FINISHED:

Wiles, Deborah. (2007). The Aurora County all-stars. New York: Harcourt.

[Read it to see if I thought that it was one of the best books of last year. Um, I REALLY liked the messages and the focus on Walt Whitman's words and the statements about racism... and those pushed it over the edge for me. It all felt the tiniest bit underdeveloped - as if the book could've been a few dozen pages longer, beefing up some of the characters and their motivations - but I'd definitely recommend it.]


STARTED & FINISHED:

Venable, Alan. (2008). Take me with you when you go. San Francisco: One Monkey Books.

[A woman that I've met at the library knows the guy who wrote this and got him to send me a free copy. It's about two young siblings, a brother and sister, who are on a quest to find their parents. Told in a folktale style that made me HUNT for an author's note in the book - SURE that this must be an adaptation of an existing tale - this one REALLY surprised me. At first I wasn't sure that I could make it through it, but then I couldn't put it down. It all seems a bit random, but is really sweet and quite clever.]

STARTED:
Conford, Ellen. (1976). The Alfred G. Graebner Memorial High School Handbook of Rules and Regulations. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.

[Shelving at SFPL Main Children's Center, I see books come and go and this one has continually caught my eye. The title, the jacket, the summary on the jacket flap - just sounds pretty funny.]

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