Published in 2006.
64 pages (according to amazon.com, as the pages aren't numbered).
Robert F. Sibert Honor Book in 2007.
To Dance, a children's graphic novel recommended to me by my goodreads friend george, is a delightful look at the life of an aspiring ballerina.
2008.63
Published in 2008.
176 pages (according to amazon.com, as the pages are not numbered).
From the back cover: The coolest clique of misfits plays cupid and becomes entangled in affairs of the heart. People Loving Art In Neighborhoods (P.L.A.I.N.) goes global once the art gang applies for a grant from the National Foundation for the Arts. And the Janes will discover that in art and in love, general rules don't often apply.
What I thought: I loved The Plain Janes, and I loved this sequel. Maybe it's just my inner teenage-girl - but I truly hope for more episodes in this Minx graphic novel series.
2008.60
Originally published in 2002.
Unabridged audio book read by Michael J. Fox and Scott Brick.
A big fan of Michael J. Fox back in the Family Ties days, I enjoyed reading an excerpt of his memoir in Reader's Digest a number of years ago. Recently I had to take a short road trip by myself, so I picked up a few audio books from the library to keep me occupied and entertained. One of those was Lucky Man.
The first of the nine CDs was read by Fox himself. As I started the second disc, at first I was disappointed to hear the new reader - but Fox's personality quickly came through. Smart, honest, and funny, this was a great read. Or perhaps I should say "great listen"?
For information about Fox's work to fight Parkinson's disease, visit The Michael J. Fox Foundation Website.
2008.67
As promised, I have randomly selected (using random.org) one lucky person from those who left a comment on either my give-away notice or my review and will be passing along a paperback copy of Andromeda Romano-Lax's The Spanish Bow to her.
Illustrated by Ronald Himler.
Published in 1990. 32 pages.
The principal of my son's elementary school is conducting a "Principal's Book of the Month" program this year. Each student is given a selected book to take home for one day during the month to share with his or her family and then return to school for another student. November's book is The Wall by Eve Bunting.
This beautiful picture book tells the touching story of a boy and his father who visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to find the name of the boy's grandfather. It's about remembering. It's also about the sorrow of war.
2008.69
This week’s theme: Fun Facts About Authors.
Since I'm currently reading The Truth About Forever, I have decided to choose Sarah Dessen as the writer about whom I'll post.
Published in 2008. 149 pages.
I wanted to love this book. I really did. I had read Jeanette's review, and I thought that both my daughter Sugar Plum (who is 12) and I would enjoy the book. So I picked it up from the library.
Sugar Plum read it first, and she did say that she liked it. When I got to it - in the early morning hours of the recent read-a-thon - maybe I was just too tired, but it just didn't come together in a way that made me really love it.
Some of the things I did love:
Published in 2008. 291 pages.
First sentence: If I had not read the cover story in the March 2, 2000, National Enquirer, it's doubtful that I would have gone to Alabama and ruined my daddy's engagement party, much less sent the bride-to-be into a coma.
From the book jacket: The beloved bestselling author of Crazy Ladies returns with a funny and poignant tale that explores the complex bonds between a daughter and her father.
Why I picked up this book: I first saw this book at my local library branch in March. Both the cover and the title caught my eye, but I had a pile of things to check out already so I decided to leave this one. That very night I discovered that tinylittlelibrarian had read and enjoyed the book, and I added it to my to-read list. In July the Salt Lake County Library included Mermaids in the Basement on its Reader's Choice list for July through October 2008. Since one of my categories for the Triple 8 Challenge is "Salt Lake County Reader's Choice," I decided that this was a perfect time to check out the book. I finally got to it in October - and I'm glad I did!
The source of the title: The epigraph of the book is a poem from Emily Dickinson.
And visited the Sea -
The Mermaids in the Basement
Came out to look at me -
Final thoughts: The overall book reminded me of Divine Secret of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. (I'm actually referring to the movie because I haven't - yet - read the book.) I haven't read any of West's other novels, but I definitely enjoyed this one.
2008.58
Since starting this blog in January 2007, my posting of reviews has pretty much kept pace with my reading. Over the past several months, however, I have been getting further and further behind. There are now nine books that I have read but have not yet posted a review. In chronological order, those books are as follows:
With just one month left to go in Renay's quirky challenge, I've been browsing the master reading list to decide what three books I'm going to read. There are 632 titles on the list, and although I've read quite a few of them, there are so many that I could choose from - including a lot that are already on my to-read list!
In case you're curious, among those I've already read and liked (besides the ten I recommended myself):
