FINISHED:
Springstubb, Tricia. (2015). Moonpenny Island. New York: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins.

[LOVE LOVE LOVE IT.]

STARTED:
Tyler, Anne. (2018). Clock Dance. New York: Knopf/Penguin Random House.

[NEW ANNE TYLER! NEW ANNE TYLER!!]

*

FINISHED:
Helget, Nicole. (2017). The End of the Wild. New York: Little, Brown and Company/Hachette Book Group.

[.]

STARTED:
Larson, Hope. (2016). Goldie Vance: Volume One. Los Angeles: Boom! Box.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Haydu, Corey Ann. (2017). The Someday Suitcase. New York: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins.

[Floridian fifth graders Clover and Danny are completely in tune, super-best friends, so when Danny becomes mysteriously ill, causing him to be unable to hang out and to miss a bunch of school, Clover starts to question who she is without her symbiotic other.  For her school science fair Clover decides that her project will be on Danny and an attempt to figure out what is ailing him, and then hatches a plan to get Danny to a new-agey clinic in Vermont that treated a classmate’s mother.  Haydu’s follow up to the exceptional Rules for Stealing Stars (HarperCollins, 2015) similarly doesn’t pull punches when it comes to heavy emotional situations but, rather, fully embraces them with a visceral, kick-in-the-gut reality, and her continual integration of science into the narrative – what it is, and what it means to be a scientist – keeps the reader questioning what they know.  Could Clover’s presence alone be helping Danny to feel better?  Clover’s never-waning devotion to her best friend is fully explored, with Clover even beginning to feel guilty for making a couple of new friends, and a depiction of a home life where she has to deal with a little brother who is on the autism spectrum and a truck driving father whom is frequently away add further character depth.  With a hint of magical realism, this is an examination of the line between where science ends and magic begins, positing that magic may just be science that we don’t yet understand.]

STARTED:
Cole, Henry. (2017). Bayberry Island [Brambleheart #2]. New York: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins.

[Liked the first one, thought that I'd review the second...]

*

FINISHED:
Holm, Jennifer L. (2014). The fourteenth goldfish. New York: Random House.

[.]


STARTED:
Averbeck, Jim. (2014). A Hitch at the Fairmont. New York: Atheneum/Simon & Schuster.

[.]


*

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


[.]


STARTED:
Boulle, Pierre. (1983). The whale of the Victoria Cross. New York: Vanguard Press.


[Patron recommendation...]


*

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

[Full review to come, but I REALLY liked this one and will nominate it for the ACL Distinguished Books List. And here it is:

It’s 1973, and thirteen year-old Ben’s father, a behavioral research scientist, brings home a week old baby chimpanzee whom he hopes the family will treat as a human while he attempts to teach him sign language. Only-child Ben is at first wary, but eventually comes to love and protect Zan (named after Tarzan) as if he really were a little brother, even going to great and extreme lengths to keep Zan around when it appears that he will be shipped off when the project is shut down. This is a straightforward, methodically plotted story that tackles such thought-provoking questions as “What makes a human a human?” and “What is a person?”, while delving into the issues of animal rights and the ethics of testing on animals. Emotionally riveting without being manipulative, there is a particularly well-handled, unsentimentally moving scence where, after the research project has been disbanded and he has been taken to a preserve where he’ll spend the rest of his days, Zan is stripped of everything that had once made him “human” with Ben despondently remarking, “We fooled him into thinking we were his real family.” Certain to incite discussion, this is stirring novel of family relationships and the ramifications of scientific posturing in the name of discovery. [Reviewed from ARC.]]

STARTED:
Law, Ingrid. (2010). Scumble. New York: Dial/Penguin/Walden Media.

[Do I deem it worthy of the ACL Distinguished List?]

*

FINISHED:
Houtman, Jacqueline. (2010). The reinvention of Edison Thomas. Honesdale, PA: Front Street/Boyds Mills.

[My review for ACL:

After a neighborhood school crossing guard is laid off, science wiz Edison Thomas, fearing for the safety of the other school children, attempts to construct a contraption that can that can take the place of a human at the intersection. Though never mentioned outright, Edison clearly lies somewhere on the high funtioning end of the Asperger’s/autism spectrum as he has weekly visits with a school therapist to help him distinguish facial cues, and is constantly baffled by figures of speech. Thus, scattered throughout the text are fun random facts and figures (all detailed in an appendix) from Edison’s cluttered brain which loosely pertain to situations/conversations in which he’s found himself. One of the strongest elements of Houtman’s tome is that it deals with the topical issue of bullying: Edison is unware, until it is brought to his attention by a new friend, that another boy whom he believes to be a friend is actually ridiculing Edison and attempting to get him in trouble. A strong novel of friendship and understanding, but one that will likely have limited appeal.]

STARTED:
Pullman, Philip. (2010). The good man Jesus and the scoundrel Christ. New York: Canongate/Publishers Group West.

[It's a blasphemous new Philip Pullman!]

*

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

[.]

STARTED:
West, Jacqueline. (2010). The books of Elsewhere: The shadows. New York: Dial.

[Reviewing for ACL.]

*

FINISHED:

Heiligman, Deborah. (2009). Charles and Emma: The Darwin's leap of faith. New York: Henry Holt.

[.]

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

[Was drawn in by the cover art the very first time I laid eyes upon it.]

*

FINISHED:

Stead, Rebecca. (2007). First light. New York: Wendy Lamb.

[.]

STARTED:
Baccalario, Pierdomenico. [trans. Leah D. Janeczko]. (2009). Ring of fire (Century quartet: Book 1). New York: Random House.

[I think that I may be the only one who got into the Ulysses Moore books - and I just found out today that there are MORE than the ones that got published by Scholastic in the U.S.! Unfortunately, the remaining titles in the series are only available in Spanish. I really like this guy's plotting, sense of environment, and use of faux scrapbook items (i.e. photos, receipts, maps, ticket stubs, etc.) to tell his stories. I just hope that they don't stop translating this series into English mid-way through...]

*

FINISHED:

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

[.]

STARTED:
Tyler, Anne. (2009). Noah's compass. New York: HarperCollins.

[A new Anne Tyler novel! A new Anne Tyler novel!]

*

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:

Huxley, Aldous. (1932). Brave new world/Brave new world revisited. New York: HarperCollins.

[Um, this is SO not the book I remember reading in high school English class. Come to think about it, maybe I only read the chapters that I had to do a presentation on. Lots of stuff to think about... Read a bunch of Revisited, but ultimately gave up. I honestly had thought that it was a novel as well - while it is certainly an interesting and thought provoking essay, I just needed to start reading some light fiction again..]

STARTED:
Wilson, N.D. (2007). 100 cupboards. New York: Random House.

[Have heard great things about this one - need to read the sequel, Dandelion Fire, for ACL distinguished list, so I figured it would be a good time to read it.]

*