Book Displays o' the Week

Kids finally took a couple of pirate books! But we're so wiped out of spy books now, I decided to refresh both junior high fiction book displays. (Besides, instead of "Spies v. Pirates," I had "Pies v. Spy Rats" in my head all week!)

Books to Make You Cry / Books to Make You Laugh

General as it is, this display was hard to choose books for! What makes you cry or laugh is sooo subjective, right? I especially had trouble with the sad books. It takes a lot for me to cry at a book—basically, a beloved pet or main character must die. Other readers aren't so callous.

(I promised Brenda Ferber I'd include Julia's Kitchen in this display, because she's always having girls tell her it made them cry! But when I went to the shelf, guess what? It was already checked out!)

Kids at War / Kids on the Homefront

This display was more straightforward, though I immediately hit on this problem: what about books taking place on foreign soil, when the main character is a native of that place? They're on the homefront, but that's where the war is. What a fortunate existence we Americans lead, in that so very seldom is the warzone and the homefront one and the same.