The Book Search

I might have mentioned that we went on an extended trip this summer.  It was great but one of the things I worried about was being able to have enough books along to keep me busy.  It turns out that the ebooks were a big help because I would have needed a whole big suitcase to take all the books I wanted along.  It also turns out we were pretty busy seeing amazing beautiful things. But read I did!  (There were some extended plane rides and a rain delayed layover at the end of the trip) so here are some of the best from the summer so far! I think my new favorite one is called "The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle" by Victoria Williamson.  It's written from three different points of view-one is Caylin, a girl who is dealing with the death of her beloved grandparents as well as the alcohol abuse and neglect of her mother, Reema, a girl who's family has fled Syria for the safety of a new home in Scotland, and then a fox, who is badly injured and then gives birth

I'm reading all the Sunshine State Young Reader award nominees before we go back to school (I hope!).    It's always so awesome to see the books the committee chose-they're mindful of lots of different things but I love the variety of the kinds of books they choose.  The one I read last night is a good example of that-it's called "Overboard!" and it's part of the Survivor Diaries series by Terry Lynn Johnson.  This one is the first in the series, I know I'm going to need to order the whole series, because it's great.  It's about a boy named Travis who's struggling a bit.  He was injured last year in an accident (ok, a dare) at his gym.  In the past year of recovery, he's gained weight and feels a bit traumatized.  His parents take his family on a whale watching tour near the San Juan Islands and he's learning a lot about whales and wild life when he's plunged into the water.  Luckily, the captain's daughter Martina is close

So I totally HAVE been reading this summer, but we've been traveling, visiting family and far flung places.  It's been a blast, but I'm glad to get home to regroup and READ. So now that I'm home, I've had a chance to catch up on some of the Sunshine State Young Readers that I hadn't read before.  Let me tell you, the committee did a GREAT job of choosing books!  These are titles that hadn't been on my radar but they are terrific! The first one is called "The Great Treehouse War" by Lisa Graff.  I love her work-she has the most amazing ideas and characters in her stories and this one did not disappoint.  It's about a girl named Winnie who's parents have decided to separate in the most non-amicable fashion you can imagine.  Eventually they decide to buy adjoining houses with a treehouse in the middle so Winnie will spend three days with each parent and one day in the treehouse so each parent has equal time.  Unsurprisingly, Winnie