Summer Reading... so far

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I have been working through a few good books this summer, between cleaning out my daughter's room, washing lots of dishes (now I know why we like to eat out!) and purging the basement.  Here's a few I've enjoyed:

 (book cover photos from goodreads.com)

My sister-in-law shared Summerland with me.  She devours adult fiction and passes them to me (we love Janet Evanovich's quick reads).  I liked this book as it wove together the small town of Nantucket, MA as three families deal with a teen car accident.  The writing floats between the past and present, and reveals so much about the characters.

 The Caster Chronicles series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl caught my eye when the Beautiful Creatures movie trailer came out.  They tend to be a bit long, but the characters and the South Carolina town they inhabit are fun to read about.  The magical categories and boy/girl drama between Lena and Ethan keep me reading this series.  The next book in the series is Beautiful Redemption.  I may save it for winter reading.

 Butter is a morbidly obese high schooler who plays a mean saxophone and secretly pines for a girl in his class.  He's bullied by two guys, especially, and decides he should just eat himself to death.  Butter has some great mentors, but you can feel his desperation.  (Psst - it does have a happy ending, don't worry!)

The Book of Broken Hearts is my second read by Sarah Ockler.  I immensely enjoyed reading about Jude and her family (three intense sisters, hardworking mom, dad with early-onset Alzheimer's).  These characters are so real and dealing with such a raw, terrible disease.  There's great sparks and chemistry between Jude and Emilio.  He's a motorcycle repair kid from a family of heartbreakers who Jude is supposed to avoid.  Be prepared for heartache and tears in this story.  I couldn't put it down.

Finally, I need to go back and reread Liar and Spy by Rebecca Stead.  This is my fave middle grade read this summer.  Georges, Mom and Dad downsize to an apartment building in New York.  Georges meets Safer and Candy, two homeschooled kids, who introduce him to the art of spying.  Georges deals with separation from his mom and a few bullies at school.  The ending makes you realize how much you missed while you read this book!  I didn't figure out the clues the author left, so I'm determined to reread and find them.  This would be a great read for those middle graders who crave a little mystery.

Happy summer reading!  I recommend setting up a Goodreads.com account and searching #bookaday on Twitter to find your next great read!

Winter Break Reading Blitz

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I realized in December that I was falling short of my Goodreads goal of 212 books read.  I didn't stress...I just made a plan to read a lot of books over winter break.  I started with a big stack from the library on the 26th, and I downloaded the max number of books to my iPad.  I posted an event to some of my FB friends asking them to guess how many books I would read over break.  The person with the winning guess would win the book of their chosing.

I read 23 books over winter break, and that included picture books, graphic novels and young adult novels.  I read books before I gave them as gifts, I read some great books, and I abandoned two books.  Here are few of my favorites:

First Date  by Krista McGee
This realistic young adult novel finds Addy on a reality show, looking to win a prom date with the President's son, Jonathan.  Addy would prefer to be at home, attending her close-knit Christian school.  Addy feels torn between her attraction to Jonathan and her complete disgust for the show's premise and producer.  Quick read if you're a fan of The Bachelor.

The Science of Snow:  The Science of Winter's Wonder by Mark Cassini and Jon Nelson
This awesome non fiction picture book has the COOLEST photographs of actual snow crystals.  I'm a huge fan of snow, and this is a book I plan to share with others interested in learning more about the fluffy white magical stuff!

Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John
This young adult novel features a hard-of-hearing protagonist, Piper.  She's on track to attend Gaulladet University until her parents spend her college account on a cochlear implant for her profoundly deaf baby sister.  Piper accepts a challenge of managing a high school rock band (which she can barely hear!) to earn some cash and make a name for the band, Dumb.  Lots of rock references to Nirvana and Jimi Hendrix as this book takes place in Washington state.

Dinosaur vs. Santa by Bob Shea
I bought this raucous picture book for my youngest nephew.  I loved reading it with enthusiasm in e bookstore and clearly embarrassed my oldest daughter.  Dinosaur versus presents.....ROAR! Dinosaur opens the presents with gusto.  This one is a riot!

Book love!

I went to the library today.  HOORAY!  It was a cool respite from the oppressive heat in Illinois today.  I had placed a book on hold and was hoping it was still on the reserve shelf, but it wasn't.  I raced back to the juvenile section and checked the shelf.

Not there.

I checked the computer.  "Being held for someone" was the status.

Back to the reserve department to interrupt the lady at the desk.

"I was 10 minutes from putting this book back into circulation. It's your lucky day!"

(Really, I have transportation and a library card - it's always my lucky day!)

The book I was lucky to get is See You at Harry's by Jo Knowles.

How do I describe this story?  It's realistic fiction, at it's best.  You believe that the characters could be the family that lives next door.  The emotions are raw, the experiences believable. The dialogue carries you quickly through the book.

I didn't want to rush through this book, but I had to finish it today.  I couldn't find a good stopping point. I had to keep reading.  I tried to choose my favorite character (Ran? Fern?  Holden?), but I couldn't.  I understood and could relate to them all.  

It's hard to describe what the story is about without giving away too much, but Holden is dealing with starting high school and fitting in, Fern is stuck watching her little brother on top of middle school woes.  Their family runs a restaurant and deals with stress on a daily basis.  You'll feel like you're part of the family as you read.

Don't miss this book!

Winter Break #bookaday Reading!

HOORAY!  It's winter break for three of us at my house! HOORAY!  (My husband has to work, so I promise to give him lots of relaxation time when he is home!)

If you didn't already know, I love to read.  I have since I was four years old.  My parents read to my brother and I, we had books on records (yes, I'm a child of the 70s) and I had the most important accessory a reader can't live without....a public library card.

So, now that our winter break has started, in between all the holiday and travel preparations, I'm again participating in Donalyn Miller's (author of The Book Whisperer)  #bookaday challenge.  (See her blog post here!)  As I finish a book, I tweet it on Twitter, using the #bookaday hashtag.  If you ever need book recommendations, this is a hashtag to search!

I'm lucky to have two teenage daughters who help around the house and keep busy with friends (in person and online) and activities.  Why am I lucky?  I get to READ, a lot, all throughout the break.  YES!

Those of us on Twitter who L.O.V.E. to read and share our love of books are all members of the Nerdy Book Club.  I'm truly excited to be part of such a well-read, book-loving crowd.  Sure, we call ourselves nerdy, but we know books and we're proud of it!

I'm really great at keeping track of the books I've read on Goodreads, but I'm trying to add some review info, too.  My goal this year is to read LOTS of books over winter break.  I'm on book number 3, and it's day 4 of vacation.  I do have two flights scheduled during break, so that will give me some decent reading time, too!

Now it's time to finish writing and get READING!  Join us in the #bookaday challenge and read as much as you can!

Reading up a Storm

I'm having a GREAT reading summer!  I've been out of school for a week, and I've read 5 chapter books.  Woo hoo!  Every summer, Donalyn Miller (author of The Book Whisperer) challenges people to participate in the "bookaday challenge".  I see this as an incentive to read each day, not as a contest.  When I tweet about the book I'm reading, I use the hashtag #bookaday.  I didn't get stressed when it took me 4 days to read The Hunger Games last week.  The whole idea is to read and share what you're reading.
Here are the books I've finished during my first week of break, in between driving my teens around town:

Hate That Cat by Sharon Creech 
This was a great book to read in an hour.  I read it's prequel, Love That Dog, with my 5th grade group this year.  I'm thinking of sending them a copy of Hate That Cat, and I said as much on Twitter.  To my delight, Sharon Creech (the author!  the FAMOUS author!) responded that she loved my tweet!  I love her books!


The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
I didn't think I would like a book about a killing game in a dystopian world.  Boy, was I wrong!  The characters are truly survivors you can relate to, and I can't wait to read the next book in the series. 




Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King

This one is definitely a teen book.  This has been my heaviest read so far, but I still had to read it to the end to figure out what happened to Vera's best friend, Charlie.  There's some tough subjects (drinking, drugs, stalkers) in this book, but I wouldn't keep my teens from reading such a good story. 

The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
This was a great read, especially because the book goes so much deeper into Mia's character than the movie (which I saw first).  I love that her father is in the book, and he's completely stuffy and royal.  Mia's Grandmere is a royal pain!  I plan to read more of the books in the series.

Project Mulberry by Linda Sue Park
Here's the most refreshing book I've read this week.  Park writes a middle-grade novel about two friends, Julia and Patrick, who live in Plainfield, IL and participate in a club like 4-H.  Their project is to raise silkworms, but they have to find a mulberry tree.  The author takes a few pages in between each chapter to have a conversation with Julia about the book.  I really enjoyed these pages, and the whole story.

Now, it's back to the books!  I LOVE summer reading!