Garth Nix

FTC Disclosure:  I received an advance reader’s copy of this book from the Amazon Vine program in exchange for an honest review.

A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix

Summary: 

Sarah Pennypacker

FTC Disclosure:  I received an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book from the Amazon Vine program in exchange for an honest review.

Summer of the Gypsy Moths by Sarah Pennypacker

Summary:

Stella loves living with Great-aunt Louise in her big old house near the water on Cape Cod for many reasons, but mostly because Louise likes routine as much as she does, something Stella appreciates since her mom is, well, kind of unreliable. So while Mom “finds herself,” Stella fantasizes that someday she’ll come back to the Cape and settle down. The only obstacle to her plan? Angel, the foster kid Louise has taken in. Angel couldn’t be less like her name—she’s tough and prickly, and the girls hardly speak to each other.

But when tragedy unexpectedly strikes, Stella and Angel are forced to rely on each other to survive, and they learn that they are stronger together than they could have imagined. And over the course of the summer they discover the one thing they do have in common: dreams of finally belonging to a real family.

I love Sarah Pennypacker’s Clementine series.  I was curious about this book which is rather darker and targets a slightly older reader.

I don’t want to give too much away, but if you are an adult about to read this book, be sure to suspend disbelief before you start reading.  The girls deal with the tragedy in such a way that doesn’t really seam believable.  But then four young children running away and living in a box car doesn’t seem believable either.  (I love The Box Car Children by the way.)

What I liked about the book:  I really liked the characters.  Angel is prickly, but lovable. I really loved Stella. You can tell that she wants to love her mother, but that deep down she knows her mother is a flake. I really felt for Stella. She doesn’t have many friends and all she wants is order in her life. I found her addiction to Hints by Heloise endearing. I liked how Pennypacker made her seem older than her years while at the same time giving the reader glimpses of the young girl searching for a home.  I enjoyed reading about how the girls spent their summer taking care of the cabins and going about their day to day activities. At times it was almost possible to forget that tragedy had struck early in the story.  (Though every thing does keep coming back to that one event.)

What I didn’t like about the book:  I can’t really think of anything I didn’t like. Some readers (parents) will not like the choices the girls made when tragedy struck.  It is a tad bit callous, but overall the story is very clean read.  There is no drugs, sex, or violence and it has somewhat of an after school special (for those of you who are old enough to remember those) happy ending.

This is a book I can easily recommend to my older readers (especially the girls.)  I have added it to my list of books to order for the school library.

Recommended for 4th Grade and up!

Reading Level:  Not an AR book as of May 17, 2012

Mrs. Archer’s Rating:  5 of 5!

Wife 22

FTC Disclosure:  I received an advance copy of this book from the Amazon Vine program in exchange for an honest review.

Wife 22 by Melanie Gideon

Summary:  Maybe it was those extra five pounds I’d gained. Maybe it was because I was about to turn the same age my mother was when I lost her. Maybe it was because after almost twenty years of marriage my husband and I seemed to be running out of things to say to each other.
 
But when the anonymous online study called “Marriage in the 21st Century” showed up in my inbox, I had no idea how profoundly it would change my life. It wasn’t long before I was assigned both a pseudonym (Wife 22) and a caseworker (Researcher 101).
 
And, just like that, I found myself answering questions.

7. Sometimes I tell him he’s snoring when he’s not snoring so he’ll sleep in the guest room and I can have the bed all to myself.
61. Chet Baker on the tape player. He was cutting peppers for the salad. I looked at those hands and thought, I am going to have this man’s children.
67. To not want what you don’t have. What you can’t have. What you shouldn’t have.
32. That if we weren’t careful, it was possible to forget one another.
 
Before the study, my life was an endless blur of school lunches and doctor’s appointments, family dinners, budgets, and trying to discern the fastest-moving line at the grocery store. I was Alice Buckle: spouse of William and mother to Zoe and Peter, drama teacher and Facebook chatter, downloader of memories and Googler of solutions.
 
But these days, I’m also Wife 22. And somehow, my anonymous correspondence with Researcher 101 has taken an unexpectedly personal turn. Soon, I’ll have to make a decision—one that will affect my family, my marriage, my whole life. But at the moment, I’m too busy answering questions.

As it turns out, confession can be a very powerful aphrodisiac.

Some people have compared this book to Bridget Jones’ Diary.  I must confess I’ve never read that book, but what I do know is this is a great chick lit, summer beach read. Actually, I think it’s just an all around good read.

What I liked about the book:  It’s a quick entertaining read.  If I hadn’t had to work I could have read this book in one day.  In fact this morning, my husband had to remind me that if I didn’t stop reading and head to school, I was going to be late. I liked that Alice seemed very real – very believable. I didn’t always like her choices. There was a while that I was worried about what her ultimate choices would be.  The book takes a twist that might be surprising for some. I actually figured it out and was very pleased with the ending.  I don’t want to give any spoilers so I won’t go into details about the twist. I liked how we see Alice’s answers to the survey before we see what the questions are.  The questions are actually included at the end of the book, but I didn’t realize that until I got to the very end.  I recommend that you don’t skip to the end to read the questions. It’s rather fun trying to guess them based on Alice’s answers.

What I didn’t like about the book:  I have to admit that books about marital trouble usually don’t appeal to me, but I’m glad I read this book. It was an engaging read – a very refreshing debut novel. I look forward to seeing more of Gideon’s work.

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FTC Disclosure:  I received an advance copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

A Deadly Grind by Victoria Hamilton

Summary:

When vintage cookware and cookbook collector Jaymie Leighton spies an original 1920s Hoosier brand kitchen cabinet at an estate auction, it’s love at first sight. Despite the protests of her sister that the 19th-century yellow-brick house they share in Michigan is already too cluttered with Jaymie’s “junk,” she successfully outbids the other buyers and triumphantly takes home her Hoosier.

But that night on the summer porch where they’ve left the Hoosier to be cleaned up, a man is murdered, struck on the head with  the steel meat grinder that is part of the cabinet. Who is this stranger—and what was he doing on their porch? Does his death have anything to do with the Hoosier?

As the police struggle to determine the man’s identity, Jaymie can’t help doing a little digging on her own, accompanied by her three-legged Yorkie Poo, Hopalong. But in her bid to uncover the truth about the hidden secrets of the Hoosier, Jaymie may be the one who ends up going, going…gone.

Anyone who knows me knows I love mysteries and I love antique/vintage items.  My own kitchen has several treasures that are from my Granny’s kitchen.  I don’t use them because I’m afraid my teen age boys will shatter them.   When I first read the description of this new series, I was sure this would be a good reading match for me. I was right!

What I liked about the book: It is a very well written quick read.  I didn’t want to put the book down. I also connected with the story because of the auction. (I worked for an auction company for extra spending money when I was in college. Of course, I often spent all my earnings at the auctions I was working.)  The story starts with Jaymie and her sister attending an estate auction.  The mystery begins right away when Jaymie overhears a furtive conversation about a valuable button.  The author does a great job with character development.  She sets a strong foundation at the beginning of the book and continues to build on it throughout the story. Jaymie is a strong female character.  And though, like most cozy sleuths she does poke her nose into the police investigation she’s really not a ditzy character that takes unbelievable chances. She’s very well grounded.  I enjoyed that there were no “annoying characters” in this story. You know what I mean.  Many mysteries have a character that whose only job in the story is to be obnoxious and try to make things difficult for the heroine.  I guess I find those characters so annoying because I know too many of them in real life. The author does briefly introduce us to one character that I’m sure will be “that annoying character” in future books. But I’m sure Jaymie will be able to handle her just fine.  And finally I loved that recipe makeover included at the end of the book. It was nice to the original recipe alongside the modernized version.

What I didn’t like about the book: I LOVED it all!

I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves mysteries and vintage things, especially vintage kitchen items.  I can hardly wait for the next book in the series.

Victoria Hamilton is a pseudonym for national bestselling author Donna Lee Simpson, who is also a collector of vintage cookware and recipes.  If you would like to win a copy of this book visit Debbie’s Book Bag.She has posted a review and is also offering a finished copy of the book to one lucky winner.

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What is Children’s Book Week?

Established in 1919, Children’s Book Week is the longest-running literacy initiative in the country. Each year, books for young people and the joy of reading are feted for a full week with author and illustrator appearances, storytelling, parties, and other book-related events at schools, libraries, bookstores, museums, and homes from coast to coast!

For more information please visit: http://www.bookweekonline.com/Children’s Book week is one of my favorite times of the year. I plan lots of fun activities for the students in the library.  The main reason I attend the Texas Book Festival (Colorado doesn’t have one, so I get to visit Texas every year) is so that I can get autographed books to give away as prizes to the students. While I don’t have any autographed books for this hop, I am giving away three really great books: A Ball for Daisy, Nancy Clancy, and The Alchemyst.

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There will be three winners.  All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on the blog post telling me your favorite children’s book. Be sure to include your contact info in case you are the winner.  The winners will be drawn randomly, with the first winner getting first choice and so on.

Happy Reading.

Check out one of these blogs for a complete list of blogs participating:

Audio

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos

From Goodreads:  Dead End in Norvelt is the winner of the 2012 Newbery Medal for the year’s best contribution to children’s literature and the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction!

Melding the entirely true and the wildly fictional, Dead End in Norvelt is a novel about an incredible two months for a kid named Jack Gantos, whose plans for vacation excitement are shot down when he is “grounded for life” by his feuding parents, and whose nose spews bad blood at every little shock he gets. But plenty of excitement (and shocks) are coming Jack’s way once his mom loans him out to help a fiesty old neighbor with a most unusual chore—typewriting obituaries filled with stories about the people who founded his utopian town. As one obituary leads to another, Jack is launced on a strange adventure involving molten wax, Eleanor Roosevelt, twisted promises, a homemade airplane, Girl Scout cookies, a man on a trike, a dancing plague, voices from the past, Hells Angels . . . and possibly murder. Endlessly surprising, this sly, sharp-edged narrative is the author at his very best, making readers laugh out loud at the most unexpected things in a dead-funny depiction of growing up in a slightly off-kilter place where the past is present, the present is confusing, and the future is completely up in the air.

Every year as the time approaches for the announcements of the Newbery winners I get all excited.  Sometimes, after the announcement I’m still excited.  Sometimes, I’m not so excited.  This year, I was neither. I had not yet read Dead End in Norvelt when the winners had been announced.  Therefore I reserved my reaction until I had a chance to read the book.

What I liked about the book:  It’s historical fiction (not too far in the past).  Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres.  Jack is a likeable character. I really liked Ms. Volker. She was quite the feisty older lady.  It had a bit of mystery and if you’ve been following my blog you know how I feel about mysteries.  The audio version is read by the author. I really like it when that happens.  Having the author read the book cuts down on any “missed translations” from the written to spoken word. When the author reads the book it gives the audio version a bit more authenticity.

What I didn’t like about the book:  Personally, I didn’t care for many of the adults in the book. (With the exception of Ms. Volker.) Jack’s parents are not exactly fighting, but they do disagree on a few things. Jack gets caught in the middle and even gets grounded for doing what one of them told him to do.  The main thing I didn’t like about this book – . (And I’m sure I’ll get lots of negative feed back for this.  People seem to think if a book is an award winning book then you are not allowed to NOT like it.) – is that it won the Newbery Award. It was JUST an ok book. Not a bad book, but certainly not comparable to such outstanding Newbery winners like The Giver, Maniac Magee, Holes or The Graveyard Book. To be honest, I’m not sure that my students will actually bother to read the book. It’s not a very exciting read and there doesn’t really seem to be a purpose to the book.  Newbery books should be outstanding works of children’s literature that will actually appeal to children.

Of course, I purchased it for the library. I think it’s important for students to be have access to award winning books, even if I don’t agree that they should have won the award.  Who knows, maybe my students will like the book.

Recommended for 3rd Grade and up.

AR Book level:  5.7

Mrs. Archer’s rating: 3 of 5.

In this monthly book exchange, we check out each others’ wish lists, and then send out & receive books as Random Acts of Kindness!
Read more about it HERE!

It’s been a while since I was able to participate.  Next week is National Children’s Book Week.  In honor of that celebration, today I gifted an ebook version of one my favorite children’s series.   You can find my wish list here.

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Thank you to everyone who commented on Jackie’s post.  The winner of a copy of Redheart via random drawing is Jolene.  Jolene I will be getting your book to you in the next few days.

From the back of the book:

Nancy Clancy has everything she needs to be a super sleuth (that’s a fancy word for detective): She has a glamorous magnifying glass complete with rhinestones, a totally professional pink trench coat, and a sleuthing partner with awesome code-breaking skills — her best friend, Bree.

   Now all she needs is a good mystery to solve.  But when crime strikes right in the middle of her classroom, will Nancy have what it takes to crack the case?

Fancy Nancy is back! Only this time she’s the star of a chapter book!  For ages 7-10 this is great step up for young readers who love Fancy Nancy but are looking for more challenging reads.

What I liked about the book:  It’s Fancy Nancy. I LOVE Fancy Nancy.  It’s a mystery.  I love mysteries.  It’ a great pre-cursor to introducing younger readers to the classic Nancy Drew mysteries. Just like in the popular Fancy Nancy picture books, Nancy continues to introduce readers to new vocabulary words. This is not only a fun but an educational read as well.  Readers will have a chance at breaking a secret code and using their own detective skills to see if they can solve the mystery of the missing blue marble.

What I didn’t like about the book:  I liked it all. However, if you are a fan of Robin Preiss Glasser’s beautiful illustrations, you should be warned that the illustrations take a back seat in this book.  As a chapter book, the focus is more on the story, while in the picture books the story and the illustrations work together to create a wonderful book.

Recommended for 1st – 3rd Grade (or anyone who enjoys mysteries/kids books and would like a quick read.)

AR Level:  Not an Accelerated Reader Book as of April 27, 2012

Mrs. Archer’s rating:  5 of 5!  I will be ordering it for our school library.

The Giver

I’m from The Giver by Lois Lowery.

This is what the quiz said:

For one thing. You are not ordinary like everyone wants you to be. People want to make everyone the same. But you notice all the differences. And you can change people’s look on things. You are the keeper of memories in a sense. I know you can change the world and that is cool.

So – what book are you from?  Post a comment and let me know.