdre has started to spend in her room daydreaming and that she does not join any extracurricular

MICHELLE EVANS, 17 The book Squib, by Nina Bawden, is the story of Kate Pollack, a girl who believes that a mysterious little boy she meets in the park might be her drowned brother, Rupert. Kate feels responsible for Rupert's drowning. The two children were swimming in the ocean when the current became strong. Seeing the children in trouble, her father swam out and saved Kate first because Ru

What do you dream about? If you dream about money and getting rich, then you should get to know Jason Nozzle, the boy in the book, Make Four Million Dollars by Next Thursday, by Stephen Manes. In this 87-page book, Jason does crazy things to try to get rich quickly. One day in the park, Jason loses his allowance. While searching for it, he comes across a book called, Make Four Million Dollars

After his grandfather died, 3-year-old Michael Hogan kept asking, "Where is he?" "Can I go there?" To help answer his questions, Martha G. Green, Michael's step-aunt, wrote Mikey and the Angel of Light. Mikey, as his family calls him, had lived with his grandfather, John Gentry, on Indianapolis' Northside, Green said. Although Gentry had suffered a stroke, he and Mikey did a lot of things to

Joan Lowery Nixon is one of my favorite authors. So when I heard she came out with a trilogy, Hollywood Daughters, I was excited to read it. The books in the trilogy are: Star Baby, Overnight Sensation and Encore. Their stories take you through the life of Hollywood in the '40s, '60s and '90s. The first book, Star Baby, takes place in the 1940s. It is about 17-year-old Abby Baynes, who used t

Where's Waldo? It took us six months, but we finally found the adventurous traveler and star of the Where's Waldo? books _ and his busy creator, Martin Handford _ in England. Waldo is 5-foot-8, in his late teens or early 20s, thin and wears a stocking cap _ even on the beach. "He's a happy-go-lucky, friendly adventurer. He always sees the good in people, never the bad," Handford said recently

Do you sometimes feel like you are different from everyone else? This is how Jane Miller feels in Lone Star, a book by Barbara Barrie. This 182-page book, filled with excitement, is about a girl who has to make a major adjustment to a new city. Jane Miller and her Jewish family just moved from Chicago to Corpus Christi, Tex. Around Hanukkah time she gets invited to a Christmas party where they

Beverly Cleary has written 34 children's books. For seven years, children _ and some adults, too _ have enjoyed the Newbery award-winning book, Dear Mr. Henshaw. Finally, author Beverly Cleary has written a long-awaited sequel. Strider is available at local bookstores and continues the tale of Leigh Botts and his trucker dad. Like Dear Mr. Henshaw, it is written almost entirely in diary form.

A Deadly Promise Author: Joan Lowrey Nixon. Pages: 169 pages. Price: $16. Publisher: Bantam. A Deadly Promise, the sequel to High Trail to Danger, is meant to be a book of adventure, but it really turns out to be a drawn-out and boring western romance. The story continues in Leadville, where Sarah Lindley is impatiently waiting for her younger sister, Susannah, to arrive on the Leadville stage

The Clock is an excellent example of historical fiction. The book, set in early 19th century Connecticut, describes child labor from the view of a young girl, who endured suffering, little pay and terrible working conditions. Annie Steele is a teen-age girl who yearns to grow up and be a teacher. However, her father, who has gotten into debt, has other plans for Annie. He wants to send her to

Mother, Help Me Live Author: Lurlene McDaniel. Pages: 136. Price: $3.50. Publisher: Bantam. Mother, Help Me Live is the story of 15-year-old Sarah McGreggor, who is fighting a battle with leukemia. I was drawn to this book because I thought it would be the story of Sarah's search for a cure. My thoughts were wrong. Even though the book gave an idea of what a leukemia patient goes through, I fo

Lady Daisy Author: Dick King Smith. Publisher: Delacorte Press. Price: $14. Pages: 131. Imagine that one day you and your little brother go to your grandmother's house and start looking in her attic. You leave to get something and soon come back only to find that your brother is talking to a little doll. That does not seem so strange, until you realize that the doll is talking back! In Lady Da

The Witch's Eye Author: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. Price: $13.95. Pages: 179 pages. Publisher: Delacorte Press. The Witch's Eye is a mystery/horror novel that tells the fantastic story of how two friends, Lynn and Mouse, try to defeat a mean, old witch. Mrs. Tuggle, the witch, lives next door to Lynn Morley and her best friend, Marjorie "Mouse" Beasley. Mrs. Tuggle causes a lot of trouble fo

Wanted . . . Mud Blossom, written by Betsy Byars and published by Bantam Books, tells the down-to-earth story of an average American family. It is a book everyone in households can relate to _ brothers, sisters, moms and dads. Second-grader Junior Blossom has a big secret he's keeping from his family. He's building a tunnel in the back yard near a cluster of pine trees for his class's pet ham

The River Author: Gary Paulsen. Pages: 132. Publisher: Delacorte Press. Price: $15, hardcover; $3.99 paperback. You feel as if you're on a dull ride down a slow-moving river without any twists and turns in it. You're tired and bored, about to fall asleep. Guess what? You're reading the book The River by Gary Paulsen. The River is a sequel to the book Hatchet, also by Paulsen. Hatchet tells

Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary Author: Walter Dean Myers. Price: $13.95. Pages: 210. Publisher: Scholastic. What happens when Malcolm X's exciting life and Walter Dean Myers' writing ability are combined? A riveting story that's almost impossible to put down. In his latest book for teens, the biography Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary, Myers takes you on an emotional ride through the h

Unfinished Portrait if Jessica Author: Richard Peck. Pages: 162. Publisher: Delacorte Press. Price: $15, hardcover only. If Unfinished Portrait of Jessica were really a portrait, the paint on it would be too thick. The "paint" on Jessica's portrait hasn't even been stirred. All the bad stuff is on the top and the good stuff is on the bottom. I spent all my time sorting through unnecessary

God, Country, Notre Dame Author: Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C. Pages: 331. Publisher: Doubleday. Price: $21.95 (hardback). There was a joke at Notre Dame about its former president, the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, and his outside activities. "What's the difference between God and Hesburgh?" students asked. "God is everywhere; Hesburgh is everywhere, except Notre Dame." In his autobiography, Go

South and North, East and West Editor: Michael Rosen. Pages: 96. Price: $19.95. Publisher: Candlewick Press `Some of the stories are from countries you may hardly know, places that seem a little bit scary. But after you've heard these stories you won't feel the same way. You'll feel closer to your brothers and sisters all around the world," actress Whoopi Goldberg writes in her introductio

BOOK REVIEW Bright Days, Stupid Nights Author: Norma Fox Mazer and Harry Mazer. Pages: 194. Publisher: Bantam Books. Cost: $16, hardcover. Bright Days, Stupid Nights tells the realistic yet humorous story of the relationships between four teen-agers who work at a news bureau one summer. I thought that this book was going to be a twisted love story, because the main characters are three gir

Living in Secret Author: Christina Salat. Publisher: Bantam. Pages: 183. Price: $15. Living in Secret is an intriguing and fast-paced book about the secret life of Amy Monet, a confused 11-year-old. The book is an adventure and mystery rolled into one. Amy (Amelia) Monet used to be part of what seemed to be a normal, happy family. But since her parents' divorce three years ago, the neat p

Take Time To Play Checkers Author: Misti Snow. Pages: 238. Publisher: Viking. Cost: $16, hardcover. Today, when political correctness and sophistication is often the key to a writer's success, Misti Snow shows adults that the simple, frank language of children is often more powerful and persuasive. Kids see the world from a different perspective than adults, and their eyes and words can be

The Summer I Shrank My Grandmother Author: Elvira Woodruff. Pages: 153. Publisher: Dell. Price: $3.25. It's funny. It's sad. It's a mixture of all things. It made the impossible possible. What am I talking about? The Summer I Shrank My Grandmother by Elvira Woodruff. Nelly Brown is an unusual 10-year-old. You won't find her playing Nintendo or going to slumber parties. You'll be much more

Sex Education Author: Jenny Davis. Pages: 150. Publisher: Laurel Leaf Books, 1988. Price: $2.95 paperback. Sex Education is an intriguing novel about two friends, Livvie and David, whose lives are forever changed after they complete their biology project. Fourteen-year-old Livvie is tired of being tossed around from school to school after she arrives in High Ridge for another temporary sta

When author Norma Fox Mazer was a teen-ager, she felt very different from other kids her age. "I felt very frightened of the world and what was ahead of me," she said. "I don't think they were all kept tucked away down inside." But now Mazer is sharing these fears with millions of adolescents through her books. In fact, her first stories were based on experiences she had as an adolescent. "I

One More River Author: Lynne Reid Banks. Publisher: Morrow Junior Books, reprinted, 1992. Pages: 243. Price: $14 (hardback). One More River is a dried-up novel about a spoiled girl named Lesley Shelby growing up in Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1966. Despite Lesley's protests, her father decides to yank their Canadian roots and move to Israel, so Lesley can grow up being a fully integrated Jew,

Nightjohn Author: Gary Paulsen. Publisher: Delacorte. Price: $14. Pages: 92. `It was a holocaust. It was every bit as bad as what happened to Jews in Europe, and nobody acknowledges it, " said author Gary Paulsen about slavery in recent interview with Children's Express. His book Nightjohn is a portrayal of slave life based on the experiences of one 12-year-old girl, who was one of Thomas

Somewhere in the Darkness Author: Walter Dean Meyers Publisher: Scholastic Inc. Pages: 168 Price: $14.95 Aman walks the streets of a New York City neighborhood and tries to ignore the pain in the leg that he drags behind him. Neighbors lean out of their windows and stare at the tall slender man whose bony arms look like sticks under his shirt. He finds the building he is looking for and st

Hey Little Walter and Other Prize-winning Plays from the 1989 and 1990 Young Playwrights Festivals Author: Edited by Wendy Lamb - Introduction by Nancy Quinn Publisher: Dell Publishing Pages: 236 Ever finish reading a book and find yourself with the hollow sensation that you may have missed something incredibly important? After the final page of Hey Little Walter and Other Prize-winning Pla

`They're from my life. All my ideas are from my life," said Gary Paulsen, referring to where he gets the ideas for his books. Looking at the trials and antics in Paulsen's 54 years, it's easy to understand why his novels are so popular, especially the Newbery award-winning Hatchet and Dogsong. Children's Express interviewed Paulsen in April when he came to Indianapolis on a book-signing tour a

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes Author: Chris Crutcher. Publisher: Greenwillow Books. Pages: 216. Price: $14. How far would you go for your best friend? Would you risk your life? This kind of unselfish friendship exists between Eric Calhoune and Sarah Byrnes in Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, by Chris Crutcher. Eric, an 18-year-old high school distance swimmer, is kind, caring and willing to do

Spell It M-U-R-D-E-R Author: Ivy Ruckman Publisher: Skylark Books Pages: 150 Price: $3.50 (paperback) Spell It M-U-R-D-E-R is 150 pages of twists and turns, good for those who like surprises. The story begins when the two girls, Katy Miller and Andrea Cozakis, are on kitchen duty at camp. Katy and Andrea are really starting to hate Camp Shagbark because some "misfortunes" happen to them. Firs

Bridie of the Wild Rose Inn Author: Jennifer Armstrong. Publisher: Bantam Books. Price: $3.99, paperback. Pages: 178. Do you like historical fiction? If so you will want to read Bridie of the Wild Rose Inn. The events of this story happening one right after another made this book interesting and hard to stop reading. Sixteen-year-old Bridget MacKenzie (Bridie) has waited 10 years to reunite wit

Montana 1948 Author: Larry Watson. Publisher: Milkweed Editions. Pages: 175. Price: $17.95, hardcover. Sometimes realizing that adults are less than perfect is hard to deal with. Such is the case with David Hayden in the book titled Montana 1948. Twelve-year-old David is the son of a long line of sheriffs who keep the peace in their uneventful hometown, Bentrock, Mont. His life is rather bo

Thunder Rolling in the Mountains Authors: Scott O'Dell and Elizabeth Hall. Publisher: Dell Publishing. Pages: 128. Price: $3.99, paperback. Thunder Rolling in the Mountains is a true story based on the hardships of the Nez Perce, an American Indian tribe. Told by Sound of Running Feet, the daughter of Chief Joseph, the novel focuses on the journey that white people forced the tribe to make from

Singer to the Sea God Author: Vivien Alcock. Publisher: Yearling Books. Price: Paperback, $3.99. Pages: 199. Singer to the Sea God is exciting, creative and fast-moving in most places. Vivien Alcock has a smooth-as-cream writing style that really lets the reader live the plot. The book, which is historical fiction, takes place in ancient Greece. It is an excellent work that shows the author's

How to Get Rid of Your Older Brother Author: Joel L. Schwartz. Publisher: Dell Publishing. Price: $3.25 (paperback). Pages: 120. Have you ever had problems with a bullying older brother or sister? If you have, this book is perfect for you! How to Get Rid of Your Older Brother is a humorous story of two feuding brothers, Louis, a ninth-grader, and his younger brother Jay - called "Kipper" -

Spell it M-U-R-D- E-R Author: Ivy Ruckman. Pages: 150. Price: $3.50 (paperback). Publisher: Skylark Books. Spell it M-U-R-D-E-R is 150 pages of twists and turns, good for those who like surprises. The story begins when two girls, Katy Miller and Andrea Cozakis, are on kitchen duty at camp. Katy and Andrea are really starting to hate Camp Shagbark because of some "misfortunes" that happen t

The Nickel Plated Beauty Author: Patricia Beatty. Publisher: Morrow Junior Books. Price: $15 (hardcover). Pages: 255. In 1886 people really helped one another. In The Nickel Plated Beauty, author Patricia Beatty does a good job of telling about a family who loves each other so much that they would do anything for each other. Beatty created an interesting book, with likable characters and an ex

Imagine a school where you learn only of the magic world, and so-called "essential" classes, such as math and reading, are not taught. Instead, you're instructed on divination, potions and Muggle history. Welcome to the world of Harry Potter, where anything from flying on broomsticks to turning frogs into pigs is possible. This is the world that British author J.K. Rowling created in her popular H

The Third Prophecy Author: Clifton Bush Publisher: Fabco Inc. Price: $14.95 Pages: 243 By Nick Blandford; 13; Children's Express The Third Prophecy is a snowball of a book by local author Clifton Bush. It starts slow but gains momentum as it rolls along. This religion-based tale is set in autumn 1999, the end of the second millennium. A retired Air Force colonel and an archaeologist, Chris McIv

Clifton Bush always wanted to write a book, but he never had the time. When his wife, Karen, offered to run their business, Indianapolis Flag and Banner Co., Bush finally had his chance. At age 61, he published The Third Prophecy. Age, he says, has not hurt him at all. "The silver hair is an asset because when I was younger, I knew a lot of this stuff but nobody would listen to me. . . . My age

Approximately 5,000 Chinese children are adopted by U.S. citizens every year. One of those children not only was able to revisit her roots in China but also wrote a book about it. Ten-year-old Ying Ying Fry wrote "Kids Like Me in China" after visiting the orphanage in Changsha, in Hunan province, where she spent her early months. In the book, she describes her trip, including her visit to the orph

Indiana schools and libraries have long sought ways to encourage children to read for pleasure. Every year since 1974, the Indiana Library Federation has sponsored the Young Hoosier Book Award program, which gives students in kindergarten through eighth grade an opportunity to vote for the books they like best. Each school year, the Young Hoosier Book Award Committee nominates 20 books in each of

Baby Author: Patricia MacLachlan. Publisher: Delacorte Press. Pages: 132. Price: $13.95. In Baby, author Patricia MacLachlan shows the real meaning of love in a family and how to express the loss of a loved one. She shows the reader what it is like to be 12, confused, and dealing with the emotions of pain and sorrow. She tells the story through 12- year-old Larkin, who doesn't understand the d

Those poor Baudelaire orphans never seem to get a break, and kids never seem to get enough of their awful adventures. In September, "The Grim Grotto" was released, finding the Baudelaires again in trouble, this time of a watery variety. As Lemony Snicket, aka Daniel Handler, wrote on Amazon.com, "Unless you are a slug, a sea anemone, or mildew, you probably prefer not to be damp. You might also pr

S ummer gives kids a chance to stay up late, play in the sun and catch up on their leisure reading -- or maybe not. A survey of Y-Press members found that some look at summer as a chance to read as much as they can, while others are just as happy not to crack a book at all. But for those who like to read, there are many worlds to explore, from the American South in the 1950s to the infinite univ

Dave's Way: A New Approach to Old-Fashioned Success Author: R. David Thomas. Pages: 256. Price: $19.95 (hardback); $4.99 (paperback). Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons. Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy's restaurants, made his first million by selling fried chicken _ Kentucky Fried Chicken, with a recipe developed by Colonel Sanders. In Dave's Way, Thomas shares the secrets of his success. You

Exciting and action packed, this historical novel makes you want to keep reading because you never know what will happen next. Two 13-year-olds wander around Brooklyn and Manhattan, spying, chasing and healing people.