Mr. Alexander

has done it again with Swing.  And I think that this one deserves a Newbery or a Printz.  As always, incredible story full of heart and truth and one that needs to be read, by everyone.  Are there "adult" books that are written so well?  This is also co-written with the poet Mary Rand Hess, like Solo.  Very funny and touching and heart-breaking.  It will appeal to well, everyone.  Baseball fans, poetry fans, people who grieve, people who fall in love.  People of every age. 

JETER FAN!

I was sad to have finished all of The Contract books that are available on audio.  I loved this series.  I love Derek Jeter and am so glad I can recommend these.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE him!  The Contract is the first one and the name of the series.  It is so good and made we want to read Hit & Miss which was so good that it made me want to read Change Up!  Great series!

Excellent

Conviction was simply amazing.  VERY powerful.  And shows what bad religion can do to alienate people and promote completely anti-Jesus, anti-God thoughts and feelings.  Simply fantastic.

2.5 SPOILERS, kinda.

I really always feel bad when I give a book less than 3 stars.  I mean, I know that is ridiculous.  But I just feel like I could never write a book that could be published and so who am I to give someone a less than 3, you know?  And sometimes books just aren't my cup of tea and that doesn't make them less-than-4 worthy.  But Baseball Genius was a 3 until the end.  It just ended way too fast for me, you know?  It was chopped off.
I saw Tim Green and Derek Jeter on the CBS Mornings News promoting the book and so that is why I bought it.  Tim Green has a whole bunch of books and I really enjoyed Football Genius.  Derek Jeter has written some kids books, too.  But I have not read those.  I will have to see what they are like!

Skinny

Last week a kid made fun of me because I was, what he called, "skinny!"  I wanted to tell him that David Levithan would be VERY mad at him for doing that!  Skinnybones was a good book.  Just a good story about being a kid and trying to fit in and not being as "big" or as "bad" or as "cool" as the others.  A good school story.  This is written by the late Barbara Park who also wrote the Junie B. Jones books, of which I am NOT a fan, as I think she is mean!  But I am very sensitive!  Well this wasn't a mean book, I mean, it dealt with bullying, but the main character is a good dude.

The Poetry of Baseball

Shakespeare Bats Cleanup is also a baseball story.  And a story of loss.  And a story of growing up.  And self-discovery.  And it is yet another great book from Ron Koertge.  Told in poetry, it is the story of  a young teen who loves baseball and is quite the star.  When mono keeps him off of the field for many weeks, he turns to poetry out of boredom.  But it turns out, poetry isn't quite so bad! Through his poetry he talks about the loss of his mother, his relationship with his father (who seems like a really nice dude) and a new love interest.  Great stuff and I can't wait to read the second one.  I wish that I could have read it all in one sitting, but life was a bit crazy, so I had to break it up a bit, even though it is super short and makes you want to keep reading and reading.  I would imagine that it is even more powerful if read all at once, so try to carve out an hour, uninterrupted to read this little, powerful book.

Life is Hard, for everyone!

Through to You was a good, good book.  I gave it five of five stars on goodreads because I thought Lauren Barholdt did a great job of offering insight into why some people act the way they act.  We're all so quick to judge people, especially guys who seem like "jerks" and worse words when they jump from girl to girl or close themselves off from real feelings.  Penn is one of those guys.  But we find out why Penn acts the way he does.  That doesn't excuse his behavior, but it really helps the reader to get a better understanding.  Maybe we all need to just take a chance on people, find out about people, who they are, what they are, and why they are.  No one gets through this world without feeling any pain, pain influences our behavior.  This was a very good relationship study, told from the POV of Penn and Harper, as they try to figure out how to be together, despite their baggage.