Marshfield Dreams
by Ralph Fletcher
Holt, Henry Books for Young Readers
Imagine learning from a nosy classmate that your mother is having yet another baby. To Ralph’s classmates, news of one more Fletcher baby is just “scuttlebutt.” But for Ralph, the oldest of nine, being part of a large family means more kids to join in the fun—from making tripods in the woods and “snicking” up the rug, to raising chicks and even discovering a meteor (well, maybe). It doesn’t feel like there’s life beyond Marshfield, Massachusetts. Then one day Dad’s new job moves the family to Chicago, and there’s so much Ralph has to leave behind. In this humorous and captivating memoir, Ralph Fletcher traces the roots of his storytelling.
$7.99 Paperback
Spider Boy
by Ralph Fletcher
Houghton Mifflin Company
After moving to another state, seventh grader Bobby deals with the change by telling people at school made-up stories and then retreating into his world of pet spiders and books about spiders.
Humorous story about a boy’s adjustment to new surroundings and kids in a new school. Packed with fascinating facts about spiders, the story is told through journal entries and scenes of events. Contains a spider bibliography.
$6.99 Paperback
Fig Pudding
by Ralph Fletcher
Houghton Mifflin Company
Take it from Cliff, being the oldest of six kids is not easy under the best of circumstances. Who can be Mr. Reliable all the time? How do you deal with a brother who enjoys sitting under the kitchen table for punishment? Or explain to your sister that she can’t divorce herself from the family just because they eat meat? Or figure out what your baby brother wants for Christmas when he asks for a yidda yadda? Told in the first person, each lively, humorous episode from Cliff’s fifth-grade year focuses on one of the kids. Together they create a strong, satisfying story of a large, closely knit family.
$6.99 Paperback
Flying Solo
by Ralph Fletcher
Random House Children’s Books
Rachel, having chosen to be mute following the sudden death of a classmate, shares responsibility with the other sixth-graders who decide not to report that the substitute teacher failed to show up.
When the substitute for Mr. “Fab” Fabiano never shows up and his sixth-grade students are on their own, they set out to prove that they can run the class by themselves. With a little ingenuity and some careful planning, they might just succeed. But when a fight breaks out between Bastian Fauvell and Rachel White over a classmate, Tommy Feathers, who died six months earlier, everything begins to fall apart.
$6.99 Paperback