Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Makes me want to read more by Gabrielle Zevin!

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Enemy Spy by Wendelin Van Draanen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

We (my 9 year old & I) loved it! The best Shredderman yet.

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This Is What I Did by Ann Dee Ellis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a very affecting story. I couldn't put it down. The tone of the writing made it clear something (many somethings) awful had happened, but not what. Suspenseful in a way that really made me care. These are characters I've continued to think about. I keep hoping that Logan and Zyler and Cami will eventually be okay, though it looks like probably they will not.

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Chicken Boy by Frances O'Roark Dowell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is my second foster care story in a row and so I may not be able to judge it fairly. It was an engaging read. There are times when it is just full of hope, and I liked that.

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Deliver Us From Normal by Kate Klise
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've been listening to this audio book. Great storytelling. The main characters, especially Charles and Clara are really well developed. Boy, is it sad.

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Secrets, Lies, and Algebra by Wendy Lichtman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a lovely little book! Tess is an engaging narrator with a unique way of interpreting the world. She is thoughtful and interesting without being fake.

Things to especially like about this book:
-- The main character is a smart girl for whom being smart is not an issue - It's definitely as asset!
-- The friendships portrayed are the kind you'd like your own kids to have
-- There are crushes and cute boys, but they don't make the girl characters complete idiots
-- When a really cute and popular boy does something he shouldn't, the main character stops seeing him as 'cute' or socially better than her
-- It was a fun, easy read

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Derby Girl by Shauna Cross
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was fun to read, but the beginning and ending were predictable and hackneyed.

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No Right Turn by Terry Trueman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jordan was a completely believable character, even if the things he does in this book seem more like fantasy than reality. The ending's a bit too pat. Nonetheless, Trueman does a great job of making the reader feel the danger Jordan's in. I was on the edge of my seat, hoping he would pull himself together. It was also a relief to have a female love interest in a YA book who wasn't completely shallow!

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Someone Named Eva by Joan M. Wolf
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book gets more stars than Daniel Half Human because the author makes the reader feel the horror of Nazi policies. She makes us feel the terror of the children being taken from their families to be re-invented as Aryan adoptees. It's impossible not to cry along with Milada as she gradually forgets how to speak Czech and struggles to remember her parents' faces. It's a more effective WWII narrative, despite being written for a much younger audience.

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Daniel Half Human by David Chotjewitz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The ending of this book was like a punch! It surprised me, and it hurt.

Unfortunately, the rest of the story, though it's about Germany during the rise of Hitler, conveys almost no emotion. Daniel, the main character, is detached from his family & his heritage. Eventually, he becomes awake to the reality of his country's politics and the danger to his family (and the cowardice and fear of everyone around them), but he becomes detached from his best friend. The detachment is all that comes through in the reading.

I've been thinking about this for a day or so: despite winning awards, this book does a disservice. I wouldn't deliberately give it to someone who wanted to learn about the Holocaust. This story almost makes it seem like it was only an inconvenience.

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My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a rare treat it was to sit outside and read this book from cover to cover in one day! Ozeki is a great storyteller. She made me care about even the repugnant characters and managed to create satisfying endings for everyone.

A friend recommended this one. She warned that parts were pretty disturbing, and that's true. I did already know that stuff about antibiotics and hormones in our food supply, so I wasn't shocked. For a change it really made me feel bad for the people who have to work on and live near cattle feedlots. I'd already known how awful it to have to work in the slaughterhouses.

Don't read this if you really love eating meat.

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Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Incredibly well-written and devastating. This story completely absorbed me for three days. It cast a mood that stayed with me when I wasn't reading.

Everyone knows kids who are quiet, not because they want to be, but because there's no one who wants to hear them. Are we looking? Are we listening? Are we stepping outside of ourselves and doing everything within our power to make things better?

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1,000 Garden Ideas: The Best of Everything in a Visual Sourcebook by Stafford Cliff
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a beautiful book full of ideas for accessorizing your garden. It won't tell you anything about gardening. Copiously photo-filled, it can be overwhelming. I could have used some white space between the pictures.

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Landscape As Spirit: Creating a Contemplative Garden by Martin Hakubai Mosko
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Beautiful pictures of man-made landscapes. Places where one could stroll, or sit, or contemplate the view. The few before and after pictures were startling -- they make clear that these aren't natural landscapes at all, but gardens created by very wealthy people with access to lots of labor and heavy machinery. This seemed to contradict the text, which spoke about peace and contemplation and quiet states of being. I'd love to see attempts at similar results on a smaller scale, (a middle-class family's yard?), working more with the natural shape of the land.

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Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This story started out with a bang and really grabbed my attention. Most of the characters were fun to get to know, although the father & stepsister were entirely unsympathetic. That seemed false and a little too easy. The complete shift of the cast of characters at the beginning of Book II was confusing! Still, this was a lot of fun and you can enjoy it even if Cinderella isn't your thing.

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Red Kayak by Priscilla Cummings
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A compelling story about a boy with good instincts who's trying to figure out the right thing to do. It was an interesting read so soon after The Trap.

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Never Mind!: A Twin Novel by Avi
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

An enjoyable read. Still, the gender stereotyping in the early chapters was annoying. Pretty disappointing coming from Avi, who's written more interesting books.

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Reckless by Cecily von Ziegesar
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Yuck. I can see why so many kids at school like these books but still, yuck. At the end, there's some pat lip service to seeing beyond the labels we put on each other but the entire book is about the importance of the labels put on our bodies. The product placements were incredibly distracting and will also make this series out-of-date quickly. Two stars instead of one because kids actually read these books from cover to cover.

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Incantation by Alice Hoffman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow. I am halfway through this one and wow.

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What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I LOVED this book! I know that my students, will, too!

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The Trap by John E. Smelcer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I finished this book yesterday, and it's haunting me. Beautifully descriptive. The boy & the grandfather, who are the main characters, come across as real people, and while I read I was just begging for them to be successful, make good choices, come out okay in the end. But it's a short, thoughtful, slow-moving story. Even though it's a survival tale, it's not really for fans of Hatchet or adventure stories. I'm not sure who it's for. I really liked it, but couldn't give it more stars because it won't be an easy sell to any of the kids I know.

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The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Revisiting an old favorite book with a favorite child! (One of my favorite things to do.) I highly recommend this gem to anyone who enjoys wordplay. And absurdity. It's still so good. It hasn't withered at all with the passing of time.

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Prey by Lurlene McDaniel
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Eh.

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Clay by David Almond
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another David Almond story that takes you deep into the strange, magical,and dangerous lives of kids.

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The Boy Who Spoke Dog by Clay Morgan
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Really wanting to like this book but having trouble getting into it. Finished two others while hauling this one with me everywhere I go.

Well, after that slow start it wasn't too bad. But, just as things become interesting -- it ends! I think kids who like Hatchet and other survival stories will pick it up, but they won't be satisfied.

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Freak Show by James St. James
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I had high hopes for this book. It had good reviews. It has potential to be an important book about being different in a painfully prejudiced high school setting. I also thought it might be funny.

So far (at about page 80) all I can think to say is 'eh.' It's just not well written. I find myself not getting invested in the main character. The violence against him is brutal but presented so casually I'm afraid readers won't see that he almost gets killed, just like Matthew Shepard and so many other young gay people we periodically read about in newspapers. I'll finish reading it, though, because that's what I do!

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Specials by Scott Westerfeld
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Having read Uglies & Pretties, I had to read Specials. I did feel compelled to find out what happened to Tally & Shay. As with Pretties, while reading it I felt trapped in 'more of the same,' but I suppose that's how Tally feels during the action, too. I would recommend this book to anyone about 11 and up, espcially those who like action and Utopia/Dystopia stories.

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Slam by Nick Hornby
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A great story about growing up even if you don't want to. I really like Nick Hornby's books, but most of them I would not give to my students to read. This one, I would. Sam is a teenage dad-to-be, and Hornby makes him easy to care about.

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Peeps by Scott Westerfeld
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is growing on me. I was unimpressed, at first, but now am really compelled to see how the story ends! I love the vampiric links to New York's Dutch founding families & the matter-of-fact way Cal tells the reader all about parasitology.

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Legends of the Chelsea Hotel: Living with the Artists and Outlaws of New York's Rebel Mecca by Ed Hamilton
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This one I just read bits and pieces of. Like the visitors to the Chelsea Hotel that Hamilton describes, I am mostly interested in Sid and Nancy and DeeDee Ramone.

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Shug by Jenny Han
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The story has some surprises and the writing is good. This is one for all those girls who love their childhoods and themselves and aren't racing to become teenagers, or someone else's idea of what they should be as teenagers.


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Born to Rock by Gordon Korman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Awesome. Loved it!

An easy read & compelling enough to stay up late to finish. It'll be amusing if some kids start listening to my junior high music after reading this. It should come with a CD . . .Ramones, Black Flag, Dead Milkmen. There's some nostalgia happening for me!

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Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am reading this book again, this time listening to my 9 year old read it to me. Wow! I am remembering how very much I loved it. There's just something about that dog, the way he shows all his teeth and smiles at people. This is such a great story for kids who are trying to find their own way in life, their own ways to see things and be themselves. This is such a great story, period.

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The Breakup Bible by Melissa Kantor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

While I was reading this, every student who stopped by the library asked -- ooo, can I borrow that one?

Teen romance and heartbreak are high on the reading list of many of my middle schoolers. Apart from the suggestion that all divorced women are chronically depressed man-haters, this one's not bad. It has strong (and commendable) female friendships, decent parents, and a parallel story line about reminding readers that it's good to have interests beyond dating. (Although dating is fun, too!) Jennifer and Todd's use of the school newspaper to take on racial tension and de facto segregation in their high school was handled pretty well, making this a bit more than a fluffy read.

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Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'll admit it; I don't usually read graphic novels. I have trouble following the flow of the speech bubbles and they make me feel like an old person. (Wah.) This one, however -- Aaah! All smiles. I picked it up because of the subtitle: Yet Another Troll-Fighting 11-Year-Old Orthodox Jewish Girl. If that doesn't make you curious . . . And, even better, by 13-year-old (not Orthodox) Jewish girl loved it! And, even better, there are surprises! And, rare for a YA-ish book, the heroine does not have to denigrate her mother or be an orphan to be a hero. Plus, it's FUN!

Thank you to my awesome neighborhood children's librarian, Candace Cross, for stocking this one. (P.S. I am utterly joyous to see that Deutsch has another Mirka book coming!)

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Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

It's been a long time since I read Wicked. It's taking me several chapters to get involved in the story. We'll see . . .

Well, four hours into the audiobook and I still don't care about any of the characters nor am I interested in the storylines. What's the point?

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The Underneath by Kathi Appelt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The illustrations say sweet 3rd grade animal story, but the short chapters introducing many, many mysterious and menacing characters say middle school trauma/thriller. The developing relationship between the hound and the calico is lovely. We'll see . . .

Poetic and moody, beautiful and so, so tragic. I love it. It's a swampy Texas Odyssey. There's also a lovely hound-dog lullaby (p.66-67) that will be joining our family repertoire.

Looking back at all my students over the years, I am wondering to whom I would recommend this book. The writing is unique, the story not strictly linear, and it's unfolding a little slowly. It almost makes my give-to-your-favorite-kids list, if not for all the loss and sorrow. Very worth reading.

A favorite passage (p.175):
"The trees especially miss them, the jaguarundi and ocelots and pumas. Trees love cats. Whenever a tree has an itch, it can count on a cat to give it a good scratching. Trees love a cat's sharp claws. Love their purrs when they rub against their trunks. Love to hold them in the forks of their branches while they sleep the day away."

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Understanding the Holy Land: Answering questions about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict by Mitch Frank
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A surprisingly dull and dry read. Full of maps and diagrams that, unfortunately, are either undated and unlabeled or labeled so small that no one could hope to know what point they are there to make. Surely there is a better kids' book out there on this topic.

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Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sad and full of dirty politics.
I wish I were half as articulate as Sarah Vowell!

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Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schreiber
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

This is a cute, fluffy book that won't tax you in any way.

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The Vicious Deep by Zoraida Córdova
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Partway through, I'm enjoying this, as will slightly older former fans of Lightning Thief. Sexual references make this a teen choice; other than that, I think lots of kids would get a kick out of Tristan's transformation and exploration of his mer-man heritage.

This would have gotten 4, possibly 4 and a half stars -- If the book had told a story! Unfortunately, The Vicious Deep is part of a nasty publishing trend; it has a beginning and a middle but, no conclusion. Clearly, the publisher has a sequel planned; probably, a trilogy -- everything has to be a trilogy these days. If it's Lord of the Rings or Earthsea, in which sequels revisit the same themes, worlds, or characters, that's great. That's not the case here, Cordova or her publisher simply chose to end this volume abruptly, so you'll hvae to pay another $16.99 to find out what happens to Tristan and Layla.

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Vegan Freak: Being Vegan in a Non-Vegan World by Bob Torres
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The appendix is the most interesting and useful part of this book.

I was surprised to learn that most beers go through a finishing process that uses the swim bladders of fish. Who ever thought beer wasn't vegetarian?!! Is your favorite beer vegan? You can find out here: http://www.veganconnection.com/veganb.... Lots of wines include egg parts, dried blood, or pepsin (from pork!), although I have to assume that kosher wines do not. The ickiest is that white sugar is whitened using a bone byproduct from the meat industry. Yuck. Even some major brands of soy cheese contain casein (from milk). Holy moly.

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Vegetarian Times Complete Thanksgiving Cookbook by Vegetarian Times
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

We wanted to make a completely new menu this Thanksgiving. This book has many appealing recipes, with the plus that all of the ingredients are familiar. There are some weird out of season ingredient choices, but you can choose not to make them. Our house smells great! We are utterly full from tasting as we cook; more stars to come if the guests eat seconds.

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The Virginity Club by Kate Brian
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was embarassing to carry around, especially for reading in the waiting room while getting a punctured tire replaced! But what a cool premise: 4 high school girls who really want to go to college. I liked this book a lot. It's YA literature that doesn't leave a film of ick on you as you read it. The girls are individuals, they have real thoughts and genuine friendship. There's a little bit of fairy tale romance in there for those who need it, and a "suspend-your-disbelief" ugly duckling to swan transformation, but it's okay. And it has a sexy title, so middle- and high school girls might actually pick it up!

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The Visible Man by Chuck Klosterman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

More psychological than sci-fi. Not a bad book, but not really my thing.
Favorite part: The guy skimming Amazon entries so he can fake his goodreads reviews!

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Visit Sunny Chernobyl: And Other Adventures in the World's Most Polluted Places by Andrew Blackwell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was an interesting read. Not quite as informative as I'd hoped, but it did make me want to learn more about many of the places he visited and about the ways in which things we do every day affect living and environmental conditions for people very far away. I appreciated Blackwell's lack of hysteria and jumping to easy conclusions. His joke about Hampshire College was funnier before I learned he went to Haverford.

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Volunteer Vacations: Short-Term Adventures That Will Benefit You and Others by Bill McMillon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Very interesting. I definitely learned what I hoped to learn via this book. It would be greatly improved by other editions being organized some way other than alphabetically by organization name (world region, type of volunteer work, ages of volunteers accepted, etc.). There is an index that covers some of those thing, but it would have been more useful having that information up front. There are many, many ways that people can use their vacation time to help the world.

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Wacky Packages by The Topps Company Inc.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So awesome! Who knew these were done by Art Spiegelman & Bill Griffiths? We were not "throwing away our allowance on crap" after all!

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Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I am learning that I may be the only person who found this book so unlikable. Now, they're making a movie. Bleeeah.

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Wayward Saints by Suzzy Roche
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed the writing, but the story was just a story. A pleasant way to read away an evening.

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