Reads 2016 - 2017

What I'm Reading

• The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson - What a fun book! Nombeko started working emptying the latrines in Soweto, South Africa. She had a way with numbers though that led her to become manager, then to working for an engineer (that she helped as well with the numbers) and ends up in Sweden with an atomic bomb, a boyfriend who doesn't exist (but his twin brother does) and how she saves the King of Sweden! Very, very fun!
• The Postmistress by Sarah Blake - She ran the post office on the tip of Massachusetts. There we see the lives of Americans going on before we entered WW2. On the other side is Frankie, the voice coming over the Atlantic, reporting on the blitz, reporting on the everyday things that happen, then don't as Europe tangles in the war, trying hard to let Americans know what is really going on behind the front page news. I loved Frankie the best, but the novel does make you think, and wonder about life here, even as war and horrors are going on in the world right now, while I tap away on my iPad. Very good.
• We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter - the tale of a Jewish family in Poland during the war and the waves that separated them, the choices they made to survive and how they all came through. Nicely told, a great novel on what it was like, how they coped, and the strings that bind us to family.
• Driving Miss Norma by Ramie Liddle and Tom Bauerschmidt - when Tom's father passes away and his mother is diagnosed with cancer at 90, they give Norma a choice, to adventure with them, or stay in a nursing home for care. She thinks about it and decides, yes, I want to go and Tim learns more about his mother in their journeys than he ever knew in all the years before. Follow your heart, and life will open up! A good book to read on end of life, medical care options and how to go out with style, love and inspiring those around you. Very nice!
• Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert - I was so disappointed when I realized that Alma was not a real person! Though I am sure there must be many like her in the annals of biology. We start with her father, who worked in the gardens of Kew and traveled collecting specimens around the world. He immigrated to America and becomes a wealthy man, has Alma and she learns to be a botanist in her own right. Loved the story, the history, the botany lessons. Le sigh, so good...
• Chasing Francis by Ian Morgan Cron - what happens when a pastor with all the answers leading a mega church in New England, realizes that no, he does not have all the answers. He ends up calling his uncle, a Franciscan Monk who invites him to Italy to introduce him to someone, St. Francis. Well done, glad to see Ian has a website today and is still entranced with what he learned of St. Francis.
• On the Road with Francis of Assisi by Linda Bird France - Since I've done the Camino de Santiago, I am pulled in the direction of St. Francis, to walk in Italy. This is the accounting of Linda and her husband as they visit all the iconic and obscure places where we know St. Francis was. Very well done!
• Summer 2017 Reads 
• In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse by Joseph Marshall III - I've been waiting to get my hands on this one! Glad we finally got a copy! Jimmy is Lakota and gets the great opportunity through his grandfather to explore the country and hear the stories about his ancestor Crazy Horse. Well told.
• Code Name Pauline by Pearl Witherington Cornioley - Pearl became an operative in France during the war, and though she has been lauded for her participation, she is quite certain that what she did was not so remarkable, so she wrote this book. A good look at what life in that area was like and how they worked to harass the enemy.
• Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes - I wish I lived there with them! They spent many summers in Tuscany refurbishing a home, learning to live in Italy, immersing themselves in food, the sights and people. Might have to walk the Way of St. Francis here in a couple of years....
• The Other Side of the Wall by Simon Schwartz - this amazing graphic novel depiction of the author's life on the East side of Berlin is told simply, but powerfully. A great book!
• Lost and Found by Jacqueline Sheehan - needed this story of a woman who runs off to an island off of Maine after the death of her husband. She becomes the part time animal control officer and takes in a dog shot with an arrow. The story of the dog's owners death, and how they save each other and others on the island made a great read.
• The One Where the Kid Nearly Jumps to his Death and Lands in California by Mary Hershey - Alastair, aka 'Stump', jumped off a ski lift and lost his leg. His mom needs a break, a time to get her own life in order so she sends him to his dad in California. They have issues. He embarks on a plan to get back home asap, but there's a charity race that a teenage girl TV star wants him to be in and a cranky old swimming coach just might teach him to be the swimmer he told her he was. A really good story, with lots of heart and a bit of a lesson on how to mend.
• A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass - loved this quiet tale of a girl with synethesia and a love for her cat who she thinks came from her grandfather after he died. She hid it for many years and finds a doctor who hooks her up to a group and everything falls into place. No, I don't see colors, but I wish I did!
• The Candy Bomber by Michael Tunnell - This is the tale of a pilot who brought in supplies to the Soviet surrounded West Berlin and went to tour the city one day, and happened to give 2 sticks of gum to the children of Berlin. That started an 'airlift' that followed Gail Halverson all his life as his plane inspired others to bring hope to the children of Berlin that more than staples, that someone would care to send an extravagance of candy to help them was more than they knew! Gail has relived the flight many times in other countries. I true hero! 
• The 33 by Hector Tobar - Simply amazing. On a par with Erik Larson, this tale of the 33 Chilean miners trapped underground for 69 days rings with emotion, passion to live and the skill of many people brought together for a common goal. Told with compassion, timelines and descriptions to make you feel there, underground with the miners, I loved this story.
• Irena's Children by Tilar Mazzeo (though this was the Young Readers Edition) - what a story of Irena Sandler and her courageous rescue of Jewish children during the Nazi takeover of Warsaw. Her love of the children, fighting to help them, working with others to save around 2,500 children is nothing short of amazing. Loved this.
• Frozen in Time by Mark Kurlansky - what a fabulous book on the amazing inventor (well, for the most part!) of the frozen food industry, Clarence Birdseye. What a curious, insatiable man who always questioned, followed his creative mind and was quite the success story! Really a great book!
• Iqbal by Francesco D'Adams. - loved this book on the true life story of Iqbal who was a child and helped stop the exploitation and slavery of child labor in India. Wow. Told by a girl who was in the carpet weaving factory as Iqbal comes in, you see the real life pressures and acceptance of this may be all there is. But Iqbal stood up. Found adult supporters. A great story.
• The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba - William was curious and especially with anything that had to do with motors and dynamos and wires and power. After a brutal drought he thinks that if they had power and could pump a well, they might never go hungry again. And he does! He finds himself a hero of Africa and today still works to make Africa self sufficient using windmills! Love this incredible boy!
• Everland by Wendy Spinale - loved this steampunk dystopian Peter Pan riff! Gwen Darling may hold the key to surviving the deadly virus unleashed when Captain Hook bombed London. Great spin!
• Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk - interesting tale of a bully who got back what she was dishing out. Set in the Appalachian mountains, this is a community tale set after the Civil War. Nicely done.
• Wolf Wilder by Katherine Randell - In Russia, when the aristocratic wolves were too much for the drawing rooms, they were sent to 'wilders' who taught them how to be brave again. Feo and her mother are attacked by the commandant who has orders to kill all the wolves. Feo runs off with the wolves and her mother is taken prisoner. With a little help from a deserter soldier and friends, they make their way to the prison.
• Beneath Wandering Stars by Ashlee Cowles - loved this tale of pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago! When her brother in deployed he comes home in a coma and in a note in a book, asks her to walk the Camino with his dad and best friend. I really did enjoy this!
• Listen to the Moon by Michael Morpugo - a haunting book of a girl who is found on a deserted island off the coast of Ireland. No one is sure where she came from, or why she's there. Some think she may be a German spy. She is taken in by a local family and they care for her, bring her to life again while finding out that she was a survivor from the sinking of the Lusitania. Very nice!
• Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman - loved this quick tale of Odd who leaves his family and helps a bear, only to find out the bear is Thor, the fox that led him is Loki and the eagle is Odin and goes on a quest to get them back to Asgard and defeat the Frost Giant. Well done!
• The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck - interesting look at Germany during the war and the aftermath. Marianne was married to a German resistor who failed in the attempt on Hitler. She had promised him to look after the wives and children of his fellow resistors. So we have glimpses of the two women she found after the war and their children. We see a different view of the war, how people coped, or didn't. I left this book feeling very sad. Marianne did some wonderful acts and yet felt that she could have done something worthwhile and I sit thinking about my own paltry offerings to the world. Book Club read.
• The Book Jumper by Mechthild Glaser - Alexis is dumped by the man she loves so she takes Amy who was horridly bullied at school and decides to head to her families island home. There, Amy learns that her family are 'Book Jumpers', able to read themselves into a story and meet characters, roam between pages and go into the margins and other stories as well. When Sherlock Holmes is murdered, the Jumpers realize something is very wrong in the story world and have to find the connection between story ideas being stolen and the strange child that has appeared on the island. Not bad!
• The Wild Robot by Peter Brown - interesting tale of a container ship of robots that sinks and one washes up on an island and a sea otter hits the activation button. From monster of the island to a loved and respected denizen Roz finds a home in an island wilderness with the creatures that live there. A little slow, but good story!
• The Kindness Diaries by Leon Logothetis - Leon is a wanderer and on this trip takes his motorcycle Kindness One (with trusty sidecar) and circles the globe depending totally on the kindness of others for food, shelter and gas. He does have money though, which makes me question this a bit, but with that money he also gives kindnesses to those who have helped him after they have connected and he sees a need he can fulfill.
• A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline - the tale of Christina Olsen who lived in the house that Andrew Wyeth loved to paint. Christina is stubborn and refuses to give into her disease. Rather than use a wheelchair, she would rather crawl. Her will is her crutch and she moves through the story with tenacity. I wonder about people like her who choose the hard way rather than use the props others do. Gave me great thought.
• Beastly by Alex Flynn - loved this modern twist on Beauty and the Beast! We meet Beast in a chat room where he talks with others (FrgPrnz - 'Isn't it always a witch?') and tells of how he dumped a girl at a dance and she turned him into a beast. He saves a girl from her drug addict dad and they learn too work together. Very nice!
• The Inquisitor's Tale by Adam Gidwitz - how fun! The tale of the three children and their holy dog was like reading a modern version of Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales! The 'monk' type illuminations were so much fun! So worth while! Loved it! 
• Beast by Donna Jo Napoli - a different look at the classic fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast, but here we see the beasts side. How young Orasmyn, a Persian prince makes an error at a sacrifice and is turned into a lion. His story and how he finally gets to his castle and wins the heart of a young girl is amazing. Loved Donna's retelling of this story!
• The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan and illustrations by Peter Sis - loved this well crafted novel with the always exceptional Peter Sis drawings all throughout. This is the tale of Pablo Neruda and how he grew up. Lovely, simply lovely! I book talked it and someone checked it out! Huzzah!
• Dream Bender by Ronald Kidd - There has been a warming, and the people who come back are scared of machines of any sort. So the Dreambenders take the dreams of those who think on machines, and cut them short. When Jeremy is told to dreambend a girl who loves music, he questions it, like everything else and the society has to decide to listen to him, or bend him to their plan.
• Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier - what a nice little fantasy! Gwen's sister has trained all her life to be the familiy's time traveler, so when Gwen travels instead, all the plans laid for the chronograph keepers get put awry. Fun little book!
• Freedom Business - by Venture Smith, poems by Marilyn Nelson and Art by Deborah Dancy - We see here the narrative of Venture Smith, taken as a boy for the slave trade in the early 1700's and yet managed to buy himself free and had quite the busy, wealthy life for his day and times and color. The Art work is superb, the poems highlight the details of his narrative and to read the narrative from 200 years ago was stunning.
• Samurai Rising by Pamela S. Turner - A great epic tale of Minamoto Yoshitsune and his times and life back in the 12th century. Amazing life of a man who brought the ways of the samurai into his heart, bold, fearless, he was a hero to the people, but not to the family politics.
• Enna Burning by Shannon Hale - I really do love her writing, just plain old literary candy to my ears! This is the second book after Goose Girl and Enna is fabulous! Shannon has the most incredible descriptions of her fire. Read it!!
• Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale - Loved this tale of Dashti the maid sealed with her lady in a tower for 7 years for refusing to wed a khan. A very well told tale from Grimm Brothers' story, the Maid Malden with a bit of a twist! 
• On Top of the World: Five Women Explorers in Tibet by Luree Miller - Great book about women in the 19th century who went all over the Himalaya range. One of them did it while being carried in a sedan chair! Another disguised herself as a monk. Great stories!
• Next Always by Nora Roberts - another romance book I had, I've never read Nora, but it wasn't too bad. Still predictable in some counts but loved the working on the Inn.
• Sisters of the Sword by Maya Snow - A very nice fiction of two sisters who join a dojo as kitchen help after their father and brothers are killed by their uncle. They vow revenge and get to train. I loved that I had just watched a Forged in Fire where they made a Naginata sword and the sisters get to practice with one!
• Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier - interesting story and beautiful graphics by Raina!
• Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly - Loved our book club book of the month! I had so many sticky notes!! The fact that these women were called 'Human Computers' just still astounds me as well as their intelligence, their commitment to better themselves and those around them by words and actions was mesmerizing. Loved, loved, loved it!
• Centaur Rising by Jane Yolen - a very special baby is born to a horse and the family has to decide how to go about either hiding him, or letting people in on it. A little cra-cra, but all right.
• Stella by Starlight by Sharon Draper - Lovely book around the diary her grandmother left about changes in the South during the civil rights years. Novel in verse, beautifully told.
• La's Orchestra Saves the World by Alexander McCall Smith - I really like his writing and this story of a woman living in Yorkshire during the war was really wonderful. An ordinary life, but touching others here and there. Loved it!
• Christmas in Paris by Anita Hughes - pretty predictable and not my genre, but a nice entertaining romance novel and I really did love Gus (read to find out who he is!) a nice present from book club.
• 2017 from here!
• Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King - crazy like a coyote novel about the tribes up in Canada, the Sun Dance, four Indians who try to fix just something small. Kind of a new 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'!
• Elephant Run by Roland Smith - I really like Roland, and this book was no exception! During the Blitz, Nick is sent to live with his father in Burma on his dad's plantation. But the Japanese are there as well and Nick is in even more danger there. Great story! Another recommended read!
• Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen - fabulous book on circle justice and how it was applied to a young man headed for prison. Cole nearly killed a fellow student and is sent to live on an island off British Columbia and his journey is extraordinary. Loved this and will recommend!
• Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate - Such an amazing novel in verse about a refugee from Sudan, Kek. He has lost his family to the war and is sent to America on the 'flying boat'. Brilliantly in a refugee's voice, this book made me cry at the end. Hope is hard work.
• William and Catherine by Andrew Morton - I got this as a gift back quite a few years ago, scanned the pictures, but never read it. Did so over our snow break! A very nice, intimate look at the pair's early lives, how they met all the way up to the wedding. Very nicely done! 
• Hokey Pokey by Jerry Spinelli - that was one crazy wierd ride on Scramjet, no less, the hybrid bike/horse ridden by Jack, a legend in the area known as Hokey Pokey. One of the strangest stories ever, the end explains, but still, very, very funky.
• A Wolf at the Door edited by Terri Windling - a great treasure trove of 13 fairy tales told from a different viewpoint by different authors! Very fun!
• Do Not Pass Go by Kirkpatrick Hill - with several prisons in our area, I've been wanting to read this and was surprised by the depth and insight of what it may be like when a parent is sent to prison. Deet's dad was taking drugs to work two jobs and gets caught. Deet struggles with his perceptions, but steps up and learns that people are people, whether in prison or not. Great read, definite recommend!
• Spare Parts by Joshua Davis - the amazing tale of four young boys and how they build an underwater robot and win the prestigious National Underwater Robotics Competition. A 'Salem Reads' book, I loved not only the tale of the build, but the very lives of the boys and how the immigration issues of our time affected each of them. Excellent non-fiction!
• Heartless by Marissa Meyer - Loved this tale of how the Queen of Hearts went mad. Catherine never wanted the shallow king, she rather loved baking the perfect most desserts in all of Hearts. Until the day the Joker, Jest, entered the court. She still loved baking, but her heart was lost. Excellent!
• Dead Wake by Erik Larson - fascinating account of the sinking of the Lusitania from all sides. The submarine, the ship, the company and the countries. Love the way he does his research.
• The Stout-Hearted Seven by Neta Lohnes Frazier - the true tale of the Sanger children and their trek across the Oregon Trail. Based on Catherine's Diary, this tells of their survival through kind pioneers after the loss of their parents on the trail, then to be adopted by them Whitman's at their mission and what happened to them during the Whitman Massacre. 
• The Winter Horses by Philip Kerr - Loved this! Horse fanatic, lover of Russian things this tale of the Przewalski horses at a reserve in the Ukraine (actually still there today!!) was fascinating. Young Kalinka running from the Germans, the horses possibly the last of their kind running from the Germans who were out to destroy them. The brave borzoi Tara. Wonderful! Loved it!
• The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict - I've never given much thought to if Einstein was married, but yes, he was to a brilliant woman physicist who may have helped him with the theory of relativity! Could be! Sad to say their marriage was not good for her, or their children and it was a sad slide into a heartbreaking tale of who she could have been. I wish the story would have gone on farther than ending at their separation.
• Need by Carrie Jones - Zara's father dies and in her grief, she is sent to live with her weretyger grandmother. What did I just write?? Werewolves, wereeagles, even a pixie king. Who knew Maine could be so fascinating? A nice fae read!
• Unwind by Neal Shusterman - Between the ages of 13 and 18, you can be rewound. Your parents decide this. Because you're the family tithe. Because you're an added expense to the state. Because you just don't get how to fit in with your family. But there can be an escape. You can make it to the camp, and there wait until you're 18, and be free. Excellent sci-fi.
• The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan - The Unconsecrated are all about the village. Fences keep them out, but when the village is overrun Mary and a few friends run down a fenced road that has always been forbidden hoping to find other villages like theirs. Loved Mary's love of the ocean she has never seen, told to her by her mother, the thread of hope that weaves throughout.
• Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario - great piece of writing on the illegal immigrant issue following a young boy who heads to the US to find his mother. Great reporting, journey with facts, this was the YA version.
• Paper and Fire by Rachel Caine - great sequel! Though I'm not sure I'll do the third. I was so sad when they rigged an automaton lion to support them, but then he got shredded. :( Now they go to America, not sure I want to follow that journey.
• Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine - wow! What a great ride! The Great Librrary of Alexandria still exists, but it also controls every book. It gives out something akin to a Kindle, and it is against the law to own a real book. Enter Jess, his family is in the business of book smuggling and they send Jess off to work at the Library in hopes he'll bring some rare books into his families possession. This was fabulous! Off onto book 2!
• You Can't See the Elephants by Susan Kreller - Mascha meets a girl and boy and starts to notice their bruises, and comes to the conclusion that they are being abused by their father. She asks, she calls, no one believes her so she takes matters into her own hands. A great one person can make a difference story.
• Lara's Gift by Annemarie O'Brien - wonderful tale of a girl and her love for the borzoi dogs of old Russia. Lara wants to be the kennel head like her father, but girls are not the first choice. But she is taught and mentored and has a great gift of visions about her beloved dogs. Then her brother is born and she may lose it all and be married off. Touchingly written! Felt very historical, and was!
• An Invisible Thread by Laura Schroeder - Laura was walking in New York one afternoon and a young boy asked for money because he was hungry. She kept walking to the middle of the street, turned around and came back to take him to lunch and they started a 25+ year relationship. A great story!
• The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson - Hayley's dad has PTS from deployment and after trucking for years with his daughter, has decided she needs to go to high school. They settle down in their old town. Hayley refriends, gets a boyfriend and suffers from her own PTS from being around her dad who refuses to get help. Touching, soul bearing writing makes this book a most worthy read. 8th grade level though!
• The Great War by various, illus. By Jim Kay - this remarkable book takes items from WWI and wraps them in story. From a helmet to a butter dish, each item is brought to life. The actual items (pictures) and stories are in the back. A wonderful resource.
• The Honest Truth by Dan Gemeinhart - Mark has cancer, but he had a promise he had made to his grandfather that they would climb Mt. Rainier together, so he leaves with only his dog to climb the mountain after his grandfather passes away and Mark's cancer reappears. His friend Jessie figures out what he is doing and has to make the decision to tell everyone where Mark is, or keep his secret so he can try. Beau, his dog, is faithful, smart and follows Mark all the way. A great OBOB book!
• Old Wolf by Avi - This realistic fiction is the tale of the old wolf losing his pack and a young boy who finds the injured wolf in the woods. One chapter boy, one chapter wolf, a life just beginning and a life nearing its end. Lovely drawings by Brian Floca.
• The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger - With the help of Origami Yoda on his finger, Dwight can make amazing predictions for his fellow students and Tom begins to wonder, is Origami Yoda for real???
• A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness - saw an ad for the movie and thought I'd read this. So deep, so real. Based on an idea by Siobhan Dowd (I love her Bog Child and Swift Pure Cry) about a boy who's mother is dying of cancer and the yew tree on the hill behind his house comes to life, a great green monster that tells him three stories, and in return, the boy needs to tell him a story. So amazing!
• The Shadow Behind the Stars by Rebecca Hahn - the Fates spin, weave and cut our stories. Serena, Chloe and Xinot are the fates and wonder what they've done when they have a mortal girl live with them. In her story, and what she does, may just destroy the world we know.
• The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien - returned to a favorite read. It was so good to read again!
• Born to Rock by Gordon Korman - More high school, but all right for our middle school kids, Leo loses his scholarship to Harvard and his mother finally lets him know his biological father is King Maggot. Yes, from the punk band Purge an iconic legend. And now Dad's asked Leo to go on a comeback tour with the band.
• The Lightning Queen by Laura Resau - Teo and the Esma, the Queen of Lightning were prophesied to be life long friends. Teo is a Mexteco, and Esma is a Romani. Both on the fringes of Mexican culture. Teo is old and tells his grandson their story, and Mateo learns the story is not yet over.
• The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis - Living in Kabul isn't easy, especially since the Taliban took over. When Parvana's father is arrested, the family's only hope is for Parvana's to become a boy and be able to go outside to find work and bring home food. Very good!
• Where the River Ends by Charles Martin - Touched so much by this exquisite book. One of those literary candy finds, words that taste, nuances that strip the heart. Abbie gets cancer and has a 10 item bucket list that includes having her husband guide her down the St. Mary River to the end. Her senator father is furious when they disappear. Loved how Doss and Abbie shaped the curves and flow of their lives. From a neighborhood Free Little Library!
• I'm Off Then by Hape Kerkeling - We had just finished the Camino and found this in the basket of books in the hotel in Santiago. Hooted and groaned with Hape as we read his stories of the Camino Frances! Really enjoyed this!
• Beautiful Mercy - Read these stories of the 7 corporal and 7 spiritual acts of mercy while walking the Camino Primitivo this summer. Loved the short devotional/stories in there.
• Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Gratz - Based on the story of Jack Gruener (and Ruth, his wife) the tale of how he survived 10 concentration camps at the end of WW II. Well done.
• Keep Me in Mind by Jaime Reed - Nice story of a high school couple that come apart after Ellia loses the last two years of her life. Specifically the two years she's been hanging out with Liam full time. She doesn't remember anything about him and all he wants is for them to be together again. Well done mixed race tale.
• Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson - Loved this and devoured it! Lee can sense gold and heads off to the California Gold Rush after her mother and father are killed by her uncle. Historical fiction with a fantasy twist, I loved this!
• The Green Bicycle by Haifaa Al Mansour - Wadjda is not your ordinary Arabic girl. Sure she goes to a special school (girls only) wears a shayla, but also falls in love with a green bicycle that she's certain will be hers! A good look at another culture, I really enjoyed it.
• Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman - Found this hard to get into, then the chapters started to make sense. One is Caden's life in real time, the next is Caden's time on the pirate ship. Neal wrote this as a tribute to what his son went through, illustrations by his son. A chilling, yet hopeful look at coming out the other side of mental illness.
• The Meaning of Maggie by Megan Jean Sovern - Maggie is certain to be President one day and is already prepping for it at 11 years old. Her dad develops MS and she uses that as her science project because she's sure she can find a cure. Love her footnotes!
• A Plague of Unicorns by Jane Yolen - Hummm. Not a favorite. Not sure why. How does one get unicorns to stop eating the best apples in the monks' orchard?
• The Improbable Theory of Ana and Zak by Brian Katcher - This was a fun book! Zak is going to fail health, but his teacher says if he attends the Quiz Bowl that happens to be in Seattle at the same weekend as his never before missed Washingcon he may even get to graduate. Ana is on track to a perfect life afraid her parents will turn on her like they did her sister. Ana's brother goes AWOL and together they head straight for Washingcon to get Clayton back. 
• Benny and Omar by Eoin Colfer - cute story of Benny who has to move to Africa and finds a different world and a good friend and a decision to make.
• Summer 2016 Reads