129. The Distance from A to Z by Natalie Blitt

read on my iPhone/Kindle
2016
352 pgs.
YA CRF Romance
Finished 12/20/2019
Goodreads rating:  3.71 -2125 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting:  contemporary summer at UNH

First line/s:  "It starts when Jed makes the final turn off I-405."

My comments:  Very interesting concept, full immersion for eight weeks during the summer before her senior year the in the French language at a university in New Hampshire.  The story follows typical YA romance structure/format - girl meets boy, girl doesn't like boy, girl starts to like boy...very much....then there's a misunderstanding, girl and boy part, girl and boy make up.  It was very entertaining and I like the twists and turns.  I adore the protagonist and I think most YA girls who love romance would greatly enjoy this story.

Goodreads synopsis:  Seventeen-year old Abby has only one goal for her summer: to make sure she is fluent in French—well, that, and to get as far away from baseball and her Cubs-obsessed family as possible. A summer of culture and language, with no sports in sight.
          That turns out to be impossible, though,  because her French partner is the exact kind of boy she was hoping to avoid. Eight weeks. 120 hours of class. 80 hours of conversation practice with someone who seems to exclusively wear baseball caps and jerseys.
          But Zeke in French is a different person than Zeke in English. And Abby can’t help but fall for him, hard. As Abby begins to suspect that Zeke is hiding something, she has to decide if bridging the gap between the distance between who she is and who he is, is worth the risk.

36. Half a Chance - Cynthia Lord

read by Maria Cabezas - lovely
4 unabridged cds (4.75 hrs.)
2014 Recorded Books
218 pgs.
Middle Grade CRF
Finished 6/1/15
Goodreads rating:  3.97
My rating: 4
Setting: contemporary summer in New Hampshire

First line/s:  "Lucy, we're going to love this place!" Dad called to me from the porch of the faded, red-shingled cottage with white trim.  "We can hang a swing right here and watch the sunset over the lake.  And these country roads will be great for biking."

My comments:  I have an affinity for Cynthia Lord and her stories about kids in Maine.  This one takes place on a lake in New Hampshire...the sort of place where I've spent many a summer as a kid.  The setting is described beautifully.  The story deals with dementia, friendship, jealousy, parent-child and grandparent-child relationships, moving, ecology, bird-watching, loons, photography - yup, a lot. I liked it.

Becky's review from Becky's Book Reviews

Goodreads synopsis:  A moving new middle-grade novel from the Newbery Honor author of RULES.
          When Lucy's family moves to an old house on a lake, Lucy tries to see her new home through her camera's lens, as her father has taught her -- he's a famous photographer, away on a shoot. Will her photos ever meet his high standards? When she discovers that he's judging a photo contest, Lucy decides to enter anonymously. She wants to find out if her eye for photography is really special -- or only good enough.
          As she seeks out subjects for her photos, Lucy gets to know Nate, the boy next door. But slowly the camera reveals what Nate doesn't want to see: his grandmother's memory is slipping away, and with it much of what he cherishes about his summers on the lake. This summer, Nate will learn about the power of art to show truth. And Lucy will learn how beauty can change lives . . . including her own.

MOVIE - Labor Day

PG-13 (1:51)

Wide release 1/31/14

Viewed at Century Gateway 12 on Sunday afternoon, 3/16/14

RT Critics: 31  Audience: 58

Cag: 4/Liked it a lot

Directed by Jason Reitman

Paramount Pictures

Josh Brolin, Kate Winslet

My comments:  What do the critics know?  I liked it.  It was slow in places, but the tension built and built, the charisma between the two adult leads was lovely, and the part of 7th-grade Henry was played perfectly.  I loved the special touches added to make Frank's personality show through - the way he treated the neighbor-boy with cerebral palsy, his cooking and baking talents, his love of baseball.....  I couldn't wait to see the end credits, because the scenery was all Massachusetts - even though it was set in New Hampshire.  I've been down those roads before, I've seen those houses on those quiet streets - and sure enough, it was Massachusetts.  It couldn't have been anywhere else!

Reviews:  "Labor Day" centers on 13-year-old Henry Wheeler, who struggles to be the man of his house and care for his reclusive mother Adele while confronting all the pangs of adolescence. On a back-to-school shopping trip, Henry and his mother encounter Frank Chambers, a man both intimidating and clearly in need of help, who convinces them to take him into their home and later is revealed to be an escaped convict. The events of this long Labor Day weekend will shape them for the rest of their lives.

27. Lone Wolf - Jodi Picoult

2012/Emily Bestler Books/ ATRIA/ Simon & Schuster
HC $28.00 TPPL
for: adults
421 pgs.
Rating:  It was okay (the 2nd half was more engrossing than the first)

1st line:  "In retrospect, maybe I shouldn't have freed the tiger."
Setting:  Contemporary Beresford, NH
OSS:  After Cara and Edward's dad, Luke Warren, a famous wolf scientist, suffers severe brain trauma in a car accident, the estranged family tries to decide what's the next step....sustaining his life or pulling the plug?

There were many things I liked about this story.  Each short chapter was in the voice of one of the key players....Luke, the father, Edward, the son, who had left at 18 for Thailand because of some sort of argument with his dad, Cara, the younger sister who lives with and idolizes her dad, Georgie, the ex-wife and Edward and Cara's mom, and Joe Ng, Georgie's new husband and the lawyer that defends Edward.  Each character is given his own font.  Luke's pieces, all italicized, are the story of the wolves and his obsession with them.

This is the story of a family that has had a tough time from the beginning.  When you have a dad that would rather live in the wild with wolves, you have a dysfunctional family, right?  So for most of his adult life Luke was lost between two worlds, never able to fully participate in either (except for the two years he actually lived in the Canadian woods and joined a pack).  There are little mysteries to be solved, actually quite evident ones, that come out as the trial proceeds.  What trial?  The trial that pits brother against sister in who will have legal guardianship of their father.

If you're an animal lover, especially a lover of wild animals, the story would probably be quite enthralling.  For me, a little bit of the wolf information went a long way.  I guess it was entirely based on the work of Shaun Ellis, a guy in England on whom the character of Luke is based.

My daughter loves Jodi Picoult, so I thought I'd try this new book.  The only one I read previously was not a favorite.  Laura says this one has not had the greatest reviews.  I think I'll wait awhile before reading another.

Imogene's Last Stand - Candace Fleming

Illustrated by Nancy Carpenter
Schwartz & Wade Books, 2009
$16.99
32 pages
Rating: 4
Endpapers: Info and thumbnail sketches of each of the 14 quoters in this book

Kids haven't had to memorize much history in recent years. I held a jeopardy game in my classroom and found this out firsthand. They have no clue about famous quotes. Well, NO MORE! Imogene will introduce them!

Imogene lives in a tiny little town in New Hampshire (the state itself is in the middle of nowhere...I can say that....I'm from Maine and spent most of my childhood summers in New Hampshire) and they seem pretty uninterested in the world around them, particularly history. Imogene loves history. She has since she was tiny, and when she discovers the old building that is the hisorical society, she cleans and shuffles and displays and gets ready to open the building to the public. But nobody comes. (What boring town citizens!) Then Mayor Butz decides to sell the property to a shoelace family so that the town will be "put on the map." Imogene tries everything to spark some enthusiasm for retaining the historical old building, but to no avail....until she discovers a letter on an old piece of parchment from George Washington thanking the building owners for their terrific hospitality. Yup. George Washington slept there. Saved, just in the lick of time!

Not only does Imogene have great quotes, she knows who said them. We hear from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ("We are made by history"), John Paul Jones ("I have not yet begun to fight!") and even the famous chant of Vietnam War protesters ("Heck no, I won't go!"....wait a minute, was it really "heck".....?) Of course, a happy ending, sprinkled with all sorts of historical quotes and tidbits. Viva Imogene!

"Balderdash" - Teddy Roosevelt
"Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired, my heart is sick and sad." - Chief Joseph
"A great oak is only a little nut that held its ground." - Abraham Lincoln
.....are just a few more. Enjoy!

There are some other reviews for you to read out there in cyberspace:
Try Bri Meets Books or 100 Scope Notes, both great blogs.