FINISHED:

Albert, Melissa. (2018). The Hazel Wood. New York: Flatiron/Macmillan.

[.]

STARTED:
Adeyemi, Tomi. (2018). Children of Blood and Bone. New York: Henry Holt & Co./Macmillan.

[Another title (like the one above...) that we're reading for our SFPL Mock Printz next month.]

*

FINISHED:
Bertman, Jennifer Chambliss. (2017). The Unbreakable Code [Book Scavenger #2]. New York: Henry Holt/Macmillan.

[Thoroughly enjoyed the first book in this series, and the author, who is also thoroughly enjoyable, came to my library for a reading/signing after Book Scavenger came out.  She emailed me a few months ago to let me know that the sequel was coming, and asked if I'd like an advanced copy.  Well, of course!  It finally came the other day, along with a lovely note from Ms. Bertman saying that I should look on page 349.  She name-checked me in the Acknowledgments!  And, I'm proud to have been called out on this one because it's REALLY FUN.  I'm going to say that it actually improves upon the original in that it is much more streamlined and singularly focused.  Kids all across the world will enjoy it, but living here in San Francisco and getting to read about kids traveling all over this city is amazing.  Jennifer, FANTASTIC job!]

STARTED:
Madonna, Paul. (2017). On to the Next Dream. San Francisco: City Lights.

[My husband said that I had to read this one.  I guess that it mirrors our situation, though, hopefully not too much because it seems to deal with his being evicted from his San Francisco apartment...]

*

FINISHED: 
Sweet, Melissa. (2016). Some Writer!:  the Story of E.B. White. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

[.]

STARTED:
Medina, Juana. (2016). Juana & Lucas. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

[.]

*

FINISHED: 
Gidwitz, Adam. (2016). The Inquisitor's Tale. New York: Dutton/Penguin/Random House.

[.]

STARTED:  
Phelan, Matt. (2016).  Snow White.  Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

[.]

*

FINISHED: 
DiCamillo, Kate. (2016).  Raymie Nightingale.  Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

[Raymie is determined to learn to twirl a baton - she NEEDS to so that she can win the Little Miss Central Florida Tire competition.  If she does then she is certain that her father will see her picture in the paper and come home (he ran off with a dental hygienist...).  Nothing goes as planned, however, as the baton classes don't happen, her reading aloud to the elderly creeps her out (plus, she loses the book under one of their beds), and she becomes friends with cynical Beverly and Louisiana, who's determined to get back the cat she had to give away (though he was almost certainly put down...) because she couldn't afford to keep him anymore. 

REALLY liked this one.  Kind of quiet and mindful, spare and lovely.  Louisiana was a FANTASTIC character - her unbending enthusiasm and perseverance were hilarious and moving.  SURELY this year's Newbery Award committee will be looking at this one very closely.]

STARTED:
de la Peña, Matt. (2008). Mexican Whiteboy. New York: Delacorte.

[Realized that aside from his other picture book (other than LAST STOP ON MARKET STREET, natch), I haven't read anything else by him...]

*

FINISHED:
Nix, Garth, and Sean Williams. (2013). The mystery (Troubletwisters #3). New York: Scholastic.


[After an old town recluse dies in the castle near their grandmother’s house, Jaide and Jack help a local bookseller with cataloguing an extensive book collection there, and the twins discover that the castle may be the location of the “Card of Translocation”, whose purpose is unknown but which their father has instructed them to find.  In addition, the two are led to believe that their father, who’s supposed to stay away from them so that he doesn’t drive their “Gifts” wild, may be involved in the death of the recluse, and their grandmother, a Warden of Portland who is responsible for protecting the world from “The Evil”, ends up in the hospital after being mysteriously driven off the road.   The proceedings are swiftly set into motion in this third installment of the series, and readers who may not have read (or remember) the first two books are brought up to date with some early interspersed catch-ups.  Though most of the action is saved until the last few chapters, fans of the previous installments will find plenty to enjoy along the way, with the cast of characters widening, and the history of the Wardens and Troubletwisters being explored and revealed in more depth, with the twins coming to learn more about their “Gifts” and what connects them to all of the other Troubletwisters that have come before them.]


STARTED:
Larsen, Reif. (2009). The selected works of T.S. Spivet. New York: Penguin.


[Jeunet movie coming soon!!]


*

FINISHED:
Green, John. (2012). The fault in our stars. New York: Dutton/Penguin.


[This one had received SO MUCH hype that by the time I got around to reading it, maybe my perception was skewed.  That said, it still just didn't resonate with me as much as I expected it to.  Hazel and Augustus meet at a cancer support group meeting for teens, hit it off immediately, and embark on a relationship knowing full well that their time together will be limited.  While I thought some of the language was wonderful, many things that the kids say just didn't seem like they'd come from a teenagers mouth... even one who's staring death in the face.  The character of the author of Hazel's favorite book seemed like a gross caricature, and Hazel and Augustus's SUDDEN trip to Amsterdam (Augustus uses his "wish" from the Make a Wish Foundation...) didn't seem plausible.  This isn't to say that I didn't enjoy the book at all, I suppose it was all of the praise that set it up for me as too good to be true.  NOTE: At one point toward the end, Hazel's mom says that she's been taking online college courses and, if all goes well, will go UP to the Bloomington campus in the summer.  Well, the characters live in Indianapolis... so... if they were to go to IU Bloomington from there, they'd be driving SOUTH (i.e. DOWN).  The author lives in Indy, so I don't know why he wouldn't know this... unless he's refering to one of IU's satellite campuses in Northern Indiana...]

STARTED & FINISHED:

deBonneval, Gwen. (2013). William and the lost spirit. Minneapolis, MN: Graphic Universe/Lerner.

[.]

STARTED:

Lerangis, Peter. (2013). The colossus rises. New York: HarperCollins.

[Reviewing for ACL...]

*

FINISHED:
Balliett, Blue. (2013). Hold fast. New York: Scholastic.


[.]


STARTED:
Federle, Tim. (2013). Better Nate than ever. New York: Simon & Schuster.


[.]

*

FINISHED:
Fasick, Adele M. (2011). From boardbook to Facebook. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.


[.]

STARTED:
Spratt, R.A. (2012). Nanny Piggins and the Wicked Plan. New York: Little, Brown.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Beil, Michael D. (2012). Summer at Forsaken Lake. New York: Knopf.

Twelve-year old Nicholas, and his younger twin sisters, travel from New York City to spend the summer on a lake in rural Ohio with their Uncle Nick.  Thus begins a summer of discovery and growth for Nicholas including learning to sail, restoring an old boat, discovering the joys of reading (and classic titles, to boot!), and a mystery involving an accident that occurred while Nicholas’s father was trying to make a short film (“The Seaweed Strangler”) when he was Nicholas’s age.  Nicholas makes a friend (and more?) in Charlie, a strong girl who can strikeout any boy with her amazing pitching arm, and his uncle teaches him to ride a bike by having him ride alongside a barn with one hand brushing against the side for stability.  This, and letting Nicholas take a boat out on the lake alone, go miles in building Nicholas’s confidence and teaching him to be an independent adult – especially since Nicholas rarely sees his father, as his dad travels around the world with “Doctors Without Borders”.  Michael D. Beil, author of the Red Blazer Girls series (Knopf/Random House, 2009) (LOVE them!) has written one of those “summer coming-of-age” stories with vivid characters and setting that should appeal to BOTH boys and girls.]

STARTED:
Gantos, Jack. (2011). Dead end in Norvelt. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

[ALA is coming up and I'm going to the Newbery/Caldecott banquet so I thought I ought to read last year's winner...]

*

FINISHED:
Steward, Trenton Lee. (2012). The extraordinary education of Nicholas Benedict. New York: Little Brown.


[.]

STARTED:
Losure, Mary. (2012). The Fairy Ring: Or Elsie and Frances Fool the World. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Van Allsburg, Chris. (2011). The chronicles of Harris Burdick. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

[One of my FAVORITE children's picture books (for older readers...) is back! My thoughts on it are two-fold: one, I'm horrified by the idea that the very nature of the book - that each illustration only has a cryptic caption, thus hoping the reader will fill in the story - is being compromised; and, two, I'm thrilled that some of the biggest names in young adult/children's lit have put their stamps on this fascinating book. Even after reading it, I'm still at odds...]

STARTED:
Selznick, Brian. (2011). Wonderstruck. New York: Scholastic.

[SO DARNED EXCITED!]

*

FINISHED:
Sherry, Maureen. (2010). Walls within walls. New York: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins.

[.]

STARTED:
Spratt, R.A. (2010). The adventures of Nanny Piggins. New York: Little, Brown & Co.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Martel, Yann. (2010). Beatrice and Virgil: A novel. New York: Spiegel & Grau.

[.]

STARTED:
Avi. (2010). Crispin: The end of time. New York: Balzer & Bray.

[.]

*

FINISHED:

Beil, Michael D. (2009). The red blazer girls. New York: HarperCollins

[.]

STARTED:
Crutcher, Chris. (2009). Angry management: Three novellas. New York: Greenwillow/HarperCollins.

[Reading to review for ACL.]

*

FINISHED:

Troup, Gary. (2006). Bad twin. New York: Hyperion.

[.]

STARTED:
Hunter, Erin. (2009). Seekers #3: Smoke Mountain. New York: HarperCollins.

[Number 3 - must read right away... she's got me hooked.]

*

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...]

*

FINISHED:

Bode, N.E. (2004). The anybodies. New York: HarperCollins.

[.]

STARTED:
Feldman, Jody. (2008). The Gollywhopper games. New York: Greenwillow/HarperCollins.

[Stumbled across a review of this one that made it sound intriguing. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was name-checked... what more does one need?]

*

FINISHED:

Orwell, George. (1949). Nineteen eighty-four. New York: Plume/Penguin.

[.]

STARTED:
Clements, Andrew. (2000). The janitor's boy. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks/Simon & Schuster.

[After Nineteen Eighty-four I needed something quick and breezy...]

*

STARTED & FINISHED:

Cleary, Beverly. (1983). Dear Mr. Henshaw. New York: HarperTrophy/HarperCollins.

[Newbery Medal winner which I read over the last two nights in bed.]

*