Complicated

Dignity:  Seeking Respect in Back Row America is a complicated book for me.  Some have criticized it because they consider it to be anti-Trump.  Well, I don't think that anything can be too anti-Trump.  So that wasn't my problem at all.  I found this article, written before the publication of the book, about Arnade's photography, some are included in the book, as the book is a compilation of the work he was doing and posting/publishing during the process.  
So I have some reservations...but I am more in line with this review from one the best journals out there.
And so I did give it five stars. 

The Magic of Podcasts

When I run (lumber) I listen to podcasts and after reading Dread Nation I wanted to find everything I could about the author and the book.  I stumbled across this one which pointed me to The Summer of Jordi Perez (and the best burger in Los Angeles) and wow wow wow!  I am so glad I did!
Make no mistake, David Levithan would HATE Abby! 
Abby is a big girl and she is comfortable being one and she even eats in the book.  I mean, look at the cover!  And the title! 
But wow, this was an excellent book.  It was.  I gotta read more from Amy Spalding. 

Weren't We All?

Born Confused was a book I really, really enjoyed.  I think that some of the reviews that I read on goodreads were from some people who "didn't get" the whole point of the character of Gwen, as there were a lot of negative things said about her.  That she was a hateful, rotten person.  I don't think she was a hateful, rotten person, I think she was just a human.
Also there were some who criticized that the main character, Dimple, chose to drink and smoke weed, but again, I think that people make those choices sometimes, and while we can sit back as adults and say, "She really shouldn't do that."  we need to recognize that some teens do just that.  The same people who pointed out Dimple's choices to smoke and drink also criticized the inclusion of transvestites and lesbians in the book, so there ya go.   I can't really lesbianism compared to smoking weed...very odd...
I do agree with some reviews that the book is too long, but I again, I am not a long book reader.
Dimple is caught in the world between India and the US.  Not sure of where she belongs, not sure of who she is.  There is a love triangle here.  The characters are very, very real.  I recommend it.

Half a Chance

is better than no chance at all.  That's not the phrase that is used in the book Half a Chance, but it is true.  The phrase in the book is, "Even half a chance beats none."
Anyway, that reminds me of the interview with an author that is on the end of of the audiobook of Bridge to Terabithia.  Katherine Paterson and her son David Paterson are interviewed and KP talks about how the reader really makes the book come alive.  Both KP and DP recall that many fans of the book have remembered the events in the story quite differently, made the story their own.  And they speculate that maybe that is why Bridge to Terabithia has had such staying power.  I was thinking about my dear friend Joanie when I heard the KP and the DP interview.  September will soon be upon us.  And September, to me, is the cruelest month.  This has nothing at all to do with Half a Chance.  Once I again, I just went completely off track. But since I am so far off track, I did include the Katherine Paterson and Lobster picture again!
So Half a Chance is by Cynthia Lord, author of Rules.  I gave five stars to Half a Chance, much better than what I gave to Rules, which was just three.  Rules was a Newbery Honor in 2007.  It seems odd to me that Rules would get an Honor and the excellent Road to Paris wouldn't get one.   While I have never read Hattie Big Sky, another book that got an Honor, instead of Road to Paris, I have to say that the Girl in a Sod House Guarantees Newbery Love Rule might have been at play here again.
Ahem.  
Sorry.  Half a Chance has nothing to do with sod houses, either!  This book is quite good and quite real and I wouldn't complain if it got an Honor this year, as long as Brown Girl Dreaming takes it all or at LEAST gets an Honor as well.

Shivery

I didn't look closely at the cover of the audiobook The Seer of Shadows when I checked out, but now that I have, it gives me a shiver!  To me, of course, that is a good thing.  Yikes!  I just looked at it again, and it really creeped me out!  I must stop that!  But of course I don't want to and I am like Ramona when her mother bought her the "baddest witch mask" for Halloween.  She would scare hersellf with it sometimes.  She did the same thing with a picture of a gorilla, too.
Avi is a pretty famous author, but another confession as we head into the new year:  I think this is the first book of his that I have finished!
This book was terrific.  It had to be, because it is nothing like my usual books, it doesn't take place in contemporary times.  Indeed, it is set in 1872 in New York City.  Horace Carpetine is a young teenager, an apprentice to a less-than-honest photographer, Mr. Middleditch.  Middleditch sees an opportunity to exploit the grief of a woman who has lost her daughter, Eleanora, to fever.   It turns out that there more to this grieving mother than meets the eye, in fact, she isn't grieving at all.  Horace meets Peg, an African American servant to the grieving woman and her husband.  Peg confides that there is something mysterious about the death of Eleanora.
As Horace and Middleditch take portraits of the "grieving" mother, they notice a spirit lurking in the background of the photos.  And this spirit, Eleanora, herself, ain't too happy.  She's back and wanting to exact revenge upon those who wronged her.
It turns out that spirit photography has been around since the time of this book's setting and it is a pretty interesting topic.  I hope to look into that more at some point.
Seer is an excellent ghost story and it did give me the shivers throughout, even up until the end when Horace concludes his testimony of the events, noting that the date is December 21--- which is today's date.  A delightful shiver, indeed!
Horace was named after Horace Greeley, a pretty important historical figure, who I had never heard of, so now I am going to learn about him!  I have heard of Andrew Greeley, but that is not related at all to this review.  Anyway, great book!