Wonderstruck

Title: Wonderstruck: A Novel in Pictures and Words Author/Illustrator: Brian Selznick ISBN: 9780545027892 Pages: 639 pages Publisher/Date: Scholastic Press, c2011. Publication Date: September 13, 2011 He inched closer until he was right outside her door. He turned off the flashlight and put it in his back pocket. The door was open a crack, and he [...]

The Running Dream

Title: The Running Dream Author: Wendelin Vaan Draanen ISBN: 9780375866678 Pages: 336 pages Publisher/Date: Alfred A. Knopf, c2011. Publication Date: January 11, 2011 I am a runner. That’s what I do. That’s who I am. Running is all I know, or want, or care about. It was a race around the soccer field in third grade [...]

Friday Feature — Guest Post by Kathryn Erskine

I was invited to serve as guest reader for a local upper elementary (5th and 6th graders) and I wanted to do something special. I asked around for an advanced reader copy (otherwise known as an ARC) to read from and then giveaway to a student in a random drawing. Kathryn Erskine reached out to me [...]

The Absolute Value of Mike

Title: The Absolute Value of Mike Author: Kathryn Erskine Pages: 256 pages Publisher/Date: Philomel Books, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. c2011 Reviewed from ARC furnished by author Release Date: June 9, 2011 Since I realize ARCs (Advanced Reader Copy) are not the finalized book and can go through the editing process still, I figured [...]

Mockingbird

Title: Mockingbird Author: Kathryn Erskine ISBN: 9780399252648 Pages: 235 pages Publisher/Date: Philomel Books, an imprint of Penguing Group (USA) Inc. c2010. Finally, I say, I feel like TiVo. She leans across the table toward me. Not too close to my Personal Space because I’ll use my words to tell her to back off if she [...]

Sorta Like A Rock Star

Title: Sorta Like A Rock Star Author: Matthew Quick ISBN: 9780316043526 Pages: 355 pages Publisher/Date: Little, Brown and Company, c2010. “But the truth is that I don’t want anyone to know that I am living out of Hello Yellow — that my mom’s last boyfriend, A-hole Oliver, threw us the hell out of his apartment, [...]

Dirty Little Secrets

Title: Dirty Little Secrets Author: C. J. Omololu ISBN: 9780802786609 Pages: 212 pages Publisher/Date: Walker Publishing Company, Inc. a division of Bloomsbury Publishing, Inc., c2010. Everyone has secrets. Some are just bigger and dirtier than others. At least that’s what I told myself whenever I stood in a crowd of normal-looking people and felt like [...]

The Cardturner

Title: The Cardturner: A Novel About a King, a Queen, and a Joker Author: Louis Sachar ISBN: 9780385736626 Pages: 336 pages Publisher/Date: Delacorte Press, c2010. As I negotiated our way to table three, a woman wearing a big hat approached my uncle. “Trapp!” she demanded. “One banana, pass, pass, two no-trump. Is that unusual?” It sounded [...]

Out of My Mind

Title: Out of My Mind Author: Sharon Draper ISBN: 9781416971702 Pages: 295 pages Publisher/Date: Antheneum Books for Young Readers, c2010. Words. I’m surrounded by thousands of words. Maybe millions.[...] Words have always swirled around me like snowflakes–each one delicate and different, each one melting untouched in my hands. [...] But only in my head. I have [...]

The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin

Title: The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin Author: Josh Berk ISBN: 9780375856990 Pages: 250 pages Publisher/Date: Alfred A. Knopf, c2010. Miner Carl comes flying out of the Happy memory Coal Mine emergency exit, screaming maniacally, a hyperball of panic. I can’t tell what he is yelling, but it must be something like “Call the police” [...]