Middle-Grade/Teen Review: Hold Fast

For over a decade, I have been hearing great things about Blue Balliet’s mystery novels. My son read one of them when he was a middle-grader, but I never got around to it myself. I just finished her latest novel, Hold Fast, and absolutely loved it! What took me so long? This novel – appropriate for older middle-grade readers and teens (and adults!) – combines a mystery with a realistic story about a family who suddenly finds themselves homeless, all from the perspective of an eleven-year old girl. It is exciting and suspenseful but also brimming with emotional depth and insights into a world that many young readers know nothing about.

Eleven-year old Early loves her life. She is part of a close-knit family in Chicago, living in a tiny, one-room apartment with her parents and her four-year old brother, Jubilation (Jubie for short). She knows her family doesn’t have much money, but they have love and dreams and books. Early’s parents – and especially her father Dashiel – love to read and share books with their children. Dash also loves to play with words and works as a page at the Chicago Public Library. He dreams of one day getting a degree in library science, and the whole family dreams of one day having a house of their own.

This happy, loving family is shattered when Dash disappears suddenly one icy winter evening on his way home from work. The police aren’t much help – they seem to think Early’s dad left on his own – and before long, Early, her mom, and her little brother lose their apartment and are forced to move to a city shelter. Early’s life falls apart as she is torn from her school, her friends, and the only home she has ever known, all while worrying about her beloved father.

Dash taught his daughter well, though, and Early begins to look for patterns and rhythms in what has happened that might help her find her father. She unravels tiny clues left behind in a desperate search to bring her family back together. As the days turn into weeks and months, though, she is forced to take on more responsibility as her mother falls apart and gives into despair and hopelessness, and the three of them struggle to adjust to life in a shelter.

This incredible novel packs a lot into a few hundred pages. It is a heartwarming (and sometimes heartbreaking) story about family and the meaning of home. It is a suspenseful and complex mystery, filled with surprising twists you will never see coming. It is a realistic portrayal of what life is like for the estimated 30,000 homeless children in Chicago (that’s just in one city!). And it is a love story that attests to the power of words and books. I loved Early’s family and never wanted their story to end.

274 words, Scholastic Press

NOTE: Although this book is marketed to a wide range of middle-grade readers as young as 8, it is most appropriate for those in middle-school or older. The mystery at the heart of the story is fairly complicated, as are the emotions evoked by the plight of the main characters. I also think this book will appeal to teen readers who like realistic fiction, even though the main character is only eleven. And, as an adult, I loved this book and never felt I was being talked down to. I can’t wait to share it with some of my young cousins and nieces. Highly recommended.

 

It's Monday 9/16! What Are You Reading?

We had a busy week and a fun weekend. My dad and his wife came to visit this weekend, and we enjoyed watching my son's soccer game Friday night, playing games with the kids, and eating lots of good food! The guys played golf on Saturday, while my step-mom and I visited a lovely natural garden that features local flora.

We also enjoyed our books last week:

• I finished The Fever Tree by Jennifer McVeigh for my neighborhood book group and enjoyed discussing it. Most of us liked it but didn't love it, though there were some outliers on each end of the spectrum! It's set in 1877, about a young British woman who must emigrate to South Africa. I found the historical context fascinating, as I knew nothing at all about South Africa's distant past.
• Now that I am caught up (temporarily!) on book group reads, I am reading Hold Fast by Blue Balliet, a middle-grade novel that is part mystery and part realistic story about a family that suddenly find themselves homeless. It is an amazing novel, with plenty of emotional depth and suspense.
• I started - and finished! - a new audio, The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. It normally takes me a month or more to finish an audio book, so this is remarkable! True, it is a short novel, but it is also riveting and kept me listening during every spare moment. It helped that my own (old) car was in the shop last week, so I was driving the newer car with the iPod dock.
• My husband, Ken, is reading Time and Again by Jack Finney, a classic time travel novel that he gave me one Christmas.
• Since they were here this weekend, I'll include my dad and his wife in our weekly update. They were reading novels by Lee Child and Sandra Brown on their Kindles this weekend. They left with a stack of books rescued from my charity give-away box on Saturday! We all love to share our books.
• Craig, 15, is reading Beowulf for his Brit Lit class. I remember my older son having trouble with this one at that age - I've never read it myself! Maybe I should download it onto my new Kindle and give it a try while my son is reading it.

I didn't have much writing or blogging time last week but managed a few posts:

Review of Charlie Bumpers vs. The Teacher of the Year by Bill Harley, a great start to a new series for younger middle-grade readers.

Wrap-Up of Two Writing Challenges

Books Read in August 2013 summary

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 Unleashing Readers.)

Books Read in August 2013

August was a good reading month, with plenty of relaxing vacation time, but I didn't read a lot of books. That's because I was focused on longer books for my 2013 Big Book Summer Challenge, so I spent half of the month just working on one book! I also see in looking back at my July 2013 Summary that I cheated a bit (gasp!) - I included an audio book that I ended up not finishing until mid-August.

So, here is what I (really) read in August:

• The Twelve by Justin Cronin, the Big Book that kept me busy all during my vacation (Iowa)
• The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness, Book 2 in Chaos Walking trilogy and another Big Book
• The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, on audio - that was my cheat - oops! (England)

• Charlie Bumpers vs. The Teacher of the Year by Bill Harley, a new middle-grade series

And that was it for August, just four books. I spent most of the month reading those first two books. They were both well worth the time investment! My favorite? Hmmm...tough one...probably The Ask and the Answer because I am really enjoying that series - can't wait to read Book 3!

Update on 2013 Reading Challenges:
I added only one new state (Iowa) to my 2013 Where Are You Reading Challenge. I read two more books off my TBR shelves (my Big Books all tend to be from the TBR shelves because I set them aside until I have time to read them!), bringing the total up to 13 so far this year for my 2013 TBR Pile Reading Challenge.

Which books did you most enjoy reading in August?

Middle-Grade Review: Charlie Bumpers vs. The Teacher of the Year

We are big fans of Grammy Award-winning Bill Harley in our family; he is a singer, storyteller, author, and all-around entertainer. Even though my sons are now in their mid to late teens, listening to a Bill Harley story can still make them laugh out loud – and he has the same effect on my husband and I!  I previously reviewed another Bill Harley middle-grade novel, Night of the Spadefoot Toads, and his Dear Santa picture book remains among our favorite holiday books. So, I was thrilled to hear he’d written a new middle-grade novel, Charlie Bumpers vs. The Teacher of the Year, which is also the start of new series. I loved this novel; reading it is like listening to Bill Harley tell his stories in my head!

Charlie Bumpers is a normal kid, getting ready to start fourth grade. As the novel opens, he is frantically trying to clean his room before his mom comes home (he ends up clearing the mess out from the closet and moving it under the bed). His big brother, Matt, is always on his back and loves to tease him. His little sister, Mabel, can be cute sometimes, but she’s also very loud and can not keep a secret! Charlie’s room-cleaning comes to an abrupt stop when his mom gets home and announces that she found out who Charlie’s teacher will be this year: Mrs. Burke.

Charlie’s mom is excited because Mrs. Burke was named Teacher of the Year last year, but Charlie knows he is doomed. What his mom doesn’t know is that there was an “incident” last year when Charlie ended up throwing a sneaker that hit Mrs. Burke in the head (it’s a long story). Now, he knows she hates him, and fourth grade is ruined. Even worse, his best friend, Tommy, is in a different class.

Charlie does his best to make a good impression on Mrs. Burke and start the year off right, but things never turn out the way he intended. Somehow, Charlie always ends up in trouble – with Mrs. Burke, with his classmates, and even with the new gym teacher, Mr. Shuler, aka General Shuler, Intergalatic Supreme Commander of Soccer Balls. How will Charlie ever survive the whole year when he can barely get through the first week?

The writing and story in this novel are pitch-perfect for younger middle-grade readers. Charlie and his friends feel like real kids, struggling with real problems. As always, Harley captures childhood perfectly, with a nice dose of his trademark humor and plenty of warmth. This series is sure to be a hit with kids who like reading about real-life kids like themselves and fans of the Horrible Harry series who are a little older now.

138 pages, Peachtree Publishers

Check out Bill Harley's Charlie Bumpers website, including a book trailer. 

If you have never heard Bill Harley perform before, listen to him tell one of his classic kid stories, Zanzibar:



 

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

Ahhh....Monday, and all is quiet here at home. I enjoyed my first week alone last week, with the kids back at school and tried hard to keep the stress levels down and the vacation mindset alive! I did a lot of writing (check back tomorrow when I will recap how I did in two writing challenges) and tried to get caught up on a lot of things that I got behind on during the summer. I also spent a lot of time out on our deck, manages a couple of walks, and finally began watching some of the TED talks my husband has been telling me about - I'm hooked!

We enjoyed plenty of reading last week:

• I finished Hope's Boy by Andrew Bridge, an excellent memoir about a boy who grew up in foster care. It was an emotionally moving book, and I can't wait to talk about it at my library's book discussion group this week.
• I also finished A Matter of Days by Amber Kizer, the teen/YA audio book I've been listening to this summer. It's a post-apocalyptic tale of a teen girl and her younger brother making their way across the country after a viral pandemic kills 95% of the population. I really liked it and enjoyed the audio production.
• I am now reading The Fever Tree by Jennifer McVeigh for my nieghborhood book group, also this week. It's about a young British woman in the 1870's who emigrates to South Africa to marry a man she barely knows. I'm enjoying it so far, but I better start reading faster if I want to finish it by Wednesday!
• My husband, Ken, finished Break No Bones by Kathy Reich. This was the first Reich novel that any of us have read - this series is the basis for the TV show Bones - and Ken said it was very good though different from the TV show.
• He just started Time and Again by Jack Finney, a classic time travel novel that Ken gave me for Christmas one year. I hope he likes it as much as I did.
• Jamie, 19, probably hasn't had much personal reading time at all lately - he is busy with college and friends!
• Craig, 15, got his reading list for this year's Brit Lit class. He's not too excited, but I am! Lots of excellent novels on the list, both classics and modern, and I think he may actually enjoy some of them (though he'd never admit that). So far, they are discussing their summer reads, The Lord of the Flies and The Housekeeper and the Professor. And guess what? His first writing assignments are blog posts for their classroom blog! I like this teacher.

My writing challenges kept me busy with other writing projects, but I managed a few book blog posts:

Review of The Time Machine, a new audio production of H.G. Wells' classic story.

Snapshot Saturday, in case you want to see pictures of my recent vacation in Cape Cod and Maine.

Wrap-up of My Big Book Summer Challenge - if you were participating in the challenge, be sure to link your own wrap-up post to the challenge page. There is also a separate list of links for reviews of Big Books. If you didn't participate, check out some of the reviews listed to get some ideas for your own Big Book reads!

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 Unleashing Readers.)

It's Monday 9/2! What Are You Reading?

Happy September! Fall is my favorite season, so I am happy that September is here. We had another very busy week, capped off by a frantic Friday after my college son spent much of the previous night/early morning in the ER. Just stupid college stuff! Thank goodness, his injury isn't quite as bad as first thought, and it looks like he won't need surgery, but he has a torn tendon in his finger that needs to be kept splinted for 6 weeks. Both he and his brother spent the holiday weekend at the beach with friends, so my husband and I had a lovely, quiet respite for a few days - just what we needed! They both return today (college son only long enough to do laundry and refill his medicines), so we will be returning to the real world, but we enjoyed our quiet downtime together.

Not a lot of time for reading last week, but we all managed some:

• I finished The Ask and the Answer (see my review) by Patrick Ness and loved it as much as the first book. This Chaos Walking YA trilogy is fabulous! I can't wait to read the third and final book.
• I squeezed in a short middle-grade novel before turning to my book group obligations for September. I read Charlie Bumpers vs. Teacher of the Year by Bill Harley, one of our all-time favorite authors/singers/storytellers. It was excellent - reading it was like listening to Harley tell one of his stories from his own childhood.
• I am now reading Hope's Boy by Andrew Bridge, a memoir for my library's discussion group. The author was taken from his young, mentally ill mother at the age of 7 and grew up in foster homes and horrible child welfare institutions. Amazingly, he grew into a caring, intelligent adult who is devoting his life to helping abandoned and foster children. I'm a little more than halfway through, and it is both horrifying and hopeful.
• I am still listening to a teen/YA audio, A Matter of Days by Amber Kizer, the post-apocalyptic journey of a teen sister and her younger brother across the country to find their remaining family. It's been excellent all the way through - I'm on the last CD now!
• My husband, Ken, finished Secrets to the Grave by Tami Hoag and enjoyed it.
• Ken is now reading Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs, one of the novels that inspired the TV show Bones (a favorite in our house). We've been meaning to try the series for ages and found a couple of Reichs' novels in the bargain bin on vacation.
• Jamie, 19, is still reading Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling, book 1 of The Nightrunner series. I doubt he had much reading time this weekend at the beach with all of his best friends! Now that he's back at school, his reading time will be filled with chemistry and calculus instead of fantasy.
• Craig, 15, finished The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa just in time before school started on Wednesday! He didn't love it, but he said it was OK- I want to read it when he's done using it for school. He won't read anything unless it is assigned to him, so I am hoping his Brit Lit teacher this year will come up with some good novels for his class!

Thanks to school starting up again, I was able to get back to some writing this week, including these posts:

I signed up for Two Writing Challenges to help jump-start my fall writing season (kids back in school - yay!)

Book Adaptations on TV - looks like a good season coming up!

Weekend Cooking, with a couple of quick, healthy dinner ideas for back-to-school time.

 Review of Defending Jacob, a suspenseful and disturbing legal drama.

Review of The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness, book 2 in the Chaos Walking YA trilogy.

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 Unleashing Readers.)

If you have been participating in the Big Book Summer Challenge, summer is officially over after today! Be sure to add your links for any Big Book reviews to the review link list on the challenge page. Later today or tomorrow, I will post a summary post with another link list for your own wrap-up posts. 

Teen/YA Review: The Ask and the Answer

It usually takes me a while to find time to read a sequel, even when I really liked the first book, but I started The Ask and the Answer, book 2 in the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness, just a couple of weeks after finishing book 1, The Knife of Never Letting Go, because I couldn’t wait to find out what was going to happen next. It worked out well because this was another long book to add to my Big Book Summer Challenge. This series continues to be fast-paced and exciting with a unique plot full of surprises.

I don’t want to give too much away for those who haven’t read book 1 yet, so this will be tricky. Todd, the main character from the first book, is back. He and his friend Viola have been captured by their enemy, Mayor Prentiss, and separated. The Mayor tells Todd that the only way to keep Viola safe is to comply with everything he says and become a part of his new regime. Todd is constantly worried because he has no way of knowing if Viola is safe or even still alive, as he struggles to keep her safe while doing things for the Mayor that he knows are wrong.

With this page-turning beginning, the story continues against a backdrop of increasingly disturbing changes the Mayor is making to the society he is now ruling, and increasing violence against the Mayor’s regime by a rebel group called The Answer. Where The Knife of Never Letting Go had more of a post-apocalyptic feel to it, with Todd and Viola fleeing from their enemies, The Ask and the Answer is decidedly more dystopian, focusing in on the new society that the Mayor is trying to create. Of course, both books are still in the sci-fi realm, with plenty of action, adventure, and suspense thrown in. It’s an enticing combination.

Like the first novel in the trilogy, The Ask and the Answer is a very violent story, with similar fighting and combat but also plenty of bombing in the mix from the rebel group. However, this second book introduces lots of thought-provoking ethical questions, about war and violence, torture and terrorism. Ultimately, it investigates an age-old question that applies as well to our own world as it does to Todd and Viola's: do the ends justify the means?

The action and suspense build to a final stand-off between the rebels and the Mayor’s organization, but once again, the book ends with a surprising twist that left me yelling, “What?? No, not that!” Now, I can’t wait to read the third and final installment of this exciting trilogy.

519 pages, Candlewick Press

 

It's Monday 8/26! What Are You Reading?

Two more days! My oldest son moved back into the college dorms yesterday, and my youngest starts back to high school on Wednesday, so in two more days, the house will be quiet during the day and I can stop the constant running to doctor's appointments every day! Not that I'm counting... I love my kids, but it's been a difficult summer and I am looking forward to being productive again.

With the end of vacation and school looming ahead, we had a very busy week and all had far less reading time than usual:

• I am still reading The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness, book 2 in the fabulous Chaos Walking trilogy. I am enjoying this book as much as I did the first one!
• My husband, Ken, is still reading Secrets to the Grave by Tami Hoag, a psychological thriller.
• He and I did manage to finally finish an audio book, a new release of The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. I'd never read the original, and we both enjoyed this classic time travel story very much. Now I understand why Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory has nightmares about the Morlocks!
• Jamie, 19, spent the week at the beach with his friends, so he had very little reading time! He is still reading Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling, book 1 of The Nightrunner series.

I spent a lot of times in waiting rooms last week, so I did bring my laptop along and managed to post a couple of book reviews last week:

Review of The Twelve by Justin Cronin, sequel to The Passage.

Review of The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, Book 1 in the Chaos Walking series.

And a Weekend Cooking post with a couple of very tasty summer recipes.

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 Unleashing Readers.) 

If you have been participating in the Big Book Summer Challenge, summer is almost over! Be sure to add your links for any Big Book reviews to the review link list on the challenge page. Later this week, I will post a summary post with another link list for your own wrap-up posts.

Teen/YA Review: The Knife of Never Letting Go

My son and my husband both raved about the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness, so I finally found time to read Book 1: The Knife of Never Letting Go as part of my Big BookSummer Challenge last month. Though this unique series has been marketed as teen/YA fiction, it seems to be loved just as much by adult readers. I enjoyed it so much that I started reading Book 2: The Ask and the Answer this week.

I am going to tread lightly with plot description here because it’s obvious the author intended for the novel’s secrets to be gradually discovered by readers. Todd is a boy just one month away from the birthday that will make him a man. He lives in a society where everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts, creating a continuous stream of Noise. Though Todd is an orphan, he has had a decent life, brought up by two close family friends who care for him.

One day, Todd and his dog, Manchee (whose thoughts Todd can also hear), encounter an odd patch of silence on the edge of town.  This strange discovery leads to the uncovering of some dark secrets that have been kept from Todd, in spite of the Noise. Certain people in town are so committed to keeping the town’s secrets that they go after Todd, forcing him and Manchee into life on the run, leaving his little town for the first time in his life.

This novel is full of action and adventure, as the bad guys chase after Todd and Manchee and a friend they meet along the way. It’s an unusual mix of science fiction, post-apocalyptic fiction, and even some dystopia. And through it all, the Noise adds a unique element. Can you imagine a world where you know what everyone else is thinking?

I loved this book just as much as my husband and son did. Todd is a very likeable character, and Manchee provides a touch of humor, with his doggie thoughts being constantly broadcast to Todd. Although it is a longish book at almost 500 pages (hence its inclusion in my Big Book Summer plans), it is a fairly quick read, with a fast pace and plenty of suspense to keep you reading long past bedtime. So far, Book 2: The Ask and the Answer is just as good.

479 pages, Candlewick Press

 

It's Monday 8/19! What Are You Reading?

We're back! I haven't posted since July because we took a 2-week camping vacation to Cape Cod and Maine, then headed to Pennsylvania for a weekend with our extended family. Lots and lots of fun all around - hiking, kayaking, and eating way too much delicious food! If you want a peek at our vacation adventures, check out our Road Trip Blog - scroll down to August 1, 2013, to see the photos in order.

So, with all that vacation time, we read a LOT of books these last few weeks!

• I read The Twelve by Justin Cronin, sequel to The Passage and my fourth Big Book of the Summer. I enjoyed it and am glad I read it, but I liked The Passage more (and just gave it to my sister for her birthday this weekend). I wish I'd read The Twelve sooner because I'd forgotten a lot of what happened in the first book. 
• This weekend, I started The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness, sequel to The Knife of Never Letting Go which I read earlier this summer and loved (another big book). The two books are part of a YA trilogy that is a mixture of science fiction, dystopia, and post-apocalyptic fiction, with a heavy dose of action and adventure.
• My husband, Ken, had eye surgery before we left. Fortunately, it went well, and he was able to get back to reading during vacation. He read The Lost Ones by Ace Atkins, an Edgar Award winner that I gave him for Father's Day. He really enjoyed it and is looking forward to reading more by Atkins.
• Now, Ken is reading Secrets to the Grave by Tami Hoag, a freebie I picked up for him at the library when I completed their adult summer reading challenge (I got a total of 5 free books!).
• Jamie, 19 (as of Friday!), took full advantage of vacation and read at least 6 books over the past two weeks! He is lucky that he can read in the car and not get sick. First, he finished the David Eddings' trilogy The Tamuli, reading Book 2, The Shining Ones and Book 3, Hidden City. He liked this fantasy series that his dad lent him.
• Jamie also read a couple of free books on his Kindle. When he first got it for last year's birthday, he downloaded a dozen free fantasy novels and has been making his way through them. One of the ones he read last week was The God King by James A. West, Book 1 of the Heirs of the Fallen series. He loved it and is looking forward to reading more of the series.
• Jamie and I were thrilled to find a bookstore in Bar Harbor, Maine, so I treated him to two more books for his birthday. He already finished the 700-page novel The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks and absolutely loved it!
• Now, Jamie is reading his other birthday book, Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling, Book 1 of The Nightrunner series (as you can see, he loves fantasy). He says this one is good, too. His reading is going to come to a screeching halt next week when college starts up again, so he's enjoying it while he can!
• Craig, 15, finally started his second book for required summer reading, The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa. He's not too excited about this one, even though his brother told him it's pretty good! I want to read it when he's finished.
• Despite all those hours on the road, we didn't listen to much in the way of audio books (to my great disappointment!). The boys don't like listening to books with us anymore (sniff, sniff) - Craig would rather listen to music, and Jamie would rather read on his own. I did talk Jamie into listening to Insurgent by Veronica Roth with Ken and I - all three of us read the first book, Divergent, and enjoyed it. However, he got frustrated because he didn't remember much from the first book and soon gave up. Ken and I still listened while the boys had their earbuds in, but we didn't get very far - I'm not sure when we'll find time to finish it now that we're home!

Believe it or not, I did manage a couple of posts before we left, in the flurry of packing:

Review of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain, an amazing and moving novel.

My summary of Books Read in July.

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 Unleashing Readers.) 

Books Read in July

Lake Ontario at sunset, from Selkirk Shores State Park, NY

 What a crazy month! We had a couple of short trips, sent the kids off for a week, and dealt with my husband's emergency eye surgery (which went very well - thanks for all the support!). So, I have not had much time for blogging and am behind on posting reviews, but I did read a lot. I finally got moving on my Big Book Summer Challenge with two books over 400 pages this month, and I managed more audios than usual:

• Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, an emotionally powerful novel by Ben Fountain (Texas)
• Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter, on audio (Italy)
• Game Changer by Margaret Peterson Haddix, a middle-grade/teen novel (no location specified)

• Defending Jacob by William Landay, a legal thriller and my 2nd Big Book of the summer (Massachusetts)
• The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, a teen/YA novel and another Big Book (other world)
• Not Exactly a Love Story by Audrey Couloumbis, a teen/YA audio book (New York)

• Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich, pure summer fluff! (New Jersey)
• The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, a classic, on audio (England)

Wow, I thought I'd read fewer books than usual this month, but all those audios really added up! I read 8 books total (a lot for me), all fiction. Three were audios, 5 were grown-up novels, and 3 were for kids/teens/YA. It was a nice mix this month, and I enjoyed all of them. Hard to choose a favorite this month - I think it's probably Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, with The Knife of Never Letting Go as a close second.


Update on 2013 Reading Challenges:
I added only one new state (Texas) and one new country (Italy) to my 2013 Where Are You Reading Challenge. I read two more books off my TBR shelves, bringing the total up to 11 so far this year for my 2013 TBR Pile Reading Challenge. I also added two audio books to my 2013 Audio Book Challenge. And The Time Machine counts as one more for Those Books I Should Have Read 2013 Challenge.

What did you most enjoy reading in July?

It's Monday 7/29! What Are You Reading?

Things have changed dramatically at our house since this time last week. My husband lost the vision in one eye while away on business last week. Something similar happened a few years ago when he had a couple of retinal tears, so he went to the ER. After he got home, I took him to his own retinal specialist who decided he needed to do surgery to get to the bottom of this - there is still too much blood in the eye for him to clearly examine it visually. So, today is surgery day, tomorrow is a post-op appointment, and chances are good that we will be cancelling our vacation to Maine for which we are supposed to be leaving later this week. We've waited over a year for this trip!

So, it's been a rough week, and it looks like our summer will turn out much differently than we expected. We should know more after the post-op appointment tomorrow.

Of course, we continued to read this week:

• I finished The Knife of Never Letting Go, Book 1 in the Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness, and loved it! It's hard to categorize this popular YA trilogy: it's somewhat post-apocalyptic, with some dystopian elements and overall a fast-paced suspense novel. I can't wait to read the next two books!
• I had a nice surprise last week. I turned in two brief book reviews for my local library's adult summer reading program and got to pick out two new books for myself! One of the books I picked was Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich, so I started that a few days ago. This is perfect reading for a stressful summer week - light and fun and fast-paced, with plenty of humor.
• I am still listening to the teen/YA audio book A Matter of Days by Amber Kizer, a post-apocalyptic story about a sister and brother making their way across the country after a devastating pandemic. It's very good, though I may not have as much time to listen now that the kids are back home!
• My husband and I had to drive back to Connecticut this weekend to pick up our kids after a week of sailing with their grandparents, so we listened to a new audio book release of The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. I've never read this classic before and am really enjoying it. We'll probably finish it today and tomorrow going back and forth to the hospital and the doctor's office.
• My husband, Ken, was told not to read or look at screens for too long this week, so I helped him put a couple of audio books on his iPod. He has been listening to Fugitive by Phillip Margolin, a thriller. He's enjoying it and finding listening to audio before bed very relaxing.
• Jamie, 18, is still enjoying The Sorcerer's Path series by Brock Deskins on his Kindle. He finished Book 6: The Sorcerer's Abyss and also read Book 7: The Sorcerer's Return. While away on the boat, he said he also read 3 other free books on his Kindle that he enjoyed.
• Craig, 15, was thrilled to be on vacation and not have to read at all! Yes, they were brought up in the same household.

My husband gave me a Kindle for my birthday last week, so I will have to see what's available in e-books!

Very little time for writing last week, so I just managed two posts:

Weekend Cooking 7/27

Review of Game Changer by Margaret Peterson Haddix, a middle-grade/teen novel about an alternate universe.

There is still a month of summer left, so plenty of time to sign up for the Big Book Summer Challenge and squeeze in a Big Book this summer! It's super-easy and relaxed, as summer should be, and you only need to read one book of 400 pages or more to participate. There are still six weeks of summer left, so lots of time to read a big book (or two). Join the fun!

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 Unleashing Readers.)

Middle-Grade Review: Game Changer

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Margaret Peterson Haddix’s novels are always fast-paced with original, thought-provoking plots. In Game Changer, she tackles an alternate reality where sports and academics are reversed in our society.

KT Sutton is an 8^th grade softball champion. Her whole life revolves around her amazing talent as a softball pitcher, and her goals are to win a college scholarship and play in the Olympics. Her shoulder has been bothering her, but KT tries to play through the pain. One day during a championship game, KT blacks out. When she wakes up, she’s back in her bedroom, and the world is a different place.

In this strange new world, school is all about physical fitness, with each class one series of boring drills after another: stretching, running, throwing, etc. For fun, the kids participate in academic competitions, and those seem to be the only things that kids, parents, and the school are truly interested in. In this new world, athletic KT is an outcast, and her little brother, Max, is the star of his 6^th grade Mathletics team and the focus of all of her parents’ attention. Max isn’t any happier about this situation than KT is. When KT discovers that Max also remembers the “real” world, the two team up to try to find a way back.

Alternate reality always makes for an interesting story, and there is plenty of suspense here as KT and Max struggle to figure out what happened and how they can reverse it. Haddix’s lessons – about sports and academics, bullying, and the importance of valuing diversity – are rather obvious here, though maybe less so for younger readers. It is not one of her best books, but overall, it is a fun and fast-paced story that will especially appeal to middle-school age readers.

272 pages, Simon & Schuster

If you like alternate reality stories, one of my favorites is Prism by Faye and Aliza Kellerman.

 

It's Monday 7/22! What Are You Reading?

Wow, what a week! I was insanely busy last week...and insanely exhausted! I pushed way past the normal limits of my chronic illness, on my own with my husband away and getting my kids ready for their week of sailing with their grandparents - aka The Annual Grandchildren's Cruise! I took them to Connecticut on Friday, drove back (through awful traffic on the NJ Turnpike) Saturday, and then collapsed. I have been resting and recovering and am starting to feel a little better. The time alone has been such a huge relief, being responsible for no one but myself - bliss! My husband comes home tonight, so I am also looking forward to time alone with him.

Anyway, despite all that, we keep reading!

• I finished Defending Jacob by William Landay. Very suspenseful with lots of twists and turns, pretty depressing, and definitely a surprise ending that I didn't see coming....and my second Big Book of the Summer!
• I am now reading another of my Big Books, The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, a YA post-apocalyptic novel. It is very good so far, and I'm enjoying it.
• With all that time in the car by myself, I've had lots of audio book time (for a change). I listened to Not Exactly a Love Story by Audrey Couloumbis, a teen/YA novel set in 1977 about a 15-year old boy with a crush on his gorgeous, popular neighbor who resorts to anonymous phone calls because he's afraid to approach her in person. It was very good and helped all those hours stuck in traffic pass pleasantly.
• Now I am listening to A Matter of Days, a teen/YA post-apocalyptic novel (yes, I've got kind of a dismal theme going at the moment!), about a teen girl and her younger brother making their way across the country by themselves after a pandemic wipes out most of the population. I just started it yesterday but it is good so far.
• My husband, Ken, has been reading Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, but he has had to put his reading aside for now. While away, he had a scary incident with his eye and can only see out of one eye right now. The doctor told him no reading or computer screens until his vision clears - I don't know what he's going to do during his long hours of traveling today. I can't imagine flying without reading. He has a history of retinal tears and will have to follow up with his doctor later this week. Scary stuff.
• Jamie, 18, finished Domes of Fire by David Eddings, Book 1 of The Tamuli series, one of his Dad's old favorites.
• Once back home from our trip, Jamie was able to download the rest of the The Sorcerer's Path series by Brock Deskins to his Kindle. He is currently reading Book 6: The Sorcerer's Abyss. He loves this series!
• Craig, 15, with much prodding on my part, finished The Lord of the Flies by William Golding before leaving for his trip. I asked him what he thought of it, and he said, "Really disturbing." Yup, that about sums that one up!

I was far too busy for reviews or other blog posts last week, but I hope to catch up while I'm alone this week.

Don't forget, there is still plenty of time to sign up for the Big Book Summer Challenge! It's super-easy and relaxed, as summer should be, and you only need to read one book of 400 pages or more to participate. There are still six weeks of summer left, so lots of time to read a big book (or two). Join the fun!

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 Unleashing Readers.)

It's Monday 7/15! What Are You Reading?

Huh? What? Monday already? We just returned from a long weekend spent camping, so it feels like Sunday to me. We traveled up to the farthest reaches of northern New York for my college reunion (Clarkson University) and took our pop-up camper so we could enjoy camping along the way. The camping was wonderful - we haven't had a vacation together in over a year! - and the reunion was amazing. Dozens of my friends from several years in my sorority all came back this weekend, and we laughed so hard my face hurt! There's nothing like old friends. I'm so glad we went.

We had plenty of quiet downtime for reading, too:

• I FINALLY got moving again on my Big Book Summer Challenge and started reading Defending Jacob by William Landay this week. It's very good so far - gripping suspense about a DA whose son is accused of murder - and I have no idea how it's going to turn out.
• My husband, Ken, finished The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman. He liked the details of life at the lighthouse and the characters but found the outcome a bit of a downer. I think he's glad he read it.
• Now Ken is reading Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. He says the characters are a bit strange - that seems to be Flynn's thing!
• Jamie, 18, flew through Books 4 and 5 of The Sorcerer's Path series by Brock Deskins on his Kindle: The Sorcerer's Vengeance and The Sorcerer's Scourge. He loves this series that his friend recommended! Problem is that we got on the road - without WiFi - and he realized he hadn't downloaded the next book in the series yet! So, he had to switch to paper books for the weekend...
• Jamie read Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore, Book 3 in the Graceling trilogy, which has been sitting on his shelf for months. He said it was very good, but he liked the first two books better.
• Now, Jamie is reading Domes of Fire by David Eddings, Book 1 of The Tamuli series, one of his Dad's old favorites. I think he read this one before but is re-reading it before reading Book 2. He can read in the car, so he read a LOT this weekend!
• Craig, 15, is still making his way - very slowly! - through The Lord of the Flies by William Golding. I told him he needs to finish it before he leaves on a trip with his grandparents Friday, so he's going to have to pick up his pace dramatically!

Not much blogging time last week, but I managed to post a couple of reviews before we left town:

Arcadia by Lauren Groff, a novel about a boy who grows up on a 70's commune.

 Lucky for Good by Susan Patron, the final book in the fabulous middle-grade Hard Pan series.

Don't forget, there is still plenty of time to sign up for the Big Book Summer Challenge! It's super-easy and relaxed, as summer should be, and you only need to read one book of 400 pages or more to participate. So, join the fun!

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 Unleashing Readers.)

Middle-Grade Review: Lucky for Good

I adored Susan Patron’s first two Hard Pan trilogy novels, The Higher Power of Lucky and Lucky Breaks. I recently read the final novel featuring endearing eleven-year old Lucky, Lucky for Good, and enjoyed the heart-warming story just as much as the first two novels.

 Lucky lives in tiny Hard Pan, nestled among mountains in a remote California desert, with her adoptive mother, Brigitte, who runs the Hard Pan Café. She is happy there, among the other quirky but lovable residents of her town. Lucky now feels confident in her place among them and with Brigitte, but new questions keep popping up in her life. She wonders about the father who abandoned her and about her friend Miles’ mother who’s been recently released from prison. She’s worried about the café’s recent visit from the health department and about a middle-school boy visiting town who is sullen and mean. And when Lucky is assigned a family tree for school, she wonders how on earth she will ever find any information at all about her biological family.

As in previous Hard Pan novels, the town’s residents come together to help solve some of these problems and Lucky leans on her friends and on Brigitte to help with others. Lucky does some growing up in this novel, learning some important lessons about both friends and family along the way and even discovering a new relative.

All of the Hard Pan novels featuring Lucky are warm, funny, and intelligent, and this one is no exception. There is nothing frightening or depressing here, but Patron doesn’t shy from serious issues. In this last novel, Lucky struggles with the definition of family, feeling abandoned by her father, and even the controversy between devote Christian Creationists and the concept of evolution. As always, Lucky’s story is told in a gentle and clever way. These novels have more intelligence and emotional depth than many middle-grade books but are always heart-warming and affirmative. I will miss reading about Lucky and the rest of the Hard Pan residents!

203 pages, Atheneum (Simon & Schuster)

       

It's Monday 7/8! What Are You Reading?

Very hectic week last week, and another one starting today! I probably won't be online much this week. On the plus side, my oldest son finished his college summer class this weekend, and my youngest is off crutches and feeling great, so now our summer can really begin! We have a mini-vacation coming up - taking our camper along to my college reunion and camping along the way - our first road trip/vacation in over a year! I am sooo ready for that, even if it's just for a few days.

It has been horrifically hot and humid here lately which is extra-tough for me because of my chronic illness, so I have been hiding out indoors whenever I can (that's the other reason I can't wait to head north!). We managed lots of good reading this week:

• I finished Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain, and this novel about a team of young soldiers stationed in Iraq who are taken on a whirlwind Victory Tour of the US for acts heroism just blew me away. It was funny, emotionally powerful, and made me look at both the military and "normal" life in America in a whole new way.
• I decided to squeeze in one more short teen/YA book before jumping into the rest of my long books for my Big Book Summer Challenge. I am almost finished with Game Changer by Margaret Haddix Peterson, an alternate reality novel that's been very engaging.
• I finished Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter on audio and loved it - a great story of how seemingly minor events in the distant past affected a group of people decades later.
• My husband, Ken, is reading The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman on his Kindle, though he's not sure he's going to finish it. He's finding it interesting but can tell it's not going to end well - he's not a fan of sad books or movies! I think the characters are making him nervous as they make some questionable choices.
• Jamie, 18, continued to plow through The Sorcerer's Path series by Brock Deskins on his Kindle; he is thrilled that his friend bought the whole series, so he can borrow them! He read Book 2: The Sorcerer's Torment and Book 3: The Sorcerer's Legacy this week. Now that he is done with school and has a couple of months off, I'm sure his reading time will expand even further!
• Craig, 15, is reading The Lord of the Flies by William Golding - required reading for school - but is not making much progress so far! A few people commented here last week that they think required summer reading is a bad thing, but for my son, it is a very good thing! If he weren't required to read this summer, he would never pick up a book at all. He claims to hate reading, but often, if he starts a book for school, he ends up liking it. So, I am thrilled that he will at least read his two required novels this summer.

I did manage a few blog posts last week:

Review of The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, an excellent novel my entire book group enjoyed.

Review of The Silver Six by A.J. Lieberman and Darren Rawlings, an imaginative and action-packed middle-grade graphic novel.

And a summary of Books Read in June - it was a record-setting month for me!

Don't forget, it's only the first week of July, so there is still plenty of time to sign up for the Big Book Summer Challenge! It's super-easy and relaxed, as summer should be, and you only need to read one book of 400 pages or more to participate. So, join the fun!

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 Unleashing Readers.)

Books Read in June

Wow, I can't believe it's July already - June went by in a flash, though it was an odd month here. School ended, but my youngest son had knee surgery and my oldest started a summer class in college. We normally spend June on a long, relaxing camping road trip together, so this June was very different! My youngest is now walking without crutches and going to PT, and my oldest has his final exam tomorrow, so now our REAL summer can begin!

In the meantime, I read a LOT last month and started my Big Book Summer Challenge. Here's what I read in June:

• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, a teen/YA novel, my first Big Book of the summer, and just as good the 2nd time! (Germany)
• Blue Asylum by Kathy Hepinstall, a novel set in Civil War times (Florida)
• The Silver Six by A.J. Lieberman and Darren Rawlins, a middle-grade graphic novel (Massachusetts)

• The Infinity Ring #1: A Mutiny in Time by James Dashner, middle-grade fiction (Pennsylvania)
• The Infinity Ring #2: Divide and Conquer by Carrie Ryan, middle-grade fiction (France)
• The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, novel (San Francisco, CA) 

• The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne, fictional audio book (Germany)
• Arcadia by Lauren Groff, novel (New York)
• Lucky for Good by Susan Patron, middle-grade fiction (California)

Nine books in all! That's definitely a one-month record for me. It helped that several were quick middle-grade novels. This was a big book group month for me - I read The Book Thief, Blue Asylum, The Language of Flowers, and Arcadia all for book groups (and yes, my husband has already informed me I have an addiction!). The Book Thief is a long-time favorite of mine - I first read it several years ago - but of the books I read for the first time, I think The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is my favorite this month - it was just so unique and emotionally powerful.

Update on 2013 Reading Challenges:
I added only 1 new state (Florida) to my Where Are You Reading 2013 Challenge, but I also added 2 new countries (as usual, the titles are piling up for California and New York). Of these 9 books, only 1 (The Boy in the Striped Pajamas) came from my TBR pile - yikes, I better quit taking more books out of the library! - so my 2013 TBR Pile Reading Challenge is up to 9 books now. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas was also my 5th audio book for the 2013 Audio Book Challenge.

What was your favorite book read in June?

Middle-Grade Review: The Silver Six

As I’ve mentioned here before, I rarely read graphic novels, but sometimes I stumble across a good one. I received a proof of The Silver Six, a middle-grade graphic novel by AJ Lieberman and Darren Rawlings, and thoroughly enjoyed its futuristic, kids-save-the-world story.

As with all good action-packed adventures, there is an evil, powerful bad villain at its center: Mr. Craven, owner and CEO of Craven Mining Co, the corporation that controls much of this futuristic world and that is responsible for continuing to destroy the earth in search of ever-more profitable fuels. As the story opens, young Phoebe is worried about paying her rent and convincing the landlord that her parents are still there…because they aren’t. Phoebe is an orphan who, with the help of her beloved robot, Max, has been fooling the authorities for a year now so that she can stay in her home, near her friends.

But Mr. Craven disrupts her plans, as his minions search for an important electronic file that appears to be hidden somewhere in Phoebe’s home. In short order, Phoebe is caught and sent to an orphanage. It’s a dismal life, filled with hard work and poor conditions, but Phoebe quickly makes friends. Gradually, she and her friends discover they have far more in common than just being orphans, and before long, Phoebe is leading the rest of the Silver Six in an escape plan! The kids have more to worry about than just escaping the orphanage, though, as they find they are being pursued by mysterious forces that clearly want them dead.

From there, the action continues and the suspense builds, both on earth and in distant space, as the mysteries surrounding Craven Mining and Phoebe’s parents’ deaths slowly come to light. The Silver Six is kind of like James Bond for kids: it has cool technology, an evil villain, and lots and lots of action and adventure. The characters are fully developed – which surprised me in a graphic novel – and I quickly came to like Phoebe and to root for her and her friends in their quest for truth and freedom. Lots of fun for middle-grade readers who enjoy action and adventure.

188 pages, Scholastic

 

It's Monday 7/1! What Are You Reading?

Yikes! How can it be July already? The year is officially half over - and there is so much I meant to do that I haven't gotten to yet! June flew by, but the good news is that my son is back on his feet after his knee surgery in early June. He started walking without crutches last week, started PT on Saturday, and is feeling great. Even better news? I no longer need to wait on him! Of course, now that he is able to get up and around, our schedule is filled with doctor's appointments, haircuts, PT, etc.

So, it was another busy week, but we enjoyed plenty of reading:

• I finished Arcadia by Lauren Groff in plenty of time for my book group on Wednesday. It was a bit slow to start, but I ended up thoroughly enjoying this novel about a boy who grows up on a hippie commune in the 60's. There was lots of good discussion, too.
• Next, I read a short middle-grade novel, Lucky for Good by Susan Patron, the last book in the Lucky Hard Pan trilogy. This one was just as fabulous as the first two - warm, intelligent, and surprisingly sophisticated for a middle-grade novel. I will miss Lucky!
• I am now reading Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain, an impulse pick-up from the library's New Paperbacks shelf, even though I have a stack of books waiting to be read for my Big Book Summer Challenge! I had heard such great things about this novel that I couldn't resist it. I'm only on chapter 3, but it's good so far.
• I am still listening to Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter on audio and enjoying it very much. I think things are building to the end, and I can't wait to hear what happens!
• My husband, Ken, finished Gone for Good by Harlen Coben and enjoyed the light suspense read.
• Now, he has started The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman, a novel I purchased on his Kindle earlier this year for one of my book groups (and loved!).
• Jamie, 18, continued to tear through fantasy novels on his Kindle, starting with The Weight of Blood by David Daglish. 
• He is now reading The Sorcerer's Ascension, Book 1 in The Sorcerer's Path series by Brock Deskins.
• And Craig, 15, has finally started his required summer reading for school with The Lord of the Flies by William Golding. He's not too impressed so far, but he's not even through chapter one yet! I think he'll like it once he gets into it.

With so much running around last week, I didn't have much time for writing but managed just a couple of blog posts:

I posted my review of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas on both book blogs (Book By Book and Great Books for Kids and Teens) because it was marketed for adults but is just as good for teens and YAs. The audio book just blew me away.

And I wrote my Weekend Cooking post, with a couple of recipes using the bountiful summer produce available now.

Don't forget, it's only the first week of July, so there is still plenty of time to sign up for the Big Book Summer Challenge! It's super-easy and relaxed, as summer should be, and you only need to read one book of 400 pages or more to participate. So, join the fun!

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 Unleashing Readers.)