43. Internment by Samira Ahmed

listened on Audible
read by Soneela Nankani
Unabridged audio (11:17)
2019 Hachette Audio/Little Brown Books for Young Readers
387 pgs.
YA CRF (I cannot call it anything else!)
Finished Sat. May 11, 2019
Goodreads rating:  4.05 - 2128 ratings
My rating: 2
Setting: Contemporary California

First line/s:  "I strain to listen for boots on the pavement.  Stomping.  Marching."

My comments:  Well, I'm going to go against the general flow of raving reviews for this book.  I had many problems with it and I'm not exactly sure how to put my finger on all of them, but I'll try.  However, I do want to say that the premise of this book is spectacular, and very, very timely. 
          I think the author tried, but her writing style and character development didn't work.  And there were so many things included that were hard to believe and so many things not included that needed to be.  (A few possible small spoilers follow.)  Layla's insta-relationship with Jake?  Smuggling her boyfriend in and out of a prison camp - more than once?  NO adults other than an 80-year-old woman with any gumption to say or do anything?  Spending copious time with a prison guard, including in a female prisoner's bedroom, amid cameras and drones and constant surveillance without ever being spotted?  Unfortunately I could go on and on and I haven't even touched on the character development!  Layla's (or the author's) long, drawn out thinking about situations actually work to slow down any action that takes place.  Too much tell, not nearly enough show.  Again, a great premise for a book, but its execution didn't work at all for me. Big sigh.

Goodreads synopsis:  Rebellions are built on hope. 
          Set in a horrifying near-future United States, seventeen-year-old Layla Amin and her parents are forced into an internment camp for Muslim American citizens.
          With the help of newly made friends also trapped within the internment camp, her boyfriend on the outside, and an unexpected alliance, Layla begins a journey to fight for freedom, leading a revolution against the internment camp's Director and his guards.
          Heart-racing and emotional, Internment challenges readers to fight complicit silence that exists in our society today. 

42 Eventown by Corey Ann Haydu

read the book!
2019 Katherine Tegen Books
328 pgs.
Finished May 6, 2019
Goodreads rating:  4.03 - 456 ratings
My rating:  3
Setting: contemporary/dystopian Eventown, USA

First line/s:  "Jenny Horowitz likes horses and the color pink and asking questions about things I don't want to talk about."

My comments:  It's hard to separate my thinking about this book as an adult versus my thinking about it as a kid would.  I pretty much knew what was going on and what was going to happen, but most probably it would be hazier for a nine, ten, or eleven year old.  Like The Giver, this book gives the reader a chance to ponder upon the questions: What would it be like to live in a perfect world?  It was an OK so-so book for me as an adult, but would probably be quite a bit more than that for me as my 10-year-old self.

Goodreads synopsis:  The world tilted for Elodee this year, and now it’s impossible for her to be the same as she was before. Not when her feelings have such a strong grip on her heart. Not when she and her twin sister, Naomi, seem to be drifting apart. So when Elodee’s mom gets a new job in Eventown, moving seems like it might just fix everything.
Indeed, life in Eventown is comforting and exciting all at once. Their kitchen comes with a box of recipes for Elodee to try. Everyone takes the scenic way to school or work—past rows of rosebushes and unexpected waterfalls. On blueberry-picking field trips, every berry is perfectly ripe.
          Sure, there are a few odd rules, and the houses all look exactly alike, but it’s easy enough to explain—until Elodee realizes that there are only three ice cream flavors in Eventown. Ever. And they play only one song in music class.
          Everything may be “even” in Eventown, but is there a price to pay for perfection—and pretending?

Poetry Picture Book - No More Poems! by Rhett Miller

Illustrated by Dan Santat

2019, Megan Tingley Books, Little, Brown & Company

HC $17.99  Bosler Juvenile section

48 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  3.17 - 123 ratings

My rating:  4  

My comments:  There's been some controversy about one of the poems in this collection, "Brotherly Love."  I've got to admit that I think it's a riot, but I love it as an adult.  I do think it's not quite the poem to be included in a book of poetry for kids from 7 to 10, and I'm really surprised that the editor didn't think about all the parents (and teachers) that might potentially be up in arms about a poem that tells some pretty descriptive ways to kill your sibling....smothering with a pillow, dousing with gasoline, drowning by dunking three times...
     All the poems are really funny.  He borrows freely from Shel Silverstein, at least two of his poems are direct knock-offs - which I enjoy a lot.  We all have mentor texts from which we write."The Bathtub's Too Small" is a longer retelling of Silverstein's "Crowded Tub" and "My Homework" is definitely a reworking of Silverstein's "Sick."  Great fun.
     Of the 23 poems, only a couple have a rhythm that doesn't quite work for me.  All in all, they're funny, well-written, clever, and just plain fun!

In Defense of Rhet Miller's No More Poems!  Excellent thoughts...

My Secret Karate

There’s a type of karate I specialize in

I invented it all on my own

No one has witnessed my secret karate

It’s meant to be practiced alone

I stand on my left foot and raise my right leg

Using muscles in abs, thighs and tush

And with just the toe of my special blue sneaker

I make the toilet flush

I toggle the lever or mash down the button

Or lean on the handle just so

That way my fingertip never gets yucky

Thanks to the skills of my toe

Courtesy’s something my mom always taught me

Starting when I was a kid

So using the toe of my special blue sneaker

I lower the seat and the lid

My secret karate is practiced in private

In public bathroom stalls

I don’t mean to brag but my balance is awesome

I never touch the walls

I don’t have a name for my potty karate

I might call it Tae Kwon Doo

Or maybe I’ll say I’m a third degree black belt

In the top secret art of Kung Poo

Goodreads:   Acclaimed singer-songwriter Rhett Miller teams up with Caldecott Medalist and bestselling artist Dan Santat in a riotous collection of irreverent poems for modern families. 
          In the tradition of Shel Silverstein, these poems bring a fresh new twist to the classic dilemmas of childhood as well as a perceptive eye to the foibles of modern family life. Full of clever wordplay and bright visual gags--and toilet humor to spare--these twenty-three rhyming poems make for an ideal read-aloud experience. 
          Taking on the subjects of a bullying baseball coach and annoying little brothers with equally sly humor, renowned lyricist Rhett Miller's clever verses will have the whole family cackling.

41. Maneuver by Chelle Bliss

(Men of Ink: Southside #1)
listened on Audible
read by Erin Mallon and Lance Greenfield
Unabridged audio (5:29)
2018 self published?
Audio only
Adult Romance
Finished 4/30/19
Goodreads rating:  4.13 - 3054 ratings
My rating:  1/Crappy

My comments:  What a ridiculously silly piece of sexy fluff.  There is so much better out there!  Probably the un-believable story I have ever read.  The female reader was abominable, the ending to all of her words were long and drawn out tna just horrible to listen to.  Horrible.

Goodreads synopsis:  This isn’t how fairy tales typically begin, but it’s where mine starts…
     No money, no phone, and abandoned on the streets of Chicago.
     With my baby in my arms, I wander into a bar in a shady neighborhood and ask to use their phone.
     When my father turns us away and completely disowns me, the bar owner, and total hottie, offers us a place to stay…no strings attached.
     I’m leery at first.    

     Hot alpha guy.

     Down on her luck single mother.
     I mean, who wouldn’t be wary?
     Lucio Gallo isn’t like most men, though. He’s fiercely protective, loyal, and did I mention he’s covered in nothing but muscle?
     Above all else, he’s everything I need but never knew I wanted.

39. The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

Listened on Audible
read by Andrew Wincott, Esther Wane, Sarah Feathers, Anjana Vason
Unabridged audio (10:32)
2019 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
352 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished 4/28/19
Goodreads rating: 4.06 - 2669 ratings
My rating:  3.5
Setting: Contemporary England

First line/s: "If you'll permit me, said the Stranger, I'd like to tell you a story."

My comments:  I've read other Eli Griffiths books and greatly enjoyed them...and I enjoyed this one too, just not quite as much.  There were three major voices in the story, and three different voices narrated it, which was nice.  It kept skipping quickly between those voices and would probably have been a little more confusing without the change of speaker.  A fourth voice was that of a deep, old-fashioned British male voice reading the short story, "The Stranger," divided into four or five short parts, which were inserted here and there throughout the book.  Plot points overlapped, they didn't flow - each speaker didn't pick up and continue in the same place that the previous speaker stopped.  This was disconcerting at times.  And I had deep uncertainties about Claire which were difficult to let go - how many mothers would happily let their 15-year-old daughter date a 21-year-old man, no matter how much of a sweetheart he was?  Having this sort of cloud hanging over the head of one of the protagonists was hard to shake.  And even though everything was wrapped up by the end, it seemed as if something was missing.  Hmmmm.  Oh well.  It was in interesting mystery.....

Goodreads synopsis:  From the author of the beloved Ruth Galloway series, a modern gothic mystery for fans of Magpie Murders and The Lake House.
          Clare Cassidy is no stranger to murder. A high school English teacher specializing in the Gothic writer R. M. Holland, she teaches a course on it every year. But when one of Clare’s colleagues and closest friends is found dead, with a line from R. M. Holland’s most famous story, “The Stranger,” left by her body, Clare is horrified to see her life collide with the storylines of her favourite literature. 
          To make matters worse, the police suspect the killer is someone Clare knows. Unsure whom to trust, she turns to her closest confidant, her diary, the only outlet she has for her darkest suspicions and fears about the case. Then one day she notices something odd. Writing that isn't hers, left on the page of an old diary: "Hallo, Clare. You don’t know me." 
          Clare becomes more certain than ever: “The Stranger” has come to terrifying life. But can the ending be rewritten in time?

A Parcel of Poems: An Anthology of Poems Volume II

A Second Anthology of Classroom Favorites
Limited Edition, 4 copies, 2011
self-published
31 poems
Ocotillo Publishing, Tucson AZ

Asch, Frank:  Sunflakes
Baylor, Byrd:  Coyote
Bryan, Ashley:  Song
Curie, Robert:  The Home Place
Dotlich, Rebecca Kai:  Classroom Globe
Farjeon, Eleanor:  A Dragonfly
Field, Rachel:  If Once You Have Slept on an Island
Fletcher, Ralph:  Poetry
Florian, Douglas:  Don't!
Frost, Robert:  The Road Not Taken
Hahn, Mary Lee:  Reading is Breathing
Hindley, Judy:  Green
Hughes, Langston: Dreams
Klein, A. M.:  Orders
Lansky, Bruce: Lost
Livingston, Myra Cohn:  The Night
Mansfield, Katherine: Butterfly Laughter
Nye, Naomi Shihab:  The Traveling Onion
Ozer, Kemal (Turkey): At the Beach
Paul, Ann Whitford: California Missions
Prelutsky, Jack:  Alligators are Unfriendly
Rossetti, Christina:  Who Has Seen the Wind?
Schertle, Alice:  Lizard
Schroc, Priscilla:  Grandmother's Parlor
Shields, Carol Diggory:  The First Americans
Singer, Marilyn:  Desert
Spinelli, Eileen:  When Grandma Comes
Teasdale, Sara:  May Night
The Only Cin: Overload
Thompson, Dorothy Brown:  Maps
Sarah, a fourth grader in PA:  One Class

A Packet of Poems: An Anthology of Poems Volume I

An Anthology of Classroom Favorites
Limited edition, 4 copies, 2005
self-published
29 poems
Ocotillo Publishing, Tucson AZ
Editor (C. Graves), D. Garaventa, F. Howley,

Dickinson, Emily: If I can stop one heart from breaking
Farjeon, Eleanor:  There Isn't Time
Field, Rachel:  Some People
Fisher, Lillian M:  My Desert Home
Frost, Robert:  Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Ghinga, Charles:  Pigs
Giovanni, Nikki:  knoxville, tennessee
Greenfield, Eloise:  Things
Hopkins, Lee Bennett:  The Museum Door
Hubbell, Patricia: On My Island
Hughes, Langston: April Rain Song
Katz, Bobbi: Poems
Kuskin, Karla:  Rules
Lamm, C. Drew:  Watercolor Maine
Lear, Edward:  There Was an Old Man with a Beard
Lee, Dennis:  Muddy Puddle
Lesser, Carolyn: A Walk in the Woods
Livingston, Myra Cohn:  Why?
Merriam, Eve:  How to Eat a Poem
Mora, Pat: This Big Sky
Prelustky, Jack:  Homework!  Oh Homework!
Prelustky, Jack:  My Gerbil Seemed Bedraggled
Richards, Laura E.:  Eletelephony
Sandburg, Carl:  Fog
Shakespeare, William: Sonnet 18
Siebert, Diane: from Mojave
Silverstein, Shel:  Eighteen Flavors
Williams, William Carlos:  This is Just to Say
Zolotow, Charlotte:  People

40. Desert Run by Betty Webb

#4 Lena Jones, Scottsdale, AZ Investigator
read on my iPhone
2006, Poisoned Pen Press
346 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished 4/25/19
Goodreads rating:  3.90 - 332 ratings
My rating: 3.5
Setting:  Contemporary Scottsdale, AZ

First line/s:  "It was a good day to film but a bad day to die."

My comments:  It took me awhile to get into this story, but it grew on me as more and more information about the characters unfolded.  In 1944, 28 German POWs escaped from the American prison camp called Camp Papago in Scottsdale, AZ.  This is the story of the murder of one of those prisoners 60 years later, and the domino effect that had Lena Jones hot on the trail.  It also includes a bit of romance for herself, albeit with a great deal of untrusting on her part, and the loss and near-loss of two friends essential in her life.  Decent storytelling.

Goodreads synopsis:  Things are never easy for Scottsdale private eye Lena Jones. Her partner in Desert Investigations, Jimmy Siswan, is leaving for an upscale wife and a job at Sun Microsystems. Her old Captain at the Scottsdale PD is off home to Brooklyn. She's doing security for Warren Quinn, director of a documentary being shot at Papago Park about the German POW camp and the ""great escape"" of Christmas Eve, 1944, when some prisoners tunneled out and fled. And one surviving escapee, Kapitan zur Zee Erik Ernst, a man in his nineties confined to a wheelchair after a boating accident, has just been murdered. Worse, his Ethiopian care giver begs Lena to clear him.
          Lena, experienced in probing the past for answers to the central mystery of her own life--who is she?--learns that Ernst and two other POWs hid out in the rugged Superstitions. Nearby, on Christmas night, a whole farm family, the Bollingers, was slaughtered. A jury didn't convict the only survivor, the teenage son. What might Chess Bollinger know about Ernst--and vice versa? And how much can Lena trust Quinn, either as a client, a witness, or a lover?

     A complex, stunning case based on real Arizona history, journalist Betty Webb, author of Desert Noir, Desert Wives, and Desert Run, spins an evocative, haunting story.

PICTURE BOOK - The Book With No Pictures by B. J. Novak

Illustrated by NO ONE!  There are not pictures, duh!

2014 Dial Books for Young Readers, Penguin Group

HC $17.99

44 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.35 - 18,099 ratings

My rating:  5

Endpapers:  Silly words in light gray on white

Illustrations:  None!

1^st line/s:  "This is a book with no pictures.  It might seem like no fun to have someone read you a book with no pictures.  It probably seems boring and serious.  Except..."

My comments: This books BEGS, BEGS, BEGS to be read aloud!  What a fun, funny book.  Three cheers!

Goodreads:   A book with no pictures? 
     What could be fun about that?
     After all, if a book has no pictures, there's nothing to look at but the words on the page.
     Words that might make you say silly sounds... In ridiculous voices...
     Hey, what kind of book is this, anyway?
     At once disarmingly simple and ingeniously imaginative, The Book With No Pictures inspires laughter every time it is opened, creating a warm and joyous experience to share--and introducing young children to the powerful idea that the written word can be an unending source of mischief and delight. 

Later-in-April 2019 Postcards Received

1963.  Sunny California

Hello from Sunny California!  I work for the post office here and Postcrossing is like job security :)

Best wishes, Elizabeth

1962.  Mason City, Iowa

Greetings from Mason City, Iowas, in the iddle of the corn belt.  Mason City is the birthplace of Meredith Willson, the composter of "The Music Man" and "The Unsinkable Molly Brown."  Needless to say the community is nuts about music.  I refer to Diet Coke as "My Preciousssss!"  Best wishes from the Priaire, Gary

1959.  Germany

Mary Cassatt (1844-1926)

Young Lady Reading

Hello Chris, I hope you'll like this card.  I like reading on my sofa, too.  Only I wear much more comfortable clothes!  Best wishes, Sabine

1958.  Bremen, Germany

1957.  Greetings from the UNITED KINGDOM

Greetings from England, Chris!  I'm Adam, I'm 24 and i'm currently studying for master's in Latin American Studies  On the 24th I'll go to Brazil to do some research.  Happy (early/belated) Birthday!

1951.  Chatham, Kent, ENGLAND

Pillar to Post (1980-new-style box)

Reproduced from a stamp designed by Silk Pearce, engraved by Czeslaw Slania and issued by Royal Mail on 8 October 2002

Hi, I am a retired high school teacher.  I volunteer once a week to help children with their reading.  That gives me time to indulge my love of travelling.  Julian (who has sent and received over 10,000 postcards through Postcrossing!)

1950.  St Petersburg, RUSSIA

Postcrossing Meet-Up

 23.03.19

1949.  Old Jewish Cemetery in Wroclaw, POLAND

Stary Cemntarz Zydowski Muzeum Sztuki Cmentarnej

Odzial Muzeum Miejskiego Wroclawia

I am sending you a postcard depicting The Old Jewish Cemetery in Wroclaw, old medieval city in southwestern Poland.  I lie and work in Warsaw.  Best, Marek

38. The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland

Listened to audio - borrowed from CCLS
read by Imogen Church
Unabridged audio (8:58) borrowed from CCLS
2018 St. Martin's Press
304 pgs.
Adult CRF
Finished 4/11/2019
Goodreads rating: 4.06 - 8976 ratings
My rating:4.5
Setting: contemporary York, England

First line/s: "A book is the match in the smoking second between strike and flame."

My comments:  This story was told by hopping back and forth between 1999, 2013, and 2016.  Intricate characters were developed as the protagonist, Loveday Cardew told her story.  Abusive relationships, mental illness, foster care, grief and despair, forgiveness and love of all sorts are the main themes of the fascinating story  Another winner.  The only not-so-great part was that the reader's voice sounded much older than that of a 25-year-old.  Quite disconcerting, although she read it beautifully.

Goodreads synopsis:  The Lost for Words Bookshop is a compelling, irresistible, and heart-rending novel, perfect for fans of The Storied Life of AJ Fikryand The Little Paris Bookshop.
          Loveday Cardew prefers books to people. If you look carefully, you might glimpse the first lines of the novels she loves most tattooed on her skin. But there are some things Loveday will never, ever show you. Into her hiding place - the bookstore where she works - come a poet, a lover, and three suspicious deliveries. Someone has found out about her mysterious past. Will Loveday survive her own heartbreaking secrets?

Picture Book: A Castle on Viola Street by DyAnne DiSalvo

Illustrated by the author

2001 Harper Collins

Looks like it may be out-of-print

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.07 - 56 ratings

My rating:  5

Endpapers:  White

1^st line/s:   "In the old days, before I ws ten, we rented an apartment on Emerald Street.  It was a small place to live in for one whole family, but somehow we made the room."

My comments:  To find such a lovely picture book about Habitat for Humanity-type building and receiving is a real treat and a wonderful treasure!  Great story AND illustrations that depict a wonderful family of five.

Goodreads: Andy is so used to his family's small, run-down apartment that he has never imagined living anywhere else--especially not in a new house with a garden and a porch. Such houses seem like castles to him.
          But when he hears about an organization that turns abandoned houses into homes, he discovers that his castle isn't in the clouds--it's on Viola Street. And with some hard work and community caring, it could be his very own.
          DyAnne DiSalvo combines new faces with familiar ones from earlier stories in this warm, vibrant tale about the good things that come when a whole family pitches in to make a better life for themselves.

Books that Talk about Artists

Haring, Keith
Keith Haring: The Boy Who Just Kept Drawing (Haring/Neubecker) 2017 (5)
     A wonderful biography for kids about Keith Haring that includes lots and lots of his original work, and is beautifully illustrated by Neubecker.  A favorite.
The Stories of the Mona Lisa (Barsony) 2012 (4)
          Barsony shows how he thinks other famous artists would have painted the Mona Lisa, including Keith Haring.

Picasso, Pablo
13 Artists Children Should Know (Wenzel) 2009 (5)
          A wonderful model for further research and writing...each of the thirteen artist pages include famous painting/s, kid-friendly information and anecdotes about the artist, tips, and further reading suggestions.  There's also a "try this' for each artist!
Emily's Blue Period (Daly/Brown) 2014 (5)
           A picture book about divorce...a young girl follows the example of Pablo Picasso and creates a collage of her "home."
Math at the Art Museum (Group Majoongmul) 2015 (4)
          Many famous artists are portrayed in this art book, which include works of art and perspective about the art and the artist. 

Picture Book: Emily's Blue Period by Cathleen Daly

Illustrated by Lisa Brown

2014.  A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press

HC $17.99

56 pgs. (5 tiny short chapters, still reads as a picture book)

Goodreads rating:  405 - 1204 ratings

My rating:  5

Endpapers:  pale slate

Illustrations:  Lots of white, very much like

1^st line/s:  "Emily wants to be an artist."

My comments: An excellent picture book for kids who live in a divorced-family situation as well as a nice introduction to the artwork of Pablo Picasso.  Written in five teeny, tiny short chapters and although there are 56 pages, it still reads as a picture book in one easy sitting. Lots of discussion and art projects (including collage-making) can be created after reading this....

Goodreads: Emily wants to be an artist. She likes painting and loves the way artists like Pablo Picasso mixed things up.Emily's life is a little mixed up right now. Her dad doesn't live at home anymore, and it feels like everything around her is changing.
          “When Picasso was sad for a while,” says Emily, “he only painted in blue. And now I am in my blue period.”
          It might last quite some time.

37. Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson

I read the actual hard-covered book, only the second one so far this year.
2018, Nancy Paulsen Books, Penguin Random House
176 pgs.
Middle Grade Realistic Contemporary Fiction
Finished  4/9/19
Goodreads rating:  4.30 - 3971 ratings
My rating:  3
Setting:  Contemporary Brooklyn, NY

First line/s:  "We think they took my papi."

My comments:  Hmmm.  This book is beautifully crafted, with kids opening up to each other in loving, generous ways.  But I have a few misgivings about it.  The six kids portrayed all have different difficulties, experiences, ethnicities ... too many to make it seem at all real, just convenient for a good story.  It's never revealed why they are all put into a "special" class of only six kids.  There seem to be no (or very few) learning disabilities, physical disabilities or particular special needs.  So why are they "special?"  I taught fifth grade for years, and I can't quite imagine something like this taking place without more goofing around, hurt feelings occasionally, more misunderstandings....  I feel badly that I can't rate it any higher, there are just too many things I'm left bothered by.
     Note:  The dialogue was not put within quotation marks, but italicized.  I really liked this.

Goodreads synopsis:  Jacqueline Woodson's first middle-grade novel since National Book Award winner Brown Girl Dreaming celebrates the healing that can occur when a group of students share their stories.
          It all starts when six kids have to meet for a weekly chat—by themselves, with no adults to listen in. There, in the room they soon dub the ARTT Room (short for "A Room to Talk"), they discover it's safe to talk about what's bothering them—everything from Esteban's father's deportation and Haley's father's incarceration to Amari's fears of racial profiling and Ashton's adjustment to his changing family fortunes. When the six are together, they can express the feelings and fears they have to hide from the rest of the world. And together, they can grow braver and more ready for the rest of their lives.