My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hazel and Jack have been best friends since they were six. Now they are eleven and Jack’s changing. He no longer wants to be Hazel’s best friend. Hazel’s parents are getting divorced and she’s having to start a new school where she doesn’t fit in and the kids treat her differently. She was adopted as a baby but at her other school she never felt she was different until the girls at her new school looked at her differently since she doesn’t look like her mom. Jack was the one person who made her feel like she was okay the way she is but now he’s hanging out with the boys at school and treating Hazel meanly.

Hazel knows that Jack isn’t himself but her mom tells her she needs to accept the way things are now. Hazel and Jack won’t be friends forever because they are growing up and things change when you grow up.

Then one day Jack disappears and Hazel decides she must find her best friend in the woods.

Bryan had told me this book was the best book he’d read all year. At first I had a hard time sticking with the book, I had too many things running through my mind to just sit and read it. Then I decided to just read the last 100 pages and enjoy it because I won’t have this time back again. Well, those last 100 pages really swept me into the story and I was along for the journey with Hazel.

Read January 26-30, 2012

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My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Very cute. A little boy and Duck. Duck and the little boy do everything together until one day Duck goes missing. The little boy looks all over town for Duck describing what Duck looks like “yellow and raggedy”, smells like “a blanket”, and feels “soft and woolly.” No one in town has seen Duck. The little boy is heartbroken without Duck. Then the little boy sits on the couch and smells something like a blanket and feels something soft and woolly. He’s found Duck!

The soft and simple illustrations make it a perfect bedtime book.

Read December 2, 2011

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My rating: 4 of 5 stars

2012 Printz Award and 2012 Morris Award winner

I enjoyed this book. It took me a while to read as I got distracted with The FitzOsbornes in Exile that I was also listening to on audio during my commute. I read this book mostly during lunch and before going to bed. If I had devoted larger blocks of time to it I might have enjoyed it more.

Cullen’s brother has disappeared and a woodpecker thought to be extinct may have been seen in town. Cullen weaves in and out of narrating the current happenings around him while also telling us what’s happening as his mind wanders off. There is a parallel story about Benton, who goes on a mission trip to Africa. Of course, the two stories merge in the end but in a way I was not expecting. It is one of the most unique books I’ve read all year.

I’m not sure who to recommend this book to and what teens this book will appeal to. I hope someone picks it up at the library and enjoys it.

Read November 10 to 23, 2011

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My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I had high expectations for this book as it was nominated for the National Book Award. I listened to it and half the time I had no idea what was happening. It’s not unusual for me to momentarily lapse into my own thoughts but I can usually figure out what has happened in that time. With this book even when I was paying complete close attention I was lost.

If I hadn’t had a 7-hour each way road trip to make me listen to this book. I would never have finished it.

Read November 16 to 19, 2011

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I read this book after all of the controversy with the National Book Awards and Lauren Myracle being asked to remove herself from the finalist list after being accidentally put on the list. If you haven’t heard anything about the controversy – here’s a brief article.

I went into reading this book with high expectations since so many people said it was National Book Award finalist material. I enjoyed it though at times I found the middle dragged a bit (a common problem for me with a lot of books lately). It did keep me guessing until the end and some of the plot twists were unexpected.

The small town where Cat lives is portrayed quite well along with the issues facing the town, especially regarding meth usage. Cat has withdrawn until her friend Patrick is found beaten nearly to death for being gay. Her reasons for withdrawing are finally explained half way through the book but I was frustrated with her as a character and couldn’t figure out why she had suddenly stopped talking to Patrick a few years before. Overall an enjoyable and important book. I hope it’s subject matter sparks some conversation about hate crimes and the hurtful language of kids casually calling each other “gay.”

Read October 31 to November 9, 2011


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My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fast-paced with several creepy jump moments. I loved this book. Rory felt very believable along with her roommate, Jazza. When Boo moves in as their roommate, she felt really disruptive, which she’s meant to be but at first I didn’t like her. I love ghost stories and this was the perfect thing to read the week before Halloween, though there were a couple of nights that I had to read a bit longer so that I wasn’t too creeped out to sleep.

Rory moves to London from Louisiana to attend a boarding school for her senior year while her parents live a few hours away where her dad will be teaching. Rory soon finds herself miserably involved in field hockey. She and her roommate become close friends and she becomes involved with a boy named Jerome.

Just as Rory is settling into school, the city of London is gripped by copy cat murders on the same days and in the same style as Jack the Ripper. Her school is in the same vicinity as where a couple of the murders take place. One night as people are gearing up for another Ripper murder (the media is in a frenzy and people around the city are holding parties), Rory has a run-in with someone completely unexpected. Has Jack the Ripper really come back? Who was the mysterious man that she saw outside of the school but her roommate didn’t?

Rory soon realizes she can see ghosts and she’s swept into helping find the murderer along with a secret police force.

I’ll definitely be picking up the second book in this series.

Read October 24 to 28, 2011

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My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A very sweet book about a momma bear adopting her little bear. This book nearly had me in tears it was so sweet. It even addresses why the little bear doesn’t look like his mom.

A book meant for young children but also a reassuring book for them. It will definitely be an addition to our home library.

Read October 20, 2011

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A lovely and beautiful book about a mother who travels to China to pick up her new baby girl. The story starts with all of the baby girls in cribs and ends with the baby girl sleeping in her new crib in the U.S.

The story is very sweet and heartwarming with beautiful illustrations. It’s definitely one that adoptive moms will tear up while reading.


Read October 12, 2011

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Gia is not happy about the new baby that’s on it’s way. She and her mom have a great life together. This is a good story about the reluctant soon-to-be older sibling whose life is about to change forever. This book is more about Gia’s displacement in the family than the new baby and how wonderful it will be. Her “ding-dang baby” references are hilarious while showing that grumbling side of her. She’s fine with how things are so why do they have to change.

Read October 11, 2011

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