True...(Sort of) by Katherine Hannigan

True... Sort of by Katherine Hannigan

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


11-year old Delly is considered a bad kid by her family and teachers because of her behavior--but she doesn't really understand what is so bad about what she does. For example, if the weather is too nice to miss during the day, she simply skips school; when she sees a canoe on the river that she wants to ride in, she just takes it. Is that so wrong? She just understand doesn't why everyone calls her a bad kid...and hearing it over and over again starts to make her think she is a bad person through and through.

Things change when a new girl named Ferris Boyd arrives in town--she doesn't speak and won't let anyone touch her. Delly takes an immediate interest in her and decides that she wants to be her friend. She, Ferris, and Delly's younger brother R.B. end up spending a lot of time together in a tree house in the woods near Ferris's house. Being around timid Ferris and sweet R.B. help to make Delly more aware of her actions and the effects her actions have on others, and she starts to be not as much as a trouble kid as she was before.

I have to say that I didn't enjoy this book at all. As I listened to it, I knew that this was going to make it onto a list somewhere (themes of: 'bad kid' main character on a road to self-discovery, sibling rivalry/sibling love, making new friends/learning to get along with others, troubled friend with a troubled homelife, etc.)...but it's not that good! The first thing that struck me was Delly's ridiculous made-up vocabulary--some might find it charming, but I found it extremely irritating. I also didn't find Delly all that likable; she's bossy, acts before she thinks, and is wild. Finally, the fact that Ferris doesn't speak and the fact that animals seem to magically flock to her might appear to be related to an unsuspecting young reader. Even the ending of the book is unrealistic! I haven't read anything else by Katherine Hannigan, but I think I'll stay away from the rest of her books.



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Ten Miles Past Normal by Frances O'Roark Dowell

Ten Miles Past Normal by Frances O'Roark Dowell

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


When Janie was younger, her parents moved their family from a house in the suburbs to a 'wanna-be farm' outside of town. (It's a 'wanna-be' farm because it's so small, only has goats, and has a small area to grow vegetables.) The fact that their farm is 'wanna-be' doesn't matter to the kids in Janie's classes at school her freshman year--the fact that she lives on any type of farm is definitely weird to them.



Janie has a tough time adjusting to high school life at first; she seems to blend in to the point of invisibility. In fact, the only time the other kids notice her is when she has hay in her hair or goat poo on her shoes. She sits through lunch alone in the library because her friends have a different lunch period...and she pretty much drifts through her day until she reaches the classes she has with a friend.



Janie, however, doesn't give up completely; she and her best friend Sarah join an after school Jam Band (where she learns how to play the bass!), they work on an important interview project with the help of Sarah's awesome older sister, and she actually starts to make some new friends. Freshman year isn't looking as bad anymore...as long as she tries to forget about that popular blog her mother maintains about her family and the 'wanna-be' farm.



I enjoyed this book! I especially enjoyed how Janie has a strong sense of self and can see when a boy isn't as great as she thought he was when she gets to know him a little better--I think that is a great message for young girls. Those that liked this book might also like Itch by Michelle D. Kwasney.



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I, Emma Freke by Elizabeth Atkinson

I, Emma Freke by Elizabeth Atkinson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


12-year-old Emma doesn’t feel like she fits in anywhere—even her name is strange (‘Emma Freke’ sounds just like ‘I’m a freak’). She stands out in her mother’s side of the family because they tend to be short with dark hair, while Emma herself is tall with red hair. She thinks this probably has something to do with her father, whom she’s never met.



When she receives an invitation to a reunion for her father’s side of the family, she’s shocked. Although Emma’s mother tells her that her father will likely not be there, Emma is curious about this group of people she’s never met who make up half of her DNA. She decides to make the reunion trip—alone—to Wisconsin from her home on the east coast. Will she fit in any better than she does with her mother’s side of the family? Will they be nice? Will she regret the decision to attend this reunion for the rest of her life? Emma has tons of worries about whether she made the right choice to go.



This is a cute story about fitting in that I enjoyed very much. Emma is a very likable character with whom young girls will surely be able to identify. Those who enjoyed this book might also enjoy The Last Best Days of Summer (Hobbs).





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Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Moving Day by Meg Cabot

Moving Day by Meg Cabot

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


In order to create some sense in her life, 9-year-old Allie Finkle decides to create a list of rules to live by, including such rules as: ‘Don’t stick a spatula down your best friend’s throat’, ‘Never eat anything red’, and ‘You can’t take your rocks with you.’



This list is even more helpful to Allie when she finds out that her family is moving to a huge, old house across town. She doesn’t want to move!...even though a Dairy Queen is right around the corner, she’ll be allowed to get a new pet kitten, the girl next door is her own age and awesome (unlike her current best friend that she doesn’t like very much and who is known to cry over everything), and her new teacher is very nice. Allie thinks this new house is haunted and has no desire to move in there, despite all of the cool things that promise to be a part of that new life. She’s going to do everything in her power to sabotage the sale of her current house using her new book of rules!



This is a great book and I liked Allie right away. She’s funny, honest, and has a good heart. Moving Day is the first book in this series; read more about Allie in The New Girl . Those who enjoyed this book might also enjoy the Just Grace series (Harper) or the Clarice Bean novels (Child).





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Flirt Club by Cathleen Daly

Flirt Club by Cathleen Daly

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


This story is told entirely by notes and journal entries. Annie and Izzy have been best friends for nearly their whole lives. They keep up with each other throughout their busy school days by writing notes back and forth and leaving them in each other’s locker—and use code names: Annie is “the Bean” and Izzy is “Cisco.” Soon after they begin their eighth-grade school year, they realize that they are hopelessly lacking in the flirting with boys department, so they decide to start a secret club to hone their skills.

As the girls come up with ways to flirt, they practice on boys they like—with surprising results! They soon realize, however, that boys are a lot more complicated than they originally thought…and that balancing friends and boyfriends isn’t as easy as it’s made out to be.

Readers are sure to enjoy the glimpses into the lives of Annie and Izzy, especially because many of their notes to each other are so funny! For example, the Bean writes “Write me back if you can, my little pork chop” and Cisco writes, “Promise me you’ll feed this note to a llama as soon as you read it. PROMISE.” Those who enjoyed this book might also enjoy Only Girls Allowed (Moffitt).

I have to add that I was kind of shocked at what these girls were doing with boys in 8th-grade...Izzy made out "with tongues" and was "felt up" by the guy she liked; she was also at a party (the parents were out of town) where other kids in her class were drinking beer and got drunk (she didn't drink any beer--she just held a cup full of it). These kids are 13 years old!! That wasn't what I was doing at age 13, that's for sure...and I don't think I'm in the minority. Are most 13-year-olds doing this sort of thing these days? I hope not! This whole idea makes me sad. If these girls were in high school, I wouldn't mind so much...but 8th-grade? I just hope young girls don't read this book and think that this sort of stuff is what "normal" 13-year-old kids do.




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Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy

Words In The Dust by Trent Reedy

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Sweet and caring Zulaikah is the second-oldest girl in her large family. They live in a small village in Afghanistan—a country that places a lot of importance on marriage prospects for their children. For Zulaikah, this reality is hard to take because she has a cleft palate, which makes her less desirable for a match in marriage. After watching her sister get married to an older wealthy man, Zulaikah wonders what her life will become other than helping to raise her younger siblings and doing chores.



Things change completely when two things happen: first, when American soldiers arrive in their village, one of them notices Zulaikah’s mouth and offers her father the chance for her to have free surgery to fix her problem; and second, when she meets a former university professor in her village who offers to teach Zulaikah how to read and write. All of a sudden, her future is looking much brighter—but will her father allow her to follow her dreams?



This is an excellent book. It’s fascinating how different a teen girl’s life in Afghanistan is from a teen girl’s life in the United States—but there are also many similarities, too. Those who enjoyed this book might also like Where the Streets Had a Name (Abdel-Fattah) and Jungle Crossing (Salter).





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Out of My Mind by Nora Raleigh Baskin

Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This story is about 10-year-old Melody. She has cerebral palsy and needs help in nearly every area of her life--she isn't even able to speak. She stresses that, just because she can't speak or make her body do what she wants it to do, doesn't mean that she's unintelligent or deaf. In fact, she is very bright.

Melody tells the reader about her life at home and at school--where she's in the special education class and has teachers that usually assume all of the students in that class don't really need to learn. Things change a bit when she starts having inclusion classes, which are a couple of class sessions during her day that she spends with the rest of the kids in her grade with an aide.

Things really change for Melody when she gets a device that she can input words and phrases into (along with music!) that allows her to communicate for the first time in her life.

This is a very touching story; there were just some aspects of it that seemed unbelievable or inconsistent to me...her mom's character, for example. But that wouldn't keep me from recommending this to others. And those that enjoy this book might also enjoy _Anything but Typical_ by Nora Raleigh Baskin.



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The Genius Wars by Catherine Jinks

The Genius Wars by Catherine Jinks

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I was very much looking forward to this book and I found it to be pretty good. This one took a while for me to get into, just as it took me a while to get into the first two books, but it's worth it.



In this book, the third (and final?!) in the series, Cadel is trying to live a "normal" life as a university student (although he's still years younger than the rest of the students there) and as part of a real family (he has been adopted). Prosper English seems to be ignoring him the same way he is ignoring Prosper, and all seems well...



...until strange accidents keep happening that Cadel doesn't believe are really accidents. People close to him keep getting hurt or almost killed and Cadel is sure Prosper has something to do with this. He's tired of running, he's tired of hiding, and he's tired of worrying about those he cares about getting hurt because of him.



This was such a good story (but not as good as the first one--to me) and I can't believe that this is the final book. The ending doesn't tie anything up at all! Maybe there will be another book added because this story is NOT over yet. Assuming that there is indeed another book coming, I would recommend this series to anyone wanting to read an interesting, different type of series.



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Mockingbird by Kathryn Eskine

Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Caitlyn is a bit different from other kids because she has Asberger’s Syndrome. Although the kids she knows tend to think she’s weird, Caitlyn’s beloved older brother Devon knows that she can’t help disliking recess, most colors, and disruptions in routine (among other things). It seems like he’s the only person who truly understands her.

When Devon is killed at a shooting at his middle school, Caitlyn deals with his unexpected death much differently than others do; while others grieve for Devon, Caitlyn deals with his death in a rather matter-of-fact way—having Asberger’s makes it difficult for her to feel emotions as it applies to others. She continues seeing Mrs. Brook, a friendly school counselor who helps her better understand her emotions and Asberger’s. We see her slowly begin to grasp what it means to miss someone, along with what it means to have real friends.

This story is sure to touch the reader’s heart. Caitlyn is a likable character—along with her kind father, who tries his best as a widower to raise his now only remaining child. Readers who enjoyed this book might also enjoy Anything but Typical (Baskin), a story told by a boy who has autism.




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The Rivalry: Mystery at the Army-Navy Game by John Feinstein

The Rivalry: Mystery at the Army-Navy Game by John Feinstein

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Stevie and Susan Carol, both high school freshmen who have been writing special sports columns for publications such as The Washington Post ever since they won a writing contest, are invited to write about the annual Army (West Point) versus Navy (Annapolis) football game, which is special that year because President Obamba will be in attendance. Each of them is also allowed to get to know some of the players and coaches, along with learning about the heightened security measures that are going to be in place due to the president’s appearance. Excited about this opportunity, Stevie and Susan Carol plunge into their investigating.



Because Stevie and Susan Carol shadow the Army and Navy teams two weeks before the actual game, they are invited to attend their games against other colleges—which is thrilling to them. However, they notice (along with the crowd, coaches, and players) that the calls the officials make seem unfair, though there’s nothing much anyone can do about it. When unfair calls are made by the same group of officials at the important Army versus Navy game, Stevie and Susan Carol resolve to get to the bottom of it.



This is a story that has a little bit of everything: sports, mystery, a touch of romance, and suspense. This book is actually the fifth book in the Steve and Susan Carol Sport Mystery series, but reading books 1-4 isn’t necessary to understand the plot; in fact, this book stands solidly on its own. Readers who enjoy this series might also enjoy The Million Dollar series (Gutman).



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Librarian on the Roof! by M.G. King

Librarian on the Roof!: A True Story by M.G. King

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This book is just okay. Readers will admire the determination of the librarian RoseAleta, but it doesn't really excite me in any way.

When RoseAleta was hired as a new librarian at the Dr. Eugene Lark Library in Lockhart, Texas, she discovered that the library was very underused by the people in town (wouldn't she have learned this during pre-interview sleuthing about where she was going to interview?). The current staff seems generally apathetic, so she brings a new energy to the library personnel. When nothing she does-participates in parades, etc.-brings in children or adults, she re-evaluates the children's department and realizes that they need to update the furniture, computers, books, and more.

Of course, upgrades like these take money, and, of course, the library didn't have any money to spare. So RoseAleta endeavors to camp out on the roof of the library until 40,000 dollars is raised for the children's department. (Again, wouldn't she have gotten an idea of what the library's collection and budget were when she interviewed?).

All works out, happy ending, the library gets the money it needed to update the children's department, it is a busy place now, yadda yadda.

I understand that a suspension of belief is needed (maybe) for a story like this to succeed without having readers feel the need to ask questions like mine, but, like I said, I just can't get excited for this book.

I hope she got a raise after all she did for her library!



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The Other Half of My Heart by Sundee Tucker Frazier

The Other Half of My Heart by Sundee T. Frazier

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


11-year old Minni and Keira are twins…but not only are they not identical, Minni is white (she has light skin and red hair) and Keira is black (she has dark skin and dark hair). This difference was able to occur because their mother is black and their father is white. The girls never really gave it that much thought, but Minni begins to notice how some strangers treat Keira differently from her (in school, in stores, etc.), and Minni suspects that it’s because of the color of Keira’s skin.

The girls feel this difference even more when they visit their grandmother and enter a beauty pageant for black girls; the other girls competing tell Minni that she’s not really black because of the color of her skin. On the surface of it all, Minni knows that’s not true, but deep down she becomes confused and wonders if she is white, or black, or…maybe, a mixture of both?

This is a great story about how a girl tries to find herself as she enters adolescence, which is made all the more difficult because her sister’s skin doesn’t match her own. For more books about sisters that readers might also enjoy, try The Sisters Club series (MacDonald).

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Pop by Gordon Korman

POP by Gordon Korman


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Marcus isn’t sure about liking his new town, but he is sure about wanting to get onto his new school’s football team. This isn’t easy—the existing team is a tightly knit group that isn’t too wild about mixing everything up by adding a new guy.

When Marcus isn’t training on the football field, he is training at a nearby park—albeit by himself. When someone his father’s age shows up one day and starts helping him train, Marcus is skeptical at first, but quickly realizes that this guy knows his stuff. There’s something off about him, though: he never calls Marcus by his real name, he is consistently distracted, and he tends to forget (or ignore) practice times they set up together. What is the deal with this guy?

I enjoyed this book; Marcus is a likable character with a kind heart who doesn’t mean to get into trouble—trouble seems to find him. Readers who enjoyed this football story might also enjoy Football Hero (Green) or The Million Dollar Throw (Lupica).

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My (not-so-successful) 48-hour Reading Challenge Results

I tried to do as much reading and listening to books as possible for the challenge, but I didn't measure up very well next to others competing in this challenge. I broke down my reading time into what I read and when, but it's not very impressive. I suppose that it's okay for someone who had places to be for many of the 48 hours!

--Friday morning: 7:30-8:30--Read the [adult] book _House Rules_ by Jodi Picoult
--Friday morning during errands: 9:30-10:00--continued listening to _The Giant-Slayer_ by Iain Lawrence
--Friday afternoon during errands: 10:30-11:00; 12:00-1:00--continued listening to _The Giant-Slayer_ by Iain Lawrence
--1:15-3:15--continued listening to _The Giant-Slayer_ by Iain Lawrence
--Then, after all of my errands, I was cranky and didn't feel like doing anything but taking a nap! That's not very good for reading...so I lost a lot of time that way. After I woke up, I only read for another hour or so: 6:00-7:00--continued reading _House Rules_ by Jodi Picoult


Friday's total=6 hours


--Then, on Saturday, I had to work all day! On my long commute to work: 8:00-9:00--I finally finished _The Giant-Slayer_ by Iain Lawrence and then started right in on _Falling In_ by Frances O'Roark Dowell. (If I was already listening to an audio book and then I started another one, does that bypass the rule that I can only listen to one? I hope it does.)
--I tried to read while on the service desk, but that is much easier said than done; I kept getting interrupted or distracted by things going on in the department. I began _Redwall_ by Brian Jacques around 10:30 and only managed to read the first 10 chapters by 4:30. When I add all of the starting and stopping that took place throughout the day, I'd say that I only read maybe an hour and a half, total. Reading FAILURE!
--Breaktime at work: 12:15-1:00--I read a WWE magazine.
--On an errand and then to my parents' house: 5:15-6:30--I continued listening to _Falling In_ by Frances O'Roark Dowell.
--On the way home from my parents' house: 12:30-1:15--I continued listening to _Falling In_ by Frances O'Roark Dowell.

Saturday's total=5.25 hours

48-hour reading challenge total= 11.25 hours

Well...it's something to beat next year! Maybe I won't have errands for most of the day one day and have to work most of the day for the second day. Sigh.

The Giant-Slayer by Iain Lawrence

The Giant-Slayer by Iain Lawrence


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
It’s 1955 and everyone fears polio, a horrible disease that affects nerves and can lead to full or partial paralysis; a vaccine against it doesn’t yet exist. Laurie’s close friend and neighbor Dickie is suddenly struck with polio and must be hospitalized because he needs a ventilator (iron lung) to help him breathe. Laurie’s father forbids her to visit him because he’s afraid that she, too, will catch polio, but she visits him anyway. There, she meets another boy named Chip and an older girl named Carolyn, both of whom are also in iron lungs.

To help pass the time for them, she starts telling a story and adds to it each time she visits. Eventually, the three of them begin to see parts of themselves in Laurie’s characters and become very attached to them. Through the story, Laurie provides her ailing friends with a little hope—something they haven’t felt for a long time.

This is a very good book—it is titled The Giant-Slayer because Jimmy, the main character in Laurie’s story, is destined to slay a giant even though he is so small. The chapters alternate between Laurie’s realistic experience and the story she tells to the other kids. Recommend this to those who enjoy a bit of fantasy in a realistic story, much like the book No Castles Here (Bauer).

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The Music of Dolphins by Karen Hesse

The Music of Dolphins by Karen Hesse


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Told in journal format, this is a story about a teenage girl who is found in the ocean off the coast of Cuba by the Coast Guard. They name her Mila (Spanish for ‘miracle’) and discover that she has been living with dolphins for most of her life. She is placed into a special hospital/school where she can learn how communicate and behave like a human.

Mila’s progress is clearly documented in her journal entries; her entries start off very short with little vocabulary, then grow longer as she learns more. She likes her doctors/therapists very much and is happy where she is…but she also desperately misses the ocean and her dolphin family. At times she feels trapped living in the special house; she is always under someone’s supervision and unable to live freely, the way she did in the ocean. She has learned so much about humans, but will she ever really feel like she fits in?

This was a very interesting story. I think it’s remarkable that someone who lived wildly for so many years, not clearly remembering being around other humans, would be able to progress so rapidly with her speech and human behaviors. Readers who enjoyed this book about a wild child might also enjoy the classic The Jungle Book (Kipling) or Passager (Yolen).

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The Fast and the Furriest by Andy Behrens

The Fast and the Furriest by Andy Behrens


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
12-year-old Kevin feels like  he has a lot to live up to: his father is a famous former Bears player and his younger sister is a super soccer player.  Kevin, on the other hand, isn’t good at sports at all. Needless to say, his father is not pleased with him.

Kevin prefers staying in the basement with his video games and his lazy dog Cromwell.  While flipping through channels on the tv one day, Kevin comes across a dog agility competition.  He was about to change the channel when he notices Cromwell’s  reaction to the show; he appears excited!  Kevin is shocked by Cromwell’s behavior after this; Cromwell now seems to want to run around and jump through the tire swing in the backyard.  Kevin’s best friend Jack suggests that they find an agility class for them to join as an outlet for Cromwell’s energy.  Kevin is skeptical, but he goes along with the idea (despite the fact that his dad is adamant that dog agility is not a real sport).

This is a great book!  Kevin is a very likable character with funny responses to those who try to make fun of him for being so bad at sports.  Cromwell is entertaining, too.  Readers who enjoyed this book might also enjoy The Problem with the Puddles (Feiffer) and Dog Lost (Lee).

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My Life with the Lincolns by Gayle Brandeis

My Life with the Lincolns by Gayle Brandeis


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
In the year 1966 in Downers Grove, Illinois, Mina is convinced that she and her family are the Lincoln family members reincarnated; her father’s initials even spell ABE!  She believes, almost to the point of obsession, that she is Lincoln’s reincarnated son Willie, that her mother is Lincoln’s wife, and that her siblings are Lincoln’s other sons.  When her father’s interest in the Civil Rights movement grows and he starts attending meetings in Chicago (and sometimes he brings her along), Mina is sure that this is his Lincoln spirit shining through.

Although Mina is proud of her father for becoming so involved in social justice, she is terrified that his fate will be that of Abe Lincoln’s—that he’ll die if she doesn’t watch out for him.  As if this wasn’t bad enough, Mina’s mother grows suspicious of her father’s activities with others in the Movement, and people in the neighborhood who don’t believe in social justice are rude to her family.  Will things ever change?

This is a good story written for many reasons, the biggest of which is that it takes place in Downers Grove!  It was so neat reading about The Avery Coonley School and Busy Bee Bakery; about how Mina and her family would walk down Main Street together.  Although Mina is a hypochondriac who believes her family members house the souls of the Lincoln Family, she’s a very likable character who manages to figure many things out by the end of the story.  Recommend Pat Murphy’s The Wild Girls to those who enjoyed this book.

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The Princess Plot by Kirsten Boie

The Princess Plot by Kirsten Boie


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Jenna is tired of her mother always being so overprotective, so when the chance comes along for her to audition for a part in a movie, she decides to go for it without telling her.  All of Jenna’s friends are auditioning; why shouldn’t she? 

The movie people tell her that the role for which they are casting is the part of a princess.  Jenna doesn’t think that she’s very princess-like, so she can’t believe it when they tell her that she got the part!  She can’t believe that they didn’t even have her read any lines, either.  When she mentions this, the movie people say she has great “presence” and that is what they are looking for.  She doesn’t think that her mother will let her be in a movie, but, to her surprise, when she texts her asking if it’s okay, her mom texts back and tells her that it is!  With that, the movie people take her on a private plane to Skandia, the (fictional) country where the movie is being filmed.  However, Jenna soon finds out that there is no movie—and that she has become a part in a crazy plot involving the princess of Skandia.  Jenna needs to get home before anything worse happens!

This is a great book!  It not only is (mostly) realistic; it is also full of suspense, adventure, and survival.  Jenna is a very likable character who the reader will root for throughout the story.  Suggest this to those who enjoyed The Princess Diaries (Cabot), but warn them that it’s not all fun and romance!

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No Castles Here by A.C.E. Bauer

No Castles Here by A.C.E. Bauer


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Augie lives in a bad neighborhood in Camden, New Jersey.  Not only does he have to worry about avoiding the drug dealers in the rundown park on the way to and from school, he also must worry about the bullies in his class.  Sixth-grade is turning out to be quite a difficult year for him.  Things get even worse when he accidentally takes a book from a bookstore downtown.  Although Augie isn’t a huge fan of reading, he finds this book of tales fascinating.

When an ice storm hits the town in December, Augie and his classmates are told that their school has been damaged by the frozen plumbing system—damaged so bad, in fact, that it will remain closed for good, and they will all be split up into different schools.  Augie can’t believe that adults would give up so easily!  With the help of his teacher, his fellow chorus members, his Big Brother, and his mom, Augie fights to save his school.

This is a good story that has the tales Augie reads from his stolen book interspersed within the regular story.  Augie’s attitude in the face of his tough life will surely bring smiles to readers.  Readers who enjoyed this might also enjoy Finding Stinko (De Guzman) and Slam Dunk! (Robinson).

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