Snow White Again!

And this was so good!  Seeing Red is the twelfth book in the Whatever After series and Mlynowski is still going super strong.  This was hilarious and it made me think about the very first one, when I feel in love with this series!

Who am I?

Louisiana's Way Home is about self-discovery and finding home.  And man, Kate DiCamillo can write from and for the heart, can't she?  The character of Louisiana Elephante was introduced in Raymie Nightingale which was just another incredible book.  A sweet and powerful story. 

Hidden Brain

The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl was a book I understood better because of the Hidden Brain and this podcast I heard last winter.  I really, really thought that TMOFG was really well done.  One of the reviewers remarked that it has really flown under the radar and was surprised that more people hadn't read it.  I am, too.  I loved the friendships in this book.  I loved them.  And I highly recommend it!

Something Else

Darius the Great Is Not Okay was a truly 5 star book.  I do think that this has great Printz potential.  Really, really good at showing insight into the Persian culture and Iran and how much alike we all are, no matter where we live or our DNA or our sexual preference or anything at all.  I loved this book.  This is the first book from Adib Khorram and already I can't wait for the next one.  I also learned a lot about tea!

What Can You Say?

Jackie Torrence?
Stories from her childhood? 
She narrated the book?
Made me laugh.
Made me cry.
Made me think.
All you can say is:
My Grandmother's Treasure = Perfection. 

Lucky Me

The Thing about Luck is a new book from the amazing Cynthia Kadohata.  I loved this book for a lot of reasons.  I loved that it taught me a LOT.  I had no idea about the lives and jobs of those who follow the harvest through the midwest and harvest wheat.  That is just one company of many.  And also I thought the book was really subtle and gentle, yet things happened and it was interesting and just so well written and nuanced.  There was so much in here about intergenerational relationships and cultural differences and brothers and sisters and exceptional needs.  This was just really, really good, you know?  Highly recommended! 

Pudgy

Lot of remarks about pudginess!  Oh David Levithan, we are all trying to be the right size!
This was terrible.  Not just because of that but I found the characters to be so uninteresting or awful.  Just really, really bad.  Sam and Ilsa's Las Hurrah might be my last hurrah for Karl Lagerf- I mean, David Levithan.  I have enjoyed Rachel Cohn's books so much in the past it is hard for me to believe she had anything to do with this book.

Older and Older

I grow.  I found it a little shocking at first to discover that it was a grandmother who was nostalgic for 1986.  A grandmother!  Well, I certainly am old enough to be a grandmother, so I shouldn't have been shocked.  Apartment 1986 was very different and I really enjoyed it.  I think that Lisa Papademetriou is a really good writer and this is first book I have read of hers that wasn't teen.  I did enjoy the two books in the Siren's Storm series.  I am not sure what happened to my review of the first one but her here is the second one!   Apt. 1986 is one that I can highly recommend! 

Prequels, Prequels!

When Kwame Alexander writes a prequel, I have no reason to debate whether or not it is just a money tool.  He is amazing.  And Rebound is amazing and I didn't even realize it was .5 until I had finished it and see the .5 on goodreads.com.  This was excellent.  It is the prequel to The Crossover. 

Being Brave

As Brave as You is an interesting title.  At first I didn't get why it was the title of the book (which is wonderful, by the way) but then I thought about it for a second and it is a great fit.  There are so many brave actions in this book.  From Genie to Ernie to Grandpop.  Great book about what scares us and what happens when we are brave or when someone is brave for us.  What other wonderful things can I saw about Jason Reynolds!

Saints and Sinners

Talk about a dysfunctional family.   Now THIS book is about a dysfunctional family, as compared to the ones that were chosen for the BOB.  The Patron Saint of Butterflies was a really good book.  Of particular note was the Catholic-esque flavor of this particular cult.  I have not read a cult book in which the cult was quasi-Catholic.  It made me cringe at how smart/awful/manipulative it was of the cult leader to hold up saints as ideals.  I can totally see how wanting to be like a saint (unless one digs deeper into their lives and discovers how they doubted and had failings, too) can keep people on the straight and narrow and obedient. 
I loved the grandma, of course.  And her description of a Big Mac, too!

The G Word

Gentrification is an ugly word.  The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora had my heart right away because of that.  Plus it is just a really good book!

Yeah...

I wasn't feeling One Amazing Elephant.  I was feeling some parts of it.  I liked the way in which the whole mother-daughter thing was addressed.  I just...I don't know.  It was a little too The One and Only Ivan for me.   I did like the alternating viewpoints, between the elephant and Lily but I think that one of the big reasons I like that was because the elephant's chapters were so short and I just wanted the book to move along quickly!  But I was reading this one and again, that is hard for me, so that probably took away a lot of my enjoyment of it.  I didn't like that the bad guys were all smokers.  I am not a smoker any more, but I do think that smokers get a bad rap.  I mean, smoking IS bad for one!  But not all smokers are evil.  In fact, I think all of the smokers I know are super kind people!  So it was hard to see that the bad guys were all smokers.  I just don't think this has Newbery power.  I would have given it 3 and 1/2 stars though, if 1/2 stars were allowed.

South Africa

As I am sure I mentioned before, I was in South Africa after apartheid ended, but it sure didn't seem like it had.  The "housing" that Tendai describes was very much real and very much sickening.  The White Giraffe was a book I listened to in bits and pieces because my mom wanted to hear it, too, so we only listened to it when we were in the car together.  I think that this had an impact on how I enjoyed it.  I gave it four of five stars, though.  I wonder and think it probably could have been a five.
It is the first in the Animal Healer series.  If I can find the others on audio, I will listen to another!

In My Humble Opinion

Rita Williams-Garcia is going to go down as one of the finest writers for young people of all time.  Her talent is incredible.  The Gaither Sisters are among the best characters in children's literature.   If, after reading this awesome historical/period fiction series, you need anymore proof of that, Clayton Byrd Goes Underground is sure to make you see that I am right.  I count her right up there with the greats for being able to take a reader back in time, and/or into a character's mind and world, all of that which makes a book a magical trip, you know?  Like Christopher Paul Curtis, like Katherine Paterson, like Gary Paulsen, like Madeleine L'Engle.
I don't know much about the Blues.  I wish I did.  This novel and my recent trip to New Orleans were I heard some great street blues bands, makes me want to know more.  Here is a great website that helped me understand the difference between blues and jazz music!  The novel begins in Washington Square Park where Clayton is playing blues with his grandfather, Cool Papa Byrd and Papa Byrd's friends in a blues band called the Bluesmen.  A lot of the book takes place in the subway system of NYC.  Just a great, great book.

Another Real Character

Bayou Magic just further proves how magical Jewell Parker Rhodes is.  I mean, what I said here:

"A lot of times books about an "event" have a main character, but the main character doesn't seem to have existed before the "event" and we can't surely know how the main character will continue to live after the "event" because all we know about him or her is what she or he was like during the "event."  Jewell Parker Rhodes characters in both Towers Falling and in Ninth Ward have lives before and we learn about them and we seem to get an understanding of how they will continue on after the book/"event" ends.  That seems like it would be a tricky thing to do.  But wow, Jewell Parker Rhodes just has that ability to make me care so much about Deja and Lenesha and I am so glad I got to "know" them as people."

Applies to this story that takes place during the Gulf Oil Spill of 2010.

I wonder if she can teach this to other authors.  I mean, this just seems like such a rare thing, you know?  These are historical fiction books, but they are also books about PEOPLE.  This was just an incredible book.  And now I am on to Sugar!

I also learned about Mami Water!

I loved the realistic relationship between Maddy and Bear.  And the way in which the community helped Bear and his father.  Everything about this book was superb.

Marvelous

George's Marvelous Medicine isn't Dahl's best, but it is still one of the finest!  I loved it.  George makes a medicine for his grandma that results in some total wackiness!  Funny!  Irreverent!  Dahl!

It Only Takes a Second

In an instant life can change.  For the good and the bad.  Of course, as quickly as things can change in an instant, I am not a believer in the idea that things are then set in stone.  The story is never over. Every Single Second is a good example of that.  Here are two instances in which lives were changed in an instant.  But it wasn't the end of the story in either case.  Tricia Springstubb is a new author for me and I want to read another book by her because I really thought this was super well written, I just really didn't like the main character and I really didn't like how the book ended!  Which probably means that it was a super great book because it made me think a lot. This is a very timely book and I think it is well done, I just REALLY didn't like how it ended!  I also like that it is about Roman Catholic schools.  There just aren't a lot of books written about Roman Catholic schools.  I gave it three stars at first, but I am moving it to four, now that I have had a day to think about it.  And I would 100% recommend it.

Put up 11 fingers

I do this preschool math class, right?  And we do the numbers 0-10 and once as a joke I asked them to put up eleven fingers.

A very smart four year old held up her two pointer fingers, each to look like a one and held them side by side, so she did put 11 in the air.

It was awesome!

And very smart!

Eleven is by Patricia Reilly Giff who has written some super-popular first reader series like The Kids of Polk Street School and Polka Dot Private Eye.

This a mystery book about a boy, age eleven, who discovers something that makes him question his past.  It is a really good little mystery and moves very quickly.

Today

I saw Mr. Jerry Spinelli at the PSLA Conference in Hershey.  I heard him speak with Alan Gratz.  Of course, I had my Once in a Lifetime Amazing Spinelli Experience right here at the Hershey Lodge so many years ago.  When I saw Mr. Spinelli later in the exhibit hall I had to tell him how much I felt blessed by that time, all of those years ago.  He was so gracious and kind and let me take a picture of him and Lobster.  It was magical!

Eggs was magical, too.  A story of friendship and loss of a loved ones, either through abandonment or death.  And it was just magical and hopeful and tear and smile worthy.  Again, this Mr. Spinelli has done it, captured a real voice, well, real voices, of a 9 year old boy and a 13 year old girl.
Great book.  Highly recommended.