Book Talks

Please note, book talks go in descending order with the most recent on top. 

You can also view Book Talks from the old Library website HERE.

3/30/26

As we are wrapping up March is Reading Month, I have one more book to report on.  Looking for Smoke by K.A. Cobell is from the Young Adult March Book Madness booklist.  ​

​WOW!  This was a great book!  This murder mystery had me guessing until the last few pages.  It is set in Browning, MT (just a few miles from where I used to live) on the Blackfoot reservation.  It is told from multiple perspectives, including the killer's.  A high school girl has gone missing and no one has any leads about what happened to her.  When one of her friends is found murdered at a tribal event, people start pointing fingers at each other and the race is on to find the killer before another girl winds up dead.  

This book was very fast paced and I found it hard to put it down.  Just when you think you've figured out who the killer is, something new is revealed.  It reminded me of One of Us is Lying, but this was BETTER!

This book also sheds light on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis which is woven throughout the storyline. If you like murder-mysteries, I would 100% recommend this book.  Even if you don't normally read mysteries, this book is definitely worth a read.  Stop by the library today and check it out!

3/25/26

I recently finished the humorous dystopian book, Aisle Nine, by Ian X. Cho.​  This is a Morris award winner and one of our March Book Madness books.

Jasper ​is a clerk at the Here For You mart, a discount store with a portal on aisle nine that spits out demons almost daily.  Since the day that portals opened all over the world and demons popped out and killed a bunch of people, including Jasper's parents, Jasper has been alone. He can't remember the life he used to lead, or how he knows Kyle Kuan, his crush at the mart who seems to hate him.  When Jasper and Kyle learn that they are both having dreams about an impending apocalypse, they have to team up to find a way to stop the end of the world before Black Friday.  

This funny and action packed book will have you humming It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine) by R.E.M. as Jasper and Kyle fight demons, free prisoners of the shady corporation running the world, and fall in love.  This book is a very quick read and entertaining the whole way through.  Stop by the library to check it out!

3/24/26

I just finished reading the historical romance book, The Davenports, by Krystal Marquis.​  This is one of the young adult March Madness books.

This book follows four young, black women in Chicago in 1910.  Olivia and Helen are the Davenport sisters, born into a very wealthy family.  They are both expected to marry well and become socialites, but Helen just wants to work on cars in the garage with her brother, and Olivia finds herself drawn to activism in the era of Jim Crow and the Great Migration.  Amy-Rose is a maid in the Davenport house who wants to open her own salon in Chicago and be a businesswoman, but everywhere she goes, the color of her skin and her status as a single woman block her path to success.  Ruby's father is running for mayor and hoping to be the first black mayor of Chicago, but politics is expensive and she is trying to hide that her family has poured ALL their money into her father's campaign.  Follow these four young women as they find love and try to find themselves in this historical romance.  

If you are a fan of The Gilded Age on HBO, or Bridgerton on Netflix, then this would be a great book for you!  ​Stop by the library and check it out!

3/17/26

I recently finished the historical fiction/fantasy book, Westfallen by Ann Brashares and Ben Brashares.​

​Wow!  This was an intense book and a real page turner!  In this book three friends from 1944 find a radio, and in 2023 three friends dig up the same radio in their backyard.  They accidentally discover that they can talk to each other through time using this radio.  At first they just ask each other questions about their lives, but when one kid in 2023 tells a kid in 1944 about how WWII will end, it sets events in motion that change the outcome of WWII and cause the Nazis to win.  The kids in 2023 wake up and find themselves living in a horrifying new reality as they realize that the United States has become a Nazi country.  The kids have to figure out what happened, and how to fix what went wrong to save the U.S. and all the people they love.

This was a great book!  It was really fast paced and exciting.  If you like Alan Gratz books, historical fiction, WWII, or time travel books, this would be a great choice for you.  I highly recommend it!

Stop by the library to check it out!

2/24/26

Over the break I finished reading the romance book, Guava and Grudges by Alexis Castellanos.  This is also one of our March Book Madness books. :)

The first thing I have to say about this book is that the cover is TRULY unfortunate.  I was talking with some other school librarians about how a bad cover can doom a book because no one will even pick it up and give it a chance, and how some really good books have really bad covers.​  This book deserves a better cover!

In this book, high school senior Ana Maria Ybarra works at her family's Cuban bakery and dreams of going to pastry school in Paris.  Her parents have other ideas, her dad wants her to take over the bakery, and her mom wants her to go to college.  Ana Maria is secretly working on a scholarship contest to raise the funds for school in Paris, but she's having trouble with the social media aspect of the contest.  On a college visit in California months ago, she met and fell for Miguel, who she thought she would never see again...until he turns up at a party in her small Pacific Northwest town.  She is ecstatic, until she finds out that he is a member of the Morales family, her family's sworn enemy.  Migeul offers to help her with the scholarship contest, but she isn't even supposed to talk to him, let alone hang out with him... 

If you are a fan of romance, this would be a great book for you.  It has forbidden love, sneaking around, and rival families (ala Romeo and Juliet).  Fortunately, no one dies at the end of this one. :)  Stop by the library and check it out!

​Good morning!

I just finished reading the graphic novel, Black Heroes of the Wild West by James Otis Smith.​

​This graphic novel features three stories about the lives and contributions of three Black Americans in the Wild West: Stagecoach Mary, Bass Reeves, and Bob Lemmons.  The graphic stories are fun and interesting, but what I really love are the sidebars of information and the old photos from the 1800's.

​If you are a graphic novel fan, interested in the Wild West, or want to read something for Black History Month, this book is for you.  I would definitely recommend it!

Stop by the library to check it out!

Mrs. Howard

2/5/26

Last night I finished the realistic fiction book, Popcorn by Rob Harrell.  In addition to being a Schneider Award Winner, it is also one of our March Book Madness books.​

This book follows Andrew through a day in middle school.  Andrew lives with his mom and grandma.  Money is tight and his mom is starting a new job trying to earn more money so that they can get help for his grandma who has Alzheimers.  She bought him a brand new shirt for picture day (which they really can't afford) and he is doing his best to keep it, and himself, looking nice for school pictures.  ​Unfortunately, life has other plans for him and his shirt.  A bully, a flying ketchup bottle, and an exploding science experiment are all conspiring against his perfect school picture, and on top of that, his grandma has wandered out of their apartment and is missing.  Andrew's anxiety level has been rising all day and he is afraid he is going to have a panic attack at school where everyone will see...

This was a good book and a quick read, I finished the whole thing last night.  It does a great job of showing what it is like to have anxiety and OCD, without being uncomfortable to read.  Sometimes, I have a hard time reading books about mental illness because it raises my anxiety level, so I end up not finishing them.  This book does a good job of including humor to break up the serious parts, making it an enjoyable read.  Stop by the library to check it out and don't forget to fill out the March Book Madness Google Form if you do! :)

1/12/26

I finished reading the fantasy book, Our Infinite Fates by Laura Steven over the weekend.

This is a fantasy book that follows two people, Evelyn and Arden, who are trapped in a thousand year cycle of reincarnation and death.  In every life, they are drawn together, love each other,  and then one must kill the other before they turn eighteen. The book follows them in their present day lives where Evelyn is trying to break the cycle so that she can save the life of her sister Grace.  Then the book flashes back to other lives the two characters have lived and how those lives ended.  Evelyn doesn't remember most of her past lives, although Arden does, but he won't tell her why they are fated to meet and kill each other in every life.  Will she be able to discover why they have been cursed to repeat this cycle over and over, and will they be able to stop it?  Read the book to find out. :)

11/18/25

I just read the book Blood Red Road from the Dustlands series by Moira Young.​

Like the book, Under a Painted Sky, this book is also a Western.  ​​However, it's a Dystopian Western set in a post-apocalyptic future.  Like many westerns, this book starts with the death of someone the main character cares about, leading them to set out on a journey of justice and revenge. In Blood Red Road, Saba's world is changed forever when four horsemen in black kill her father and kidnap her twin brother, leaving Saba and her nine year old sister, Emmi, alone.  Saba is determined to rescue her brother so she sets out into the wilderness to find him.  Along the way she finds danger of her own, and meets some other characters who help her on her mission to save her brother before it's too late.

This was a fast paced and action filled book.  If you like westerns, dystopian stories, or you just like action and adventure, this could be a good book for you.  It is also the first book in a series, so there are more adventures to be had if you like this book.  Stop by the library to check it out today! :)

11/17/25

Over the weekend I read the western, Under a Painted Sky, by Stacey Lee.​

Our genre of the month is Westerns, so I thought I would give this one a try.  It definitely captured my interest and it was full of action and adventure. I wanted to know what happened next so much, I was reading it while cooking dinner on Friday night. :)​​

This book is about a 15 year old Chinese girl named Samantha Young.  She and her father own a dry goods store in St. Joe, Missouri where they sell supplies to people starting on the Oregon Trail.  When tragedy strikes and Samantha must defend herself, she flees St. Joe in the middle of the night with the help of an enslaved girl named Annabelle.  They decide to go west on the Oregon Trail, hoping they can hide among the pioneers and gold seekers.  They decide their safest course of action is to pretend they are boys.  As Sammy and Andy, they decide to travel with three young cowboys they meet on the trail. Trying to keep their secrets from everyone, especially their newfound friends, is tough on the prairie, especially when Samantha finds herself falling for one of the cowboys...

This book is full of action and adventure, with just a touch of romance.  If you've ever played the old game, Oregon Trail, and liked it, this would be a good book for you.  Samantha and Annabelle face dangers like a river crossing, lawmen and criminals, a stampede, cholera, and bad weather just to name a few.  This book is fast paced and exciting right up to the end.  I feel like the author wrapped it up a little too quickly, there were some major reveals that didn't get the time I thought they deserved, but other than that, it was a great book!

Stop by the library to check it out today!

11/13/25

I just finished reading the nonfiction book, Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer, adapted by Monique Gray Smith.​

This book has been on my TBR pile for a couple years now.  Everyone I know who has read it has raved about how good it is, and they were right.  

The author is an Indigenous woman, who is also a scientist in the field of botany.  She was told that the deep wisdom of plant and ecological information passed down from Indigenous cultures could not play in the same sandbox as hard data-driven science, so she set out to reconcile the two and see if the knowledge of Indigenous elders could be proven and explained in scientific terms.  This book is the result of that.  There is a wonderful blend of stories and traditions of Indigenous people combined with the science that some of those stories explain and represent.  The book is beautifully written and I found myself marking passages with sticky notes, something I NEVER do when I am reading.  There were so many parts that I wanted to look at again, talk to someone about, or share.  This is a book that makes you want to think about your life and your place in the world and how you can be a force for positive changes.

It would be a wonderful read for anyone interested in science, plants, ecology, environmental science, philosophy, or Indigenous culture.  

I think the world would be a better place if everyone read this book, seriously.  

Just read it.

10/8/25

I recently finished reading the book, Why'd They Wear That? Fashion as the Mirror of History by Sarah Albee, Forward by Tim Gunn (of Project Runway).​

This nonfiction book was REALLY interesting! :)  It was a mash-up of history from the last ice age to the present that talks about the history behind what people were wearing in every age, and why they were wearing it.  From make-up that contained poison, to shirts made of hair that were infested with bugs, to clothes you couldn't wash because the color would run, people have worn some weird stuff through the ages!  This would be a great book for fans of history, fashion, or just weird and interesting facts.  Plus it had tons of great pictures and sidebars with fun information.

This one is definitely a book I would recommend!  Stop by the library to check it out!

9/26/25

It's my first book talk of the year!   My goal is to be a reading machine this year and put out a couple of these each month.  

Yesterday I read the book, When We Ride by Rex Ogle.​

Full disclosure, I love this author.  I will basically read anything he writes.  :)  He has written several memoirs about his childhood and teenage years as well as a couple graphic novels.​​  

This realistic novel-in-verse is his first young adult novel.  It is about a high school senior named Diego who has lived across the street from his best friend Lawson since they were eight years old.  They are both only children who live with their single moms in a rough neighborhood.  They've been best friends for years, but now their paths are looking very different.  Diego is studying hard and working a job bussing tables at a diner, trying to get into college and improve his life.  Lawson is dealing drugs, partying, and getting suspended from school every other month.   Can their friendship survive their different paths and choices?  Read this book and find out!

​This was a great book that I read in one sitting, I couldn't put it down!  Stop by the library to check it out!

4/21/25

Over the weekend, I finished reading the nonfiction book, History Smashers: Earth Day and the Environment by Kate Messner.  

This is the latest book in the History Smashers series.  It talks about the beginnings of the environmental movement from the polluted cities of the Industrial Revolution, to the call for saving wild places and the creation of National Parks, to the call for clean energy, clean water and clean air, and ending with climate change.  This book was very interesting and a quick read.  It has text, photos, comic strips, sidebars and is generally presented in an interesting and easy to read format.  I learned about some people and events that I'd never heard of and got some more in-depth information about things that I did already know about.  I'd definitely recommend this book, and the History Smashers series in general.  Stop by the library and check one out!

4/2/25

I just finished reading the historical fiction book, Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai.

This novel in verse is based on the author's own life as an immigrant to the United States after the fall of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War.  Ha is a ten year old girl who lives with her mother and her three brothers in Saigon.  Her father was in the navy and has been missing in action for nine years.  At the end of the Vietnam war, American forces pulled out of Saigon, leaving Vietnamese citizens to wait and hope that the North Vietnamese army wouldn't take Saigon.  Ha and her family manage to get out of Saigon on a ship the same day it falls to communist forces in a barrage of bombs and destruction.  After weeks at sea, they are picked up and taken to a refugee camp and later transported to Alabama where they are sponsored by a family from the United States.  The remainder of the book shares the experiences of Ha and her family trying to learn English and fit into their new town.  While they meet a few friendly people, many of their neighbors and classmates are unwelcoming and cruel. Ha and her family persevere and find their way in a new country.  

This was a great book and I would definitely recommend it!  This was the all-time-favorite book of an NM student who graduated a couple years ago and I've been meaning to read it ever since she told me about it.  I'm glad I did, it was worth a read.

3/24/25

I FINALLY finished Sky's End by Marc Gregson.  

I don't want you to think that this book was no good, and that's why it took me so long.  It was good.  If anything, the author wrote a villain so successfully that I couldn't stand seeing him getting away with the things he was doing to the other characters, so I quit reading for a while. 

This book follows a young man named Conrad who lives on the floating island of Holmstead (ala Avatar).  Their world is a "Meritocracy" where the strong rise and the weak fall.  Conrad's father ruled the island until he was killed by his brother.  Conrad and his mother are tossed out of their home by his uncle to live as "Lows" in the worst section of Holmstead. When the island is attacked by the huge biomechanical beasts that plague the islands, killing his mother, Conrad enters the Selection where he is chosen by the deadly Hunter trade to be trained to kill the monsters.  Conrad hopes to rise through Hunter to become a captain, in order to challenge his uncle and rescue his sister from him.  Conrad will have to survive the beasts and his fellow trainees in order to succeed.  In the process, Conrad discovers that there is a bigger threat than he could have imagined, one that will turn their world upside down.

This book was full of adventure and exciting twists and turns.  It would be great for fans of action/adventure, fantasy, and dystopian genres.

Stop by the library to check it out!

Over the break, I finished the dystopian adventure book, Into the Sunken City by Dinesh Thiru.

This book was a cross between Treasure Island and Waterworld set in a dystopian future where much of the Earth has been submerged under endless rain and rising seas.  Jin and her sister Thara run their parents inn set at the edge of the ocean in Arizona.  Their parents are dead, their father was killed wrecking (deep sea diving for lost treasures in submerged cities) and Jin has sworn never to dive again since she is the only family her younger sister has left.  One day a mysterious woman named Bhili Bones appears at their inn with stories of vaults full of gold coins in the ancient Treasure Island casino in the sunken city of Las Vegas.  Jin has the mechanical dive suits needed to go on this quest, and the haul could set Jin and Thara up for life.  They gather together a small crew and go in search of gold.  Along the way they are boarded by a crew of corsairs led by the infamous Joao Silva who threatens to kill Thara unless Jin leads him to the vault in the submerged casino.  Jin will have to use all her wits and all her skill as a diver to survive.  Who will emerge from the sunken city alive?

This book would be a great read for anyone who likes adventure stories.  It was fast paced and exciting.  The parallels between this book and the Robert Louis Stevenson classic, Treasure Island are many:  

Bhili Bones = Billy Bones 

Joao Silva = Long John Silver

Treasure Island Casino and the title of the original book??? I mean.... 

The addition of the high tech dive suits, huge creatures living in the depths, and a dystopian future America sunken beneath the waves adds a fun twist to the classic tale.  This is also a March Book Madness book, so if you read it be sure to fill out the March Book Madness form for your chance to win a gift card.  

12-17-24

Last night, I finished the book We Are All So Good At Smiling by Amber McBride.

This is the second book I have read by this author.  I LOVED her first book, Me(Moth).  

​I also really liked this book, though not as much as the first one.  Amber McBride has a beautiful writing style.  Her books are novels-in-verse and are written very poetically, making them a great choice for fans of poetry and novels-in-verse.

This book is about a girl named Whimsy who is a Conjurer and a fae boy named Faerry.  They meet each other in a mental hospital where they are both spending time for clinical depression.  After they both go home they are drawn into the forest at the end of their street that seems full of magic and sorrow and threatens to hold them both and not let them go.  This book is full of fairy tale references from around the world and is full of magic.  It is, however, a book written as an analogy about the experiences of people going through clinical depression. The author's own experiences with clinical depression fueled this book, and she includes a trigger warning to readers at the beginning.  I found that the book was ultimately hopeful and beautifully written, but each reader would need to let their own experiences determine their comfort with the topic.  

I hope that you will give this author a chance.  Her writing style is unique and beautiful and she is definitely one to watch.

​12/9/24

I finished reading the short story collection, 145th Street: Short Stories by Walter Dean Myers over the weekend.  

This book by award winning author Walter Dean Myers is a collection of short stories about people living on 145th street in Harlem.  They are told from different perspectives, some are uplifting, others tragic.  This author has an award for diverse literature named after him.  He made his name writing books about people who were often missing from books for young people, and he paved the way for authors like Jason Reynolds and Angie Thomas to tell their stories. We have multiple books by Walter Dean Myers, I would highly recommend checking one out today!

12/2/24

I finished up the realistic fiction novel-in-verse: And Then, BOOM! by Lisa Fipps over the break. 

There were several other school librarians talking this one up​ at the conference I was at in October and I see why, this was a great book!!  It follows a middle school student named Joe.  He lives with his grandmother because his mom gets "the Itch" and takes off, disappearing for weeks or months at a time.  Joe loves living with his grandmother and they are getting by, until his grandma puts up the house as collateral to get his mom out of jail, and she takes off, causing his grandmother to lose their home.  Things go from bad to worse, one thing after another, until something blows up Joe's world, leaving him to fend for himself.  

This book may sound depressing, and I did cry, but it has a hopeful ending with Joe realizing that it is ok to ask for help, and that sometimes friends and neighbors can become your family, when your own family isn't there for you.  I would definitely recommend this novel-in-verse, it was a great book and a quick read.  It is also one of our March Book Madness books.  Stop by and check one out!

11/4/24

I finished reading A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall by Jasmine Warga over the weekend.  This mystery novel is one of our MS March Book Madness books.

This book follows middle school student Rami and his new friend Veda as they investigate the truth behind a missing painting at the museum where Rami's mother works. Unfortunately, Rami's mother is a suspect because she was working the night the painting went missing.  Add into the mix a floating girl who can't remember who she is that only Rami and Veda can see, a turtle who knows who the culprit is, and a race to find the thief before Rami's mother is accused, and you have this fun mystery story with a touching twist at the end.  It would be a great read for people who like a "who-done-it" mystery without scary or creepy parts. It was also a quick read, so it would be good for people looking for a short book.  If it sounds interesting, come on down and check it out!  :)

10/18/24

I just finished reading the Twelfth Knight by Alexene Farol Follmuth...finally!  To be fair, I really only started reading it a week ago, it's been languishing on the table in my living room for about 2 months now, just waiting for me to pick it up. :)

This book is loosely based on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and it follows our two main characters, Viola Reyes, the class VP who loves gaming, cos-play, and feminism, and who is not afraid to speak her mind, even when it earns her a reputation as an "ahem" difficult person. Our other main character is Jack Orsino, class president and prodigy from the local football dynasty who is looking forward to breaking records, winning the state championship, and heading off to college on a football scholarship.  Unfortunately for Jack, an injury takes him out for the whole season, his girlfriend breaks up with him for mysterious reasons, and he isn't sure if his college offer is going to be pulled out from under him.  Jack's friend suggests that he try the online game, Twelfth Knight, to pass the time while he's laid up on the couch.  Little does he know that the knight he teams up with and befriends online, Cesario, is none other than his real life nemesis, Viola Reyes.  If you know anything about Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, you have some idea of where this is going, if not, you'll have to read the book and find out.  :)

If I'm being honest, Viola was a little off-putting at first.  I kind-of didn't like her and I considered not reading the book, but I decided to give it a couple chapters, and I'm glad I did because I ended up really liking both Viola and Jack. I just needed a little time to get to know them (like they needed a little time to get to know each other).  I actually think that this is a book that will appeal to lots of people.  There is a strong sports storyline, cool gaming scenarios, romance, a strong feminist lead, and some good thought provoking situations that will make you think about how you view things that happen everyday.  All in all, this is a book I would recommend!

10/1/2024

I recently read the biography, Who Was Marie Antoinette? by Dana Meachen Rau.

This book is from the Who Is/Who Was series.  It tells the story of the Austrian Duchess, Maria Antonia, who was sent to France to marry Louis Auguste, the Dauphin (or next in line to the throne) of France.  She married him when she was just 15 years old, and she was crowned Queen of France at nineteen. This book also tells about the growing unrest in France during that time that led to the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror, and how Marie Antoinette was blamed for many of France's problems because of her lavish lifestyle.  Her life ended at the age of thirty-seven when she was executed several months after her husband, the king.

I really like these Who Is/Who Was books!  I like to read about interesting people, but I don't always want to read a 300 page biography. These give a short summary of someone's life in an easy-to-read package.  I'd definitely recommend these to other people!

If you are interested other books or movies featuring Marie Antoinette, you might try the book, Cake Eater or the Sophia Coppola movie, Marie Antoinette.

9/18/24

I got inspired to read this book, Popular by Maya Van Wagenen, because Ms. Gleason's class is reading memoirs right now.  :)

​

In this book, Maya writes about how she found a book from the 1950's called Betty Cornell's Teenage Popularity Guide and decided to try one of Betty's tips each month of her 8th grade year to see if they could help her rise above her self-proclaimed "Social Outcast" status.  From Figure Problems and Hair, to Popular Attitude and Personality, Maya uses Betty's tips to see if it is actually possible to become popular.  

I have to admit that I expected some silly and shallow tips from a popularity guide written in the 50's - and there were a few like "If you are going somewhere special..and feel that you just have to look glamorous, then try a little Vaseline or cream on each eyelid."  Maya then goes on to explain how that Vaseline made its way onto her glasses where it smeared and "melted to cover the entire lens." :)  However, there was a lot of advice that has stood the test of time such as, "..a pleasant personality means that you must be affable, considerate, generous, open hearted and polite..." and "...the trick is knowing how to adapt to changes and still maintain your own standards and your own individuality."  All in all, pretty good advice.  

I think what I like most about the book were some of the aha moments that Maya had while following Betty's advice like:

"I wanted popularity; I wanted other people to like me.  But it turns out most people are waiting to be discovered too."

and

"...a question keeps bringing me back to reality: Why is everyone so scared of one another?"

and

"Popularity is more than looks.  It's not clothes, hair or even possessions.  When we let go of these labels, we see how flimsy and relative they actually are.  Real popularity is kindness and acceptance.  It is about who you are, and how you treat others." 

Overall, I liked this book.  There were some funny moments, some touching moments, and a few cringe worthy moments too.  Best of all, Maya looked for Betty Cornell and found her, and Betty became Maya's friend and mentor; she even wrote the foreword to this book. I think I might check the public library to see if they have a copy of Betty's book. :)

1/16/24

Aurora Rising fans, I've got a series for you!  I just finished Illuminae, the first book in The Illuminae Files series.  This science fiction book is brought to you courtesy of the dream team of Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, the authors of the Aurora Rising series.  This series was actually written before the Aurora Rising books.

Well, this book was fabulous!  It's got humor, sarcasm, white knuckle adventure, spaceship battles, an evil galactic corporation trying to eliminate witnesses to their attack of an illegal mining colony and the massacre of its colonists (whew!), space zombies (technically, plague victims, buuuuut..they're space zombies), an AI system that may be homicidal, and a little romance.  I loved this book and I will be ordering the rest of the series. :)

Here's a quick summary of the book:

Ezra and Kady lived on a remote icy planet in what was technically an illegal mining colony.  A day after Ezra and Kady have a messy break-up, 4 massive spaceships of the BeiTech corporation attack the planet.  The survivors flee aboard 3 ships, the Alexander, the Copernicus, and the Hypatia, with the huge BeiTech dreadnaught, the Lincoln, in pursuit.  The AI system aboard the Alexander successfully destroyed the other 3 BeiTech ships, but it was damaged in the battle. As the little fleet flees towards Heimdal station, a 6 month journey through space, they start to realize that the AI system, AIDAN,  aboard the Alexander might not have all its circuits firing.  There seems to be a plague aboard the Copernicus. Aaanndd the fleet's leadership might be hiding things from everyone.  Ezra gets drafted as a pilot to defend them in case the Lincoln catches up, and Kady (a super-secret hacking genius) is infiltrating the fleet's computers to try to figure out what's really going on.   Will the fleet make it to Heimdal, will AIDAN go crazy, will Ezra and Kady ever see each other again??  Read this terrific book to find out! 

1/9/24

Over the break I read the book, A Work in Progress, by Jarrett Lerner.  This book is a novel in verse with some illustrations from the author.

This book is about a middle school student named Will.  When Will was in 4th grade a kid named Nick Fisher called him fat in front of the whole class and it changed Will's world, his self confidence and his self image.  Will drifted away from his friends and now tries to remain unseen.  He does a lot of negative self-talk and is really down on himself until he meets a new student who helps him see that everyone is a work in progress with worth, including himself.

This book was a quick read and it was a really honest look at some of the terrible things we tell ourselves and the ways we talk down to ourselves.  It is also about how we can start being kinder to ourselves and each other.  This was a good book, I enjoyed reading it and I'd recommend it!

12/14/23

I read A First Time for Everything by Dan Santat last night.  This is a graphic novel memoir of Dan's trip to Europe the summer between 8th and 9th grade with kids from all over the country.  

Dan is a quiet kid who tries to keep his head down and stay invisible.  Middle school had some brutal embarrassments that caused him to be afraid to try anything new or put himself out there at all.  On his trip around Europe he meets some other students and has some experiences, including meeting his first girlfriend, getting lost in Salzburg in the middle of the night, and going to a discotheque, that help him to come out of his shell and gain back some of the confidence that he lost.  

This was a really good book and it was a quick read.  Dan's experiences and feelings were easy to identify with and his illustrations had a lot of humor.  I would definitely recommend this one!  It is also one of our March Book Madness books. :)

12/13/23

Well I finally finished Chaos & Flame last night.  This fantasy book is by Tessa Gratton and Justina Ireland and it is one of our high school March Madness books.

Now, I don't want you to think that the reason it took me so long to read this is that I didn't like it...I did like it.  In fact, I read half the book last night.  I made the mistake of picking up the first book in a series I'd already read while I was in the middle of Chaos & Flame...6 books later and I finally finished Chaos & Flame.  Whoops!

This book is set in the imagined land of Pyrlanum.  We have three main characters:

Prince Caspian is the High Prince Regent of House Dragon and the ruler of Pyrlanum.  Caspian has had Chaos fueled visions since he was a child, including one that showed him his mother's death before she was murdered.  He has been told to keep his visions a secret, but his obsessive paintings of one girl with strange Chaos filled eyes since he was a child, and his erratic behavior have some questioning if he is fit to rule.

Talon is the War Prince of House Dragon and Caspian's younger brother. He has been fighting since he was a child in the war that broke out after his mother's murder.  House Kraken is his sworn enemy in this war that has consumed his life.  Talon wants to protect his House and his brother and is tired of all the fighting and killing.  

Darling was born into House Sphynx but she has no memories before her family was killed by House Dragon after being blamed for the murder of Caspian and Talon's mother.  She lived alone in tunnels under the city for years before she was found and adopted by House Kraken.  Her time underground caused her eyes to change and adapt to the dark so she must wear goggles in daylight to protect her vision.  When her adoptive father is kidnapped by House Dragon, Darling vows to kill the Dragon princes and save her father.  

Caspian, Talon. and Darling are sworn enemies, but fate has other plans for them.  

This was a good book, and the last half really sucked me in and moved quickly.  I would recommend it for fans of fantasy and adventure.

10/31/23

Just in time for Halloween, I have a book talk on the fantasy/mystery/thriller The Grimoire of Grave Fates, created by Hanna Alkaf and Margaret Owen.  

​

This book is actually written by 18 very diverse authors from across the YA writing universe.  Each chapter is written by a different author told from a different character's perspective, which makes for a fun (and occasionally confusing) read.  My favorite chapter was the one written by Randy Ribay, it was funny!

This book is set at the Galileo Academy for young sorcerers ( I know, you immediately think of Harry Potter, I did too.)  In this book, a very unpopular teacher is found murdered and everyone is a suspect.  Academy students with lots of different magical gifts race to solve the crime before one of them is named as a suspect.  

This book was a fun read, but I recommend reading it faster than I did.  With all the characters and perspectives, it got a little confusing when it had been a week between my reading sessions. :)  This would be a good choice for fans of Harry Potter, murder mysteries, and fantasy.

Up next I am going to start reading the books that are on the March Book Madness list! :)

10/10/23

I'm going to cheat again and do a book talk on a book I read over the summer.  

This one is called Man Made Monsters by Andrea L. Rogers with illustrations by Jeff Edwards.  HERE is a link to the book description from the publisher with a list of awards the book has won.

This book is actually a collection of short stories from Cherokee author Andrea Rogers.  It has a gothic horror feel to it with classic monsters like vampires, werewolves, and zombies (although brought to life in ways that feel new and fresh).  She also brings in Native American monsters like Deer Woman, as well as the evils of society such as domestic violence, racism, and war.  

The book follows one Cherokee family from 1839 to 2039.  Each chapter chooses a different time and family member and in a few pages gives us a glimpse of their lives and the horrors that shape it.  

This book was very good and really unique.  I've never read anything like it.  The author has a distinctive voice and style and the book leaves an impression.  There is also a Cherokee glossary in the back of the book which helps with the Cherokee language sprinkled throughout.  This was one of my 2 favorite reads of the summer and I'll be presenting it at the state librarians' conference next month.  

Stop by the library to check it out!

10/2/23

Alright, so I'm going to cheat a little bit and do a book talk on a book I read over the summer, but hear me out...  

Our October genre of the month is fairy tales, fables, myths, and legends and this book is a fiction book based on mythology, so I think this is a great time to share this book talk with you. :)

The Isles of the Gods is written by Amie Kaufman.  

If Amie Kaufman sounds familiar to you it might be because she is one half of the duo that wrote one of my favorite series: The Aurora Cycle. 

Aside from the absolutely GORGEOUS cover art, these books are all full of adventure and a little bit of romance. 

Selly is our main character in Isle of the Gods.  She has lived on a ship at sea for most of her life and she wants nothing more than to impress her father and become the captain of her own ship someday.  When he leaves her stranded in a port on one of the ships in his fleet she is obsessed with sailing north to join his fleet before winter storms make it impossible.  Instead she ends up stuck with a handsome passenger with magician's marks on his arms bound for the south.  It turns out he is their prince on a secret mission to sail to the mysterious Isle of the Gods to complete a ritual that will prevent an enemy god from rising and starting a war that could destroy their world.  

This is the first book in this new series and I can't wait for the next one!  If you are a fan of adventures on the high seas, books by this author, or myth and legend, this book might be for you!

10/2/23

I just finished reading the book, Throwback, by Maurene Goo. 

Senior Samantha Kang and her mom don't see eye to eye about a lot of things.  Samantha thinks that her mom tries way too hard to be perfect, and that she cares too much about what other people think.  Her mom thinks that Sam doesn't care enough about her future.  When Samantha gets nominated for Homecoming Queen, her mom is thrilled, but Sam couldn't care less.  Then Sam's beloved grandmother has a heart attack and ends up in a coma at the hospital.  When her mom suggests shopping for a homecoming dress to get her mind off it, they end up having a knock-down drag-out fight that leaves Sam standing in the rain waiting for a ride from Throwback Rides.  When the weird lady in the old car drops Sam off in front of her high school she wonders why she doesn't recognize anyone...until she ends up face-to-face with her high school age mother, in 1995!  She finds out that she has to fix something in the past between her mother and grandmother before she can return to the present.  To make matters more interesting, there is this boy Jamie that she starts to like, but how can she have a relationship with someone from the past??  Check this book out to see what happens!

I enjoyed this book!  It is like a mash-up of Back to the Future, Freaky Friday, and the Joy Luck Club.  I definitely recommend it!

9/12/2023

I just finished reading the book, The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway.  I know that some of you are reading this for AP Lit right now.  I'm going to try to read the AP Lit books with you guys this year so this is my first one. :)  

This book follows a group of friends from Paris to Spain as they drink and meander around from one bar to the next until they end up at the famous bullfights in Pamplona.  I hadn't read this book before although I read The Old Man and the Sea, another Hemingway book, when I was in high school.  I'm glad that I finally got the chance to read this since it is a part of what I consider to be a pool of books that get referred to enough that everyone should probably read them.  I also enjoyed the historical aspect of the book.  Hemingway was a part of the "Lost Generation" and this book is an interesting glimpse into those times.  (For a real life glimpse of Hemingway and his friends, try reading the nonfiction book, Everyone Behaves Badly (after a line from The Sun Also Rises).  That being said, I didn't like it much.  I don't find his writing style very engaging; there was lots of telling, not showing and some of the dialog was confusing (as far as who was talking).  I'm glad I had the opportunity to read it, but I'm not in a hurry to read it again. :)

I'll be interested to hear what you all think of the book.  

5/3/23

Last night, I finished reading the memoir-in-verse Abuela, Don't Forget Me by Rex Ogle.  This book was a finalist for the 2023 YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults.

I will start off by saying that this was a fabulous book! I also really liked his book, Free Lunch,  and this book continues his story with a focus on his abuela's (grandmother's ) role in his life.

This book had me crying after reading the 2-page Foreword, before the actual story started.  And last night after I finished reading it, I was trying to tell my husband about it, and started crying again.  

This book is a collection of the author's memories, written in verse (poems), about his abuela and how her love and support saved him from his abusive mother.  He wrote this after she started having trouble remembering things, even having trouble remembering him.  He wanted to preserve these precious memories of her forever.   I'm going to share a paragraph from the Foreword of this book because it will tell you everything you need to know about this beautifully written memoir.

"My abuela is the woman who encouraged me to read and write at an early age.  Who bought groceries when my mom was unemployed and we were living on food stamps.  She is the woman who offered her home to me when the violence at my mom's became too much.  Abuela is the woman who got me off the streets after my father kicked me out for being gay.  She told me if I wanted to be a novelist, then I should pursue it, that if I worked hard, I could accomplish anything.  By every definition of the word, my grandmother is an angel. My own personal fairy godmother.  Abuela is the only parent I've ever known who showed my truly unconditional love, kindness, and support.

And now she is forgetting me."

I highly recommend this book, especially if you read Free Lunch and liked it. Stop by the library to check it out today!

5/1/23

I finished the graphic novel/memoir, Victory. Stand! by Tommie Smith, Derrick Barnes, and Dawud Anyabwile over the weekend.  At the 2023 ALA awards, this book took home the Coretta Scott King Honor Award, the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults, and it was a National Book Award Finalist.

​At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico, runner Tommie Smith won gold when he broke the world record and became the first man to run the 200 meter in under 20 seconds.  He and fellow US athlete, John Carlos, raised their fists in protest of the treatment of Black Americans and Black athletes.  Their lives were never the same.  Their protest led to their expulsion from the Olympic games and a life-long ban from competition.  It also led to death threats, lost opportunities, and ostracization from their communities.

​This book is Tommie's story.  He talks about his childhood as one of 12 children.  His parents were sharecroppers and he mentions often in the book how much he loved and respected his parents, and he credits them with his work ethic and commitment to excellence.​  He became a star athlete in high school and went on to college where he eventually qualified for the Olympic team.  He also talks about his experiences with injustice and racism throughout his life that led him to decide to protest on the Olympic podium and how that moment changed his life and inspired others to stand for change.  

4/20/23

I just finished reading the historical fiction book Wildoak by C. C. Harrington.  This book won the 2023 Schneider Family book award for books that express the disability experience.

This book is about a girl named Maggie who is growing up in England in the 1960's.  She has been kicked out of 3 schools because she stutters and the school nurse from her latest school has recommended that her parents have her institutionalized  to have her "fixed" at a place rumored to tie children to their beds and starve them.  The only time Maggie is able to talk without stuttering is when she is talking to animals.  She convinces her parents to let her spend a few weeks with her grandfather in Cornwall in the hopes that her stuttering will improve there.

Rumpus is a snow leopard cub who is purchased as a birthday gift from the Pet Kingdom at Harrods Department Store.  Rumpus gets loose and destroys the woman's apartment so she pays someone to take him to the woods of Cornwall and release him.

Maggie finds Rumpus with his paw caught in a trap while she is exploring the Wildoak forest near her grandfather's house.  She wants to save Rumpus from the trap and the townspeople who are convinced he is a monster that needs to be killed.  Will Maggie be able to save Rumpus from death, and save herself from a future locked in an institution??  Read this book to find out!

4/12/23

I hope your testing went well today!  I just finished the biography, Star Child: A Biographical Constellation of Octavia Estelle Butler by Ibi Zoboi.  

This award winning biography talks about the childhood of Octavia Estelle Butler, the Nebula Award winning and pioneering black, female science fiction writer.  This book is written in a combination of poetry and prose with a few quotes from Octavia Butler herself.  It paints the picture of a shy, quiet and lonely girl with dyslexia who found refuge in the pages of her pink notebook as she filled it with stories from her imagination.  

This book was a quick read and the poetry by author Ibi Zoboi was beautiful.  This was a very interesting look at a woman who is a pioneer in a field dominated by white men.  I would recommend it for fans of poetry, biographies, or science fiction.  

4/10/23

Over the break I read the book, Spice Road, by Maiya Ibrahim.  This book is in the fantasy genre.

This book is set in a fictionalized version of an Arabic or Middle Eastern land full of sand and creatures of myth and legend like djinn, ghouls, and giants.  Sixteen year old Imani is a Shield, a warrior who battles these creatures with the help of a magical spice that heightens her affinity for iron, making her unstoppable with her dagger.  Imani's older brother, also a Shield,  disappeared into the Forbidden Wastes and is presumed dead.  It was discovered that he was stealing spice, which has brought dishonor to her family.  Imani discovers that her brother may be alive beyond the wastes, so she goes before the Council and asks to bring him home for punishment.  She is sent out with other Shields, including Taha, the son of the Grand Zahim, who only talks to Imani to insult her.  They set out on a dangerous journey to find out if her brother is alive and discover that the world outside their kingdom is not what they have been taught, and not everyone is who they appear. 

This was a very good book and I would highly recommend it for people who enjoyed An Ember in the Ashes or Rebel of the Sands.  

3/31/23

I just finished reading the funny romance, Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute, by Talia Bibbert.  This is her first book for teens.

Bradley and Celine used to be best friends, but now they just glare at each other and argue.  Celine thinks Brad left her to be a popular football (that's soccer to us Americans) player and that she wasn't cool enough for his new friends.  Bradley thinks Celine just suddenly dropped him as a friend.  

Celine is a delightfully sarcastic girl whose father abandoned their family years before to go start a new family and he hasn't been seen since.  She has a popular TikTok about conspiracy theories and is at the top of her class.  She wants to be a lawyer who will surpass her father in the field so she can make him sorry for leaving them.

Bradley is a good student and football player who has his OCD (mostly) under control.  He says he wants to be a lawyer and he loves how proud his dad is about that, but secretly, he wants to write science fiction books.

Celine and Brad both sign up for an Explorer program sponsored by a world-famous lawyer, and the top prize is a scholarship they both want.  After being forced to work together, they start to realize that there might be a chance to be friends again, and maybe more.

I really enjoyed this book.  I love British humor and sarcasm and this book has lots of both.  The author even included a glossary at the beginning of the book so us poor Americans can understand British colloquialisms.  It was delightfully funny. :)

​I liked the main characters and the banter between them is funny and the relationship between them is ​sweet.  I recommend this one!

3/21/23

I just finished reading My Fine Fellow by Jennieke Cohen.  This is a historical fiction novel set in 1830's London that was a 2023 Sydney Taylor Honor Book.

​This award winning book is set in an 1830's London where women have recently been given more rights and opportunities.  A new profession has emerged for Culinarians who create elaborate and delicious food for the elite.  Two Culinarian students, Helena and Penelope, meet Elijah selling pasties at a street market.  They are so impressed with his inventive flavors​ that Helena hatches an idea to train Elijah and pass him off as a "gentleman chef" at the Royal Exhibition as her final project for Culinary school.  However, Elijah is hiding something that could upend the project, plus there is a little romance brewing.

This book is a clear homage to My Fair Lady, right down to the characters' names.  However, within that familiar plot there are issues addressed like racism, classism, women's rights, and having friends who make it difficult to be friends with them.  

This was a fun book that would be great for fans of cooking shows, My Fair Lady, and Regency era books, movies, and tv shows.

3/1/23 

I just finished reading A Rover's Story by Jasmine Warga.  My cheeks are still wet from my borderline-ugly crying, so I think it's safe to say that I loved this book. 

It was so uplifting and sweet, while still having some cry-inducing parts.  I'm not sure how a Mars rover managed to be so, so human...that's one talented author right there!  Number 5 is Alive!  (Students, you aren't going to get that reference, but everyone over 40 will. :)  Google the movie Short Circuit for more info on that.  Think WALL-E, but older.)

Anyway, this book follows a Mars rover named Resilience, or Res for short.  We meet Res as he is being built in a NASA lab.  We see his world through his observations of the scientists (or hazmats as he likes to call them) that are working on him.  He comes to look forward to having two particular scientists named Raina and Xander work on him.  He likes Raina's clear, precise code, and that Xander talks directly to him, instead of acting like he can't hear or understand the scientists.  When Res meets another rover named Journey, he comes to understand that even though they have been built in the same conditions, they have different ways of viewing things.  Journey tells him that rovers must be logical, and that he shouldn't use human feelings like "hope" to describe things, since they aren't human and capable of feelings.  Res isn't so sure.  Res is eventually sent to Mars where he must battle dangerous dust storms and challenging terrain.  He knows he must fulfill his mission to bring another older rover back on line, and find something exciting enough to get the hazmats to bring him back home to Earth, otherwise he will be left on Mars forever.

I can't say enough good things about this book.  Even though it had some sad parts, overall it just makes you feel good to read it.  This is one of the March Book Madness books that we'll be voting on today, and I know how I'll be voting in that match-up.

I would encourage everyone to read this, especially if you are in the mood for a feel good book.  Two thumbs up from me!

2/27/23

I finished the classic fantasy book, A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin, over the weekend.

Ursula Le Guin is considered one of the great classic fantasy writers and she broke into fantasy at a time when there weren't many women in fantasy.  This book was written in 1968 and it is still a good read.  It has a definite "Hero's Journey" thing going on, and it reminded me of another classic fantasy book, ​The Hero and the Crown that I read the year I challenged myself to read every Newberry winner (you may remember that from the elementary library ).  

​This book follows a boy named Ged who discovers at a young age that he ​has great power and potential to be a wizard when he saves his village from an attack by crafting a spell.  After that, he is taken to the Archmage at the School for Wizards for his training.  Unfortunately, he is young and prideful, and in an attempt to show-up another student, he opens a door to another realm and allows a great evil to come into the world.  The rest of the book is the story of his adventures as he travels the world trying first to hide from, and then find and destroy, this evil.

If you are a fan of classic fantasy stories or a classic hero's journey adventure, then I would recommend this book to you.

2/24/23

I took advantage of our snow days to read the book The Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander.  This novel-in-verse is in the historical fiction genre

You probably know Kwame Alexander from his popular books, The Crossover, Booked, or Rebound.  In this book, he looked to the past in the West African nation of what is now Ghana for his inspiration.  This book is about a young man named Kofi of the Asante (Ashanti) people.  Kofi loves to spend his days swimming in the river and he loves spending time listening to his grandfather's stories about their people.  Kofi is often teased by his bigger and bolder cousin , especially in front of his friend Ama.  Kofi's friend, Ebo, convinces him to challenge his cousin to a swimming race to teach him a lesson.  Meanwhile, at the annual festival between the Upper and Lower Asante people, tragedy strikes during his older brother's wrestling match. The fallout from that match will change Kofi's life forever when he is captured and taken far away from his family and people to a castle on the coast with a door of no return.  

Kwame Alexander said that he wanted to write a book about what happened before slavery.  He said, " Every story has a beginning, a middle and an end.  I wrote this because people need to know that the middle was not our beginning.  I wanted to speak the truth about the history of African Americans, because while most of us are aware of the American part, it's time for us to know more about the African part, right?"

This was a good book!  If you like the author, historical fiction, or novels-in-verse, I would recommend this book to you. 

2/15/23

Last night I finished reading the historical fiction book, Freewater, by Amina Luqman-Dawson.  This book recently won the 2023 Newbery Award for best fiction for young people.

This book follows an enslaved boy named Homer who escapes the plantation he has been living on with his mother and little sister, Ada.  His mother goes back to get Homer's friend Anna and never returns, so Homer and Ada run into the swamp hoping that their mother will find them.  Instead they are found by a man named Suleman who takes Homer and Ada deep into the swamp to a maroon community of formerly enslaved people called Freewater.  Homer and Ada start to adjust to life in the swamp and their first taste of freedom, but they are worried about their mother, who still hasn't come for them.  When Homer discovers that their new home is being threatened, he and some of the other young people from Freewater hatch a dangerous plan to return to the plantation, free his mother, and save Freewater.

This was a good book loosely based on the real deep-swamp maroon communities that existed in the American South from the 1700's through the end of the Civil War.  I would definitely recommend this book, especially since it is an award winner, and it will be on our March Book Madness brackets. :)

Next, I will be reading the first book in the Earthsea series by legendary fantasy and science fiction author Ursula Le Guin.

2/2/23

Last night I finished up the fantasy book, The Stolen Heir, by Holly Black.  

This is the latest book in the Elfhame universe that includes the Folk of the Air series: The Cruel Prince, ​​The Wicked King, and The Queen of Nothing.  This book starts about 9 years after the end of The Queen of Nothing and follows the characters Oak and Suren who are now teenagers.  

Suren has been hiding from her mother and her mother's assassins in the human world, living in the woods like a feral child, while Oak has been surviving multiple assassination attempts and learning how to navigate the world at court.  Oak finds Suren in the woods and asks her to help him on a quest to the Court of Teeth to free his father, Madoc.  Suren is wary of Oak's motivations, but wants the chance to face her mother and the horrors of her childhood.  

As we would expect in Elfhame, there are secrets, betrayals, and dangers aplenty with characters who are drawn to each other, but can't trust one another.  Holly Black leaves us on a cliffhanger (as she does) and I, for one, can't wait for the next book in this series.

There are already three people on the waitlist for this one, so put your name in now! :)

1/30/23

This weekend I read the realistic fiction/romance novel, Counting Down with You by Tashie Bhuiyan.  I'm hoping that my reading slump is over!  :)

This book follows sixteen year old Karina in the spring of her junior year.  Her very traditional and conservative parents have gone to Bangladesh to visit family for a month, leaving Karina and her younger brother with their grandmother.  Karina loves her parents, but they expect her to be a perfect daughter. Study hard, be in the pre-med society at school and become a doctor, and definitely no dating.  

The trouble is, Karina doesn't like math and science, and she doesn't want to be a doctor, she wants to study English at Columbia University.  Any time she tries to bring this up, her parents get angry and tell Karina she is an ungrateful daughter who is a disappointment and that she is bringing shame on their family. Plus, Karina's younger brother seems to do everything right and he has no idea what Karina is going through.  After a lifetime of this, Karina has anxiety attacks and has resigned herself to doing what her parents expect, even if it makes her feel like she is suffocating in unhappiness. 

The day her parents leave, Karina's English teacher asks her to tutor Ace Clyde, the school's resident bad boy. Not only is Ace not what Karina expected, for some reason he tells people that they are dating and asks Karina to play along.  As Karina and Ace get closer, it doesn't seem like they are pretending any more.  As the days count down until Karina's parents return, she has to decide if she is going to confront her parents about what she wants for her life, or allow them to make all her decisions now and in the future.

I really liked this book.  It has a sweet and sometimes funny romance between Karina and Ace, but even more than a romance book, it is about believing you have a right to be seen and be happy.  I would definitely recommend it!

1/27/23

Well FINALLY, after 3 months I have finished this book.  I have to admit that I have been in a reading slump.  I wanted to read this book, Fools Crow by James Welch, but I had a hard time getting into it, and so I just let it sit on my end table at home and ignored it.  

Then a week or two ago I decided that I'd better get it read, so I committed to reading 2 chapters a night.  It was slow starting, but once I got into it a bit more, I started getting interested in the story and before I knew it, I was anxious to see what was going to happen to the characters.  I ended up really liking it, so I'm glad I stuck with it and gave it a chance.

​One of the reasons I wanted to read this book is that I used to live in the area where the book is set, and I know people with the same names as some of the characters in the book.

This book is written by James Welch, a member of the Blackfeet Nation, and it is set in Montana during the late 1800's.  This book follows one band of the Blackfeet during a time when white soldiers and settlers were moving onto Blackfeet land and the tribe was trying to decide how they were going to deal with this encroachment. Some members wanted to cooperate and befriend the whites, others wanted to just be left alone, and still others wanted to fight and drive the white settlers and soldiers away.   The main character in this book is Fools Crow and we first meet him as a teenager going on a raid of the Crow people.  We follow his journey as a warrior, hunter, and medicine man, who eventually has a vision that shows him the horrors that will befall his people.  This book is subtle, but as the characters unfold, it is really effective at showing the confusion, anger, pain, and horror of a people who see their way of life slipping away, and being taken away by force, and their struggle to find hope and go on as they begin to realize that their lives and tribe will never be the same. 

I would recommend this book, and would also recommend that you press forward through the slow beginning (unlike me) until the story starts to pick up, because it is definitely worth reading.

1/9/23

I just finished reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie.  

This realistic fiction book is about Junior Spirit, a freshman in high school who decides to leave the high school on the Spokane Indian Reservation and transfer to a nearby non-reservation, all-white school where he thinks he will have more opportunities.  Junior deals with the backlash from his best friend and his community who think he is betraying the Indian community by choosing to go to school (and play basketball) for a rival non-Indian school.  Junior is also dealing with things in his personal life such as an alcoholic father who he loves but can't count on, a sister who lives in the basement until she runs off to Montana to marry someone she just met, and a best friend who is beaten by his father and tends to solve all his problems with his fists.  

This book is funny, sad, and real.  It is a great book with characters who are imperfect, but doing the best that they can and trying to navigate the hurdles in their lives in a way that makes you root for them.  I highly recommend this book.

10/11/22

I finished reading the book, Cake Eater by Allyson Dahlin last night.  This book is a historical fiction meets futuristic dystopian novel

What if Marie Antoinette and King Louis lived in the palace of Versailles...but it was the year 3070 and a climate disaster and nuclear war had left most of France a bleak and toxic wasteland?  This is the world that Marie finds herself in when she is sent from her home in Austro (Austria) to the Franc (French) Kingdom to marry the heir to the throne, Louis.  She is an online influencer who loves fashion and parties.  But she soon discovers that the luxury and high tech world of Versailles is not the world that most of her kingdom lives in, and the carefully crafted image of France that she is allowed to see is all a lie.  Will she and Louis be able to help their country before it is too late?

This book takes the real people and events of Versailles and the French Revolution and gives them a futuristic spin with a heartbreaking and unexpected ending.  If you liked Sofia Coppola's movie Marie Antoinette, then you should give this book a try. 

Come on down and check it out!

10/10/22

I just finished reading the nonfiction book, What Were the Salem Witch Trials by Joab Holub.

​I thought this book would be a good one to read during the month of October.  This book tells about the real events of the witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts during 1692 and 1693.  During this time about 200 people were falsely accused of witchcraft.  Five died in jail and twenty were executed even though they were innocent.  This book gives a brief overview of the trials and it is a good starter book for anyone who is interested in these events.  I am a fan of the WhoHQ books.  I love that you can get some interesting info in a small package.  They are great if you are curious about a person or topic, and want to know more, but don't want to commit to a book that is several hundred pages. :)

Stop in to check it out!

10/6/22

I know my book signature says I am reading Cake Eater (and I am, I'm almost done), but I took a break to read the book The Good Braider by Terry Farish.  This novel in verse tells the story of Viola, a girl from South Sudan whose family lives in the village of Juba.  Her village is occupied by soldiers from the north and they live in constant fear of violence.  I don't want to give away the events of the story, but Viola and her family experience the horrors and losses of war in their attempt to flee Sudan for the United States.  This book tells of their lives in Juba, their flight to Cairo, their time waiting for permission to enter the US, and their adjustment to life in the US. They are a part of a Sudanese community in the U.S. and Viola struggles with feeling that she is no longer of the Sudan, nor of the U.S.  

This was a very good book and a quick read.  I would definitely recommend it!

Have a great day!

Mrs. Howard

9/12/22

 I just finished reading the nonfiction book, Flesh and Blood So Cheap by Albert Marrin.  This book was a National Book Award Finalist.  

This book recounts the events leading up to the Triangle Fire, the second deadliest workplace fire in American history, aside from the attacks on September 11, 2001.  This book doesn't just describe the events of the fire, although it does that so well that I was sobbing for about 10 pages, it also describes the people working in the Triangle factory and why they were working in such dangerous conditions.  

It also describes their efforts to unionize and the treatment they received including being thrown in jail or sent to Blackwell's workhouse (a notoriously bad place described in great detail in the book, Ten Days a Madwoman. See what I did there? :)

This book even describes how organized crime infiltrated the unions following the Triangle fire and their negative influence in the garment industry in New York.  Finally it tells about the fall of the garment industry in the US and how sweatshops for clothing manufacturing sprang up in other places around the globe.

This book was very well written and very interesting, more so than I thought it would be.  I would recommend it for: history buffs, people interested in women's rights, people interested in the history of unions in the US, or people who just want to learn more about the Triangle fire and how it led to the safety regulations we take for granted today including fire drills, panic bars on doors, and exit signs.

If this book sounds interesting, stop down to the library to check it out!