FINISHED:
Tagame, Gengoroh. (2018). My Brother's Husband: Volume 2. New York: Pantheon/Penguin Random House.

[.]

STARTED:
Medina, Meg. (2018). Merci Suárez Changes Gears. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

[2019 Newbery Award Winner!]

*

FINISHED:
Springstubb, Tricia. (2015). Moonpenny Island. New York: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins.

[LOVE LOVE LOVE IT.]

STARTED:
Tyler, Anne. (2018). Clock Dance. New York: Knopf/Penguin Random House.

[NEW ANNE TYLER! NEW ANNE TYLER!!]

*

FINISHED: 
Springstubb, Tricia. (2018). Cody and the Heart of a Champion. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

[.]














STARTED & FINISHED:
Avi. (2018). The Button War. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

[.]











STARTED & FINISHED:
Sell, Chad. (2018). The Cardboard Kingdom. New York: Knopf/Penguin Random House. 

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Tamani, Liara. (2017). Calling My Name. New York: Greenwillow/HarperCollins.

[.]

STARTED:
Rhodes, Jewel Parker. (2018). Ghost Boys. New York: Little, Brown/Hachette.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Donoghue, Emma. (2017). The Lotterys Plus One. New York: Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic.

[The Lotterys are far from your typical family, formed when a gay male couple and a lesbian couple won the lottery, bought a giant house in Toronto, and adopted seven multiracial kids together.  Domestic (often chaotic) bliss is disrupted, however, when one of the dad’s estranged fathers comes to live with the Lotterys after recovering from a fire that he accidentally set as a symptom of developing dementia.  Best known for Room (Little Brown, 2010), Donoghue’s first novel for children is written largely from the point of view of 9-year-old Sumac, who has to vacate the room that she’s had since birth to accommodate her grandfather’s stay, directly reflecting the experiences and emotions of the primary reading audience who may relate to feeling put out and ignored themselves.  Her voice and role in the large family, as well as her transition from finding a way to get rid of their grandfather to being the one to convince him to stick around, are center stage here.  Spot art throughout, including a much appreciated – and necessary – labeled family portrait at the front of the book, helps to keep everyone and all of their varied experiences clear.  Filled with rapid-fire dialogue and tons of wordplay (the children are all named after types of trees, the taller mother is nicknamed MaxiMum, and many other family in-jokes) those who have worked their way through the Penderwicks series (Knopf, 2005) will find kinship here and look forward to more adventures with the Lotterys to come.]

STARTED:
Anderson, John David. (2017). Posted. New York: Walden Pond/HarperCollins.

[.]

*

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

[.]

STARTED:
Thomas, Angie. (2017). The Hate U Give. New York: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins.

[I've only read the first 2 chapters, and it's already devastating...]

*

FINISHED:
Holm, Jennifer L. (2016). Full of Beans. New York: Random House.

[.]

STARTED:
McMann, Lisa. (2016). Going Wild. New York: HarperCollins.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Springstubb, Tricia. (2016). Every Single Second. New York: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins.

[.]

STARTED:
Connor, Leslie. (2016). All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook. New York: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Telgemeier, Raina. (2016). Ghosts. New York: Scholastic.

[.]

STARTED:
Cole, Henry. (2016). The Somewhat True Adventures of Sammy Shine. Atlanta: Peachtree.

[.]

*

FINISHED: 
Peck, Richard. (2016). The Best Man. New York: Dial/Penguin.

[.]

STARTED:
Telgemeier, Raina. (2016). Ghosts. New York: Scholastic.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Jamieson, Victoria. (2015). Roller Girl. New York: Penguin.

[.]

STARTED:
Peck, Richard. (2016). The Best Man. New York: Dial/Penguin.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Spinelli, Jerry. (2013). Hokey Pokey. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.


[???  Not my cup of tea... and I'm not sure how many kids would pick this one up because of its ?? nature.  I think that it's just too esoteric for the intended audience.  I mean, a novel about a bunch of kids living in the desert with bicycles that behave like wild stallions??  I appreciate the fact that it's clearly an allegory about growing out of childhood, but I think that a kid would get it even less than I did.]


STARTED:
McAlpine, Gordon. (2013). The tell-tale start: The misadventures of Edgar & Allan Poe (Book 1).  New York: Viking.


[.]

*

FINISHED
Saenz, Benjamin Alire. (2012). Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe. New York: Simon & Schuster.



[.]


STARTED:
Lu, Marie. (2013). Prodigy: a Legend novel. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.


[.]


*

FINISHED:
Walker, Karen Thompson. (2012). Age of Miracles: a novel. New York: Random House.

[Julia is on the cusp of her 12th birthday when the world changes:  the Earth's rotation begins to slow down causing the days to become longer.  Soon, the length of a day gets so long that the government steps in and decides that we should continue to live in a 24-hour cycle, with those who would rather continue to live by the rising and setting of the sun being labeled as outcasts who are forced to form their own communities.  In addition, everything we know about gravity and the Earth's magnetic fields begins to change, birds start falling from the skies, the tides are more extreme, whales beach themselves en masse, too much/too little sun makes it difficult for crops to grow, and a sickness strikes a number of the world's citizens.  This is the not-so-perky backdrop to Julia's typical preteen life navigating first love, her father's secrets, piano lessons, soccer practice, and difficult friendships with other girls.]

STARTED:
Steensland, Mark. (2012). Behind the bookcase. New York: Random House.

[Reviewing for ACL...]

*

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

[.]

STARTED:
Jacques, Brian. (2005). High Rhulain. New York: Philomel/Penguin.

[I've been WAY overdue for another Redwall book (#18?)...]

*

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:
 Tyler, Anne. (2012). The beginner's goodbye.  New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

[Well, the New York Times review that I've linked to (click title above) says that this is one is "arguably this talented author’s tritest and most predictable novel," and I might be somewhat inclined to agree.  I'll tell you, even when the book was first announced and I saw that it was going to be under 200 pages I thought, "Well, this one's going to be kind of thin..."  Thirty-something Aaron loses his wife, Dorothy, in a "freak" accident and attempts to move forward, occasionally seeing Dorothy at random places and times.  There are definite shades of The Accidental Tourist (Random House, 1985) here (the main character works in publishing a series of "how to"-ish books, his sister ends up with someone Aaron knows) which made this one seem like a bit of retread, though I enjoyed hearing about Aaron and Dorothy's "unconventional" relationship because it reminded me a bit of my own...]

STARTED:
Lawrence, Caroline. (2012). The Case of the Deadly Desperados: Western Mysteries, Book One.  New York: Putnam.

[Reviewing for ACL...]

*

FINISHED:
Reisfeld, Randi. (2012). What the dog said. New York: Bloomsbury.

[Grace has retreated from school, friends, everything since her policeman father was murdered in a drive-by shooting a few months back. Her older sister, Regan, is only concerned with getting into the Parsons School of Design and convinces their mom to let her get a rescue dog - the hope being that by enrolling the dog in classes to train it to be a "helper animal", that it will look good on her college application. At the pound, a homely dog, Rex, chooses Grace to be his owner by TELLING her to pick him. Can Rex, the talking dog whom only Grace is able to hear, help her figure out the circumstances surrounding her father's murder, and eventually move her through her grief? Well, of course...]

STARTED:
Marrone, Amanda. (2010). The multiplying menace: a magic repair shop book. New York: Simon & Schuster.

[Reviewing for SFPL...]

*

STARTED & FINISHED:
Clements, Andrew. (2011). Troublemaker. New York: Atheneum.

[.]

STARTED:
Newbery, Linda. (2010). Lucy and the Green Man. New York: David Fickling/Random House.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Henkes, Kevin. (2011). Junonia. New York: HarperCollins.

[.]

STARTED:
Mason, Simon. (2011). Moon pie. New York: David Fickling/Random House.

[Reviewing for SFPL...]

*