Glitter Gets Everywhere, by Yvette Clark

     The first teen book by author Yvette Clark, a London-born author who now resides in New York City. This is relevant because in Glitter Gets Everywhere, main character Kitty moves to New York with her dad and sister for 6 months for a change of scenery. The change is needed after the recent death of her mom, which Kitty is trying to work through from the very first pages of this story to the very last.

    This book starts off well but gets much better and stronger as it goes along. Perhaps it was just my own mood when reading on different days, but at first it seemed like Clark was trying too hard to write from the perspective of a young teenager, Kitty. But by about one third of the way into the story, the author really seemed to hit her stride, and the rest of the book was really difficult to put down! All of the characters and situations were pretty realistic and believable, and I found my pug self rooting for Kitty to have a good outcome. I won't share with you how close the actual ending was to what I hoped for, but I will say that this is a really good realistic fiction story about loss, family and friendship - and not just friendships between teens. Kitty also has a few adult friendships that help her deal with the loss of her mom. Clark builds a very good story here, worth your time. Fans of Patricia Riley Giff or Sharon Creech will really enjoy this, I think! 5 paws!

Running on Empty, by S. E. Durrant

     I haven't read anything by this Scottish author before (her first book is titled Little Bits of Sky), but instantly I was drawn to her style of storytelling. Durrant's writing reminds me a lot of A.S. King (one of my favorite authors!) but for younger readers, perhaps. Both write in a way that I find hard to describe to you...the honesty of the character's voice, and the way they both turn everyday thoughts, events and ideas into compelling stories is really amazing!

    Running on Empty is the story of AJ, who lives with his very quirky parents and has recently lost his Grandad, who we discover throughout the story kept AJ's family together and really made sure AJ was taken care of. AJ's Aunt Josephine and her family live nearby and are a big part of the story as well. But AJ is the narrator, and through Durrant's clever storytelling, we become AJ, in all the beautiful and strange ways a 7th graders navigates a complicated world. 

    I loved this short book, and recommend it to any of you who enjoy realistic fiction and above-average writing. I especially recommend it to those of you who are willing to lose yourself in someone else's thoughts for a while. Durrant is exceptional when it comes to writing "voice", and I found this book to be difficult to put down. 5 paws!

Alias Anna, by Susan Hood and Greg Dawson

      Alias Anna is the true story about Ukrainian-born Zhanna Arshanskaya. Later using the alias name of Anna, Zhanna and her sister, Frina, are being led, with their family, to what will be their deaths by the Nazis at the start of World War 2, when Germany invades Ukraine and starts eliminating all Jews. Zhanna and her family are Jewish, but her and her sister are also musical prodigies, having performed as children all over Ukraine for people at all levels of society. On the march out of Ukraine, Zhanna's father bribes a guard in the hopes that he will look away while his two young daughters sneak out of the line of people and into...a very uncertain future.

    This is an amazing story, and it just gets more amazing the farther that you read! Co-author Dawson is Zhanna's son, who is telling this story to award-winning author Hood. With short pieces of what seems like Zhanna's voice woven into the story, Hood and Dawson capture Zhanna and Frina's life while under Nazi rule and beyond, trying to survive without a family, a home, money, food - only a gift to play the piano - all the while trying to hide the fact that they are Jewish, which would quickly cost them their lives in the world they are living in.

    The book is written in poetry style, which I normally really enjoy. Some of my all-time favorite books, such as The Crossover, Long Way Down and Out of the Dust are written in this style, and it works so well. With Alias Anna, however, I kept wanting to read Zhanna's story as she would tell it, in chapter format, and not through someone else's words or in this poetic style. In the other books I mention above, the writing style adds to the story. Here, it takes away from it a bit. And that is a true shame, because this is a story you should read and know. It truly is amazing! Written in regular chapter format, this is an easy 5 paw book. But using poetry to tell this story seems forced, and doesn't make the story better. Nobody's fault, it just didn't make the book better. So, I give this 4 paws...but you should read it just the same! 

Patina, by Jason Reynolds

     Patina is book 2 in Jason Reynolds' Track series, which begins with the book Ghost (reviewed last month). The series is four books long, and each tells the story of the four "newbies" on The Defenders, an inner-city track team made up of kids from all across the area, each with more than their fair share of troubles and challenges, and each with their own ways of coping (and managing) their lives.

     Patina, or Patty, lives a life complicated by the fact that her mother is diabetic and lost her legs, so can no longer care for Patty or her younger sister. But her mom is still part of their lives. Instead Patty lives with her godparents, Emily and Tony, who have both girls attending a private school. At school, Patty constantly navigates the wealthier student body, but she builds a strong friendship with one girl, Becky, who proves to be something Patty wasn't expecting. At the same time she is a new member of the elite, local track team, and the metaphors of running (away from problems, towards her true self) continue on from Ghost. 

    Having just finished Ghost for the second time (my human used it in summer school this year, so I read it again, too!) I wanted to continue the series, as Reynolds is one of my favorite writers! He uses a bit of the same catch phrases and "slanguage" that Ghost used, and that was a little disappointing to me. I know the stories are going to cross, but I didn't think Ghost and Patty would have some of the same speech patterns. That seemed a little...easy. But other than that minor detail, I enjoyed Patina quite a bit. The book reads very quickly, and her story is a good one. I will continue on in the series with the books Sunny and Lu, and I never complete a series, so that says something for Patina! Because of the repetition at times, I rate this a little lower than Ghost...but not by much. Still a good read and worth your time! 4 paws!