Your PJ Our Way Books for December

Check out the four great reads PJ Our Way is offering for selection this month. Follow a kid's athletic misadventures in a funny and fast-paced graphic novel, find out what happens when a city boy fulfills his dream of moving to the country, read about a neighborhood's ups and downs from the perspective of an oak tree, or join a girl's journey through her family history. Whether you're looking for humor, realism, history, or the wisdom of an arboreal narrator, be sure to choose your book by the 10th!

Chunky
by Yehudi Mercado

Ages 9+

208 pages

This is a fictionalized graphic memoir about Yehudi Mercado's experience as a Jewish Mexican boy growing up in Texas in the 1980s. He's fat and funny, but his super-athletic father wants him to be an athlete. We see Hudi try multiple sports without much luck, before finally turning to football, where his size is an advantage. However, Hudi is clearly giving up a part of himself - his humor and kindness - when he follows the coach's instructions to intentionally injure players on the other team. Ultimately, Hudi finds his way back to his true self and his true passion, the stage. Adding humor and pathos is Chunky, Hudi's imaginary friend and mascot. Both text and art are amusing in this fast-paced story featuring a very relatable protagonist.

Duck Dreams: City Boy to Country Boy
by Elizabeth Segel

Ages: 9+

158 pages

11-year-old Simon Hirsh wants to be a farmer more than anything, but his parents and uncles aren't supportive. They live in a tenement in Boston, and Jews are supposed to be businessmen, not farmers. But after Simon's younger brother Benny is almost injured by a carthorse on a busy street, their parents make the difficult decision to move away from their extended family in the city. Not long after they get to the country, Simon and Benny convince their parents to let them buy several hens - they plan to sell the eggs with the ultimate goal of buying a dairy cow. Simon faces a variety of challenges along the way, including a cheating chicken dealer, some serious duck drama, and a difficult new friendship with a young Irish boy from a poor family too proud to accept the help they need. But when Simon's Aunt Rifka is finally able to make the trip over from the old country, it seems like he might be able to achieve his dream of becoming a farmer after all.

Wishtree
by Katherine Applegate

Ages: 9+

148 pages

When gentle Samar moves into the neighborhood, she befriends the tenants of Red, a northern red oak tree: an opossum family, a skunk family, and Red's best friend, a crow named Bongo. But when someone carves a mean word on Red's trunk, everything changes. Narrated by Red, otherwise known as Wishtree, this beautiful story of dreamers, friendship, and nature will charm readers young and old.

Searching for Lottie
by Susan Ross

Ages: 10+

170 pages

When seventh grader Charlie is assigned a family research project at school, she becomes fascinated by the story of her namesake, Charlotte (Lottie), the mysterious child prodigy violinist who disappeared from Hungary during the Holocaust. Charlie is an aspiring violinist too, and she's inspired and more than a little intimidated by Lottie's musical success. Highlighting a lovely generation-to-generation connection, Charlie reaches out to her beloved Nana Rose to learn more about her long-lost older sister. This sweet and poignant book offers a soft, age-appropriate look into pre-war life in Vienna and the personal family tragedies of the Holocaust through the eyes of a modern young teen. It is based on the true story of the author's family.

Note: Quantities of each title are limited! If you see another book offered for selection this month, head over to Story Central to check it out.