Slacking

Slacker is a book that I know will have much appeal.  It is funny and it short and it is well done.  I will easily be able to recommend this book.  I just didn't give it the full five stars because it wasn't for me. 
The cover turns me off right way because while I know the animal on the cover is a beaver, it just reminds me of that horrible movie Caddyshack and with the whole gopher subplot going on and I really, really found that movie repulsive most because of the swimming book incident.  In fact, completely because of the swimming pool incident because it is just that awful.  So right away I am judging a book by its cover for a completely ridiculous connection that isn't even there.
Many apologies to Mr. Korman who really is a great writer. 
The book features a kid who is a slacker, except when it comes to gaming.  And the rest of the story I really liked, but the whole beaver angle, even without the cover issue just didn't appeal to me.  Still, I can recommend this book to others who aren't as ridiculous as I am! 

Personally...

I found The Last Time We Say Goodbye to be really well done.  There were some (just a few, reviews for this book from users have been really positive overall) that felt it was predictable and that the main character, Lex, was very unlikable.  I didn't feel this way at all.  I didn't think it was predictable and I liked the element of faith in there, albeit very small, but it was very realistic.  It seems like sometimes authors have an ax to grind when it comes to faith, either way, positive or negative, but the approach to faith and love and science in this was, I thought, very realistic and appropriate to Lex's experiences and age.  I really liked this. 

Just so well done

Rain is Not My Indian Name is a book I can highly, highly recommend for so many reasons.  It made me wonder why I have not read more from Cynthia Leitich Smith. One of places I always check when I read about with Native American characters is this site.  I was so pleased to see that this book is

Dogs and All

I am not a big dog fan.  I am not anti-dog, it's just that I am a much more a cat person and dogs do scare me.  Now I know this book was about MUCH more than dogs.  But the only reason why I didn't love this as much as the other books I have read by her.  Ward won the National Book Award for Salvage the Bones and it is one of those cases were an award committee gets it right!  It is set during Hurricane Katrina in Ward's fictional Mississippi town of Bois Sauvage on the Gulf Coast. 

Wish there were more, but maybe not...

The War I Finally Won is a sequel to The War that Saved My Life and I loved it.  I love Ada and Susan and the whole story and I wish I could read more about them, but I wonder if this is just one of those things, like it is better to have this one be the end?  Would a continuation of their stories just be cheesy?  Unnecessary?  I am the wars are over and wow, what an ending.  What a great, great book.  The ending was absolutely perfect.  Just wonderful.  I loved this book. 

When Dad Killed Mom

was a really, really good book.  The title isn't as subtle as The Last to Let Go, sure, but it was really, really good.  TLTLG was good.  But I really had a hard time liking the main character.  It was easy to like her brother and her mom, and Dani.  Her sister wasn't a very big character.  I felt that we didn't get to know her that much. 

Swinging Seventies!

It was hard to believe that Sunny is actually a little older than I am!  What?!  Is anyone ask old as I?  Swing It, Sunny is the second in what I didn't even know was as series about Sunny Lewin by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm.  I read the first one, Sunny Side Up, during the year that I didn't write about my books, but I really enjoyed it.  My sweet friend, Rebecky loved the first one and recommended it to me but said she didn't like this one as much.  Personally I enjoyed this one, too! 

WhY!

I know why I didn't read The War that Saved My Life before and it is because I thought it would be super boring and just the "same old same old" but it was NOT!  This was really, really good!  And I am looking forward to reading the next one!  What a great story.  I loved the main character and her brother.  It was hard to hear the way that Ada and Jamie were treated by their mother- the way that she talked to them.  But we know that happens. 
Just an excellent book. 

The BIG Read

In 2019, God willing, one of the libraries in which I work will be participating in The Big Read.  The book will be In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez.  She wrote Before We Were Free, which was a remarkable book.  I discovered Tia Lola Stories on a library audio app and listed to both books included in this one download:  How Tia Lola Came to (Visit) Stay and How Tia Lola Came Learned to Teach.  Realistic, funny (especially when Tia Lola is practicing her English by saying everything she knows at once) and touching.  Just great!  I wish that the other books in the series were available on audio!

Whatever After for Older?

The Wishing Spell is the first book in the Land of Stories series and it has been around for a while, but I am finally getting to it and glad that I did.    Chris Colfer  is the author and he is a guy of many talents.  I have never seen Glee, but I know it was very popular.   I just realized he wrote Stranger than Fanfiction which I really loved!  I guess I am not surprised that I really enjoyed this one as well and look forward to reading the next! 

Rain and Ethan

One of the many things I appreciated about Rules of Rain was Rain's explanation of her name and her brother's name.  Her father named Ethan.  Normal name.  And her mom named her, Rain.
Her mom was a hippie-type and her dad was Mr. Normal.  Well, my name is Ingrid Gaynell.  And my brother is Robert Paul.  And well.   That has always bugged me!  Not just that my name is so terrible, but that my brother's is so NORMAL!
The other thing I appreciated about this book was the brother-sister love and relationship.  And also the proof that no one is all good or all bad.  (thinking about the parents here)
This was a good book, not just about families who have members with exceptional abilities, but also about the pressures that we put on ourselves, how we define ourselves, that kind of thing.  I loved Ethan and Hope, too. 

Brother from Another Mother, Sister from Another Mister

Little and Lion are brother and sister.  And I love their love for one another.  That's the first thing that made me really like this book.  I love the love that their parents have for one another.  That's another thing I love about this book.  I love that love is defined as Christ would define it.  People can love people regardless of their color or ethnicity or body parts.  Additionally, I loved the way in which Lion's Bipolar Disorder was not WHO he was.  This was just really, really well done all the way around.  I think it is Printz worthy, for sure. 

First Book of the New Year!

Saint Anything is by Sarah Dessen and I know so many people from whom Sarah Dessen is one of their most favorite authors.  I really did like Saint Anything very much and I will seek to read another from Dessen this year, but I can't say it was really my kind of book, just a little too much romance for me.  Still,  I really liked the fact that it avoided some stereotypical stuff by (SPOILER HERE:  when Sydney and her best friend's brother get together the best friend doesn't hold this massively long terrible grudge and/or bad feelings and it moves along quickly).  Good book! 

The Greatest

When I Was the Greatest is by Jason Reynolds, who is for sure, one of the greatest writers out there.  I loved this book and I loved the father who has faults but wow, what love.  I loved the main character and the love that he has for his friends and family.  I loved the reason why the boxing coach taught him how to fight.  Pay careful attention to the conversation that the coach has with Ali that causes him to decide to teach him how to box.  It is pretty beautiful, but so quick that you might miss it.  Great book. 

Oh those Tapper Twins!

The Tapper Twins Go Viral is the fourth in the series and I really still do love it so much.  In fact, I loved it so much I actually read it, instead of reading it!  Ha!  Great stuff.  A good lesson on internet safety!  But not cheesy or an obvious lesson at all!  Very funny!

Election Stress

The Tapper Twins Run for President is the third in this series I have enjoyed so much!  Once again, I love the love between these two siblings, even though they have their normal spats.  And the format of the books are great!

Very Interesting Concept!

See You in the Cosmos was really good.  Such a neat way it done, recordings on an iPod that Alex hopes to send into space where aliens can find it and learn all about life on earth.  It is neat!  But there is so much more-- mental illness, deadbeat dads, death, brothers and sisters, all kinds of things.  Just a great book.  Am I ready to say Newbery material?  Sure, yes!  But did it wowowowowow me?  Sadly, no, not wowowowow.  Just maybe wow.  Let's see what the next books will bring!

A Great Change!

After the long, hard trip that was Strange the Dreamer, it was so great to see that the second book in the Tapper Twins series was ready for me!  The Tapper Twins Tear Up New York was just great. Very enjoyable and I really, really am looking forward to the next one in the series.  I have the audio on hold!  Loved the first and this one just as much!

Sweet

Sure it seems like a book called The Tapper Twins Go to War (with each other) wouldn't be sweet. But this really was.  Sure there were a love of un-sweet parts, I mean they do play horrible tricks on one another involving cyberbullying and stinky cheese, but man, this was a really good, funny book and I am looking forward to reading the next one in the series!

Greed

There are many, many people who do not have homes in our country.  There are many, many people who do have homes but they are not safe.  There are many, many people who have homes but they don't have enough food to eat.  There are so many, many people living at or below or just above the poverty line.  And it is frustrating to see how much greed there is in our country, in the world, in myself.
My brother and I were talking today about our country's current president.  And wondering how he was elected, with no experience, with such a vulgar history.  And we think it all comes down to greed.  To people wanting more than what they have currently at the expense of others.  People are willing to overlook all kinds of behavior, are willing to overlook character completely, to say nothing of experience, if it means that they might have a chance of keeping what is they see as theirs, or making sure that someone else isn't getting something they don't "deserve."  Money.  The dollar sign.  And our current president is a very rich man.  He got his money the old fashioned way, he inherited it.  And so maybe those who support him thought he knew a thing or two about making money.  Truth is, he didn't really do all that well with the money he inherited.  Compounding interest would happen to anyone.  Yes, he worked hard, but yes, he really didn't make a grand splash and he never could have done any of it without his inheritance and his father backing up his loans.  So yes, he is hard working man.  But no, he isn't an overly smart businessman.  So yeah.
But anyway...we need to care more about one another and less about what we want for ourselves. I include myself in that, too.  Even thought I didn't vote for President Trump, I could have done more to see that he was not elected.  But does greed always win the day?  In this life is seems so.
But I digress.
Paper Things is a novel about homelessness.  It is a terrific novel.  It is a novel about families.  It is a novel about friendship and love and complications, it is a novel about life that ripped my heart out and probably will rip yours out as well.  Jennifer Richard Jacobson is a new-to-me author.  I am so thankful for her words and I am sorry that this book wasn't on my radar before now.  Excellent.