Recensori in anteprimaAvi

Newbery Medalist Avi brings us mud-caked, tent-filled San Francisco in 1848 with a willful heroine who goes on an unintended — and perilous — adventure to save her brother. Victoria Blaisdell longs for independence and adventure, and she yearns to accompany her father as he sails west in search of real gold! But it is 1848, and Tory isn’t even allowed to go to school, much less travel all the way from Rhode Island to California. Determined to take control of her own destiny, Tory stows away on the ship. Though San Francisco is frenzied and full of wild and dangerous men, Tory finds freedom and friendship there. Until one day, when Father is in the gold fields, her younger brother, Jacob, is kidnapped. And so Tory is spurred on a treacherous search for him in Rotten Row, a part of San Francisco Bay crowded with hundreds of abandoned ships. Beloved storyteller Avi is at the top of his form as he ushers us back to an extraordinary time of hope and risk, brought to life by a heroine readers will cheer for. Spot-on details and high suspense make this a vivid, absorbing historical adventure.

A brilliantly visualized drama of energy that is sure to engage even the most reluctant readers. What do a meter maid, a candy maker, a seeing-eye dog, the Statue of Liberty, the New York subway system, and the ceiling of Grand Central Station have in common? Featured billing in this amazing and amusing modern-day myth.

Renowned, award-winning author Avi pens a stark, unflinching tale of ordinary boys living in wartime as tensions — and desperations — mount among them. Twelve-year-old Patryk knows little of the world beyond his tiny Polish village; the Russians have occupied the land for as long as anyone can remember, but otherwise life is unremarkable. Patryk and his friends entertain themselves by coming up with dares — some more harmful than others — until the Germans drop a bomb on the schoolhouse and the Great War comes crashing in. As control of the village falls from one nation to another, Jurek, the ringleader of these friends, devises the best dare yet: whichever boy steals the finest military button will be king. But as sneaking buttons from uniforms hanging to dry progresses to looting the bodies of dead soldiers — and as Jurek's obsession with being king escalates — Patryk begins to wonder whether their "button war" is still just a game. When devastation reaches their doorstep, the lines between the button war and the real war blur, especially for the increasingly callous Jurek. Master of historical fiction Avi delivers a fierce account of the boys of one war-torn village who are determined to prove themselves with a simple dare that spins disastrously out of control.

Recommended for ages 9 to 12. From Newbery Medlaist Avi comes the thrilling and suspenseful story of an ordinary family who falls under suspicion during the 1950s Red scare. The Collison's are an ordinary family, and Pete's a normal kid... until the FBI show up at his door and accuse him and his family of being Communists. Set in 1951, during the Red Scare - when the cold war was really beginning to solidify - this suspenseful, middle grade novel explores the impact of the War on an average American family. As Pete digs into his family history, using the sleuthing skills he's learned from Sam Spade and radio dramas, his world is rocked. Is his dad really a Communist, and his grandfather too? And what does that make Pete? Is that why his friends won't talk to him anymore?

a graveyard meeting is John's first link to the evil that lived in the past.

From Publishers Weekly - Ed discovers that his best friend Saltz is nursing a secret love for Anabell Stackpoole and gets the rest of the other eighth graders to rewrite and produce their version of Romeo and Juliet. They wangle the leading roles for Saltz and Stackpoole, and let romance run its course. Avi's heart is in the right place; he devotes an entire book to the well-intentioned efforts of a group of good friends to bring a boy and girl together, but fans of his historical fiction may find this a light repast. The story strains credibility, but no matter; Avi proves that stories don't have to be believable to be fun. A Richard Jackson Book. Ages 11-13.