Everything Sad is Untrue (a true story), by Daniel Nayeri

     Before writing this blog I had to check the reviews to make sure I had picked up and read the right book. I mean the reviews verified that this book is for middle and high school, but after reading it, and even during, I could not decide who would be the best audience for this story. In most ways, everyone should read this book. It is unlike anything I think I have ever read, in good ways. But at the same time, it is written in such a unique style that I'm not sure who would stay with it long enough to find the story's rhythm, then ride that rhythm to the end of the book.

    At the most basic level, this is the story of Daniel, an Iranian boy who flees Iran and ends up living in Edmond, Oklahoma with his mom and sister. He is telling the story of how he came to be in Oklahoma to his classmates in the form of a class show and tell. That is a very, very simplistic version. What fills all the rest of the pages is everything that happens to him and his extended family prior to that, and all the feelings of everything that has happened along the way. And since. It is so hard to describe, as Nayeri's storytelling is so unique that I don't know how to describe what happens in the book. The closest I can come to the narration is The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. Except Everything Sad leaves out the intimate details.

    Before I finished reading this book I knew I would immediately start it over again, so that the first 100 pages made more sense to me than they did the first time. Once I found the rhythm of the writing I was swallowed up by Daniel's story. It will change you, if you are willing to stay with it until you, too, find the cadence of the writing. 5 paws. This book will stay with me for a very long time, and perhaps with you, too!

Daughter of the Pirate King, by Tricia Levenseller

 A very fun pirate story that I happened upon by accident! This book was sent to Briggs by mistake, and was meant to go to another middle school in Texas. Briggs got it instead, and taking that as a sign, I read it! The first in a now 2-book set by Levenseller, this is the story of Alosa, the daughter of the pirate king, and thus someday-to-be queen of the pirates. She is smart, sassy, and part siren, which gives her powers over men that humans don't normally possess.  The book is full of action, and sass, and more than one example of Alosa using her female charm and appearance to get what she wants. A few times that means the book borders on being too mature for middle school, so I don't know if I'd recommend this to many 6th grade readers, and maybe not many 7th grade readers, but most 8th graders and high school readers would probably be okay with the sexual suggestions throughout - suggestions, but no explicit details.

Daughter of the Pirate King starts off strong and very good, stays steady throughout, and then peaks again with some twists at the end. I had a lot of fun reading this, and it reminded me of older pirate books I remember, such as Vampirates, and maybe even a little of Charlotte Doyle. If you like Pirates of the Caribbean, give this a try! Alosa may well be the next Jack Sparrow! 4 paws, but not a book for all grade level of readers.

The Storm Runner, by J.C. Cervantes

 One of a number of Rick Riordan Presents (RRP) books that I have been eager to read, and one of next year's OBOB books as well! This is author Cervantes's second book but the first of hers I've read. If you are familiar with Rick Riordan, author of The Lightning Thief series and many others, you might be excited about this publishing adventure he has going on. Using RRP, he is promoting new authors who write books similar to The Lightning Thief in that they are action/adventure stories with mythology at their core. In the case of The Storm Runner, the mythology is from the Mayan and Aztec culture, which is very cool!

Unfortunately, I don't feel like this one lived up to expectations. It was good, but fell short of great all the way through. It was as though Cervantes had a long list of gods and goddesses, and she was determined to include every single one in the story, whether or not it fit or made the story better or not. So what we get as readers is a lot of Mayan and Aztec god names, but several of whom are completely unneeded in moving the story forward. I'll be honest, by the midway point I was wanting to get to the end to see what happened. By the end I was trying to finish and thinking about what I would read next. Not a good sign, right?

If you like Riordan's work you might like this better than I did (although I also like his work, but didn't care much for this). I really liked another RRP book, Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, so I won't give up on these books quite yet. But Storm Runner? Hmmm 3 paws for the story, and a wag because the other RRP books are hopefully better. Interested to know what you think of this one!