Rhodes, Jewell Parker. NINTH WARD

Rhodes, Jewell Parker.  NINTH WARD
Boston : Little, Brown, 2010
IL 5-8, RL 3.7
ISBN 0316043079

Meet 12-year-old Lenesha.  She's living in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans with her grandmother.  Her mother died in childbirth so she has lived with Mama Ya-Ya all her life.  There isn't much money but there is a lot of love in their home.  The kids at school make fun of Lenesha because she supposedly has the "second sight".  But none of that will matter in the days to come.  At first the weather man talked about a hurricane out in the ocean.  As the days go by, the predictions get worse.  Finally, the Governor tells everyone in New Orleans to evacuate. But how do you do that when you are poor, have no car and no place to go? 



Podcast: https://spark.adobe.com/video/6HZm6kS3VHoVK

Poblocki, Dan. THE GATHERING

Poblocki, Dan. THE GATHERING
New York : Scholastic, 2015
IL 3-6, RL 5.8
ISBN 0545925509
If only there was just one day when Poppy could look in the mirror and not see the girl staring back.  The other kids think she's a bit crazy.  But she is stuck here all the same.  Until the letter arrives! A great-aunt she never knew existed writes and invites her to come live at Larkspur Academy. What she finds there will change everything.  The same day she arrives, more children show up.  Dylan and Dash who are TV stars, Marcus, a cellist, Azumi who is running away from the place her sister died.  As the kids settle in, strange things begin happening.  And the kids realize that they all have something in common in this scary book about haunted houses.

Podcast: https://spark.adobe.com/video/qmzZl57N42RH0