81. The Pants Project by Cat Clark

listened on Audible

2017
272 pgs.
MidGr CRF
Finished  7/28/2021
Goodreads rating: 4.09 - 2106 ratings
My rating: 4.5

My comments: Another story about a trans middle schooler.  Live is starting a brand new middle school where she has to wear a uniform and for girlss that means a skirt every day.  She hates this.  nd of course there are two (female) bully sidekicks that treat her horribly, especially when they discover she has two moms.  Her best friend abandons her completely to be popular, but she meets a terrific young man, Jacob, who becomes her best friend.  Her mom and mama are terrific, as is her little brother Enzo.  It's a great story of a loving family in contemporary times and a young person who begins to trust herselfand the choices she makes.  

Goodreads synopsis:  Whoever wrote the uniform policy decided (whyyy?) that girls had to wear skirts, while boys were allowed to wear pants.

Sexist. Dumb. Unfair.

“Girls must wear a black, pleated, knee-length skirt.”

I bet I read those words a hundred times during summer vacation. The problem wasn’t the last word in that sentence. Skirt wasn’t really the issue, not for me.
The issue was the first word. Girls.

Here’s the thing:
I may seem like a girl, but on the inside, I’m a boy.

66. Impossible by Komal Kant

listened to audio via Audible Escape
narrated by Lidia Dornet and Graham Halstead
Unabridged audio (7:21)
2012 Createspace
254 pgs.
YA Romance - and not a good one....
Finished 4/17/2020
Goodreads rating:  3.70- 6538 ratings
My rating:  2
Setting:  contemporary usa

First line/s:  " 'I bet a hundred dollars he smells like a rat-infested sewer,' my best friend, Kance said from beside me, her voice thick with disgust."

My comments:  Over-the-top mean girl becomes nice girl in a bizarrely too-impossible ridiculous way.  Emo boy becomes super-hunk overnight.  High school kids flit from hooking up to being part of a ocouple back=and=forth, back-and-forth... A pair of moms that are ridiculously permissive.  If you want to read a story that keeps your eyes rolling from beginning to end, this is the perfect book for you!  I am being really kind giving this a "2" rating.

Goodreads synopsis:  Ashton Summers is on her way to becoming the most popular girl in school and nothing—or no one—is going to stand in her way. Especially not Luca Byron, her freak neighbor, with his tattoos, loud music, and distracting green eyes.
          Luca Byron has three goals in life: get through high school with a low profile, make sure his garage band becomes something more than a hobby, and try to forget about his insufferable ex-best friend, Ashton, who he can’t get out of his mind.
          The last thing Ashton and Luca want to do is rekindle their friendship, but when Ashton takes a tumble down the social ladder, Luca—with his new makeover—is the only one who can help her rise up again by pretending to be her boyfriend. At first, being together is unbearable and annoying, but things start to change as Ashton and Luca discover the real reasons they drifted apart seven years ago.
          Now, keeping their hands off each other seems impossible.

21. Last Bus to Everland by Sophie Cameron

listened to Audio/borrowed from Bosler Library
narrated by Joshua Manning in a thick Scottish brogue
Unabridged audio (8:19)
2019 Macmillan Children's Books
288 pgs.
YA Fantasy
Finished 1/30/2020
Goodreads rating: 3.93 - 437 ratings
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Contemporary Scotland

First line/s:  "This never would have happened if I hadn't named the bloody cat Tinker Bell."

My comments:  This was a quiet, lovely story:  loads of reality gently sprinkled with some wonderful fantasy.  The protagonist, Brody, is a quiet, gay 16-year old with a genius brother, an overworked mother, and a dad who has agoraphobia and hasn't left the house in years.  Brody is constantly teased and ridiculed by a pair of girls in his apartment complex and at school, he's afraid he's going to fail all his exams, and he never gets a chance to play the beloved drums that he only get to access at school.  Then he meets Nico and is introduced to Everland, a land of fantasy and happiness.....Narrated in a thick Scottish brogue, I found the story absolutely delightful.

Goodreads synopsis:  Brody Fair feels like nobody gets him: not his overworked parents, not his genius older brother, and definitely not the girls in the projects set on making his life miserable. Then he meets Nico, an art student who takes Brody to Everland, a “knock-off Narnia" that opens its door at 11:21pm each Thursday for Nico and his band of present-day misfits and miscreants.

          Here Brody finds his tribe and a weekly respite from a world where he feels out of place. But when the doors to Everland begin to disappear, Brody is forced to make a decision: He can say goodbye to Everland and to Nico, or stay there and risk never seeing his family again.

Picture Book - The Little Guys by Vera Brosgol

Illustrated by the author

2019 Roaring Brook Press

HC $17.99

40 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  3.59 - 401 ratings

My rating:  2

Endpapers:  Forest Green

Illustrations:  Fun 

1^st line/s:  "You are looking at the strongest guys in the whole forest.  Down here.  On this island.    We are the Little Guys.l  Yes, we are small.  But there are a lot of us.  Together we are strong, and we can get all we need."

My comments:  A large gang of bullies runs through the forest, stealing and terrorizing, but at the end supposedly learns a lesson......  Hmm, okay.  I won't be sharing this one.
Love the illustrations.  But that's all I love.

Goodreads: An adorable cautionary tale from Caldecott Honoree Vera Brosgol
We are the Little Guys.
Yes, we are small. But there are a lot of us.
Together we are strong, and we can get all we need.
          The Little Guys might be small, but they aim to be mighty.
          As they head off to find breakfast, they can conquer anything through teamwork―cross deep waters, dig through obstacles, and climb the tallest trees. Nothing can stop them!
          But as they begin to amass more than they need, the creatures in the forest ponder―what happens when no one can stop the Little Guys?
          This slyly funny and rambunctious read-aloud explores how strength in numbers only works when the whole community unites together.

17. The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle by Leslie Connor

read on my iPhone/Kindle/Book/Audible
2018 Katherine Tegen Books
336 pgs.
Mid Grades CRF
Finished 2/15/2018
Goodreads rating:  4.27 - 392 ratings
My rating:  4

First line/s:  "Tell you what.  I already know who stuffed this tee shirt into my locker.  Matt Drinker did that.  He took a Sharpie to it first.  Fat black letters.  He wrote STOOPID on it.  Same way I spelled my word in the spelling bee on Friday morning."

My comments:  This story is about bullying, friendship, love, and a sweet, sweet boy.
     I don't understand bullying.  I don't understand parents that allow it to happen,when they know it is happening.  Both and the giving and receiving ends, as in this book.
     I really enjoyed the story, but it didn't quite rate as a five to me.  There were a few too many weaknesses.  Shayleeen, for one. (They have so little money that they're selling off bits and pieces of their orchard to a developer and they take in a stray young adult - someone they don't even know - and let her spend all sorts of money - their money - on the shopping networks?  Take her in, great, feed her and cloth her, that's more-than okay, too, but let her rule the roost?)  And come one, Mason is being chased and abused by neighborhood kids and his grandmother and uncle either don't know about it (they should!) or don't do anything about it?  It's not as if they don't love him and carae about him.  And they are not oblivious people.  It just doesn't make sense to me.
     There ARE a couple of characters that do totally make sense to me - the wonderful counselor and friend to Mason at his school (oh what a wonderful, klutzy, classy, real person she is!)  and the cop who is trying to figure out what is happening.  They were believable.
     I kept drawing comparisons to one of my all-time favorite books, Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick.  There are a lot.  That might even make and interesting paper/examination/comparison for me to write one day as I circumvent my journey towards a doctorate in children's literature, lol!
   
Goodreads synopsis: From the critically acclaimed author of Waiting for Normal and All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook, Leslie Connor, comes a deeply poignant and beautifully crafted story about self-reliance, redemption, and hope.
          Mason Buttle is the biggest, sweatiest kid in his grade, and everyone knows he can barely read or write. Mason’s learning disabilities are compounded by grief. Fifteen months ago, Mason’s best friend, Benny Kilmartin, turned up dead in the Buttle family’s orchard. An investigation drags on, and Mason, honest as the day is long, can’t understand why Lieutenant Baird won’t believe the story Mason has told about that day.
          Both Mason and his new friend, tiny Calvin Chumsky, are relentlessly bullied by the other boys in their neighborhood, so they create an underground club space for themselves. When Calvin goes missing, Mason finds himself in trouble again. He’s desperate to figure out what happened to Calvin, and eventually, Benny.
           But will anyone believe him? 

35. Posted by John David Anderson

Read on my iPhone
2017, Walden Pond Press
384 pgs.
Middle Grades CRF
Finished 6-27-17
Goodreads rating:  4.34 - 254 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting:  Contemporary small town Michigan

First line/s:  "I push my way through the buzzing mob and freeze, heart - struck, dizzy."

My comments: This book looks bullying right in the eye and takes it on.  It doesn't give answers.  The writing is beautifully crafted, taking a few major themes and weaving them around and together, the unifying link being  friendship, where it comes from and where it goes.  Quite a book.

Goodreads synopsis:  From John David Anderson, author of the acclaimed Ms. Bixby’s Last Day, comes a humorous, poignant, and original contemporary story about bullying, broken friendships, and the failures of communication between kids.

In middle school, words aren’t just words. They can be weapons. They can be gifts. The right words can win you friends or make you enemies. They can come back to haunt you. Sometimes they can change things forever.          

     When cell phones are banned at Branton Middle School, Frost and his friends Deedee, Wolf, and Bench come up with a new way to communicate: leaving sticky notes for each other all around the school. It catches on, and soon all the kids in school are leaving notes—though for every kind and friendly one, there is a cutting and cruel one as well.

     In the middle of this, a new girl named Rose arrives at school and sits at Frost’s lunch table. Rose is not like anyone else at Branton Middle School, and it’s clear that the close circle of friends Frost has made for himself won’t easily hold another. As the sticky-note war escalates, and the pressure to choose sides mounts, Frost soon realizes that after this year, nothing will ever be the same.

PICTURE BOOK - The Artist and Me by Shane Peacock

Illustrated by Sophie Casson

2016 Owlkids Books

HC $16.95

40 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  3.92

My rating:  4.5

Endpapers:  white with pale blue/gray dabs of paint - a few generic photos in the front, none in the back

1^st line/s:  "In the beautiful countryside in southern France near the town of Arles long ago, I used to do an ugly thing."

My comments:  4.5  This book says SO much.  The story, from the point-of-view of a bully who was horrendous to VanGogh when he lived in Arles, is excellent and thought-provoking.  I love the way that Sophie Casson used Van Gogh's paintings and put her own "brand" to them for most of the illustrations in the book.  There is one illustration, however, that is a bit off-putting to me, a doubled page spread of the bullies laughing at him.  They are really ugly and don't fit with the rest of the story somehow.  Perhaps it's to show how ugly bullies really are?
     I've already got lots of lesson plans in mind to use with this book - both for Owning Up/ Annatude/ bullying and for the glory of VanGogh's art!  This is a really nice addition to the genre of art books for kids.
     1 - Van Gogh's art
     2 - info about Van Gogh (include info from the afterword)
     3 - read aloud the book
     4 - create a piece of art using the kinds of strokes that Van Gogh and Casson used

Publisher's Weekly review.
Kirkus review.

Goodreads:  Vincent van Gogh is now known as an acclaimed, incomparable Post-Impressionist painter. But when he lived in Arles, France, in the 1880s, he was mocked for being different. Back then, van Gogh was an eccentric man with wild red hair who used clashing hues to paint unusual-looking people and strange starry skies. Children and adults alike called him names and laughed at him. Nobody bought his art. But he kept painting.
          Inspired by these events, The Artist and Me is the fictional confession of one of van Gogh’s bullies — a young boy who adopted the popular attitude of adults around him. It’s not until the boy faces his victim alone that he realizes there is more than one way to see the world.
          Artwork in the book uses vibrant color and texture to bring the laneways, cafés, and wheat fields of southern France to life while playing on scenes from van Gogh’s own work. The lyrical text carries the emotional weight of the subject and will leave readers with the understanding that everyone’s point of view is valuable.

3 PICTURE BOOKS by Mary Murphy

I found all three of these at the Arivaca Library on 10/17/14.  The two librarians there turned me on to Mary Murphy.

Koala and the Flower

2001 Roaring Brook Press

HC & price

28 pgs  (I wonder if the end pages might have been pulled out?

Goodreads rating:

My rating: 4.5

     Badger and Raccoon see things n black and white.  They are always sure they are right.  Little gray Koala isn't sure about many things.  She asks lots of questions.
     What a clever book - and it has all sorts of atrributes!  Two pages of "graphic novel."  The appearance of a LIBRARY and BOOKS!  Two supposed friends who are subtle bullies.  The excitement of watching plants (flowers! grow from seeds with just a tiny bit of nurturing.  SO much to take in - and all of it was wonderful.

I Like It When ...
Board Book - 12 pgs.
1997

I like it when
     you hold my hand
     you let me help    (thank you)
     we eat new things   (surprise)
     we play peekaboo    (b00)
     you tickle me
     you dance with me
     you read to me
     you hug me tight
     we splash about
     we kiss goodnight

Say Hello Like This!
2014, Candlewick
ages 2 - 5
endpapers:  loud and cool - cows and cucks and chiks.

"A dog hello is licky and loud..."  (turn a half page and see what is described  - "a cat hello is prissy and proud"

Such a vibrant story - both in illustrations AND plot.  I'm not a huge animal person, but the front and back endpapers are just wonderful.

55. Eleanor & Park - Rainbow Rowell

2013 St. Martin's Press

328 pgs.

YA CRF

Finished 12-14-2013

Goodreads Rating: 4.22 (37,330 ratings)

My Rating: Great Story (4) 

TPPL

Setting: 1980s Omaha, Nebraska

1^st sentence/s: "XTC was no good for drowning out the morons at the back of the bus. Park pressed his headphones into his ears."

My comments:  Even though there were very NON-sweet things going on in this book, the love story between Eleanor and Park was incredibly sweet. I particularly enjoyed the way the story slipped back and forth from each of the protagonist's point-of-view, but only spent short sections in this manner, not long ones.  I was dreading the ending, but Rowell handled it perfectly.  Excellent story.

Goodreads Review:  Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.

28. The Weight of Water - Sarah Crossan

Bloomsbury, 2012

213 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 3.90

My rating: 5/Outstanding

For: Middle-school grades

Genre: CRF in verse

Setting: contemporary Coventry, England

1st line/s:    "The wheels on the suitcase break

Before we've even left Gdansk Glowny."

My comments:  Told in verse form (so it didn't take very long to read), this seemingly simple story is thought-provoking and incredibly relevant. It's definitely not simple. What's it like to be an immigrant? Bullies.... Divorce... A mother's incredible sadness that turns into a form of abuse....First love. Wonderful story, beautifully written, and very relevant for kids today.

Goodreads summary:  Armed with a suitcase and an old laundry bag filled with clothes, Kasienka and her mother head for England. Life is lonely for Kasienka. At home her mother's heart is breaking and at school friends are scarce. But when someone special swims into her life, Kasienka learns that there might be more than one way for her to stay afloat." """"The Weight of Water" is a startlingly original piece of fiction; most simply a brilliant coming of age story, it also tackles the alienation experienced by many young immigrants. Moving, unsentimental and utterly page-turning, we meet and share the experiences of a remarkable girl who shows us how quiet courage prevails.

67. Shine - Lauren Myracle

Amulet Books/Abrams, 2011
HC $16.95 (Lib)
For:  YA
360 pgs.
Rating:  4

First line/s:  Patrick's house was a ghost.  Dust coated the windows, the petunias in the flower boxes bowed their heads, and spiderwebs clotted the eaves of the porch.  Once I would have marveled at the webs -- how delicate they were, how intricate --  but today I saw ghastly silk ropes.  Nooses for sawflies and katydids and anything guileless enough to be ensnared

Setting:  Contemporary Appalachia, Black Creek, NC near Asheville.
OSS:  16-year-old Cat comes back to life after pulling her head into her shell for the past three years when her gay best friend, Patrick, is brutalized and left for dead.

Cat ells her story and discovers Patrick's in bits and pieces.  Slowly events of the last three years and events of the last week are illuminated as she unrolls the mystery of Patrick's almost-killing.  It's great to see her spirit come alive again.  It's also true that not everything is ever exactly as it seems.

And big message:  meth is deadly.  And the way it can establish itself in a community - especially one in extreme poverty - is examined in this story.

Lots of good stuff to think about.  It went fast.  Good story and good storytelling.

59. I Am Number 4 - Pittacus Lore (actually, James Frey, I think)

I've got a strong feeling this will be #1 in what might be called "The Lorien Legacies"
Harper, 2010
HC 17.99
for: YA
440 pages
Rating: mmmm...4? (there seems to be a theme going here)

There are a number of planets that sustain life in a smilar way as Earth - Lorien and Mogadore are two of them. Unfortunately, the very bad people of Mogadore sapped their planet of anything and everything they needed, so they attacked - and conquered - nearby peaceful Lorien. But nine young children and their guardians were able to escape. They escaped to the closest place that could sustain their life - Earth. Unfortunately, the Mogadorians are hunting each and every one of the nine. But because of a Lorien charm, they may only be killed in a specific order.

Number 4 is our protagonist. He is going by the name of John Smith. His guardian's name is Henri. They have never lived in one place very long, they flip around the country from one small town to another. "John" is now fifteen. They know that Number 3 has been killed, and that Number 3 will be the next target. So they leave Florida for a tiny town in Ohio; Paradise.

In all outward ways, Number 4 is your average American boy. But he has special powers, his legacies, that don't appear until after puberty. John's have begun to appear. And this boy, who has never been able to have friends, finds both a best bud and a girlfriend, while being antagonized by a local bully.

Science fiction, teen romance, interesting settings and characterization, a good dose of man't best friend, and a spectacular battle scene all combine to make this story a satisfying one for lovers of Harry Potter and the Hunger Games.

There's a movie coming out on February 18 (2011)! One of my newest favorite actor/hunks will be in it - Timothy Olyphant (who will play Henri), along with some interesting names - the young man, Alex Pettyfer, who will star in Beastly, Quinn from Glee, and the guy who played mercenary Martin Kearney in Lost. I'll be the first in line for this one!

Goal! - Mina Javaherbin

Illustrated by A. G. Gord
Candlewick, 2010
$16.99
Rating: 3.5
Endpapers: Red

Five friends who love soccer (or "football" in South Africa) get a chance to play with a real regulation soccer ball, won by one of them. However, one has to stand guard on a shanty rooftop to watch for bullies who will cause trouble and steal the ball. And, unfortunately, in they ride on their bikes. But the wily friends hide the soccer ball, letting the bullies steal their old plastic ball, feigning tears. Then they go on to play again - because they love the game.

(And what will happen next time, and the time after that?)

A. G. Ford's illustrations are their usual: brilliant.

No! - David McPhail

for older kids
Published March, 2009
Rating: 4
$16.95
Endpapers: glossy off-red

How do we stop bullying? Kids on a playground or countries at war? It's time to stop this craziness....that's what David McPhail is trying to say in this wordless story. (Well, wordless other than "no" and the words to a young boy's letter at the end of the book...)

A young boy sets out to mail a letter he has written to the president. Along the way he witnesses tanks and marching soldiers, bombs dropping and cops attacking. When he gets to the mailbox, a bully is waiting for him. He takes a stand. He says "No!" The bully backs down, tries to make amends. On his return trip home we see the same plane, cops, tanks....but they are all now participating in peaceful, helpful, positive activities.

I "read" this book three times. It made me think. Hard. When I went looking for a copy of the bookcover, I saw that it's recommended to ages 4-8. I disagree. This is also for older kids....and adults. It should be marketed to them, because they're the ones that should FOR SURE read it!

Just today, the headlines are that President Obama is speaking in Cairo with a message to the entire Moslem World. Mututal respect is what he requests. Thank you David McPhail AND President Obama. We must all start (or continue) on this quest! ! !

Hand-drawn borders leave a little white edge, his pen and ink and watercolors are lovely, though sad.

Another great title for my create-the-story-from -a-wordless-book lesson plan for 4th - 8th graders!