A Dog Called Homeless

I saw A Dog Called Homeless by Sarah Lean listed on a classmate's list of favorite books and got it from the library. It is about Cally, a young girl whose mother died and whose father doesn't talk about it. I keep trying to write a summary of the book, but the book jacket says it best: "When Cally Fisher says she sees her dead mother, no one believes her. The only other living soul who sees Cally's mom is a mysterious wolfhound who always seems to be there when her mom appears. And when Cally stops talking--what's the point if no one is listening"--how will she convince anyone that her mom is still with them or persuade her dad that the huge silver-gray dog is their last link with her?"

This was a beautiful book. I kept wanting to read to figure everything out, and the characters were endearing. The book made me full-on cry at the end, always the sign of a great book. I'm really busy in life right now, and most of my reading is for school, so if I actually take the time to finish a book I start, you know it's a winner.

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

The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl

I saw The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl by Stacy McAnulty on a Facebook group I follow called A Mighty Girl. It is about 12-year-old Lucy who has acquired savant syndrome after getting struck by lighting as a child. As a result, she is a math genius and ready for college after being homeschooled by her grandma for a few years. However, her grandma decides she needs the experience of middle school and sends her for a year. The book follows her year at middle school as she copes with her OCD and the everyday issues that middle school brings.

This was a great book. The story really drew me in, and I was anxious to finish reading it to see what happened and how things resolved. I loved the three main kid characters and felt like they were really well developed. I also just thought it was a clever story, and I liked some of the aspects of the story that helped develop the plot and characters (like the Pet Hut stuff, the online math board, etc.).

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

PIecing Me Together

Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson is another 2018 Newbery Honor book that I wanted to read. This book is about Jade, a high school junior who lives in a poor neighborhood but attends a private school on scholarship where she doesn't feel like she fits in. The school offers her an opportunity to join Women to Women, a program for at-risk black girls to meet with black mentors. While Jade is a little bit sick of all the "opportunities" offered to her, she knows she has to take advantage of this and give it a chance.

I LOVED this book! It engaged me from the start, and then I just wanted to read it all day long. Jade was such a strong, real character, and I was just rooting for her. I loved following her development and learning from the side characters and their choices. It was just a beautiful book, one I'd enjoy re-reading.

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

Long Way Down

I read Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds because it was one of the Newbery Honor books for 2018. It tells the story of 15-year-old Will, whose brother was just killed. Will knows the rules of the street are 1) don't snitch, 2) don't cry, and 3) kill the person who killed your friend/family member. So that is Will's plan, and as he's going down the elevator, he finds himself face-to-face with people from his past who have died.

This was a really good book. I really admire Jason Reynolds as an author for the subject matter he addresses and the audience he reaches out to. This was a thought-provoking book. It didn't really pull me in until about halfway through or so, but then I got more into it.

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

The Wild Robot Escapes

I recently read The Wild Robot by Peter Brown and was excited to finally get the sequel, The Wild Robot Escapes, off the hold list at the library. I won't put in a summary of the sequel here since that would give away the happenings of book 1, so click here to read about The Wild Robot.

This was such a fun read. I loved how everything happened and turned out, and the characters were so lovable. The book had adventure and stressful things happen, but it was never so much that I got too stressed out by it. I just felt like the story was perfectly balanced with a great ending. I kind of hope there is a third book. Maybe it could be The Wild Robot Returns or something. :)

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

Mustaches for Maddie

My sister Molly recommended Mustaches for Maddie. It is the story of Maddie, a sixth grader who loves to wear fake mustaches to be funny, and the book follows the friendship drama and happenings at school. Then when Maddie gets diagnosed with a brain tumor, she faces a scary new life. The book is based on the authors' daughter's real experience.

This was a great read. Maddie was such a great character, and the book was very addicting from the start--I just wanted to keep reading. I loved how realistic the friendship issues were with the girls at school. It totally reminded me of how it was when I was a kid with a kind of popular, controlling girl making everyone desperate to be her friend haha. I liked how Maddie learned and grew and figured out what it means to be kind and to a friend.

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

Underwater

My sister recommended Underwater by Marisa Reichardt to me, so I got it from the library. This is one of those books that I would ruin by trying to summarize, so I will just quote from the inside cover: "Morgan didn't mean to do anything wrong that day. Actually, she meant to do something right. But her kind act inadvertently played a role in a deadly tragedy. In order to move on, Morgan must learn to forgive--first someone who did something that might be unforgivable and then herself." There is so much more to the book, but sometimes I think it's better to know less going into a book and just enjoy reading it as it happens....so just read it.

This was a great book. It was one of those addicting books that I could not stop reading, so I kept trying to get Oliver entertained playing something for a few minutes so I could quickly pick it up and read some more. It was just completely engaging. I loved Morgan's character and felt like the author did a great job making her real and believable, and all the side characters were well-developed and great as well. I liked how the author built up certain things and dropped new things as the book went on. I felt like the romance side of the book was a little mushy, but I guess that's young adult literature. :) My only disclaimer to others is that there is a little bit of bad language in the book. But overall this was a great read. Because it's so addicting, it's a pretty quick read as well.

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

Hello, Universe

I saw Hello, Universe by Erin Estrada Kelly on the New York Times bestsellers list for children's books, and it caught my eye. It wasn't until after I read it that I realized it also won the Newbery Medal this year! (How did I miss the 2018 awards announcement a few months ago??) The book follows four kids in the same neighborhood--Virgil, Valencia, Kaori, and Chet. The inside of the dust jacket reads, "When Chet pulls an unthinkable prank on Virgil and Virgil's pet guinea pig, Gulliver, the lives of these four middle schoolers collide in surprising and unexpected ways. Just a coincidence? Or are some things meant to be?"

I really enjoyed this book. The book switched among three characters' points of view, which was I really liked. The characters were all so endearing, and I think the author did a great job developing each character and engaging me as a reader. I loved the conflicts and how things tied together in the end. I read the book mostly in one day since I kept wanting to pick it up, so that's always the sign of a great read. I think it's a well-deserved Newbery winner.

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

Refugee

I saw Refugee by Alan Gratz on the New York Times bestseller list for children's books. It tells the story of three fictional (but could be real) refugee children--a Jewish boy in 1940s Germany, a girl in Cuba in the 1990s, and a boy in Syria in 2015--and their journeys to escape the danger their families are facing.

This was an amazing book. It had me hooked from the beginning and was just heart-wrenching. I liked the quote on the cover that said, "Some novels are engaging and some novels are important. Refugee is both." I think that is completely true. This book really opened my eyes to the reality of the plight of refugees. Some parts were just painful to read, but it's because it's real and this is what refugees really have to go through. This was a very meaningful book and one I probably want to own. Highly recommended!

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

The Wild Robot

I have been MIA on this blog for forever, but I just finished a great book that has inspired me to come back! I'm also looking at transitioning to GoodReads, so I may do that sometime in the near future. We shall see.

I saw The Wild Robot by Peter Brown on the New York Times bestseller list for children's middle grade books. When a ship full of boxed-up robots sinks in a hurricane, only one robot survives, and she finds herself on an animal-filled island in the middle of the ocean. The robot--Roz--must learn to survive in the wilderness and show the animals that she is not the monster they think she is.

I loved this book! Before I started, I wasn't really sure if I'd be into it, but it hooked me right from the start. The story was engaging, and Roz was such a lovable character. There were lots of twists that kept me wondering how things would turn out, and parts of the book were just super endearing. The end left me hoping for a sequel, and I found out there is one! I'm waiting for it on hold at the library. After finishing this book, I immediately recommended it to my family, so Connor is reading it to Emmeline for her bedtime story right now. Highly recommended.

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