Posted on by Maureen

A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond

Paddington Bear was a big part of my childhood. My mother read several of the books to me, and I used to love watching the television show on The Disney Channel in the 1980s. Phrases like “Darkest Peru” and “Please look after this bear” have become family in-jokes that we cite frequently. Michael Bond began to write the Paddington books in 1958, but they have remained fresh and funny over the years.

I picked up the Audible edition of A Bear Called Paddington last year during a sale on children’s audiobooks, but we didn’t listen to it until last month. The girls have been vaguely interested in Paddington since the movie came out last year. We haven’t had a chance to see it, but when we finished listening to The Little Prince, they picked A Bear Called Paddington as our next audiobook. The Audible edition is read by Stephen Fry, and gives a delightful and whimsical performance. Read more

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The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

A few years ago, my mother went to France for a vacation. She brought back presents for my girls. Among other trinkets, she gave them bowls with a picture of The Little Prince and the quote “Mais les yeux sont aveugles. Il faut chercher avec le Coeur.” This translates to “But the eyes are blind. You must look with your heart.”

The girls love their bowls, and about a month ago, my oldest girl came out of Kumon with a copy of The Little Prince and was very excited that she had found the book about the boy on the bowl. This reminded me that The Little Prince had been an Audible Daily Deal that I had purchased, and I asked the girls if they wanted to listen to The Little Prince. Everyone said they did, so we listened to The Little Prince as we drove back and forth from our activities. Read more

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I Will Take a Nap! by Mo Willems

I have been a fan of Mo Willems for close to ten years. We are big fans of the public library, but Mo Willems is an author whose books are purchased as soon as they are released. My three girls are big fans of the Elephant and Piggie series, and were eagerly waiting for I Will Take A Nap.

As the title suggests, Gerald the persnickety elephant wants to take a nap- but he is interrupted by Piggie. Gerald explains that he needs a nap because he is cranky, and napping helps him feel better. Gerald snaps at Piggie (who was being a little obtuse), and she snips back that now SHE is cranky. Gerald and Piggie try to take a nap together, but Piggie’s snoring disrupts Gerald. Will the cranky elephant ever get his nap? Read more

Posted on by Maureen

Backlash by Sarah Darer Littman

I found Backlash at the library. It was on the new release shelf in the young adult section. I was not familiar with author Sarah Darer Littman, but I certainly plan to pick up her other books after this.

It’s hard to describe Backlash without venturing into spoiler territory. The story is told from multiple perspectives, and this is an absolute necessity when it comes to getting the whole story. As Backlash begins, a girl named Lara tries to kill herself because Christian, the boy she had a crush on, just publicly humiliated her on Facebook and told her the world would be a better place without her. Lara has a history of depression beginning when she was in middle school, but she gained new insight through therapy, lost 30 pounds, and just made the cheerleading squad. Read more

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Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider

I found Extraordinary Means at the library. I had read one of Robyn Schneider’s other Young Adult books (The Beginning of Everything), so I was pleased to find this newly released book.

Extraordinary Means is the story of Lane and Sadie, two teenagers with an incurable strain of tuberculosis. They have been placed at Latham House, which used to be a boarding school, and now serves as a sanatorium. Lane and Sadie met before, several years earlier at a summer camp.

The chapters alternate between Lane’s perspective and Sadie’s. As the book begins, Lane is just arriving at Latham House; Sadie has been there for months. Lane’s biggest concern is keeping up with his AP coursework. Despite the diagnosis, he will not be deterred from his goal of getting into Stanford. The lackadaisical attitude of the teachers, and the busywork that the students are given comes as a shock to Lane. But everyone there is sick, and not everyone has energy to keep up with traditional coursework. Read more

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Completely Clementine by Sara Pennypacker

My 8 year old daughter and I read Completely Clementine together not too long after its release. We are big fans of the Clementine series, and have read all of the other books.

Completely Clementine marks a turning point for our heroine. After six books, Clementine has finally reached the end of third grade. She is not very happy about this because she doesn’t like when things change. She is not looking forward to moving to a new class because she likes her teacher and her classroom. Read more

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The Carnival at Bray by Jessie Ann Foley

As soon as I read the synopsis for The Carnival at Bray (written by first time author Jessie Ann Foley), I immediately added it to my checkout pile at the library. This novel is set in 1993; I turned 14 that year, so I felt an immediate connection with the story.

Maggie is 16 years old when she moves to Ireland with her sister, mother, and new stepfather. She leaves her grandmother and beloved uncle Kevin behind in Chicago, trading the big city for a small town on the Irish coast. Life is very different in Bray, and while Maggie’s sister acclimates quickly, she finds it a little more difficult to adjust. When Uncle Kevin gives her two tickets to Nirvana’s concert in Rome, it seems like a ludicrous gift. The concert is several months away, but how is she supposed to get from Ireland to Rome? Read more

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Geek Girl by Holly Smale

As I mentioned in one of my last reviews, I love browsing the new release section at my town library. I’ve found many wonderful books there, many of which had not been on my radar and that I might not have discovered otherwise. This is where I found Geek Girl, a young adult novel by Holly Smale. The book was published in the UK in 2013, but has only recently been published here in the United States.

Harriet Manners is a very clever girl. Her mind is full of facts about the world around her. Harriet is socially awkward, and at the beginning of the book, she is reluctantly accompanying her friend Nat to the Clothes Live show in Birmingham. While there, Harriet is spotted by a modeling scout. At first, Harriet doesn’t want anything to do with modeling; after all, the entire reason she is at Clothes Live is because Nat has always dreamed of being discovered.

When the modeling agency calls to follow up, Harriet feels conflicted. Modeling has never been a passion of hers, but could it help her improve her image? Harriet is tired of being a geek, and she wants things to change. Harriet usually has all the answers, and could modeling be the answer that she has been looking for? Read more

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Audacity by Melanie Crowder

I love browsing the new release shelves at my local library. I often request books through the library network, but the new release shelves are a great place to find books that might not have been on my radar. This is where I found Audacity, a book of free verse poetry for young adults by Melanie Crowder.

Audacity is a fictionalization of Clara Lemlich’s life. The story begins at the beginning of the 20th century in the Pale of Settlement, the portion of Russian land in which Jewish families are allowed to live. While Clara’s father and brothers devote their days to studying the Torah, Clara secretly learns Russian. She has always had a love for learning, and Russian unlocks a world of literature and learning that is not accessible via her native Yiddish. When her father discovers her Russian books, he burns them. When the Russians burn down their village in a pogrom, the family makes their way to America. Read more

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Hush Now, Don’t You Cry by Rhys Bowen

I first discovered Rhys Bowen when I read her Royal Spyness mystery series. Since I have finished reading all the books in that series, I have moved on to her Molly Murphy series. I have been reading the series out of order, and have now read the five most recent Molly Murphy stories. These mysteries take place at the beginning of the twentieth century, and feature an intrepid young woman who has wonderful intuition, and continuously finds herself in predicaments that require a mystery to be solved.

In Hush Now, Don’t You Cry, Molly and her new husband Daniel Sullivan are traveling to Newport for a belated honeymoon. A New York City alderman- Brian Hanna- has graciously invited them to stay on his summer estate. Even though it is October, the Sullivans are happy to escape the city and have some time to themselves.

But as soon as they arrive, the Sullivans are thrown into one confusing situation after another. No one is there to greet them, and they must spend the night in the stable. When they are shown to the guest cottage, they realize that Hanna has invited his entire family to the estate for the same weekend. And when Brian Hanna is found dead at the bottom of a seaside cliff before anyone sees him arrive, suspicion shifts to Molly and Daniel. After all, the only one who can corroborate their story of being invited by Hanna has just been found dead. It is up to Molly to figure out what happened to Hanna. Who would have wanted him dead? Read more