The Book Search

 School started this week and I'm a little behind the power curve on the SSYRA books this year.  I blame the shortened summer-we started late last year and so we ended three weeks late -three weeks less vacation.  Uh, gosh, that sounds like a first world problem, doesn't it?  Let's get to the book reviews, shall we? The first one is a terrific speculative fiction title called The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez by Adrianna Cuevas.  It's about Nestor, who has just moved to New Haven.  His dad is in the Army and they've moved often.  His dad is currently deployed in Afghanistan and Nestor misses him a LOT.  Nestor and his mom have moved in with Nestor's Abuela-his dad's mom, so there are lots of pieces of his dad around, like his dad's old baseball glove and the animal encyclopedia his dad made when he was a kid.  Nestor is very interested in animals too, and he can talk to them .  To his surprise, Nestor finds school to be ok.  He find...

I just finished two more Sunshine State Young Reader award nominees and they were terrific!  I can't wait to get them into my library! The first one is called "Wedgie and Gizmo" by Suzanne Selfors.  Selfors is no stranger to the SSYRA list-her book "The Sasquatch Escape" and "Fortune's Magic Farm" made the lists in years past.  I know why this one made the list too!  This book is told from two perspectives - Wedgie, an exuberant corgi who believes he is a super hero (with a cape!) and Gizmo, a grumpy guinea pig who believes he is an evil genius and is looking for a plausible plot to take over the world.  They are living together in a newly blended family-Gizmo's owner/servant, Elliot, has moved with his dad in with Jasmine, Jackson, their mom, and her mom (Abuela).  Elliot is the least happy about the move and in the move, Gizmo's cage was damaged so for the moment, he's living in Jasmine's Barbie dream house, which he doesn't...