FINISHED:

Stewart, Trenton Lee. (2008). The mysterious Benedict Society and the perilous journey. New York: Megan Tingley/Little, Brown and Company.

[Someone told me that this one wasn't as good as the first, and it didn't make it onto the ACL Distinguished list for 2008, but, for the most part, I quite enjoyed it. Sure, it was light on character development, but that's because that was done in the first and now we can just focus on their adventures. This one takes the "clue leading to another clue leading to another clue" route, taking the kids over to Europe to rescue Mr. Benedict who has gone missing. Toward the end, on the island, things got a bit slow, but it was still great to read another story about Kate, Reynie, Sticky and Constance - a group of young, genius misfits, each with their own area of expertise, getting to know and love each other, while also forming their own family. Are we to assume that Constance is discovering her powers as a mind reader? I look forward to the next adventure.]


STARTED & FINISHED:

Barrows, Annie. (2008). Ivy + Bean take care of the babysitter. San Francisco: Chronicle.

[A fun, quick little read. This time Bean is stuck at home with her older sister who is taking on the role of babysitter for the first time. While she'd MUCH rather be outside with the other kids in the neighborhood playing VOLCANO!, Ivy comes over and the two decide to explore the attic/crawl space in Bean's home. These are some funny misadventures that will surely charm.]

STARTED:
Martin, A.M., and Godwin, L. (2008). The runaway dolls. New York: Hyperion.

[So, I've been REALLY wanting to read the first two books in this series but... I don't know... not that I'm sexist or anything, because it's not a secret that I am QUITE comfortable with my feminine side and tend to enjoy a number of "girly" things... I guess that I just thought it might cause me grief to be seen reading them. Well, when I saw that the person (a GUY, no less!) who was supposed to review this for ACL couldn't, I ran up and said, "I'll do it!"]

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