FINISHED:  
Babbitt, Natalie. (1975). Tuck Everlasting. New York: Square Fish/Farrar Straus Giroux.

[.]

STARTED:
Helget, Nicole. (2017). The End of the Wild. New York: Little, Brown and Company/Hachette Book Group.

[.]

*

FINISHED:

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


[.]

STARTED:
Barnhill, Kelly. (2016). The Girl Who Drank the Moon. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Young Readers.

[.]

*

STARTED & FINISHED:
Dahl, Roald. (1982).  The BFG.  New York: Puffin/Penguin.

[.]

*

FINISHED: 
Highsmith, Patricia. (1952). The Price of Salt. Mineola, NY: Dover.

[.]

STARTED:

Federle, Tim. (2016).  The Great American Whatever. New York: Simon & Schuster.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Tolkien, J.R.R. (1937). The hobbit. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.


[.]


STARTED:
Rowling, J.K. (2012). The casual vacancy. New York: Little, Brown.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Bulla, Clyde Robert. (1962). The ring and the fire. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell.

[.]

STARTED:
Hardinge, Frances. (2006). Fly by night. New York: HarperCollins.

[.]

*

FINISHED:

Clarke, Arthur C. (1968). 2001: A space odyssey. New York: ROC/Penguin.

[.]

STARTED:
Tyler, Anne. (2009). Noah's compass. New York: HarperCollins.

[A new Anne Tyler novel! A new Anne Tyler novel!]

*

FINISHED:

Alexander, Lloyd. (1968). The high king. New York: Henry Holt and Company.

[.]

STARTED:
Kinney, Jeff. (2009). Diary of a wimpy kid: Dog days. New York: Amulet/Abrams.

[I find these amusing.]

*

FINISHED:

Dahl, Roald. (1970). Fantastic Mr. Fox. New York: Knopf/Random House.

[.]

STARTED:
Levithan, David. (2003). Boy meets boy. New York: Knopf/Random House.

[Recommended by a friend and colleague.]

*

FINISHED:

L'Engle, Madeleine. (1962). A wrinkle in time. New York: Dell/Yearling.

[.]

STARTED:
Stead, Rebecca. (2009). When you reach me. New York: Wendy Lamb/Random House.

[Yippee! Looking forward to it!]

*

FINISHED:

Hicks, Clifford B. (1963). Alvin's secret code. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

[A fun little classic. Alvin, his pestering sister, and his best friend find a cryptic note in the gutter one afternoon. Naturally, they believe it to be some secret spy note and set forth to break the note's code. Along with the assistance of an old invalid in the neighborhood who is somewhat of an expert on codes, the trio learn about different kinds of secret codes including how some retail establishments code their wares. The main narrative here involves the trio helping a woman to find a lost "treasure" from slave days which the woman hopes will help her fund her ailing orphanage. FUN, informative, and interactive. PLUS, there is a whole series of tales of Alvin and his gang to entertain and amuse! Encyclopedia Brown, watch out...]

STARTED:
L'Engle, Madeleine. (1962). A wrinkle in time. New York: Dell/Yearling.

[I've NEVER read this one before... I KNOW!! I'm actually reading it in preparation for reading "When You Reach Me".]

*

FINISHED:

Cooper, Susan. (1965). Over sea, under stone. New York: Simon & Schuster.

[.]

STARTED:
Beil, Michael D. (2009). The red blazer girls. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

[With a title and cover like the ones this has, how could I possibly resist?]

*

FINISHED:

Huxley, Aldous. (1932). Brave new world/Brave new world revisited. New York: HarperCollins.

[Um, this is SO not the book I remember reading in high school English class. Come to think about it, maybe I only read the chapters that I had to do a presentation on. Lots of stuff to think about... Read a bunch of Revisited, but ultimately gave up. I honestly had thought that it was a novel as well - while it is certainly an interesting and thought provoking essay, I just needed to start reading some light fiction again..]

STARTED:
Wilson, N.D. (2007). 100 cupboards. New York: Random House.

[Have heard great things about this one - need to read the sequel, Dandelion Fire, for ACL distinguished list, so I figured it would be a good time to read it.]

*

FINISHED:

MacDonald, George. (1969). The light princess. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

[Well, it doesn't seem like it would fly all that well with youth today. As I started to read it I thought, "This might make a good, short read-aloud..." and then quickly reconsidered. The language was SO antiquated and odd. Many times I not only tripped up on the words, but had a difficult time trying to figure out who he was talking about and/or what was happening. Yes, it's the story of a princess who is born without gravity and discovers that in water she feels "normal". Soon, the evil princess who cursed the disability onto the princess does a spell to drain the lake and kingdom of all it's water. It is then that a roaming prince who has become smitten with the princess volunteers to sacrifice himself to save the princess and kingdom.]

STARTED:
Huxley, Aldous. (1932). Brave new world/Brave new world revisited. New York: HarperCollins.

[An old classic that I remember reading in high school English class and have been wanting to revisit now that I'm older and wiser.]

*

FINISHED:

Baum, L. Frank. (1900). The wonderful Wizard of Oz. New York: Books of Wonder/William Morrow and Co.

[.]

STARTED:
Going, K.L. (2005). The liberation of Gabriel King. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons/Penguin.

[.]

*

FINISHED:

Aiken, Joan. (1962). The wolves of Willoughby Chase. New York: Yearling/Random House.

[.]

STARTED:
Murphy, Rita. (2008). Bird. New York: Delacorte/Random House.

[Reviewing for ACL.]

*

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...]

*

FINISHED:

Alexander, Lloyd. (1967). Taran wanderer. New York: Henry Holt and Company.

[These books just bring me such joy and hit the nail on the head as to what I'm looking for. I guess I'm a sucker for the medieval fantasy tales of knights and kings and creatures, and these are some of the best of that lot. I'm kind of shocked to see that, of all of the 5 books in the series, this is the ONE that didn't get ANY ALA recognition because this one is so much about finding oneself. I loved that Taran spends time with a foundryman, a weaver, and a potter all in an effort to figure out what he's "meant to do". Though none are his true calling, he learns lessons on what it means, and how important it is, to live your own life and be true to yourself, no matter who you are or what you do.]

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

[MANY other things to read, but I really should finish this one first...]

*

FINISHED:

Pearce, Philippa. (1958). Tom's midnight garden. New York: HarperCollins.

[By today's standards, I think that this one feels dated. That's not to say that it isn't good, I enjoyed it, but it felt a bit slow and not super exciting. Tom has to move into his aunt and uncle's flat for a time while his brother gets over having the measles. One night while in bed, Tom hears the hall grandfather clock chime 13 times. He gets up and opens the back door to find an immense garden there and a girl named Hattie who seems to be the only one who can see or hear him. Over the course of a few weeks - Tom even tries to come up with reasons that he needs to stay with his aunt and uncle - Tom visits the garden every night. Interesting things going on here like Hattie and Tom both think the other is a ghost, Hattie gets older over the course of the visits and begins to move on from her relationship with Tom and meet other young people. It's an interesting examination of time-travel that could inspire many conversations - in one particularly thought-inspiring moment, Tom tells Hattie to put her ice skates under a floorboard in her bedroom (now his) in her time so that when he goes up to the room in his time he will have ice skates that he can then bring with him the next time he visits her. SO, they end up ice skating together wearing the exact same skates...]

STILL READING...:
Anderson, M.T. (2008). The astonishing life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the nation: Volume II: The kingdom on the waves. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick.

[Picked it back up. It's a beast, but I've got to finish it before Sunday, and it's SO worth the time.]

*

FINISHED:

Konigsburg, E.L. (1974). The dragon in the ghetto caper. New York: Aladdin/Simon & Schuster.

[.]

STARTED:
Lockhart, E. (2008). The disreputable history of Frankie Landau-Banks. New York: Hyperion.

[Reading to see if I would deem it worthy of being labeled distinguished. Plus, I've seen it on some "Best of 2008" lists and am curious.]

*