Wrapping up summer reading... and starting a new school year!

I have been thrilled to be back in the David T. Howard Middle School library for the past few days!  It's been great to be masked up and back among the books, preparing for students to start circulation and library instruction.  Here are a few pics:

More on school soon!

For now, here's a quick look at the books that wrapped up my summer:

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm still convinced that Colson Whitehead is incapable of writing a bad book. This intense, creative visioning of the Underground Railroad as a literal railroad kept me turning pages. Cora is a protagonist that will occupy my thoughts for some time to come.

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The Bone Code by Kathy Reichs
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm a big Bones fan, and I enjoyed this latest installation, but I didn't love it. Something about the story just never gelled for me. That said, I'll be looking forward to #21 for my #AnotherDayAnotherTrhiller fix!

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Rabbits by Terry Miles
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So much fun! This scifi thriller follows the adventures of K, a gamer geek with a propensity for going down rabbit holes. I don't want to give away any of the plot, but this adult novel would be great for teens as well. Lots of game references (a la Ready Player One) and a solid scifi plot.

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The Slow Undoing: The Federal Courts and the Long Struggle for Civil Rights in South Carolina by Stephen H Lowe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A well-written, deep dive into the Civil Rights decisions in South Carolina federal courts that led up to and followed the period of intense Civil Rights action in the state. It evoked Richard Rothstein's The Color of Law for me, and it's well worth a read by my follow lawyers.

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Scythe by Neal Shusterman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So many of my students dig this series and now I totally understand why! Those who know me know I love a good thriller and am a huge speculative fiction fan, so when they come together in such a good way, I am a truly happy reader! (And, of course, I love authors named Neal - ha!)

What do you do when humanity has conquered death? For Citra and Rowan, the answer is: be tapped to serve as Scythes and kill off random people in the interest of population management. In this first installment in the series, Citra and Rowan compete for a spot as a Scythe and learn that not all is well in the Scythedom.

Can't wait to read Thunderhead!

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