Librarian book group is on the right. The probelm is the middle readers. Usually they are very short books that I can whip through quickly but this month we’ve got a tome, Egg & Spoon, by the author of Wicked, an opus about a remote inn with mysterious visitors (Greenglass House) and a volume about a boy who can talk to ravens. (Gabriel Finley) All of these are only marginally interesting to me and yet they go on and on. I did just start the one with the flames on it (Firebug) and it’s quite promising. It’s YA, a teenaged firestarter with a boyfreind who smokes. I’m down with that. Thank goodness the books on the top and bottom of the pile can be read in 20 minutes. Though The Farmer and the Clown has had the song “Territory Folk” in my head off and on all week long.)
On the left? The final two of the 10 books to read for this year’s Mock Printz. They aren’t due until January.
Wow, that's a lot of books to read in one month, even if several of them aren't adult books. I too dislike middle readers. They're just slightly too juvenile to hold my interest. Is there a particular reason you were reading so many of them this month? Does the book group do themes?
The librarians keep up with reviews and such and that's what helps them choose the books. Plus things they are interested in. The choosing time is always amusing to me because most of the time I have no idea who they are talking about: "Oh! And Hilda Fasslebender has a new book out!" And everyone will gasp excitedly. And onto the list will go Ms. Fasslebender's book.
For whatever reason, a lot of very long middle readers made their way to the list this month. We held over Greenglass House for December and I was quite happy because I was only halfway through and there would have been a significant spoiling that would have happened if we had discussed it. I ended up quite liking that book, though I didn't love it as much as Firebug.
There were a few of those (Um Egg & Spoon, I'm looking at you) that I thought were picture books…