Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2012. Review copy from publisher. Morris Finalist. The Plot: Portia Remini has not run away from home to join the circus. First, its’s a carnival, not a circus, and it’s called Mosco’s Traveling Wonder Show. Second, it was not home, not a home with parents or family. Parents [...]
Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt. Clarion Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2011. My review of the ARC. Audiobook: Listening Library, an imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing Group. Narrated by Lincoln Hoppe. 2011. Listened from copy from publisher. The Plot: The late 1960s. Doug Swieteck’s father has moved his family to stupid Marysville in upstate New [...]
Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin, Book 1) by Robin LaFevers. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2012. Reviewed from ARC from publisher. The Plot: Brittany, 1588. Ismae, seventeen, was rescued years ago from her former life as the abused daughter of a turnip farmer to enter the service of the god of Death at the Convent of St. Mortain. As it [...]
Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt. Clarion Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2011. Reviewed from ARC from publisher. Companion to The Wednesday Wars. The Plot: Doug Swieteck and family have just moved to upstate New York. His abusive, drunk of a father mouthed off to his boss and got fired. The family packs up what [...]
My Misadventures as a Teenage Rock Star by Joyce Raskin, illustrated by Carol Chu. Graphia, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2011. Review copy from publisher. The Plot: Who Alex is: “I’m fourteen years old. I’m a rock star.” Who Alex was: “Alex, short for Alexis. She’s a short, pasty, shy, greasy-haired kid with a face [...]
The Education of Bet by Lauren Baratz-Logsted. Houghton Mifflin. 2010. Copy provided by review. The Plot: Nineteenth Century England. Elizabeth “Bet” Smith and Will Gardener are sixteen. Will is the nephew and heir of wealthy Paul Gardener, and Uncle Paul wants Will to the the education befitting his station in life. All Will wants is adventure — [...]
Wildthorn by Jane Eagland. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2010. Reviewed from ARC from ALA. The Plot: Louisa Cosgrove, 17, is supposed to be at the Woodvilles as a companion for their eldest daughter. Not exactly her choice, but in Victorian England she has to do what her older brother and mother say. The carriage stops and [...]
Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Book Group. October 2010. Reviewed from ARC from ALA. The Plot: Lisabeth Lewis, seventeen, has taken three of her mother’s Lexapro and intends to take more. A messenger knocks on the door, hands her Scales, informs her she is now Famine (as in one of the [...]
Karma Bites by Stacy Kramer and Valerie Thomas. Sandpiper Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Books. 2010. Reviewed from ARC from publisher. Book Website. The Plot: Seventh grader Franny Flanders doesn’t want much out of life. Just for her two best friends, Kate and Joey, to get along and be friends so that [...]
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