The Book Search

Boy, does it feel good to read some fantasy fiction.  I like realistic fiction, but things have been very real around here for awhile, so it was good to dig into some books where problem solving is based on magic rather than the hard work that requires here in the real world! The first one is a graphic novel.  I'm going to confess right now that graphic novels are not my favorite.  I think I create pretty good mental images and the images of a graphic novel sometimes slow me down.  But this one was SO GOOD. It's called Doodleville by Chad Sells.  You might have read Chad's earlier book called Cardboard Kingdom, which was really fun.  In my opinion, Doodleville is even better.  It's about a group of kids who are in an art club.  They typically draw super heroes and each of them has their own character that is their most well developed.  Drew, the main character, has a friendly group of characters that can escape their pages and end up in some ...

These last few days have felt pretty realistic to me, so more realistic fiction may or may not have been what I was looking for.  Except that's what was in the TBR pile from Netgalley, so ok.  The good news is that they were really different from the kind of realism I've been living, so it was nice to get into someone else's head for change. The first one is called "The Brave" by James Bird.  The cover of the e-book I got had it spelled like this "Th3 Brav5", which should be an indicator that this character doesn't think like most people.  The main character is Collin, who has grown up with his dad.  He doesn't know his mother at all, expect that she's a Native American.  It says in the description of the book that Collin struggles with OCD.  His OCD manifests itself in counting, which doesn't seem that unusual to me.  Except that Collin counts letters.  He counts the letters as people speak to him and when he responds to them, the first ...

It might be feeling a little like realistic fiction is the wrong way to go right now, real seems a little too real to me some days, but these are terrific stories and you don't want to miss them! The first one is actually perfect for right this minute, when racism is front and center in people's minds.  It's called "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Farqui and Laura Shovan.  It's told from two viewpoints-Sara and Elizabeth who live in small town in Maryland.  The girls have just started middle school and are struggling to find their places.  Sara is an artist and her parents want her to be a scientist or a doctor.  They are Pakastani immigrants and Sara's mom is teaching a cooking class at her school.  Elizabeth is taking the cooking class along with her best friend Maddie and a new girl named Stephanie whom Elizabeth feels is coming between her and Maddie.  Elizabeth's mom is also an immigrant-she's from England and is struggling with depression s...

I'm always surprised when the SSYRA list comes out that there are so many great books that I missed reading this year!  People who know me always say I read a lot, but CLEARLY, I'm missing a big chunk of great stuff because there are always surprises on the list!  These two titles were terrific surprises. The first one is realistic fiction.  It's called Caterpillar Summer by Gillian McDunn.  It's about a girl named Cat who lives with her mom and her little brother.  Her dad died awhile back and her mom struggles to make a living as an author and illustrator.  They are planning to spend some time with some friends who have moved far away over the summer but their friends have an unexpected emergency and so Cat and her little brother end up at the their grandparents' house in NC.  Except that they've never actually met their grandparents because they had a falling out with Cat's mom before the kids were born.  To complicate matters further, Cat's...

The new SSYRA lists (and FTR) have been announced and what a great job the committees did choosing books!  I know the kids are going to be super excited to see what fun books there are to read this year!  I'd read (and reviewed) a few of them already, including Inkling , but there were a lot more that I hadn't read.  Here are two that I was able to read this weekend. The first one is called Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat #1 by Johnny Marciano and Emily Chenoweth.  It's about a cat named Klawde, who lives on a planet called Lyttyrboks and it turns out that he's a pretty terrible cat.  He's been dethroned by General Ffangg and has only one loyal minion left-Floofee-Fyr.  He has been banished to Earth, a planet known to be desolate and inhabited by ogres.  Lucky for Klawde, he ends up in an ogre's house that actually wants him to be there-Raj's family has just moved to Oregon (where Klawde lands) and Raj has always really wanted a cat.  Raj convinc...

Social issues for middle graders take a lot of forms.  Kids in 3rd through 8th grade are starting to consider that they are no longer the epicenter of the universe.  They look more to their friends for recognition (much to their parents' and teachers' annoyance!) and start to develop an understand of some of the bigger issues around them.  These two books are wonderful opportunities to help kids understand difference points of view through a variety of social issues. The first one is called "The Space Between Lost and Found" by Sandy Stark-Mcginnis.  It's about Cassie, who is in middle school and lives with her mom and dad.  Her mom has had to stop working and they employ a housekeeper who comes every day to help with her mom.  Her mom has dementia and is forgetting a lot of things.  Including, sometimes Cassie's name.  Sometimes she seems perfectly normal and Cassie really wants to believe she's going to get better.  But her mom's behavior...

I have been hoping for some fantasy fiction, because frankly, real life is real enough for me!  However, the advanced reader copies I've been getting are realistic fiction, so realistic it is!  Luckily, both these books were awesome and so different from my life, that they were both a great get away. The first one is called Turtle Boy by M. Evan Wolkenstein.  It's about 12 year old Will who's having a hard time.  First, his dad died when he was four.  Will's dad went into the hospital to a hernia repaired and died.  Part of Will's coping mechanism has been withdrawing, which brings the reader to problem 2, Will doesn't really have any friends.  Well, he has one good friend, Shirah and one friend who annoys him, but is still his friend, Max.  Shirah and Max and Will have been friends since they were small and the rest of the kids at their school do a lot of teasing, which Will perceives as bullying.  Will is also coming up on his Bar Mitzvah...