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.  ...

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. ...

I'm FINALLY getting around to reading new books again (thanks Netgalley!) and there are some terrific ones in my pile!  One of parents of a student asked me to keep an eye out for characters with challenges, so here are a couple that I found! The first one is called "One Third Nerd" and it's written by Gennifer Choldenko.  Choldenko has written a series of books about a boy growing up on Alcatraz Island in the 1930s who has a sister with a significant unnamed disability (but is probably some form of autism).  Her new book has a child with Down's Syndrome.  However, Izzy is the baby sister and not really a main character.  She has a big brother named Liam and a big sister named Dakota.  Liam is the story teller in this book.  Liam is trying to survive middle school and is profoundly embarrassed by Dakota (who is a science loving genius, just ask her) as well as the fact that they are not exactly poor, but struggle with some money issues and they live ...

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...

I'm polishing off the last of the turkey AND the last of my CYBILS list.  Although every time I think I'm really done I get another a box, so maybe I'm not as done as I think I am! The first one I read that really surprised me was called "Boy Bites Bug" by Rebecca Petruck.  It's about Will, who lives in a small town in Minnesota.  His community doesn't have many immigrants so he's been with the same group of friends since he was in kindergarten until a new boy named Eloy moves in.  Eloy's family is from Mexico and his family runs a Mexican restaurant in town that has been wildly popular.  Will is offended when his old friend Darryl uses a racial slur towards Eloy and on a dare, eats a stinkbug which gains him a surprising notoriety in his middle school.  Will decides to use that notoriety to make Darryl feel bad about his use of the racial slur in a science project that he does with Eloy about eating bugs.  Except that Will often offends Eloy wit...