FINISHED:

Buzbee, Lewis. (2008). Steinbeck's ghost. New York: Feiwel and Friends/MacMillan.

[Travis moves to a new subdivision outside Salinas, California, where Steinbeck lived and wrote some of his early works. He finds out that the local library, named after Steinbeck, is going to be shut down due to budgetary issues, so he and a friendly librarian form a group to try to raise money get the word out about the closing. Along the way, Travis, an AVID Steinbeck reader, begins to see characters from Steinbeck's books in real life around town, as well as young Steinbeck himself writing in the upstairs window of his childhood home. Throw in an old author with a link to Steinbeck, a hilarious best friend, and parents who were cool to hang out with until they both went back to school and now have high-power jobs, and you've got a well-rounded story with wide appeal. I really enjoyed this one - it kept me interested throughout and I found myself WANTING to pick it up and read it. Certainly, it's a LIBRARIAN'S DREAM book - what with Travis rallying to keep the town library open, and professing his love for books - especially their ability to transform the reader and bring them into a shared experience with everyone else who has read the book and will ever read it. Here's a great quote - words that, as a Children's librarian, I would love to get across to all young people:

"When you read, the world really did change. He understood this now. You saw parts of the world you never knew existed. Books were in the world; the world was in books." (p. 89).

Brilliant.]

STARTED:
Jacques, Brian. (2003). Loamhedge. New York: Firebird/Penguin.

[I'm WAY overdue for another Redwall tale. This is #16 - whew! It's an amazing testament to Jacques, however, that I NEVER TIRE OF THESE THINGS...]

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