The Book Search

We just finished up our first book fair with Follett and I'm really happy we did it.  The set up and break down were super easy, the cash register was easy and the teachers, parents, and kids commented on the quality of the book choices.  So, in my way of thinking, it was a big win! I've also gotten to read some terrific new realistic fiction.  The first one is called "Ruby in the Sky" by Jeanne Zulik Ferruolo.  It's about Ruby who is 12.  She and her mom have just moved back to the small town in New Hampshire where her mother grew up.  They are looking for their next forever home.  They've been moving a lot since they lost Ruby's dad (and the explanation for that comes pretty late in the book, so I don't want to spoil it for you!).  They moved back to this small town to be close to family, a cousin, who has offered to help.  Ruby and her mom have been living in Florida, and so New Hampshire in the winter time is a pretty big change.  Ruby is coping

So does it feel like January just streaked past?  How did it get to be February for goodness sakes?  I always heard as you get older time passes more quickly, but this is ridiculous!  Anyway, luckily, I had enough time to slow down and finish a book!  And even better, it was a really great book! It's called "The Storm Keeper's Island" and it's written by Catherine Doyle.  It came out in January and I was lucky enough to get to read it as an advanced reader's copy on Netgalley.  It's about Fionn and his sister Tara who go to spend the summer with their grandfather on the island where he lives and their parents grew up.  Fionn is especially missing his dad, who disappeared off the the coast of the island in a boating accident.  Right away things seem a little weird.  His grandfather's house is full of candles.  His sister keeps trying to sneak away to meet her boyfriend, an annoyingly smug and handsome boy from the island named Bartley.  He has a littl