I wish I could share this with my mom...

My mother is spending her first Easter with Jesus face-to-face and I am really happy for her, but man, I miss her.  A LOT!  And I hope that in Heaven she was able to get maybe even an advanced copy of The Missing Half of Joey Pigza.  It is one of the audible-only releases, the third in the Hidden Files of Joey Pigza series, written and READ by the incredible Jack Gantos.  The Dented Head of Joey Pigza was the first one.  Next came Pain in the Pigza, which I read and loved but did not write up because last year was a super icky year and so I didn't write up a lot of my reads.
My mom and I listened to both of those books and enjoyed them so much.  She and I were so happy that these hidden files were discovered!  Joey is such a caring, loving young man.  My mother really didn't like his grandmother very much because she can be mean with her words.  But while she is gruff as usual, in this one, her true heart really comes through loud and clear.  A wonderful addition to Joey's story. 

Influence

The Saga of Styx Malone was really, really good.  A great story about so many things.  Families for sure and brothers and fear and this world in which we live and the unfairness of it and foster care and just so much.  Kekla Magoon is an author I need to get to know better and I loved X so so so so so much, and she co-authored it and it was just so well done. 

Sports

Chris Crutcher has that gift of making books about sports into books not really about sports, but for those who love sports, it has that way of making them insta-likeable.  That is probably the case for Loser's Bracket.  I just didn't like Annie enough to LOVE the book.  But I still gave it 5 stars, I actually changed it from 4 to 5 because I realized that Annie is such a real and well-written character, you know? I will recommend it to guys and gals and lovers of basketball and lovers of just really good, coming of age, self-discovery realistic fiction.  What makes a family?  What does forgiveness look like?  What does acceptance look like?  What does love look like?  Love comes in so many forms.  We have love people as individuals, you know?  People require different kinds of love.  This book would be a great book discussion book, I think. 

Good Me, Bad Me was very good.  Very good and I would recommend it, for sure.  I sucked me right in and all along the way.  It is creepy and awful and real and horrifying.  The only reason I didn't give it five stars was that I was not surprised by the ending at all. But it was still really, really good. 

Keep It Between the Lines

was a great song.  Between the Lines was a great book.  I can't even describe how good except to point out that the author is Nikki Grimes.  So  yeah, you know it is going to be excellent.  It was one of those books for which I found myself replaying and replaying some chapters just to make sure I "got it all."  Great stuff.

Far from the Tree was a very good book.  There were just so many OUTSTANDING YA books this year that it might be hard for it to stand out.  Compared to Auma's Long Run, Long Way Down, The Hate U Give and Dear Martin, it's hard to see this as THE Printz.  An honor book?  Sure!  As long as those I listed above are honor books as well, with Auma getting the big prize (in my imaginary world this will happen).  But this was an excellent book with so many emotions and great characters.  Very heart-felt and heart-rending.  Well recommended.  

I do love the Walgreens

Steve Pemberton is a Big Deal at Walgreens.  He also gave the Opening Keynote Address at the NAEYC Conference this year in Atlanta.  I was so fortunate to be there and to hear him speak.  Wow. After hearing him speak I had to read his book, A Chance in the World:  an Orphan Boy, a Mysterious Past and How He Found a Place Called Home.  I loved his book so much I have recommended it to everyone and am using it for my Adult Non-Fiction Book Group in January.  I hope others will love it, too.  I am not really a big fan of the foster care system, and this book did nothing to help that opinion.  but what a story of hope and love and faith. 

Katherine the Great

Paterson that is.  And she is.  And The Great Gilly Hopkins is one that I wish I would have read earlier, but am glad I didn't because now I got to enjoy it!  I am really excited because Katherine Paterson is coming to town and while I won't be able to see her here, the middle school in the community in which I work is having a Skype visit with her the next day!  I am so super-excited.  This book was one of those tremendously moving ones, that makes one laugh and cry.  And then ending...well, it wasn't what I thought it would be, or even what I hoped for, but wow, it was perfect. 

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.

Hawaii!

I am so close to reading a book set in every state in the US!  This is my Hawaii entry!  I do love the Mysteries in our National Parks series.  I do.  This one just took me a while to get through.  Probably because I had to read it, instead of listening.  But I really did like it!  Rage of Fire is another great addition to the series!  It is set in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

Church Done Right

Calvin College is a pretty conservative college, from what I understand.  As I have read more about it though, it does seem to be on a path on some issues.  Indeed, being affliated with the Christian Reformed Church, one would believe that there is a spirit of "ever reforming."  It is not an inclusive college when it comes to LGTB matters and so still needs some prayer and work on that issue, and I pray that the college and the denomination will be open to the Word of God and Christ's teachings and that one day both will become inclusive and accepting, as God calls us to be.  But we are all on a path, aren't we?
It surprised me that Gary D. Schimdt teaches at Calvin, I mean, I don't know the guy, but I love his work and I see God's Spirit and Love in what he writes.  But maybe he is trying to reform from within?  Or maybe he is also on the path, like all of us.
Orbiting Jupiter was fantastic.  Just really, really, really good.  A short little book.   It was neat to see Coach Swieteck is still around.

Some Titles

are really, really good.  They intrigue and then, after or during the book you TOTALLY get the meaning!  That happened to me with Fans of the Impossible Life and a little while ago with Symptoms of Being Human.  This is the first book by Kate Scelsa.  And I was hoping there were more, but as I look at her page, I see she is one busy lady!  I will have to check out the podcast she does with her dad.
This book was very different and very real and well worth reading!  Just very, very good, even though it did make me super sad sometimes, but isn't that just like life?

Weekend at Louise's

It was good luck that I read Summer of the Gypsy Moths.   After reading Pax and not liking it very much, I didn't know about taking another chance on Sara Pennypacker, but man, I am so glad I did and I hope to read more from her soon.
This was SUCH a different book.  So good.
It is kinda like the movie, Weekend at Bernie's, which I have not seen, but everyone knows the premise, right?
It is also the story of families, all kinds of families and finding a place to belong and forgiveness and acceptance.  Just a beautiful book.  Quirky, for sure!  I mean, if it is like WAB, it has to be, right?  But just a great, great book.

Wolves

I remember from reading Twilight that wolves mate for life!  I think they called it "imprinting" in Twilight.  When I read Wolf Stalker, the first in the Mysteries in our National Park series, I was reminded of this.  After reading Cliff-Hanger I had to go back and read more!  This one is set in Yellowstone and is just as good as Cliff-Hanger.
The mystery that is happening in the park has to deal with wolves who are being accused to attaching without being provoked.  And now ranchers and a lot people want to kill the wolves.  But there is a whole wolf restoration project in the park.  The other mystery is with Troy, the Landon's emergency foster placement dude whose mother just disappeared one night.  A really, really good series!

Cliff-Hanger Sans a Cliff-Hanger

In the traditional sense.  Though there were unanswered questions even after Cliff-Hanger, the third book in the Mysteries in Our National Parks series ended.  These books were published by the National Geographic Society.   There is another National Park Mystery series.  I have not read any in that series.  I read this one because in July I am going to Mesa Verde National Park and I am quite excited!  I have only been to one other National Park and that is Acadia.  I have been to a National Historic Site!  I talked about that here.
This book was very good.  Not only did I learn about the park but it also had a good story running along with it.  The series features a brother and a sister, Jack and Ashley, whose mom works for the National Elk Refuge in Jackson Hole and is often called to places when there are wildlife problems and concerns.  In this book there is a cougar that has attacked a little book in the park.  This is weird because, while it can happen, it is pretty rare.  In the meantime, Jack's family offers emergency foster care and is fostering a 13 year old girl.  She plays Jack like a fine violin.  It is a really well written mystery, I think.  The cover is terrible, of course.  And it is a bit dated, but not too much.  It's hard with technology changing so much.  Totally worth the read.  Totally.  Now I am reading the first one!

A Red String that Connects

Just Like Me is told from the POV of Julia, who was adopted from China as a baby.  She has never made a connection with her Chinese birth, not like the other girls who were adopted from the same orphanage in China, Avery and Becca.  Avery and Becca and Julia's parents were all part of the same group who adopted their daughters at the same time.  Because of this, all of the parents have kinda forced them to be "Chinese sisters,"  which seems totally fine for Avery and Becca, but Julia just doesn't want to have any part of it.  When a newspaper (or maybe magazine) writer wants to do a story on the three girls their parents decide that the girls should spend a week together at a summer camp and journal about their experiences.
Becca and Avery are all excited about it in their own ways, but Julie just really wants to forget about being Chinese and embrace the Italian and Irish part of her, as those are the heritages of her adoptive parents.
As she journals on and the week goes on, Julie faces feelings that she has tried not to feel.  This was a very interesting book. I wonder if it rings true for children who were adopted internationally or even within their own country.
Also it was just a good story about girls getting a long and about foster care as well, as Becca and Avery and Julia share a cabin with three other girls with different life situations.

Star Dust

Katherine Paterson is magic.
She really is.
The Same Stuff as Stars is another exceptional, heart-touching book from Paterson.
TSSAS is the story of two children, Angel and Bernie.  Angel is eleven, but has had to be much older.  Her father is in prison and her mother is not very reliable.  Bernie is six and she has had to parent him for a long time.  This story is told from the POV of Angel finds herself with her great-grandma and meets "the star man" a man who teaches her about the stars.  This is just a lovely, lovely story.   Very moving.

What if...

you had one day left to live?  What would you do?  What regrets would you have?  That is a question that we probably all have thought about, more than once.  In All We Have is Now, two teens know that they are most likely going to die in 24 hours.  An asteroid is set to wipe out North America and Emerson and Vince are two late-teen street kids who are trying to figure out how to make the most of their last hours.
Really, really good, even though it is set in Portland, OR!

The Foster Care System

I used to be very vocal about my dislike for the foster care system.  I am much less so now.  I think growing older, I have learned to hold my tongue.  My heart still aches at every story of a child being hurt in a foster home.  I still think that Nancy Schaefer's death is very suspicious.
But Touch Blue puts a positive light on the foster care system.  Mostly.  Well, maybe it gives a balanced POV.
An island town in Maine is going to have to close its school because there aren't enough students.  So the town decides to take in foster children.  Yeah...that kinda rubs me the wrong way...but the book addresses that, too.
The young boy who comes to live with Tess and her family has been through hell.  And the scene with his mother brought me to tears.  Really, really good book.

Heart breaking and heart warming

Becoming Naomi León is a beautiful book.   Again it is another one of those books where after I read it, I just thanked God for the gift of such a talented author and her willingness and ability to share her stories with all of us.  This is the first book that I read by Pam Muñoz Ryan and right after I quickly picked up The Dreamer for a listen. It was incredible as well.  So I am looking forward to my next book from PMR.  

Becoming Naomi León is a story about a really rotten mother, a wonderful grandmother and a really, really neat kid and her brother.  The book takes place in both the US and in Mexico, in the city of Oaxaca, where the Night of the Radishes is held.  What a cool, cool thing!  I don't imagine I will ever get there, but maybe.  I could drive!  Actually, it might be cool to go for Día de Muertos!