46. Starfish by Lisa Fipps

read the BOOK

2021

244 pgs.
Middle Grade CRF in Verse
Finished 5/5/2021
Goodreads rating: 4.56 - 1954 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting: contemporary Texas

First line/s:  "I step down into the pool.

The water is bathwater warm

but feels cool

compared to the blistering hot air.

Kick.  Gliiiiiiide.

Stroke.  Gliiiiiiide.

Side to side

and back again.

Dive under the surface.

Soar to the top.

Arch my back.

Flip. Flop.

As soon as I slip into the pool,

I am weightless.

Limitless.

For just a while."

My comments: The book is written in verse, beautiful verse, so it reads fast.  It tugs on the heart.  Ellie is an extremely large young girl, and has been bullied for being fat for as long as she can remember.  She is bullied horribly at school, but she is bullied even more horrendously at home by her mother and older brother.  Her father does the best he can to make her feel better, but it's not until he takes her for weekly visits to a therapist that she stops blaming herself and figures out how to stand up for herself.  She's a swimmer, and, luckily, has a pool and lives in Texas so she can swim every day.  I got so mad in places while reading this book ... do people really say super insulting things to peers, to strangers, to people that they see on the bus or in a restaurant?  Definitely a book to be read by middle schoolers and even better, to be used as a whole class book or read aloud.

Goodreads synopsis:  Ellie is tired of being fat-shamed and does something about it in this poignant debut novel-in-verse.

          Ever since Ellie wore a whale swimsuit and made a big splash at her fifth birthday party, she’s been bullied about her weight. To cope, she tries to live by the Fat Girl Rules–like “no making waves,” “avoid eating in public,” and “don’t move so fast that your body jiggles.” And she’s found her safe space–her swimming pool–where she feels weightless in a fat-obsessed world. In the water, she can stretch herself out like a starfish and take up all the room she wants. It’s also where she can get away from her pushy mom, who thinks criticizing Ellie’s weight will motivate her to diet. Fortunately, Ellie has allies in her dad, her therapist, and her new neighbor, Catalina, who loves Ellie for who she is. With this support buoying her, Ellie might finally be able to cast aside the Fat Girl Rules and starfish in real life–by unapologetically being her own fabulous self.

Picture Book - Little Doctor and the Fearless Beast by Sophie Gilmore

Illustrated by the author

2019 Owlkid Books/Canada

Hardcover $17.95

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 3.93 - 180 ratings 

My rating:  4
Endpapers: Solid jungle green

1^st line/s: " There once lived a child the crocodiles called Little Doctor." 

My comments:  The title should be Fearless Little Doctor and the Beast!  A brave little gril doctor gently cares for all the crocodiles in the (lush) jungle, until a huge croc comes to her and she can't discover what's wrong with him.  With great ingenuity she finally figures out how to get him to open his huge jase - and discovers the crux of the problem.  No words are used to explain the problem, only that inside the open jaws are baby crocs, all wrapped up in plastic six-pack rings.  Subtle message, love it.  Must use to talk about correct recycling of plastics, as well as beautiful illustrations!

Goodreads: Crocodiles come from far and wide to seek Little Doctor's care. She treats each one with skill and kindness--even the toughest crocs with thick skins and large, powerful jaws. Little Doctor marvels at these fearless beasts, listening to their stories, while she diagnoses and cures what ails them. But when she meets Big Mean, the largest crocodile in the land with jaws clamped tightly shut, Little Doctor can't figure out what's wrong. And she might be just a little bit afraid.
          When one creative idea lands Little Doctor right inside Big Mean's tremendous jaws, she is sure she'll be munched or crunched--until she sees that Big Mean isn't so horrible, after all. As it turns out, the crocodile is only protecting her hatchlings, all tangled in plastic, inside her mouth.
          Watercolor illustrations create a richly imagined world in this awe-inspiring story about how even little kids can be fearless, and even big, mean creatures sometimes need help.

PICTURE BOOK BIOGRAPHY - Her Fearless Run by Kim Chaffee

Kathrine Switzer''s Historic Boston Marathon
Illustrated by Ellen Rooney

2019, Page Street Kids, Salem, MA

HC $17/99

40 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.57 - 130 ratings

My rating:  5
Endpapers:  Eggplant

1^st line/s:   ""Pat, pat, pat.  The summer sun beat down on twelve-year-old Kathrine.  She held out her piece of chalk and marked the tree as she ran past again.  Two laps to go."

My comments:  Another picture book biography winner!  As a young woman in 1967, Kathrine Switzer was the first female to run the Boston Marathon. Not only is this an inspiring book for girls of today, but eye-opening for adults that it wasn't so long ago that women were being denied such basic opportunities.

Goodreads:  Kathrine Switzer changed the world of running. This narrative biography follows Kathrine from running laps as a girl in her backyard to becoming the first woman to run the Boston Marathon with official race numbers in 1967.

21. Outcast by Adrienne Kress

read on my iPhone
2013 Diversion Books
322 pgs.
YA Contemporary Dystopia
Finished 3/2/18
Goodreads rating:  3.61 - 2012 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting: Contemporary Louisiana

First line/s:   "They com out of the sky and take you.  Everyone knows that."

My comments:  I like fantasy, but I've never much been into fantasy about angels and all their relations...and I didn't realize how deeply it would go into all of that until the last quarter or so of the book. But I enjoyed the rest of the book, and even shed a tear at the end, which I don't usually do. Another reviewer mentioned they thought the book moved slowly, but it didn't at all for me. I really enjoyed the protagonist/heroine, too. Recommended.

Goodreads synopsis: After six years of “angels” coming out of the sky and taking people from her town, 16-year-old Riley Carver has just about had it living with the constant fear. When one decides to terrorize her in her own backyard, it’s the final straw. She takes her mother’s shotgun and shoots the thing. So it’s dead. Or … not? In place of the creature she shot, is a guy. A really hot guy. A really hot alive and breathing guy. Oh, and he’s totally naked.
          Not sure what to do, she drags his unconscious body to the tool shed and ties him up. After all, he’s an angel and they have tricks. When he regains consciousness she’s all set to interrogate him about why the angels come to her town, and how to get back her best friend (and almost boyfriend) Chris, who was taken the year before. But it turns out the naked guy in her shed is just as confused about everything as she is. 
          He thinks it’s 1956.
          Set in the deep south, OUTCAST is a story of love, trust, and coming of age. It’s also a story about the supernatural, a girl with a strange sense of humor who’s got wicked aim, a greaser from the 50’s, and an army of misfits coming together for one purpose: To kick some serious angel ass.

51. Outage by Ellisa Barr

Powerless Nation #1
read on my iPhone
2014 Parker Heritage Press
218 pgs.
YA CRF/Dystopia
Finished
Goodreads rating:  3.81 - 458 ratings
My rating: 3.5
Setting: contemporary rural Washington state

First line/s:  "Dee sat outside the farmhouse and peeled slivers of paint from the old porch swing."

My comments:  A survival story, and a believable one, for the most part. Definitely entertaining, I felt like I was watching this story. Not necessarily living it like other stories, but intensely observing. The only character you really get to know is the protagonist, Dee, because you get inside her head. Near the beginning you discover that one of the characters is part of a Mormon family, but to my relief and delight the book never gets preachy or religious. I've watched enough of the new tv shows about post-apocalyptic survival, so there was nothing particularly surprising happening, but the descriptions and panic and planning and problem-solving kept me interest from beginning to end.  

Goodreads synopsis: When fifteen-year-old Dee is left at her grandpa's farm in rural Washington, she thinks life is over. She may be right.
          A high-tech electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) attack destroys the country's power and communication grids, and sends the U.S. hurtling back to the Dark Ages. Can Dee learn to survive without the basics: electricity, clean water... even her cell phone?
          The chaos caused by the EMP isn't her only problem. A sinister plot by a corrupt official threatens Dee and all she holds dear. She will have to fight if she wants to survive in this hostile new world.
          Written for all fans who love apocalypse stories, Outage is a Young Adult novel of survival with a hint of romance and a lot of action-adventure.

45. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Throne of Glass #1
read/listened to on Audible
2012 Bloomsbury USA Children
404 pgs.
YA Fantasy
Finished 8-4-17
Goodreads rating:  4.24 - 327,825
My rating:  3.5

First line/s:  "After a year of slavery in the Salt Mines of Endovear, Celaena Sardothien was accustomed to being escorted everywhere in shackles and at sword-point."

My comments:  3.5. I couldn't stand the protagonist and that makes enjoying a book a little tough. Celaena was pretty impressed with herself, to the point of cockiness. Granted, she did always come out on top - which was a bummer, in a way. Always? Seriously.
          I liked many of the other characters and see great possibilities for the future, although other than Celaena, the bad guys were very, very bad and the good guys were very good. I suppose that happens in a lot of fantasies when you have the good guys versus the bad guys, but this seemed a little overwhelming. I'm looking forward to more magic, more word symbols, and Dorian growing a little more spine - AND I'm sure we're going to discover that Celaena has hidden roots...

Goodreads synopsis: After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.
          Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for four years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilarating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her ... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.
          Then one of the other contestants turns up dead ... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

39. Age of Order by Julian North

read on my iPhone (also won a copy from Goodreads, which I donated to Bosler Library)
2017, Plebeian Media
Kirkus Review
339 pgs.
YA/ Dystopia/Fantasy
Finished 7/9/2017
Goodreads rating: 4.14 - 211 ratings
My rating: 3.5
Setting:  Future Bronx & Manhattan, USA

First line/s:  "A gunshot pierced the night."

My comments:  3.5  One of the things I like best about this novel was the way that the author withheld information from the reader - things the protagonist/s knew of or discovered, without disclosing them immediately to the reader.  They would get in a bind and - voila! - things they'd put into place unbeknownst to you would happen.  I loved it!  As for the rest of the book and its premise, I can imagine this sort of future happening, a terrifying thought.  There was a lot of technical talk, both of presently-know technologies and futuristic technologies that went right over my head.  I didn't want to think about them too much, so I didn't.  Between the dystopian aspects and the "magical" aspects of Daniela and Andrew's reality, I can see why many young adults would love this book.  Great that the main protagonist was Hispanic.  And the underdog definitely wins!

Goodreads synopsis:  What if the people who thought they were better than you… really were?
         In this world, inequality is a science. Giant machines maintain order. And all people are not created equal.
          Daniela Machado is offered a chance to escape the deprivation of Bronx City through a coveted slot at the elite Tuck school. There, among the highborn of Manhattan, she discovers an unimaginable world of splendor and greed. But her opportunity is part of a darker plan, and Daniela soon learns that those at society’s apex will stop at nothing to keep power for themselves. She may have a chance to change the world, if it doesn’t change her first.
          Age of Order is a novel explores the meaning of merit and inequality. Fans of the Red Queen, Divergent and Red Rising will enjoy this world of secrets and deadly intrigue, where the downtrodden must fight for a better future.

3. Piper Green and the Fairy Tree by Ellen Potter

Illustrated by Qin Leng
Although this sounds like a fantasy, it is NOT!
Library book
2015, Alfred A. Knopf
95 pgs.
First chapter books, CRF
Finished 1-9-16, read at work during down time
Goodreads rating: 4.13 - 359 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary Island off the coast of Maine

First line/s:  "There are two things you should know about Peek-a-Boo Island:  1.  All the kids on the island ride a lobster boat to school.
2.  There is a Fairy Tree in my front yard."

My comments:  Piper Green is in 2nd grade, her younger brother Leo is married to a piece of paper named Michelle and has sticky-note kids, and her older brother Erik, now in high school, spends his week on the mainland to go to high school.  They live on a small island off Camden, Maine, and dad is a lobster fisherman.  The kids ride a lobster boat to a nearby island to school  Piper has a mind of her own...and the story is sweet and quite delightful.

Goodreads synopsis:  From award-winning author Ellen Potter comes a charming new chapter book series where kids, lobster boats, and a hint of magic are part of everyday life.
      There are three things you should know about Piper Green:
1. She always says what’s on her mind (even when she probably shouldn’t).
2. She rides a lobster boat to school.
3. There is a Fairy Tree in her front yard.
      Life on an island in Maine is always interesting. But when a new teacher starts at Piper’s school—and doesn’t appreciate the special, um, accessory that Piper has decided to wear—there may be trouble on the horizon. Then Piper discovers the Fairy Tree in her front yard. Is the Fairy Tree really magic? And can it fix Piper’s problems?

18. Glass Sword - Victoria Aveyard

Red Queen #2
Library Book
2016 Harper Teen
444 pgs.
YA Fantasy
Finished March 13, 2016
Goodreads rating: 4.11
My rating: 4

First line/s:  "I flinch.  The rag she gives me is clean, but it still smells of blood.  I shouldn't care.  I already have blood all over my clothes.  The red in mine, of course.  The silver belongs to many others."

My comments:  Well.  I couldn't believe how unhappy with this book I was at the beginning.  Just couldn't get into it.  Went back and started over, tried again.  Once I got through the first quarter or so, I was more into it, and by the last quarter couldn't put it down.  I think what might have "gotten" me was that, unlike a lot of sequels, Aveyard wrote it to read as if there were no huge gap (of the reader's time) between books one and two.  To enjoy what was going on you had to have perfect recall of every happenstance and character from the first book....and I didn't.  It had been too long. No hints or reminders as to who or what some of the mentioned people were.  SOOOOOOOOOOO - NOTE TO SELF - when the next title appears way down the road, read the last third or quarter of this book as a refresher immediately before reading the new.  (I also wasn't that crazy about the setting, some of the characters, and what went on in the first hundred or so pages! Not sure why.....)

Goodreads synopsis:  Mare Barrow’s blood is red—the color of common folk—but her Silver ability, the power to control lightning, has turned her into a weapon that the royal court tries to control. 
          The crown calls her an impossibility, a fake, but as she makes her escape from Maven, the prince—the friend—who betrayed her, Mare uncovers something startling: she is not the only one of her kind.
          Pursued by Maven, now a vindictive king, Mare sets out to find and recruit other Red-and-Silver fighters to join in the struggle against her oppressors. 
          But Mare finds herself on a deadly path, at risk of becoming exactly the kind of monster she is trying to defeat. 
          Will she shatter under the weight of the lives that are the cost of rebellion? Or have treachery and betrayal hardened her forever?
          The electrifying next installment in the Red Queen series escalates the struggle between the growing rebel army and the blood-segregated world they’ve always known—and pits Mare against the darkness that has grown in her soul.

60. Court of Fives - Kate Elliott

#1 Court of Fives
Actually read the just-out, hard-covered book!
2015, Little Brown & Co.
432 pgs.
YA Fantasy/Dystopia
Finished 9/22/15
Goodreads rating:  3.66
My rating:  5/Loved it

First line/s: We four sisters are sitting in the courtyard at dusk in what passes for peace in our house.  Well-brought-up girls do not fidget nor fume nor ever betray the least impatience or boredom.  But it is so hard to sit still when all I can think about is how I am going to sneak out of the house tomorrow to do the thing my father would never, ever give me permission to do.

My comments:  This is a story of class and rank and color, taking place in a world woven by the imagination of Kate Elliott. It's a story of five women - four sisters and their mother, who have had very few choices in their lives, but seem to have cleverly stayed on the shaky path they each have been able to make for themself. Of course those paths are fraught with disconcerting "uh-ohs" at every turn, but the choices they are able to make actually win out - or come close.  They all have an unsteady place in the society woven in this book, and as things go from okay to bad to worse, the story flies along unceasingly. Fast.  Gritty.  I really, really enjoyed it and couldn't put it down.  Sure, some of it was not-quite believable, but I didn't care.  Jessamy, the protagonist, is a winner - and I don't mean in just the court of fives!
          I've read some negative reviews about this book. To each her own taste. I truly enjoyed it, every awkward, eye-rolling happening!
     (I wonder if the next in the series is going to be from the missing-for-most-of-this-book Bettany's point of view?)

From the copyright page:  When a scheming lord tears Jes's family apart, she must rely on her unlikely friendship with Kal, a high-ranking Patron boy, and her skill at Fives, an intricate, multi-level athletic competition that offers a chance for glory, to protect her Commoner mother and mixed-race sisters and save her father's reputation.

Goodreads Summary:
On the Fives court, everyone is equal.

And everyone is dangerous.

Jessamy’s life is a balance between acting like an upper-class Patron and dreaming of the freedom of the Commoners. But away from her family, she can be whomever she wants when she sneaks out to train for the Fives, an intricate, multilevel athletic competition that offers a chance for glory to the kingdom’s best competitors.
     Then Jes meets Kalliarkos, and an improbable friendship between the two Fives competitors—one of mixed race and the other a Patron boy—causes heads to turn. When Kal’s powerful, scheming uncle tears Jes’s family apart, she’ll have to test her new friend’s loyalty and risk the vengeance of a royal clan to save her mother and sisters from certain death.
     In this imaginative escape into an enthralling new world, World Fantasy Award finalist Kate Elliott’s first young adult novel weaves an epic story of a girl struggling to do what she loves in a society suffocated by rules of class and privilege.

MOVIE - Divergent

PG-13 (2:20)

Wide Release 3/21/2014

Viewed Saturday afternoon 3/29/2014 at El Con

RT Critic: 40 Audience: 79

Cag: 3 Equaled expectations and was fun to watch

Directed by Neil Burger

Lionsgate Films/Summit

Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet, Ashley Judd, TonyGoldwyn, Miles Teller

My comments:  Well, I was particularly impressed with the casting of the movie - the two leads did a great job (Shailene Woodley, playing Tris, knocked it out of the park and Theo James is so intense - and gorgeous).  The addition of Miles Teller as Peter was particularly well-cast, as was Tris' father (hello, Mr. President!)  The only ones that didn't do it for me were Christina and Will, those didn't work for me at all.  The storyline followed the book pretty well, but it doesn't really bother me when things are left out....they can't include all the idiosyncrasies and nuances that you get from a book.  It was very entertaining and fun to watch, I was completely absorbed.

Rotten Tomatoes Review:  DIVERGENT is a thrilling action-adventure film set in a world where people are divided into distinct factions based on human virtues. Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley) is warned she is Divergent and will never fit into any one group. When she discovers a conspiracy by a faction leader (Kate Winslet) to destroy all Divergents, Tris must learn to trust in the mysterious Four (Theo James) and together they must find out what makes being Divergent so dangerous before it's too late. Based on thebest-selling book series by Veronica Roth.

12. Insurgent - Veronica Roth

Divergent #2

2012 Katherine Tegen Books - Harper Collins

525 pgs.

YA Dystopian Fantasy

Finished 2/27/2014

Goodreads Rating: 4.24

My Rating: 4-Loved it

TPPL

1^st sentence/s:  "I wake with his name in my mouth.  Will.  Before I open my eyes, I watch him crumble to the pavement again.  Dead.  My doing.

My comments:  It took me almost three weeks to read this, but I had a lot going on and looked forward to every time I could sit down with it. The biggest problem was there were a LOT of characters from the first book that I didn't really remember and they were treated as if I really should know who they were. It sure does leave you hanging, waiting for the next installment.....

Goodreads Review:  One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

38. The Silver Star - Jeannette Walls

audio read by the author (it was okay, but I've heard better, no offense Ms. Walls)

2013, Simon & Schuster Audio

7 unabridged cds

288 pgs.

Written for adults, but I think it's almost more YA

Finished 9/9/2013

Genre: HistFiction (1970 America-smalll town CA, but mostly rural VA)

Goodreads Rating: 3.64

My Rating: Liked it (3) 

TPPL

My comments:This is my first Jeannette Walls, and I enjoyed the story. Bean, the 6th grade protagonist, was a feisty, gutsy first person narrator. I'm not sure why this is billed as an adult novel, though, I would definitely consider it a young adult novel.  Sure there are some heavy-ish issues, but minor compared to some of the current YAs out there.  I enjoyed the 1970 spin on things (the mother sure seemed bipolar, but that would not have been the terminology in 1970), though other than the integration issues, it had a very contemporary feel (did anyone homeschool...or call it homeschooling...in 1970?)

Goodreads Review: It is 1970 in a small town in California. “Bean” Holladay is twelve and her sister, Liz, is fifteen when their artistic mother, Charlotte, a woman who “found something wrong with every place she ever lived,” takes off to find herself, leaving her girls enough money to last a month or two. When Bean returns from school one day and sees a police car outside the house, she and Liz decide to take the bus to Virginia, where their Uncle Tinsley lives in the decaying mansion that’s been in Charlotte’s family for generations.

An impetuous optimist, Bean soon discovers who her father was, and hears many stories about why their mother left Virginia in the first place. Because money is tight, Liz and Bean start babysitting and doing office work for Jerry Maddox, foreman of the mill in town—a big man who bullies his workers, his tenants, his children, and his wife. Bean adores her whip-smart older sister—inventor of word games, reader of Edgar Allan Poe, nonconformist. But when school starts in the fall, it’s Bean who easily adjusts and makes friends, and Liz who becomes increasingly withdrawn. And then something happens to Liz.

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.

Black Dog - Levi Pinfold

Illustrated by the author

2011 - Templar Books; Candlewick

HC $15.99

24 pages

Goodreads rating: 3.97

My rating: 4.5 (awesome illustrations)

Endpapers same as the cover:

This is a great story about being afraid and being brave - with a touch of cockiness from the littlest girl, and wonderfully humorous illustrations.  This is a great book to use with older kids to talk about what you actually see when your stress level is high....how do you interpret what you see..... The artwork is exactly the type of thing that we talked about at a workshop I went to last week about the messages in what you see, not what you read.  I think this is one to show on the Smart Board in big gorgeous color for everyone to examine while I read it aloud - perfect for fourth grade discussion AND for reading to my 3-year-old grandson!

Goodreads says:  An enormous black dog and a very tiny little girl star in this offbeat tale about confronting one’s fears.  When a huge black dog appears outside the Hope family home, each member of the household sees it and hides. Only Small, the youngest Hope, has the courage to face the black dog, who might not be as frightening as everyone else thinks.

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

6. No Ordinary Day - Deborah Ellis

2011, Groundwork Books, House of Anansi Press
160 pages
Written for middle grades (however a small caution:  although nothing is ever said outright, at one point Valli is almost sold to a house of prostitution, and she also sees boys disappearing with older men, never to return.  It is subtle, but present.  However, it must be a huge part of life on the streets in a city in India...or anywhere in the world.  But would I share it with my fourth graders?  Hmmmm.)
Rating:  Liked it a lot/4

Setting:  Contemporary Kolkata (Calcutta), India
OSS:  A homeless, orphan Indian girl adapts to life in the streets until she meets...and ultimately trusts....a female doctor.
1st sentence:  The best day in my life was the day I found out I was alone in the world.

Deborah Ellis is amazing.  Valli is homeless and all alone in the world.  She lives on the streets of Kolkata (Calcutta) begging, stealing (she calls it borrowing), practical joking, and finding safe places to sleep.  She is afraid of "the monsters" that she occasionally sees, people who have leprosy, little knowing that she has it, too.  Granted, it's in the beginning stages, but.....  She meets a doctor, a female doctor, in a very believable way, a doctor who recognizes this kid as the smart young lady that she is, and teaches her to trust in a way that she's never understood before.  Short, powerful book.  Valli is so believable...smart and funny and full of amazing questions about everything.

Oh....every bit of royalty from this book goes to a leprosy foundation in Canada (Ellis is a Canadian writer).

56. Divergent - Veronica Roth

First in a new series
Katherine Tegen Books (Harper Collins) 2011
HC $17.99
for:  Young Adults
487 pgs.
Rating:  4

First Line/s:  There is one mirror in my house.  It is behind a sliding panel in the hallway upstairs.   Our faction allows me to stand in front of it on the second day of every third month, the day my mother cuts my hair.

Setting: Chicago, somewhere in the future.
OSS:  Beatrice Prior has come to the vital point in every 16-year-old's life, when they must choose one of society's five factions  in which to spend the remainder of their days.

Dauntless (the brave), Candor (the truthful), Abnegation (the selfless), Amity (the peaceful/happy), and the Erudite (the smart).  Beatrice has been born and raised as an Abnegation.  She loves her family - her parents and her brother, Caleb.  But when the time comes to choose the faction in which she best fits, it's more than difficult.  Because if she chooses anything other than Abnegation she will have to leave her family, her home, everything she knows.....forever.

In a story that intertwines a somewhat recognizable dystopia with rethinking the parameters of war and peace, we watch the initiation of Beatrice (who renames herself "Tris") into a new and exciting faction, where she finds new friends, new foes, (a boyfriend, of course), and a life that she could have never imagined.

I read this in one day....staying up late.  Tris is a great character, brave, smart, loving....and really, quite real.  I was quite drawn to her.  You had your stereotypical nasty peers, lots of action and adventure, and the requisite layers of bad guy vs. good guy. It's left so that you know there will be sequels.

Not All Princesses Dress in Pink - Jane Yolen & Heidi E. Y. Stemple

Illustrated by Anne-Sophie Languetin
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2010
ages 3-6
$15.99
32 pages
Endpapers: gold

Written by the prolific Jane Yolen and her daughter, the story is told in rhyming couplets. We see many, many girls - none wearing pink - but all wearing sparkly crowns.

"Some princesses break their nails
planting flowers into pails,
driving dump trucks, moving dirt,
dressed in an extra-large hand-me-down shirt.

......and a sparkly crown."

Bright, full page illustrations with no white and a particularly nice font (called Family Cat). However, I don't care for the cover. Does that scream "pick me up?" Not for me.

I wonder how many books Jane Yolen will write or cowrite in 2010?