I was given the privilege of reading LK Gardner-Griffie’s new book, Nowhere Feels Like Home, while it was still in its infant stages before publication. I was first introduced to LK’s writing when reading her first book, Misfit McCabe, the first in a series of three books following the teenage days of Katie McCabe. Katie becomes displaced from her routine after her father gets sick and passes away and she has to go live with Uncle Charley and her cousins. The book came to a climax when Katie was kidnapped by her school bully, Harvey Denton Jr., and left in the hills all alone. After almost drowning, then getting bit by a rattlesnake and breaking an ankle, Katie finally made it home alive.
Jack Regan captured me from the get go with his young adult fantasy T’Aragam, which is aimed at the tween age group (9-13).
I have to admit I was immediately and personally drawn to JR Thompson’s book because it is about children in the foster care system. I’m actually starting classes in January to become a licensed adoptive parent. The first nine weeks of classes are devoted to fostering. There are passages from JR’s book that read like they were straight from the number of forms and documents I’ve already had to read over and sign, from rules against “corporal punishment” to helping the children with their “Life Books.”
I dare you not to like Stubbs and Bernadette by Levi Montgomery. Double dog dare you! This book made me late for work on more than once, its that hard to put down. There is something so compelling and sweet about the way that Montgomery describes Bernadette, you just want to shield her from the world. Bernadette in this case is Bernadette Elsbeth McIntyre and the name is bigger than the girl that wears it. She is described as a waif, an elf, a sixteen-year-old in a twelve-year-old’s body and you’ll be able to immediately picture her. There was always someone in everyone’s High School that resembles her. She is the artsy girl, the one that doesn’t dress just right, the one that never quite fit in.
Congratulations to fellow reviewer LK Gardner-Griffie on an interview posted today over at Carol’s Prints. The blog features an Interview with Characters post and today LK sat down with Katie McCabe, the tom girl whose at the center of LK’s Misfit McCabe series.
As I Rode with Cullen Baker opens, we are met with a scene evocative of Gone with the Wind with Tara burning in the background. Set in the South in the midst of the civil war, fifteen year old Jessica Linville watched while the Federal cavalry burned her house to the ground.
Have you ever been in a situation in which you have been uncomfortable? Where you don’t know what to say? Or, when faced with a new task tend to panic? If you understand any of those feelings, think how Leah Nells feels, because every minute of every day is a struggle for her to get through.
When I saw Minnie posted for review request, I knew I wanted to review it even before I read the preview. There was just something about it that appealed to me and drew me in. In fact, I put dibs on the book before I read the preview, and then realized I had better do my homework first and find out exactly what I was getting myself into.
I fell in love with Mary Hellick on page one and nothing through the course of the book caused me to change my mind. Mary is a prickly teenager who is an outcast at her school. Shunned by most of the students who taunt her and generally make life hell for her, Mary tries to keep to herself and not draw any attention to herself, but sometimes strikes back. This means that Mary has regular sessions with the guidance counselor, Mr. Landa. Mary is your typical awkward, rebellious teenager, with one exception. Mary is also clairaudient, which means that she can hear the dead, and that tends to complicate her life.
I first came across Dawson Vosburg in the Lulu Forums and, like many, I found it hard to believe that Dawson is only 14 years old because he is so well spoken. At 14, I was filling up pages of my journal with short stories and poems and dreaming that I might one day be a published author. Thanks to computers and the self publishing technology of today, Dawson has far surpassed my dreams from way back when. Lulu helped me to eventually achieve my own dreams, but had I known Dawson back then, I have to admit I would have been totally jealous.
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