Not a Waste

Do you remember this song?   That is a great song!  And Moon Base Alpha was a great series.  I think it might be over, which is kinda cool because it started strong and ended strong!  And the one in the middle was great, too!

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.

Is He Spaced Out?

I remember when I was a little girl, my daddy took me-  no, no, that's the Peggy Lee song.
I remember when I was little girl my family visited Quebec City.  We did a horse and carriage ride and the guy who drove the horses asked in a super-French accent, "Is he spaced out?" about my brother, who was not a fan of talking to strangers.  It really upset him.  And it was weird to hear "spaced out" in a French accent!  Anyway, that is neither here nor there and no big deal and kinda funny now.  But every time I hear or see "spaced out" I think of that time.
Spaced Out is the second book in the Moon Base Alpha series and I just loved it.  And I love this series.  And I wish Stuart Gibbs's other books were available through the library eaudio apps.
AND I just got what the cover means!  So funny!  Another really good mystery and just good in general.

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!

Murder in Space!

Kids at one of the libraries where I work LOVE Stuart Gibbs' books.  They look so good!  And I have wanted to read them for so long!  But it's the old eye thing...so when I found Space Case, the first in the Moon Alpha Base series available on audio, I was super excited!
This was a really fun book!  And interesting!  It is science fiction, but not too far in the future that the future looks unrecognizable.  That is the kind of science fiction that I like.
There is a good mystery here and the main character is very likable.  Also, the supporting characters are good, too and I am looking forward to seeing how this series develops as it goes along.  I am so glad I had a listen!

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!

The Unstoppable Sharon G. Flake

I could not wait until I got my hands on an ARC of The Unstoppable Octobia May.  I heard about this book when I met Ms. Flake on February 27.  This was an incredible moment for me, as I have long loved Ms. Flake's work.  From Money Hungry to Pinned, and everything in between.
I looked everywhere for an eARC, I checked netgalley and edelweiss literally every day.
Then it came.
Ms. Flake sent it to me, a real, live ARC-ARC!
The bummer was I was heading right in to a preaching stint up at Bradford Wood Community Church, so I couldn't start a book, especially one that I was so looking forward to, until that was completed.  Preaching God's Holy Word is a daunting task.  I love it, but it is frightening.  I give all of my all to it.
Before I began Octobia, I must admit that I was concerned about how much I was looking forward to this book, because, as a pessimist, I was worried that I wouldn't LOVE LOVE LOVE it.  I thought, on no.  what if it doesn't blow me away?  What if it just doesn't pull at me, the way that Ms. Flake's other works have?  What would I say to Ms. Flake herself?  What would I write here?
Well.
There was no need for any of that worry.
And I should have realized that.  Just like Madeleine L'Engle, Robert B. Parker, Christopher Paul Curtis, Jacqueline Woodson, and Grace Lin, Sharon G. Flake can do no wrong.  Well, L'Engle and Parker are gone from us, but you know what I mean!
What a character this Octobia May is.  My friend, Emily is on the Amelia Bloomer Project Committee for ALA this year and I really believe that Octobia would be a perfect addition to this list.
What a wonderful, wonderful book.  It is deep where it needs to be, truly entertaining and moving.  There are many quotable lines here, so many passages that will stick with me.
good and bad live side by side on the piano or organ keyboard - Octobia wonders if this is true.  I think that it is.  This is a smart, smart girl.  All of the characters are incredibly well-drawn.
And well, unstoppable.  Just like Ms. Flake.

Mary Downing Hahn IS Scary!

I've read a few MDH books and I always end up shivering and thinking, "Man...this is a creepy story!" and when I recommend them to kids I am always sure to ask if they mind getting creeped out, because even though MDH is a children's author, there is a lot of misery and mayhem in the books that I have read.    The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall is no exception.  I listened to this one on cd and it is narrated by Sarah Coomes and she does a terrific job.  I am not much for off-putting Briticisms and so at first I felt like Prof. Higgins wondering, "Why can't the English learn to speak!" but after awhile I was so caught up in the story and the way that Coomes read it that I forgot about it.  Also, she does a great job on the Uncle's voice!  The grammar of the servant girl, "Is her here?  Where is her?" reminded me of a foster "parent" I used to know.  This "parent" really talked that way and she had a master's degree which makes you wonder.  But after I put that out of my head, I was able to enjoy this story of Florence, a young orphan who lived in a orphanage until her Uncle sent for her to live at the family's estate, Crutchfield Hall.  The thing about Crutchfield Hall though, is that it is haunted by a NASTY ghost.  The ghost of Sophie, her twelve year old cousin who died in an accident the year before.  Sophie is ghastly and wants to cause serious harm to her brother.  She believes that if he dies, she will come back to life.  Great, great book.