"Big Z, Cammi, and Me"
This is a short story about Josh, a sixth-grader and avid baseball fan. Josh enjoys teaching tricks to his cat, Big Z, who is named after Josh's favorite Chicago Cubs pitcher. When Josh's Official Chicago Cubs alarm clock starts going off at odd times, he thinks his younger sister Cammi is playing a few tricks of her own. But before Josh can accomplish his revenge, he is hit with a big surprise.
In
I Fooled You: Ten Stories of Tricks, Jokes, and Swicheroos, a middle-grade anthology edited by Johanna Hurwitz. Candlewick Press, 2010.
To read more about this story and the anthology as a whole, click here.
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Rosa, Sola
Candlewick Press, September 2005. ISBN 0763623954.
Rosa Bernardi, an only child living with her Italian immigrant parents in 1960s Chicago, often feels different and alone, or
sola, as her parents would say. But after she holds her best friend AnnaMaria’s baby brother for the first time, Rosa is sure that if she prays hard enough, God will send her a brother of her own.
When Ma does get pregnant, Rosa is overjoyed—until the horrible day when she comes home from school to find Aunt Ida, her bossy godmother, waiting with bad news. Rosa is devastated, and Aunt Ida is no comfort. With Ma in the hospital and Papa spending most of his time there too, Rosa feels lonelier than ever. She begins to wonder, will her broken family ever be whole again? Or will she be left truly
sola?
To read reviews of the novel, click here.
To read an excerpt, click here.
For a list of discussion questions, click here.
Click on the Italian flag for links to information about Italian-American culture.
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"Questions: A Poem in Two Voices"
Carmela's first published work was a poem which came out when she was in high school. Appropriately, her most recently published poem is also for teens and can be found in
Chicken Soup for the Soup: Teens Talk High School, 101 Stories of Life, Love, and Learning for Older Teens edited by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Amy Newmark, & Madeline Clapps.
Children's Reading Lists
For lists of recommended reading for children and teens, including books and websites dealing specifically with grief and loss,
click here.
All content copyrighted by Carmela A. Martino, unless otherwise noted. Please do not copy without permission.
