Some good stuff this month.  It’s the rare month when I have more picture book favorites than any other categories.

Favorites:
Picture: Nana in the City, When Otis Courted Mama, Lucky
Middle Readers: nothing blew me away.
YA: Heaven to Betsy, My Most Excellent Year
Grownup Fiction: Bellwether Rhapsody
Young People’s Nonfiction: Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom
 

Picture Books

Nana in the City
Lauren Castillo
Read for librarian book group

Child visits his Nana who has moved to the city and is scared by all the very “city” things about the city.  Luckily, his Nana has a way to help him feel better.  Quite delightful and recommended.

When Otis Courted Mama
Appelt/McElmuny
Read for librarian book group

I felt a great surge of affection for this picture book because it’s just so darn cute.  Who knew that coyotes had to deal with blended families too?

Raindrops Roll
April Pulley Sayer
Read for librarian book group

Very nicely done story of a rainstorm in the garden.

A Fine Dessert
Jenkins/Blackall
Read for librarian book group

See blackberry fool being made over four hundred years.  Great for compare/contrasts purposes.  Also, this book let me know that the “fool” in question is an adaptation from a French word meaning “to squeeze” or “to press.” 

Lucky
David Macintosh
Read for librarian book group

Nicely illustrates the inflation of good news that so many of us experience.

Middle Readers

Mikis and the Donkey
Read for Librarian Book Group
Charming story of a boy on a Greek island and his love for the donkey his grandfather purchases.

YA

Heaven to Betsy
Maud Hart Lovelace

They’ve made it to high school!  And this is when the liking of Betsy-Tacy turns to adoration.  I was telling Matt how these books made the pre-teen me look forward to being a teenager.  I would have a Crowd!  We would ice skate and make fudge and sing along around the piano just like Betsy!  He laughed at this, and okay, so my teenage years weren’t exactly like a fictional heroine from 1907, but I did have a gang of friends and we did ramble from house to house and sure, there wasn’t singing along around a piano, but we sang a lot with the radio and even just a capella.
 

On this re-reading I loved how flawed Betsy was, how she spent most of the year boy-crazy over the tall, dark and handsome fella who only had eyes for her friend. I loved her sadness over leaving her childhood home behind for a brand new, bigger house and I liked how she foolishly squandered a writing opportunity.  She also does some classic adolescent forging of her own path by choosing to leave her family’s Baptist faith and become an Episcopalian.  I found a lot of this book to be very relatable, at least to my own adolescent experience of 20+ years ago.  And the illustrations are wonderful.  So Gibson Girl fantastic!

Betsy in Spite of Herself
Maud Hart Lovelace

The structure of this book isn’t the best.  A great chunk of it is taken up with Betsy’s visit to Milwaukee to visit her friend Tib over Christmas.  If you are interested in German American Milwaukee Wisconsin Christmas Traditions circa 1900 depicted in fiction, this is your book. However, when Betsy comes back, vowing to be dark and mysterious she sets her cap for the rich, auto-driving Phil Brandish and things pick up, lessons are learned, things happen.

My two favorite parts in this book: Betsy asks Julia, her worldly older sister, what Julia does when she wants guys to like her.  Julia’s off-hand response caused a bark of laughter.  There’s also a great passage about what to do if a guy gets too “spoony”.

Bone Gap
Laura Ruby
Read for librarian book group

Come with us to Bone Gap, Illinois, home of two brothers, a bee keeper and her daughter, the Rude brothers. It’s also the former home of Roza, who has disappeared mysteriously.  What has become of Roza?  This and other things kept me turning the page.

Cinder
Marissa Meyer

I like this book, despite wondering on page 44 if “X” happened to be the big plot twist.  And several hundred pages later IT WAS!  Given I rarely figure things out about books, I see that as a sign of weak plotting. Or possibly an editor’s encouragement to make the details more telling.  It’s my new favorite thing to blame editors, though I promise to stop when I finally get one.

The other interesting thing I noted is for how much of the book I refused to believe it was set in futuristic Asia, despite the fact that the city was called New-Beijing. I think my USA-white self just really wants all books to be set in the USA, despite all evidence to the contrary. 

I’m interested in where the next book will take me.

The Bunker Diary
Kevin Brooks
Read for librarian book group

Very visual book of a boy’s time being held captive in a bunker.  Gripping.  A true-to-the-tale (yet ultimately frustrating) ending.

My Most Excellent Year
Steve Kluger

The subtitle is: a novel of love, Mary Poppins & Fenway Park.  I would add a secondary subtitle of: (and musical theater!)  This was a fantastic read packed full of three different love stories. It’s about the families you are born to and families you create for yourself.  Every single moment was enjoyable. 

Near the end I started to question just how old these ninth graders were because they talked in very adult voice, and I question why the framing device of seniors in high school writing about their ninth grade year, but  those are small questions.  Overall this is highly recommended.

Graphic Novels for Grownups

We Can Fix It
Jess Fink

Main character uses time travel to attempt to fix her past mistakes.

Grownup Nonfiction

A Short Guide to a Long Life
David Agus

Inspired by Michael Pollen’s Food Rules, this is a book of rules, with each rule followed by three or so pages of why you should follow the rules.  My favorite was “embrace your OCD.”  Meaning, it’s a good thing to be fastidious about hand washing and keeping things clean.

 

Grownup Fiction

Bellweather Rhapsody

Kate Racculia

I’m not sure why this book appeared on my holds list.  I think maybe someone at book group recommended it because it was an Alex Award winner.  Those are the books written for grownups with teenage protagonists.  The teenage protagonists in question are twins who are attending an all-state music festival, the brother Rabbit playing bassoon in the orchestra and the sister Alice for chorus. We also follow the stories of their chaperone, the conductor of the orchestra, and the concierge of the very decrepit hotel.  Also a woman who witnessed a tragic event ten years before. It’s an excellent weaving of stories, very good writing (three passages made it into my Goodreads quotes pages) and it all comes together in an explosion of “Man, I didn’t see that coming at all!” If you were a high school musician, don’t miss out on this book.

Young People’s Nonfiction

Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom
Lynda Blackman Lowery
Read for librarian book group

You’ve seen the movie Selma (or perhaps not) now read the story of the youngest person on the march.  Lowery tells her story to the two authors and the book is also illustrated.  It’s a quick read, but yet another reminder of choice people made to fight for rights they should have had all along.

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Thanks to Kelly, we rambled out to Cedar Hills Crossing to see Mr. Lehane, author of the Kenzie/Gennaro P.I. murder mysteries, Mystic River, Shutter Island, The Given Day and its two sequels.  I took several photos of Mr. Lehane, none of them great.  He’s a good storyteller, he is and while reading from the first chapter of his new book, you can see how he drew these people in.

I learned that he misses Boston terribly, (he lives in Santa Monica), he’s a Boston Celebrity (Lahane, you’re a treas-ah!), the Wire was only renewed for five seasons because HBO didn’t have anything else, and no, he still hasn’t found his dog.  I hope Portland showed him an okay St. Patrick’s Day.

Coming home the Rose Garden was lit up for the holiday.

Cripes.  It’s March and I haven’t written nearly all of my February reviews.  So we are going to have a whirlwind review writing session.

My favorites this month:

Picture books: Waiting is Not Easy
Young People’s Poetry:  How I Discovered Poetry
Chapter books: Rain Reign
Young People’s Nonfiction: Separate is Never Equal
Grownup Nonfiction: How Sassy Changed my Life
YA: I Was Here, The Carnival at Bray, I’ll Give You the Sun, All the Bright Places

Picture
Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress
Neglected to note author name.  Not going to look it up.
Read for Librarian Book Group
The title says it all.  Morris wants to wear a dress that is not the kind of dress boys wear.  How will this go down?

Green is a Chile Pepper
Thong/Parra
Read for Librarian Book Group
A book to help you learn your colors.

A Boy and a Jaguar
Alan Rabinowitz
Read for Librarian Book Group
Picture book story of how someone who is different finds a passion that leads to a career.

Waiting is not easy
Mo Willems
Read for Librarian Book Group
Boy howdy is that true!  Pig and Elephant explore the concept of waiting.  I’m only lukewarm on Pig & Elephant, but this made me laugh, probably because I’m often impatient.

Little Roja Riding Hood
Elya/Guevara
Read for Librarian Book Group
It’s the familiar fairy tale recast.

You are (not) small
Kang/Weyant
Read for Librarian Book Group
Explores size differences.

Firebird
Copeland/Meyers
Read for Librarian Book Group
Beautifully book of how to become the type of dancer that is famous for dancing the Firebird dance. 

Young People’s Poetry:
How I Discovered Poetry
Marilyn Nelson
Read for Librarian Book Group
I’m not so hot on the let’s-tell-a-story-via-poems, but this above and beyond better than nearly all books I’ve read.  The poems are simple and really get a lot across.  The illustrations compliment the poetry beautifully.  Recommended.

Chapter books:
Mr Putter & Tabby Turn the Page
Rylant/Howard
Read for Librarian Book Group
This time (I say this time because even though I’ve never read them, apparently Mr. Putter and Tabby do a lot of things) they read at the library.  Very beginning chapter book.

Betsy & Tacy Go Downtown
Maude Hart Lovelace
The girls (Tib too, she got left out of the title) are twelve and thus can do things like walk downtown together.  Betsy gets her own library card to the Carnegie Library in town.  Interesting secondary story of Mrs. Poppy, the former actress and current wife of the hotelier, who is not accepted by the ladies of Deep Valley.

Rain Reign
Ann M. Martin
Read for Librarian Book Group
Practically perfect book about Rose, a girl with high-functioning autism and her dog.  Rose is obsessed with homonyms, with a side interest in prime numbers.  Hilariously straight-man narration by the main character reveals a rather meager existence, but for her Uncle and her dog named Rain (Rein, Reign).  Though I’ve never encountered a school district where someone with high-functioning autism has a one-on-one aide, I am happy to overlook this fact because this book was so delightful.  Recommended for children, especially early elementary students who read far above their grade level and everyone else who loves a good story.

Young People’s Nonfiction:
Separate is Never Equal
Duncan Tonatiuh
Read for Librarian Book Group
The mostly unknown story of the court case that said that Mexican children in California deserved the same education as White children. 

This Day in June
Pitman/Lotten
Read for Librarian Book Group
Need an easy way to introduce the concept of Pride to your child? This is your picture book.  Rhyme scheme broke down in a few places, but the illustrations were fun.

Neighborhood Sharks
Roy
Read for Librarian Book Group
Learn about the sharks that hang out regularly just outside of the San Francisco Bay.  The book did a good job balancing the sharks need to eat seals with the fact that seals get eaten by sharks.

Little Melba & Her Big Trombone
Russel-Brown
Read for Librarian Book Group
True story of Melba Liston, who was a trombone great in a time when women were not trombone greats.  Come to think of it, that time still kind of includes today.  But in Melba’s case not only was it a time when women weren’t trombone greats, but Black people weren’t welcome in very many places.

Portraits of Hispanic American Heroes
Herrera
Read for Librarian Book Group
Three-page biographies of just what the title promises.  Time period covers colonial times to present day.  Comes with a nice portrait of each subject.

Grownup Nonfiction:
The Wedding
Nick Waplington
“It was one of those cold, wet winter days when if you get stuck watching sport or an old movie, you can miss that short period between dawn and dusk altogether.” N. Waplington

Waplington is apparently known for a previous work chronically the everyday lives of a family living in a council house in England.  In this book he follows the family’s life once again, this time in the events leading up to the mother’s marriage.  Very interesting photos and worth finding just for the searing essay decrying institutional poverty written by the author of Trainspotting.

How Sassy Changed my Life
Jesella/Meltzer
History of the greatest magazine ever published for teenage girls.  Great behind-the-scenes action for fans of the heyday of Sassy.

YA
I Was Here
Gayle Forman
Book one of the inadvertent suicide theme I found myself on this month.  In this case, our main character Cody is living in the aftermath of the unexpected suicide of her best friend Meg during Meg’s first year at college. When Cody volunteers to pack up Meg’s belongings from school she finds some troubling details that sets her off on an investigation of Meg’s last days.  Addictive, with a satisfying ending, but as I noted in my review of Please Ignore Vera Dietz, books with suicide can never have a truly happy ending because the person who killed themselves is still dead.

Allegiant
Veronica Roth
I enjoyed hating this book which was truly horrible.  And very long.  Props to Roth for going the Joss Whedon path with main characters.  But other than that? What author can successfully change everything we know about the world in the third book?  Not this one, that’s for sure.  I think they get one big reveal.  That’s it.  Not the baker’s dozen that came with this plot. And really?  Were the cameras and audio feed really that good and the community never figured it out?  Really?  I could go on.  But I won’t.

The Carnival at Bray
Jessie Ann Foley
Read for Librarian Book Group
Book two of my inadvertent suicide-themed reading jaunt.  In this case, it’s a secondary character, so less overt tragedy there. It’s a sad book, but not overwhelmingly depressing.  Also, it has its feet planted firmly in the early 90’s grunge music scene, so fans of that will be happy.  Finally, the writing is powerful, the love story is worth the read and I was quite happy this was a Printz Honor Book.  Several passages of really great writing were transcribed into my Goodreads quote page. Recommended.

The Scar Boys
Len Vlahos
Read for Librarian Book Group
Great friendship/band dynamics are portrayed in the story of a boy hideously scarred from a childhood bullying incident gone wrong.  Parts of the book were likable, but overall, this author needed to go back through and revise all of his “telling” sections into “showing.”

I’ll Give You the Sun
Jandy Nelson
Read for Librarian Book Group
I am so happy this book won the Prinz award for 2014 because it’s a tour-de-force.  Alternating perspectives from a girl/boy set of twins.  The boy narrates the time when they were 13 years old.  The girl narrates the present-day age of sixteen.  Absorbing and layered, tragic and beautiful.  I love how everything comes together.  Recommended.  Thanks to Sara for recommending, so I could feel cool having it on hold before it won.

All the Bright Places
Jennifer Niven
Book three of inadvertent suicide-themed novels read in February.  Within these pages is a beautiful love story that sadly comes to no good end.  Which you probably could guess from the first page where our couple “meets cute” (I’m using the movie term, I don’t think it was actually cute) while standing at the edge of their school’s bell tower, both wondering what it would be like to end their lives.  I couldn’t help falling in love with both Violet and Theo and this was one of those books that I finished and two days later started reading from the beginning again.  The author’s note at the end really drives home the tragedy that is suicide on a personal level. Recommended.

Grownup Fiction:
The Residue Years
Mitchell S. Jackson
Read for Kenton Library Book Group
I’m the kind of girl who likes things explained clearly with beautiful and verbose prose, drawing clear pictures of exactly what is going on, so the vague, vignette style of this author’s writing was not really for me. I did appreciate a view into 90s-era Portland from the view of a black man.  I also appreciated it for being a lot grittier Everybody Reads selection than is normal.

Goodreads tells me I read 165 books this year.  I believe that qualifies me to give out the following awards.

Best book to combine Shakespeare, baseball and poetry:

Shakespeare Makes the Playoffs
Ron Roertge

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Best book I read and greatly enjoyed, only to find when I posted my review that I had already read it:

A History of Love
Nicole Krauss

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Best book of suddenly orphaned girl:

The Beginning of After
Jennifer Castle

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Prettiest book with also interesting plot:

Wintertown
Stephen Emond

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Best book set firmly in the Midwest that also includes twins:

Sisterland
Curtis Sittenfeld

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Best title that might repel people as much as draw them in (and they should be drawn in, it’s a fabulous book):

Sex and Violence
Carre Mesrobian

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Best book narrated by a chorus of gay men (trust me, it works):

Two Boys Kissing:
David Levithan

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Best title, hands down:

Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass
Meg Medina

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Best book that covers, among other things, a Supreme Court Justice buying underwear:

My Beloved World
Sonia Sotomayer

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Title I just liked to say:

Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets
Evan Roskos

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Book I mistakenly thought was set in Maine and thus was confused for most of the book:
and
Mock Printz winner I was incredibly unimpressed with, but which has stuck with me, so perhaps that was just sour grapes:

Midwinter Blood
Marcus Sewick

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Best book to handily combine many plot points into one engrossing story:

The Living
Matt de la Pena

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I don’t really believe in guilty pleasures, but this is one:

Divergent
Veronica Roth

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The sequel falls apart award:

Insurgent
Veronica Roth

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Best book written by someone I talk to regularly:
and
Best book to have a harrowing opening scene:

Rules for Becoming a Legend
Timothy S. Lane

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Book that made me laugh like a crazy person:

Hyperbole and a Half
Allie Brosh

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Longest book I read this year (so says Goodreads):
and
Most fascinating book I read this year:

The Warmth of Other Suns
Isabel Wilkerson

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Best book with a princess who has to deal with all the really boring princess stuff:

Handbook for Dragonslayers
Merrie Haskell

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Best nonfiction I read this year:
and
Best insight into transgender youth I’ve read:

Beyond Magenta
Susan Kuklin

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Funniest YA that I got tired of halfway through (but am still recommending because of the great boy humor):

Grasshopper Jungle
Andrew Smith

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Book of essays I enjoyed so much I bought it for my mother:

Lessons From the Borderland
Bette Lynch Hustead

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Best book about book creation and artist process:

The Scraps Book
Lois Ehlert

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Quiet, beautifully written (and short!)

The Story of a Marriage
Andrew Sean Greer

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Best coming of age without “boyfriend” as the prize:

This Song Will Save Your Life
Leila Sales

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Best middle reader with poetry that really tells a story:

The Crossover
Kwame Alexander

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Best Veronica Mars novel:

The Thousand Dollar Tan Line
Thomas/Graham

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Best best friends growing apart:

Mostly Good Girls
Leila Sales

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Best cover that beckons and holds a great middle reader:

The Nightingale’s Nest
Nikki Loftin

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 Best book to not plan on doing anything after you finish:
and
Best book to not read about, just read:

We Were Liars
E. Lockheart

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Best “Romeo & Juliet” with the Berlin Wall as the thing that keeps them apart:

Going Over
Beth Kephart

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Best “bully” book, from the point of view of the bully:

Tease
Amanda Maciel

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Best book about an elephant seal:

Elizabeth, Queen of the Sea
Cox/Floca

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Best series to get me hooked (that is already finished, so I could just tear through them):

The Boyfriend List/The Boy Book/The Treasure Map of Boys/Real Life Boyfriends
E. Lockheart

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Picture book that had me laughing the loudest:

Sparky!
Offill/Appelhans

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Best title, pranks, and feminist book:

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landeau-Banks
E. Lockheart

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Other best title
and
Bonus Cambridge, Mass. setting

Mister Posterior & the Genius Child
Emily Jenkins

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Best author to get me to read nearly ALL her books in the span of two months:

E. Lockheart/Emily Jenkins

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Picture book that made me laugh until I cried:

Here Comes the Easter Cat
Underwood/Rueda

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Title I thought completely wasted on this middle reader (it’s much better for a YA book):

Stay Where You Are and Then Leave
John Boyne

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Middle reader I thought was the second in a series, but it turns out was just written that way:

The Great Greene Heist
Varian Johnson

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Book that made this feminist spitting mad/dispirited:

The Bookseller of Kabul
Asne Seierstand

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Best book about so much more than hiking:

Wild
Cheryl Strayed

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YA title that sounded inappropriate, but was very vanilla:

Sloppy Firsts
Megan McCafferty

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Rainbow Rowell book that was published this year that I loved (because RR is awesome):

Landlines
Rainbow Rowell

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Book that is incredibly awesome for 66% of its pages and then sucks it up for the last 33:

Say What You Will
Cammie McGovern

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Best book about the Russian Revolution:
and
Best reminder that it’s never a good idea to have a disinterested Czar/King:

The Family Romanov
Candice Fleming

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Craziest Premise:

Noggin
John Corey Whaley

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Second best series to get me hooked:

Megan McCafferty’s Sloppy Firsts/Second Helpings/Charmed Thirds/Fourth Comings/Perfect Fifths
Megan McCafferty

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Best Memoir:

Chronology of Water
Lidia Yuknavitch

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Best re-read before a movie:

If I Stay
Gayle Forman

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Best historical fiction mixed with Norwegian Folk Tales:

West of the Moon
Margi Preus

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Best book I couldn’t put down:

Gone Girl
Gillian Flynn

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Best Graphic Novel set in Canada:

This One Summer
Tamaki/Tamaki

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Best essays by a woman who Tweets more than anyone I follow and has a Channing Tatum fixation similar to mine:

Bad Feminist
Roxane Gay

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Forgettable title hiding a fabulous Hurricane Katrina story:

Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere
Julie T. Lamana

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Best graphic novel with a deaf main character:

El Deafo
Cece Bell

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One of the few poetry-telling-story books that actually worked (and I read a lot of them):

Brown Girl Dreaming
Jacqueline Woodson

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Best book I love, that most people in the Kenton Library Book Group did not like:

American Wife
Curtis Sittenfeld

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Best book about a Montana mining town:

Work Song
Ivan Doing

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Best book with dragons set in Canada:
and
Best purposely misleading title:

The Story of Owen
E. K. Johnston

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Best book of photos from the 1970s:

In the American West
Richard Avedon

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Best stuck-with-a-sibling book:

Sisters
Raina Talgemeier

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Book that needs an editor STAT:

Egg & Spoon
Gregory Maguire

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Picture book I loved, even though it got a song from Oklahoma! stuck in my head:

The Farmer and the Clown
Marla Frazee

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Solid ending to the trilogy:

Isla & the Happily Ever After
Stephanie Perkins

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Best book with supernatural stuff set in Maine:
and
Third book this year to get me to read EVERYTHING the author has written:

Firebug
List McBride

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Best feminist graduating from high school:
and
Best title:
(If I’ve already given that award, it’s best title with an apostrophe)

Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future
A.S. King

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Book I didn’t want to read, but loved:

Girls Like Us
Gail Giles

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Best first half of a book:
(I assume the rest of the story is contained in its sequel?)

Ambassador
William Alexander

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Best 30s-style adventure story set in multiple countries:

Vango
Timothee de Fombelle

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Best convenience store conversation:

100 Sideways Miles
Andrew Smith

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Best book with a necromancer:

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer
Lish McBride

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Best book set in my neck of the woods:

Lean on Pete
Willy Vlautin

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Best discussable book:

Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek
Maya Van Wagenen

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Best pizza delivery girl:

Please Ignore Viera Dietz
A.S. King

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Best fictional trans character:

Gracefully Grayson
Ami Polonsky

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Best book with a foster mother in it:

Kinda Like Brothers
Coe Booth

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Feel free to leave your own awards in comments.

The transition of this post from the old blog to the new has been rocky.  So I’m not going to divide this into the usual sections.  I will give top recommends,though.

Picture book: Winter Bees and other Poems from the Cold.
Early Chapter Book: Betsy Tacy (also Betsy, Tacy, Tib)
Middle Readers: Gracefully Grayson, Kind of Like Brothers
YA: Please Ignore Vera Dietz
Nonfiction: Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek
Grownup Fiction: Lean on Pete

If you are only going to read two I recommend Please Ignore Vera Dietz and Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek

Me & Dog
Weingarten/Sharesby
Read for Librarian Book Group

When I read this book, it seemed a so-so effort about a boy and his dog.  However, I totally missed the atheist message the author intended. So this is a children’s book about atheism, but not an obvious children’s book about atheism.

Betsy Tacy
Maude Hart Lovelace

A re-read because I am visiting Minneapolis soon.  Although these actually take place outside of Minneapolis, I’m calling it close enough for a re-read.  I haven’t read this since I was child, and was happy to find a lot of it was quite familiar.  I still long for Tacy’s ringlets.

I’m not a fan of the new covers.  Thank goodness Lois Lenski’s illustrations are still inside.

Lean on Pete
Willy Vlautin
Read for Kenton Library Book Group

I loved this book because it is set in my neighborhood and has a character who wanders all over North Portland for part of the book.  I loved this book because of the depth of feeling and the goodhearted Charley, the fifteen year old boy who just wants school to start so he can play football.  I hated this book because Charlie’s already difficult life got worse and the friendship he had with a racehorse named Lean On Pete was touching, but life was hard for Pete too.  Vlautin locked me in to caring about Charley and Pete and then threw a lot of trouble their way.  The story starts to turn around page 125, but keeps on being hard until the very end.  It’s a good read, but not a happy one.

Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek
Maya Van Wagenen
Read for Librarian Book Group

True story of an eighth grade girl who decides to use a 1951 book written for teenagers as an instruction manual for becoming popular.  This book has so many entry points for discussion, I can’t even begin to sum them up.  The contrast between the 1950s and the 2010s is fascinating, as are the author’s conclusions.  Highly recommended.

The Doubt Factory
Paulo Bacigalupi
Read for Mock Printz

I was pleased to find this book set in present day as I expected another Bacigalupi dystopia.  But no!  This book instead has a taut plot that circles around information and what companies do with it.  I found it to be a good examination of media, truth and what can be done to influence them.   Also, there’s an interesting love story and a family-of-choice thing going on that made this book much more pleasurable than I thought it was going to be.

Please Ignore Vera Dietz
A.S. King

I found myself underwhelmed by Ask the Passengers, the first book I read written by A.S. King.  However, Glory O’Brien was incredible, so I looked up King’s other books.  And this one is also a keeper.  Vera Dietz is simultaneously mourning the overdose death of her best friend Charlie while keeping a hot pot of angry simmering at that same best friend, because he killed their friendship months before he died.  Vera Dietz must manage a full time job as a pizza delivery girl, her senior year of high school and regular visitations by Charlie.  Point of view rockets between Vera, Charlie, her dad, and even the novelty building the Pagoda weighs in now and again.

I was all in anyway, because there were such good pizza restaurant details, but there was just so much to care about here.  It resolves nicely, but also sadly because no matter what happens, her best friend is still dead.  So prepare yourself for that.

A Map of the Known World
Sandill

Rather unfortunate that I should chose to read this novel right after Please Ignore Vera Dietz, which also features a death of a loved one and the aftermath.  This provoked too much comparison/contrast between the two novels and left this one a bit wanting.  I do enjoy when the arts have the power to heal.  The romance was well developed, though I was a bit iffy about their age difference.  Also, there were points in the book when I wondered why her parents didn’t just call the main character on her cell phone.  So it was clunky in places, but overall a good read.

Everybody See the Ants
A.S. King

More feelings-accessed-through-wacky-things by A.S. King.  In this case, our hero has recurring dreams of rescuing his grandfather, who is a Vietnam POW. And also ants talk to him.  In a very A.S. King way it’s not as wacky as it sounds.  I found the lack of consequences imposed on the bully in this story unbelievable, but other than that, it was a good read.

Gracefully Grayson
Anni Polonsky

Hey!  It’s only the second book with a trans character I’ve ever read! (The first was Trans-Sister Radio by Chris Bohjalian.)  Greyson is a sixth grade boy who is constantly preoccupied with dreams of dressing in girls’ clothing.  He lives with his aunt, uncle, and two cousins because his parents died when he was in preschool.  Things happens when he tries out for the school play.  There was a great plot twist I didn’t see coming, and all the gender identity stuff is gold.  It’s a middle reader I didn’t have to slog through too!  Aside from the fact that the teacher spent inordinate amounts of time rearranging desks in the classroom (so much attention was repeatedly paid to desk arranging throughout the book I kept wondering why have them all move their desks around when the class next period would need to switch everything all over again) this was a perfect book.  Recommended.

Betsy Tacy Tib
Maud Heart Lovelace

The trio is eight!  I enjoy how Lovelace differentiates between Betsy-Tacy (who seem to be halves of a whole) and Tib, who has her own way of doing things, but Betsy and Tacy love her still.

Drama
Raina Telgemier

First crushes and a “tech”-ing a middle school play in this graphic novel.  By the end, I marveled at the play’s production budget.  The students seemed rather advanced for middle school kids, but who am I to judge?  Quick and enjoyable.

Kinda Like Brothers
Coe Booth
Read for Librarian Book Group

You know what I love? When books take me somewhere I don’t usually hang out.  You know what else I love?  Really complex characters, and lots of them.  Other things I love?  Plots that aren’t overly contrived, but full of conundrums.  And also?  Kids in books acting exactly their age.  You know what I don’t usually like? Middle readers.  But this middle reader was great!   I marvel how Booth crammed so much plot into so few pages.

Winter Bees and Other Poems of the Cold
Joyce Sidman
Read for Librarian Book Group

The left-hand page has the poems, the middle is the illustration, the right-hand page has the factual information about the topic. It appealed to both halves of my brain and I actually enjoyed the poems.  Well done.

Three Bears in a Boat
David Soman
Read for Librarian Book Group

The title says it all. And two weeks on, I remember nothing about this picture book.  There was adventure.  And learning.

Two Girls Staring at the Ceiling
Lucy Frank
Read for Librarian Book Group

This was not the book in verse to convince me that books written in verse are a good idea.  (The one book that did was Brown Girl Dreaming and thus far, it stands alone.)  I enjoyed the relationship between the two girls staring at the ceiling.  I would have liked to read about it with more words, i.e. prose.  If these books-in-verse were producing excellent verse, I could get on board, or if they were doing something really exciting like a whole story told in sonnets or other poetic forms, I would probably like that better.  But pretty much every book in verse I’ve encountered has been an interesting story ineptly told through so-so free verse.  I wish I could say it was different for this one, but alas, no.