It's Monday 9/10! What Are You Reading?

Another hot & humid, very busy week.  My husband was out of town all week, so I had my hands full on my own (though it is amazing how much easier it is to keep the house clean with just 2 people here instead of 4!)  So, things were still hectic, but I am beginning to get into the new routine, with my oldest off at college and my youngest in high school now.

Last week:

• I finished 11/22/63 by Stephen King and wrote a review.  I loved this unique time-travel historical novel!
• Next, I moved onto this month's selection for my neighborhood book group, The Death of Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes.  I am really looking forward to seeing everyone in my group this week after our summer hiatus, but I am struggling to get through this book.  It has very dense prose and switches often between perspectives and time.  The slow pace is a real drag after finishing a Stephen King book!  It has gotten slightly more interesting (though I am still only a quarter of the way through) but is still very confusing.  Not sure if I will finish it in time.
  
• Though my car has no CD player (my son took the newer car to college), I have found a little time to listen to my audio book in the kitchen.  I am really enjoying Young Fredle, a middle-grade novel by Cynthia Voight.
• My husband, Ken, left his hardcover, Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, at home last week and took his Kindle on his week-long trip with him, loaded with a couple of suspense novels.
• Jamie, 18, who read several 1000-page novels on our vacation this summer, has slowed down his reading considerably now that he is away at college with so many other things vying for his attention!  He started The Maze Runner by James Dashner this week.

I finally had a little time to catch up on posts last week.  I wrote two reviews:  11/22/63 by Stephen King and Drama by Raina Telgemeier, a middle-grade graphic novel.  I also posted a Wrap-Up of the Big Book Summer Challenge, so if you participated, be sure to add a link to your own wrap-up post!


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.)

Middle-Grade Review: Drama

I don’t normally read many graphic novels, but I really enjoyed Drama by Raina Telgemeier, a graphic novel with more depth than I expected about a middle-school drama production.

Callie is a 7^th grader who is in love with live theater.  She figured out a while ago that she doesn’t have the talent for singing or acting, but Callie has found her place in the world of theater on the stage crew, working on set design.  She and her friends are excited about helping to put on this year’s production of Moon Over Mississippi.  Adding to the fun are twin brothers Callie just met who share her enthusiasm for the stage.

Of course, there are the usual mishaps and challenges inherent in a school play, but this novel has several  features that make it different.  The first is the emphasis on the stage crew instead of on the lead actors.  My son had the lead role in his own middle-school’s musical last year, so I was fascinated to learn about what goes on behind the scenes and back stage.  Kids will like finding out that there are ways to be an important part of a school play even if singing in front of a crowded auditorium isn’t their thing.

The other feature that makes Drama stand out is its emotional depth.  Yes, there are the puppy love crushes and unrequited love you expect to find in any middle-grade novel, but this book deals with more complicated issues as well, including homosexuality and the difficulty of trying to figure out who you are as an adolescent.  But these serious issues are dealt with in a fairly light way, not overshadowing the fun and, well…drama of putting on the school play.  With romance, humor, and the fascinating world of the theater, this graphic novel is sure to be a big hit with tweens.

233 pages, Scholastic

 

It's Monday 9/3! What Are You Reading?

Ah, September....fall is my favorite season!  Of course, it was in the mid-90's here this weekend and horribly humid, but the calendar tells me that fall is coming.  I'm ready!


We had a busy week - first week of college for our oldest son, first week of high school for our younger son, and house guests for the weekend.  So, none of us had much time for reading, but we continued making our way through some good books:

• I am almost finished with 11/22/63 by Stephen King.  It is soooo good that all I want to do is read all day!  Hopefully, I will finish today, just under the wire for the Big Book Summer Challenge!
  
• My husband, Ken, is reading Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, the hot book of the summer, though he isn't loving it yet.
• Jamie, 18, finished A Feast of Crows by George R.R. Martin (book 4 in the Game of Thrones series).  He can't wait to read book 5!  He hasn't decided what book to read next yet.

And that's about it - I told you it was a busy week!  I didn't even get in any audio book time because my son took the car with the CD player to college with him.

I did manage a bit of blogging last week.  I wrote a review of Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt, an amazing middle-grade audio book, and I posted a list of my favorite book podcasts - I hope you'll give some of them a try and let me know about your favorites! 


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.)

Middle-Grade Review: Okay for Now

Okay for Now, an audio book by Gary D. Schmidt, was one of the winners of a 2012 Odyssey Honor Award for audio books.  The award was well deserved.  This was one of the best middle-grade books I have ever read (or listened to) and one of the best audio book productions I have ever listened to.  It was one of those rare books that I couldn’t wait to finish but never wanted to end.

Doug Swieteck has a rough life: his dad is abusive, his brother is a bully, and his oldest brother is off fighting in Vietnam.  To make matters worse, his father loses his job and moves the family from Long Island to “stupid Marysville” (as Doug calls it throughout the book), a small town in the Catskills, where there is nothing going on and Doug knows no one.  Even worse, everyone in town seems to assume that Doug is a thug, like his brother.  The only things that make his life bearable are his kind mother (and especially, her smile) and Lil, who teaches him how to drink a really cold Coke and becomes his first friend in Marysville.

Doug is the most endearingly flawed but likable narrator since Tom Sawyer.  Even though it sometimes feels like the whole world is falling apart around him, Doug keeps moving forward.  He discovers the Marysville Library’s greatest treasure, John James Audubon’s Birds of America, with its amazing paintings, and he becomes the town’s new grocery delivery boy on Saturday mornings.  Little by little, he finds things to like about stupid Marysville and becomes a part of the community, but not without plenty of challenges and struggles.

I loved every minute of this audio book that had me both laughing out loud and choking back tears at various points.  It is funny and heartbreaking and heartwarming, all at once, while it recreates a period of time in small-town America that has long past.  Most of all, it is real.  Doug’s ups and downs mirror those every person encounters in real life – setbacks alternating with moving forward, heart-renching times followed by joys.  Schmidt has created a cast of characters that you really come to care about.  I definitely want to go back and read Schmidt’s Newberry Honor novel, The Wednesday Wars, which introduced Doug for the first time.  Okay for Now is among the best that middle-grade literature has to offer.

Listening Library

Listen to an Excerpt:

It's Monday 8/27! What Are You Reading?

Ahh....what's that sound?  Silence!  We took our oldest son to college on Saturday and helped him move into the dorms, and our youngest started high school today.  And that means...I am alone in the house!  Woohoo!  I need to mostly work on catch-up stuff today, but I am excited to finally have some time to myself to do more writing.

So, we had a very, very busy week, but we still enjoyed our books:

• I am still working on my last Big Book of the summer, 11/22/63 by Stephen King.  It is excellent, but after two weeks of reading, I am still just past half-way!  I'm not sure if I'll finish it by Labor Day for the Big Book Summer Challenge, but I am enjoying it very much.
• I started a new audio book, Young Fredle, a middle-grade novel by Cynthia Voigt.  It's great so far (another winner of the Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audio Books), but it may take me longer to finish it than usual - my son took the car with the CD player to school with him.  My old 92 VW only has a broken cassette player and a radio!
• My husband, Ken, finished A Clash of Kings, Book 2 in the popular George R.R. Martin series - woohoo!  He enjoyed it very much, but it was a hefty one!
• Ken has now started Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, the summer's hottest novel that we've both been anxious to read.
• Jamie, 18, took A Feast of Crows, Book 4 in George R.R. Martin's series, with him to college, but I suspect he hasn't had a lot of time to read this weekend!
• Craig, 14, finished his required summer reading, In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, in plenty of time to return to school.  He did a great job getting all of his required reading done this summer!

I had a super busy week last week, but I DID manage to write one review, of The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls, a teen/YA novel by Julie Schumaker which I enjoyed very much.  Hopefully, I will have a bit more time for blogging this week.

Remember:  If you are participating in the Big Book Summer Challenge, this is the last week!  The challenge officially ends on Monday, Labor Day, so finish your big books and be sure to add your big book review links to the list on the challenge page.



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.)


My favorite ad for this time of year which has been in my head all morning:

Teen/YA Review: The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls

I requested a review copy of The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls by Julie Schumacher simply because the author is from Delaware and the novel is set here as well, a rarity given that I live in the second-smallest state in the US (such is the low profile of our tiny state that one reviewer on Amazon incorrectly stated that this book takes place in Maryland - we are here, guys, right next door!)  I didn’t have many expectations for the book, but I was pleasantly surprised – I ended up loving this unique, realistic novel for teens.

Sixteen-year old Adrienne Haus knows this will be the worst summer ever.  Because of a serious knee injury, she is left at home while her best friend (well, her only friend) goes off to camp without her.  To make matters worse, her mother came up with the brilliant idea to have a mother-daughter summer book club, to help Adrienne and a few of her classmates do their required reading and get ready for their AP English class in the fall.

It is a disparate group of girls thrown together in this involuntary book club; the only thing they have in common is that none of them (except Wallis) wants to be in it, as explained on the back cover:

“…But we weren’t friends.  We were not a sisterhood, and we didn’t share any pants.  We were literary prisoners, sweating and reading classics and hanging out at the pool.  But, of course, that’s not the whole story. “

The book is written as Adrienne’s summer AP English assignment, with different chapters addressing not only the books read but what happened to the girls in between.  I just loved the unique approach, and the fact that the novel is not at all what you would expect.  The girls don’t fit easily into stereotypes and they don't all become best friends or learn to love literature.  The characters feel like real people, with plenty of real problems that are not easily solved.  Their summer reading parallels the course of everything else they go through that summer, and the girls grow and learn a lot about themselves and each other.  In fact, the book inspired me; I would like to read some of the books the girls in the novel read during their unbearable summer.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel and look forward to reading more from Schumacher.

230 pages, Delacorte Press

 

It's Monday 8/20! What Are You Reading?

At least I think it's still Monday...barely!  We spent the weekend out of town with family, then all day today driving back and forth to an out-of-state doctor's appointment, so I'm running a bit behind.  Things have still been crazy hectic here, as predicted last week, but we had some good news and made a big decision.  The college found my son a single dorm room, and he decided to give it a try, with a reduced schedule of just three classes (he has some significant health issues).  So, that is all very exciting!  Move-in day for freshman is Saturday, so this will be another insanely busy week...but maybe then things will calm down a bit for me (not for long, I'm sure...).

We read some great books last week at our house:

• I am, of course, still working on Stephen King's 11/22/63, my last Big Book for the summer!  As expected, I am loving it so far, especially the way that King wove one of his past novels, It, into the early parts of the story.  I love when an author does that - it makes you feel like an insider!
• In the car today, I finished the middle-grade audio book Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt.  I LOVED everything about this wonderful novel!  It was quite possibly the best middle-grade novel I've ever read AND the best audio book I've ever listened to.  Highly recommended.
•  My husband, Ken, is also reading a hefty novel, A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin.  He and our son both love this series.
• Jamie, who turned 18 last week, read his required freshman summer book in one day last week!  Their First-Year Student Common Reader is Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo, a nonfiction book set in a poverty-stricken part of Mumbai.  Jamie said it was eye-opening and fascinating.
• Part of his motivation for reading his required book so fast was to move onto Book 4 in the George R.R. Martin series, which he picked up in the college bookstore when we bought his required book.  He is almost finished with A Feast of Crows already and loving it!
• Craig, 14, is slogging his way through In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, one of his required summer books.  He's not loving it!

What did you and your family read last week?

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

Jamie and his brother Craig celebrate his 18th birthday.

It's Monday 8/13! What Are You Reading?

Well, I did some catching up on blogs last week and wrote quite a few posts and reviews, but this Monday post might be all that I can manage for this week!  It's going to be insanely busy, with my son's 18th birthday, a weekend away with extended family starting Friday, and so many things to get done before then that my to-do list is overflowing the page!

Truly, reading is my one refuge when things get this hectic.  Here's what we read last week:

• I finished Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich, laughing all the way.  It was a nice bit of fun escapism, just what I needed last week!
• Next I read a new teen/YA novel, The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls by Julie Schumacher.  I requested a review copy of this novel because I read that the author was from Delaware and the story was set here as well, but I ended up really liking this teen summer novel very much.
• And now (drumroll please...), I have finally started 11/22/63 by Stephen King, my last selection for My Big Book Summer Challenge.  This one definitely qualifies as a big book, at 849 pages.  It will also help me meet my weight-training goals, as the hardcover edition we have is a brick of a book!  It is excellent so far - I LOVE time travel stories, so I know I will enjoy this very much.
• My husband, Ken, finished Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and loved it as much as my son and I did!  If you are also a fan of this unique novel, check out my review with a link to Cline's own Easter Egg contest, just like in the book!
  
• Ken is now back to reading A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin, one of his Big Books this summer.
• Jamie, 17, finished Taliesin by Stephen R. Lawhead, Book 1 in The Pendragon Cycle series.  He said it was very good, and he is looking forward to reading more of the series. Now he is focused on trying to finish up the last of his high school work and get ready for college.
  
• Craig, 14, is reading In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, as required reading for his freshman year of high school which starts in 2 weeks!  He's not really enjoying this novel so far.

I wrote two reviews last week:  Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and Sharp North, a teen/YA dystopian novel by Patric Cave.  I also posted my summary of Books Read in July (better late than never!).  And if you want to get to know me better, check out my top ten lists from last week, of the blog posts that provide the best glimpse of me - there is one list for this blog (grown-up books) and one for my Great Books for Kids and Teens blog.  I also posted a link to a fun list based on an NPR poll:  the 100 Best-Ever Teen/YA Novels.  This was an interesting list since it was based on a public poll.  Check it out.


What did you and your family read last week?


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

Teen/YA Review: Sharp North

My son read Sharp North by Patrick Cave back when it was first released in the U.S., in 2009, and he has been telling me to read it ever since!  I finally found the time to tackle it, thanks to my Big Book Summer Challenge, and discovered my son was right: this is a fast-paced, exciting dystopian adventure with a unique plot that pulled me in and kept me reading.

Teenaged Mira has lived a content, simple life in the snowy mountains of Scotland in an isolated village with her adoptive parents.  Then, one day, a strange woman is killed in front of her in the woods, and Mira’s peaceful, happy life is shattered.  The woman leaves behind a crumpled piece of paper that contains a list of names, including her own. 

Suddenly, Mira is questioning everything she has ever been told or believed about her life.  Who is she, really?  Who was the mysterious woman and why was she killed?  Mira feels she must find answers and can no longer trust anyone, so she sets off on her own to follow the clues left by the dead woman, but she has no idea what dangers hide in the wider world beyond her little town and her protected upbringing. 

This unique novel is set in a distant, dismal future UK where relentless flood waters have changed not only the geography of the country but its internal workings as well.  Britain is now ruled by the Great Families, leaving a poor underclass who are barely surviving.  With such limited resources, reproduction has been severely limited, but there are rumors that the Great Families have secret, illegal clones of themselves – spares – just in case they are needed.

Cave weaves a complex and intricate story of a time and place very different from our familiar world.  Mira’s journey takes her on a long and dangerous series of adventures, as she follows her heart and tries to do what she feels is right, drawn by the need to find out the truth about her own life. I enjoyed this fast-paced and exciting novel very much.

518 pages, Atheneum

 

Best-Ever Teen/YA Novels

I love lists, especially top book lists!  NPR just published its 100 Best-Ever Teen/YA Novels, based on a poll that drew an enormous response - over 75,000 people responded!  The list is an interesting mix of older classics and new releases.  In fact, I thought that recent publication weighed a bit too heavily in the list.  I mean, I enjoyed Divergent very much but one of the Top 100 Teen Books EVER?  Not so sure about that - I suppose time will tell, right?

Check out the list to see how many of the Best-Ever Teen Books YOU have read.  I counted 28 for myself, and my 17-year old son has read 22 of them.  We have some work to do!

How about you?  How many of the best teen novels have you read?  And do you agree with the list?  Was anything left off that YOU would include?

Top Ten Posts That Provide a Glimpse of Me

Today is Tuesday, and that means Top Ten Day over at The Broke and the Bookish.  Head on over there to check out all the links to great blogs!  I love making lists, but I haven't had the time to participate in this favorite meme all summer.  Today's topic is Top Ten Posts That I Think Give You the Best Glimpse of Me.  This is an interesting one because most of my posts are either book reviews or Monday What Are You Reading? updates, but I will try to select a nice assortment to give you a better idea of who I am, both personally and as a reader (and writer), and I will include a variety of different types of book reviews.  (NOTE: This blog is just for kids/teen/YA books, so if you are more interested in grown-up books, then head over to my other book blog, Book By Book.)

• Review: The Underland Chronicles - this was one of the first reviews I posted here, back in 2009, but it remains one of my family's favorite series.  We loved these books long before Suzanne Collins became a household name for The Hunger Games!
• Review: Three Little Words - one of my few reviews of a teen/YA memoir, this book was powerful and has stuck with me.
• Review: Alabama Moon - a middle-grade book review and another family favorite!
• Teen Book Meme - this post - a list of beloved teen books - gives you an overview of what I have read and what I have missed.
• Review: Prism - a review of both an audio book (which we often enjoy) and a teen/YA novel.  I wrote the review after listening to it on my own but later our whole family listened and loved it!
• Top Ten Fantasy Series - part of my own Ten for Tuesday feature (before I discovered this one!), this particular Top Ten list was created by my teen son who is an avid reader and often provides input for this blog.
• Top Ten Books of My Childhood - another of my Ten for Tuesday lists, this one provides some insight into my childhood reading habits.
• Best Kids/Ten Books Read in 2011 - provides an overview of what I read last year and which books were my favorites.
• Happy Anniversary to My Favorite Book - a little more insight into favorite childhood books - do you know which iconic kids' book celebrated its 50th anniversary this year?
• It's Monday 8/6/12! What Are You Reading? - yeah, I know just about everyone writes some sort of weekly wrap-up post, but I think mine is a bit unique because I include what everyone in my family is reading, including the kids.

Oh, shoot, I can only pick 10?  Well, I think those provide a good overview of who I am and what this book blog is all about.

It's Monday 8/6! What Are You Reading?

Wow, it just occurred to me that it is now August, and we left July behind last week.  That should give you a hint as to what my week was like!  Lots of stress, emotion, and a flurry of activity after our first meeting with the Office of Disability at my son's college.  We have a very big decision to help him make this week regarding whether he is healthy enough to start college (3 weeks from today!) and if so, how much he can manage: 1 class, 3 classes, in the dorms, living at home?? 

Anyway, that has been completely occupying our minds and our time, so I had no time at all for either writing reviews or visiting blogs, but I hope to catch up a bit this week.  We did all turn to our favorite past time, reading, to help distract us from the stress in our lives:

• I finished Sharp North by Patrick Cave and will try to write my review this week.  It is a teen/YA dystopian novel that is full of action.
• Next, I attempted to start the book for my library's discussion group this week, Silent Spring, Rachel Carson's ground-breaking 1962 book that led to a public outcry against pollution and the use of harmful chemicals in agriculture and the formation of the EPA.  Since I used to work in Environmental Management, I am very interested in the subject matter and am reading bits of it when I can, but it was just too heavy and depressing for me to focus on, given my emotional state.  So...
• I picked up Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich, a gift from my husband for my birthday last month.  This light and fluffy Stephanie Plum novel is just what I needed right now - a bit of reading fun with nothing at all to think about!  I am laughing out loud while I read and enjoying it.
• I also continued making my way through the stack of graphic novels Scholastic sent with Bird and Squirrel on the Run! by James Burks.  Talk about light and fluffy!  This is a simple, fun graphic novel about...well, just what the title says...a bird and a squirrel who become friends and endeavor to stay away from the evil Cat.  Think classic cartoons, like Tom & Jerry.
• My husband, Ken, finally gave in and set aside George R.R. Martin's A Clash of Kings so that he could read Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, after our son and I raved about it!  He is enjoying it, too, and should finish this morning while he is waiting to be called for jury duty.
• So, Jamie, 17, finished Ready Player One on Monday (with lots of laughs).
• Now Jamie is reading Taliesin, Book 1 in The Pendragon Cycle by Stephen R. Lawhead. He says it's good so far.
• Craig, 14, is reading In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, one of his required books for school.  He is waiting to get to the parts with more action; so far, it is mostly about sisters reminiscing about their days at school - not really his thing!

As I said, no reviews posted last week, but I did post a link to a fun list of 11 Authors Who Hated the Movie Versions of Their Books.  There are some real surprises on this list!  I added my own list of movie adaptations I loved or hated.  How about you?  Join in this fun discussion!


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 7/30! What Are You Reading?

Well, my week of quiet solitude is over!  On Saturday, we picked up our two teen sons from their week of sailing with their grandparents.  All of them were exhausted when we met up with them!  Though I wasn't happy to have the TV on all day yesterday, it is nice to have the boys back home.  Now it is almost August, and school starts four weeks from today - the summer is flying by!


We all enjoyed some good books last week:

• I am still reading Sharp North by Patrick Cave, a teen/YA dystopian novel and one of my Big Book Summer Challenge choices.  It's interesting and engaging so far, a unique story set in the UK years after disastrous flooding has changed the world.  My son, Jamie, loved it and recommended it to me.
• I am still listening to Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt, a middle-grade audio book that won the Odyssey Award for Audio Book Excellence...with good reason!  It is wonderful, and I am enjoying it very much.
• I also read Book 5: Prince of the Elves in the popular Amulet graphic novel series.  The drawings were good, but I had no idea what was happening throughout the entire book - obviously the result of starting with Book 5!  From what I've heard, it's been a bestseller, so we will have to try starting with Book 1 to see for ourselves.
• My husband, Ken, is still reading George R.R. Martin's A Clash of Kings, Book 2 in this popular series of huge books!
• While on the boat last week, Jamie, 17, read The Rogue Crew by Brian Jacques, part of the Redwall series which was Jamie's favorite when he was younger.  He's not sure how he missed this one, but he thoroughly enjoyed this bit of comfort reading!
• When he returned from the boat, I convinced Jamie to try Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.  He read for hours yesterday and is LOVING it (as I knew he would!).  It's just such a fun, unique novel, filled with 80's pop culture references that I knew Jamie would enjoy.
• Craig, 14, took a break from reading while on his trip, but yesterday he reluctantly started his second required book for the summer, In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez.  He has been dreading this one!  To him, it looks like a "girly" novel.  According to the Amazon description, the story goes "...from hair ribbons and secret crushes to gunrunning and prison torture," so hopefully, he can tolerate the hair ribbons and crushes parts and enjoy the action and suspense!

Even though the kids were gone last week, I still had a very busy week with not nearly as much time for writing as I'd hoped, so I posted just one new review: Liesl and Po, a wonderful middle-grade audio book.  I also posted a link to a hilarious blog post, where a writer mom asked her 6-year old daughter to explain what various classic novels were about, from looking at their covers - lots of fun!


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.)

Middle-Grade Review: Liesl and Po

I’ve heard great things about Lauren Oliver’s novels, but I’d never read one, so I was glad for the opportunity to listen to the middle-grade audio book Liesl and Po.  This unique tale of a girl who befriends a ghost was full of fun and adventure.

Young Liesl lives in her attic bedroom, locked there by her stepmother (the quintessential evil stepmother) since her beloved father died.  One night, a ghost named Po appears in her room, and the two lonely souls find comfort in each other and become friends.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, a young orphan named Will, who is apprenticed to a cruel alchemist, mixes up two wooden boxes and delivers them to the wrong recipients, with dire consequences. The two desperate children each set out on their own quests to right wrongs, and their destinies eventually intertwine in a magical story about friendship and family.

I really enjoyed this engaging adventure story, with surprises around every corner.  It reminded me a bit, in tone and subject matter, of Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, though Liesl and Po has a wholly unique plot.  Po is a gentle, kind sort of ghost, but the bad guys in this story are truly evil, in fairy tale style.  In the end, good triumphs over evil, and every character gets what he or she deserves in a satisfying conclusion. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the audio book, performed by the very talented Jim Dale (narrator of the Harry Potter audios and many other excellent audio books).  However, I just saw on Amazon that the paper book is illustrated with beautiful pencil drawings, so I think that either format would be an excellent choice for middle-grade readers and their families.  You can listen to a sample of the audio here.

HarperChildren’s Audio

This video provides a peek at the beautiful illustrations:
Video Trailer for Liesl and Po

And here is a wonderful video interview with Lauren Oliver about the writing of Liesl and Po:
Interview with Lauren Oliver

It's Monday 7/23! What Are You Reading?

Today is my birthday!  Happy Birthday to me - ha ha.  I am celebrating by relaxing alone at home - ahhhh!  My sons are off on their grandparents' sailboat for a week, so my husband and I are enjoying a rare bit of peace and quiet.  Life is so easy with just the two of us - we haven't run the dishwasher in 2 days, and it's still not full!

My 8th birthday!

We had a good reading week:

•  I finished reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, and I LOVED this unique novel!  It is just so much fun but has some depth to it as well.  I found myself thinking about the characters days after I'd finished the book - always the sign of a good novel.  I can't wait to listen to the book discussion of it on The Readers, one of my favorite book podcasts.  And my husband and son will love this book, too!
  
• Now I am reading Sharp North by Patrick Cave, a teen/YA dystopian novel that has been sitting on my TBR shelf for far too long.  My Big Book Summer Challenge motivated me to finally read it.
  
• I am listening to Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt, a middle-grade audio book that won an Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audio Book Production.  I can see why it won an award - I am loving it so far and hoping to have more time to listen with the kids gone this week!
• I also read another graphic novel that Scholastic sent me: Drama by Raina Telgemeier. I really enjoyed this story about a middle school musical production, especially since my son had the lead role in his middle school's musical this spring!
• My husband, Ken, is still reading George R.R. Martin's A Clash of Kings (Book 2).  He wants to read Ready Player One before I return it to the library but is too immersed in this hefty tome for now!
• Jamie, 17, finished The Sapphire Rose, Book 3 in David Eddings' Elenium Trilogy.  He really enjoyed this fantasy series that his Dad recommended.
• Jamie told me on the phone this morning that he is now reading The Rogue Crew by Brian Jacques.  He LOVED the Redwall series when he was younger and just discovered this one title that he'd never read before.  It was his first-ever purchase at his college bookstore!  And he loves to read books about sailing or the ocean while he is on the sailboat.
• Craig, 14, finished the first of two required summer reading books this week, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.  He found it interesting, and is now enjoying a break from reading during his vacation (yes, I have one son who brings an extra bag full of books on vacation and another who doesn't read at all on vacation!).

I posted two reviews last week:  The Postmistress by Sarah Blake and Cardboard, a middle-grade graphic novel by Doug Tennepel.


My Big Book Summer Challenge is well underway, but there is still time to participate if you have a big book (or two) that you'd like to read this summer.  Check out the challenge and the links to some big book reviews!


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.)

Middle-Grade Review: Cardboard

I’m not usually a big fan of graphic novels.  I did enjoy a few of the Bone books, by author Jeff Smith, that we had around the house and my son loved the Sardine in Outer Space books by Emmanuel Guibert books when he was younger, but I rarely read or request graphic novels now.  Scholastic recently sent me a few graphic novels (uncorrected proofs) that I hadn’t asked for, so I thought I’d just take a quick look when I had a few minutes.  The first one I read was Cardboard by Doug Tennapel, and I was impressed by its clever premise and creative story.

Mike is a single father without a job.  The opening panels make it clear that he is a good guy and a skilled carpenter, but he can’t find work in the depressed economy and is becoming desperate.  Today is his son’s birthday, and he wants to get Cam something special, but he doesn’t even have enough money for food.  On his way home, he sees a roadside stand where a mysterious man is selling toys, but he can’t afford any of them.  When he mentions that his son is a really good boy who deserves a good birthday present, the man offers him an empty cardboard box for exactly the amount of change in Mike’s pocket.  Mike thinks it’s pretty lame, but he figures he and Cam can do some sort of creative project with the cardboard box.

He brings it home, and Cam good-naturedly suggests they build a boxer out of the box, so father and son work together late into the night to build a cardboard man.  While they are sleeping, the cardboard man comes to life and announces that his name is Bill.  Mike and Cam are astounded but thrilled with the magical cardboard that brought their new friend to life, but the neighborhood bully, Marcus, discovers their secret and wants the magic for himself.

The story turns into a fantastical adventure, with all sorts of cardboard creations coming to life and wreaking havoc on the neighborhood.  It’s a battle of Cam’s (and Bill’s) goodness versus Marcus’ evil, and things quickly get out of hand until the boys are no longer in control.  As I said, I’m certainly not a graphic novel expert, but I enjoyed reading this and thought the drawings and text told an interesting story.  The novel is filled with action and is fast-paced, an original and exciting story sure to please young boys and reluctant readers in particular.

285 pages, Scholastic

It's Monday 7/16! What Are You Reading?

Whew, another crazy busy week.  I literally had appointments every single day last week - run, run, run!  Fortunately, all that time in waiting rooms gave me some extra reading time...a silver lining!

Here's what we read last week:

• I finished The Postmistress by Sarah Blake...almost in time for the book discussion at my library!  I had 10 pages to go when it was time for the meeting, so I finished it right afterward.  It was a good book, and it sparked some great discussions!  I'll post a review this week.
• Although I normally alternate between kids' books and grown-up books, I had another library book/discussion book that I couldn't wait to read!  I am reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline to prepare for a book discussion on one of my favorite podcasts, The Readers.  I've been hearing great things about this novel since it was published a year ago and am so glad I finally got to it.  It is really, really good, a story about a teen in 2045 who is competing in a huge worldwide online game inside the virtual reality world where most of Earth's human residents now spend their waking hours.  The game's creator (a sort of Gates/Zuckerberg geek success) was obsessed with the 80's, so the novel - and the game - are filled with 80's pop culture references.  It's a great story and lots of fun!
• My husband, Ken, is still reading George R.R. Martin's A Clash of Kings (Book 2)...and will be for a while!  He's enjoying this hefty book.
• Jamie, 17, is busy with school work but found time to continue reading David Eddings' The Elenium Trilogy.  He finished book 2, The Ruby Knight, and is now reading book 3, The Sapphire Rose.  He seems to be enjoying this series by one of his dad's favorite authors!
• Craig, 14, is still reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, one of his required reading books for the summer.  He's enjoying it and finding it interesting, but he'd rather be out with his friends than reading!

I lugged my laptop along to several appointments last week, so I also had time to catch up on a few reviews while sitting in waiting rooms!  I reviewed two of my Big Book Summer reads:  Outlander by Diana Gabaldon and Blood Red Road by Moira Young, a teen/YA post-apocalyptic novel.  I also posted a summary of Books Read in June (better late than never!).


There are eight of us now participating in the Big Book Summer Challenge, and reviews are being posted, so check it out.  There's still plenty of time left in the summer to read a big book, so join the fun!  And if you are already participating, be sure to add your own big book review links!


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.)

Teen/YA Review: Blood Red Road

My first Big Book Summer read was Blood Red Road, a dystopian/post-apocalyptic teen/YA novel by Moira Young.  The book is written in a unique, sparse style that took some getting used to, but the compelling story pulled me in and held my attention.

Eighteen-year old Saba lives in a desolate future wasteland with her twin brother, Lugh, their father, and their 9-year old sister, Emmi.  Their mother died giving birth to Emmi, and the family lives a fairly harsh existence, plagued by dust storms and struggling day-to-day to find food.

Their difficult but peaceful existence is disrupted by a raging sandstorm one day that brings four mysterious, cloaked horsemen who snatch Lugh and take him away.  Devastated by the loss of her beloved twin, Saba sets out on a quest to find Lugh.  Away from the isolation and safety of their home, Saba discovers that the outside world is a dangerous and frightening place.  She is forced to take care of and defend herself for the first time in her life, and she learns she is much stronger than she thought.  Along the way, she meets a clever, attractive loner named Jack whom she’s not sure she can trust and an all-girl gang of revolutionaries called the Free Hawks.

The whole story is told in Saba’s voice, in a sort of slang, and written in a spare style without quotation marks.  Here’s an excerpt from the first chapter, where Lugh is trying to fix their roof with help from his sisters:

And then there’s Emmi. She’s doin what she always does, which is pester me an Lugh. She dogs my heels as I go from the ladder to the junk pile and back.

            I wanna help, she says.

            Hold the ladder then, I says.

            No! I mean really help! All you ever let me do is hold the ladder!

            Well, I says, maybe that’s all yer fit fer. You ever think of that?

            She folds her arms across her skinny little chest and scowls at me. Yer mean, she says.

            So you keep telling me, I says.

When I first began reading the novel, I found the style a bit off-putting, but it didn’t take long for me to get into the rhythm of it.  Once the story pulled me in, I got used to the unusual writing approach, and by the end of the novel, it felt like exactly the right way to tell the story from Saba’s perspective, reflecting the desolation of that time and place.

This is a fast-paced, action-packed story of a young woman finding her inner strength in a dangerous and lawless time.  It’s filled with twists and turns that keep you guessing…and cheering for Saba and her new friends.  The title page says this is Dustlands, Book 1.  I can’t wait for Book 2 (scheduled or release on October 30)!

459 pages, Margaret K. McElderry Books (Imprint of Simon & Schuster)

It's Monday 7/9! What Are You Reading?

I'm a little late posting today - spent all morning running errands and going to appointments.  Whatever happened to the lazy days of summer??

In fact, I was insanely busy all last week - post-vacation catch-up!  I am making progress, slowly but surely.  I am down to just 100 unread e-mails now (I started with 1000!).  So, little time for either reading or blogging last week, but I am hoping to get back to normal this week. 

Here's what we read last week:

• I finished Outlander by Diana Galbaldon.  I enjoyed it very much and would definitely read another in the series...when  have a few weeks to devote to it!
• I am diverting briefly from my Big Book Summer focus to read a novel for my library's book group, The Postmistress by Sarah Blake.  I don't know if I'll be able to finish in time for the discussion on Wednesday, but I am enjoying the book.
• I started a new audio, the middle-grade novel, Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt.  I have only finished disk 1, but I am loving it already.
• In a few spare moments (OK, I admit it, in the bathroom), I read a new middle-grade graphic novel, Cardboard by Doug Tennapel.  I liked it more than I expected to - it's a unique premise and a very clever story about magic cardboard that gets out of hand.
• My husband, Ken, finally got his turn with George R.R. Martin's A Clash of Kings (Book 2) now that our son finished the first three books!
• Jamie, 17, had to get back to work upon returning home (he still has 2 classes to finish this summer), so he's not reading as much as he'd like to, but he is continuing to enjoy David Eddings' The Elenium Trilogy with the second book, The Ruby Knight.

Two more bloggers signed up for the Big Book Summer Challenge last week - welcome!  Join the fun - there's still plenty of time to read a big book this summer (or two).

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 Books.)

It's Monday 7/2! What Are You Reading?

No, don't worry, I didn't enter Witness Protection.  I disappeared for a few weeks because we were on vacation!  Our vacations are mostly tech-free - long road trips cross country, camping along the way.  We drove to South Dakota's Black Hills - one of our favorite places on earth! - to visit family and enjoy all the amazing scenery, and we made lots of fun stops along the way.  Although I did miss interacting with friends online, I have to admit that I didn't miss all the obligations and responsibilities - of course, now I have 950 e-mail messages to wade through!

So, we read lots of great books over the past 3 weeks (it's actually been a full month since my last Monday update).  We read far fewer than usual, though, because all of us were focused on some really BIG books - perfect for my Big Book Summer Challenge!  Here's the run-down:

• Before we left, I finished Blood Red Road by Moira Young, a teen dystopian novel and my first Big Book of the summer, at 459 pages.  It's an unusual novel, written in a unique style, but it grew on me - the story was gripping.
• During our trip, I read Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.  At 850 pages, it lasted our entire trip (and I am still working on finishing it!).  I am loving it - it is just as good as everyone has told me for years - an epic story about a woman in Scotland in 1945 who gets sent back in time to the 1700's.
• My husband, Ken, finished reading George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones.  He loved it but very kindly held off on starting Book 2 because he knew our son would fly through both books (he was right!).  
• Next, Ken read Running Blind by one of his favorite authors, Lee Child.
• Jamie, 17, started the trip by reading and enjoying The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm, a recent re-release by favorite author Nancy Farmer, while he waited (rather impatiently!) for Ken to finish Martin's novel! 
• Next, as predicted, Jamie flew through George R.R. Martin's series, reading A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, and A Storm of Swords (which we gave to Ken for Father's Day while we were away!).  He loved the series and can't wait to read Book 4!
• After polishing off those three enormous novels, Jamie delved into the duffel bag of books he brought with him (he reads a LOT on our trips!) and started The Diamond Throne by David Eddings, Book 1 of The Elenium trilogy.  Eddings is an old favorite author of my husband's, so he picked up two of his trilogies at the used bookstore for our son before we left.
• Craig, 14, started his assigned summer reading for school while we were gone with Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell and was surprised to find it fascinating!
• In the car, we listened to a new teen audio book, Revived by Cat Patrick, a creepy sci fi/romance about a girl who is part of a secret government program to test a new drug that can revive people who have died.  Ken and Jamie thought there was too much romance and not enough action, but we all enjoyed the intriguing and unique story.

So, that's about it.  I did manage to post two new reviews before we left:  The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern and The Pregnancy Project by Gaby Rodriguez, a teen memoir.  I also posted a summary of Books Read in May...and now it's already time to summarize June!


It's still early in the summer - plenty of time left to sign up for the Big Book Summer Challenge if you haven't yet!  It's an easy-breezy challenge - you only need to read one big book (over 400 pages) this summer to participate.  Sign up today and join the fun!  Here are a few pictures from our trip.  If you are interested, you can see more at our trip blog.

Ken and I at Sylvan Lake, Custer State Park, SD

Craig and Jamie at Mount Rushmore

All of us at Devil's Lake State Park, Wisconsin