Book excerpt: Encourage elementary and middle school readers to read quality titles pertaining to subjects from across the curriculum. This guide features recently published (1998-2001) fiction and nonfiction titles that are either award winners, written by award-winning authors, positively reviewed in national reading advocacy journals, or representative of an emerging trend in children's literature. Each booktalk entry consists of bibliographic data, a plot summary, a short booktalk, curriculum connections, and identification of related books. TOPICS INSIDE: Relationships, coming of age, sports, art, music, dance, holidays, adventure, science, math, social studies, and others.