The daily life of a Middle School Library Media Assistant.

Monday, August 26, 2019

Reading List 2018 - 2019

  • What the Night Sings by Vesper Stamper - what a lovely book on a girl who made it through the Holocaust who lost her singing voice. She never knew she was Jewish until she was arrested. All she has left of her family is her father’s viola, and the music and her butterflies pulls her through her own reawakening. Lovely illustrations.
  • The Deceiver’s Heart by Jennifer Nielsen - the second installment of the Traitor’s Game. Kestra’s memory is taken from her by Lord Endrick and as she struggles to remember Simon and who she really is, there is war afoot and even a dragon appears to help the rebels. A nice second novel with one more on the way!
  • A Man of His Own by Susan Wilson - Pax loves two men. The baseball player who picked him up out of the alley and the boy who took him on as a K9 for World War II. When his first owner is wounded in the war, and his trainer has fallen for this incredible dog, they team up together. Rick is paralyzed and Keller becomes his caretaker. Rick is married to Francesca and she is also part of Pax’s pack. A fabulous dog story.
  • The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo - quaint tale of a mouse with dreams of being a knight to his lady, and he does that in unexpected ways! Nicely done.
  • Sweep - the Story of a Girl and her Monster by Jonathan Auxier - Absolutely loved this book of a 1870’s chimney sweep and her golem. Nan works the chimneys like many children did in that era. Jonathan does an amazing job of showing us what the world of children as chimney sweeps was like. The conditions, the fact that children were killed in them, even though a mechanical brush had been invented, it was cheaper to have children do it. Kidnapped, sold, rented by the masters, this is a great tale of the sweeps and how Nan and her golem brought them together - well, maybe that part isn’t quite so historical! Read this book!! A definite recommend for our students!
  • How I Came to Sparkle Again by Kaya McLaren - a girl comes home to find her husband in bed with another woman, she silently leaves them and goes to her hometown of Sparkle, Colorado. She comes together with old friends, and finds another person broken by a relationship and as she takes care of his daughter, she finds that maybe there is room for Sparkle in her life again.
  • The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted by Robert Hillman - Tom runs a ranch in Australia. A down to earth, person who chooses to do the right thing. Even when his wife leaves him, even when she comes home with a babe from another man. Tom grows to love the boy, and when his wife up and takes the boy to a Jesus camp, he steadies on. Then he meets Hannah. A woman who managed to walk away from the concentration camps in Germany, and wants to open a bookstore in this small Australian town. The boy runs away and comes back, and Hannah is haunted by her own boy, taken by the Germans, and can not stay. Nicely intertwined with the present and the past.
  • All the Ever Afters by Danielle Teller - Interesting retelling of Cinderella’s stepmother. Her own hardships in life, how her daughters were effected by disease and how she raised the young girl Elfina. Really well done!
  • Public Library by Ali Smith - A smattering of notes from librarians and short vignettes on life. I enjoyed the librarians views since they were from England.
  • Bone Jack by Sara Crowe - Modern day race blends with ancient legends as the land becomes stricken by drought, families torn apart as Ash prepares for the Stag Chase and is confronted by his friend Mark who says that the Stag must die, blood to make the land and all come right. He begs Ash to not be the Stag boy, and Ash knows that he needs to do it, to try and get to his father who is suffering from PTSD.
  • The Fork, the Witch and the Worm by Christopher Paolini - loved heading back to Eragon’s world in this collection of three short stories. Good to go back!
  • No Crystal Stair by Vaunda Nelson - This tells the story of Nelson Michaux who became a bookseller in Harlem when no one thought blacks would really want to read. He created a bookstore only for blacks by black authors. The book is wonderfully put together with amazing design, comments from people who knew him. What an influence he had. I’m so glad I read this.
  • One Half from the East by Nadia Hashimi - Obayda loves her family, but when a car bomb destroys her father’s leg and spirit, she is told she must become a bacha posh, a girl who will be a boy. This is supposed to bring luck to the family and perhaps even a baby boy into the family. As Obayd rejoices in the freedom of being a boy, he wonders if he wants to go back to being a girl. Who would?
  • The Traitor’s Game by Jennifer Nielsen - I really enjoyed this tale of Kestra and Simon as they step carefully through their kingdom. She is the daughter of a brutal lord, the right hand man of the powerful wicked king and Simon who is part of the rebellion to oust him and will use Kestra to help. Will she, or won’t she? Or does she have plans of her own?
  • Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield - The mysteries of a river, a set of people. Brought out of the river on a flooding time, a 4 year old girl thought dead who comes to life with three families who could claim her. Very intertwined and beautiful passages and yes, mysteries are solved, and grieved and all flows down the river. Lovely.
  • Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson - Miranda loved her Uncle Billy and though he had moved out of her life, she was astonished when he leaves her his bookshop, and a trail of mysteries to solve where her whole life becomes a totally different book than what she thought it was.
  • Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff - Wonderful story of the girls who ran radio transmitters in France during WWII. The dangers, the messages, fiction but based on fact. I now have a great appreciation for these women who risked all in the war. God bless them.
  • West Like Lightning by Jim DeFelice - what a great history of the Pony Express! I did a report on them in 5th grade I still remember! And made a clay statue of a rider on a horse. I’m sure it was fabulous ;D . I was happy to hear they still do the run from St. Joe to Old Towne Sacramento. June 10th is the start this year! A great book, telling the myths, legends and facts. Loved the lists of the stations and the people who ran them as well as the riders. Even a few horse names in there. Loved it.
  • The Button War by Avi - Boys play dangerous games in a war zone. The Germans, the Russians are there and one boy wants to be the leader and decides that whoever has the ‘best’ button will be off the soldiers. He’s determined to win, no matter what.
  • Stonebird by Mike Rebell - Liam has to move so they can be near his dementia struck grandmother. When he finds her diary and a large gargoyle in an abandoned church, he learns that some wishes come true and there are others you don’t really want to come true.
  • The Book of Boy by Catherine Gilbert Murdock - set in a medieval style, Boy helps a pilgrim collect relics of Saint Peter so the pilgrim can enter heaven. Boy is a hunchback and goes along because he wants to be just a boy. But will he?
  • No Beast so Fierce by Dane Huckelbridge - all about a man eating tiger in India that ate over 400 people. Dane tells that most man eaters are driven to it by injury or disease, how the man who finally hunted him down in later years became a tiger advocate and started what is now the Jim Corbett National Park dedicated to saving wild tigers. Loved it!
  • Speak - the Graphic Novel by Laurie Halse Anderson with Emily Carroll illustrator - oh my. So good. How the desperate dark things in our lives get hidden in the box of ‘we aren’t going to talk about this.’ A definite recommend for my students. So good.
  • The Dalai Lama’s Cat by David Miche - So adorably cute!! I loved this book and loved HHC’s own journey to bodhicatsiva. Truly one of my favorite books of the year!
  • The Goat by Anne Fleming - what a funky little book! Who knew there was a goat living on top of a New York skyscraper by Central Park. Or is it just a cloud? Kid is determined to find out!
  • Educated by Tara Westover - book club read - Not sure if I wanted to cry or just throw the book out the window at how she was treated by some family members. The truth she finally had to accept, the way she moved into the wider world around her, and came to grips with herself is really remarkable.
  • In the Fields and the Trenches by Kerrie Logan Holliday - each chapter takes a name in history that served in WWI. From Charlie Chaplin to J.R.R. Tolkien we see why they went, what happened and how that influenced them in life. Well done!
  • The Perfect Horse by Elizabeth Letts - loved this telling of the intricacies of saving the purebred horses in the path of the Germans and Russians at the end of WWII and how Americans stepped in to save these irreplacable horses. Perfect read!
  • Runaway Prince by Jennifer Nielsen - the 2nd in the series. Enjoyed it but will not go on the 3rd. Sage must take over the pirate group to save the country from the neighboring countries bent on overtaking Carthya.
  • False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen - The royal family is dead and a regent culls orphanages to find four boys that might pass as the one missing prince. Well told! Nice fantasy.
  • Just Mercy by Bryon Stevenson - young reader’s edition - this tale of how Bryon got into advocating for underage youth living out life and death sentences. Definitely worth a read by our students since there are so many prisons here in Oregon.
  • No Fixed Address by Susan Nielsen - Felix is homeless. But not really according to his mother Astrid. She will get another job and living in a van will be past history. Felix has the answer, to win a new junior version of his favorite TV show and he’s going to win so they won’t be homeless anymore. Well done!
  • Paragon Hotel by Lyndsay Faye - a book club read about what it was like to live as a colored in post WWII Portland, Oregon. The KKK is here and the Paragon is the only hotel coloreds can stay at when in the city. Great characters and an intertwining of Alice ‘Nobody’ as she flees Harlem and ends up in Portland at the Paragon.
  • Small as an Elephant by Jennifer Jacobson - a tender story of a mom with mental issues and how she is protected by her son who she left at Acadia National Park and she ‘spins’ out. He tries to get back home without anyone knowing what’s going on as he tries to see Lilia, an elephant at a zoo.
  • When Death Becomes Life by Joshua D. Metrics - loved this historical and yet his modern life of being a transplant surgeon. The body is so wierd!!! I’m hoping I never need surgery! Ever! But now I know that the surgeons are as trained as possible for anything that happens. Loved it.
  • Victoria by Daisy Goodwin - loving the series and wishing for more! I loved reading the book, fleshing out the series a bit more.
  • Origin by Dan Brown - a thriller with the world and religion in balance to totally change how religion is perceived in the world. Loved being in Spain and some iconic places. Nicely done Dan.
  • Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton - Loved this tale of the world gone dark. Augustine refuses to leave his precious telescopes on Ellesmere Island and the spaceship heading back from Jupiter each tell their story as the world goes silent around them. Our Salem Reads book for this year. Funny. I was tired of hunky beautiful men and said I wanted someone like Sid from Mountain Men of Alaska and showed a pic of an old guy, in longjohns, on an Adirondack chair. Check out page 187 in the book! It must be Sid!
  • Vox by Christina Dalcher - what if a new power arose that put women back in their 'place' and only allowed them to speak 100 words a day? What if one of those women could save the brother of the president? What would he do to have her help him? Really well done. My book club read.
  • Abhorsen by Garth Nix - I loved Sabriel years ago and even more Lireal, but tried Abhorsen and couldn't do it. I finally finished it. It is darker, and achingly hard to read. A lot like life where we all have dark places we go through and yet we do get through them, so does Lirael and Sam.
  • City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab - loved this story of Cass who sees ghosts. She sees Jacob who rescued her from the river and when her folks take her to Edinburgh to film their 'Inspector' series, she finds she has a purpose in seeing them after all. Quite the page turner for me!
  • Always Look on the Bright Side by Eric Idle - How could I not read this sortabiography by a member of Monty Python? Quite a lot of name dropping and making us all wish we were comedians living the high life! You need to leave this book singing "Always look on the bright side of life.....(whistle, whistle, whistle)"
  • Enchantress of Numbers by Jennifer Chiaverini - loved this fictional tale of Ada Lovelace and how she lived. A wonderful look at life in that era and how women did make amazing mathematical leaps even though they weren't supposed to!
  • Devils Unto Dust by Emma Barquist - Zombies (Shakes) and the wild west - what could be more fun?
  • Hikaru #1 by Yumi Hotta - Loved this manga all about Go! Hopefully we will have students play Go here really soon!
  • More Deadly Than War by Kenneth Davis - a look at the Spanish Flu that killed thousands and possibly hundreds of thousands during the end of World War I. Staggering how the disease grew and was spread by our troops into Europe. Scary and sad.
  • Something Rotten - a Fresh Look at Roadkill by Heather Montgomery - this was actually a hoot! What a great dissection (ha!) of the life we see pancaked on the asphalt and what that all means! I was fascinated! Read it!
  • The War to End All Wars by Russell Freedman - a well done and researched book that brings the tragedy of WWI in a succinct and timeless fashion. Getting ready to see ‘They Shall Not Grow Old’ in a couple of weeks. Wanted to get some facts in before I go. Very well done.
  • The Lines We Cross by Randa Abdel-Fattah - Michael doesn’t see anything wrong with his parents and their very public stance on anti-immigration until he meets Mina. She’s a refugee and as their worlds Venn together, he questions his values taken from his family and makes the decision to find his own values. Well done on all accounts!
  • Little French Bistro by Nina George - when Marianne decides to leave her husband, she tries jumping into the Seine in Paris. When that doesn’t work out, she leaves him again and goes to the end of the world, the north tip of France and there she finds that life keeps intruding on her decision to end it all. Loved the translation of the writing.
  • Christmas at the Comfort Food Cafe by Debbie Johnson - a cute romantic holiday read for my book club.
  • Love, Life and Elephants by Dame Daphne Sheldrick - she grew up in Kenya with a pioneering family and her life story of working in the Tsavo National Parks and particularly her work with raising orphan elephants and others is a safari into a world few of us get to live. Loved it.
  • The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris - A wonderful biography of Lale Sokolov and how he managed to live through Auschwitz-Birkenau and meet a girl and marry her after the war. Told well and a great tribute to Lale and Gita and the kindness they gave and got through a horrible time.
  • Quintana of Charyn by Melina Marchetta - the last of the Finnikin series. Nicely done!
  • Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta - loved this sequel to Finnikin of the Rock. What a great fantasy series.
  • Sled Dog School by Terry Lynn Johnson - loved this quick tale of a boy with a math assignment who starts a sled dog school! So much fun! Definite recommend!
  • Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta - wowsa! Great fantasy book. Finnikin’s world was taken over and he has been mentored by the First Man of his kingdom to find the exiles and the heir that is rumored to be alive. Getting book 2 and 3!
  • The Cat who Came for Christmas by Cleveland Amory - well, mine came for Thanksgiving, but this is an old book that still could be written as is today. I had no idea what an animal advocate Cleveland Amory was. I had heard of some of the work, and had no idea he was involved in it. Loved his cat Polar Bear and the cat insights we all know!
  • Halfway Normal by Barbara Dee - loved this book about a girl who battled cancer for two years and returned to school to feel that she was only identified as ‘cancer girl’. Really well told and a definite recommend for my students!
  • The Best Christmas Pagaent Ever by Barbara Robinson - had to read this because my granddaughter is in the play! We are going to see her mid-December! Huzzah! She is one of the horrible Herdman’s!
  • Last Bus to Wisdom by Ivan Doig - love his stuff. I did not know he had passed away just a few years ago. This book is so much fun, heartache, wisdom, travel, serendipitous events, I loved it.
  • When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi - Paul has everything going for him. He loves his chosen profession of nuerosurgery and is ready to take the reins when he is diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. Amazing book as a doctor looks at how it is to be a patient. Paul did pass away before finishing this. Well worth a read.
  • Orphan Island by Laurel Snyder - what an interesting book! There are nine orphans on the island and when a new little comes, the oldest gets on the boat and leaves. No one knows why. Then when Deen leaves, Jinny can hardly stand it. Why? When her turn comes, she decides to not get on the boat, not leave, and everything changes. Interesting.
  • Dear Bob and Sue Season 2 - by Matt and Karen Smith - Like the first one, this was full of quips and musings on being married and traveling to amazing places. I am wanting to go into slot canyons (when it is safe!!) and be entranced by them. Love these books and want to visit some of these amazing places!
  • Bob by Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead - Livy goes back to visit her grandmother after five years and opens the closet in her room to find, Bob. He has been patiently waiting for her to return. Playing with a Lego pirate ship, and reading the dictionary. He thought she’d never come back, but hoped so anyway. When she returns, Livy decides they need to find out where Bob belongs. He’s not a zombie, or a chicken, but perhaps more of something from a fable that got misplaced. Interesting read.
  • Unsinkable by Jessica Long with Hannah Long - Jessica is a Paralympic swim champion and this easily and succinctly tells her story of adoption from Russia to nearly present day. What a great role model for students everywhere. A perfect book!
  • Leila - Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray - A great story that adds to the Star Wars legacy. The tale of how Princess Leia came into her spotlight at 16 years old. Loved it!!
  • Loving vs. Virginia by Patricia Hruby Powell and Illustrated by Shadra Strickland - This novel in verse told the story of the Lovings. She was African American and a bit Native American and he was white and how the laws of Virginia allowed them to be arrested for being together as man and wife. Warmly illustrated and with pertinent facts of what was going on with civil rights at the time makes this a great read.
  • The Mysteries of Beethoven’s Hair by Russell Martin and Lydia Nibley - an interesting look at how a lock of Beethoven’s hair ended up in Arizona and showed he had massive lead poisoning. That explains a lot!
  • Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar - This is part of her true story of some of what she went through after a car accident left her in a nearly body cast for almost a year. It was beautifully done. I’ll book talk this one!
  • The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater - Wow. The story of Sasha and the boy who set fire to their skirt as they slept on bus 57. Wow. The whole learning process of gender was well thought out, and told in great context of this true story. Just wow. I am now much better informed about this important community. Glad I read it. My 2nd eBook! Playing Atari was my first on Axis360.
  • Playing Atari with Saddam Hussein by Ali Fadhil and Jennifer Roy - This is a retelling of Ali’s experience during the Kuwaiti invasion by Iraq. Ali became an interpreter. I did not know this was a true story.
  • Almost Invisible by Maureen Gracie - Jewel is living at school. She is too afraid to go home. Too afraid to ask for help. Then two students notice her. And they help her as much as they can. A good story, and I’m sure somewhere it is true for someone.
  • Mrs. Sherlock Holmes by Brad Ricca - Grace Humiston was a lawyer who learned that the facts will solve the case. Back in 1917 a girl went missing and yet Grace was the one who relentlessly pushed until the body was found. The book lost its appeal for me after that, but I slogged through to the end. Our Book Club read for October.
  • The Language of Spells by Garret Weyr - Illustrated by Katie Harnett - a simply thoughtfully delightful book. I can not do it justice. Grisha and Maggie come together to awaken the sleeping dragons in Vienna in a world where dragons may not be oddities, but the magic that flows in the world has taken away who they really are. I really did love this book. Not sure who to recommend it to. Maybe it will find its readers. I hope so. It found me.
  • Jefferson’s Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley - what an eye opener about our founding father and the father to one of his slaves children. Fascinating historical fiction about a great man and his short fallings.
  • The Night Diary by Vera Hiranandani - Vera took a hard time in India and gave it a heartbeat. When India separated itself after gaining independence from Britain into India for the Hindi and Pakistan for the Muslims. Having to pack up and leave their beloved home, Nissan is half Hindu and half Muslim. Her mother had died, and their father is Hindu and must travel to the India side. Nisha writes to her mother nearly every night, expressing her feelings about all that is going on, and their journey as thousands travel from one side of the line to the other. Well thought, well written.
  • Macy McMillan and the Rainbow Goddess by Shari Green - loved this novel in verse! Macy's mother is getting married and she needs to pack. Why? She and just her mom were perfect! Just the way they were, thank you. But when her mom sends her over to the neighbor to help her pack, Macy finds in this moving to a retirement home lady, a rainbow goddess who sees messages in the cookies she bakes. A lovely tale that comes together like a chocolate chip cookie. Heartwarming.
  • Ahimsa by Supriya Kelkar - This tale based on the life of her great grandmother was extraordinary! When Gandhi called for each family to give one member to peacefully revolt, she did. Ahimsa means an action of non-violence and this novel was a melody of peace. Truly lovely.
  • The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows - our book club read and we've done it before, a long time ago, but still a lot of fun and loved it. The movie was not near as good as the book by the way...
  • Astoria by Peter Stark - wow! Great book on how JJ Astor had put into motion men across oceans and across the continent to tap the great wealth of the Pacific Northwest. I had no idea. What the people who worked for him went through to try and realize his ambition was gut wrenching. A true tale of men fighting the elements and the odds. Loved it!
  • Ardnish was Home by Angus MacDonald - I picked up this book in Malliag, Scotland. The story of one of their own who goes off to war during WWI. Very sweetly told. I enjoyed it.
  • War by Sebastian Junger - my son served in this same area just a year after this book was written. wow. This is probably one of the best books written about what being in a combat area is like. wow.
  • Last Day on Mars by Kevin Emerson - what a ride! Better than a spacecraft! With the sun going supernova, Earth has been abandoned as humans plan their journey out of our solar system. This story leaps from one tense moment to another that has you holding your breath! Can't wait to see if the next book is just as good!
  • Lost Boys by Darcey Rosenblatt - Wow. Had no idea that Iran would use its young boys to explode mine fields so the real soldiers could come through. That I had never heard of and the author is quite upfront about that she is not Iranian, nor has had anything to do with the war at all until this story came to her and wouldn't let her go until she wrote it. Definitely will recommend!
  • The Wearle (Erth Dragons) by Chris D'Lacey - I have read The Fire Within, and this is beyond that. A great tale that leads you into this world of dragons and the 'Hom' and a boy who rescues a baby dragon. My only problem with this was that the dragons seemed too 'human' like. But, over all a great introduction to this series. Life, deaths, misunderstandings, it's all there.
  • Snow and Rose by Emily Winfield Martin - what a surprising telling of Snow White and Rose Red! Loved this quiet, but leading you on to their amazing journey in the woods and breaking a spell no one even had thought of! Definite recommend!
  • Forever or a Long, Long Time by Caela Carter - Flora and Julian have finally been adopted, for forever says their new mom. But Flora isn't sure, since she and her brother she's certain were never born. They have no past and Flora invents tales of how they came to be - theories really, coming together on the sea floor as sand at first, or maybe how the storks weave babies together but missed with them and they were too big to land in a mom or a house. Then Flora and Julian learn that Person (what Flora calls her new mom to herself) is pregnant and wonders if the love of forever will hold them together. Truly a wonderful book!
  • The Book of Dust - La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman - oh my! I was a bit wary, then climbed into La Belle Sauvage and didn't want to get off! If I'd had the next volume, I would have gone straight into it! Malcolm and Alice are incredible characters and when they set off to rescue baby Lyra from the nuns because of a flood, they take us away on a great adventure. Spies, intrigue, followed by a madman with a hyena for a daemon, they lead us over the flood waters mercilessly entangling us in their grip!
  • I Will Always Write Back by Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda - what a great book and is an Oregon Battle of the Books pick! And it should be! A long distance and long term relationship brings Martin hope, opens Caitlin's eyes to the world and changes both of them forever! I'm so glad I read this and will book talk it!!

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