FINISHED:

Hale, Shannon. (2005). Princess academy. New York: Bloomsbury.

[All of the younger teenage girls in Miri's mountain village are forced to attend a "princess academy" as it has been told that the prince must marry a girl from Mount Eskel. There, Miri learns the value of friendship and family, how to read, the true value of the linder rocks that her people have been quarrying for years, and to be happy with what she has and where she is. There's some weird, somewhat underdeveloped stuff about "quarry speech" - or, how Miri's people can communicate with each other wordlessly - and I wish that a lot of the stuff that got packed into the ending - stuff about how important it is to be literate, and how Miri intends to start a school in her village - would've been explored more. I never really found myself WANTING to pick it up and find out what happened next, which is never a good sign. BUT, all that being said, it was enjoyable and I could see recommending it to just the right kid.]

STARTED:
Myers, Walter Dean. (2007). What they found: Love on 145th Street . New York: Wendy Lamb/Random House.

[Reading for ACL to see if I think that it should be deemed "outstanding" and "distinguished".]

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