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

[.]

STARTED:
Kelly, Erin Entrada. (2018). You Go First. New York: Greenwillow/HarperCollins.

[.]

*

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

[.]

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

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Connor, Leslie. (2018). The Truth As Told by Mason Buttle. New York: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins.

[.]

STARTED:
Harris, Chris. (2017). I'm Just No Good at Rhyming and Other Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups. New York: Little, Brown/Hachette.

[.]

*

STARTED & FINISHED:
Gillman, Melanie. (2017). As the Crow Flies. Chicago: Iron Circus Comics.

[.]

*

STARTED & FINISHED: 
Froud, Brian. (2011). The Dark Crystal: Creation Myths [Vol. 1]. Los Angeles: Archaia.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Snyder, Laurel. (2017). Orphan Island. New York: Walden Pond/HarperCollins.

[.]

STARTED:
Kullab, Samya. (2017). Escape from Syria. Buffalo, NY: Firefly.

[.]

*

FINISHED: 
Ness, Patrick. (2017). Release. New York: HarperCollins.

[.] 

STARTED:
Williams-Garcia, Rita. (2017). Clayton Byrd Goes Underground. New York: Amistad/HarperCollins.

[Getting some Newbery buzz...]

*

FINISHED: 
Reynolds, Jason. (2017). Patina [Track: Book 2]. New York: Atheneum/Simon & Schuster.

[.]

STARTED & FINISHED:
Kahng, Eik. (2017). David Wiesner & the Art of Wordless Storytelling. Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Museum of Art.

[.]

STARTED:
Milford, Kate. (2017). The Ghosts of Greenglass House. New York: Clarion/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Saenz, Benjamin Alire. (2017). The Inexplicable Logic of My Life. New York: Clarion/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

[.]

STARTED:
Delaney, Rachelle. (2017). The Bonaventure Adventures. New York: Penguin Random House.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker. (2017). The War I Finally Won. New York: Dial/Penguin.

[.]

STARTED:
Jamieson, Victoria. (2017). All's Faire in Middle School. New York: Dial/Penguin.

[.]

*

FINISHED: 
Mosier, Paul. (2017). Train I Ride. New York: HarperCollins.

[After her grandmother dies and she is without guardianship in Palm Springs, 12 year old Rydr is put on a train from LA to Chicago, where she will eventually live with a great uncle that she doesn’t know.  Along the way, there is an assorted lot of others on the train with whom Rydr interacts to pass the time including Neal, a gay man who works the snack counter and gives Rydr food (she runs out of money early on), a bunch of boy scouts (one of whom introduces her to Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, and her heart to first love), and Dorothea, the Amtrak employee charged with watching over Rydr on her trip.  Mosier crafts for Rydr a personal journey where she not only learns, from befriending bunch of caring strangers, to forgive those who let her down in her past, but also to forgive and accept herself in order to move forward.  The compressed time frame of the slim novel suits the subject well, giving Rydr’s transformation more immediacy and power, as she goes from initially being coy and telling lies, to building relationships and opening up to the truth, a truth that we become privy to as the novel travels along.  Powerful, moving, and perfect for fans of Holly Goldberg Sloan, Lisa Graff, and the like.]

STARTED:
Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker. (2015). The War That Saved My Life. New York: Dial/Penguin.

[Rereading one of "my" Newbery Honor books before I read the sequel (due in October) that Penguin graciously sent me an ARC of.]

*

FINISHED:
Wenxuan, Cao. (2017). Bronze and Sunflower. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

[.]

STARTED:
Mosier, Paul. (2017). Train I Ride. New York: HarperCollins.

[.]

*

FINISHED: 
Konigsberg, Bill. (2017). Honestly Ben. New York: Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic.

[.]

STARTED:
Hatke, Ben. (2016). Mighty Jack [Book 1]. New York: First Second/Roaring Brook.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Standish, Ali. (2017). The Ethan I Was Before. New York: HarperCollins.

[.]

STARTED:
Kelly, Erin Entrada. (2017).  Hello, Universe.  New York: Greenwillow/HarperCollins.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Yoon, Nicola. (2016). The Sun is Also a Star. New York: Delacorte/Random House.

[Jamaican Natasha and Korean American Daniel spend the day wandering around New York determining that they are meant to be together.  Drawn together while each focused on a potentially life-changing task (he has an interview with a Yale graduate, she is hoping to prevent her family from being deported back to Jamaica that evening), the two, through alternating chapters in each of their voices, examine the links between life and love, and coincidence and fate.]

STARTED:
Standish, Ali. (2017). The Ethan I Was Before. New York: HarperCollins.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Aciman, André. (2007). Call Me By Your Name. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

[.]

STARTED:
Zusak, Markus. (2005). The Book Thief. New York: Knopf.

[Been meaning to read this for many years - we've even had our own copy sitting a shelf for quite awhile.]

*

FINISHED:
Reynolds, Jason. (2016). Ghost. New York: Atheneum/Simon & Schuster.

[.]

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

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Fagan, Jenni. (2016). The Sunlight Pilgrims. New York: Hogarth/Random House.

[.]

STARTED:
Oliver, Lauren, and H.C. Chester. (2016). Curiosity House: The Screaming Statue. New York: HarperCollins.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Anderson, John David. (2016). Ms. Bixby's Last Day. New York: Walden Pond/HarperCollins.

[With their favorite teacher in the hospital battling cancer and unable to make it back to school for a goodbye party, Brand, Steve, and Topher hatch a plan to skip school and comb the city collecting some of Ms. Bixby’s favorite things (cheesecake, wine, etc.), thinking that they will bring the party to her.  Chapters rotate through the individual points of view of the three main boys:  Steve, who is Japanese-American and living in the shadow of his perfect sister; Brand, white, and struggling to singlehandedly take care of his father who is now paraplegic following a work accident; and Topher, a brilliant white kid who loves words and drawing.  The bulk of the novel takes place over the course of a single day – the day they skip school to follow through with their plan – with each of the boys ruminating through flashbacks which flesh out their histories and individual associations with Ms. Bixby.  Plaintive and sentimental, but not overly so, this is one of those cleverly done stories that reveals itself by moving forward in time while slowly filling in the past with revelations that help to elucidate the larger picture and the motivations behind character actions.  An amusing “caper” dotted with hilarious setbacks, and a solid depiction of boys who are supportive friends, Anderson’s novel highlights the impact we can have on each other without ever realizing it, and the fact that even if you feel alone, in reality there’s likely someone looking out for, noticing, and championing you.]

STARTED:
Fitzgerald, Laura Marx. (2016). The Gallery. New York: Dial/Penguin.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Tyler, Anne. (2016). Vinegar Girl. New York: Hogarth/Penguin/Random House.

[Anne Tyler does Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew!]

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

[New Tricia Springstubb!!!   I'm allowed to say that I thought that MOONPENNY ISLAND was one of the ABSOLUTE BEST books of last year.  My Newbery committee didn't award it anything, but, personally, I thought that it was OUTSTANDING, and one that I will read again and again over the years.]

*