FINISHED:
Potter, Ellen. (2010). The kneebone boy. New York: Feiwel & Friends.

[Took me so long because I was on vacation for a week and didn't get a chance to read at all.]

STARTED:
Gantos, Jack. (1998). Joey Pigza swallowed the key. New York: HarperCollins.

[Have had this on my shelf for quite some time... and it's overdue...]

*

FINISHED:
Service, Pamela F. (2011). Alien envoy. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner.

[Zack is an alien from the planet Izbor who was physically altered and sent to Earth as an Alien Agent for the Galactic Patrol. On Halloween night, Zack, the Alien Envoy to Earth, is picked up by fellow agents and whisked away in their spacecraft to meet with the Galactic Council who are deciding whether or not to invite Earth to join the Galactic Union. Unfortunately, it’s not an easy trip as the Kiapa Kapa Syndicate, who seem to have uncovered Zack’s true identity and are bent on making sure that he doesn’t make it in front of the Council, seem to be hot on their heels. Service has crafted a brisk, rollicking adventure with just the right amount of action and a healthy dose of hilarious description (“Zythis cleared his several throats.”), and even manages to slip in social messages about race relations (“When our people learned how to change the face of living things, we made it so that everyone was born a different color. That way there could be no groups of one color hating people of another color. Everyone was different.”) and commentary on how we treat our planet (“These people of Earth have not only endangered their own world; they could threaten the peace of the entire galaxy! A study of their history shows them to be a hopelessly reckless, warlike people.”). Gorman’s modern-cartoon illustrations appear in just the right amount – not too often or too sparse – and add the right zing, giving face to some of the more bizarrely described alien beings. This sixth installment in the Alien Agent series (Carolrhoda, 2008) works perfectly well on its own as a brief outerspace adventure that reluctant readers should find particularly appealing.]

STARTED:Potter, Ellen. (2010). The kneebone boy. New York: Feiwel & Friends.

[.]

*

STARTED:
Service, Pamela F. (2011). Alien envoy. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner.

[Reviewing for ACL.]

*

FINISHED:
Wells, Rosemary. (2010). On the Blue Comet. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.

[.]

STARTED:
Archer, E. (2011). Geek fantasy novel. New York: Scholastic.

[Reviewing for ACL.]

*

ABANDONED:
Donoghue, Emma. (2010). Room. New York: Little, Brown & Co.

[.]

STARTED:
Wells, Rosemary. (2010). On the Blue Comet. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Spratt, R.A. (2010). The adventures of Nanny Piggins. New York: Little, Brown & Co.

[.]

STARTED:
Donoghue, Emma. (2010). Room. New York: Little, Brown & Co.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Sherry, Maureen. (2010). Walls within walls. New York: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins.

[.]

STARTED:
Spratt, R.A. (2010). The adventures of Nanny Piggins. New York: Little, Brown & Co.

[.]

*

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

[.]

STARTED:
Sherry, Maureen. (2010). Walls within walls. New York: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins.

[Read an article about this one some time ago and have been intrigued.]

*

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:
Kopp, Sheldon B. (1972). If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him! Ben Lomond, CA: Science and Behavior Books.

[.]

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

[Reviewing for ACL.]

*