Summer reading... had me a blast!

Vacation... ah... 

Sand...

and sun...

and so much reading!

Here's what I took with me on our recent family trip to Jekyll Island:

I didn't make it through every book, but I finished a few that I had going already, read a few start to finish, and started reading a couple of new books.  Here's the summary:

Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

File this away under my "another engaging thriller" category. No major surprises here, just a solid, readable plot with an ending that provided just enough of a surprise. I was on the lookout for transphobic depictions based on publicity this book got, but Rowling saves that for her Twitter feed.



The Canyon's Edge by Dusti Bowling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This solid middle grades novel depicts Nora's fight for survival when she and her father are caught in a flash flood in a slot canyon. Starting and ending with narrative chapters, the bulk of the book is a novel in verse, and that form suits Nora's journey (physical and internal) quite well. Readers will bite their nails as Nora struggles to reunite with her father and survive the challenges of the canyon while also dealing with her desire to return to some normalcy after a year of tragedy. As an adult and a parent, I found Nora's father's thought processes to be heart-wrenching, but younger readers will likely focus on Nora. I think that readers who enjoyed Hatchet and similar books will also like this novel.

In the author's note, Bowling mentions the real-life events that got her thinking about the setting and flash flood that Nora encounters. For readers who want to learn more, this LA Times article is helpful: https://graphics.latimes.com/zion-fla....


Love Is a Revolution by Renée Watson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I can't get enough of Renee Watson's novels. It's the summer before her senior year of high school, and Nala is ready to catch up on binge-worthy shows, hang out with her friends, and, oh yeah, maybe fall in love. When she embellishes her activities at her grandmother's retirement home to impress the hot, civic and volunteer-minded Tye, she learns that loving herself first, just as she is - ALL that she is - may be the key to a successful relationship.

I really enjoyed a lot of things about this book:

* the depiction of Nala's deep, loving, complicated relationship with her extended family, including her own mother, with whom she chooses not to live

* Nala's body-positive attitude that makes it clear she is just fine with her physical self coupled with her joy in being her best self through clothing that feels good and hair that expresses different facets of her personality

* the (true and underrated) idea that there are ways for young people to show care and consideration for their communities without being overt activists or constant volunteers (and how the pressure to be activists and volunteers can be a lot for teens).

As always, Watson's book was a joy to read.


Pity Party by Kathleen Lane
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hooray for short stories! Especially for short stories as inventive, sly, weird, fun, and totally plugged in to the middle school experience as these short stories are! Do you feel like you don't fit in? Worry about mean people? Wish for a different life? Feel invisible? Deal with bullies? Well, join the pity party! My favorite story: Behaviorally Challenged. Can't wait to see which ones resonate with my students!

Don't miss this great interview with Kathleen Lane: https://soundcloud.com/user-419678114...


The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am convinced that Colson Whitehead cannot write a bad book. This gut-wrenching, based-in-reality account of two boys, Elwood and Turner, and their time at the Nickel Academy will leave you breathless (and, in my case, in tears). I couldn't put it down. Too intense for most of my student readers, but older teens and adults should check this out.



Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another page-turner from Nnedi Okorafor... Okorafor writes incredible Africanfuturism books and creates worlds and characters that are lyrical, mesmerizing, and memorable. What happens when you become the adopted daughter of Death? In this novella for adults, Sankofa wanders Ghana searching for her box and its mysterious content, a seed that seems to have chosen her as Death's adopted daughter, accompanied by a small fox, Movenpick. As she wanders, she learns to control the deadly abilities that have been bestowed upon her and grows from small child to young woman on her own. Sankofa's world is recognizably our own but in a future where a robot AI brings security to a small city by managing traffic at a formerly deadly intersection and where corporate interests seek to control alien technology. I really can't do the book justice by description. just read it. And anything else that Okorafor writes.


Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I actually started reading this collection a couple of years ago after picking it up at the AJC Decatur Book Festival. The poems are lovely - by turns meditative, realistic, reflective, drug-addled, melancholic, and joyful. I'll be returning to this collection over and over because I am unabashedly grateful for it.



Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Insightful and engaging, Rosling's book explains in clear and uncomplicated language the importance of understanding data. I appreciated his reminder that things in the world can simultaneously be better and bad. Great read for librarians as they plan for information literacy instruction.

View all my reviews