Squirm, by Carl Hiaasen!

Everyone should read one Carl Hiaasen book in their lifetimes...at least one. This is my third, and it is a good one! My first ever was Hoot, still my favorite of his - perhaps because it was the first! The second was Flush, which I liked but it was a little too much like Hoot for my to love love it. And now Squirm, his newest, is my third. All of his books for teens have environmental themes to them, which makes them unique from most other teen work, and also something I appreciate and enjoy. The books I have read also take place in Florida, where Hiaasen lives, although Squirm splits time between Florida and Montana. In short, a good story about a teen, Billy, who moves a lot due to his mom's obsession with bald eagles, his search for his dad, who left the family when Billy was younger, snakes, grizzly bears, poaching (killing animals illegally for fun or money), and nature...with some Native American elements thrown in for added depth. I like that Hiaasen writes for teens, but not in an overly dramatic or typical "teen" way - more like he's writing teen stories for adults, or adult stories for teens. He also writes many adult novels, but I've only read his teen books so far, and I would recommend any of them to you, especially if you've never tried one! 4.5 paws!

Merci Suarez Changes Gears, by Meg Medina

This is the newest Newbery medal winner that I picked up last weekend from the bookstore. I wasn't expecting to have time to read it for a while, but snow days = a lot of time to read, so I got to it more quickly than I thought I would! SO glad I did! Now and then the Newbery winner will be a book I don't find that interesting (Criss Cross, for example), but mostly this award, given once a year to the best of the best, hits it on the head. Merci is a winner!

Mercedes Suarez is in 6th grade at a private school. She got in thanks to scholarships, but many of the other kids in her school have families who can afford the school, so already Merci is set apart from many of her peers in this way. She lives in one of three houses in a row on her street, the other two being occupied by her grandparents and by her aunt and uncle and nephews. This theme of extended family plays into the story strongly and is something else that sets her apart from her classmates. Lastly, her grandfather has Alzheimer's Disease, and is starting to show itself in ways that Merci sees but doesn't understand. Mix all of this together in a bowl, along with Merci just trying to figure out life being 11 or 12 years old, and you have the ingredients of a story...in Meg Medina's hands, you have the makings of a really, really good story!

Medina's strength seems to be in her character development. Every character in this book stands alone, I think, and Medina shows both the positive and negative sides of many of her characters. No one is all good, and no one is all bad, which makes life a challenge sometimes, right? It also makes this realistic fiction story very realistic, and hard to put down! One of the better books I've read this year so far - and it should be to be the Newbery winner! Don't let the cover throw you off - it did me, a bit, as it seems more like an elementary book.  It could be, but also a really good book for middlers as well...5 paws!

Tight, by Torrey Maldonado

Happy snow day, Tigers! Personally, I don't care for the white stuff, nor the clear wet stuff (rain!), as I'm not one to have my paws wet...but I hear kids playing outside and know what a day like this means to many of you, and I hope you have a great, safe, snowy day out there!

Luckily I had a couple of extra unread books this weekend, since my person cannot bring any books home from school when there is no school...Tight is a new title to your library that I've wanted to read after hearing some really good things about it. That said, I admit I was a bit skeptical for the first 30 pages or so...I had a hard time getting into the main character's brain, I think because author Maldonado uses very realistic language for his characters, and not being an urban dog, per se, I didn't really relate for a while. Kind of like when your teachers or parents try to be all cool by using language you use with your friends...doesn't work very well, or at least not very often! Funny, sometimes, but not enjoyable in the long term! Anyway, once I got used to the books language and settled into the story, I really liked it!

A well-told, short book about a young man, Bryan, growing up in a less-than-perfect household, in a less-than-perfect neighborhood, with some less-than-perfect people around him at school. You get the picture. He meets another young man, Mike, who seems really cool and smart, but seems to have another side to him, one that draws Bryan in, and soon he is doing things he wouldn't do on his own. The consequences get him into a few very "tight" situations that he has to navigate.

Maldonado's second book - I'm not sure if this one is so good I would go find his first, but probably...this is worth your time, especially if you like realistic, street-lit fiction. Not quite Jason Reynolds, but he may get there soon! 4 paws!

The War That Saved My Life, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Yay! What a great story! It's been a while since I've read a book like this one, one with a sequel that I would have started after I read the last sentence if I had finished it in the library and not at home on the weekend. This story takes place at the start of World War 2 in England, so it's historical fiction and realistic fiction both, and very, very good! In fact I put it up there with some of my all-time faves, like Walk Two Moons and Princess Academy, as far as really good, well-told stories. You can't help but root for Ada and her brother, and hope her evil mother just goes away and never comes back! Give this books a try - you will not regret it! I can't wait to read the second book, The War I Finally Won. I don't even want to write anymore about it, I just want to start the next book...wonderful!
5 paws!

Suspect Red, by L.M. Elliott

I was very excited to come across this book - you know how I love historical fiction! - and I had never seen nor heard of this book before! After my last book not being one I was willing to finish, I looked forward to a book more to my liking, at least potentially.

Suspect Red takes place over several years in the 1950's in the U.S., when fear was being flamed like a giant forest fire across the nation, based on world events both recent and current.  In short, thousands of people's lives were turned upside down because of the fear mongering and bigotry being encouraged - by people from the upper levels of  government to those in everyday homes and communities.

On the positive side, this book is full of really interesting information about this dark period in our nation's history. There is a lot to learn here, both factually and in lessons learned, and many of the events can be compared to our nation's current climate - perhaps the best reason to give this book a try. However, I feel like Elliott missed the mark. It often felt like she had so much information she wanted to include that her characters were verbalizing events and details outside of what her characters would have actually thought or said. Several times I was wishing Steve Sheinkin was doing the writing, because I think he would have done better creating believable characters and scenarios from this era. Elliott makes a decent book of it, but not a great one...and it had the potential to be a great one.

If you love U.S. history you may like this book. If you don't, or do but only a little, I think it may be tough to keep interest until the end. The characters and scenes are just not developed well enough to make you finish the book, in my opinion. 3 paws.

The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell, by Chris Colfer

I am 11 years old, which is like 77 years old in people years. I know I have lived more years than I probably have left to live. Which means when I read a book, I want it to be a good book - it doesn't always have to be amazing, but it should always be good, at least. This book by the Glee actor Chris Colfer is popular, I know, and the cover even states that it is or was a national best seller. I know it's book one in a series, a pretty popular series, too. So, even though it's an OBOB book this year, and I try to read all the OBOB books every year, I only have a few left to read, and this was one of the last. And I tried...I really did. I read to page 148. That's a lot of pages, especially in a book I wasn't sure I was enjoying. Yesterday I saw another book that I hadn't seen before, and today while I was reading The Wishing Spell, I kept thinking about starting that other book. I also kept thinking that Chris Colfer is that person who has talent, a fair amount, and can write, but not really well, but for some reason people in his life keep telling him he's brilliant, when he's not quite that amazing. I know many of you like his writing, and I respect that - the way only a pug can! But I have to stop reading this book. He's the wizard behind the curtain...not exactly all he's declared to be. I give this book 2 paws, and I'm excited to start that other book...I hope it's good! Oh, and BTW, good readers - like you! - don't finish a book they are not enjoying! But, they give it a fair chance (meaning more than one or two pages), and they don't let one "bad" book speak for all books or reading in general. You will find a good book, probably many, in your reading life. But be sure to make reading part of your life! It will always serve you well!

24 Hours in Nowhere, by Dusti Bowling

24 hours in Nowhere, Arizona...sums this up in a nutshell! I was so excited to read this second book by author Dusti Bowling, since her first book, Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus was really good! Super good, actually! In her second, sophomore effort, she fell down just a little bit. She is still really good about developing her characters, and her storyline is decent...but in this book, the storyline was just missing something. I think it was the first pages where she introduced the main characters where she fell a bit short. The original scenario of one person saving another from being bullied set the whole stage for the rest of the book. But her characters were really forced together and the situation she created isn't uncommon in teen/YA books, but it just felt...forced. So, 3 paws for this one - but I encourage you to read her first book, which is super good!