Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
546 pages

Do not let the thickness of this book scare you away, from reading it yourself, or picking it up for your kiddo! Beautiful story, and half of it is illustrations.

Ben's mother has passed away, leaving him in the care of his aunt and uncle. Never knowing his father, he starts to find clues that there might be someone out there that he belongs to.

Rose is kept inside her house...it is far too dangerous for a deaf girl to be out on her own. She could have an accident or be kidnapped. Do not mention the fact that this could happen to any kid out and about.

Ben and Rose's story intertwines beautifully. Both kids strike out on their own to find their place in this world, drawing together in a warm heartfelt conclusion. Ben's story is told in words, and Rose's in pictures. Love, love, love!

Barn Boot Blues by Catherine Friend

Barn Boot Blues by Catherine Friend
142 pages

When twelve-year-old Taylor is uprooted from her home in Minneapolis to a small town farming life, she is anything but happy. She has to find her way back to the big city where she belongs. And when several disasters give the town reason to openly laugh at her, her unhappiness turns to pure misery. One of her big jobs is to collect eggs in the morning...which leads to her running late to the bus in her ugly old barn boots, or lands her in class with chicken poop in her hair.
Taylor is a very sympathetic character. Even as an adult I found myself hoping she gets out of the mess. But her parents are also sympathetic...they had no idea what they were getting themselves into. You truly see a family trying their hardest. Loved this book! Will be a great book for young readers.

Strays by Ron Koertge



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Strays by Ron Koertge
167 pages

Started out very good. End petered out to nothing.

Love, Cajun Style by Diane Les Becquets



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Love, Cajun Style by Diane Les Becquets
293 pages

Very good story, although I will admit I didn't give it enough attention. Kept getting the numerous character messed up.

Something to Hold by Katherine Schlick Noe



Something to Hold by Katherine Schlick Noe

245 pages



Based on the author's childhood experiences, Something to Hold tells the story of a family, one of the few white families, growing up on an Indian reservation in the 1960's. Although shy and lonely, Kitty quickly realizes that the Indians are mistreated even by the white government officials sent there to help them. Finding her voice, and standing up for the children who originally ignore her and treat her with scorn, earns her a seat among her peers.





Dead to You by Lisa McMann





 Dead to You by Lisa McMann

243 pages

Fast paced, lively read.

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
228 pages
Winner of the William C. Morris Dubut Award from ALA

Cullen, living in Lily, a small Arkansas town, is seeing zombies. Not just any zombies. The zombie of his brother that turned up missing.  At first the town frantically looks for the fifteen-year-old, but the searches die down, and Cullen's family is left to wonder. Did he run away, is he dead, was he kidnapped. But Cullen knows his brother would never leave him, he knows he is out there somwhere.
The town's new obsession is the Lazarus woodpecker, thought to be extinct in the 1940's.  The bird has supposedly been spotted in Lily. And this might just be what the town needs to be resurrected. But if everyone is crazed about the bird, who is left to wonder and be grieved by the missing Gabriel.

Such a well written novel, full of hope and sadness intertwined. The stories twist and turn around each other, falling neatly in place for an ending so surprising that even after finishing it, you still don't want to put it down.

The Sky is Every Where by Jandy Nelson

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The Sky is Every Where by Jandy Nelson

276 pages

Gateway Nominee 2012/13

Such a very sad book. Lennie and her sister were very close...but after she dies, Lennie must find out who she is and where she fits in. Beautifully written.

Split by Swati Avasthi

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Gateway Nominee

Split by Swati Avasthi

282 pages

Christian steps up, makes his father angry, angry enough to hit him. But at least if he is hitting Christian, he isn't hitting his mother. After years of taking abuse from his father, he splits with nothing more than a letter that says "if you look for me, I will testify." He leaves and makes a better life for himself. But he also leaves behind a brother, Jace. After years of taking the same abuse, Jace freaks out, and decides to fight back...and loses. Thrown out of the house, Jace turns to his brother. But can Jace escape the abuse cycle he is already slipping into? Both Jace and Christian have a lot of healing to do before they can learn to love.

This book was an amazing story. Avasthi took such a violent theme and made it gentle, compelling read. Whether you come from an abusive past or not, you will fall in love with these two men, and the women in their lives. I watches as they struggled with a mother too terrified to leave, knowing how this would end, and wishing for more. After the last page, I closed the book, and still had a hard time getting to sleep thinking about what was next. Loved this book. Hope to be reading more of her.



Drizzle by Kathleen Van Cleve

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Mark Twain Nominee

Drizzle by Kathleen Van Cleve

358 pages

I love award season! Another great read. This fantasy is about a farm where it rains every single Monday at 1:00pm exactly, dragonflies spell, rhubarb plants can talk by moving their leaves. Tourists flock to see the farm and ride the famous umbrella ride, and life couldn't be better for Polly and her family. Until one Monday the rain stops. The plants start to die away, tourist flee after the umbrella breaks down, and Freddy, Polly's brother, becomes deathly ill. Polly must overcome her fears, and find the courage within herself if she is going to save the farm and Freddy. Great book for readers young and old.

A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron

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Gateway Nominee

A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron

I like cats. I do not like dogs. I do not like books told from the view point of a dog. Umm...yeah. That's about it.

The Book of One Hundred Truths by Julie Schumacher

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The Book of One Hundred Truths by Julie Schumacher

182 pages

Thea is a liar. She tells outlandish lies about everything. When she visits her family for a few weeks her mother sends her with a notebook and the instructions to fill it with one hundred truths. Thea must face some hard truths from her past before she can face herself again. With a little mystery to investigate, Thea starts to come to grips with what happened to Gwen. Loved this book. You really get to know Thea, and the voice is so strong you feel as if you had known her in real life.

100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson

100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson

289 pages

Henry finds himself in an attic room, living with his aunt and uncle, after his globtrotting parents are kidnapped. He feels bad about the fact that he doesn't really miss him, but they were such odd parents who never had time for him.

A piece of plaster falls from the wall by his bed to reveal a strange, small cupboard set into the wall. As Henry chips away at the plaster, he discovers a whole wall of hidden doors, all of them lock. As Henry and his cousing, Henrietta start to unravel the mystery, Henry cannot help but think that these doors may not all open into strange and beautiful places, but rather dark and sinister lands.

BAD by Jean Ferris

BAD by Jean Ferris

182 pages

This is a very sad, very realistic look at life in a juvenile delinquency facility. Dallas lands herself in lockup after her father decided he cannot handle her and refuses to take her back home on probation after she and her friends stick up a convenience store. The voice of this is so real, I would have thought I was sitting right in the cell with her. It was no surprise to learn that this book came about after the author visited a rehabilitation center...this book was the product of several interviews with the youth there.

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

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Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

215 pages

Kira lives in a society filled with fighting and boasting where no flaws are acceptable in any member of their community. When she was first born with a twisted leg the people around her tried to take her away to the fields, but her mother defends her, and saves her life. The two grow older together, learning to dye threads to make beautiful clothing. But when her mother suddenly dies, who will defend the handicapped Kira?

The Secret History of Tom Trueheart by Ian Beck

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The Secret History of Tom Trueheart by Ian Beck

341 pages

The men up in the Story Bureau begin a story, which sprites deliver to the true adventurers. The adventurers take the story start, and head off into the Land of Stories, where they will live the story out till it's end. Then the adventurer returns to the Bureau, and recounts his adventure so that it may be made into a fairy tale. But one storymaster, Ormestone, is not happy with someone always taking off to finish his stories...the endings would be so much better if the Bureau would let him finish his own creations. So he sets off to destroy the Trueheart boys, the last in the line of true adventurers. When Tom's six brothers fail to return from their journeys, the twelve-year-old must set off on his own, on his very first adventure.

Loved this book. Had so many classics, such as the Frog Prince, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk, with a new exciting twist.

Chasing Orion by Kathryn Lasky

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Chasing Orion by Kathryn Lasky

392 pages

Wow! Super heavy book for juvenile fiction! Usually I have read book that have two or three conflicts. This books was chock full...almost too full.

1. The next door neighbor girl is in an iron lung. Georgie seriously wants the approval of this true beauty, but she expects she may be evil.

2. Georgie has a new friend after moving to a new neighborhood. But she is really weird, and she wonders if she will be cast as weird too.

3. Georgie doubts there is a God. But she thinks about him all the time.

4. Georgie's favorite person is her older brother, but she is losing him to the iron lung girl.

5. There family has very little money, and they are worried about scholarships, but she has plenty of money to do these amazing dioramas, or Little Worlds.

6. Georgie is meticulously checking herself for polio, but is constantly bored out of her mind wishing she could go to the movies or the pool, which in 1952 Indiana is almost a death wish.

7. They make all these improvements on the iron lung during this time, but is it morally wrong to invent a contraption to prolong a miserable life.

In all honesty, I found this book crowded and chaotic, just too much all at once, although it did peak my interest in the polio epidemic. I actually found myself going online looking for more information. They even had iron lungs in which women could give birth to babies.

Bullyville by Francine Prose

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Bullyville by Francine Prose

260 pages

Bart stays home sick from school one day. He is at that weird age where he can stay home for a couple of hours, but the whole day is a different story...so his mom stays home with him. So she wasn't at work the day the planes flew into the towers. He saved her life. His dad, however, was not so lucky. He becomes famous, The Miracle Boy...the boy who lost his dad, but saved his mom. The local prep school, infamous for its bullies, offers him a full blown scholarship to help in their time of grief. Bart goes along, trying to start a new chapter in his life, trying to make his mom smile again. But it triggers the worst year of his life.

Loved this book...there was no life or death moment, looking on the story...but Francine Prose captures the despair of a boy who is bullied and tormented. I remember being this age...and these events would have seemed like the end of the world.

Off-Color by Janet McDonald

Off-Color by Janet McDonald

163 pages

A story about a girl growing up without her father. Her mother loses her job, so they end up moving to the projects, with a surprise twist on the identity of her dad. The only redeeming quality of this book was that it was only a couple of hours down the drain. I felt that the author tried way to hard...she would have the character texting acronyms, and then every time actually say what it meant in the characters thoughts. There was a lot of name dropping of famous celebrities popular at the time of publication, who now, only a few years later are obsolete. My suggestion? Weed this book now due to outdated material. Very juvenile writing...this is a teen book, but should be juvenile fiction.

Eight Keys by Suzanne LaFleur

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Eight Keys by Suzanne LaFleur

216 pages

Elise's mother died on the day she was born, and her father followed when she was three. She lives with her aunt and uncle, and comes from a happy home, but suddenly she feels out of sort with the person she has become, and even more out of sorts with her best friend, Franklin. She struggles through life, trying to figure out how to deal with her own personal bully while trying to decipher the puzzle her father left for her. Beautiful book.