FINISHED:
Ukazu, Ngozi. (2018). Check Please! Book 1: Hockey. New York: First Second/Roaring Brook.

[.]

STARTED:
?????

[.]

*

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:
Johnson, Maureen. (2018). Truly Devious. New York: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins.

[.]

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

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Tamani, Liara. (2017). Calling My Name. New York: Greenwillow/HarperCollins.

[.]

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

[.]

*

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

[.] 

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

[Getting some Newbery buzz...]

*

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: 
Konigsberg, Bill. (2017). Honestly Ben. New York: Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic.

[.]

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

[.]

*

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

[Jamaican Natasha and Korean American Daniel spend the day wandering around New York determining that they are meant to be together.  Drawn together while each focused on a potentially life-changing task (he has an interview with a Yale graduate, she is hoping to prevent her family from being deported back to Jamaica that evening), the two, through alternating chapters in each of their voices, examine the links between life and love, and coincidence and fate.]

STARTED:
Standish, Ali. (2017). The Ethan I Was Before. New York: HarperCollins.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Aciman, André. (2007). Call Me By Your Name. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

[.]

STARTED:
Zusak, Markus. (2005). The Book Thief. New York: Knopf.

[Been meaning to read this for many years - we've even had our own copy sitting a shelf for quite awhile.]

*

FINISHED:
Telgemeier, Raina. (2016). Ghosts. New York: Scholastic.

[.]

STARTED:
Cole, Henry. (2016). The Somewhat True Adventures of Sammy Shine. Atlanta: Peachtree.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Albertalli, Becky. (2015). Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. New York: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins.

[Finally got around to reading this one after getting a free copy at the Morris Awards while at ALA Midwinter.  FANTASTIC read.  This is another case of "why wasn't this book around when I was a teenager?" envy.  Great voice.  Cleverly has every other chapter be emails between Simon's secret identity and Blue (another student at school who is keeping his identity under wraps).  A fun coming out story with a sweet romance that builds slowly, and virtually!]

STARTED:
Wolk, Lauren. (2016). Wolf Hollow. New York: Dutton/Penguin/Random House.

[4 starred reviews (from all of the majors) - and having fun trying to pick what might be up for the 2017 Newbery.]

*

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: 
Highsmith, Patricia. (1952). The Price of Salt. Mineola, NY: Dover.

[.]

STARTED:

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

[.]

*

FINISHED: 
Hartinger, Brent. (2013). The elephant of surprise. Seattle: Buddha Kitty.

[.]


STARTED:
Engle, Margarita. (2014). Silver people: Voices from the Panama Canal. New York: Houghton Mifflin.

[.]


*

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

[Narrated by the ghosts of gay men who died of AIDS, this one cuts between a couple of different storylines:  two young men attempt to break the world record for kissing, two teens (one of whom is transgendered) meet at a Gay Prom and begin to date, a gay teen couple help to normalize gay relationships, and a nihlistic teen who is constantly on gay-hookup sites runs away from home.  Pretty powerful stuff, and an interesting look at a range of current gay youth relationships.  This one also points out how much "better" things are for those who are coming out today (seeing as homosexuality is much more "normalized" these days), versus those gay men who had to live in the shadows, completely denying themselves, in the '70s and '80s. ]


STARTED:
McMann, Lisa. (2012). Island of silence (Unwanteds: Book 2). New York: Aladdin.

[The first in this series is one that I like to booktalk and put in kids' hands... and I realized that I haven't read EITHER of the sequels!]

*

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:
Hartinger, Brent. (2007). Split screen: Attack of the Soul-sucking Brain Zombies. New York: HarperCollins.


[LOVE LOVE LOVE these books!  I've said it before many times, but, where were these books when I was growing up??  Funny and matter-of-fact, treating homosexuality (and bisexuality) as plain as one would heterosexuality.  AND, there's a "discussion" between Russel and his parents (who find out about his being gay... and don't handle it so well...) that is BRILLIANT.  I'm going to copy those pages and hold on to them - Russel doesn't back down at all in the talk, and, in fact, makes some brilliant points that render the priest somewhat speechless.  Where's the next one??]


STARTED:
Yancey, Rick. (2013). The 5th wave. New York: G.P. Putnam's/Penguin.


[.]

*

FINISHED:
Green, John. (2012). The fault in our stars. New York: Dutton/Penguin.


[This one had received SO MUCH hype that by the time I got around to reading it, maybe my perception was skewed.  That said, it still just didn't resonate with me as much as I expected it to.  Hazel and Augustus meet at a cancer support group meeting for teens, hit it off immediately, and embark on a relationship knowing full well that their time together will be limited.  While I thought some of the language was wonderful, many things that the kids say just didn't seem like they'd come from a teenagers mouth... even one who's staring death in the face.  The character of the author of Hazel's favorite book seemed like a gross caricature, and Hazel and Augustus's SUDDEN trip to Amsterdam (Augustus uses his "wish" from the Make a Wish Foundation...) didn't seem plausible.  This isn't to say that I didn't enjoy the book at all, I suppose it was all of the praise that set it up for me as too good to be true.  NOTE: At one point toward the end, Hazel's mom says that she's been taking online college courses and, if all goes well, will go UP to the Bloomington campus in the summer.  Well, the characters live in Indianapolis... so... if they were to go to IU Bloomington from there, they'd be driving SOUTH (i.e. DOWN).  The author lives in Indy, so I don't know why he wouldn't know this... unless he's refering to one of IU's satellite campuses in Northern Indiana...]

STARTED & FINISHED:

deBonneval, Gwen. (2013). William and the lost spirit. Minneapolis, MN: Graphic Universe/Lerner.

[.]

STARTED:

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

[Reviewing for ACL...]

*

FINISHED:
Levithan, David. (2012). Every day. New York: Knopf.

[LOVED LOVED LOVED this one.  "A" is a being who wakes up in a different body every morning and doesn't identify as male or female.  One day, A wakes up as the boyfriend of Rhiannon and shares such an incredible day with her that he ends up falling in love.  From then on out, regardless of who A wakes up as s/he makes an effort to contact Rhiannon, eventually revealing to her the situation of his/her life.  A FASCINATING premise that, with only a hint of preachiness, brings up a multitude of issues.  AND, this is one that called up so many questions surrounding the premise (such as:  What do the teens whose bodies A takes over remember from that day when A is inside them??), but, amazingly, addressed all of the questions I had.]


STARTED:
Palacio, R.J. (2012). Wonder. New York: Knopf.

[So much buzz...]


*

FINISHED:
Hartinger, Brent. (2005). The Order of the Poison Oak. New York: HarperCollins.

[Russel is back!  This time, it's summer break and he volunteers to be a summer camp counselor with his friends Min and Gunnar - newly "out", it's his effort to be somewhere where he won't be harassed for being "the gay kid".  And, it turns out to be a summer filled with misbehaved 10-year old burn survivors, encounters with love (even if they turn out to be jerks), forest fires, poison oak, and therapeutic folktales.]

STARTED:
Walker, Karen Thompson. (2012). Age of Miracles: a novel. New York: Random House.

[Who doesn't love a good end-of-the-world book??]

*