I Had

written about the trend in publishing to link new books to other books and media and Stronger, Faster and More Beautiful had been recommended for fans of Black Mirror and Westworld.  However, for those of us who are living in 1952, this was not helpful, as I had not heard of these, which are tv shows, but I didn't know they were.  I had to google them! SFAMB was very good in parts.  The parts about the Russians just didn't do it for me, but that's just me.  But it did significantly reduce my enjoyment of the book, but again, that is just me. 

I Never Liked Math

Until I attempted Math for Toddlers and Preschoolers at work.  Then everything changed.  I started reading about early math and the ways in which our first math experiences color the attitudes we have about math as we grow, and the success we have with it.  Good early math experiences mean good math experiences later.  I wonder if that is true for science.  Because I DO  NOT like science, but I wonder...if I had had good early science experiences would that be different.  Would I have like The Third Mushroom more?  Probably.  As Jennifer L. Holm is an author I very, very much enjoy.  This is the sequel to The Fourteenth Goldfish.  Which I really enjoyed. I just couldn't get into this one as much as the first but I still recommend it, because I know it was just me and science!

Great Conclusion

The Thousandth Floor was an accidental discovery for me this year.  A trilogy that was meant to be a trilogy and each book was very fun to read and kept me wanting to find out more about this future world that wasn't too futurey to be not understandable!  The Towering Sky was the last one and I really loved the way that the author told enough of the backstory to make me remember but not enough so that it was boring!  Really good ending.

Not a Waste

Do you remember this song?   That is a great song!  And Moon Base Alpha was a great series.  I think it might be over, which is kinda cool because it started strong and ended strong!  And the one in the middle was great, too!

Things for which I am thankful

are occasions like finding the series The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee.  I saw the second book on the shelf at the library and was able to get the first and the second on audio.  Man, I would have been so sad if the second book wasn't out yet!  This is one of those fun (but dark!) series like Private and Privilege.  In fact, this is also from Alloy Entertainment, as these two were.  This one has a sci-fi component to it, set in 2118.  It was SO good!  I can't wait until The Towering Sky which comes out in August!

Too Wild

I did love The Wild Robot.  But for me, it would have been a great stand-alone.  The Wild Robot Escapes is the sequel and I hope that will be it.  But for people who really enjoy a lot of descriptive action scenes, this might be much more enjoyable.  At first I really liked it but then it just seemed to go overboard with the action scenes.

That Was Different!

Landscape with Invisible Hand was very different!  But in a good way.  I have to say it was not what I was expecting. I should have probably had an idea, given that it was listed some place as being good for people who enjoyed Grasshopper Jungle.  I did really enjoy GJ.  A lot.  I like LWIH, but not as much as GJ.  I am not sure why.   However, I did love the ending, very, very much so.  Maybe it was my ridiculous sensibility toward bodily functions.  That really turned me off, but I know some people wouldn't be so stuck on that!  It's just a bit of a deal-breaker for me as far as LOVING a book goes!  Still, I could easily recommend this.

Match Made in Heaven

Death Match was okay.  I wish I would have liked it more.  If I hadn't seen it coming so clearly, I know I would have liked it more.  But oddly enough and so unlike me, I was able to see it coming pretty much from the beginning of the book.  But maybe it was supposed to be that way?  Because if I could see it coming, then pretty much everyone could see it coming.  It was very "meh."

Sod Houses

No one lives in a sod house in Midnight at the Electric.  But the thing is, this just seemed really done before, even though I know it wasn't done before, because it was unusual.  And I think if it were written for younger kids it would win the Newbery because part of it takes place during the Dust Bowl and it seems like books that take place during the Dust Bowl and feature white girls ALWAYS got Newbery recognition, until as recently when the Newbery really has been going to deserving books like The Crossover and Dead End in Norvelt.  Of course,  there was Moon Over Manifest. Shudder.  But the Printz always seems to be a better choice than the Newbery and so I don't think this will win.  At least it didn't do it for me, not at all.  I just didn't really love or like many, or any of the characters.  But not to say it wouldn't be great for someone else.  I just really didn't like this one at all and found it hard to finish.

Finished!

Go Big or Go Home is my first Will Hobbs book, but it won't be my last, as I really liked it!  And it was also the last of the 50 states!  Set in South Dakota! Good stuff!

Robots in the Wild

If I had a Newbery pick it would be Wild Robot.  This was not (yet) on the list for the goodread group I follow, but I hope it will be, or at least considered.  In addition to being different, totally fresh, well written and pretty much amazing, kids would really enjoy it, too.  

Is He Spaced Out?

I remember when I was a little girl, my daddy took me-  no, no, that's the Peggy Lee song.
I remember when I was little girl my family visited Quebec City.  We did a horse and carriage ride and the guy who drove the horses asked in a super-French accent, "Is he spaced out?" about my brother, who was not a fan of talking to strangers.  It really upset him.  And it was weird to hear "spaced out" in a French accent!  Anyway, that is neither here nor there and no big deal and kinda funny now.  But every time I hear or see "spaced out" I think of that time.
Spaced Out is the second book in the Moon Base Alpha series and I just loved it.  And I love this series.  And I wish Stuart Gibbs's other books were available through the library eaudio apps.
AND I just got what the cover means!  So funny!  Another really good mystery and just good in general.

Murder in Space!

Kids at one of the libraries where I work LOVE Stuart Gibbs' books.  They look so good!  And I have wanted to read them for so long!  But it's the old eye thing...so when I found Space Case, the first in the Moon Alpha Base series available on audio, I was super excited!
This was a really fun book!  And interesting!  It is science fiction, but not too far in the future that the future looks unrecognizable.  That is the kind of science fiction that I like.
There is a good mystery here and the main character is very likable.  Also, the supporting characters are good, too and I am looking forward to seeing how this series develops as it goes along.  I am so glad I had a listen!

Thinkin with your noggin

Wow and wow again.  Noggin is the new book by John Corey Whaley who won the Printz medal back in 2012 for Where Things Come Back, which I really enjoyed.  I can never predict winners, but man, so far, I really think that this could win Mr. Whaley another medal.  I really loved this book.  It science fiction, sort of, more realistic fiction, but the whole premise science fiction.  Travis has just come back from the dead.  He had cancer when he was sixteen and had the opportunity to have his head cryogenically frozen.  The doctors say that there is a possibility, in a few decades or more, that he could come "back to life" through the transplantation of his head on a donor body.
What happens is, science moves super fast and he comes back with a brand new body in five years.  He is still sixteen, but all of his friends are turning twenty-one, including his girlfriend.  He is still a kid, but his former peers are on with their lives.  Travis feels like he has seen his family and loved ones yesterday, but they have been mourning his death for five years, never sure if he was really coming back to them.
There is so much good stuff in this book. Don't let the science fiction stuff turn you off, because it really doesn't feel like science fiction at all.  The whole frozen head this is the only thing that is different from today's world.  In fact, it is still pretty rare in Travis' world, as Travis is quite the sensation and oddity, being only the second person in the world to have the operation.
This is a must-read.  There's a lot to talk about here and a lot to consider.

Fish Story

When I was a little girl, I won a goldfish as my elementary school Fun Day. This little dude lasted a really long time! I know I still had him in eighth grade. I know that is weird. But I am sure that he wasn't replaced, like the goldfish in The Fourteenth Goldfish. My parents hated that fish! They couldn't wait for him to die! I'm not sure why, because I did take care of him. I know that my cats enjoyed looking at him, too.

But that is neither here nor there.

The title of The Fourteenth Goldfish refers to the whole goldfish drama that Ellie went through, or didn't have to go through, rather, over goldfish. When Ellie was in preschool she had a rather progressive teacher and at the end of the year she gave all of the students a goldfish. The thing was, goldfish aren't supposed to live very long and their death would teach the children about the circle of life. Ellie's goldfish didn't teach her that though, because her fish never died. Her parents kept replacing it! Very clever.

The Fourteenth Goldfish is written by Jennifer L. Holm who also wrote, Turtle in Paradise, which I absolutely loved.   This book is kind of like the Intergalatic Bed and Breakfast series in that it is science fiction, but it good, meaty, growing-up stuff within its pages as well!  TFG is a growing up story, and a funny one.  Ellie's grandfather is a scientist who has found the Fountain of Youth, in the form of a jellyfish.  Instead of being a guy in his late 70s, he is now a young teen again.  Is that good, or is it bad?  There is a lot to be learned in this book, about growing up and moving on, about being more than you thought you could be.  It's about fathers and daughters and loss and the circle of life.  It's about science and art and the in between.  But it is hilarious and not preachy and not predictable.  I really, really loved this book and will find it very easy to recommend!  I was excited to get this on netgalley and look forward to its release! 

As I have said before, but I am happy to say again...

Madeleine L'Engle was brilliant.  I recently read and wrote about A Wrinkle in Time and I had to quickly move on to A Wind in the Door, which I loved even more, if that is even possible.  So much great stuff in here.  A book you can really get lost in.  I listened to the download and reversed multiple times just to hear the beauty of the power of a sentence or paragraph again.  A remarkable Christian writer.  A writer for everyone, really though.

Much, much love...

A Wrinkle in Time is a tough book, I think.  But a beautiful one.  And one worth reading more than once.  Madeleine L'Engle, if she had to be described in one word, which would be impossible because she is just amazing that she can't be limited to a one-word description, but if she HAD to be, it would be brilliant. 
I remember my fourth grade teacher reading this book aloud to our class.  And then I tried to reread it last year, but I couldn't get into it.  But this year, I don't know...I finally really, really listened to it and it just spoke right to my heart.

Didn't HAVE to Read It, But....

Last year I read Found and really, really enjoyed it.  I had tried to read Sent a few times and just couldn't get into it at all.  I was so determined to get through it, though, I finally bought the audio.  It was just super confusing for me.  Way too much sci-fi and life in the 1400s in England really isn't my cup of tea, so I wasn't much interested in the story, either.  Turns out that this is the story of the Princes in the Tower, which I didn't know anything about until I read this book, so I guess I learned something after all.  Will I continue the series.  Not sure.  I won't pay for it though.

Not the End

I had thought that Starters and Enders would be a two book deal. After reading Enders, though, I think that Lissa Price has more to come.  I loved Starters so much that I thought when I saw it on iBooks a few months ago, I bought it right away!  Only to discover that it was in Spanish.  That was kinda depressing.  I also loved the emini books, Portrait of a Marshall and Portrait of a Starter.  But Enders disappointed me a little.  First of all, the cover is really bad.  But more than that, for me anyway, the book had a little too much science in it.  I know that the book is science fiction!  But I just don't remember Starters having as much science as Enders did.  I couldn't get back into the story, even though I do think Price did a nice job catching the reader up, I just couldn't start to care about Callie as much as I did before.  Still, I certainly will buy this for the library and I do recommend it to folks who need to know what happens after Prime Destinations is no more.  Will I read the next one?  I am just not sure.