I read books! I know! BOOKS! Over the break, I did what I couldn’t manage to do for the past few months. And it felt lovely. Kids 3 and 4 got some excellent reading material. I shall share with you now. Because I’m a giver. Give, give, give.
WONDER by R.J. Palacio
Oh, guys. It’s so good. August Pullman, a 10-year-old boy with major scarring and malformation from multiple surgeries to correct his cleft lip and palate is going to school for the first time. I want every kid to read this book. I cried several times. 4 times, I think. Me, the non-crier. WARNING: Auggie has a dog. (My youngest Kid always needs that warning, because, you know. Dog stories.) IT’S SO GOOD. Go read some reviews by people who do a better job reviewing books that I do, because — trust me — if you have a kid, or a friend with a disability, or a heart, or a soul, you’ll be glad to put Auggie in your life. He is a wonder.
LIAR AND SPY by Rebecca Stead
After reading (and rereading) Stead’s WHEN YOU REACH ME, I sort of decided that I’d read anything, including a treatise on harbor slugs, written by this amazing writer. I can’t tell you what WHEN YOU… is about. Just trust me. If you’ve ever wanted to explore suspenseful writing without gore or sketchiness, that’s your masterwork, right there. So when Grandma asked what book Kid 3 might like, I pointed her to Stead’s latest with no hesitation. Oh, I am SO not sorry. Explorations of friendship, loss, fear, hope, family-ness, trust, forgiveness, more dogs (but secondary dogs, not primary ones, so… no worries, Kid 4), all told in a tremendously fun and real Kid Voice, right here in LIAR AND SPY. I want to Sharpie a blue dot on my hand and retouch it every day. “Blue team! It’s what’s for breakfast!” (Trust me.)
OKAY FOR NOW by Gary Schmidt
Did you read THE WEDNESDAY WARS? You should. And if by now you think all I do is read amazing middle-grade boy fiction, well… it’s not really the case. But it would be awesome if it were. Because this? Was another truly great book. Like WEDNESDAY WARS, it’s set in the Vietnam era, with a backdrop of innocence-meets-reality. But this one (instead of Shakespeare) has John James Audubon’s birds. And a baseball-adoring kid who has THE BEST VOICE. Literary, I mean. Also shrieking. And family-ness to a vast degree — a degree I hope to someday echo. Wow. Ice cream = plentiful, so WIN (isn’t that YOUR measure of a great book?). Belonging. Really, I think that’s the basic foundation of this one. Belonging. And I’m so grateful that this book now belongs in our home.
So, what about you? Did you get your hands on any remarkable books this Christmas? Tell. Tell.
(Also, Happy New Year. It’s going to be Lucky 13 around here. I can feel it.)
(10) Comments for this blog
Let’s see…you might be sorry you asked :):
With my gift cards, I bought myself these books, all of which I read this year and loved so much I simply have to read them all again:
–For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund
–Poison Study by Maria V Snyder
–Edenbrooke by Julianna Donaldson
–The Selection by Kiera Cass
and if you haven’t read it yet, I’m telling everyone I’ve ever known that they HAVE to read Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein.
Now I need to go check out Rebecca Stead…
Carrie! It’s been a long time. Thanks for stopping by with great suggestions. I’m keeping a list, starting right here.
Let’s see…you might be sorry you asked :):
With my gift cards, I bought myself these books, all of which I read this year and loved so much I simply have to read them all again:
–For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund
–Poison Study by Maria V Snyder
–Edenbrooke by Julianna Donaldson
–The Selection by Kiera Cass
and if you haven’t read it yet, I’m telling everyone I’ve ever known that they HAVE to read Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein.
Now I need to go check out Rebecca Stead…
Carrie! It’s been a long time. Thanks for stopping by with great suggestions. I’m keeping a list, starting right here.
It has been a long time. My 3yo started preschool this past fall, and she’s starting to give up naps…so I’ve been struggling to get in writing time. But I will sit down and email you again one of these days, promise. I want to pick your brain about the querying process again and hear how things are going with you.
Hope you get to enjoy tons of wonderful books in 2013. I may have to check back to see what other recommendations you get!
It has been a long time. My 3yo started preschool this past fall, and she’s starting to give up naps…so I’ve been struggling to get in writing time. But I will sit down and email you again one of these days, promise. I want to pick your brain about the querying process again and hear how things are going with you.
Hope you get to enjoy tons of wonderful books in 2013. I may have to check back to see what other recommendations you get!
I loved Okay For Now. I heard Gary Schmidt speak at SCBWI in August. Phenomenal. Like I still think about it.
And I agree with the Code Name: Verity recommendation. So good.
I mentioned that my agent repped WONDER, didn’t I? I love that.
I loved Okay For Now. I heard Gary Schmidt speak at SCBWI in August. Phenomenal. Like I still think about it.
And I agree with the Code Name: Verity recommendation. So good.
I mentioned that my agent repped WONDER, didn’t I? I love that.
I always love your book recs. You have a way of defining what a book means to you and when I’m looking at new books, that’s what I’m looking for: the connection.
I read a ton of books in 2012 but I can’t recall all of them. I just barely finished the Farseer & Tawny Man trilogies by Robin Hobb. The final book in the Tawny Man (Fool’s Fate) ripped my heart out. To the point that I actually hurt and that had never happened to me with a book before. I’d been touched. I’d cried. I’d even been mad and disappointed. But I’d never felt that gaping maw in my chest until this book. And because it’s so new, I still don’t know what to think about it.
I always love your book recs. You have a way of defining what a book means to you and when I’m looking at new books, that’s what I’m looking for: the connection.
I read a ton of books in 2012 but I can’t recall all of them. I just barely finished the Farseer & Tawny Man trilogies by Robin Hobb. The final book in the Tawny Man (Fool’s Fate) ripped my heart out. To the point that I actually hurt and that had never happened to me with a book before. I’d been touched. I’d cried. I’d even been mad and disappointed. But I’d never felt that gaping maw in my chest until this book. And because it’s so new, I still don’t know what to think about it.