Children's Book

*****

The Jumbies

by Tracey Baptiste

This story brought out the child in me, the one who loved fairy tales, the one who was just a little scared of rustling sounds in the night.

Corinne lives at the edge of the forest with her father, a forest thought to be home to jumbies.  Jumbies are the spirits of the dead who play tricks on humans and occasionally lure them into the woods where they are never seen again.  Legend says that many years ago jumbies helped save men from ships stranded near their beautiful island.  But the humans soon began to take over the island, cut down trees from the jumbies' forests, and push the jumbies further into the woods.  The island was no longer theirs.  And they want it back!

Corinne thought she knew everyone on the island, but when she comes home one day and a beautiful stranger is chatting with her widowed father, Corinne feels something is terribly wrong.  When mysterious things begin to happen, the townspeople begin to fear jumbie magic is at work.  Corinne realizes it all started when the beautiful stranger appeared, and Corinne feels that, somehow, she is the one who must bring the jumbie magic to an end.

With the elements of a fairy tale throughout, the delightful chapter book weaves mystery, adventure, and magic into a great read-aloud book for 2nd-4th graders.

This was an advance copy provided by NetGalley

Available April 28, 2015

 

Adult Book

*****

Dollbaby by Laura Lane McNeal

Opening with family trauma and tragedy, I instantly felt like part of the family.  McNeal’s descriptive writing made me feel like I could look out the window and see the houses on Prytania Street passing by, feel the sweat running down my face, and feel the oppressive fear of being pushed out of the car in front of a stranger’s house with my daddy’s urn tucked under my arm.

Set in the 60’s in the South, prejudice was rampant, sit-in’s were occurring, and Miss Winnie employed a “colored” cook and maid.  Twelve-year-old Ibby (Liberty) had never talked to a colored person before much less lived in a house with them.  But filled with kindness and a little bit of pity, Queenie and Dollbaby (Doll) take Ibby under their wings and soothe the hurt, ease the fear, and initiate her to life in the South with an eccentric grandmother.

But these three strong women each harbor heartaches and family secrets, secrets of tragedy and crime that weave a web of interconnectedness among them that is only revealed at the end.

I loved this book for its strong women characters, its metaphors and similes, and the way the story warmly pulls you into this family.   An outstanding debut for Laura Lane McNeal!  This was an advance copy provided by Penguin Books.

 

Children's Book

 

*****

Snatchabook by Helen Docherty & Thomas Docherty

All the children in Burrow Down are enjoying a bedtime story. But Snatchabook silently watches. One night Eliza Brown heard a "chink" and suddenly her book disappeared! All around Burrow Down bedtime stories begin disappearing, book shelves look bare, and rumors of thieves worry the town. Until Eliza sets a trap to catch the book thief. With her heart thumping, Eliza faces the challenge and realizes that not everyone knows about family and honesty. With limited lyrical text, this is a great PreK-Gr 1 story which instills good family values.

Adult Book

****

Everything I Never Told You
by Celeste Ng

­­­­The story opens:  “Lydia is dead.  But they don’t know this yet.”  Blunt, devastating.  The favored middle child of James and Marilyn Lee, a mixed American-Chinese couple, Lydia drowned--intentionally?  James and Marilyn who were drawn together by their differenced and shunned by Marilyn’s mother and society, piece together a life of love without honesty.  He, a graduate of Harvard, is destined to become a respected professor, and she, a Radcliffe undergraduate, is on the path to becoming a doctor and gifted scientist among skeptical men.

But the family comes along and dreams remain dreams.  Nath, then Lydia, and surprise, Hannah.

Haunted by what they don’t say to each other, each family member pretends to be happy and socially accepted while James and Marilyn try to live their incomplete lives through Lydia, the favorite child. But when Lydia’s body is found in the lake near their house, the quiet lies they have been living begin to unravel.  James, shouldering guilt, suddenly leaves on a path that could devastate his marriage, and Lydia’s older brother, Nathan, is out to prove the neighborhood bad boy is involved, but could it be Hannah, the “invisible” third child, who may shed light through her quiet observations on the truth of what happened with her sister?

YA/Teen Book

 

*****

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Dystopian Chicago Society is divided into five factions.  Each faction excels at something for the betterment of the whole.  Beatrice’s family, part of the Abnegation Faction, has always led a selfless life, feeding the poor factionless and helping others in need.  But all this may change soon.  Beatrice and her brother, Caleb, are in the class of 16-year olds, the year they must choose a faction in which they will spend the rest of their lives.  For many, the choice is easy, but for Beatrice she feels torn between her family and her hidden feelings about their selfless albeit safe and happy life.  At the testing center, her score comes up inconclusive and she is told never to reveal her scores or she will face certain death.  Beatrice makes a choice that surprises everyone.  In her new faction the initiation is brutal and always flirts with danger.  With her diminutive size, she quickly realizes she will have to outwit and out-strategize her opponents and reach for a part of herself she has never been permitted to acknowledge.  But they’re watching.  Do they know, have they guessed?  With the growing unrest among the factions, Tris (Beatrice) may need to use her secret to save the lives of others, but it is likely to end hers.

5 stars!  I instantly fell in love with the tiny, yet scrappy character of Beatrice (Tris).  She is intelligent, caring, but above all, courageous (a trait she has never been allowed to exercise before).  Mix in a little romance and this book became a page-turner.  I instantly wanted the sequel, Insurgent.  Stay tuned!  I’m reading that next.

YA/Teen

****

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

I’m Hazel.  Sixteen.  Thyroid originally but with an impressive and long-settled satellite colony in my lungs.

If you have someone in your family or know someone with cancer, this will have meaning for you.  This book focuses on three teenagers who have cancer, all who are brutally honest about their disease, face it with a somewhat raw humor, and become a support group for each other.   Isaac is losing his eyesight, Hazel has thyroid and lung cancer, and Augustus has osteosarcoma.

When you are 16 and 17 years old and are not sure you will live another year, there are a number of things on your wish list of things you’d like to experience.  For Hazel and Augustus, it was love.   Hazel has already spent her Dream Factory wish and yet she longs to meet the author of her favorite novel about cancer who lives in Amsterdam.  Her quest is to find out what happens to the characters after the story ends (and before she dies).   And the enterprising Augustus sacrifices to make that happen.  What happens when they meet him makes the reader want more.  And do they have enough time to find out a little of what they want to know about love?  An inspiring story for those who face a malady and most especially for those who don’t.  5 stars!

Children's Book

 

****

The Mermaid and the Shoe by K. G. Campbell

The smallest of King Neptune's 50 mermaid daughters, Minnow, is not good at anything except asking questions.  All of her sisters have a unique talent, but everything Minnow tries is a failure.  What is she meant to be?  One day, she swims off to explore and discovers a strange object.  Minnow follows her questions to a wondrous place in shallow waters and comes back with tales that enrapture all the sea creatures.  A story of accepting who you are and knowing you have a special talent just waiting to be discovered, this is a lovely story for home or classroom.

Children's Book

 

****

The Potato Chip Puzzles by Eric Berlin

If you like puzzles, scrambled words, and other brain teasers, check out this book!  Thrust into a contest to win his school $50,000, Winston Breen, along with his two best friends, can't wait to begin.    Dmitri Simon, multimillionaire and snack company owner, has set up the contest in places all over town, from the planetarium to the amusement park.  Wintson had expected plenty of tough competitors, but he had not expected flat tires, moved signs, and an attack!  Can he solve the puzzles AND stay one step ahead of the cheater?   Fast-paced, full of twists and turns, and mystery, it was hard to put this book down!  For even more fun, the puzzles are included for the reader to solve (answers in the back).

Adult Book

****

Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall

Thinking that life has to be better with her mother, who left her when she was three, than with her overly strict grandmother, Starla runs away.  Runs away from her grandmother, the bully that always gets her in trouble, her life of always wanting more.  But when she is picked up by Eula, a black woman with a white baby, Starla needs all the grit she can muster to stay alive.  With characters you feel you have known all your life, together with the drama of real life in the South in 1963, makes this story one to put on the top of your list.

Children's Book

*****

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Death is busy during the Holocaust.  Liesel Meminger, within the span of a few days, watches her brother die in her arms and is given away by her mother to a couple she has never met.  As a foster child, she learns to steal for things they need.  But when she encounters books, her stealing takes on a new meaning as she bolsters the spirits of her neighbors with her stolen books during bombing raids.  The superb metaphorical descriptions of life in Germany give the reader a crystal vision of scenes and emotions.  Told from the unexpected point of view of Death, this intensely rich story is definitely worth reading.

YA/Teen

*****

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder, the Cinderella mechanic, lives in a futuristic world of humans and androids, but she is neither.  New Beijing is buckling under a deadly plague, and they are looking for people like her on which to conduct research tests.  But when she accidentally meets the handsome prince in the market place, her life becomes entangled in an impossible romance, imprisonment, and an intergalactic struggle for supremacy.  It is up to her to protect her world's future, but before she can do that she has to discover the secrets of her past.  Strong, resilient, and independent, I loved the main character!  Romance, sadness, danger, adventure--this story has it all.  It was hard to put this book down, but I was disappointed in the ending when it stopped at the height of climax and I didn't have the next book, Scarlet, to pick up and continue reading! Recommended for young adults and adults who love adventure.

Adult Book

*****

The Ring and the Crown by Melissa de la Cruz

Young love and denied love weave a tangled web in The Ring and the Crown.  Princess Marie-Victoria has accepted an arranged marriage to save her country from war, but she is in love with someone in her service.  The prince, to whom she is to marry, is engaged but breaks the engagement for the power he will reap by marrying Marie-Victoria.  At the Bal du Drap D’or, the Ball of the Gold Cloth, the new engagement of Princess Marie-Victoria and Prince Leopold will be announced.  However, the prince’s first engagement Isabelle, shows up at the ball, as well as Ronan Astor, the beautiful American determined secure a marriage which will save her family’s estate.  Desperate to marry for love rather than duty, Marie-Victoria begs her childhood friend, Aelwyn, daughter of the royal mage, to form a perilous plan that endangers not only the entire kingdom but the fate of the monarchy.  An excellent mix of England’s royal history and magic and the pursuit of love.

Children's Book

****

Plant a Pocket of Prairie by Phyllis Root

Beautiful, simplistic watercolor illustrations, along with a wealth of wild prairie information, make this book an important addition to any classroom which studies the food web.  Along with the food web, an important lesson in American pioneer history could easily make a comprehensive classroom unit.

Adult Book

*****

Archetype by M. D. Waters

Intriguing! M. D. Waters tantalizingly weaves hints and pieces of a puzzle throughout the book, yet never enough.

Emma wakes to blinding light and words she does not remember any more. “I am your wife,” she repeats to the handsome, seductive man who visits her room every day. He provides her with memories, but her dreams tell her something different. Why does she dream of war and camps where girls are “trained” to be wives and beautiful beaches—and another man? None of these are a reality in the world she now lives in.

An inner voice tells her to not reveal her dreams, not even to her husband, Declan, who she begins to fall in love with. That is, until Noah shows up at her art show. Now there are two men in her life. One is her husband and one is her enemy, but she doesn’t remember which is which.

A sequel, Prototype, is due to be published in July, 2014, and it is a must read for me!

Children's Book

*****

Santa Clauses - Short Poems From the North Pole by Bob Raczka

This is a delightful collection of haiku poems, one for each of the 25 days of Christmas.  Once again Bob Raczka has written a book that will delight children, easy enough to read themselves, but so fun to listen to aloud.   Each poem tells of a part of Santa's day as he gets ready for that special night.

This was an advanced copy by NetGalley. 

YA/Teen Book

*****

The Vault of Dreamers by Caragh M. O'Brien

Making the cut depends solely on your television viewer ratings or blip ratings. With reality cameras following candidates everywhere, Rosie would do almost anything to stay at the school and on the show.   They only take the top 50 most popular students at the elite Forge School for artistically talented students and Rosie is 93^rd. 

When sexy dishwasher, Linus, meets up with Rosie, suddenly Rosie’s blip rates go up.  “Personal drama’s good.  It gets viewers to care about you,” advised Linus.  “You know what to do.”  But Rosie had never kissed anyone before, and she definitely was not expecting the warmth of his lips or how it took her breath away.

One of the principles of the school was that creativity was increased by sleep but it was puzzling why students needed 12 full hours every night.  At 6:00 in the dorm on the night before the cut, they lined up as usual to take the pills, climb into their sleeping shells, and slide the lids closed.  But Rosie had reasons to disobey.  She missed the deep darkness of night, she wanted to escape the ever present cameras for just a moment of privacy, and she had to find out why, in the middle of the night,  some students’ sleeping shells were wheeled out and later brought back with an IV attached.

What was going on at night?   Why did they have to sleep the manditory 12 hours?  Why did some students wake up with pin pricks in their arm?  Rosie is convinced they are doing experiments on the students, mining for dreams while they sleep, against their will.  But how can she prove her theory with the compulsory drug-induced sleep and cameras everywhere?

The Vault of Dreamers by Caragh M. O’Brien was an enjoyable read until about half way through, and then it became a great read.  You know how you can find that one book that makes you ignore what you should be doing so that you can finish it?  This was that book for me.  Written for middle school kids and older, it was an enjoyable story for adults as well.

I received this book as an advance copy by NetGalley.