The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier (Booktalk)

The Night Gardener is a monster you need to be aware of. As far as I know, he lives in only one location: near an old mansion in England that has a huge, dark, mysterious tree. This tree grows dangerously close to the house. A frightened family lives in the house, and they have two young Irish servants, children who left Ireland because of a huge famine.

These Irish children - Molly and Kip - went from one horrifying situation (famine) to another one (the night gardener and the spooky house). In fact, the night gardener WATCHES you when you sleep at night. The night gardener works only at night. He waters his tree with what looks like silvery water. He and the tree have some eerie connection: and the tree has a secret hole in a locked room which can give you what your heart most desires.

But I can't tell you what price you'll pay if you get it.

The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier. 350 p. Amulet Books, 2014. Booktalk to grades 5-9. Great read aloud.

Book talk: Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

Hold up your right hand. [Wait for kids to do this.]

As a 14-year-old silversmith apprentice, this hand is your most important tool. Yes, you'll be working with other tools, but your hand needs to be strong, flexible, and capable of delicate, little movements, like carving or engraving. You live in Boston around the time of the Revolutionary War, and your hand   insures your job, your right to live under your master's roof, and your future. That hand is your whole life.

Put your hand down. I have some bad news. You spilled burning hot silver on your hand - it wasn't your fault, but it is your problem. Your hand doesn't work right anymore, and you can't be a silversmith in this town with one working hand.

Parents? I forgot to mention. You don't have any. You're an orphan, and now you've got nowhere to go…

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes. Winner: Newbery Award, 1944. Published 1943. 320 pages. Booktalk to upper elementary, middle school.

Johnny Tremain

Booktalk: The Magician's Elephant [Kate DiCamillo; 2]

[Show cover]. The magician messed up. I mean, this magician really, really blew it. You know how magicians can make a bouquet of flowers appear out of nowhere? Well, this magician intended to produce a bouquet of lilies, but instead he inadvertently conjured up an elephant who fell from the sky, landed on a lady in the audience, and broke both her legs, crippling her. Huge, huge mistake! The magician ended up in jail. But the elephant didn't disappear on anything. The elephant is real, and he meets with a sad fate: he ends up chained up in a room in a rich lady's house, all alone. There's a young boy, Peter, who is all alone, too, in this story. Peter is not literally chained up, but he's chained up in other ways. An old soldier, who is not Peter's father, owns Peter. Peter is sort of a lonely young servant. And one day he disobeys his master and goes to a fortuneteller. The fortuneteller tells Peter something which could change his whole life --- and, not to give anything away --- could change the life of this poor, lonely elephant. Can a huge mistake result in something wonderful? The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo.

The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo. 201 p. Candlewick, 2009. Booktalk to intermediate grades [3rd-5th] and to middle school.