The Plot In Five Sentences Or Less:  A black thoroughbred is born on a farm and lives his first days in favorable conditions.  As he grows and is given the name Black Beauty, his circumstances change, gradually becoming more grim.  Black Beauty finds himself sold from master to master and is ill treated in some…

The Plot In Five Sentences:  Henry is spending the summer with his Aunt Dotty, Uncle Frank and their 3 daughters on their farm in Kansas.  His stay takes a strange turn when he notices plaster peeling off the walls of his attic bedroom one night.  Strange knobs and doors begin to appear and Henry eventually…

The Plot In Five Sentences Or Less: When the great paper magnate Samuel G. Westing dies under suspicious circumstances, 16 people are summoned to his mansion to hear his will read aloud.  In fact, they are all drawn into a game where they must pair up with another heir and decipher clues that are handed…

The Plot In Five Sentences Or Less:  Eleven year old Ellie’s life and that of her mother is turned upside down when an eccentric 13 year old boy wanders into their home one evening.  He wears tweed jackets and polyester pants, grouses about the depreciation of their home, and has a keen interest in science.…

The Plot In Five Sentences Or Less:  Ted’s mind works a bit different than most people’s in that he’s great with numbers and facts, but not so adept at reading emotions.  When his cousin Salim comes to visit for a day, Ted and his sister Kat decide to take him on the London Eye, a…

  The Plot In Five Sentences Or Less:  Salva is a boy who  growning up in the south Sudan village of Loun-Ariik in 1980’s.  While attending school one day, his peaceful life is shattered by the tribal conflict tearing apart Sudan.  Fleeing his village as it is attacked, Salva joins a group of refugees heading…

The Plot In Five Sentences Or Less:  Maggie is a magpie born on a ranch in southwestern Montana.  Unsatisfied with her narrow life, she takes up with a pack of wolves who have recently been reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park.  Led by the alpha named Blue Boy, Maggie and the wolves struggle to survive and…

The Plot In Five Sentences Or Less: A poem describes the different insects and animals that may, or may not, visit flowers for pollinating.  Interspersed between the verses are facts about the flowers and insects. My Take:  The strength of Flowers Are Calling lies in its alternation between verse and nonfiction.  Each of these elements is…