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:
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:
Brown, Box. (2016). Tetris: The Games People Play. New York: First Second.

[.]

STARTED:
Reynolds, Jason and Brendan Kiely. (2015). All American Boys. New York: Atheneum/Simon & Schuster.

[.]

*

FINISHED:

Federle, Tim. (2016).  The Great American Whatever. New York: Simon & Schuster.

[.]

STARTED:
Khan, Joshua. (2016). Shadow Magic. New York: Disney/Hyperion.

[Reviewing for ACL...]

*

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

[This one was FUN FUN FUN - mainly because it was targeted directly at me. Grow up playing videogames and going to arcades in the '70s? Is Wargames (MGM, 1983) one of your favorite movies? Did you watch all of the great sitcoms of the '80s like Family Ties? Cline (clearly a man that I could be friends with) has crafted a novel that is part Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, part DaVinci Code (only the best parts...) or The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, along with a healthy dose of pop culture nostalgia and dystopian science fiction. 30 & 40-something geeks rejoice!]

STARTED:
Applegate, Katherine. (2012). The one and only Ivan. New York: HarperCollins.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Whitehouse, David. (2011). Bed: a novel. New York: Scribner.

[.]

STARTED:
Beil, Michael D. (2011). The mistaken masterpiece [Red Blazer Girls #3]. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

[I'm a fan of these ladies...]

*

FINISHED:
Nielsen-Fernlund, Susin. (2010). Dear George Clooney: Please marry my mom. Toronto: Tundra.

[.]

STARTED:
Jenkins, Emily. (2011). Invisible Inkling. New York: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins.

[Reviewing for SFPL.]

*

FINISHED:
Beaudoin, Sean. (2011). You killed Wesley Payne. New York: Little, Brown & Company.

[ACL review to come...

[Reviewed from ARC.] Dalton Rev, a young independent Private “Dick” who’s trying to earn money to buy Kevlar vests for his brother’s platoon in the Middle East, is hired to investigate the death of high school student Wesley Payne whom, it is said, committed suicide. However, with a large amount of money missing from the principal of Salt River High’s safe, and the fact that Wesley was found duct taped to a football goal post upside down, Dalton and Payne’s sister, Macy, suspect foul play. Beaudoin has crafted a frenetic, teen neo-noir set against the backdrop of a hyper-stylized high school ruled by dueling cliques – the Balls (jocks) and the Pinker Caskets (rockers) – and where the faculty can be bribed and turn a blind eye to student wrong-doings. Though this is an amplified version of our world that has a lingo and logic all its own, Dalton is a surprisingly grounded character with typical teen worries effectively making him the character with whom we, the reader, can most identify. Included at the beginning is a chart mapping out all of Salt River High’s cliques as well as a “clique index” which describes, in hilarious detail, what kinds of kids fall into which cliques and sub-cliques. At the end is an extensive glossary of slang and pop culture references which are, much like the clique descriptions, presented with tongue planted firmly in cheek.]

STARTED:
Kinney, Jeff. (2010). Diary of a wimpy kid: the ugly truth. New York: Amulet Books.

[Oh, c'mon! These are pretty fun!]

*

FINISHED:
Silverman, Sarah. (2010). The bedwetter: Stories of courage, redemption, and pee. New York: HarperCollins.

[.]

STARTED:
Cottrell Boyce, Frank. (2010). Cosmic. New York: Walden Pond.

[So many starred reviews!]

*

FINISHED:

Byars, Betsy. (1976). The tv kid. New York: Viking.

[.]

STARTED:
Buckley-Archer, Linda. (2006). Gideon the cutpurse: Being the first part of the Gideon trilogy. New York: Simon & Schuster.

[Been on my list for quite awhile.]

*

FINISHED:

Barry, D., & Pearson, R. (2008). Science fair. New York: Disney Editions.

[.]

STARTED:
Benioff, David. (2008). City of thieves. New York: Viking/Penguin.

[Got this for Brian to read because I heard good things about it, but decided to read it as well because I LOVED 25th Hour (the movie).]

*

FINISHED:

Lethem, Jonathan. (2009). Chronic city. New York: Doubleday.

[.]

STARTED:
Look, Lenore. (2009). Alvin Ho: allergic to camping, hiking, and other natural disasters. New York: Random House.

[.]

*