45. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

listened on Audible

336 pgs.

2022
Adult fantasy/magical realism
Finished 10/13
Goodreads rating: 4.03
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary England

My comments: This is a sweet, very cozy fantasy about witches and family/no family/found family.  I read it as an online read with a small group of others and found lots to discuss and lots to like.

Goodreads synopsis:  As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don't mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she's used to being alone and she follows the rules...with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.

But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and...Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he's concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.

As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn't the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn't know she was looking for....

36. Black Woods Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey

listened on Libby

306 pgs. (11:34)

Adult Magical Realism/ Dark Fairy Tale
Finished 77/23/25
Goodreads rating: 3.71
My rating: 4
Setting: Small Town Alaska - in the woodsy mountains

My comments: Oh my, what a story.  It was fairly slow-paced, which for once didn't really bother me, and I guess I'd consider it a realistic dark fairy tale.  Someone called it haunting.  Oh yes.  And tragic.  Sad.  Mesmerizing.  Long-winded in places....and touching. Told in three voices:  Birdie, the mother; Amaleen, her daughter; and Arthur's father.  Most of the story focuses around Arthur.  And although I wasn't too fond of listening to the endless ramblings of six-year-old Amaleen, I realized by the end how important her voice is to the story.

Goodreads synopsis:  An unforgettable dark fairy tale that asks, Can love save us from ourselves?

Birdie’s keeping it together; of course she is. So she’s a little hungover sometimes, and she has to bring her daughter, Emaleen, to her job waiting tables at an Alaskan roadside lodge, but she’s getting by as a single mother in a tough town. Still, Birdie can remember happier times from her youth, when she was free in the wilds of nature.

Arthur Neilsen, a soft-spoken and scarred recluse who appears in town only at the change of seasons, brings Emaleen back to safety when she gets lost in the woods. Most people avoid him, but to Birdie he represents everything she’s ever longed for. She finds herself falling for Arthur and the land he knows so well. Against the warnings of those who care about them, Birdie and Emaleen move to his isolated cabin in the mountains on the far side of the Wolverine River.

It’s just the three of them in the vast black woods, far from roads, telephones, electricity, and outside contact, but Birdie believes she has come prepared. At first, it’s idyllic, but soon Birdie discovers that Arthur is something much more mysterious and dangerous than she could have imagined, and that like the Alaska wilderness, a fairy tale can be as dark as it is beautiful.

77. The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan

listened on Libby

384 pgs.

2024
Adult Mystery
Finished 11/1/2024
Goodreads rating: 3.60
My rating: 4.25 
Setting: southern Maine coast community

My comments:   Ending seemed incomplete.  Loved all the historical facts that some readers considered "preachy." Took place in southern Maine with lots of social/feminist thinking.

Goodreads synopsis:  A novel of family, secrets, ghosts, and homecoming set on the seaside cliffs of Maine, by the New York Times best-selling author of Friends and Strangers.

On a secluded bluff overlooking the ocean sits a Victorian house, lavender with gingerbread trim, a home that contains a century’s worth of secrets. By the time Jane Flanagan discovers the house as a teenager, it has long been abandoned. The place is an irresistible mystery to Jane. There are still clothes in the closets, marbles rolling across the floors, and dishes in the cupboards, even though no one has set foot there in decades. The house becomes a hideaway for Jane, a place to escape her volatile mother.

Twenty years later, now a Harvard archivist, she returns home to Maine following a terrible mistake that threatens both her career and her marriage. Jane is horrified to find the Victorian is now barely recognizable. The new owner, Genevieve, a summer person from Beacon Hill, has gutted it, transforming the house into a glossy white monstrosity straight out of a shelter magazine. Strangely, Genevieve is convinced that the house is haunted—perhaps the product of something troubling Genevieve herself has done. She hires Jane to research the history of the place and the women who lived there. The story Jane uncovers—of lovers lost at sea, romantic longing, shattering loss, artistic awakening, historical artifacts stolen and sold, and the long shadow of colonialism—is even older than Maine itself.

Enthralling, richly imagined, filled with psychic mediums and charlatans, spirits and past lives, mothers, marriage, and the legacy of alcoholism, this is a deeply moving novel about the land we inhabit, the women who came before us, and the ways in which none of us will ever truly leave this earth.

68. The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

listened on Libby

336 pgs.

2023
Adult Magical Realism/Fantasy
Finished 7/30/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.20
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Upper East Side of NYC

My comments: A girl who now lives in her beloved aunt's apartment on the upper east side of NYC, one day walks into it and discovers that she's gone back in time exactly seven years...and meets the young man who lived there seven years ago.  Very interesting, keeps your attention.

Goodreads synopsis:  Nominee for Readers' Favorite Romance (2023)

An overworked book publicist with a perfectly planned future hits a snag when she falls in love with her temporary roommate…only to discover he lives seven years in the past, in this witty and wise new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Dead Romantics.

Sometimes, the worst day of your life happens, and you have to figure out how to live after it.

So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone—she isn’t sure her heart can take it.

And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt’s apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would’ve fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again.

Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in his future.

Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she’ll be doomed.

After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.

57. City Under One Roof by Iris Yamashita

# 1 Cara Kennedy

listened on Libby
304 pgs.

2023
Adult mystery
Finished 6/19/2024
Goodreads rating: 3.54
My rating: 3
Setting: Contemporary Alaska, winter

My comments: There were some elements of this story that drove me crazy, but the general premise AND the three voices you hear work quite well.  There's something about an entire town living in one huge building in Alaska that strikes a cord.  One of my problems is that only a handful of people were mentioned, and the idea of hundreds of people living here all together doesn't come together at all in my brain.  Our protagonist is hugely claustrophobic, so of course there are lots of scenes where this comes into account for her.  Too many.  I loved the way the three voices all intertwined, one being that of a young woman with some sort of mental disorder (schizophrenia?) - I loved being in her head and hearing what she was thinking.  The story ends with unanswered questions about Cara's past, so I definitely get the feeling there will be another book about her on the way!

Goodreads synopsis:  A stranded detective tries to solve a murder in a tiny Alaskan town where everyone lives in a single high-rise building, in this gripping debut by an Academy Award–nominated screenwriter.

When a local teenager discovers a severed hand and foot washed up on the shore of the small town of Point Mettier, Alaska, Cara Kennedy is on the case. A detective from Anchorage, she has her own motives for investigating the possible murder in this isolated place, which can be accessed only by a tunnel.

After a blizzard causes the tunnel to close indefinitely, Cara is stuck among the odd and suspicious residents of the town—all 205 of whom live in the same high-rise building and are as icy as the weather. Cara teams up with Point Mettier police officer Joe Barkowski, but before long the investigation is upended by fearsome gang members from a nearby native village.

Haunted by her past, Cara soon discovers that everyone in this town has something to hide. Will she be able to unravel their secrets before she unravels?"

56. Harry's Trees by Jon Cohen

listened on Libby
432pgs.

2018
Adult CRF with a touch of magical realism
Finished 6/18/24
Goodreads rating: 4.19
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary northeastern PA, in the "Endless Woods"

My comments: Beautiful writing, clever story, wonderful characters, and a rich setting in the woods. This is definitely a favorite!

Goodreads synopsis:  The first thing you learn when you climb a tree is to hold on. Now it’s time for Harry to learn to let go…

Thirty-four-year-old Harry Crane, lifelong lover of trees, works as an analyst in a treeless US Forest Service office. When his wife dies in a freak accident, devastated, he makes his way to the remote woods of northeastern Pennsylvania’s Endless Mountains, intent on losing himself. But fate intervenes in the form of a fiercely determined young girl named Oriana. She, too, has lost someone—her father. And in the magical, willful world of her reckoning, Oriana believes that Harry is the key to finding her way back to him.

As Harry agrees to help the young girl, the unlikeliest of elements—a tree house, a Wolf, a small-town librarian and a book called The Grum’s Ledger—come together to create the biggest sensation ever to descend upon the Endless Mountains…a golden adventure that will fulfill Oriana’s wildest dreams and open the door to a new life for Harry.

I couldn't remember the title of one of my favorite books and realized I'd probably not entered it onto the blog.  So I queried GEMINI and this is what I got....YAY! It's the right book!

The book you are thinking of is "Harry's Trees" by Jon Cohen, published in 2018.

It fits your description perfectly and is a wonderful "slump-buster" because it blends the grit of a life-changing tragedy with a sense of wonder.

Why this is your book:

• The Lead: Harry Crane is a 34-year-old analyst for the US Forest Service (the "forestry job") who suffers a devastating personal loss.

• The Setting: He flees to the Endless Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania to live in the woods.

• The Treehouse: He ends up living in a luxurious, multi-story treehouse on the property of a woman named Amanda.

• The Daughter & Fairy Tales: Amanda’s young daughter, Oriana, is obsessed with a book of fairy tales called The Grum’s Ledger. She believes Harry is a magical being sent to help them.

• The Money: After receiving a large legal settlement, Harry begins anonymously giving away money to locals in the nearby town who are in need, often in creative or "magical" ways.

---

Why you’ll love it (based on your tastes):

Even though it has a "magical" undertone, it is firmly a contemporary novel with many of the procedural elements you enjoy. It deals with:

• Grit and Redemption: Similar to Robert Dugoni’s emotional depth.

• Small-Town Secrets: It has that "everyone knows your business" Pennsylvania atmosphere.

• The Forest: Much like Paul Doiron’s work, the Pennsylvania wilderness is a living, breathing character in the story.

It’s a deeply uplifting read, which might be exactly what you need to get your reading momentum back!

47. Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle

listened on Libby
272 pgs. (6:54) Julia Whelan

2024
Adult Romance Magical Realism
Finished 5/23/24
Goodreads rating: 3.71
My rating: 3.75
Setting: Contemporary LA

My comments: About halfway through this book you get a BIG surprise which changes the way you look at everything that has happened so far.  Not very long and quite easy to listen to (thanks Julia Whelan), this story actually gives you a little bit to think about more than many of the romantic fictions I've read recently.  The magical realism part is very slight, and a touch eye-rolling.  I had my ups and downs throughout the reading, but looking back upon it I don't have many complaints.  After the huge surprise in the middle of the book, there aren't many other surprises.....

Goodreads synopsis:  Being single is like playing the lottery. There’s always the chance that with one piece of paper you could win it all.

From the New York Times bestselling author of In Five Years and One Italian Summer comes the romance that will define a generation.

Daphne Bell believes the universe has a plan for her. Every time she meets a new man, she receives a slip of paper with his name and a number on it—the exact amount of time they will be together. The papers told her she’d spend three days with Martin in Paris; five weeks with Noah in San Francisco; and three months with Hugo, her ex-boyfriend turned best friend. Daphne has been receiving the numbered papers for over twenty years, always wondering when there might be one without an expiration. Finally, the night of a blind date at her favorite Los Angeles restaurant, there’s only a name: Jake.

But as Jake and Daphne’s story unfolds, Daphne finds herself doubting the paper’s prediction, and wrestling with what it means to be both committed and truthful. Because Daphne knows things Jake doesn’t, information that—if he found out—would break his heart.

Told with her signature warmth and insight into matters of the heart, Rebecca Serle has finally set her sights on romantic love. The result is a gripping, emotional, passionate, and (yes) heartbreaking novel about what it means to be single, what it means to find love, and ultimately how we define each of them for ourselves. Expiration Dates is the one fans have been waiting for.

37. The Broken Girls by Simone St. James

listened on Libby
336 pgs.

2018
Adult Mystery 
Finished 4/2//2024
Goodreads rating: 4.07
My rating: 4.75
Setting: Two time periods:  1950 & 2014 Vermont

My comments: For some reason, it took me a long while to get into this book.  Maybe every time I started I was too tired to register what was going on because the first few vignettes were different people, different time periods.  And then, with some urging from a friend, I did get into it.  This is a wonderful, solid story with lots of surprises and a touch of magical realism.  A lot of mystery, a lot of sleuthing, and some very interesting characters made for a story that after that hard start I had a hard time putting down!

Goodreads synopsis:  Vermont, 1950. There's a place for the girls whom no one wants--the troublemakers, the illegitimate, the too smart for their own good. It's called Idlewild Hall. And in the small town where it's located, there are rumors that the boarding school is haunted. Four roommates bond over their whispered fears, their budding friendship blossoming--until one of them mysteriously disappears. . . .

Vermont, 2014. As much as she's tried, journalist Fiona Sheridan cannot stop revisiting the events surrounding her older sister's death. Twenty years ago, her body was found lying in the overgrown fields near the ruins of Idlewild Hall. And though her sister's boyfriend was tried and convicted of murder, Fiona can't shake the suspicion that something was never right about the case.

When Fiona discovers that Idlewild Hall is being restored by an anonymous benefactor, she decides to write a story about it. But a shocking discovery during the renovations will link the loss of her sister to secrets that were meant to stay hidden in the past--and a voice that won't be silenced. . . .

28. Lovers at the Museum - a short story by Isabel Allende

listened on Audible
25 pgs.

2024
Adult Magical Realism
Finished 3/29/24
Goodreads rating: 3.45
My rating: 2.5
Setting: contemporary Bilbao

My comments: Very young man and woman were caught in the morning in one of the displays at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, tangled together...she in a wedding gown, he naked...in one of the displays.  Discovered by a jittery cleaner and interrogated by a no-nonsense cop, the couple insisted the museum had not been locked and that they had more-or-less floated through it during their evening of lovemaking/copulation.  A very strange short story.  Perhaps from some sort of dream Allende had recently?

Goodreads synopsis:  From the New York Times bestselling author of The Wind Knows My Name comes a mesmerizing tale of two passionate souls who share one magical night that defies all rational explanation.

Love, be it wild or tender, often defies logic. In fact, at times, the only rationale behind the instant connection of two souls is plain magic.

Bibiña Aranda, runaway bride, wakes up in the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao still wearing her wedding dress, draped in the loving arms of a naked man whose name she doesn’t know. She and the man with no clothes, Indar Zubieta, attempt to explain to the authorities how they got there. It’s a story of love at first sight and experience beyond compare, one that involves a dreamlike journey through the museum.

But the lovers’ transcendent night bears no resemblance to the crude one Detective Larramendi attempts to reconstruct. And no amount of fantastical descriptions can convince the irritated inspector of the truth.

Allende’s dreamy short story has the power to transport readers in any language, leaving them to ponder the wonders of love long after the story’s over.

20. Weyward by Emilia Hart

listened on Libby - borrowed from library

416 pgs.
2023
Adult Historical Fiction/Magical Realism

Finished 3/10/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.10
My rating:/
Setting: Cottage in England during three different time periods:  1619, 1942, contemporary

My comments: LOVE the cover!  Told from the point of view of three women in the Weyward family:  Altha, in 1619, on trial for practicing witchcraft, supposedly using a spell to have a farmer's cows trample him to death.  Violet, in 1942, living a hugely restricted life with her brother, being intimidated by a hateful father.  And then there's Kate in 2019, never leaving her flat because of an abusive, controlling husband, until she finally takes matters into her own hands.  Three really interesting stories of three strong women, bonded by blood and history and the huge touch of magic that connects them with the natural world, the birds, the bees, the bugs, and all growing things.  It was hard to put down and beautifully narrated by three different female voices.

Goodreads synopsis:  I am a Weyward, and wild inside.

2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she begins to suspect that her great aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.

1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer who was stampeded to death by his herd. As a girl, Altha’s mother taught her their magic, a kind not rooted in spell casting but in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But unusual women have always been deemed dangerous, and as the evidence for witchcraft is set out against Altha, she knows it will take all of her powers to maintain her freedom.

1942: As World War II rages, Violet is trapped in her family's grand, crumbling estate. Straitjacketed by societal convention, she longs for the robust education her brother receives––and for her mother, long deceased, who was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W and the word weyward scratched into the baseboard of her bedroom.

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart's Weyward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.

20. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

listened on Libby/borrowed from the library

2022
360 pgs.
Adult Magical Realism
Finished 3/10/23
Goodreads rating: 4.41
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary coastal Washington state

My comments: Okay, I loved this book.  It was different and interesting and although you knew exactly what was coming and how it would end, it was the route that it took to get there that was so fascinating.  A cantankerous 70-year-old woman, an elderly octopus living out his life in captivity, and a 30-year-old young man abandoned by his mother and raised by his aunt are the three main characters.  All unique and wonderful.  Michael Uri read the character of Marcellus, the octopus, perfectly, oh so perfectly!  Sure, a lot of sadness, but brilliantly done ... a perfect title for this story!  Five star setting: small town on the ocean just north of Seattle, WA.  Genre: magical realism?  To be able to hear the thoughts of an octopus would make it that, I think, the rest is definitely realistic fiction.

Goodreads synopsis:  Remarkably Bright Creatures, an exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope, tracing a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus.

After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn't dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors--until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late.

Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.

59. The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler

read first 2/3 on Kindle while laid up with broken elbow at Laura's, finished last 1/3 on audio/Chirp

narrated by Ari Fliakos

Unabridged audio (11:42)
2015
339 pgs.
Adult Magical Realism told in two time periods
Finished 6/2/2021
Goodreads rating: 3.60 - 32,808 ratings
My rating: 3.5
Setting: Contemporary Long Island Sound, New York and "OTR" in the northeast a couple hundred years before

First line/s: "Perched on the bluff's edge, the house in in danger."

My comments: 2/3 read on Kindle 1/3 listened on Chirp.  Narrated really well.  Magical realism?  Historical fiction.  Two time periods - 1790 & present time.  Simon, the contemporary protagonist, is a librarian, brother, and swimmer who can hold his breath for 10 minutes.  The setting, a house on the edge of Long Island Sound, is slipping into the water more and more as the weeks progress until it finally totally disintegrates and slides down the bank into the sea.  There's lots and lots of water in this book.  Mermaids swimming in see-through tanks. Floods.  Downpours so bad that water seeps into houses, ruins books, pages ... lives.  Families that combine and twist and become confusingly and elaborately pulled together - to the very end.  My favorite character was the tentacle-tattooed young man who is full of electricity, lighting lightbulbs with his fingers in the traveling circus sideshow.  I particularly enjoyed listening to the narration, it has enhanced the writing for me.  At the end of the audio is a short interview with the author that is quite interesting.  Very difficult for me to rate, But I definitely liked most of it.

Goodreads synopsis:  A sweeping and captivating debut novel about a young librarian who is sent a mysterious old book, inscribed with his grandmother's name. What is the book's connection to his family?

          Simon Watson, a young librarian, lives alone on the Long Island Sound in his family home, a house perched on the edge of a cliff that is slowly crumbling into the sea. His parents are long dead, his mother having drowned in the water his house overlooks.
          One day, Simon receives a mysterious book from an antiquarian bookseller; it has been sent to him because it is inscribed with the name Verona Bonn, Simon's grandmother. Simon must unlock the mysteries of the book, and decode his family history, before fate deals its next deadly hand.
          The Book of Speculation is Erika Swyler's gorgeous and moving debut, a wondrous novel about the power of books, family, and magic.

7. Places No One Knows by Brenna Yovanoff

Listened to Audio Book//Chirp
narrated  by Karissa Vacker and Jesse Bernstein (whose voice didn't quite match the character, methinks)
Unabridged audio (10:10)
2016 Delacorte Press
373 pgs.
YA Contemporary Magical Realistic Fiction
Finished 1/12/2020
Goodreads rating: 3.75 - 2728 ratings
My rating: 3.5
Setting: Contemporary America

First line/s:  "There's something awful about the sun."

My comments:The story captivated me right from the beginning, a brand of magical realism that had only just a touch of the magical, but unfortunately there was one drawback.  Of the two protagonists, I could not understand one of them at all.  I tried, but every time I thought I'd figured her out, I was wrong.  Perhaps I've never know anyone like her.  I "got" Marshall, and I'm glad that (of course) they got together in the end (don't they always?), but I'm not sure she deserved him!  Perhaps it was just a little too deep for me?  Or perhaps I was trying too hard to figure her out?

Goodreads synopsis:  For fans of Lauren Oliver and E. Lockhart, here is a dreamy love story set in the dark halls of contemporary high school, from New York Times bestselling author Brenna Yovanoff.
           Waverly Camdenmar spends her nights running until she can’t even think. Then the sun comes up, life goes on, and Waverly goes back to her perfectly hateful best friend, her perfectly dull classes, and the tiny, nagging suspicion that there’s more to life than student council and GPAs.
          Marshall Holt is a loser. He drinks on school nights and gets stoned in the park. He is at risk of not graduating, he does not care, he is no one. He is not even close to being in Waverly’s world.
          But then one night Waverly falls asleep and dreams herself into Marshall’s bedroom—and when the sun comes up, nothing in her life can ever be the same. In Waverly’s dreams, the rules have changed. But in her days, she’ll have to decide if it’s worth losing everything for a boy who barely exists.

72. The Poet's Dog by Patricia MacLachlan

Library Book
2016, Katherine Tegen Books
96 pgs.
Middle Grades CRF w/a touch of magical fantasy
Finished 12/22/16
Goodreads rating: 4/03 - 740 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting:   Contemporary winter, somewhere in the USA where it snows

First line/s:  "I found the boy at dusk.  The blizzard was fierce, and it would soon be dark."

My comments:  A very sweet, gentle story, told as though a dog could really and truly converse with humans; humans who love poetry and dogs.

Goodreads synopsis:  From Newbery Medal winner Patricia MacLachlan comes a poignant story about two children, a poet, and a dog and how they help one another survive loss and recapture love. "Just what I needed," raves Brightly.com. "It's a heart-warming story of loss and love that filled me with hope for a better future and renewed my belief in good."
          Teddy is a gifted dog. Raised in a cabin by a poet named Sylvan, he grew up listening to sonnets read aloud and the comforting clicking of a keyboard. Although Teddy understands words, Sylvan always told him there are only two kinds of people in the world who can hear Teddy speak: poets and children.
          Then one day Teddy learns that Sylvan was right. When Teddy finds Nickel and Flora trapped in a snowstorm, he tells them that he will bring them home—and they understand him. The children are afraid of the howling wind, but not of Teddy’s words. They follow him to a cabin in the woods, where the dog used to live with Sylvan . . . only now his owner is gone.
          As they hole up in the cabin for shelter, Teddy is flooded with memories of Sylvan. What will Teddy do when his new friends go home? Can they help one another find what they have lost?

39. The Water Castle by Megan Frazer Blakemore

Library book
2013 Walker Children's
344 pgs.
Middle Grade Magical Realism
Finished 7/10/16
Goodreads rating: 3.82 - 2431 ratings
My rating:  3.54
Setting: contemporary Maine

My comments:  I unfortunately didn't write any reflection or comment when I read the book, 8 mos. ago....all I can remember is a faint disatisfaction, that it hadn't quite lived up to my expectations for it.  The Maine setting wasn't MAINE enough.....

Goodreads synopsis:  Ephraim Appledore-Smith is an ordinary boy, and up until his father’s stroke he lived an ordinary life. But all that changes when his family moves to the Water Castle—their ancestral home in the small town of Crystal Springs. Mallory Green’s family has always been the caretakers of the Water Castle—and the guardians of the legendary Fountain of Youth, hidden on the estate grounds. Will Wylie’s family has been at war with the Applegates for generations, all because of the Water Castle’s powerful secrets. When Ephraim learns of the Fountain, he’s sure finding it can cure his dad. With Mallory and Will’s help, he embarks on a quest that will blur the lines of magic and science, creativity and discovery, leaving readers left to wonder: Do you believe in the unbelievable?

25. The White Giraffe - Lauren St. John

audio read by Adjoa Ankoh
4 unabridged cds (4:47)
2006/ 2007 Random House audio
180 pgs.
Goodreads rating: 3.97
My rating: 2/It was okay
For: kids
Genre: Magical realism
Setting: contemporary South Africa

My comments:   I was hoping to read this aloud to my class, but it starts a little too brutally for my 4th graders (within the first few pages a raging house fire kills the protagonist's parents).  Pretty harsh.  Then, when Martine's whisked off to south Africa to live with the grandmother she never knew existed (?? - give me a break), that grandmother treats her quite harshly.  And later we're expected to believe that this woman loves this young girl?  Martine is really quite sneaky and is given free reign of the jungle?  Then, to top it all off, "magical reality" raises its eerie head, making the white giraffe - and its peculiar relationship with Martine - magical.  Just didn't do it for me, and won't for a lot of kids, but probably some will just love it.  I'll have it available during my Africa unit, but won't be reading it aloud.

Goodreads summary:  When Martine’s home in England burns down, killing her parents, she must go to South Africa to live on a wildlife game preserve, called Sawubona, with the grandmother she didn’t know she had. Almost as soon as she arrives, Martine hears stories about a white giraffe living in the preserve. But her grandmother and others working at Sawubona insist that the giraffe is just a myth. Martine is not so sure, until one stormy night when she looks out her window and locks eyes with Jemmy, a young silvery-white giraffe. Why is everyone keeping Jemmy’s existence a secret? Does it have anything to do with the rash of poaching going on at Sawubona? Martine needs all of the courage and smarts she has, not to mention a little African magic, to find out. First-time children’s author Lauren St. John brings us deep into the African world, where myths become reality and a young girl with a healing gift has the power to save her home and her one true friend.