There were a few books in between this post and the last, I just need to remember what they were...

FINISHED:
Pfeffer, Susan Beth. (2013). The shade of the moon. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

[.]


STARTED:
Lawrence, Caroline. (2013). P.K. Pinkerton and the petrified man. New York: Penguin/Putnam.

[.]

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FINISHED:
Mauser, Pat Rhoads.  (1982). A bundle of sticks. New York: Atheneum.


[.]


STARTED:
Willingham, Bill. (2002). Fables #1: Legends in exile. New York: DC Comics.


[Was in the mood for a comic series - and this one, I just read, is being turned into a TV series soon...]


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FINISHED:
Mull, Brandon. (2012). The candy shop war: Arcade catastrophe. Salt Lake City, UT: Shadow Mountain.


[.]


STARTED:
Mauser, Pat Rhoads. (1982). A bundle of sticks. New York: Atheneum.


[Read this one in middle school - remember it vividly because the title refers to the word "faggot", which is what the protagonist gets called by the school bully...]

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


[.]


STARTED:
Mull, Brandon. (2012). The candy shop war: Arcade catastrophe. Salt Lake City, UT: Shadow Mountain.


[He's one of my favorites...]

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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.


[.]

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FINISHED:
Coben, Harlan. (2013). Six years. New York: Dutton/Penguin.


[.]


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


[.]

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FINISHED:
Hunter, Erin. (2013). River of lost bears (Seekers: Return to the wild #3). New York: HarperCollins.


[.]


STARTED:
Coben, Harlan. (2013). Six years. New York: Dutton/Penguin.


[Look, ma!  I can read books for adults, too!]

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ABANDONED:
Mull, Brandon. (2013). Chasing the prophecy (Beyonders #3). New York: Aladdin.

[After weeks and weeks of plodding through this one... I finally... gave up!  Sorry Brandon!  You're one of  my favorites, but this series just didn't grab me... and I couldn't even stick it out to the end...]

STARTED:
Hunter, Erin. (2013).  River of lost bears (Seekers: Return to the wild #3). New York: HarperCollins.

[Reviewing for ACL... but it's not a chore because I'm kinda hooked on this series...]


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FINISHED:

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

[Review forthcoming...]

STARTED:

Mull, Brandon. (2013). Chasing the prophecy (Beyonders #3). New York: Aladdin.

[One of my favorite children's/YA authors.]

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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...]

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