PICTURE BOOK - Egg by Kevin Henkes

Illustrated by the author

2017 Greenwillow Books

HC $17.99

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 3.97 - 713 ratings

My rating:  4.5

Endpapers: a simple checkerboard of the four pastel colors of the four eggs...looks very Easter-y

My comments: Oh my goodness, what a sweet book!  I didn't know what the surprise would be (I hadn't read any reviews, which are rich with spoilers) and I was really tickled when I got to it.  Simple, charming illustrations using a limited amount of colors AND words ... describing it as a graphic novel for toddlers is perfect.  Perfect and perfectly charming!

Goodreads:  Egg is a graphic novel for preschoolers about four eggs, one big surprise, and an unlikely friendship.

5. We Were Liars - E. Lockhart

Read on my iPhone

2014 Delacorte Press

228 pgs.

Genre/Audience

Finished 1/11/15

Goodreads rating:  3.89

My rating:  (3) Liked it  

Setting:  A contemporary private island off the coast of Massachusetts, near Martha's Vineyard

1st sentence/s: 
      "Welcome to the beautiful Sinclair family.
        No one is a criminal
        No one is an addict.
        No one is a failure.
        The Sinclairs are athletic, tall, and handsome.  We are old-money Democrats.  Our smiles are wide, our chins square, and our tennis serves aggressive."

My comments:  I honestly don't know exactly how I feel about this book, so for right now, until I mull it over for awhile, I'll stick with the fact that I liked it.  I loved the suspense, I loved that no matter what my guesses were, I was incorrect.  I like the way the story was put together.  I liked that I could understand the Sinclair family enough that I had instant disdain for them.  I didn't hate it...I didn't love it.  It was, however, a darn good (quick) read.

Becky's review from Becky's Book Reviews

Goodreads book summary:  A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.
           We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart. 
          Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

Pssst! - Adam Rex

Harcourt, 2007
$16.00
Rating: 4
Endpapers: zoo map in lt. brown, lt. green & lt. rust
Clever title page - info is incorporated into a NYC subway station illustration

Jacketflap: "What happens when a bunch of animals have been cooped up too long? Pssst! You're about to find out."

A girl goes to the zoo, where animals repeatedly get her attention to ask for something. Every 2-3 pages there's a conversation between her and a different animal. These pages are divided into six boxes with graphic-novel-type conversations taking place.

Their requests are interesting but make sense - the gorilla needs new tires - his tire swing broke. The bats need flashlights - the hippo in their cave can't see. And so on. And she's good...she figures out how to grant all their requests - phew! But, there's a great surprise twist at the end. And you realize that if you'd thought about the jacket flap a little more, you would have guessed something was going to happen!