So many books...

Recently, I was on a reading frenzy. And there were so many great middle-grade novels that needed reading!

Some were reviewed for a Christian Science Monitor spring round-up.

HERE'S THE LINK.  
(Click if you'd like to know more!)

And here are the books. Loved them all. Can't wait to catch sight of young readers under a tree, by the pool, on a bus or a plane, sitting on the front porch, at the public library- reading all summer long!

 




It's Monday. (Is it summer yet?) What's everybody out there reading?

 

Bread!

That got your attention, didn't it?





I'm reading SUCH a good book. A book for grownups!  I usually read a lot of middle-grade novels, a handful of Young Adult, and even a smidgen of picture books.  My adult fiction reading has suffered. I'm trying to remedy that.

This was under my Christmas tree (Okay, I bought it for myself, but still...).  

 It's a short novel. It's hard to describe. But it's so very good.
If you don't believe me, check out this great piece via NPR.

On a side, non-book note:
I used to bake sourdough bread. Three loaves a week. Fed that starter every few days! They were delicious loaves, but once there were just two of us left at home to eat it, I stopped before I turned into a loaf. I miss that bread. Especially after reading this book.

Another non-book-related note: if you do love bread, you must have my new favorite thing. My friend Patty brought it to me as a gift and I immediately ordered a few, as gifts for my best foodie friends.

This is the bee's knees. Best thing since sliced bread.
Okay, you knew I was going to say that, didn't you.

https://www.beeswrap.com/products/bees-bread-wrap

Anne Tyler

Has a new book coming. What an absolutely gorgeous cover!

CLICK RIGHT HERE to read a super interview and essay from the Wall Street Journal about her and her writing.

Love this:

She treats her creativity as a leap of faith. She won’t read her reviews, worried that, good or bad, they will interfere with her work. Over her desk, where she writes novels in longhand, she keeps a quote from the poet Richard Wilbur, which reads in part: “Step off assuredly into the blank of your mind. Something will come to you.”



You might also like:

This, about her writing. 

And an Anne Tyler quote, from one of my very earliest posts:

"All really satisfying stories, I believe, can generally be described as spend-thrift... A spendthrift story has a strange way of seeming bigger than the sum of its parts; it is stuffed full; it gives the sense of possessing further information that could be divulged if called for."

Oh What Fun

I don't often have a chance to really and truly focus on fabulous picture books.
Not like the Olden Days of school librarianship when I'd read a book over and over, plan activities, share with teachers. Not even like reading aloud at bedtime to little ones, the same book begged for each night.

So it was a treat to get to review these. (My usual assignment is Middle Grade novels.) I adored each of these gorgeous books in different ways.

And I'm still thinking about Brownie.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2013/1216/4-fabulous-picture-books-for-the-young-readers-on-your-list


(An aside: it always cracks me up to see what some Cyber Brain thinks are "if you liked that, try this." Salted caramel brownies? Yummy, yes. But PLEASE. Do not eat Brownie Groundhog. Not even close to the same thing.)

THE SATURDAY BOY

You just never know when or how you'll run into a really good book. This one came to me via the author's cousin. But she didn't say enough about it or possibly I didn't pay attention, and I let it slip under my radar.

I did scribble myself a note, however.

Then I walked into my local library, and there the book was. In the children's room, on the New Books shelf.
Miraculously the title rang a bit of a bell. I brought it home. I sat on my deck. I read all afternoon.



A perfect, funny, touching story for boys. And we all know there just aren't enough of those.
THE SATURDAY BOY has the whiz bam and superheros to keep them reading until they get hooked on the story. By the time they get to the parts that left me reading tearfully, they won't want to put the book down. But girls will also love this book. I predict they will nod in recognition about the idiotic things boys in Middle School dare to do.

Really, our hero, Derek is a kid to love. He's funny, he's different, he's got a knack for getting himself in trouble. Climbing tall trees, markers on bathroom walls--that kind of trouble. Pulling a towel out of the closet and they all topple over. Fights in the hall. In other words, big trouble and little trouble.

But Derek can seem clueless about relationships. His buddy, Budgie, is no longer his best friend. His friend who's a girl has a certain attraction. But he can't quite figure any of this out.
Just like real boys.

There's a depth to this book that's more than just mean kids and bathroom jokes. Derek's dad flies Apache helicopters in the Army. He's stationed in Afghanistan. Derek and his mom, as well as his funny, full-of-life tattoo artist aunt manage to get through the days without him. Barely.

The relationship with his dad is particularly powerful. When his former friend Budgie hears Derek's dad has written him 91 letters he says, "Your dad was like a million miles away and you still knew what he was doing and he still knew what you were doing. My dad's just down the hall and I don't think he even knows my middle name."

Sadly for Derek, Budgie is not the kind of friend who'll stand by him no matter what. But Derek eventually, mostly, figures this out. I kind of felt bad for Budgie. I hadn't thought about it before but maybe he was the way he was because otherwise he'd be one of the ones to get picked on. After all, he was what my dad once jokingly called a "target-rich environment." 


Now here's a spoiler alert. Stop here if you don't want to know the sad part.



Derek's dad dies. But as far as a book about death goes, this one's head and shoulders over most I've read for middle-schoolers. Yes, it's sad. But there are so many good things to take from the way Derek and his mom handle this. There's support from his remarkable teacher. His friends are both awkward and kind. I hope David Fleming revisits these kids, or some who are equally well-drawn and interesting and fun.

Just a super book that I'm so glad I spent the afternoon with.

David Fleming's website is here: http://www.davidflemingink.com

Nice Blog

and not just because they liked my book! Though I really appreciate that, of course.

What I like about it is that when books are reviewed,  a favorite quote and the first line are included.
A good way to get a sense of the writing style and the novel's voice.

CLICK HERE for the review of Glory Be.

Here's a fun review of a middle-grade novel for summer, PIE.
(I also liked that one.)

Plenty more suggestions for good books where those came from. Have fun!