Kristin

I enjoyed this book for its insight into Tina Fey's career on SNL, the beginning of 30 Rock, and, especially, her portrayal of Sarah Palin. I wasn't as interested in everything that came after like her musings on motherhood and family Christmas traditions.

Can't give this more than three, but it's worth every bit of those three. I really loved the setting of this one. I seem to be into boarding school fiction of late and this was just what I wanted. I also liked the Moby Dick theme that ran through it, though I've never read that one. It felt like the whole plot was laid out in the beginning, but I appreciated the twist at the end, though I saw it coming.

I didn't like the excessive “pining after teacher” plot and I especially did not like the ending of that particular plotline. All in all, a fast and enjoyable young adult book.

I think I liked this book backwards. I wasn't hooked immediately but once I got into the meat of the story, I loved it. I didn't actually love the ending and I was expecting to so that was a bit of a disappointment. I did love the MAGIC and the descriptions of the circus and all its sweet tents. I loved the romance and I wish it had been more throughout the book, but I see why it was concentrated where it was. Overall, I highly recommend it to anyone who reads popular fiction of the day.

Save Me is very similar to Jodi Picoult's novels. Moral dilemmas, lots of lawyers, opposing viewpoints, and plot twists make up this book. I loved the build up and the suspense, but the ending felt weird and rushed. I didn't particularly enjoy the last ten chapters. The action scenes were boring and didn't hold my attention as much as the rest of the book.

Fall 2012 edit: I reread this one over the summer for middle school book club. Second reading was even better than the first. I am going to carry this book in my heart forever and ever (in the most melodramatic way possible). Sad to say middle schoolers were not as enthused as I am.

This is the first truly excellent book I've read in a while. I love everything about it. At first, I was filled with righteous indignation over its Newbery loss, but I'll reserve judgment until I read this year's winner, which is on my shelf about two books down the list of next-reads.

Doug Swieteck is a 1960s teenager with an abusive father, a penchant for drawing, and a brother with a reputation that precedes him. After his family's big move to Marysville, NY, Doug struggles to find a foothold in his new habitat. He finds it in the library (of course I would love that) looking at Audubon's birds. He finds it in the friendship of Lil Spicer. And he finds it in the solace of baseball stats. I'd like to say adventures ensue, but truthfully, Doug never has any adventures. He has an ordinary life that becomes extraordinary through Schmidt's expert storytelling.

This one is not to be missed.

I wish this series was as good as Percy Jackson, but it's just not. The main thing that bothers me is the regular switching of narrators, particularly because I really still do not like Sadie. I also found the whole thing a bit anticlimactic because the reader is constantly reminded that the kids are making a recording in the hopes that someone will find it, that all the events are true, “stop interrupting me, Carter,” etc. etc. Since you know they're going to pull through in the end, it's pretty pointless to expend the energy to worry about them. Along those same lines, I don't think Riordan kills off enough characters in this series. I don't want people to die just for the sake of the story, but I think, realistically, more characters would meet their demise in the dangerous world they live in.

Just a re-read, which I try to do once a year with this one. Still one of my favorites. I've never found anything else quite like it.

When Lady Teena is snatched up by the dragonfly, Sir Small is the only one in the village brave enough to try to rescue her.
The first graders enjoyed this book and they were able to read it independently. I like the book because it is somewhat of an interesting twist on a classic formula. Sir Small uses his wits to solve the problem but he also simply gets lucky so it sparked some good conversation about the different ways people can solve their problems. The best lesson I did all summer!

I was all set to give this book 3 stars but then it surprised me. I didn't realize how much I liked it until I was about halfway into it. Middle school girls who come from big Italian families will probably enjoy this book, but I would recommend it to others as well. Not sure I'd assign it as a class-wide book even though there are plot points boys would connect with as well. A nice summertime read.

This was one of the better books I read this fall. I loved the character of Cat and her determination to solve the mystery of her friend's brutal beating. I didn't really see the ending coming until it got closer so that is a positive. The revelation of the mystery was satisfying and believable. I also loved how Myracle described the setting and the cast of characters. A very enjoyable read.

A scary book to choose for my falling-asleep-read. I really enjoyed it and looked forward to going to bed every night just so I could plug into this book (listened to on Playaway). This is my first Doyle, not counting the stories my dad used to read to me at bedtime. For some reason I thought it would be inaccessible and difficult to get into but I was pleasantly surprised. I was into it from the very beginning.

I really don't know why I had to read [b:The Grapes of Wrath 4395 The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1309212810s/4395.jpg 2931549] in high school but not this one. If I had read this one first, I would have been more excited to read more Steinbeck. I suppose school is meant to have us read books that we will need help with and Grapes definitely requires more supervision than this.I listened to Of Mice and Men on playaway. It was masterfully narrated by Gary Sinise (always Lieutenant Dan to me) and I think I enjoyed it more because of his performance. Even so, the story itself is simple and entertaining. Readers can make quick work of it due to its brevity. Highly recommended.

Jip, a young boy who lives on the poor farm has no knowledge of his family or any clue about where he came from other than the oft-told story that he fell off the back of a gypsy wagon when he was three years old. Then one day a peculiar stranger comes to town and starts poking around and asking about Jip's history.

This book does not have a good beginning. It took me a solid three chapters to get totally into it, but once I was in, I was hooked. There are so many themes in Jip, I wanted to stop to write a lesson every few chapters. It promotes kindness, compassion, love of reading, and many other values. I am putting this on my list of books to potentially teach to young middle schoolers.

Still embarrassed that I like this series. I find the characters fun to read about and even though I recognize the premise as codswallop, I actually can't wait to find out what happens next.

I think I'm going to have to make a shelf for books about orphans since I seem to read so many of them. The Emerald Atlas is a fantastic adventure story about three children, a wizard, a witch, and a mysterious book. Using the book, the children are able to travel through time.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book. I think I may actually check it out of the library and read it with my eyes too because I'm sure there are details I missed and I will want to be prepared for the sequels. The characters are believable and easy to empathize with. The book kindled in me a desire to research dwarf society. All in all, a fun young adult fantasy.

I love books when it all comes together in the end. I love reading something and knowing it's all going to dovetail nicely but not knowing how it'll be done. That's how I felt reading this book. It's told from two different perspectives, with the main narrative being about Cullen Witter, his brother, and his best friend. After four chapters I was hooked and I read it in day (it's pretty short). I even tried to sneak away from the dinner table and read my last few pages because I just couldn't wait to see what happened. Only four stars because it wasn't perfect, and the writing was kind of strange at parts.

I consumed this book over one glorious long weekend. I listened to it on Playaway because I usually like listening to [a:Jodi Picoult 7128 Jodi Picoult http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1305417712p2/7128.jpg]'s books with all the different voice actors playing each narrator. I admit I've grown tired of Picoult's book formula but I completely fell for this book. I learned a lot, as I always do when I read Picoult, and I connected emotionally with each character. I also found the moral debate extremely compelling. Towards the end I do not think both sides of the issue (won't spoil it for anyone) were given fair treatment, but I can hardly blame her for that. She came down firmly on one side of the debate which she does not do very often or clearly, but I think she did it well. Everyone's always clamoring for movies to be made of Jodi Picoult's books but this is the one of the only ones that I think would make a truly great movie. Highly recommended.

Not great, not terrible. I like the idea, except that there was no mystery and no compelling cliffhanger. If I never read the rest of the series, I won't lose sleep and that is a huge deal for me with books in this genre.

The writing was OK. There were some problems with tense I think and the flashbacks were awkwardly placed and didn't really add all that much to the story. I'm not sure I care enough about Rhine to read any more books. The most sympathetic character, I think, was Linden and I was getting pretty frustrated with the way the girls treated him.

Strange book.

A nice quick read. I liked learning a little about debate since I've never participated in debate (ok, ok, I was on the debate team in high school but we only had 2 meetings and never actually competed or learned anything). It's not generally the type of book I like to read, but it was pleasant and I didn't dread reading it or anything.

I really enjoyed this whimsical book about a professor who sets out to travel in a balloon for an entire year. I would think the story of a year's long journey in a hot-air balloon would be interesting enough, but this story takes it up several notches. I loved the descriptions (not to mention the technical drawings) of all the professor saw and experienced on his trip.

This won the Newbery Medal in 1947, so while I find the old-fashioned language completely charming, I'm not sure how it would sit with the younger crowd. Recommended for mature fourth or fifth graders or maybe middle schoolers who like other old-fashioned books.

This was everything I hoped it would be. My one complaint is that I thought there would be more opportunities to solve puzzles when in fact there was just a little triva quiz in the back. It was still pretty cool. I love books like this!

I wasn't even interested in this book, but I had seen enough ads about it that when I saw it in the library I picked it up without even knowing I was doing it. (Ad companies, I am extremely easily influenced.) I am so glad I was brainwashed into reading this book. It was completely charming and I absolutely fell in love with the setting. I loved the flashback style, even though all of it was set in a time and place I know little about. It's also a nice piece of symmetry that another book I'm reading right now takes place around the same time, so that added to my enjoyment. I also enjoyed the ending reveal about the Rattler because I truly had no idea where that was going and I had resigned myself to the idea that it would never be wrapped up.

I only regret that I didn't read this in the summer because it is a perfect summer book for when the temperature is just barely tolerable.

Pretty much lived up to my expectations. I got into it at the end, but had trouble connecting with it in the beginning. I liked the sci-fi aspects and the slow world-building descriptions of life on the ship. I'll probably read the sequel at some point.

I found it a bit difficult to get into this book after finishing [b:Little House in the Big Woods 8337 Little House in the Big Woods (Little House, #1) Laura Ingalls Wilder http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1266449708s/8337.jpg 1200805] because it's about a totally different family. It was interesting to see how the Wilders' lives compared to the Ingalls'. I didn't connect with the characters as much as I had before, perhaps because the author wasn't writing about her own memories and childhood. Still enjoyable though.

I found this book kind of hard to get into but once I was in, I was completely hooked. The first few times I picked it up, I had to get into the right frame of mind to read it because it is written with sort of a strange style. Once you get past that, though, it's quite an intriguing peak into the life of a family torn apart by violence. Recommended.