FINISHED:
Williams-Garcia, Rita. (2017). Clayton Byrd Goes Underground. New York: Amistad/HarperCollins.

[.]

STARTED:
Reynolds, Jason. (2017). Long Way Down. New York: Atheneum/Simon & Schuster.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Bartók, Mira. (2017). The Wonderling. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

[.]

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

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Alexander, Kwame. (2017). Solo. New York: Blink/HarperCollins.

[.]

STARTED:
van Gulden, Holly, and Bartles-Rabb, Lisa M. (1993). Real Parents, Real Children: Parenting the Adopted Child. New York: Crossroad.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Pérez, Celia C. (2017). The First Rule of Punk. New York: Viking/Penguin Random House.

[Twelve year old, Mexican American, zine-creating María Luisa – who goes by Malú – must move from Florida to Chicago for two years when her mom gets a temporary job there, sad that she must leave behind her father (her parents are divorced) and his music store.  Always having felt more of a connection to her father’s punk music influence than her mother’s Mexican heritage, Malú feels a bit out of touch with the primarily Latinx neighborhood and school in which she now finds herself, but when the makeshift band that Malú forms with some schoolmates doesn’t get chosen to be in the school talent show because the school wants it to reflect tradition, Malú and the Cocos (the band’s name) decide to have their own Alterna-Fiesta Talent Show and play a punked-up version of the Mexican classic “Cielito Lindo”.  The singularly-focused and uncluttered narrative is briskly paced and thoroughly engaging, featuring Malú’s likeable voice which often sounds like you are reading excerpts directly from her journal.  By the end, Malú has learned the value of her heritage by interacting with her new neighbors and classmates, and is able to integrate both sides/identities of her parents when she begins to connect with her Mexican heritage through its music. Reproductions of Malu’s multi-page zines provide interludes between select chapters, and serve to provide further explanation on topics such as the slur “coconut”, Calaveras, and dyeing your hair.]

STARTED:
Alexander, Kwame. (2017). Solo. New York: Blink/HarperCollins.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Wegelius, Jakob. (2017). The Murderer's Ape. New York: Delacorte/Random House.

[.]

STARTED:
Yoon, Nicola. (2016). The Sun is Also a Star. New York: Delacorte/Random House.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Grimes, Nikki. (2016). Garvey's Choice. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Highlights.

[.]

STARTED:
Holm, Jennifer L. (2016). Full of Beans. New York: Random House.

[.]

*

FINISHED:

Ryan, Pam Muñoz. (2015).  Echo.  New York: Scholastic.

[SO PLEASED to now be able to list this one here on the blog.  Obviously, as it was on of our Newbery Honor books, it's one that I read A NUMBER of times last year.  Also cool to now read it to just... read it.  No more note-taking and intense scrutiny.  Just able to read it for the FANTASTIC piece of fiction that it is.]

STARTED:
Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker. (2015). The War That Saved My Life. New York: Dial/Penguin.

[Re-reading before meeting the author at the ALA Annual conference.]

*

FINISHED:
Aston, Martin. (2013). Facing the Other Way: the Story of 4AD.  London: The Friday Project/HarperCollins UK.

[Over 600 pages of year-by-year stories about the history of the greatest record label - and I loved every minute of it.  I'm calling this "4AD February" and making it a point to listen to as much 4AD music as possible (I've got over 240 4AD albums in iTunes).]

STARTED:
Gulik, Robert Hans van. (1965).  The monkey and the tiger (Judge Dee Mysteries). Chicago: University of Chicago Press/Macmillan.

[Patron recommended.]

*

FINISHED:
Rowell, Rainbow. (2013). Eleanor & Park. New York: St. Martin's Griffin.


[.]


STARTED:
Levithan, David. (2013). Two boys kissing. New York: Knopf.


[Reading the SIGNED advanced copy that I got at ALA!]


*

FINISHED:
Hartman, Rachel. (2012). Seraphina. New York: Random House.



[.]


STARTED:
Dashner, James. (2012). The kill order. New York: Delacorte.


[The Maze Runner and its followup novels have been some of my absolute favorites from the past few years...]

*

FINISHED:
Birdsall, Jeanne. (2011). The Penderwicks at Point Mouette. New York: Random House.

[.]

STARTED:
Augarde, Steve. (2010). X Isle. New York: David Fickling Books.

[.]

*

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:
Beil, Michael. (2010). The Red Blazer Girls: The vanishing violin. New York: Knopf.

[.]

STARTED:
Baccalario, Pierdomenico. [trans. Leah D. Janeczko]. (2010). Star of stone (Century quartet: Book 2). New York: Random House.

[For some reason, I like this guy (fun mysteries? exotic and vivid locales? the inclusion of dossiers containing photos and other realia?) - so far I'm not quite sure where all of this is leading, but I'm still along for the ride.]

*

FINISHED:
Avi. (2010). Crispin: The end of time. New York: Balzer & Bray.

[.]

STARTED:
Oppel, Kenneth. (2010). Half brother. New York: Scholastic.

[Reviewing for ACL.]

*

FINISHED:

Curtis, Christopher Paul. (1999). Bud, not Buddy. New York: Yearling/Random House.

[Damn, this guy can write.]

STARTED:
Gaiman, Neil. (2008). The graveyard book. New York: HarperCollins.

[Was trying to find a good one to read for the Halloween season and this one jumped off my shelf. I buy the Newbery and Caldecott winners each year, so I've had it sitting around and have been meaning to get to it.]

*

FINISHED:

Thompson, Kate. (2005/2007). The new policeman. New York: Greenwillow/HarperCollins.

[Liked this one. It didn't ever compel me to WANT to keep reading, but it was nicely uncomplicated and straightforward. J.J. is led into another world through a souterrain in an Irish ring fort and hopes to find the source of a leak that is letting time escape from our world and poison a world that doesn't know time. Rich in Irish lore and music, this is a novel with a number of great moments such as when J.J. finally returns to our world and realizes that the pile of dust in his hand is Bran, the wounded dog that followed him around in the other world.]

STARTED:
Obama, Barack. (2006). The audacity of hope: Thoughts on reclaiming the American dream. New York: Crown/Random House.

[I've been wanting to read this one for a while now. Figured that I ought to try to get inside the head a bit of the man that I will be voting for in November to be our next president. Plus, Brian will be pleased to see that I'm reading an "adult" book...]

*