The Gate, the Girl, and the Dragon

I am a fan of Grace Lin, so I got her new book The Gate, the Girl, and the Dragon from the library. The book description says, "Jin is a Stone Lion—one of the guardians of the Old City Gate who is charged to watch over humans and protect the Sacred Sphere. But to Jin, those boring duties feel like a waste of time.
What isn’t a waste of time? Perfecting his zuqiu kick, scoring a Golden Goal, and becoming the most legendary player of all the spirit world. But when Jin’s perfect kick accidentally knocks the Sacred Sphere out through the gate, he has no choice but to run after it, tumbling out of the realm he calls home and into the human world as the gate closes behind him. Stuck outside the gate, Jin must find help from unlikely allies, including a girl who can hear a mysterious voice and a worm who claims he is a dragon. Together, they must find the sphere and return it to the world beyond the gate…or risk losing everything."

This book was surprisingly hard for me to get into. It just was a slow read for me that I kind of had to force myself to keep reading. Because I know Grace Lin's books were great, I didn't want to give up on it so kept plugging along. I got more into it by the last 2/3 of the book and then was interested to see how things would come together. I liked the main characters (Jin, Lulu, and Worm) and thought it was fun to have all the Chinese folklore guiding the book. I also really liked the illustrations. I do think this would be a fun read aloud with kids. 

Rating: * * (2/3 = Liked it)

Summer at Squee

I saw Summer at Squee by Andrea Wang recommended somewhere as a new-ish middle grade book and so got it on Kindle. The book description says, "Phoenny Fang plans to have the best summer ever. She’s returning to Summertime Chinese Culture, Wellness, and Enrichment Experience (SCCWEE for short and 'Squee' to campers in the know), and this year she’s a senior camper. That means she; her best friend, Lyrica Chu; and her whole Squad will have the most influence. It almost doesn’t matter that her brother is a CIT (counselor-in-training) and that her mom and auntie are the camp directors. Time spent at Squee is sacred, glorious, and free. On the day Phoenny arrives, though, she learns that the Squad has been split up, and there’s an influx of new campers this year. Phoenny is determined to be welcoming and to share all the things she loves about camp—who doesn’t love spending hours talking about and engaging in cultural activities? But she quickly learns how out of touch she is with others’ experiences, particularly of the campers who are adoptees. The same things that make her feel connected to her culture and community make some of the other campers feel excluded. Summer at Squee turns out to be even more transformative than Phoenny could’ve imagined, with new friendships, her first crush, an epic show, and a bigger love for and understanding of her community."

This was a good read. I enjoyed Phee's character and her growth as a character. I liked learning about Chinese Culture through the Squee camp and getting a perspective of what it'd be like to be a Chinese-American child/teen. The book had lots of friendship issues the kids work through, which I think is good for middle grade readers to see and learn from.

Rating: * * (2/3 = Liked it)

Scattergood

I read Scattergood by H.M. Bouwman after seeing it recommended on one of the children's book pages I follow on social media. The book description says, "Growing up a farm girl, Peggy’s life has never been particularly exciting. But a lot changes in 1941. Her friend Joe starts acting strange around her. The Quaker hostel nearby reopens to house Jewish refugees from Europe, including a handsome boy named Gunther and a troubled professor of nothing. And her cousin and best friend, Delia, is diagnosed with leukemia—and doesn’t even know it. Peggy has always been rational. She may not be able to understand poetry and speak in metaphors like Delia, but she has to believe she can find a way out of this mess, for both of them. There has to be a cure. And yet the more she tries to control, the more powerless she feels. She can’t make Gunther see her the way she sees him. She can’t help the Professor find his missing daughter. She’s tired of feeling young and naive, but growing up is proving even worse."

This was a really good read. I was super engaged in the story (enough that I had to return it to the library when it was overdue, so I went through the effort to put it on hold again and find my spot and continue reading). The book was heavy at times and had so many bad/sad/hard things happening that it was almost too much to bear. But things came around enough that I still loved the book. The characters were really real and complex, and I really loved Peggy. The book had me crying in the end (but I was sitting in public while my son had a class, so I had to keep it together) and just had some beautiful parts at the end. I really liked the part with Peggy and her mom where the mom said, "I think--I think it's okay to be mad at God....I think God can take our anger." Peggy responded, "I'm not mad at God....Not anymore....I don't believe in God." And her mom replied, "Well, I think God can take that, too."

Rating: * * * (3/3 = Loved it)

The Maid's Secret

I finished out the Molly the Maid series with The Maid's Secret by Nita Prose on audiobook. The book descriptions says, "Molly Gray’s life is about to change in ways she could never have imagined. As the esteemed Head Maid and Special Events Manager of the Regency Grand Hotel, two good things are just around the corner—a taping of the hit antiquities TV show Hidden Treasures and, even more exciting, her wedding to Juan Manuel. When Molly brings in some old trinkets to be appraised on the show, one item is revealed to be a rare and coveted artifact worth millions. Molly becomes a rags-to-riches sensation, and a media frenzy swirls as she prepares to sell her priceless treasure. Then, on auction day, the treasure suddenly vanishes. and Molly and her friends find themselves at the center of the boldest art heist in recent memory. But the key to this mystery lies in the past, in a long-forgotten diary written by Molly’s Gran. For the first time ever, Molly learns about her grandmother’s secrets: how she was born into a wealthy family and fell head-over-heels in love with a young man her parents deemed below her. As fate would have it, Gran’s greatest love was someone Molly knows quite well."

This was another fun read. I liked learning more about Gran's history and liked the way the story went back and forth from the past to the present. Even though I didn't really like that format in book 2, I felt like it worked really well in this one as more and more information was uncovered throughout the story. Sometimes parts of the story dragged on for me a bit, but the end had me tearing up a couple times. I love how things came together in the end, and it was also fun to see how things from the earlier books totally had meaning in this last book in the series. (How do authors do that??) I do feel like Molly has changed a lot as a character since book 1, like she's not as recognizable in this book in terms of all the things she struggled with in book 1 (like she seems more socially aware now and such), but I don't mind and it seems to just work with regular character growth. Overall, this was an enjoyable series, and I would read more if the author wrote more.

Rating: * * (2/3 = Liked it)

The Mistletoe Mystery

I decided to continue with the Molly the Maid books by Nita Prose with this book #2.5, a novella called The Mistletoe Mystery. The book description reads, "Molly Gray has always loved the holidays. When Molly was a child, her gran went to great lengths to make the season merry and bright, full of cherished traditions. The first few Christmases without Gran were hard on Molly, but this year, her beloved boyfriend and fellow festive spirit, Juan Manuel, is intent on making the season Molly’s mofinst joyful yet. But when a Secret Santa gift exchange at the Regency Grand Hotel raises questions about who Molly can and cannot trust, she dives headfirst into solving her most consequential—and personal—mystery yet. Molly has a bad feeling about things, and she starts to wonder: has she yet again mistaken a frog for a prince?"

This was a pretty quick read and enjoyable again to be with Molly since she's such a likable character and these are such light, clean, fun books. This book was a little silly to me since it really had no mystery since the reader knew what was going on the entire time and just Molly was clueless. I wish there was a little more depth to the book, but it's ok because I'm reading book 3 now and it's got a lot more going on. This was just a novella so I shouldn't expect too much. I'm rating it as "it was okay," but I'm still glad I read it.

Rating: * (1/3 = It was okay)

The Wrong Way Home

The Wrong Way Home by Kate O'Shaughnessy has been on my to-read list ever since it won the Newbery honor this year, and I finally got it from the library to read on my Kindle. The book description says, "Fern’s lived at the Ranch, an off-the-grid, sustainable community in upstate New York, since she was six. The work is hard, but Fern admires the Ranch's leader, Dr. Ben. So when Fern’s mother sneaks them away in the middle of the night and says Dr. Ben is dangerous, Fern doesn't believe it. She wants desperately to go back, but her mom just keeps driving. Suddenly thrust into the treacherous, toxic, outside world, Fern can think only of how to get home. She has a plan, but it will take time. As that time goes by, though, Fern realizes there are things she will miss from this place—the library, a friend from school, the ocean—and there are things she learned at the Ranch that are just...not true. Now Fern will have to decide. How much is she willing to give up to return to the Ranch? Should she trust Dr. Ben’s vision for her life? Or listen to the growing feeling that she can live by her own rules?"

This was such a good read! I was engaged from the very beginning and loved following the story. There were great characters, some great/stressful action, and meaningful lessons learned. I loved Fern and enjoyed watching her figure out herself and her strengths. I definitely think this was a well-deserved Newbery and one I'll recommend to my daughter.

Rating: * * * (3/3 = Loved it)

Middlemarch

I read Middlemarch by George Eliot for book club. The book description says, "George Eliot's most ambitious novel is a masterly evocation of diverse lives and changing fortunes in a provincial community. Peopling its landscape are Dorothea Brooke, a young idealist whose search for intellectual fulfillment leads her into a disastrous marriage to the pedantic scholar Casaubon; the charming but tactless Dr Lydgate, whose marriage to the spendthrift beauty Rosamund and pioneering medical methods threaten to undermine his career; and the religious hypocrite Bulstrode, hiding scandalous crimes from his past. As their stories interweave, George Eliot creates a richly nuanced and moving drama."

This book was probably the longest book I've ever read (30+ hours on audiobook) and one I would never have finished (or even started) if it weren't for book club. But I'm proud of myself for reading it, and I actually liked it better than I expected. Like it wasn't painful to push myself through the whole thing like I expected--rather, I was interested in how things would turn out for certain characters all the way to the end. Overall, the book had some memorable lines, some deep characters (my favorite was Dorothea), some engaging stories, and parts that made me laugh. I think it'll be fun to discuss at book club. This is a book that is probably in between "it was okay" and "liked it," so I'll round up to a "liked it."

Rating: * * (2/3 = Liked it)