63. The Mercedes Coffin - Faye Kellerman

Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus #17

audio read by George Guidall

9 cds, Harper Audio

Pages: 384

Ages: Adult

Finished: 12/21/2012

Publishing Info: 2007, William Morrow & Co.

Genre: Murder Mystery (Police Procedural)

Goodreads' rating: 3.50

My rating:  3/5

Acquired: PBS Audio

Setting: Contemporary LA

GoodReads' Summary/Review:  Fifteen years ago, Dr Ben Little, a very popular school VP, was murdered execution style and found in the trunk of his Mercedes. The crime was never solved. One of the students whose life he touched is now a very wealthy woman. When she reads a current article in the newspaper about another man found dead in the trunk of his Mercedes, she believes the two crimes are somehow related. She offers a million dollars to the LAPD to take another look at the cold case.

Reflections:  This book seemed to be a lot of sitting, talking, rehashing the case. It was a good story, but seemed to repeat itself, lending to the feeling it should have been shorter than it actually was. I listened to it...George Guidall is a great reader and did a wonderful job. There were a lot of people that were being discussed and referred to and it got a little confusing. Passed the time, though. Not great, but not bad....

62. Son - Lois Lowry

The Giver Quartet #4
Pages: 393

Ages: Older Middle Readers/YA

Finished:  12/19/2012

Publishing Info: Oct. 2, 2012 Houghton Mifflin Books for Children 

Genre: Fantasy

Goodreads’ rating:   3.99

My rating: 4/5

Acquired: THA Library

First Sentence:

Setting:  Somewhere in the future (?) in three different places, the setting of
The Giver, an isolated fishing community at the foot of a huge cliff, and in the community where Jonas arrived after leaving The Giver.

GoodReads’ Summary: They called her Water Claire. When she washed up on their shore, no one knew that she came from a society where emotions and colors didn’t exist. That she had become a Vessel at age thirteen. That she had carried a Product at age fourteen. That it had been stolen from her body. Claire had a son. But what became of him she never knew. What was his name? Was he even alive?　 She was supposed to forget him, but that was impossible. Now Claire will stop at nothing to find her child, even if it means making an unimaginable sacrifice. 

Reflections: Because I've read Giver many times, I was able to remember some of the details that I would not usually remember years after the original reading. Therefore, I was able to relate to the setting and happenings in SON very clearly, which made it a really wonderful read. The book is divided into three parts, all very different and enjoyable in their own way. Lois Lowry is certainly and wonderful writer and fantastic storyteller!

58. The Language of Flowers - Vanessa Diffenbaugh

2011, Ballantine Books
324 pages
for adults
HC $25.00 TPPL
Goodreads: 4.04
my rating: 5 (I loved it, didn't want it to end)
Setting:  Contemporary San Francisco and a vineyard and flower farm somewhere an hour and a half north of the Golden Gate Bridge.
1st sentence/s:  "For eight years I dreamed of fire.  Trees ignited as I passed the; oceans burned.  The sugary smoke settled in my hair as I slept, the scent like a cloud left on my pillow as I rose.  Even so, the moment my mattress started to burn, I bolted awake."

I read this book for a book group and became immediately enthralled. It was a delicious read. It was about a flawed foster child trying to figure out who and what and why she was, learning to trust...and love....and be part of a family. It takes place in contemporary San Francisco when Victoria turns 18, but occasionally goes back 8-10 years to the time she lived with Elizabeth, a single, vineyard owner, who planned to adopt Victoria. You know right from the start that something went terribly wrong during that time, but we don't discover exactly what it was until nearer the end of the book. There was a lot of information about flowers and the Victorian meanings of flowers, but it was all presented in a fascinating, interesting way so that even without a particular enjoyment of flowers it held my total attention.  Victoria's plight includes self-chosen homelessness, growing plants in public parks in San Francisco, stealing (food and flowers and anything she needed), discovering her business savvy, and learning to trust herself and not always running away.

One word for Victoria:  Bravo!  Thanks goodness I have never had to feel any of the abandonement or anguish that she did.

51. Criminal - Karin Slaughter

Will Trent #7 - but certainly a stand-alone
read (beautifully)  by Kathleen Early
2012, AudioGo
13 unabridged cds (15:35)
$29.95/ TPPL
448 pages
Goodreads rating:  4.22
My rating:  5

Setting:  1975 AND contemporary Atlanta, Ga
First impressions:  I listened to the audio version, which was read beautifully.  The plot switches between two periods, current day and the summer of 1975, same characters...more or less.  Really nicely crafted, delving not only into a series of murders of prostitutes in Atlanta, but the minds and thinking and attitudes between the perbitrator/s and the investigators.  The segregation/discrimination between females and blacks in the Atlanta police department in the mid-1970's is also an eyeopener!  Couldn't put it down.

Will Trent is beginning to discover some of the truth about his past, the past that has been kept hidden from him.  Will's a nice guy despite lots of baggage.  He's smart and has made the best in a world that gave him a pretty lousy start.  He was raised in an orphanage in the poorest part of Atlanta, went into the police force, and now works for the George Bureau of Investigation.  This is his backstory, a story he learns about in bits and pieces.  He has a not-yet-ex wife and a new girlfriend, a female boss and a female partner, a dog and a porsche. Nice twist at the end that you only get hints at throughout the book.  This is a good one!

50. Shut Your Eyes Tight - John Verdon

Dave Gurney #2
2011, Crown Publishers
509 pgs.
Goodreads Rating 3.88
My rating:  I liked it a whole lot (4)

First sentence:  "He stood in front of the mirror and smiled with deep satisfaction at his own smiling reflection."
Setting:  Contemporary New York state, in the Catskills near Albany.

First impressions upon finishing:  Another great, complicated mystery from John Verdon. It did seem a little extra long (509 pages), and the weird tension in Gurney's marriage is a little difficult to picture. High-level vocabulary, especially at the beginning kept me on my toes. I've definitely become a John Verdon/Dave Gurney fan.

Dave Gurney, retired NYC homicide detective, is pulled into his second "consultant" investigation since his retirement at age 48.  This does not please his wife, Madeleine, who wants him to stay completely retired.  However, he has an uncanny ability to sniff out the questions that need answering and putting pieces of weird, seemingly unsolvable puzzles together.

This weird, unsolvable puzzle begins with the murder of a brand-new wife, beautiful Jillian Perry, at her own wedding reception.  The wedding was at her new husband, Scott Ashcroft's, lavish country estate.   She went into a small cottage on the premises to encourage their gardener, Hector Flores, to attend the reception.  When she didn't reappear her husband entered the cottage and discovered his decapitated wife sitting at a small table with her head staring back at her body.  

The investigation takes Gurney back and forth, back and forth, and back and forth once again between his own home in Walnut Crossing to the site of the murder in 
Tambury, into Manhattan, and to meetings with police and the DA in Albany.  

Complicated, interesting, and thought-provoking.  It took me a lot of 30-40 page sittings, but was very worth it.  One word I can associate with this author: CLEVER!!

48. The Year of the Book - Andrea Cheng

with illustrations by Abigail Halpin
2012, Houghton Mifflin
160 pgs.
HC $15/99
Goodreads rating:  3.85
my rating:  It was a very good book/4

1st sentence/s:  "Ray, the crossing guard, is waiting at the curb in his orange vest the catches the sunrise."
Setting:  A small city or large town, somewhere in the US, where's there's some winter and ice. Contemporary.
OSS:  Anna's 4th grade year is spent dealing with being alone, discovering what it means to be a friend, reading, and beginning to learn Chinese.

Quick, good read for 3rd or 4th grade girls.  Anna, American-born although her mother was born in China, puts up with a mean friend and a friend who is being pulled and manipulated by the mean one.  The good friendship wins out, and Anna survives quite well because she's enjoying books so much, reading is way for her to help cope.  She's also, somewhat reluctantly, going to Chinese School for the first time to learn the language, but meets a new friend there.  Anna easily makes friends with adults and is a wonderfully thoughtful, creative young person.  A good side-story is that her mother is studying to be a nurse while still struggling with the English language.  On Saturdays Anna accompanies her to a cleaning job....she enjoys spending time with her mother's elderly boss, but is embarrassed to be seen with her mother carrying a bucket full of cleaning supplies.

47. Caleb's Crossing - Geraldine Brooks

2011, Viking
306 pgs.
Adult Historical Fiction
Goodreads rating: 3.77
My Rating:  3

Setting:  1660's Martha's Vineyard, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
OSS:  Bethia Mayfield tells of her life's travails from the time her twin brother was killed at age 7, through the friendship she made with Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk, and following both their lives 'til the end of each.
1st sentence/s:  "He is coming on the Lord's Day.  Though my father has not seen fit to give me the news, I have the whole of it."

I stopped reading this at page 150, saying enough is enough...death, sadness, pompous Puritanism. But I picked it up the next day and then the next and finished it. The second half was much more interesting and intention-holding than the first part, though there was still plenty of death, sadness and pompous Puritanism. I'm glad I finished it, though.

This is the fictionalized story based on historical records of two native Americans who made in through Harvard College in the late 1660's.  One's American name was Caleb.  However, this is the story of Bethia Mayfield, daughter of Martha's Vineyard's Puritan preacher in the 1660's.  

46. Graceling - Kristin Cashore

audio read by a full cast
Graceling Realm Book #1
11 unabridged cds (12:30)
Full Cast Audio, 2009
Graceling copyright 2008
471 pages
There's a map of the seven kingdoms on the enpapers
Goodreads rated 4.13
I rated this 4 stars, I liked it a lot.
for: YA (there is a very small amount of older-kid antics which would make me a tiny bit reluctant to give to anyone younger than middle school)

I listened to this, it was a "full cast" recording, and very good. Kristin Cashore has a new one out that is supposed to be excellent, and it was strongly suggested to read this one first. I'm glad I did, am on the waiting list for Bitterblue, which takes place 8 years later.

Katsa, the protagonist, wasn't one of my favorite characters.  She's pretty self-absorbed, headstrong, and has little care for those she doesn't like or agree with.  She's smart and brave, but extremely cocky.  Her "love interest," Po, and the 10 year -old girl they save, Bitterblue, are much more likable.

When someone in the Seven Kingdoms is born with two different-colored eyes, that means they are born with some kind of "grace," something they can do remarkably well.  Katsa's grace is as a killer, although the actual more accurate title she discovers later in the book.  Po has to hide his grace (SPOILER: he can read the minds of or sense the thoughts and feelings of anyone that's thinking of him)  by calling himself a great fighter.  People with grace's are given wide berth.

Katsa has always been used by her uncle, King Randa, to punish his enemies.  She hates this.  But she must to what he bids to survive.  She and a few loyal friends create a "counsel," and they try to right some of the Seven Kingdoms' wrongs.  That is how she first meets Po, from the Island Kingdom of Leonid.

This was a good adventure, had a little ya boy-girl you-know-what going on, though nothing graphic.  She is indeed a feisty, strong female role-model and i will encourage middle schoolers to try this one out.

Notes to remember before reading a sequel:  King Randa, her uncle, is not a really nice guy.  However, his son Prince Raffin, is 3 years older than Katsa and her best friend.  He is a scientist/chemist who makes all the helpful drugs the council needs in its good-doings.  Oll is Randa's underlord, a spymaster (a "graying captain") and helped raise Katsa.  Giddon, another sidekick, has been very protective and asked her to marry him.  So he's now a bit jealous.

kristincashore.blogspot.com
www.gracelingrealm.com

45. Summer of the Gypsy Moths - Sara Pennypacker

2012, Balzer + Bray/ Harper Collins
275 pages
for: Middle Grades (ages 9-12)
rating:  5

1st line/s:  "The earth spins at a thousand miles an hour.  Sometimes when I remember this, it's all I can do to stay upright --- the urge to flatten myself to the ground and clutch hold is that strong."
Setting:  Current day Cape Cod, at the Linger Longer Cottage Colony.
OSS:  11 year-old Stella and 12-year-old Angel, both foster children , secretly run the Linger Longer Cottage Colony when Stella's great-aunt dies and they bury her in the garden, pretending she's still around, so that they won't be sent back to the foster care system.

It's quite a premise, but written beautifully and believably.  The girls have no way to get to a grocery story, so they almost starve.  Little glimmers of help come in unexpected ways - people leaving food in the refrigerator and cupboards when they leave their rental, digging clams on the beach, using the great-aunt's credit card to order pizza delivery.  They have no problem cleaning the four cottages and dealing with the cottage's problems - Stella has been a Heloise and her Hints addict for years.  And George, the fisherman-owner of the cottages checks in every so often to mow the lawn and take care of any problems that the girls can't handle. Stella even figures out how to take care of the garden that her aunt Louise planted, including her much-loved blueberry bushes, saving them from the infestation of gypsy moths.

SPOILER:  Even the death of Louise is handled in a believable way, from what it looks like, what it smells like, and how they figured out what to do with her body. This is a delightful story.  It has somewhat of a "pat" ending, but it's totally believable, too.  (And thank goodness Stella's flighty, possibly bipolar does NOT have a miraculous recovery in order to be able to care for her child.)

This was a wonderful story, about how friendship grows and what the real meaning of "family" is.

44. Gone Missing - Linda Castillo

#4 Kate Burkholder series
2012 Minatour Books
277 pgs.
for: adults
HC $24.99
Rating:  4.5

1st line/s:  (from Prologue) "Becca had always known her life would end in tragedy."
(from Chapter 1) "My mamm once told me that some places are too beautiful for anything bad to happen.  When I was a kid, I believed those words with all of my young heart.  I lived my life in a state of ignorant bliss, oblivious to the evils that lurked like frothy-mouthed predators outside the imaginary gates of our small Amish community."
Setting:  Painters Mill, Ohio, a small Amish community, and other small Amish towns within a 100-mile radius during a contemporary summer.
OSS:  Kate and Tomasetti examine the lives of four or five different Amish teenagers who have all gone missing in recent years or weeks, knowing that the answers are NOT that they disappeared by running away.
.
Linda Castillo knows how to weave an interesting yarn, and there's always more taking place than just the mysteries that her protagonist is trying to solve. I really like the way that she keeps Kate's past torturing her a bit, entering into her relationship with John Tomasetti and the past that's torturing HIM.  Their relationship is tentative and real, and I really love the way it's being portrayed.  I enjoy the insight that Kate has into the lives and feelings of the Amish, since that is also her own background.  And I love love love the gorgeous words that Castillo uses in her writing, the descriptions she includes put me THERE.  I've really come to realize how important setting is to me.

I Call My Grandma Nana – Ashley Wolff

Illustrated by the author

2009, Tricycle Press

24 pages

HC $15.99

Rating:  Well, I have to say I love it!

Endpapers:  front, brown “bag” paper, with a large name tag that says underneath:  I call my Grandma ________________ and everyone can see/ that I love spending time with her/ and she loves being with me.

Back cover:  a list of grandmother names from around the world (again, on the brownish paper bag-looking background)

First line/s:

“My grandmother from China

Is visiting today.

Class, please welcome Nai-Nai,”

Said Miss Alexandra May.

The story, in lovely rhyme and rhythm, goes on to have each of many kids introduce their grandmothers and tell what they call them:

“Abuelita is my Grandma.

She’s teaching me to sew.

The doll we’re making

    Looks like me---

Blue dress, black braid,

     White bow!”

or

“My Mamie likes the hummingbirds.

I always look for jays.

I carry her binoculars

On our bird-watching days.”

                (I love this one, my kids called their paternal grandmother, my mother-in-law, Mamie…)

In all, fourteen children tell about their grandmother in a four-lined quatrain.  What a great model for a writing lesson!

This is the second Ashley Wolff book I’ve read in as many days.  It’s time to check her out a little more thoroughly.  I know I’ve read her books before, but it’s time to really examine her retinue!  Ashley Wolff lives in San Francisco, California.

42. The Book Whisperer - Donalyn Miller

Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child
2009, Jossey-Bass (Wiley)
Paper $24.95
228 pages
Excellent, reiterating my own philosophy about teaching reading, with a few hints and ideas that I might try.
NonFiction - Education/Teaching


"Reading changes your life.  Reading unlocks worlds unknown or forgotten, taking the travelers around the world and through tie.  Reading helps you escape the confines of school and pursue your own education.  Through characters -- the saints and sinners, real or imagined -- reading shows you how to be a better human being."


Here are some of the hints, information, and ideas I plan to use in my own classroom this year:
.....introduce authors through read-alouds, particularly from short story anthologies.  Tripping Over the Lunch Lady, edited by Nancy Mercado, is recommended.  Books that she recommends for the 4th - 6th grade arena include: Each Little Bird That Sings (Wiles), S. O. S. Files (Byars), The Word Eater (Amato), Guts (Paulsen),  A Tarantula Ate My Purse (George), and Knots in My Yoyo String (Spinelli).


She sets a 40-book requirement at the beginning of the year, and gives the kids a list of required genres.  I plan to tweak this, but this is what she's been having her kids think about:


Poetry Anthologies - 5
Traditional Literature - 5
Historical Fiction - 2
Fantasy - 4
Science Fiction - 2
Mystery - 2
Informational - 4
Biography/Autobiography/Memoir - 2
Chapter Book - CHOICE - 9
(If a book is over 350 pages, she lets them count the book as 2)


I like the way she uses CONVERSE instead of CONFERENCE:  "I converse about their progress toward reading goals and give them individual support."


She has completely abandoned book reports, and even oral booktalks. Instead, as good alternatives, she suggests BOOK COMMERCIALS (short, impromptu ads) or BOOK REVIEWS (after examining professional book reviews, book blurbs, and teasers). She uses reading response entries that students write in their Reader's Notebooks as well.  These are in the form of letters to her, and she responds to them in kind.

Sections to include in a Reader's Notebook:
Tally lists
Reading lists
Books-to-read list
Response entries
(I would add book reviews)

She suggests that the teacher keep their own similar notebook, and new one for each year, that includes the same sorts of information.  Instead of the Response entries part, that is where she keeps her Conference Notes.

Some suggested Book Review Criteria:
Quotes from the book.
Quotes from famous writers and reviews.
Cliffhanger questions.
Personal reactions and opinions.
Awards the book or author have won.
Recommended reading age
Other books by the author
Comparison with other books.

There were some questions on her Reading Surveys that I plan to add to mine, including:
Do you have a library card?
Do you borrow books from the library?
How many books of your own do you have at home?
How did  you get them?

I have included this list, of my notes, so that I can have them in a permanent place where I will not lose them.  However, some of these may be helpful to others who already use Ms. Miller's same theories in their own classroom.  I felt she says exactly how I feel about teaching reading, and will use her books to help establish my credibility if it ever comes into question!

41. Shadow of Night - Deborah Harkness

#2 in All Soul's Trilogy
2012, Viking
for Adults
584 pgs.
HC $28.95
Genre:  Fantasy/Historical Fiction
Rating:  2.5 It was okay....

Setting:  for the most part, 1591 England, France, and Prague, with bits and pieces of contemporary America and parts of Europe
OSS:  Historian/researcher/reluctant witch Diana Bishop and her vampire lover Matthew deClermont Roydon time travel back to Elizabethan England, France, and Prague for two reasons - to help Diana learn how to deal with her until-now-hidden witch talents, and to look for a very old book, Ashmole 782, that could be the secret of vampire, daemon, and witch past and future.

Okay, so Diana and Matthew have traveled back to relive Matthew's life in 1591, where he is spy for Queen Elizabeth, and friends with Walter Raleigh and Christopher Marlowe.  Christoper Marlowe is his closest, friend and also a daemon creep.  They "adopt" two waifs, argue a lot, dabble in alchemy, look for the hidden book Ashmole 784, and try to find teachers for Diana, to help her learn to use her powers, without any of the witches they encounter trying to kill her.

This book was waaaay too long...about 200 pages too long.  It was divided into six parts (though the sixth part was so much shorter than the others, it was like an afterthought).  The only one I really relished was the second part, at Saint-Tours.  The rest was all so similar that I found it very tedious. Too many characters, and many from the first book, The Discovery of Witches, were talked about without any hints as to why we were supposed to remember them.  I read a lot of books, I finished The Discovery of Witches ages ago, and I truly couldn't remember the details that Deborah Harkness took for granted I'd remember.  I had to go to the bookstore and read the last 50 pages of the first book to remind myself what was going on before I could restart this second book.  My opinion?  Interesting....but tedious.  Will I read Book 3?  Probably.  Maybe.  Possibly. I rated this a 2 ("it was okay") on Goodreads- I'd probably rate it a 2.5 if there was a way to.

Write On, Mercy! – Gretchen Woelfle

The Secret Life of Mercy Otis Warren

Illustrated by Alexandra Wallner

2012, Calkins Creek, Honesdale, PA

Rating:  5

For:  older kids, probably not preschool

40 pages

HC $16.95

Endpapers:  Orange

Title Page:  Mercy’s arm and hand, with quill and melting candle, writing on a stack of papers.

Setting:  Late 1700’s during the American Revolution, in Massachusetts

1^st line/lines:  “From her parlor window in West Barnstable,  young Mercy Otis could watch the tide flow in and out of the Great Marsh on Cape Cod Bay.”

OSS:  Tells the life of Mercy Otis Warren, a woman who told the story of the Revolution in over 1,000 pages that took thirty years.  She would have been a politician if she had lived in contemporary times!

This was an exceptionally fine story about a really interesting person – of the female persuasion – in our history.  The writing is beautiful and sophisticated, the story well-researched and finely told.  A keeper.  Perfect for my 4^th grade biography unit.

Includes Author’s Note, a painting of Mercy Otis Warren by John Singleton Copley (this REALLY makes her a real person for the kids), a 2-page timeline of her life and what was going on politically, an excellent bibliography, and a number of websites.  What a perfect model for a well researched book of history to share with kids! 

Bravo!

About the author:  Woelfe is a writer from LA who loves history, especially stories of little-known people in history.  She’s written Katie the Windmill Cat, All the World’s a Stage: A Novel in Five Acts, and Jeannette Rankin: Political Pioneer.

The illustrator, also a love of history, lives in Yucatan, Mexico.

Migrant – Maxine Trottier

Illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault

2011, Groundwood Books

32 pages

Rating:  4

Endpapers:  Flying Goose quilt, red/pink background

Title Page:  White with flying goose triangles flying…

Illustrations:  simple, watercolors or watercolor pencils?

Setting:  Contemporary America, places where migrant farm workers live and shop.

1^st sentence/s:  “There are times when Anna feels like a bird.  It is the birds, after all, that fly north in the spring and south every fall, chasing the sun, following the warmth.”

OSS:  Anna and her large German-speaking Mennonite family live in Mexico, but travel north each year when it is time to labor on the farms.

The story uses a lot of “snazzy” figurative language…perhaps even a tiny, tiny bit too much.  Filled with metaphor, similes, and lovely descriptions, the story definitely does appeal to the senses and the imagination.

I will definitely use this book in my classroom when teaching figurative language, especially similes and metaphors.

“At night Anna is a kitten sharing a bed with her sisters, all of them under one blanket when the nights are cool.  A kitten is a good thing to be, a safe thing, curled there with your sisters by your side.”

When you look at the illustrations, you know that the characters are not Hispanic.  After the halfway point, you see the family lined up to go into a store, and you see the kerchiefs covering the female heads, the overalls, simple shirts, and hats covering the males heads. Then she mentions them speaking German, “….the good plain German rolling off their tongues as sweetly as sugar.”  But it’s not until the two-page afterward that you learn the particulars about the Mennonite workers that moved to Mexico in the 1920’s to become migrant workers, keeping their Canadian citizenship. 

Really interesting!  A great book to share when teaching about Mexico.  This was all totally new to me!

About the author:  a writer from Newfoundland, she wrote this story after meeting Mennonites from Mexico when she was visiting in Ontario.

Sunday Shorts

Goodreads has a meme called Sunday Shorts - you read short stories (from anywhere --books, magazines, internet site, free Kindle downloads), then write a little about them.  Short stories have never been my forte, so I'm going to try to read a few, at least for the summer.....

So I've started with Ghosts of Chicago by John McNally, written in 2008. 

The first story is titled "Return Policy," and it was really offbeat and I liked it a lot.  After being married for 18 years, Mark Timber's wife has left him.  So he decides it's only right to return every single wedding gift they received.  There's an element of loneliness ... aloneness .... that really struck a chord with me.  Everyone treats grief and sadness differently, and the things Mark chooses to do come from a deep place in himself.  I'm looking forward to more!

40. The Poacher's Son - Paul Doiron

2010, Minotaur Books
HC $24.99 (TPPL)
324 pages
Adult Mystery
Rating:  4

Setting:  Contemporary Maine, in the woods between Skowhegan and the Canadian border
1st Sentence/s:  "When I was nine years old, my father took me deep into the Maine woods to see an old prisoner of war camp.  My mom had just announced she was leaving him, this time for good.  In a few weeks, she said, the two of us were chucking this sorry, redneck life and moving in with her sister down in Portland."
Mike Bowditch is a 24-year-old game warden in the state of Maine, working in the Skowhegan area.  He's a diligent worker, serious about his job, and a bit of a loner.  His girlfriend since college has left him, but he feels he's really forced her to....he's not living a life that she's comfortable with.  They still love each other, that's obvious.  Then, one evening, right out of the blue, the father that he's rarely seen but idolizes nonetheless leaves a message on his answering machine.  The next day Mike discovers that his father is on the run, accused of two murders (one being a police officer).  Mike can't believe it could possibly be true, and sets out to try to discover what really happened.  This puts his job, the job he loves, in dire jeopardy.
This is what I wrote on Goodreads: 

"

I love anything that takes place in the state of Maine, where I can follow the geographical information. Doiron inclues a lot of this, which I really enjoyed. And I love a good mystery. At first I was upset with some of the actions that the 24-year-old protagonist takes, but then I realized that the author was fleshing out a completely believable, REAL young man. Mike's love for the alcoholic, abusive father that he really didn't know is entirely believable, as is his on-and-off desire to be alo...moreI love anything that takes place in the state of Maine, where I can follow the geographical information. Doiron includes a lot of this, which I really enjoyed. And I love a good mystery. At first I was upset with some of the actions that the 24-year-old protagonist takes, but then I realized that the author was fleshing out a completely believable, REAL young man. Mike's love for the alcoholic, abusive father that he really didn't know is entirely believable, as is his on-and-off desire to be alone, unfettered by any relationship. I'll be really interested to see how this character evolves in the second book of the series. I look forward to reading it." Paul Doiron is the editor of DownEast magazine and a registered Maine Guide.

The Twelve Days of Springtime - Deborah Lee Rose

A School Counting Book
illustrated by Carey Armstrong-Ellis
2009, Abrams Books for Young Readers
32 pages
$15.95
Endpapers:  Lime/springtime green
Title Page:  Colorful, four of the students outside playing just after a rain shower

"On the first day of springtime, my teacher gave to me . .
. . . a garden to water carefully."

There are eight kids in the class, each with their own separate personalities.  Their outfits and activities change as each day passes.  The teacher's facial expressions are great - they always react to what the kids are doing.  We watch a couple of aquariums in the classroom change as the days pass, one with caterpillars, the others with tadpoles.  There's so much to see in each illustrations, Ella and I poured over each one.

At the back, the artist described how she created the illustrations, first sketching, then outlining in pen and ink, then painting with gouache and detailing with colored pencils.  Very cool book.

39. Dash & Lily's Book of Dares - Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

2010, Alfred A. Knopf
for:  YA
260 pages
Rating: 4

Setting:  NYC from 12/21 through 12/31
First sentence/s:  "Imagine this:  You're in your favorite bookstore, scanning the shelves.  You get to the section where a favorite author's books reside, and there, nestled in comfortably between the incredibly familiar spines, sits a red notebook.  What do you do?"

I loved this book, it was cleverly written from each point of view, Dash’s part by David Levithan and Lily’s part by Rachel Cohn.  They’ve collaborated on other titles, I’ll have to check them out.

37. Where Children Sleep - James Mollison

Chris Boot/London, 2010
120 pages
Rating:  5
$30.00
Shelved 770 in the library

Wow.  Rich children, impoverished children, and children in-between are shown in this book.  55 kids, ages four through seventeen, from one of ** countries including Israel and Palestine, Nepal, China, Thailand, countries in Africa, the U.S., Italy, Brazil....

A two-page spread for each child.  On the left, a photo taken on a neutral background, of the child. Below it, a paragrph telling a little of that child's life, with them filling in some of the blanks like how far away is there school (if they even go to school), what their favorite foods are, what they aspire to be when they "grow up." On the right, a photo of where the child sleeps.  For some it's a bedroom.  For some it's a field.  For some it's an orphanage.  For some it's a dirty floor.

 

"Home for this four-year-old boy and his family is a mattress in a field on the outskirts of Rome, Italy,  The family came from Romania by bus, after begging on the streets for enough money to pay for their tickets.  When they first arrived in Rome, the camped in a tent, but the police threw them off the site because they were trespassing on private land and did not have the correct documents.  Now the family sleep together on the mattress in the open..  When it rains, they hastily erect a tent and use umbrellas for shelter, hoping they will not be spotted by the police.  They left Romania without identity documents or work papers and so are unable to obtain legal employment.  This boy sits by the curbside while his parents clean car windscreens at traffic lights to earn thirty to fifty cents a time.  No one from the boy's family have even been to school.  His parents cnnot read or write."

"Kaya is four years old.  She lives with her parents in a small apartment in Tokyo, Japan.  Most apartments in Japan are small because land is very expensive to buy and there is such a large population to accommodate.  Kaya's bedroom is every little girl's dream.  It is lined from floor to ceiling with clothes and dolls.  Kaya's mother makes all Kaya' dresses - up to three a month, usually.  Now Kaya has thirty dresses and coats, thirty pairs of shoes, sandals and boots, and numerous wigs.  (The pigtails in the picture are made from hairpieces.)  Her friends love to come round to try on her clothes.  When she goes to school, however, she has to wear a school uniform.  Her favorite foods are meat, potatoes, strawberries,and peaches.  She wants to be a cartoonist when she grows up, drawing Japanese 'anime" cartoons."