It's Monday 5/7! What Are You Reading?

Life is still insanely busy and rushing past at breakneck speed, but I did manage to do some catching up on my book blogs last week!

Despite the busy week, we all enjoyed some good books:

• I finished Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson, a unique thriller about a woman with amnesia that kept me captivated until the very last page.  Everyone in my book group enjoyed it, too.
• I am now reading Dicey's Song, a middle-grade/teen novel by Cynthia Voight, part of her award-winning series about the Tillerman family.  The books have recently been re-released, and this is my first time reading any of them.  It is excellent - warm and real, about four siblings who have lost their mother and gone to live with their previously unknown grandmother in another state.
• I am also still listening to Leisl and Po by Lauren Oliver on audio.  I am almost done (finally) with this excellent middle-grade novel about a girl and a ghost.
  
• My husband, Ken, temporarily set aside The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman, a nonfiction book about World War II, so that he could read Before I Go To Sleep before it is due back to the library!  I think he is enjoying the unique suspense novel so far.
• Jamie, 17, finished re-reading Maddigan's Fantasia by Margaret Mahy, one of his all-time favorite novels.  He and I are still reading lots of ancient Persian poetry and prose, trying to get him caught up in his World Lit class.  Not the most exciting stuff I've ever read.
• When he needs a break from all his make-up schoolwork, Jamie is re-reading The Exiled Queen, Book 2 of The Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima.
• Craig, 14, is reading Book 4 of The Last Apprentice series by Joseph Delaney, Attack of the Fiend.

As I said, I finally had the chance to catch up on reviews last week.  I posted:

• Review of The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes, a British novel that won the Man Booker Prize for best novel last year and kept me engaged with its thoughtful story of a man looking back at his life;
• Review of another British novel (I've been on a British streak lately), The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart, which was entirely different, with its funny, warm look at love and marriage;
• A summary of the books I read in April;
• Review of Ship Breaker, a teen/YA dystopian audio that my family enjoyed on a recent road trip;
• And a review of the middle-grade novel Night of the Spadefoot Toads by Bill Harley.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a middle-grade/teen version hosted by Teach Mentor Texts.)

Middle-Grade Review: Night of the Spadefoot Toads

Our family loves Bill Harley, author, storyteller, and entertainer-extraordinaire.  His CDs and DVD feature a mixture of silly songs and outrageous stories that we can listen to again and again (and still laugh like crazy!).  He wrote a holiday picture book, Dear Santa: the Letters of James B. Dobbins, that quickly became a favorite in our household (even now that the boys are teens) for its warmth and wit.  So, I was eager to read his latest middle-grade novel, Night of the Spadefoot Toads.  I expected silly humor but instead found a serious, engaging novel with an environmental bent that I enjoyed very much.

Ten-year old Ben is not happy.  His family just moved thousands of miles from his beloved desert in Arizona to cold, wet Massachusetts.  He left behind his best friend, his pet lizard, and the desert landscape he loves.  Ben feels like he doesn’t fit into this new place.  He has no real friends yet and misses the reptiles that lived near his home.  Then, he makes an unlikely friend – his new science teacher, Mrs. Tibbets (who his fellow students estimate is at least a hundred years old!).  She asks Ben to help her with some yard work and, while at her house, shows him some of the unfamiliar flora and fauna in the woods behind her house.

Before long, Ben is as excited as Mrs. Tibbets about the expected appearance of the spadefoot toads, a species that emerges from underground just one night a year (sometimes not at all) after a hard, soaking rain in early spring.  Just as things seem to be looking up for Ben, he learns that Mrs. Tibbets is being forced to sell her house and land to developers, thereby further endangering the rare toads that live there.  In his desire to help the toads, Ben begins to neglect his schoolwork, his family, and even some budding friendships.  He needs to figure out a creative way to save the toads without damaging his own life.

I found myself pulled into this intriguing novel right from the start.  The characters are well-drawn and realistic.  Although it does not feature Harley’s renowned silliness, it is clear that he remembers what it is like to be a kid, just as his funny stories from his own childhood told in his live shows and CDs, illustrate.  The facts about the toads in the novel are all true, and the book won the Green Earth Book Award.  This is a sure winner for middle-grade readers who like to read about kids like themselves or have an interest in animals and the environment.

218 pages, Peachtree Publishers

NOTE:  If you'd also like to check out Harley's fabulous sense of humor, I highly recommend Yes to Running! in either CD or DVD form (see link below).

         

Teen/YA Review: Ship Breaker

Before our recent spring break road trip to Oklahoma, I perused the teen/YA shelves at the library for something that would appeal to the whole family.  My sons are 14 and 17 now and no longer content to listen to whatever audio books Mom chooses – and often they prefer to listen to their iPods now – so I was hoping to find an audio that would engage them, as well as my husband and I, during our long hours of driving.  I chose Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi, a teen/YA dystopian novel that sounded action-packed; like most kids their age, they both read and enjoyed The Hunger Games, so I thought that a dystopian novel might work.  Well, I still couldn’t get my youngest son to listen with us (he’s just at that age when he needs to make his own choices), but the other three of us enjoyed Ship Breaker very much.

It’s set in a post-apocalyptic time along the US’s Gulf Coast, where one huge storm after another has changed the landscape and the economy.  Although there are a wealthy few in charge, most people in the Gulf Coast region have to scrape together a living by working on a crew, helping to scavenge metal and copper wiring from the huge oil tankers that have run aground there.  Nailer, a teen boy, lives from one day to the next with his violent, drug-addicted father, working light crew with his group of rough peers, hoping he doesn’t grow so much that he can no longer crawl through the ships’ ductwork. 

After one particularly bad storm, a wealthy clipper ship wrecks a short distance from their beach, and Nailer and a crewmate, Pima, find it before anyone else notices it.  The ship is filled with more wealth than they have ever seen or heard of – including silver platters and gold jewelry – but as they are scavenging whatever they can carry, they discover a girl about their own age who is barely alive.  Now they have a problem: do they turn the girl over to the adults and allow the girl herself to be sold for her parts or try to hide her so they can collect a ransom when her family comes looking for her?

It’s a dark, gritty story populated by coarse but likeable characters faced with often unthinkable ethical dilemmas.  My husband, son, and I really enjoyed the audio which captures the tone of the desperate time and place.  The story was fast-paced and exciting and kept our interest over the long hours in the car!

352 pages, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Brilliance Audio

   

It's Monday 4/30! What Are You Reading?

Monday already?  The weekend went by in a flash - very busy!  In fact, I've had almost no time for writing reviews the past few weeks, so my backlog keeps growing!  My family and I have been reading, though:

• I finished the middle-grade novel The Night of the Spadefoot Toads by Bill Harley and enjoyed it, though it was different than I expected.
• Next I read The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes, a novel which was short-listed for the Man Booker prize.  I'd heard it mentioned on several of my favorite book podcasts, so I requested it from the library.  It was very good, a literary novel but surprisingly engaging and even a bit suspenseful.
• I am now reading Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson for one of my book groups that meets this week.  I love this book!!  I hate to set it down, have been staying up way too late reading (promising myself, "Just one more page..."), and even trying to squeeze in 5 minutes of reading time wherever I can.  It's hugely suspenseful, about a woman who's lost her memory, so she wakes each morning having no idea who she is or who the man sleeping beside her is.  The bulk of the novel is her journal, where she is trying to put together the puzzle of her past and how she came to be this way.  Fabulous!
• I am still listening to Liesl and Po, a middle-grade audio by Lauren Oliver which is very good so far.
  
• My husband, Ken, finished Black Hills by Dan Simmons, a historical novel set in one of our favorite places, the Black Hills region of South Dakota.  He said it was very good.
  
• He is now reading The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman on his Kindle, a novel set during World War II.
• Jamie, 17, hasn't been reading nearly as much as he usually does because he has just one month left to finish all his school work in time for graduation (he missed over 70 days of school this year due to medical problems), so he's been concentrating on that.  He and I were reading some ancient Persian poetry for his World Lit class last week (it is just as exciting as it sounds).  For fun, he is still re-reading one of his all-time favorite novels Maddigan's Fantasia by Margaret Mahy.
• Jamie finished An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina, the autobiography that inspired the movie Hotel Rwanda, for his World Lit class.  He said it was an excellent book, fascinating and stunning, and that I have to read it!
• Craig is reading Attack of the Fiend, Book 4 in The Last Apprentice series by Joseph Delaney.  He loves this series!

So, lots of good readings last week, but no blog posts other than my Monday summary! I am hoping to get back on track this week.


What are you and your family reading?


(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kids/teen version hosted by Teach Mentor Texts.)

It's Monday 4/23! What Are Your Reading?

Busy week!  And it's only going to get busier over the next 2 months...my oldest son is graduating from high school, my youngest "graduates" from middle school and is playing the lead in his school musical, soccer season is in full swing...whew!  We had house guests this weekend, too (my mom and her husband), so none of us had much time for books this past week, but here's what we are reading:

• I finished Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford and loved it.  I went to hear the author talk on Wednesday (the book was our County Reads selection for this year), and he was wonderful - very entertaining, with a great sense of humor!
• I am now reading a middle-grade novel, The Night of the Spadefoot Toads by Bill Harley, a favorite storyteller and entertainer of ours.  It's very good so far but different than I expected.
• My husband, Ken, is still reading Black Hills by Dan Simmons and enjoying it.  We are now planning to visit the South Dakota Black Hills this summer (he has family there), and he says the novel is making him excited to visit again!
• Jamie, 17, is still re-reading one of his favorite novels, Maddigan's Fantasia by Margaret Mahy.  He hasn't had much reading time lately because he has been back in school most days and trying to catch up so he can graduate on time.
• Jamie is also reading An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina, an autobiography by the man who inspired the movie Hotel Rwanda, for his World Lit class.  Jamie says it is an eye-opening, fascinating book.  I think I will have to read this one, too!
• Craig, 14, is reading Book 4 of The Last Apprentice series by Joseph Delaney, Attack of the Fiend.  He really enjoys this series!
• I am listening to Liesl and Po by Lauren Oliver on audio, a middle-grade novel about a girl who befriends a ghost.  It's very good so far.
• And, since my mom is staying with us for a few more days, I will include her in this week's overview.  She borrowed and just started reading The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson, based on my recommendation.  She is laughing already!

I posted a review of The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid last week but didn't have time for any other blog posts.

What are you and your family reading this week?


(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Teach Mentor Texts.)

So many gorgeous flowering trees in our neighborhood last week!

It's Monday 4/16! What Are You Reading?

We are back home from spring break, after visiting my father-in-law in Oklahoma last week.  It was a good visit but a loooong drive home (mostly in the rain) this weekend.  The weather was so bad, we weren't even able to camp; we had to stay in hotels on the way home.  But now we're home...and facing lots of unpacking and catching up today.


We enjoyed some good books while we were away:

• I have been reading Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford.  I absolutely LOVE this novel about two children separated by the Japanese internment during World War II.  I just want to keep reading and hate to set it down!  The author is speaking here in my town this week, so I am hoping to attend his talk (this is our County Reads selection).
• My husband, Ken, is still reading Black Hills, a historical novel by Dan Simmons set in one of our favorite places, where he has family.
• After finishing The Farsala Trilogy by Hilari Bell, Jamie, 17, re-read one of his all-time favorite novels, Maddigan's Fantasia by Margaret Mahy.
• Craig, 14, is reading Book 4 of The Last Apprentice by Joseph Delaney, Attack of the Fiend.  I read some of it with him during our trip.  He loves this series!
• In the car, we finished listening to Ship Breaker by award-winning author Paolo Bagicalupi, a  teen/YA dystopian novel (and a Printz honor winner) that we all enjoyed.  It was dark, action-packed, and gripping.
• And I read a big stack of magazines in the car.  That's my guilty pleasure for long car rides!  I never have time to look through magazines normally, so they just stack up.  I can't read books in the car without getting sick, but I can manage flipping through magazines, so I enjoyed that little break.

On vacation last week at my father-in-law's, I had plenty of time away from my to-do lists, so I wrote two book reviews:  the audio book Falling Together by Marisa De los Santos and the wonderful middle-grade novel Glory Be by Augusta Scattergood.  I also posted a discussion of the movie The Hunger Games which we finally had a chance to see while we were on vacation!

What are you and your  family reading this week?


(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kids/teen version hosted at Teach Mentor Texts.)

Enjoying a campfire in Tennessee

Middle-Grade Review: Glory Be

--> I really enjoyed Glory Be, a middle-grade novel by Augusta Scattergood, set in the summer of 1964 in Mississippi, amidst the growing civil rights conflicts.  It’s kind of like The Help or Mudbound, only told from the innocent perspective of a twelve-year old girl.

Gloriana June Hemphill, aka Glory, has been looking forward to this summer when she finally turns twelve.  She plans to have her birthday party at the community pool, like she does every year, and can’t wait for her southern town’s annual Fourth of July celebration.  But everything seems different this year.  Her 14-year old sister, Jesslyn, who used to be her close friend, is now ignoring her to hang out with her pep squad friends.  Glory’s best friend, Frankie, is acting strangely and repeating things his brother and father say about the black residents of town that make Glory feel uncomfortable.  And the whole town is in an uproar over the northerners staying in their town who are in favor of desegregation.

Glory doesn’t know much about civil rights, but she knows that she loves their colored housekeeper, Emma, like a second mother, and she likes her new friend, Laura, who is from Ohio and visiting with her mother, one of the “northern troublemakers” everyone is talking about.  When her beloved pool closes for no good reason, Glory feels like the summer is ruined, and she can’t figure out why all the adults around her are so upset about the visitors.

I loved this novel.  Glory is a likable main character, and her innocence and naiveté provide a different perspective to the civil rights movement, though the novel also deals with classic growing-up themes.  This is Scattergood’s first novel, and I look forward to reading more from her.

199 pages, Scholastic

The Hunger Games movie

Yes, we finally went to see The Hunger Games movie last night, and I am dying to talk about it!

Our whole family read the book (and loved it, of course) - here is my review.  Craig, our 14-year old, got to see the movie the first day it came out, with his entire English class on a field trip, but the rest of us hadn't seen it yet.  We are visiting my father-in-law in Oklahoma and finally had some free time to go to the movies yesterday (a rarity for us!).

Within the first 10 minutes of the movie, I was already crying, and Jamie, my 17-year old son, was whispering to me, "I just have to read the whole series again!" (and of course, also making fun of me for crying!).  In fact, I cried three times during the movie, even though I knew what to expect after reading the book.

I thought they did a fabulous job of adapting the book into a movie; it was obvious that Suzanne Collins co-wrote the screenplay and advised on production.  The casting was perfect - every character just seemed to match my mental images.  I especially liked Stanley Tucci as the MC, Caeser Flickerman, with his blue hair and wild enthusiasm.  And, of course, the actors in the main roles of Katniss, Peeta, and Gale were just wonderful.  Lenny Kravitz was an unusual but inspired choice for Cinna.

I loved seeing the Capitol and all of its superficial people brought to life - it was just amazing eye candy!  And, even though I knew what was going to happen, the action in the arena was still horrifying and compelling.

So, overall, a big thumbs up from my family.  Those two and a half hours passed by very quickly (other than my full bladder by the end!).  We can't wait to see Catching Fire!

What did you think of the movie?

It's Monday 4/9! What Are You Reading?

Happy spring break!  I hope everyone had a nice Easter.  We were camping Easter morning (but the bunny found us!) and arrived in time for an Easter dinner with my father-in-law in Oklahoma.


Not a lot of time for reading last week, between packing for our trip and several days spent driving (I can't read in the car, unfortunately), though the road trip gave us a chance to listen to audio books.  Here's what we read last week:

• I just (this morning!) finished The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart.  I was only about halfway through it when my book group met last Wednesday, so I excused myself to the bathroom while they discussed the ending!  I really enjoyed this unique British book about love and relationships with a fabulous sense of humor.
• My husband, Ken, is reading and enjoying Black Hills by Dan Simmons, a historical novel set in South Dakota's Black Hills, a favorite vacation spot of ours where some of my husband's family lives.
• Jamie, 17, has no problem reading in the car, so he reads nonstop on road trips!  Before we left home, he read Book 4 of the Tunnels series by Roderick Gordon, Closer.  He loves this series and can't wait for Book 5's release in May!
  
• During our drive, Jamie reread one of his favorite series, The Farsala Trilogy by Hilari Bell.  He read Book 1: Fall of a Kingdom, Book 2: Rise of a Hero, and Book 3: Forging the Sword.  This is one of Jamie's all-time favorites; he really wants his brother to read it.
• Craig, 14, is reading Book 4 of The Last Apprentice by Joseph Delaney, Attack of the Fiend.  This is the furthest he's ever read in a series, so it must be pretty good!
• And...our audio books!  We finally found our own copy of our family's all-time favorite audio book, Looking for Bobowicz by Daniel Pinkwater, so we started our trip by listening to that...again!  This is probably the 5th time we've listened to it, and we still laughed like crazy.  Many lines from this book have made it into our family lingo.  It's a silly little middle-grade novel, but Daniel Pinkwater is just hilarious - both his writing and his reading of the audio.  Classic.
• We also started a new teen/YA dystopian audio, Ship Breaker by Paolo Bagicalupi, which won multiple awards.  It is very good so far, a unique story of a grim future on the Gulf Coast with a likable main character.

No time for reviews last week, but I did post my summary of Books Read in March.


What are you and your family reading this week?


(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted at Teach Mentor Texts.)

Easter Morning at Wooly Hollow State Park, Arkansas

It's Monday 4/2! What Are You Reading?

Wow, April already.  Funny thing is that it felt like spring in early March and now it feels almost wintry again!  March came in like a lamb and went out like a lion this year!

Very busy week with school stuff, soccer starting, spring break preparations, plus dealing with my younger son's knee injury (still waiting for MRI results to hear how bad it is).  As always, though, our books provided a little respite from the chaos.  Here's what we're reading:

• I finished - and thoroughly enjoyed - Bill Bryson's memoir of growing up in the 50's, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid.  Interesting and very entertaining.
• I also finished (finally) my audio book, Falling Together by Marisa De los Santos, and enjoyed that one, too.
• I started a new audio, the middle-grade novel Leisl and Po by Lauren Oliver.  So far, it is reminding me a bit in tone and story of The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (which is obviously a compliment!).
• Next, I read another middle-grade novel, Glory Be by Augusta Scattergood, set in 1964 in Mississippi.  It's a young girl's view of the civil rights battles going on in her small town; it was very good.
• I am now reading The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart for my neighborhood book group.  It's very good so far, quite amusing.  I waited too long to start it (again!), so I have a lot of reading to do before Wednesday!
• My husband, Ken, is reading Black Hills by Dan Simmons, a historical novel set in the Black Hills region of South Dakota.  Besides being a good novel so far, this book has special significance for Ken because part of his family lives in that area, which he has visited frequently since he was a kid.  We are thinking of going back this summer.
• On his Kindle during our son's many medical appointments this week, Ken has been reading The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman.  I may have to borrow his Kindle so I can read this one!
• Jamie, 17, finished re-reading The Books of Umber trilogy by P.W. Catanese and moved onto re-reading the Tunnels series by Brian James Williams and Roderick Gordon.  He has read Book 1: Tunnels, Book 2: Deeper, and is now reading Book 3: Freefall.  These are each over 600 pages long!  I read - and enjoyed - Tunnels but have never found the time to tackle the rest of the series.  Jamie says it just gets better and better.
• For his World Lit class, Jamie is reading An Ordinary Man, an autobiography of Paul Rusesabagina, the book that inspired the movie Hotel Rwanda.  I really want to read this one when he is done with it.  
• Craig, 14, is reading more than usual because his injury is keeping him off his feet (but he is still going stir-crazy!).  He finished The Voyage of the Frog by Gary Paulsen.
• With the end of the marking period behind him, Craig went back to continue the longer novel he'd started a few weeks ago, Night of the Soul Stealer by Joseph Delaney, Book 3 of The Last Apprentice series.

I posted one review last week, the teen/YA novel An Abundance of Katherines by John Green.  I also posted lists of the Top Ten Books I'd Like to Play Hooky With and Top Ten Kids/Teen Books I'd Like to Play Hooky With.


And, finally, I am looking for audio book suggestions for our upcoming family road trip and would love to hear your recommendations!


What are you and your family reading this week?


(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kids/teen version hosted by Teach Mentor Texts.)

Any Good Audio Book Suggestions?

I am looking for a really good audio book the whole family will enjoy to take on our spring break road trip and would appreciate any suggestions.

My sons are 14 and 17.  They both love adventure and suspense.  One loves fantasy; the other enjoys it sometimes but only if it is really good.  They both enjoy dystopian novels, too, and everyone loves humor.

Some of our past favorites have included:

• The Harry Potter series (of course)
• Boom! by Mark Haddon
• The Oracles of Delphi Keep by Victoria Laurie
• Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
• The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (of course!)
• Prism by Faye and Aliza Kellerman (a favorite)
• Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements

Any recommendations for this trip??

Teen/YA Review: An Abundance of Katherines

I have been meaning to read a John Green novel for a very long time; I keep hearing people rave about what a wonderful writer he is and how he is one of the best YA authors out there.  So, even though I have stacks and stacks of teen/YA books here at my house, waiting to be read, I detoured to the Teen section of our library last week to search for John Green.  None of his better-known award-winners were on the shelf (I have a feeling they rarely are!), but I found one book, An Abundance of Katherines, that I brought home and read.  I enjoyed this heartfelt, humorous novel very much.

Colin Singleton has just graduated from high school, but he is not celebrating.  He has just been dumped by his girlfriend, Katherine, one in a long string of break-ups with Katherines – nineteen to be exact.  Colin is a child prodigy who started to read at age two.  The problem is that he feels like everyone else has caught up to him now, and what is a child prodigy who is no longer a child?  He fears he is no longer special and will never do anything that really matters in life.

To cheer him up – and amuse himself – Colin’s best friend, Hassan, suggests a road trip to get Colin’s mind off the latest Katherine.  Hassan is an overweight Muslim who was as much of an outcast as Colin when the two met in middle school and became each other’s first – and only – best friend.  So, the two set off in Satan’s Hearse, their name for Colin’s enormous Oldsmobile, and leave Chicago.

They encounter new friends, a town in the middle of nowhere Tennessee, a dead archduke’s grave, and a feral hog, but Colin is still obsessing over the break-up and his long, bleak history with Katherines.  He decides to approach the problem mathematically, coming up with a Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability that he hopes will allow anyone to predict the course (and eventual demise) of any relationship.  Then, maybe, he will have done something that matters.

This novel has a great sense of humor, and the witty repartee between Colin and Hassan is endlessly amusing.  But there are also plenty of solid, real-life emotions here, as both boys grapple with their insecurities and grow emotionally during the summer.  The issues here are those that every young person deals with – the meaning of friendship, the quest for love, and battles with self-doubt.  Overall, it was a very entertaining and satisfying novel.  I look forward to reading more John Green books!

215 pages, Dutton Books

 

Top Ten Kids/Teen Books I'd Play Hooky With

It's Tuesday and that means it's Top Ten day over at The Broke and the Bookish.  Stop by their blog to read all of the great lists this week!

Today's topic is Top Ten Books On My Shelf I'd Like to Play Hooky With.  This is an easy one for me!  My TBR shelves are always overflowing.  And the thought of it - an entire day with nothing to do but read! - just makes my heart go pitter-patter.  Maybe someday...

In the meantime I can dream.  Here are the Top Ten Kids/Teen/YA Books On My Shelf I'd Like to Play Hooky With:

• Blood Red Road by Moira Young - a recent dystopian novel
• Crispin by Avi - my husband and son have been telling me for years how great this book is
• Nation by Terry Pratchett - another one that's been languishing on my shelf for ages
• Sharp North by Patrick Cave - my son loved this one
• The Ear, the Eye and the Arm by Nancy Farmer - a recently re-released award-winner
• The Knife of Never Letting Go (Book 1 of the Chaos Walking trilogy) by Patrick Ness
• Dead to You by Lisa McMann - a recent release by a favorite author
• Good Fortune by Noni Carter - this one has been sitting in my "to review" basket for far too many months
• The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater - ditto
• Strings Attached by Judy Blundell - I enjoyed What I Saw and How I Lied and look forward to this novel

How about you?  What kids/teen/YA book(s) would you grab if you could play hooky for a day and do nothing but read?


(If you'd like to see my list of Top Ten Grown-up Books I Want to Play Hooky With, check out Book By Book.)

It's Monday 3/26! What Are Your Reading?

What a rollercoaster week! My older son is finally doing a bit better (he's been incapacitated from his treatment for Lyme disease) and started back to school part-time last week.  He was even able to have his two best friends over this weekend, so we were all in high spirits!  Then, my younger son hurt his knee running around the yard and ended up in the ER for hours last night.  No diagnosis yet - Ortho can't see him until tomorrow - but it seems pretty severe.  The worst part?  Soccer season begins today, and Craig was so excited to be "playing up" on the high school-age team with his brother.  He's exhausted today and also pretty bummed out.

So, for the first time in months, Jamie is actually in school, and Craig is the one lying here on the couch.  I may never be alone in the house again!

Thank goodness for books to help distract us!  Last week, we read:

• I am still reading Bill Bryson's childhood memoir, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, and loving it.  It is highly entertaining, educational, and often laugh-out-loud funny.
• I am still listening to Marisa De los Santos's novel Falling Together.  I'm enjoying it, but it takes forever to listen to an audio book when you can only manage 10-minute increments!
• My husband, Ken, finished Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian yesterday and really liked it.  I'm not sure what he is starting next - probably something on his Kindle after all those hours in the ER last night.
• Jamie, 17, finished re-reading The Magician of Hoad by Margaret Mahy.  He enjoyed it but said that Maddigan's Fantasia is still his favorite of Mahy's novels.
• Next, Jamie decided to re-read a favorite trilogy, The Books of Umber by P.W. Catanese, starting with Book 1, Happenstance Found, then Book 2, Dragon Games, and he is now reading Book 3, The End of Time.
• Craig, 14, read The Voyage of the Frog by Gary Paulsen, a sailing adventure that was right up his alley!

I didn't have any time for writing reviews last week, but I hope to catch up this week.


What are you and your family reading this week?


(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kids/teen version hosted by Teach Mentor Texts.)

It's Monday 3/19! What Are You Reading?

We enjoyed a wonderful weekend camping at nearby Elk Neck State Park in Maryland - the first time we've had our pop-up camper out of the garage in a full year!  It was just a little 24-hour getaway, but it was so nice to be outdoors (and away from the to-do lists!) in this glorious spring-like weather - we walked to the beach, enjoyed our favorite "dinner in foil" camping meal, sat around the campfire and ate s'mores....and of course, relaxed with our books!

Here's what we read this week:

• I finished The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender, an unusual novel - I enjoyed both reading it and discussing it with my library's book group.  You can check out my review here.
• While at the library for the book discussion, I stopped by the YA section and finally - finally! - found a John Green novel to read, An Abundance of Katherines.  Thanks to all of you who've been telling me for years what a great writer Green is.  I know this isn't even one of his top, award-winning novels, but I enjoyed it very much.
• Now, I am reading Bill Bryson's hilarious memoir, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, which has been waiting on my TBR shelf for years and recommended by my husband.  It's wonderful so far!
• My husband, Ken, is reading Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian, based on my recommendation, after I read it for my neighborhood book group a couple of weeks ago.  He's enjoying it.
• Jamie, 17, had another long sick week, so he had lots of reading time.  He finished Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card (for the second time) and loved it.  He recommended it this weekend to Craig's friend who came camping with us.  Jamie and I are both anxiously awaiting Book 2, Ruins, due to be released in October.
• To Jamie's delight, Book 2 of the Beyonders series arrived from the publisher mid-week, so he first re-read Book 1, A World Without Heroes by Brandon Mull, then quickly moved onto Book 2, Seeds of Rebellion.  He says it was amazing! (see the photo of him enjoying the book while we were camping).
  
• Now, Jamie is re-reading The Magician of Hoad by Margaret Mahy.  He wanted to start with her earlier novel, Maddigan's Fantasia, but after a thorough search, we figured out that he'd lent it to a friend years ago and never got it back.  This is one of Jamie's all-time favorite authors!
• Craig, 14, is reading Book 3 of The Last Apprentice by Joseph Delaney, Night of the Soul Stealer.  He's enjoying this series.

Last week, I posted reviews of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender and a teen/YA novel, Irises by Francisco X. Stork.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version at Teach Mentor Texts.)

Jamie enjoying Beyonders during our camping weekend.

Teen/YA Review: Irises

I enjoyed Marcelo in the Real World so much that I was eager to read another Francisco X. Stork book.  I chose Irises, a teen/YA novel about sisters dealing with the death of their father and their mother’s long-term vegetative state.  Although it wasn’t quite as special as Marcelo, Stork’s signature talents shine through, with well-developed characters and emotional depth.

Sisters Kate and Mary have led a very sheltered life – no cell phones, no car, strict rules about clothing – with their minister father, especially since their mother was injured in a car accident two years ago and entered a vegetative state.  Now their father has died suddenly, and their quiet, predictable lives are in turmoil.  Kate has dreams of leaving El Paso to study medicine at Stanford.  Mary has two years of high school left and a great talent for painting but lost her motivation and inspiration after her mother’s accident. 

Now, with no family but a distant aunt, they have to figure out what comes next – where will they live when the new minister takes over their home? How will they pay for everything? And most disturbingly, what should they do about their mother, who has been living at home, cared for by them and hired nurses?  To complicate matters further, Kate’s boyfriend Simon wants to propose, and Mary meets a new boy who both attracts and scares her.

As in Marcelo, Stork has created real characters with complex thoughts and feelings.  These two girls are facing some epic problems, with no obvious solutions.  Among many other issues, the novel deals with the question of whether their mother should live and what kind of a life she has, questions that have been debated at length in the real world recently.  There is a lot of emotional depth here, and plenty of complex situations that teens may not have considered before.  I enjoyed the novel and found it engaging and thought-provoking.

288 pages, Arthur A. Levine Books (Scholastic)
 

It's Monday 3/12! What Are You Reading?

Happy Monday!  We had a more relaxing weekend than usual, with some of the deadlines (and pressure) for financial aid for college behind us.  Not that there isn't more we have to do, but the big-pressure items are taken care of.  And this weather is fabulous!!  Supposed to be in the mid-70's most of the week here.  It's very early for such warm temperatures, but I'm not complaining!

We all enjoyed lots of good reading this week:

• I finished a teen/YA novel, Irises by Francisco X. Stork (author of Marcelo in the Real World) last week - it was very good, though not quite as exemplary as Marcelo.
• I am now reading a novel that's been on my TBR list for a while, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender.  Our local library's lunchtime book group is discussing it this week - a perfect excuse for me to read a book I've heard so many good things about.  I'm enjoying it very much (might finish it today), though it is a bit different than I expected.  I'm very interested to see how it ends.
• My husband, Ken, finished Divergent by Veronica Roth, a teen dystopian novel that my son and I both enjoyed.  He enjoyed the story but thought that aspects of the society described were unrealistic (I agree).
• Next, Ken decided to read the book I just finished, Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian, before we have to return it to the library.  I loved the novel set at the end of World War II.  This is Ken's first Bohjalian.
  
• Thankfully, Jamie, 17, got his requested book from the library very quickly last week!  Within a couple of days, he had finished the 517-page The Gray Wolf Throne by Cinda Williams Chima (A Seven Realms novel).  He says this is a great series.  He is tortured by the fact that the next book is not due out until October!
• Next, Jamie decided to reread a favorite of mine and his, Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card.  As with the first reading, he says it is extremely thought-provoking and wonderfully complex.  We are both anxiously awaiting book two (another one not due to be released until October!).
• Craig, 14, was having trouble getting into the Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan, so he switched books and is now reading Book 3 in The Last Apprentice series, Night of the Soul Stealer, by Joseph Delaney. He enjoyed Books One and Two recently.

I posted two new reviews last week: Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian and a middle-grade sci fi sequel, The Whisper by Emma Clayton.


What are you and your family reading this week?


(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.  A kids/teen version is hosted by Teach Mentor Text.)

Middle-Grade Review: The Whisper

My son and I both loved Emma Clayton’s post-apocalyptic/dystopian novel The Roar, so we were excited when the sequel The Whisper was recently released.  It provided a satisfying conclusion to the story, though we both thought it wasn’t quite as good as the first book.  I will try to tell you a bit about the sequel without giving away any secrets from its predecessor.

As in The Roar, the setting is a dystopian future where the Animal Plague has left the world divided into two, with all humans living north of an enormous wall that circumnavigates the globe.  The poor and middle class in this world live crammed in tiny fold-down apartments or are struggling to survive in The Shadows, the dark and flooded London streets that were left behind when the wealthy, ruling class built their penthouses up above the London skyline.

The action in this book is split between twins Mika and Ellie, who are part of a brainwashed child army led by the evil Mal Gorman, and their friend Kobi, who is fleeing into The Shadows with his father to escape from Gorman’s control.  Without giving away any spoilers, most of the book is about the children revolting – how they try to evade Gorman’s mind control and somehow bring peace to their tormented world.

This novel is very much about kid power, to something of an unbelievable extent from an adult’s point of view, but middle-grade readers are sure to cheer on these brave kids as they try to outwit the adult leaders of their world and avoid war.  Like The Roar, it is action-packed and fast-paced, with lots of cool technology to add to the fun.  It is not as strong a novel as The Roar, but it provides a gratifying finale to this unique story.

309 pages, Scholastic

 

It's Monday 3/5! What Are You Reading?

Monday already?  I am soooo tired this morning - I could barely get out of bed.  But here I am, up and alert and ready to go....well, I'm up anyway.

We all had a great reading week:

• Believe it or not, I managed to finish Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian in time for my book group meeting on Wednesday...well, I actually finished the last few pages during my book group meeting!  I loved the book - set in Germany in 1945 - and will post a review this week.
• Next I started a teen/YA novel, Irises by Francisco X. Stork (author of Marcelo in the Real World).  I'm almost finished with it and have enjoyed it.
• My husband, Ken, started Divergent by Veronica Roth, a teen dystopian novel that my son and I both enjoyed - I love when we share books in our family!
• Jamie, 17, read like crazy last week, including several huge bricks that I brought home from the library for him.  In preparation, he reread The Demon King, Book One of the Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima.  Then he read Book Two, The Exiled Queen.  He is loving this series so much that he begged me to request Book Three from the library and has been asking me hourly if it is in yet!
• Since he couldn't read Book Three yet, he read another library book I got him, The Lost Hero, Book One in Rick Riordan's new series, The Heroes of Olympus.  He said it was excellent, building on the Percy Jackson series with some of the same characters but with the addition of Roman gods.
• Craig, 14, finished his Hardy Boys book and started the first book in the Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan, The Ruins of Gorlan.
• Craig's English class is reading an excerpt from The Diary of Anne Frank in school, so we talked about that this weekend.

I wasn't feeling well most of last week, so I struggled to manage much writing time.  I posted one review this weekend, The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore, a teen sci fi novel.  I also posted a summary of Books Read in February.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, and a kidlit version is hosted at Teach Mentor Texts.)

Middle-Grade/Teen Review: The Power of Six

 A few months ago, my family and I watched the movie adaptation of I Am Number Four, and we all enjoyed it very much.  My 17-year old son said it seemed like the sort of story where the book was probably even better than the movie (he is an avid reader!), so we gave him I Am Number Four and its sequel, The Power of Six, by Pittacus Lore for Christmas.  He loved them both.  Interestingly, I had tried to interest him in the audio version of The Power of Six, but he refused to listen!  He said he wanted to read it in traditional format.  Though I was frustrated by his stubbornness at the time, I have to admit now that he was right: this was a very good story but one best read rather than listened to.

This sci fi series, The Lorien Legacies, is about a dying planet (Lorien) that sent 10 of its children to Earth in an effort to someday revive their race.  Those children have been in hiding, along with their adult guardians, spread across the planet, living as humans among us for years.  In this latest book, The Power of Six, the stories of Number Four, known as John Smith, and Number Six are continued from the first book, as they go on the run to try to stay away from both the FBI and their alien enemies, the Magadorians (I won’t say much more than that in case you haven’t read the first book yet).

Readers are also introduced to a new Lorien character, Number Seven, known as Marina, who has been living in an orphanage in a monastery in Spain with her guardian.  The chapters alternate between John and Marina narrating, with lots of action, suspense, and even a bit of romance.  This book is rife with battle scenes between the Lorien teens and the fierce Magadorians who want to eradicate their race, which I found a bit tiresome but my son says were the best part of the book!  The series’ story is moved forward quite a bit with this book, as each of the kids develops his or her powers, and more back-story is explained.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and found it interesting and engaging.  My only complaint is with the audio production.  There were two narrators: a male reader, Neil Kaplan, who read the chapters from John’s perspective and a female narrator, Marisol Ramirez, who read Marina’s chapters.  Ramirez did a great job, and I enjoyed listening to Marina’s chapters; however, John’s chapters, read by Kaplan, were often cringe-worthy.  He used different voices for different characters, which just did not work.  John’s friend, Sam, who is supposed to be a bit of a geek, was voiced with an abrasive, nasally voice that just sounded ridiculous, and he didn’t do much better with the female voice used for Six.  In fact, my son overheard me listening one day, and said, “See?  I told you the audio would be no good!”  I wouldn’t go that far – I did listen to the whole thing – but this is definitely one case where I would recommend reading the book rather than listening.

HarperCollins

NOTE: This book is recommended for ages 14 and up.  I think that older middle-grade readers would also enjoy it, though there is a lot of graphic violence during the battle scenes, so keep that in mind.