Five More Boxes

This time I binged on the next five in the Boxcar Children series:  Blue Bay Mystery, The Woodshed Mystery, The Lighthouse Mystery, Mountain Top Mystery and Schoolhouse Mystery.  I am not sure if they are getting better, but I can say for sure that Benny isn't as annoying as he once was.  I am going to read all of the ones written by GCW and then try the "new" ones to see the difference.

A Big Box of

terrible.
That's all I can say about the first three Boxcar Children.  I am going to publish this post when I finish four of them.  Why four?
Well, they are so popular, even today.  So I feel like I have to give them a chance.  People I love and respect and even admire claim to love the books.  But man.
The Boxcar Children, the first one, written by Gertrude Chandler Warner is just well...sad.
And the second one, Surprise Island is offensive and boring.  And The Yellow House Mystery is offensive, boring and just ridiculous.  Two and three have all of the "Indian" stuff, some tribe that is never named, just "Indian" so that is a huge problem.
I just can't see how these books are still popular.  The language is so dated.
I do want to listen to a new one just to see if Benny is still so freaking annoying.
So I went on and read Mystery Ranch, which was actually two stars!  And so was Mike's Mystery was a two star one as well.  But I am done now!  And glad for it. 

 

  

And I Thought I Was Cool!

I remember one January when I drove from Pittsburgh to San Diego and I was so proud of myself.  Bicycle, from The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle, sets out to BIKE to San Francisco from DC! I LOVED this book.  I thought it was just so clever.  I can't wait until Christina Uss has a new book!
It really made me want to get into biking.
David Levithan, I am still trying hard not to be fat!  So don't worry!  And from everything I have read, biking is great for weight loss!  BUT my friend's brother was an expert biker.  And he was on just a regular ride and something was on the trail and he went over the handle bars and his helmet cracked and now he is paralyzed.  And I know that was a horrible, horrible freak accident, but it scared the heck out of me.  My heart just aches and aches and hurts and hurts for him.  He is a devout man, and he just wants to go and be with his Lord.  It is just such a sad and horrible time.
Ugh.

A Secret Secret

A Secret Garden is one of those books that EVERYONE has read, right?  Well, I was not among the EVERYONE, until now.
I think.
I mean, I listened to the book, but I don't think, now that I think about it, it was the WHOLE book.  It was one of the BBC Full Cast Dramatization things. 
Yeah, no.  This was around two hours long and the full book is around seven.
So I guess I still haven't heard/read the whole book.
AND THAT IS OKAY!
It just didn't do it for me.  Though I was really surprised by the ending.  I guess.  I mean, the dad's reaction.  It was okay.  And the two hour version was enough.
A little more than enough, actually. 

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. 

This is it.

Plain and simple.  Auma's Long Run deserves the Newbery this year.  It also deserves the Printz.  If it does not win it will be 1954 all over again.  

Incredible.  Simply incredible.

Eucabeth A. Odhiambo, a professor at Shippensburg University has written and inspirational, heart-breaking, heart-melting, hard and important book telling the story of a 13-year old girl living in Kenya in the 1980s when the AIDS crisis was just beginning to take hold.  

Dr. Odhiambo also an includes this link from the UN which can show you the progress that has been made and the important work that still needs to be done.  

The winner.  No matter what the committee says.  

Once

I read that Genuine Fraud was written with the idea that it would pay homage, be an update to The Talented Mr. Ripley, I really began to LOVE this book.  There was a movie made of that book in 1999.  And I confess, that is how I came to know the story.  It was only years later I realized it was from a book and a series.  I have not read them, but wow, that movie.  It was a horror movie, I think. 
I really enjoy all of Lockhart's books and this one was one of the best books I have read so far this year.  I don't know if it is a Printz kind of book, but it sure was a great, great, great read that I can recommend.  It was completely creepy and very well written.  I think it definitely should be considered.  It is just so well done, how can it not? 

Sod Houses

No one lives in a sod house in Midnight at the Electric.  But the thing is, this just seemed really done before, even though I know it wasn't done before, because it was unusual.  And I think if it were written for younger kids it would win the Newbery because part of it takes place during the Dust Bowl and it seems like books that take place during the Dust Bowl and feature white girls ALWAYS got Newbery recognition, until as recently when the Newbery really has been going to deserving books like The Crossover and Dead End in Norvelt.  Of course,  there was Moon Over Manifest. Shudder.  But the Printz always seems to be a better choice than the Newbery and so I don't think this will win.  At least it didn't do it for me, not at all.  I just didn't really love or like many, or any of the characters.  But not to say it wouldn't be great for someone else.  I just really didn't like this one at all and found it hard to finish.

Metaphors

So was Orphan Island one big metaphor?  I think it was just too smart for me. I have read reviews from people I really respect and admire, like  Czechgirl, who absolutely loved this book, so I am sure I just didn't understand it.  I really had a hard time getting through it because I found the main character to be so unlikable and I really didn't get to know the other characters enough to care about them, though some did seem likable.  I wonder if this is one of those deals where the author had more in what she wrote, but the publisher made her take out a bunch so that they could make it into a sequel.  That is what happened to my friend and her husband with their book Claws.  They weren't too happy with the final product because it was so different from what they had written and was to be made into two books or even three.  The book sold very well!  But the publisher lost a big client during the time the whole thing was coming out, Cornelia Funke, so they didn't end up doing a sequel.  Funke reunited with Chicken House this year, but still, it just goes to show you that money changes everything.
Again, however, everyone else really seemed to love OI for what it was, so it probably was just me. They are saying it is Newbery worthy, so I probably need to take another look.  But there were so many unanswered questions.  Which is great!  But it just didn't pull me in enough to warrant me wanting to ponder the answers.  Again, probably all on me.

Dragged for Me

Beyond the Bright Sea was really, really not the book for me.  I found myself feeling as if it were much longer than it really was.  Like Wolf Hollow I just really didn't find myself able to enjoy this book very much.  I did like the message.  I don't know.  I figure it will maybe get some Newbery buzz, maybe not.  And I figured I wanted to give it a try but it was one that I could have passed on and not felt bad.

Poetry

Fishbone's Song is another out-of-the-park home run for Gary Paulsen.  This man just owns words.  He just, just makes magic with words.  Everything is poetry.  Again, Stephen King, you don't have to use every word to tell a story.  Not every. single. word.

The thing about F'sS is that I can't say it is a children's or a teen book, like so many of his books, it is an everyone book.

Just so full of wisdom.

Thank you, Gary Paulsen.

Eww!

Beware that Girl was GOOD!  After I finished it had that creep-tastic feeling of a shiver up and down my spine and all over.  I have to see what else Teresa Toten has written because after I finished this very good and different and creepy book, I realized that she also wrote Shattered Glass, which I totally loved, too!  Good good GOOD!

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.

Trilogies

When I looked on goodreads, I saw that The Gathering is to be the first in a trilogy called Shadow House.  Then I remembered that my dear friend Rachel wrote a book that was published by Chicken House, which is tied to or part of Scholastic, like this book.  And when she and her husband wrote Claws they were told to change it SO much because it was also "slated to be a trilogy." Well I loved the book.  But Rachel and her husband felt it really lost something because of the changes.  Then Chicken House lost its big money author, Cornelia Funke.  And things changed big time for Chicken House/Scholastic.  It wasn't that Claws didn't sell well.  And Claws never became a trilogy, despite selling really well regularly and also at book fairs. It makes me sad because I won't ever know what happened to the characters and also because Mike and Rachel were never able to see the work that they had imagined and created come to life as they expected.  But I guess that happens.  But it doesn't make it any less horrible.  For authors and readers.
So I wonder if Shadow House will take off, but I hope it does.  First of all, the cover is fantastic! LOOK at that cover!
Four kids end up getting invites to live or attend school or shoot a movie at a far off mansion.  And creepiness begins. The end did get a little confusing for me, but that is me!  I can definitely recommend this book!

Unfortunate

Last night I went to see Eden Christian Academy's performance of Disney's The Little Mermaid.  I didn't know the story, I mean, I kinda knew it, but I have never seen the Disney movie.  But did know some of the music and I always liked the song Poor Unfortunate Souls.  That reminds me of a Series of Unfortunate Events!  The first book, The Bad Beginning.  It was also made into a movie, which I have not seen.  ASOUE was one of those books that I probably should have read a long time ago.  It is a very dark story!  But funny.  But it is disturbing!  I do think I will read the next one though, and I can see why it is very popular!

.5?

The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict is .5 in the Mysterious Benedict Society series.  When I saw the .5 I was surprised!  It made me think about what I said about the novellas and all of the .5, and 1.5 and 2.5 and 46.4 that pop up now.  Thing is, I guess I didn't really consider this to be like those, with the "."s because it isn't a novella, it is just a prequel.
When I was just finishing up this book a tweet came in from LBKids that said that the series made this list.
I have to agree with it!  I have always loved this series.  And I wish there were more.  This book is the story of how Nicholas Benedict grew up, a little background on him.  And what I liked about it was, well, everything!  But one thing I really thought was super good was that he wasn't this totally super, goodie-goodie kind of kid.  He made bad choices and had selfish motives sometimes, but he learned from it.  A great mystery and I love the reader!  Del Roy did this one and I think all of them!

Was it Just

that I didn't like the character?  I gave My Life Before Me only 3 of 5 stars.  I really didn't like Cady.  All of the girls had the same problem, but Cady just was a jerk.  In my opinion.  She was very realistic!  Her journey took her to the United States, to the state of Indiana, where racism is rampant, just like in the south.  I can't tell if Cady is as miserable and uncaring about her birth parents as she seems to be or if it is a defense mechanism.  Either way, this was my least favorite one, but still glad I read it.

British Accents

Here is a warning for those of you who aren't really into British accents for their audiobooks, if you download one of the Secrets book to listen to, you will hear a British accent, but don't worry! That is just the intro lady!  Stones on a Grave was a book I downloaded a long time ago, but I heard the intro in the British accent and so I didn't listen to it!  I could have enjoyed these books much earlier!
Stones on a Grave was really, really good.  This one is set mostly in Germany.  I can't remember which city.
When her orphanage is burned down, Sara gets her clue to her past that takes her to Germany.
I learned things about WW2 that I didn't know before, not that I knew a lot, but I knew a good amount, still there was new stuff here.  I am embarrassed to say that I never knew about the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.

Now that

I made that statement about my favorite Secrets book so far, as I think about Innocent, maybe IT is my favorite one!  Can you tell I just really, really like this series!
This one had me guessing for a while.  It has murder and passion and intrigue!  It is set in Kingston, Ontario.

Now that the secrets are out...

I have to say that Shattered Glass was probably my favorite.  Maybe.  Yes, I think it was.   Or maybe the first one I read, The Unquiet Past.  This is Toni's story and it is so sad and so real and so good.  This one is set in Toronto.  Toni is a sweet and innocent girl, it seems to me.  There is a lot of humor in this one.  And there is a good look at adults who live on the seamer side of life.   Heartbreaking book, too.