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

[.]

*

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

[.]

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

[.]

*

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

[.]

STARTED:
Wiesner, David and Donna Jo Napoli. (2017). Fish Girl. New York: Clarion/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

[.]

*

FINISHED: 
Marciano, John Bemelmans. (2016). Mischief Season [Witches of Benevento, Book 1]. New York: Viking/Penguin Random House.

[.]

STARTED:
Shevah, Emma. (2016). Dara Palmer's Major Drama. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky.

[Re-reading to review for ACL.]

*

FINISHED:
Mull, Brandon. (2014). Sky Raiders (Five kingdoms #1). New York: Aladdin/Simon & Schuster.

[On Halloween night, sixth grader Cole and a couple of kids from his school are transported, via a passage in a haunted house, to a mysterious world called the Outskirts where they are then held as slaves.  Cole, however, on his quest to rescue his friends, ends up being recruited to be a Sky Raider, pillaging castles kept aloft by float stones, and eventually agrees to help one of the five daughters of the High Shaper of the Five Kingdoms (all long-rumored to be dead) get her powers back, power that is currently manifested in a large beast named Carnag.  Mull has once again constructed a fascinating fantasy world – this time full of flying ships, floating castles, magical objects, and characters who have the ability to “shape” (“to rearrange things and to imbue them with new qualities”).  Cole is a somewhat generic protagonist who doesn’t seem all that concerned with the fact that he is in a strange world full of odd creatures with no (detectable) means of ever getting back home.  In addition, Cole easily loses sight of his main objective – freeing his friends – only occasionally ever even referring back to them at all.  Mull, as usual, though, spins a yarn filled with enough action and intriguing detail to ensure that this series opener will appeal to devotees of his previous works.  [Review based on ARC.] .]


STARTED:
Hale, Shannon. (2014). Dangerous. New York: Bloomsbury.


[.]


*

FINISHED:
Jinks, Catherine. (2013). How to catch a bogle. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.


[.]


STARTED:
Lynch, Chris. (2013). Casualties of war (Vietnam #4). New York: Scholastic.


[.]


*

FINISHED:

Weston, Robert Paul. (2013). The creature department. New York: Razorbill/Penguin.

[Elliot and Leslie are invited by Elliot’s eccentric Uncle Archie to take a tour of the much guarded headquarters of DENKi-3000, an electronics company responsible for such life-changing products as the telelectric pencil and wireless breathmints.  What the two discover is that the research and development department is actually staffed with an odd assortment of dim sum-gobbling creatures who are tasked, along with help from Elliot and Leslie, with coming up with an invention that will stave off a looming hostile takeover by Quazicom, a ruthless capital investment firm.  Each chapter is headed by a full-page, black and white illustration, with other artwork scattered throughout, courtesy of London-based visual effects house Framestore (though that fact is, oddly, never explicitly stated anywhere in/on the book), and though they do help to give a visual for the myriad of creatures, their cartoony, obviously digital style renders them generic.  In addition, a fascinating premise involving adding “essences” of intangible concepts to inventions to imbue them with special properties is wasted, only getting a brief mention, and some of the writing comes off as though it’s been ripped from a Hollywood screenplay.  An average offering with a fun premise that comes up a bit short.]


STARTED:
Marcus, Leonard S. (2013). Randolph Caldecott: The man who could not stop drawing. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.

[.]


*

FINISHED:
Nix, Garth, and Sean Williams. (2013). The mystery (Troubletwisters #3). New York: Scholastic.


[After an old town recluse dies in the castle near their grandmother’s house, Jaide and Jack help a local bookseller with cataloguing an extensive book collection there, and the twins discover that the castle may be the location of the “Card of Translocation”, whose purpose is unknown but which their father has instructed them to find.  In addition, the two are led to believe that their father, who’s supposed to stay away from them so that he doesn’t drive their “Gifts” wild, may be involved in the death of the recluse, and their grandmother, a Warden of Portland who is responsible for protecting the world from “The Evil”, ends up in the hospital after being mysteriously driven off the road.   The proceedings are swiftly set into motion in this third installment of the series, and readers who may not have read (or remember) the first two books are brought up to date with some early interspersed catch-ups.  Though most of the action is saved until the last few chapters, fans of the previous installments will find plenty to enjoy along the way, with the cast of characters widening, and the history of the Wardens and Troubletwisters being explored and revealed in more depth, with the twins coming to learn more about their “Gifts” and what connects them to all of the other Troubletwisters that have come before them.]


STARTED:
Larsen, Reif. (2009). The selected works of T.S. Spivet. New York: Penguin.


[Jeunet movie coming soon!!]


*

FINISHED:
Nix, Garth, and Sean Williams. (2012). The monster (Troubletwisters #2). New York: Scholastic.


[.]


STARTED:
Nix, Garth, and Sean Williams. (2013). The mystery (Troubletwisters #3). New York: Scholastic.


[.]


*

FINISHED:

Lerangis, Peter. (2013). The colossus rises. New York: HarperCollins.

[Review forthcoming...]

STARTED:

Mull, Brandon. (2013). Chasing the prophecy (Beyonders #3). New York: Aladdin.

[One of my favorite children's/YA authors.]

*

FINISHED:
Ness, Patrick. (2011). A monster calls. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

[Whoa. This one is brutal... but amazing. Conor, whose mother is going through cancer treatment, is visited by the yew tree behind their house who says that it will tell him 3 stories, and expects Conor to tell it one story. When his mom seems to be taking a turn for the worse, Conor's grandmother comes to begin making arrangements for Conor to come live with her - something that Conor will have no part of. What is the yew tree after? Why does it keep showing up? What does it want Conor to admit?? Heartbreaking and powerful.]

STARTED:
Riggs, Ransom. (2011). Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Philadelphia, PA: Quirk Books.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Scieszka, Jon [ed.]. (2011). Guys read: Thriller. New York: Walden Pond/HarperCollins.

[.]

STARTED:
Skye, Obert. (2011). Wonkenstein: the creature from my closet. New York: Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt.

[Reviewing for ACL...]

*

FINISHED:
Anderson, M.T. (2010). The suburb beyond the stars. New York: Scholastic.

[.]

STARTED:
Choldenko, Gennifer. (2011). No passengers beyond this point. New York: Dial/Penguin.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Soo, Kean. (2009). Jellaby: Monster in the city. New York: Disney/Hyperion.

[Looking just now, it seems that this is the SECOND Jellaby tale... I thought that it was the THIRD... so maybe I've actually read it before...]

STARTED:
Kibuishi, Kazu. (2010). The cloud searchers [Amulet: Book 3]. New York: Graphix/Scholastic.

[I don't really recall what happened in the first two, but...]

*

FINISHED:
Renier, Aaron. (2010). The unsinkable Walker Bean. New York: First Second.

[.]

STARTED:
Gidwitz, Adam. (2010). A tale dark & Grimm. New York: Dutton/Penguin.

[Reviewing for ACL - and has been on my radar for awhile.]

*

FINISHED:
Stroud, Jonathan. (2004). The golem's eye. New York: Hyperion.

[.]

STARTED:
Sedaris, David. (2010). Squirrel seeks chipmunk. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Mull, Brandon. (2010). Fablehaven: Keys to the demon prison. New York: Shadow Mountain.

[.]

STARTED:
Shan, Darren. (2010). The thin executioner. New York: Little, Brown & Co.

[Reviewing for ACL.]

*

FINISHED:
Mull, Brandon. (2008). Fablehaven: Grip of the shadow plague. New York: Aladdin/Simon & Schuster.

[.]

STARTED:
Pfeffer, Susan Beth. (2010). this world we live in. New York: Harcourt/Houghton Mifflin.

[.]

*

FINISHED:

Mull, Brandon. (2006). Fablehaven. New York: Aladdin/Simon & Schuster.

[.]

STARTED:
Ventura, Jesse. (with Dick Russell) (2010). American conspiracies. New York: Skyhorse.

[What can I say? I'm a conspiracy theorist at heart...]

*