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.

[.]

*

STARTED & FINISHED: 
Krosoczka, Jarrett J. (2018). Hey, Kiddo. New York: Graphix/Scholastic.

[.]

 *

FINISHED: 
DiCamillo, Kate. (2018). Louisiana's Way Home. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

[.]

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

[.]

*

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

[I LOVED THIS.]

STARTED:
????
Catching up on audiobooks, at the moment...

[.]

*

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

[.]

STARTED:
Hanlon, Abby. (2018). Dory Fantasmagory: Head in the Clouds. New York: Dial/Penguin Random House.

[LOVE THIS SERIES.]

*

STARTED & FINISHED:
Tanaka, Shelley. (2018). The Breadwinner: a Graphic Novel. Toronto: Groundwood Books. 

[.]

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

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Cuevas, Michelle. (2017). The Care and Feeding of a Pet Black Hole. New York: Dial/Penguin Random House.

[After being turned away at NASA, when she asks to see Carl Sagan so that she can give him a recording of her deceased father’s laughter for inclusion on the Voyager launch, 11-year-old Stella Rodriguez unwittingly has a black hole follow her home.  While Larry (as Stella names the black hole) begins to devour whatever it can, Stella discovers that as she throws items with memories of her dad attached to them into the black hole, it begins to appear as though the objects, and all of the feelings associated with them, never existed in the first place.  Cuevas has a gift for dry humor, fully evident in the 100 page, surreal journey (reminiscent of Roald Dahl and Norton Juster) that Stella and her brother take in a clawfoot tub while inside Larry; a journey that helps Stella work through her grief and regain an appreciation for “home” (“Sometimes what you think is a black hole in your life turns out to actually be a wormhole.  A portal.  A way home.”).  Cuevas’s own spot illustrations are sprinkled throughout the text, which is laugh out loud hilarious, touching, and a bit bizarre.]

STARTED:
Moore, David Barclay. (2017). The Stars Beneath Our Feet. New York: Knopf.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Holm, Jennifer L. (2017). Swing It, Sunny. New York: Scholastic.

[.]

STARTED:
Schlitz, Laura Amy. (2017). Princess Cora and the Crocodile. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Larson, Hope. (2017). Goldie Vance: Volume Two. Los Angeles: Boom! Box.

[.]

STARTED:
Westerfeld, Scott. (2017). Spill Zone. New York: First Second/Roaring Brook.

[.]

*

FINISHED:

Larson, Hope. (2016). Goldie Vance: Volume One. Los Angeles: Boom! Box.

[.]

STARTED:
Larson, Hope. (2017). Goldie Vance: Volume Two. Los Angeles: Boom! Box.

[.]

*

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

[.]

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

[Was home sick without a new book... chose this one - one of my all time favorites - to read again for comfort...]

*

FINISHED:
Meloy, Colin. (2017). The Whiz Mob and the Grenadine Kid. New York: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins.

[In Marseille, France, 1961, Charlie Fisher, the neglected twelve year old son of an American Consul General, falls in with a Lebanese boy named Amir and a crew of other young, multicultural pickpockets.  Looking to forge a life of his own, as well as find some friends, Charlie is brought into the fold first by running center field (watching and learning) and then as a duke man (the one that all of the other pickpockets bring their spoils to), all while trying to keep the two diametrically opposed sides of his life from colliding.  Meticulously crafted and thoroughly researched, vivid descriptions rife with specific detail bring the streets of the French city to life, and an occasional authorial direct address adds further humor to an already amusing tale.  Just when you begin to wonder where it’s all going, a doozy of a bombshell is dropped two thirds of the way through which excitingly lays the groundwork for the final path ahead, while Carson Ellis’s occasional full page illustrations feel period to the ‘60s, often recalling the rounded figures of Peter Max and Daniel Pinkwater.  Meloy continually brings up socio-economics as the ragtag band of misfits see themselves as Robin Hoods to a certain degree, with Amir saying, “Way I see it, we’re evening the score a bit, yeah?... To take the rich folks down a peg”, and the Code of the Whiz Mob being that “no one facing financial hardship, marginalization, or oppression of any sort should be targeted.”  When Charlie’s hard-honed skills are put to a final test near the end, we get a true, step by step insight into the art of the steal, and luckily, included at the end is an extensive (and quite necessary!) glossary of whiz lingo.]

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

[.]

*

FINISHED: 
Eggers, Dave. (2017). Her Right Foot. San Francisco: Chronicle.

[.]

STARTED:
Pullman, Philip. (2017). The Book of Dust: Volume One: La Belle Sauvage. New York: Knopf.

[.]

*

FINISHED: 
Lee, Mackenzi. (2017). The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue. New York: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins.

[.]

STARTED:
Applegate, Katherine. (2017). Wishtree. New York: Feiwel and Friends/Macmillan.

[.]

*

FINISHED: 
Wolk, Lauren. (2017). Beyond the Bright Sea. New York: Dutton/Penguin Random House.


[.]

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

[.]

*

FINISHED: 
Smith, Ronald L. (2017). The Mesmerist. New York: Clarion/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

[In Victorian England, 13-year-old, white Jessamine helps her mother in swindling those who wish to contact the dead, and comes to discover that her parents were members of the League of Ravens, a group of folk with special abilities who protected England from an evil necromancer named Mephisto.  When Jess figures out that she, too, has an ability (to read people’s memories) she goes to live with Balthazar, the old head of the League of Ravens, and two other young people with special powers, and the three of them take it upon themselves to banish Mephisto forever when it appears that he has returned and is spreading disease throughout London.  Smith’s follow up to his eerie Hoodoo (Clarion, 2015) is equally creepy, dripping with mood and a heavy sense of foreboding, with tense, claustrophobic battle sequences against ghouls in the newly constructed London Underground, and the repeated use of the rhyme/song “Ring Around the Rosie” that will elicit chills.  When London becomes overrun by a mysterious disease (caused by Mephisto) and townspeople look for a scapegoat, ultimately settling on immigrants (“Foreigners out of our England!”), one can’t help but call to mind Brexit, the “Muslim Ban”, and other similar events in the current tide of nationalism.  This is one that more mature scary story fans should thoroughly enjoy.]

STARTED:
Wolk, Lauren. (2017). Beyond the Bright Sea. New York: Dutton/Penguin Random House.

[Newbery buzz...]

*