MOVIE - Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again

PG-13 (1:54)

7/20/18 Wide Release

Viewed 7/23/18 at Carlisle with Laura and Ella
IMBd: 7.3/10

RT Critic: 79   Audience:  76
Critic's Consensus:  Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again doubles down on just about everything fans loved about the original -- and my my, how can fans resist it?

Cag:  4/Liked it a lot - the music is awesome

Directed by Ol Parker

Universal Pictures

Based on the music of ABBA  (a 1970s rock group from Sweden)

Amanda Seyfried, Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Andy Garcia, Cher, Meryl Streep

My comments:  Dancin' Queen....You can dance....you can jive....having the time of your life.....
I just returned from seeing this movie.  With some of it was disappointed, but with some of it I felt giddy.  Yup, giddy.  And the grand finale was GRAND!  Best part of the movie!!!  The scenes with the younger versions of the couples seemed over-acted to me, and a teeny, tiny bit off.  Loved it when the three females were performing together, young OR old.  The modern-time numbers were really wonderful.  As is the scenery...how would ANYONE want to leave that place?  Fantastic costumes, too.  And including Cher was a blast.  So. Much. Fun.  Ella really loved it, and immediately wondered if they'd make a number three!
      Perfect movie for three generations to watch together.

RT/ IMDb Summary:

PICTURE BOOK - Dangerous Jane by Suzanne Slade

Illustrated byAlice Ratterree

2017, Peachtree

HC $17.95
40 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.19 - 172 ratings

My rating: 4.5  (just a tiny bit too simplistic...)

Endpapers: Beige

1^st line/s:  "Jane was born beside a sparkling creek on an Illinois prairie in a friendly town called Cedarville."

My comments:  Beautifully illustrated and simply told, the story of Jane Addams is intriguing and informative.  Although she was the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, she was named by the FBI as "the Most Dangerous Woman in America" just 12 years prior!  Why?  For being a woman, and caring about people and peace - people and peace beyond American borders..  I sure want to read more about her now!

Goodreads:  Jane's heart ached for the world, but what could she do to stop a war? This energetic and inspiring picture book biography of activist Jane Addams focuses on the peace work that won her the Nobel Peace Prize. From the time she was a child, Jane's heart ached for others. At first the focus of her efforts was on poverty, and lead to the creation of Hull House, the settlement house she built in Chicago. For twenty-five years, shed helped people from different countries live in peace at Hull House. But when war broke out, Jane decided to take on the world and become a dangerous woman for the sake of peace. Suzanne Slade's powerful text written in free verse illuminates the life of this inspiring figure while Alice Ratterree's stunning illustrations bring Jane Addams and her world to life. 

67. Nyxia by Scott Reintgen

#1 Nyxia Triad
read on my iPhone
2017 Crown Books for Young Readers
384 pgs.
YA SciFi
Finished 7/22/18
Goodreads rating: 4.12 - 2514 rtings
My rating: 4.5 (Maybe even 5.....)
Setting: Outer Space a few years from now

First line/s:  " 'You all know why you're here.'  There are ten of us at the table.  We all nod like we even have a clue."

My comments:  Others have compared this book to a sci-fi Hunger Games, and other than having slightly more than one winner at the end, that’s pretty much what it is. I loved the entire premise from the start and was pulled into the story immediately, which hasn’t happened a whole lot lately. Nothing like “coming-of-age“ in outer space! Loved it - 4.5.

Goodreads synopsis:  Emmett Atwater isn’t just leaving Detroit; he’s leaving Earth. Why the Babel Corporation recruited him is a mystery, but the number of zeroes on their contract has him boarding their lightship and hoping to return to Earth with enough money to take care of his family.
          Forever.
          Before long, Emmett discovers that he is one of ten recruits, all of whom have troubled pasts and are a long way from home. Now each recruit must earn the right to travel down to the planet of Eden—a planet that Babel has kept hidden—where they will mine a substance called Nyxia that has quietly become the most valuable material in the universe.
          But Babel’s ship is full of secrets. And Emmett will face the ultimate choice: win the fortune at any cost, or find a way to fight that won’t forever compromise what it means to be human.

66. Far From the Tree by Robin Benway

listened on Audible
2017
374 pgs.
Genre/Level
Finished July 20, 2018
Goodreads rating:  4.33 - 11,799 ratings
My rating:  5
Setting: Contemporary America

First line/s::  "Grace hadn't really thought too much about homecoming."

My comments:  Writing a book is magical, writing a truly good book is mystical.  I have such admiration for an author that can weave together a story like this one.  Getting to know and understand the three protagonists is a slow process and makes the story all the more delicious.  This book is also a reminder that there are more good people than bad in the world and that you don't have to be born into a family to be surrounded by love.

Goodreads synopsis:  A contemporary novel about three adopted siblings who find each other at just the right moment.
          Being the middle child has its ups and downs.
          But for Grace, an only child who was adopted at birth, discovering that she is a middle child is a different ride altogether. After putting her own baby up for adoption, she goes looking for her biological family, including—
          Maya, her loudmouthed younger bio sister, who has a lot to say about their newfound family ties. Having grown up the snarky brunette in a house full of chipper redheads, she’s quick to search for traces of herself among these not-quite-strangers. And when her adopted family’s long-buried problems begin to explode to the surface, Maya can’t help but wonder where exactly it is that she belongs.
          And Joaquin, their stoic older bio brother, who has no interest in bonding over their shared biological mother. After seventeen years in the foster care system, he’s learned that there are no heroes, and secrets and fears are best kept close to the vest, where they can’t hurt anyone but him.

65. Blooming at the Texas Sunrise Motel by Kimberly Willis Holt

read on my iPhone
2017 Henry Holt & Co.
336 pgs.
MidGrade CRF
Finished 7/19/18
Goodreads rating:  4.13 - 317 rtings
My rating:   5
Setting: contemporary just-outside Dallas, TX ad rural LA

First line/s:  "My name, Stevie Grace, was tattooed inside a giant sun on my dad's back."

My comments:  Definitely another winner by Kimberly Willis Holt!  Though touched throughout with sadness, it isn't a sad story. It's about blooming where you're planted, making the best of everything, seeing the good things there are to see, and learning from the mistakes of your parents and grandparents. And it has a wonderful array of cool characters.  I so enjoyed this story! (By the way, she's actually an eighth grader and says she's thirteen at one point...)

Goodreads synopsis  Twelve-year-old Stevie's world changes drastically when her parents are tragically killed and she is forced to live with her estranged grandfather at his run-down motel. After failed attempts to connect with her grandfather, Stevie befriends the colorful motel tenants and neighbors. Together, they decide to bring some color and life to the motel by planting a flower garden, against Stevie's grandfather's wishes. It will take Stevie's departure before her grandfather realizes just how needed she is by everyone.

64. Fields of Corn by Sarah Price

An Amish Christian Romance (believe it or not!!)
read on my iPhone
2010 published
272 pgs.
CRF - I have read that Amish Fiction is now considered a genre on its own
Finished July 18, 2018
Goodreads rating: 4.25 - 641 ratings
My rating:  2.5
Setting:  contemporary Lancaster County, PA

First line/s:  "The horse, a brown Morgan with a thick black mane, trotted down Musser School Lane, effortlessly pulling the black, box-like buggy."

My comments:  There's a fascination and pull towards the simplicity of the Amish life that more-than intrigues me, especially as I know live near numerous Amish communities.  But my sprirtual beliefs and those of the Amish are so very different that it makes books like these particularly difficult to digest.  The last quarter of the book pulled my rating way down, very hard for me to take.  Or understand.

Goodreads synopsis:  Shana Slater doesn't realize that her life is about to change when she pulls into the Lapp farm in Leola, Pennsylvania, to inquire about renting a small apartment over a mule shed. Yet, the price is right and the rolling fields of corn present a peaceful place for her to retreat when she is not working in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
          Her curiosity about the Amish way of life is piqued when she befriends Emanuel Lapp, the son of her landlord. As she learns about the Amish through his eyes, she quickly realizes that the Amish way of life is more than just religion and a plain way of living. She also discovers that the more she learns, the more she is unexpectedly falling for much more than their plain and simple lifestyle. When two worlds collide, which will survive and at what cost?
          Based in part on the author's experience living on an Amish farm, Fields of Corn presents a sweet and authentic love story.

MOVIE - Leave No Trace

PG (1:49)

Limited release 6/29/18

Viewed July 15, 2018
IMBd: 

RT Critic:  100    Audience:   87
Critic's Consensus:  Leave No Trace takes an effectively low-key approach to a potentially sensationalistic story -- and further benefits from brilliant work by Ben Foster and Thomasin McKenzie.

Cag:  5.5 wowzer

Directed by Debra Granik

Bleecker Street

Ben Foster, Thomasin MacKenzie

My comments:  Different.  Satisfying.  Thought-provoking.  Mesmerizing.  Well acted. Loved it.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Will (Ben Foster) and his teenage daughter, Tom (Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie), have lived off the grid for years in the forests of Portland, Oregon. When their idyllic life is shattered, both are put into social services. After clashing with their new surroundings, Will and Tom set off on a harrowing journey back to their wild homeland. The film is directed by Debra Granik from a script adapted by Granik and Anne Rosellini.

63. Deep Freeze by John Sandford

#10 Virgil Flowers
listened to Audio - borrowed from Library
2017 G. P. Putnams
399 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery/Police Procedural
Finished 7/15/18
Goodreads rating:  4.21 - 10,035 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Minnesota

First line/s:  "David Birkmann sat in his living room with an empty beer can in his hand and stared sadly at his oversized bachelor's television which wasn't turned on."

My comments:  Ahh, did not disappoint.  I love Virgil, still!

Goodreads synopsis:  Class reunions: a time for memories—good, bad, and, as Virgil Flowers is about to find out, deadly—in this New York Timesbestselling thriller from John Sandford.
          Virgil knows the town of Trippton, Minnesota, a little too well. A few years back, he investigated the corrupt—and as it turned out, homicidal—local school board, and now the town’s back in view with more alarming news: A woman’s been found dead, frozen in a block of ice.
          There’s a possibility that it might be connected to a high school class of twenty-five years ago that has a mid-winter reunion coming up, and so, wrapping his coat a little tighter, Virgil begins to dig into twenty years’ worth of traumas, feuds, and bad blood. In the process, one thing becomes increasingly clear to him. 
          It’s true what they say: High school is murder.

PICTURE BOOK - Lucy Loves Sherman by Catherine Bailey

Illustrated by Meg Walters

2017 Sky Pony Press

HC $16.99

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 3.96 - 26 ratings

My rating:  4 (I had to take away a point for the red lobster...)

Endpapers"  Cute and simple, 1-inch circles of paler blue on medium blue, with Lucy, Sherman, and her cat's head sticking out of three of the circles.

1^st line/s:  "Lucy loved Sherman from the moment they met."

My comments: Oh my goodness, what a cute story!  Clever and illustrated beautifully!  I do have a problem with it, though, and some people would say, "author's license," but it gives kids misinformation....lobsters are NOT red or orange until they're cooked.  98% of lobsters are a greenish brown until then.  But I still loved it....

Goodreads:  Girl meets lobster. Girl loves lobster. But can girl save lobster?
          That’s the question at the center of this sweet and sassy picture book about Lucy, her shell-y friend Sherman, and the seafood-loving town they inhabit.
          Lucy loves Sherman from the moment they meet at Flotsam’s Fish Market. Oh sure, he’s an eighteen-pound, eighty-year-old crustacean, but he’s also polka dotted. And blurble-y. And he smells like the ocean! Unfortunately, Nana is not hooked on the idea of a pet lobster.
          Things only get worse when Lucy meets Chef Pierre and discovers that Sherman’s fate is on a plate! She must rescue Sherman, even if it means getting into hot water with all the grownups. So Lucy takes action. But will the efforts of one little girl be enough to save Sherman from the bib and butter?
          As humorous as it is inspiring, Lucy Loves Sherman explores an unlikely, yet utterly charming friendship, and the challenge and thrill of finding your voice and being an activist.

PICTURE BOOK - The Big Umbrella by Amy June Bates & her daughter, Juniper Bates

Illustrated by Amy June Bates

2018 A Paula Wiseman Book

HC $16.99

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 4.04 - 442 ratings

My rating:  5

Endpapers:  front:  A rainy sky, Back:  A sunny sky

1^st line/s:   "By the front door . . .there is an umbrella."

My comments:  As I first read this book, I said to myself....."oh......okay......a magic umbrella that grows as it protects .... until it hit me over the head what it's really talking about.   Inclusion!  A great metaphor.  I'd LOVE to read this to a 4th or 5th grade class and see how long it takes them to come to a similar conclusion.  The mother/daughter (7th grader!) who wrote this book together live right here in my little hometown, and it tickles me to think that like-minded people are nearby in this central PA oasis of red....a wonderful book.

Goodreads:   “A subtle, deceptively simple book about inclusion, hospitality, and welcoming the ‘other.’” —Kirkus Reviews
          “A boundlessly inclusive spirit...This open-ended picture book creates a natural springboard for discussion.” —Booklist
          “This sweet extended metaphor uses an umbrella to demonstrate how kindness and inclusion work...A lovely addition to any library collection, for classroom use or for sharing at home.” —School Library Journal
          In the tradition of Alison McGhee’s Someday, beloved illustrator Amy June Bates makes her authorial debut alongside her eleven-year-old daughter with this timely and timeless picture book about acceptance.
          By the door there is an umbrella. It is big. It is so big that when it starts to rain there is room for everyone underneath. It doesn’t matter if you are tall. Or plaid. Or hairy. It doesn’t matter how many legs you have.
          Don’t worry that there won’t be enough room under the umbrella. Because there will always be room.
          Lush illustrations and simple, lyrical text subtly address themes of inclusion and tolerance in this sweet story that accomplished illustrator Amy June Bates cowrote with her daughter, Juniper, while walking to school together in the rain

PICTURE BOOK - Wangari Maathai: The Woman Who Planted Millions of Trees by Franck Prevot

Illustrated by Aurelia Fronty

2015 Charlesbridge Publishing

HC $17.99

40 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.28 - 414 ratings

My rating:  5

Endpapers"  Deep, sleek plum

1^st line/s:  "The immense forest around Wangari's childhood home is populated by bongo antelopes, monkeys, and butterflies."

My comments:  Woah, I've read five picture books about Wangari Maathai, but this is the one that's jam-packed with information for older readers, instead of just mentioning things, fleshing them out a little more.  We learn HOW she got to the US for college, HOW she protested, and WHY she ended up in prison.  Wonderful book, perfect to use with 4th, 5th, 6th graders studying the environment, making a difference in the world, activism, trees, Tu'Bshvat,......

Read the Text

Goodreads:  Wangari Maathai received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts to lead women in a nonviolent struggle to bring peace and democracy to Africa through its reforestation. Her organization planted over thirty million trees in thirty years. This beautiful picture book tells the story of an amazing woman and an inspiring idea.

PICTURE BOOK - The World is Not a Rectangle: A Portrait of Architect Zaha Hadid by Jeanette Winter

Illustrated by the author

2017 Beach Lane Books
(Bosler Memorial Library)

HC $17.99

56 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 4.2 - 447 ratings

My rating:  5

Endpapers:  Pale, plae, pale green

1^st line/s:  "In Iraq, rivers flow throught green marshes.
Wind swoops across sand dunes and through ancient cities.
Zaha Hadid sees the rivers and marshes and dunes and ruins with her father
and imagines what cities looked like thousand of years ago."

My comments:  It's no secret that I adore anything and everything that Jeanette Winter writes and/or illustrates,  but what I really appreciate is the diversity of people that she chooses to research and share with kids!  This book highlights another amazing woman in our world and will inspire kids (and architecture buffs!) in many, many ways.  Bravo!

Goodreads:  A Washington Post Best Children’s Book of 2017
Parents’ Choice Recommended
          Get to know Zaha Hadid in this nonfiction picture book about the famed architect’s life and her triumph over adversity from celebrated author-illustrator Jeanette Winter.
          Zaha Hadid grew up in Baghdad, Iraq, and dreamed of designing her own cities. After studying architecture in London, she opened her own studio and started designing buildings. But as a Muslim woman, Hadid faced many obstacles. Determined to succeed, she worked hard for many years, and achieved her goals—and now you can see the buildings Hadid has designed all over the world.

62. The Color of Our Sky by Amita Trasi

read on my iPhone
2017 William Morrow
419 pgs.
CRF (Flips from 1983 to clost-to-current
Finished 7/6/18
Goodreads rating:  4.16 - 3104 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting: Bombay, India 1983 to current

First line/s:  "The memory of that moment hit me like a surging ocean wave -- drawing me into it -- the sour smell of darkness, the sobs erupting like an echo from a bottomless pit."

My comments:  Shifting back-and-forth between the past and the present, and told from the points of view of two young women whose lives and destinies are entwined, The Color of our Sky paints a picture of contemporary Bombay that is fascinating, illuminating, and incredibly sad.

Goodreads synopsis:  A sweeping, emotional journey of two childhood friends—one struggling to survive the human slave trade and the other on a mission to save her—two girls whose lives converge only to change one fateful night in 1993.
          India, 1986: Mukta, a ten-year-old girl from the lower caste Yellamma cult of temple prostitutes has come of age to fulfill her destiny of becoming a temple prostitute. In an attempt to escape this legacy that binds her, Mukta is transported to a foster family in Bombay. There she discovers a friend in the high spirited eight-year-old Tara, the tomboyish daughter of the family, who helps her recover from the wounds of her past. Tara introduces Mukta to a different world—ice cream and sweets, poems and stories, and a friendship the likes of which she has never experienced before. As time goes by, their bond grows to be as strong as that between sisters. In 1993, Mukta is kidnapped from Tara’s room. 
          Eleven years later, Tara who blames herself for what happened, embarks on an emotional journey to search for the kidnapped Mukta only to uncover long buried secrets in her own family.
          Moving from a remote village in India to the bustling metropolis of Bombay, to Los Angeles and back again, amidst the brutal world of human trafficking, this is a heartbreaking and beautiful portrait of an unlikely friendship—a story of love, betrayal, and redemption—which ultimately withstands the true test of time.

TV Show - The Expanse

Three seasons complete, the fourth in the works
Premiered:  12/14/15
Number of Episodes:
Length of Episode: 42 * 44 minutes
IMBd:  8.4/10
RT Critic's Consensus:
RT Audience Score:  96
cag: Still TBD
Originally on SyFi, when SyFi cancelled, Amazon bought it to continue

Characters:

My comments:  Three factions:  Earth and the Moon, Mars, and outer stations in the Asteroid Belt (people are called "Belters")

Storyline from Amazon:  The series is set two hundred years in the future, after mankind has colonized the solar system. A hardened detective and a rogue ship's captain come together for what starts as the case of a missing young woman and evolves into a race across the solar system to expose the greatest conspiracy in human history.

Storyline from Wikipedia: More than two hundred years in the future, in a colonized Solar System, police detective Josephus Miller (Thomas Jane), born on Ceresin the asteroid belt, is assigned to find a missing young woman, Juliette "Julie" Andromeda Mao (Florence Faivre). James Holden (Steven Strait), the Executive Officer of the ice hauler Canterbury, is involved in a tragic incident that threatens to destabilize the uneasy peace between Earth, Mars and the Belt. On Earth, Chrisjen Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo), a United Nations executive, works to prevent war between Earth and Mars by any means necessary. Soon, the three find out that the missing woman and the ice hauler's fate are part of a vast conspiracy that threatens humanity.

MOVIE - Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

PG-13 (2:09)

Wide release 6/22/18

Viewed July 5, 2018

RT Critic:  48  Audience:  51
Critic's Consensus:  Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom adds another set piece-packed entry to the blockbuster franchise, although genuinely thrilling moments are in increasingly short supply.

Cag:  3 liked it okay...

Directed by J. A. Bayona

Universal Pictures

Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard

My comments:  EArly afternoon showing to get out of the heat - I haven't seen any of the other Jurassic Parks leading up to this, which is just fine with me.  I like Chris Pratt and it was a pretty interesting storyline for an action/adventure.  The good guys versus the bad guys, and of course they are VERY bad guys.  It was a bit slow and draggy in places.  Midling entertainment, nothing spectacular.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  It's been three years since theme park and luxury resort Jurassic World was destroyed by dinosaurs out of containment. Isla Nublar now sits abandoned by humans while the surviving dinosaurs fend for themselves in the jungles. When the island's dormant volcano begins roaring to life, Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) mount a campaign to rescue the remaining dinosaurs from this extinction-level event. Owen is driven to find Blue, his lead raptor who's still missing in the wild, and Claire has grown a respect for these creatures she now makes her mission. Arriving on the unstable island as lava begins raining down, their expedition uncovers a conspiracy that could return our entire planet to a perilous order not seen since prehistoric times.