New School New Book

Just finished the teacher prep week at my new school.  A new school for teachers, students and families!  On Monday I didn't think it would be feasible to have students enter the next week, but we had a wonderful orientation on Thursday, and each day things looked better and better.
The construction crew, the custodial crew, admin and my new colleagues have all been amazing.
As I prepared my classroom, I was thinking of the new books I would be sharing with my students, read-alouds, discussions, and book talks.  I also came across a new title, that I just finished.  It is wonderful.  The 47 People You'll Meet in Middle School, by Kristin Mahoney will be the book I first read to my TA.  I highly recommend it.  A girl writes the book to her little sister, as a method of sharing what middle school will be like.  There are naturally 47 chapters that delve into friendships, teachers, finding "your people," family issues, and situations like bullying. All is adeptly told; I had only one little quibble, where the dance they have is called a Sadie Hawkins dance.  I thought those were last in style back when I was in school, an eon ago.

The characters are realistically depicted, and I really enjoyed how beautifully the author portrayed how friendships change, and how new ones can be formed.

Compelling

I had been reading this, and enjoying it (while reading other books as well), and towards the end, was so compelled to finish it, that I woke up at 3 a.m,, and couldn't bear to stop reading.  I was so terribly worried about choices some of the characters were making, that I absolutely couldn't go back to sleep.

A magnet public school for the gifted comes to Colorado. 4 women, and their families are deeply affected by this.  The parents motives, the children's actions and desires, are well developed. I enjoyed each of the parents, despite some dubious choices they made. 

The author portrays parental angst, and desire for their kids' success well.  The dialogue is quite good, as is some of the social commentary.  You will find yourself rooting for certain characters, and yelling at others.  The good, bad, beautiful, and ugly of each person is beautifully told.

Similarities

I read two books that have been compared to other works.  One was compared to Where'd You Go Bernadette, and the other to  Big Little Lies.

The first, The Floating Feldmans by Elyssa Friedland, was indeed an enjoyable read, and had some funny moments, but overall it didn't grab me as much as Bernadette did. 

Annette Feldman books a cruise to celebrate her 70th birthday.  She is hoping to bond with her children and grandchildren, as there have been some riffs and distance in recent years.  Much of the distance is due to miscommunication, misunderstandings, and secrets.  All of this is believable, and at times quite poignant. The humor is understated, and the relationships are authentic.

It was a truly enjoyable summer read, and the characters are generally likable, despite some questionable behaviors.  Most of their secrets are kept out of love for each other, and in the end all is resolved in a convincing manner.  I have never been inclined to take a cruise, and this truly confirmed for me that I won't ever book a cruise. I did think there was some nice social commentary regarding the cruise staff, and their reality (being away from their families for extended periods, while the cruise goers typically celebrate family events).

There is nothing truly displeasing about the book, but it wasn't as engaging for me, as Where'd You Go Bernadette was.  I do hope the film of that book, pulls off the warmth and hilarity of the book.

The other book is The Night Olivia Fell. 


It is told via multiple narratives, and starts with the tragedy then goes into the past.  This effectively builds the suspense, and it did keep me engaged and reading rather quickly, until I finished. It has been compared to Big Little Lies due to this narrative structure.  It doesn't though have the biting social commentary that Moriarty deftly utilizes in her book.

Christina McDonald does create some unique characters, that have interesting backgrounds.  She pulls off the narrative structure, and as I said builds suspense.  Olivia is a teenager, who is on life support after falling from a bridge.  Her life support would have effectively been pulled, since she is brain dead, but once it is discovered that she is pregnant, state laws preclude that until the birth of the baby.

Her mother misses, I think, important and obvious clues as she tries to figure out how the fall happened, and who is responsible for Olivia's eventual death. Despite those plot holes, I did enjoy the novel, and appreciated the character reveals.

21st reviewed

This was an exciting, fast paced narrative that is sure to hook many teen readers.  6 teens are given the opportunity to apply for a special CIA internship, that includes a college scholarship if selected.  The students are all hackers, mostly what are termed white hat hackers.

They soon discover that all is not what it seems, and set out to "save the world" from the nefarious group behind it all. I learned a bit about hacking, and leet speak.  Much seems implausible, but if you approach the book as kind of a teen/hacker version of Ocean's 11 etc., you will enjoy it.

The characters were interesting and varied.  The writing was nice, and the plot kept me reading.

Books read without reviews

I am going to post titles I read, that I didn't post reviews for (for various reasons).  I don't like publishing full reviews of books I disliked..it feels too mean spirited, but in case you've been tempted by some titles, these are my slight takeaways.

1) The Chain by Adrian McKinty (would have been an excellent short story)
2) Those People by Louise Candlish (heartbreaking for only character I liked)
3) Shelter in Place by Nora Roberts (intense start, with compelling characters...then...not so much)
4) The Lost by Natasha Preston (felt like this might be what those Saw type of movies would be in book form..haven't seen them, don't want to read those scenes).

First week of August

I was away for a few days, but still reading.  I read a few books that didn't grab me. One, was a YA novel that I thought involved kids getting taken into a computer game, perhaps Jumanji style. I had put it on my holds list at my local library, and often forget why I put a title on hold, but it is always exciting to read books as they arrive!
This one though didn't involve a computer game, but was rather more along the lines of those Saw movies.  I couldn't finish it. It shall remain unnamed, as I don't like posting really negative reviews. As always, if you want the titles of the books I deride, please post a comment, and I will let you know.

A couple of others were merely started, and didn't grab me.  One book I read and finished around August 8th, is The Lady in the Lake.


I love Laura Lippman's stand alone novels; by the time I discovered here if felt a bit too late to go back to the start of her series, but one day I will do that.  This novel is set in the 1960's in Baltimore. My son recently moved to Baltimore, and I enjoyed exploring it while visiting him. (and, as an aside a certain person has recently commented on Baltimore) thus, it felt a bit more relevant as I read it, than some books might.

Maddie, the main character has recently left her husband and is kind of finding herself.  In that process she makes some dubious decisions, including one involving a ring that leads her to meet a police officer, and that sets in motion a relationship and piques her curiosity in crime, and reporting.  I honestly found her a bit irritating and self-centered at times. Some have complained about the narrative structure of this novel, but I truly enjoyed all of the characters' chapters.  Many of these are only heard from once, but they added to the story, and I think were used to point out Maddie's self-absorption.  She was unaware of contributions others made, or their lives/interests and this structure added to that character trait, as well as to the story overall.

There are two murders and Maddie becomes involved in trying to solve both.  Both are based on murders that did take place in Baltimore in the 1960's. Cleo, the lady in the lake, is one of the characters that narrates some chapters, and I thought that was well done, and a nice contrast to Maddies'.

Overall, while it isn't my favorite Lippman book, I did enjoy it. There's a nice twist at the end.