The Book Search

I'm enjoying the winter break-we got to come and spend some time with my family in Western NC, we've eaten A LOT, laughed a lot, walked a lot...  Today it's POURING  so I had a little time to finish some books!  YAY!!! The first one is called "Skylark and Wallcreeper" by Anne O'Brien Carelli.  It's told from two different perspectives-Collette and Lily.  Collette is Lily's grandmother and lives in a nursing home in New Jersey.  When they have to evacuate because of Hurricane Sandy, Collette gives Lily a pen and tells her not to lose it, that it's important, but in the chaotic aftermath of the storm, the pen disappears.  It turns out that the pen is link to Collette's past that Lily doesn't know anything about.  Collette grew up in France in the 1930s and 1940s and was involved in the French Underground.  So the story has pieces from World War 2 (told from Collette's perspective) and the present day (told from Lily's perspective). ...

Since October, I've pretty much read nothing but middle grade realistic fiction.  I liked it a LOT but a steady diet of anything, even the good stuff, can leave you craving something different, something spicy, something sweet, something surprising.  So these books totally fill that bill! The first one is called "Inkling" by Kenneth Oppel.  It's a really interesting combination of realistic and fantasy fiction.  The main character is Ethan.  He lives with his dad and his younger sister Sarah. Sarah has Down's Syndrome and their mother died about two years ago.  Ethan's dad is struggling with depression and unresolved issues around his wife's death.  He is a successful graphic novelist, but he hasn't sold anything since his wife died.  The savior comes from an unlikely source-ink.  One day, the ink magically gathers itself into a ball and starts to gather more ink, and more and more until it's animated.  It soaks up some words and t...

I'm still reading for the CYBILS award and it's bit surprising this year.  Usually there are several that I can start and within just a few pages, I know I'm not going to have to finish reading it because it's not interesting or it's poorly written, or I don't find the characters interesting.  But this year, they're all so GOOD.  Lucky I'm a fast reader! This first one is called "Everlasting Nora" by Marie Miranda Cruz.  It's about a girl named Nora who lives with her mom in a cemetery in Manila.  They live in the cemetery because a while back there was a fire in their apartment and in addition to losing most of their belongings, Nora's dad was killed. They lived with relatives for awhile, finding small odd jobs to make money, but when things there didn't work out either, they ended up moving into the family mausoleum.  It's not ideal-there's only a small lock on the gate and it's only closed on three sides, but most o...