FINISHED:
Eagar, Lindsay. (2017). Race to the Bottom of the Sea. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

[Eleven-year-old Fidelia Quail must go live with her Aunt Julia, a librarian who lives above the town library, after her internationally-acclaimed, underwater biologist parents die at sea during a powerful storm while exploring in a submarine of Fidelia’s creation.  Not long thereafter, while still grieving the loss of her parents, Fidelia finds herself kidnapped by Merrick the Monstrous, a pirate, and is forced to help him retrieve a treasure in a cave deep under the sea.  White Fidelia is a strong, intelligent, richly-drawn protagonist with a gift for invention and inquiry, while periodic flashbacks cleverly build a full portrait of compassion for the eccentric, larger-than-life Merrick.  Though it feels slightly overlong at times, Eager provides cinematic action sequences which play as though you are watching a vivid movie, as well as a couple of startling revelations which should surprise even the most keen reader.  With an intriguing setting – which seems to exist in its own time and place – and dynamic characters, hand this one to those who enjoy broad adventure stories.]

STARTED:
Balliett, Blue. (2018). Out of the Wild Night: A Ghost Story. New York: Scholastic.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Alexander, Kwame. (2016). Booked. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.



[.]




STARTED:
Corey, Shana. (2016). The Secret Subway. New York: Schwartz & Wade/Random House.



[.]


*

FINISHED:
Grabenstein, Chris. (2013). Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's library. New York: Random House.


[.]


STARTED:
Crowder, Melanie. (2013). Parched. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.


[.]


*

FINISHED:
Balliett, Blue. (2013). Hold fast. New York: Scholastic.


[.]


STARTED:
Federle, Tim. (2013). Better Nate than ever. New York: Simon & Schuster.


[.]

*

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:
Clements, Andrew. (2011). Fear itself [Benjamin Pratt & the Keepers of the School #2]. New York: HarperCollins.

[.]

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

[Who doesn't love Kevin Henkes?]

*

FINISHED:
Sherry, Maureen. (2010). Walls within walls. New York: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins.

[.]

STARTED:
Spratt, R.A. (2010). The adventures of Nanny Piggins. New York: Little, Brown & Co.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Berlin, Eric. (2007). The puzzling world of Winston Breen. New York: Puffin/Penguin.

[.]

STARTED:
Riordan, Rick. (2010). The red pyramid. New York: Disney/Hyperion.

[It's the book that EVERYONE is reading...]

*

FINISHED:

Stewart, Trenton Lee. (2009). The Mysterious Benedict Society and the prisoner's dilemma. New York: Megan Tingley Books/Little, Brown and Company.

[.]

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

[One of my very favorite movies (since being shown it in Mr. Norris' English class in middle school) and I've always wanted to read the book... with the ultimate goal of reading all in the series.]

*

FINISHED:

Beil, Michael D. (2009). The red blazer girls. New York: HarperCollins

[.]

STARTED:
Crutcher, Chris. (2009). Angry management: Three novellas. New York: Greenwillow/HarperCollins.

[Reading to review for ACL.]

*

FINISHED:

Buzbee, Lewis. (2008). Steinbeck's ghost. New York: Feiwel and Friends/MacMillan.

[Travis moves to a new subdivision outside Salinas, California, where Steinbeck lived and wrote some of his early works. He finds out that the local library, named after Steinbeck, is going to be shut down due to budgetary issues, so he and a friendly librarian form a group to try to raise money get the word out about the closing. Along the way, Travis, an AVID Steinbeck reader, begins to see characters from Steinbeck's books in real life around town, as well as young Steinbeck himself writing in the upstairs window of his childhood home. Throw in an old author with a link to Steinbeck, a hilarious best friend, and parents who were cool to hang out with until they both went back to school and now have high-power jobs, and you've got a well-rounded story with wide appeal. I really enjoyed this one - it kept me interested throughout and I found myself WANTING to pick it up and read it. Certainly, it's a LIBRARIAN'S DREAM book - what with Travis rallying to keep the town library open, and professing his love for books - especially their ability to transform the reader and bring them into a shared experience with everyone else who has read the book and will ever read it. Here's a great quote - words that, as a Children's librarian, I would love to get across to all young people:

"When you read, the world really did change. He understood this now. You saw parts of the world you never knew existed. Books were in the world; the world was in books." (p. 89).

Brilliant.]

STARTED:
Jacques, Brian. (2003). Loamhedge. New York: Firebird/Penguin.

[I'm WAY overdue for another Redwall tale. This is #16 - whew! It's an amazing testament to Jacques, however, that I NEVER TIRE OF THESE THINGS...]

*