FINISHED: 
Auxier, Jonathan. (2018). Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster. New York: Amulet/Abrams.

[.]

STARTED:
Kinney, Jeff. (2018). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown. New York: Amulet/Abrams.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Johnson, Maureen. (2018). Truly Devious. New York: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins.

[.]

STARTED:
Wang, Jen. (2018). The Prince and the Dressmaker. New York: First Second/Roaring Brook.

[.]

*

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

[Clumsy and untalented twelve year-old Sebastian (Seb), worried that he will never be a circus performer and, thus, is a disappointment to his father who is ringmaster of the Konstantinov Family Circus (currently traveling around Eastern Europe), enrolls in the Bonaventure Circus School in Montreal in an effort to learn to modernize the circus and help to save it from financial ruin.  As classes begin, Seb struggles to fit in without having any acrobatic acuity, but finds kinship in two other students (Frankie, a girl from Italy who is into parkour; and Banjo, a boy who is constantly late to class because he has no sense of direction) who have been labeled Bêtes Noires by the headmistress, and discovers a talent for writing stories.  Most of the humor comes from Seb having to keep up appearances by doing anything that he can to get out of having to do any acrobatics at school, ultimately telling everyone that his is a fire breather, knowing that no one will ask him to prove it, and stringing the headmistress along who admitted Seb to the ailing school because she assumes that Seb must be talented and wealthy because he’s a Konstantinov.  Beyond the reassuring message that everyone has their talent(s) and that you just have to put some work toward finding out what that may be, this is a pretty standard tale that is light on world building and character development, skipping forward in time at whim, with an abrupt ending where Seb and the other Bêtes Noires predictably end up saving the day.]

STARTED:
Ruby, Laura. (2017). The Shadow Cipher [York: Book 1]. New York: Walden Pond/HarperCollins.

[.]

*

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

[.]

STARTED:
Mittlefehldt, Rafi. (2016). It Looks Like This. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

[Reading for ACL to see if I deem it to be "distinguished".  When, while trying to entice someone to read it, they said it had to do with a boy in the Midwest who was dealing with coming out to his not-so-understanding family, I jumped up and said, "Sounds familiar.  I'll take it!"]

*

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

[.]

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

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Fairlie, Emily. (2012). The lost treasure of Tuckernuck. New York: Katherine Tegan/HarperCollins.


[Sixth-grader Laurie is mortified to have to do her middle school years at her parents’ alma mater, Tuckernuck Hall, a private school with a clucking chicken for a mascot, while the rest of her friends get to stay together at the local public school.  The school year gets interesting, though, when Laurie is named “gerbil monitor” in her classroom, and she embarks on a mission to solve the unsolvable hidden treasure puzzle in the school created by Maria Tutweiler, eccentric school founder and principal, 80 years earlier.  This serviceable mystery has a bit of humor, mostly revolving around the gerbils that Laurie, and her co-gerbil keeper and treasure seeker classmate Bud, are tasked with keeping watch over, as well as some poignancy involving Bud and his demanding father who are mourning the loss of Bud’s mother.  Unfortunately, the characters are fairly one-dimensional, there’s the familiar “our school is being torn down so we need to find the treasure ASAP” plotline, and the clues leading to the titular treasure are specific to places, objects and people around the school, thus shutting out the reader who may hope to help solve the mysteries along with our protagonists.  As such, the sleuthing gets a bit tedious as Laurie and Bud continually run around to different parts of the school dodging staff members and nosy students.  The only thing that really makes the text stand out amongst the crowd of other treasure-hunting mystery stories is the liberal scattering throughout of notes, lists, emails, and letters created by the book’s characters – though these don’t always serve to move the plot forward, they are still a fun diversion and help to break up the somewhat lengthy chapters.]

STARTED:
Phillips, Helen. (2012). Here where the sunbeams are green. New York: Delacorte/Random House.

[Reviewing for ACL...]

*

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:
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:
McMann, Lisa. (2011). The Unwanteds. New York: Aladdin.

[The society of Quill sorts 13-year olds into three categories each year:  the Wanteds (who are valued), the Necessaries (who'll be put to work), and the Unwanteds... who are punished for their creative urges by being put to death.  While Alex's twin, Aaron, is labelled a "Wanted" and goes to work for the oppressive government, Alex himself, because he once drew a house in the mud, is an Unwanted.  What Alex and the other Unwanteds don't know, however, is that being labelled an Unwanted isn't quite the sentence to death that they thought they were in for.  In fact, though the government of Quill isn't aware of this, the Unwanteds are brought to a magical, colorful place run by Mr. Today, where they will hone their creativity and learn to fight in anticipation of the day when they are discovered by Quill.  I'd say that the blurb on the cover which describes this as "Hunger Games meets Harry Potter" is actually pretty apropos.  Though hardly a substitute for either, I found this one to be SUPER compelling and quite fun.  Granted, the action moves a bit quickly and there really isn't time for much character development or relationship building (Alex does find a Hermione/Ron-ish group of pals), but the premise is intriguing and you've got me any time a major plot point revolves around a restrictive government that is called into question.  A VALUABLE lesson for the youth of today!]

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

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Reeve, Philip. (2011). Web of air. New York: Scholastic.




[.]



Nolan, Han. (2010). Crazy. Boston: Harcourt.

[.]


STARTED:
Cline, Ernest. (2011). Ready Player One. New York: Crown.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Wells, Robison. (2011). Variant. New York: HarperTeen.

[.]

STARTED:
Williams, Michael. (2011). Now is the time for running. New York: Little, Brown.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Yee, Lisa. (2011). Warp speed. New York: Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic.

[Marley is a middle schooler who is definitely on the outs. He LOVES Star Trek, lives above the broken down old movie theatre his father runs, is an active member of the school AV club, feels completely invisible, and gets spit on and beat up and chased by bullies almost daily. Things begin to change slightly when Marley gets paired up with a cute new girl at school, his old friend Stanford who is now the star basketball player begins to talk to him again, and it turns out that Marley is the fastest runner his school has ever seen.]

STARTED:
Hunter, Erin. (2011). Spirits in the stars [Seekers #6]. New York: HarperCollins.

[She's got me hooked on these adventures of Kallik, Lusa, Toklo and Ujurak...]

*

FINISHED:
Gantos, Jack. (1998). Joey Pigza swallowed the key. New York: HarperCollins.

[.]

STARTED:
Mull, Brandon. (2011). Beyonders: A world without heroes. New York: Simon & Schuster.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Langrish, Katherine. (2010). The shadow hunt. New York: HarperCollins.

[.]

STARTED:
Kopp, Sheldon B. (1972). If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him! Ben Lomond, CA: Science and Behavior Books.

[Saw it on FRINGE, read a description, and knew that I HAD to read it.]

*

FINISHED:
Clements, Andrew. (2004). The last holiday concert. New York: Simon & Schuster.

[.]

STARTED:
Westerfeld, Scott. (2010). Behemoth. New York: Simon Pulse.

[LOVED LOVED LOVED the first one in this trilogy.]

*

FINISHED:

Lieb, Josh. (2009). I am a genius of unspeakable evil and I want to be your class president. New York: Razorbill/Penguin.

[Review forthcoming...

Seventh-grader Oliver Watson has everyone fooled: while it would appear that he’s just shy of being a complete moron, in reality Oliver is the 3rd richest person in the world (although it is a recovering alchoholic named Lionel Sheldrake who acts as figurehead for Oliver’s business dealings) with a secret lair under his parents house and countless minions (many of whom he doesn’t even know) who will do ANYTHING that Oliver wishes with just a whisper. What Oliver wants right now is to be 8th grade class president in order to stick it to his distant father who brags about having been class president back in his schooling days. Former “Daily Show” producer Lieb has crafted a laugh-out-loud debut novel loaded with hilarious footnoted asides, bizarre situations, unbelievable gadgets, and a teacher who Oliver messes with by having messages printed on the teacher’s cigarettes. Although, for many, Oliver may come off as a bit nihilistic, despicable, and narcissistic, he is somewhat redeemed in a heartwarming ending. Perfect for any young adult (or adult) who feels like an outsider and wishes they could rule the world.]

STARTED:
Standiford, Natalie. (2009). How to say goodbye in robot. New York: Scholastic.

[Reviewing for ACL.]

*

FINISHED:

Rodgers, Mary, and Hach, Heather. (2009). Freaky Monday. New York: HarperCollins.

[Well, this one lacked SO much of the dry wit and humor of the Rodgers' originals from the '70s and '80s. Here, Hadley is a star middle school student who feels self-conscious, is EXTREMELY jealous of her older sister's beauty, and realizes that she has thrown herself so much into her studies that she really has no social life. Ms. Pitt is the ultimate English teacher: progressive, thought-provoking, and LOVES each of her students dearly. One morning, after Hadley's failed report on "To Kill a Mockingbird", these two switch bodies and spend a day in each other's shoes. Hadley, as Ms. Pitt, has to deal with school administrators, an English department head interview, and the advances of a fellow teacher. Ms. Pitt, as Hadley, has to deal with Hadley's upset sister, a school dance, and the (hopeful) advances of a fellow student. While Hadley's story is interesting - she really is a deep, intelligent girl in the middle of an existential crisis - but there's no real reason for these two to switch like there was in the original stories. Stick to the classics, I say.]

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

[Shelving at the library I come across SO MANY books that look interesting. This is one that kept popping up - admittedly, it is the artwork by Bill Sokol that really drew me in...]

*

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.]

*

Picture Book Tuesday

STARTED & FINISHED:

Collington, Peter. (2000). Clever cat. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

[Cat is tired of being neglected and treated poorly by his owners so he gets a set of keys and a credit card and begins to take care of himself, eventually realizing that it might just be better to be a regular cat after all. Fantastic illustrations, a HORRIBLE family of abusive creeps, and laughs caused by seeing a cat walking on his hind legs carrying a set of keys.]




Shulevitz, Uri. (2008). How I learned geography. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.

[LOVE this man. This one is an autobiographical tale about living in poverty. One day, instead of bringing home food from the town center, Uri's father brings home a wall-sized map which takes Uri's mind on a trip around the world - fueling his drawing and imagination.]




Gorbachev, Valeri. (2008). Turtle's penguin day. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

[LOVE this man, too. In this one, Turtle is read a bedtime story about penguins which causes him to dream about them and inspire him to dress and act like a penguin the next day at school. Sweet and fun with Gorbachev's characteristic warm and expressive illustrations.]

*

FINISHED:

Clements, Andrew. (2004). The report card. New York: Aladdin/Simon & Schuster.

[Clements is the master of writing books about kids in school. Not only that, his kids end up becoming empowered by what they see as inconsistencies in the adult world and living by the motto that I've had since high school: QUESTION AUTHORITY. In this one, Nora pretends that she's just an average student at school and at home in an effort to fit in, even though she knows that she's a genius. She, with the assistance her best friend Stephen, stage a rebellion in their grade by having everyone get zeros on their next tests as a protest against grades and "high stakes" testing. VERY timely and a worthwhile primer for any youngster. The only thing that I didn't like was that it just kind of... ended... I kept waiting for Nora's ideas to actually cause major examination and shifts in the educational status quo, but we never get that far.]

STARTED:
Dowd, Siobhan. (2007). The London Eye mystery. New York: David Fickling/Random House.

[Somewhere I saw this one got some great reviews.]

*