middle grade Archives - Page 295 of 363

Strongheart: Wonder Dog of the Silver Screen
by Candace Fleming (Author) and Eric Rohmann (Illustrator)

Booktalk: When movie director Larry Trimble travels to Berlin searching for his next big star–a dog!–he finds Etzel, a fierce, highly trained three-year-old German shepherd police dog. Larry sees past the snarls and growls and brings Etzel back to Hollywood, where he is renamed Strongheart. Along with screenwriter Jane Murfin, Larry grooms his protégé to be a star of the silver screen–and he succeeds, starting with Strongheart’s first film, The Love Master, which is released in 1921. Strongheart is soon joined by a leading lady, a German shepherd named Lady Julie, and becomes a sensation.

Snippet: Jane came around from behind her desk. She lowered herself to look the dog in the eye. “Do you think we made a mistake? Do you think he’s the wrong dog?”

“He’s the right dog,” said Larry. “He has so much love and loyalty to give. I know it. I just haven’t figured out how to reach him yet.”

He rubbed behind the dog’s ears.

Strongheart tolerated it.

“Poor pooch,” said Jane. “He’s so serious. Do you think he’s ever played, even as a puppy?”

“Play?” Larry repeated. He snapped his fingers. “That’s it! Jane, you’re a genius.”

Great Escapes: Real Tales of Harrowing Getaways
by Judy Dodge Cummings (Author)

Booktalk: Sometimes, an intolerable situation calls for a drastic measure–fleeing for freedom. Whether you’re a slave seeking freedom in the North or a convict swimming for your life in a shark-infested canal, the urge to be free drives your every move. The five ingenious fugitives and freedom seekers in this narrative nonfiction collection all shared one common goal: escape.

Snippet: Ellen’s mother was a biracial housemaid. Ellen’s father was her mother’s owner, a wealthy man named James Smith, who had a plantation in Clinton, Georgia. This made Ellen three-quarters white. She was so light-skinned that visitors to the estate often mistook her for a family member.

Mrs. Smith hated Ellen because the girl reminded her of her husband’s unfaithfulness. Every day, Ellen become the target of the woman’s rage.

Eventually, Mrs. Smith fund a way to get rid of Ellen permanently. In 1837, the Smith’s daughter, Eliza, married Robert Collins. As a wedding present, Mrs. Smith gave Ellen to Eliza. Although she was only eleven years old, Ellen was taken from her mother and sent to live with Robert Collins and his new wife in Macon, Georgia.

It’s Nonfiction Monday!