Soaring High: A Julie Classic Volume 2

American Girl: Julie #4-6

by Megan McDonald, Juliana Kolesova (Illustrator), Michael Dworkin (Illustrator)

First Julie is inspired to raise money so that two bald eagles can fly free. But will she be able to raise enough money to build a tower for their flight? Then, on a journey to commemorate the birth of a nation, Julie finds a way to include a very significant signature on the rededication scroll. And when Julie realizes she can make a positive change in punishments at school, she runs for student body president. Will Julie get the votes she needs?

Genres: Middle Grade, Historical Fiction, Childrens, Juvenile

216 pages, Paperback

First published August 28, 2014

About the author

"Sometimes I think I am Judy Moody," says Megan McDonald, author of the Judy Moody series, the Stink series, and THE SISTERS CLUB. "I'm certainly moody, like she is. Judy has a strong voice and always speaks up for herself. I like that."

For Megan McDonald, being able to speak up for herself wasn't always easy. She grew up as the youngest of five sisters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her father, an ironworker, was known to his coworkers as "Little Johnny the Storyteller." Every evening at dinner the McDonalds would gather to talk and tell stories, but Megan McDonald was barely able to get a word in edgewise. "I'm told I began to stutter," she says, leading her mother to give her a notebook so she could start "writing things down."


Critically acclaimed, the Judy Moody books have won numerous awards, ranging from a PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Best Book of the Year to an International Reading Association Children's Choice. "Judy has taken on a life of her own," the author notes, with nearly 3 million Judy Moody books in print. Interestingly, the feisty third-grader is highly popular with boys and girls, making for a strong base of fans who are among Megan McDonald's strongest incentives to keep writing, along with "too many ideas and a little chocolate." And now -- by popular demand -- Judy Moody's little brother, Stink, gets his chance to star in his own adventures! Beginning with STINK: THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING KID, three more stories, and his own encyclopedia, STINK-O-PEDIA, Stink's special style comes through loud and strong -- enhanced by a series of comic strips, drawn by Stink himself, which are sprinkled throughout the first book. About the need for a book all about Stink, Megan McDonald says, "Once, while I was visiting a class full of Judy Moody readers, the kids, many with spiked hair à la Judy's little brother, chanted, 'Stink! Stink! Stink! Stink! Stink!' as I entered the room. In that moment, I knew that Stink had to have a book all his own."


More recently, Megan McDonald has recalled some of her own childhood with the warmth, humor -- and squabbles -- of three spunky sisters in THE SISTERS CLUB.


Megan McDonald and her husband live in Sebastopol, California, with two dogs, two adopted horses, and fifteen wild turkeys that like to hang out on their back porch.

Reviews

[Coleccionista de finales tristes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mucho mejor que el anterior . Lo mejor de estos libros es el contexto histórico. Lamentablemente son pocas las páginas que dedican al tema. Ojalá volviesen a editar los libro completos , 6 libros en lugar de 2

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy Julie so much! Shes such a great "girls can do anything character". In the first book she took on the boys basketball team and forced them to let her play. This time around shes saving Bald Eagles and running for School President! She also befriends a girl that is deaf when many of her classmates are making fun of her. Thats a big theme in all the AG books, being friends with others that are different from you, be it race, socioeconomic, or in this case having a disability. I'm excited to see how the girls discuss this book.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Julie is my favourite American Girl character so I was very excited to get my hands on this book (and she still reminds me of myself haha). I didn't enjoy the first story mainly because it's a historic event I'm not interested in but I loved the second story! I wasn't sure about the portrayal of Joy's deafness at first but later began to love it! American Girl did a good job and I was delighted to see they even featured Judy Heumann in the historical context section. One thing I didn't love was how little my girl Ivy was mentioned in the book!!!!

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read with my 7yr old. Julie is always a good example of a leader and doing what is right, while also showing the internal struggle of doing what is easy over what is right. This felt a little like two books in one and the connection from the first part to the second was a little weak IMO, but we especially loved the second part and even got teary at times with Joy’s storyline. Overall a great read and can prompt some meaningful conversations when read together.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

So I have never read any of Julie's core series except for Meet Julie. This book is the second in the abridged series. You can tell there's two main stories: Julie in the Bicentennial trail and Julie runs for class president. Neither is very good. Together they are disjointed and the book seems... off? It's just not on the level of other AG books.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Man, I really don't think I like Julie's core series. This, comprising of the latter three books of her 6-book series, seems so disjointed, even for originally separate books. It's like they pulled three random 70's topics out of a hat. And they aren't even that good. The stories seem to be too happily resolved and too quickly at that. Like conflict literally resolved over two pages.

[Rebecca]

It's definitely better to think of this as a three story bundle. The stories featured have very little overlap. Still enjoyable to read. Julie is a great addition to the AG books.

[Emma Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I liked this book just as much, if not a little more than, the first. In typical Julie fashion, it shows her standing up for what she believes in, and growing as she faces new challenges.

[Sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a great book, I would read it again. 5 stars.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0

[Avery Denault · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like how she was very kind and helped a lot of people. she is very kind.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Julie Takes a Stand is the second book about Julie, the American Girl from 1974. Julie participates in the wagon train east to commemorate the bicentennial and then runs for study body president for her elementary school. My sons, especially my 11-year-old, loved the book. American Girl really is historical fiction done right. It tells the story on a kid’s level, but still is as accurate as possible. The last few pages are historical background showing where they got the ideas for what happens to Julie in the book. Julie Takes a Stand makes an excellent family read-aloud!

[Erin Dunlevy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Awesome

I liked it because it has many problems with a great solution for it. It's about Julie she saves a bald eagle, shakes the president's hand, AND runs for school president with a girl named joy who's deaf