Not What I Thought- So Much More!

Checked is not a sports book.  I mean I didn't really think it would be, just because I don't think of Cynthia Kadohata is a "sports fiction" author, but she is such a great author that she can write anything she wants and you just KNOW she will do it well!
This story just got so down deep, you know?  I don't know how to say it another way.

Jacob Have I Loved SPOILERS!

This wasn't a rip off of Jacob Have I Loved, not at all.  But it did remind me of that book, just now, not when I was reading it.  I had a father who was a mean guy.  Mean to my mom, mean to my brother and mean to me.  But he did the best he could.  He had a dad who was even meaner!  My mom is a wonderful soul, but she had a mean mom and she had to live with my dad, so she has painful issues of her own that still haunt her.  Still, I know that I was/am loved by parents who did the best that they could.  Generally I do think that people do the best they can.
But I am off on a tangent.
Thinking this and thinking about the mom in Notes from a Liar and Her Dog, I know that Ant is a liar, doing the best that she can.  Harder to feel grace toward her mother who is really tough on Ant, but she is an adult and so maybe doesn't get as much grace from me as Ant does.
Really good book.  Hard but good.  Just so you know, the dog DOES NOT DIE!

I Guess I Tried to Repress It SPOILERS

Stone Fox was one of the worst, worst books I have ever read. Ever.  The dog dies very suddenly at the end.  His heart explodes. Terrible.  Terrible.  Terrible.  I read this last year but never wrote about it, or even marked it read on goodreads.  But it is set in Wyoming, which I needed for my Reading Road Trip.

Hard Not to Give 5 Stars to GP

Field Trip is the sequel to Road Trip, books written by Gary and his son, Jim Paulsen.  Here is a Q and A with father and son! This is more than a "dog story."  And NO DOGS DIE, by the way!  And it is more than a funny story, though it is funny.  It is another one of those Paulsen-magic-books-that-have-a-lesson-but-in-no-way-preachy-in-fact-you-don't-even-know-there-is-a-lesson deals.  Because I don't think Paulsen writes to teach a lesson.  I think he just writes about life and life just teaches us lessons.  And we learn from them sometimes and sometimes we don't.  Great stuff.  Really.  Thank you, Paulsens.

Fiction or Non

Gary Paulsen can do it all.  This Side of Wild:  Mutts, Mares and Laughing Dinosaurs is nonfiction and it is so good!  Is this is memoir?  I think it is.  Maybe?  I am not sure!  In any case, it was really good.  And I learned a lot about animals that I didn't know.  And he just really has a way of description that is perfect.  Not too wordy, but just the right words so that the reader gets the picture. Stephen King?  Have you ever read Gary Paulsen?  The stories about animal communication are the kind that make you go back and read or listen twice.  "What?!"  They seem unbelievable, but Paulsen is just SO believable.  Just great stuff.

Won't You Open that Door

Love Ricky Skaggs, Honey Won't You Open That Door kept running through my head while reading Honey by Sarah Weeks.  I wonder if "Honey" in the song is her name or a term of endearment.  I knew a lady named Bunny once.  

Anyway.  Sarah Weeks is becoming a favorite author of mine.  I don't know why, but it is surprising to me that the more I read, the more I discover that there are a lot of really great authors out there. Honey is the story of a young tween, Melody, whose mother died shortly after she was born.  Her dad is great.  And they get along super well.  But he may have fallen in love, Melody has heard him call someone "Honey" over the phone and while Melody has hoped that her father would find love, the woman Melody suspects him of loving is anything but her choice.  Good, short story.  Great supporting best friend.  Good good book.  

Shiloh...the Rest of the Story...

Shiloh Season is the second book in the Shiloh series  and Saving Shiloh is the third and final.  I really did enjoy these books, a lot.  I thought that the relationship between Marty and Judd, the man with the drinking problem who previously owned Shiloh.  I can see why this is very popular.

Everybody Loves Jill

That is a pretty catchy song.  I have two friends with that name and I torture one of them weekly by signing this song.
Everybody also loves Shiloh.  I had to see what the love was all about and I can see why it receives much praise.
A boy and his dog story, but the dog doesn't die!

Because of this Website

Does the Dog Die, I was able to read Because of Winn-Dixie.  Well, reread it.  Because I remember reading it along time ago, but I really didn't want to reread it if Winn-Dixie died.  And while I was pretty sure, almost 99% certain that he didn't, I just wanted to make sure.  I have been struggling through The House of Small Shadows and it has been very depressing and I didn't need anymore depressing right then.
Does the Dog Die is about movies, which I didn't know when I looked at it quickly on my phone but just discovered now.  I just found this on goodreads, so that is another good resource for those of you, who like me, subscribe to the No More Dead Dogs way of life.
This is a great story.  Nowadays it might seem like every other book for kids is about a girl from the south, without a mother or a father or both, but Because of Winn-Dixie was early on, so you can't get mad at it for that.
What I loved most, not surprisingly, was the relationship between India Opal and her dad, whom she just calls, "The Preacher."  I loved that the church her father pastors was welcoming of all, even the stray dog, Winn-Dixie, named after the store.  I LOVED Glory Dump and Otis and Miss Franny Block.  All lovely characters and lovely people.  And they call came together, because of Winn-Dixie.

How I Love a Road Trip

Gary Paulsen is fast becoming one of my favorite authors.  He has written so many books, yet a new Gary Paulsen is always fresh and original.  Road Trip is a quick, funny story about a young teen, Ben, who takes a road trip with his scatter-brained dad to rescue a border collie from an animal shelter.  When they leave their house it is only Ben, his father and their own border collie, Atticus.  A day later they have three more unusual people on the journey with them, and they are driving a school bus.  

This book is co-authored by Gary Paulsen's son and told mainly from Ben's point of view, with occasional chapters from Atticus the dog.  A great addition for the library.  Will be easy to recommend to guys, especially to those who liked the Liar, Liar  and Lawn Boy series.