The Button War, by Avi

It's been a long time since I've enjoyed an Avi book, but this one came out late last year, I believe, and a few kids have checked it out and liked it, and the reviews for it have been good, so I thought I'd take a break from reading OBOB books and dive back into a good Avi story. Avi has been writing books for teens and young adults for a very long time. I had the pleasure of hearing him speak once at an event in Portland, and although he was perhaps the least engaging author I have ever listened to, it was clear that he is incredibly smart, and if you've ever read his books, talented as well.

The Button War takes place in Poland at the start of World War 1. A small group of small village boys decide they are going to compete against one another collecting buttons from the uniforms of the occupying officers in their village. The soldiers change throughout the story, from German to Russian to English to French. This contest is the surface of the story. The depth of this story comes from the deep, and I'll say dark, undercurrent of the realities of war on everyday people, kids and adults, and how brutal is really is, how destructive and painful. I know this all sounds very heavy, and this book, even though it's short and quick to read, is one of the darkest and heaviest books I've ever read. One back cover review compares it to Slaughterhouse Five, an adult book by author Kurt Vonnegut, and to Lord of the Flies, a teen book but equally dark and disturbing.

Avi is an exceptional writer, and The Button War is really, really good. But not in the way other good books are good...this one is deep, heavy, and will stay in your heart and brain for a long time after you've finished reading. You've been warned. 4.5 paws!

York, Book 1: The Shadow Cipher, by Paura Ruby

Today's lesson (for me, as much as for you) is that life is too short to read a bad book! The Shadow Cipher isn't a bad book, but as a dog, my life is even shorter than yours, and this book, while being okay, just never got going. It made me want to do two things; One, re-read Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliet, a really good, smart mystery with an art element! And two, read any of a number of books from my growing book list, including some of the other OBOB books! I can count on one paw the number of books I have started and not finished in my life, and now I have not finished two in a row...it feels weird, but I just can't keep going with this one.

Not a bad story, taking place in a futuristic New York City. A brother and sister and friend trying to solve a family mystery that people have been trying to solve for many decades. But they manage to find a new strand of clues and are racing against time to solve the puzzle before their building is taken over by greedy businessmen, who seem to have an alternate motive...although we don't really know what that is.

I can't quite put my tail on it, but this story just never flows...some good books I simply can't put down, but this one, 300 pages in, never makes me care - about the storyline or the characters. Maybe the cold weather is starting to make me cranky...hopefully you will like this book much more than I did! Let me know if you do...I'd love to love it more!

Falling Over Sideways, by Jordan Sonnenblick

After finishing Frog Kisser, a good fantasy fairy tale, I needed something more realistic, so I chose Falling Over Sideways, another OBOB book for the year, by an author of a previous OBOB book, Jordan Sonnenblick. The last book of his I read was Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie, which I enjoyed, if my pug memory serves me correctly. But Falling Over Sideways almost made me want to tip over sideways. It is realistic fiction, which I usually enjoy. But Sonnenblick tries to write 8th grade life through a female main character, and she comes off very predictable, forced, and false most of the time. I know he has several books in teen lit, but I don't know how many times he has tried writing from the viewpoint of a girl. As a girl, I can tell you, he didn't pull it off very well. Perhaps you will or have read this book, and get more joy out of it than I did. If so, please let me know! But I got to the very end, hoping something real would happen, and with only a few pages left, I couldn't finish. I have never not finished a book being that close to the end. This is a first. I hope you read it and have a much better outcome - sometimes true middlers enjoy books I don't...I'm probably too old or something. Anyway, not my favorite OBOB book of the year...in fact, my least favorite so far. Can't wait to start something else. 2 paws.

Frogkisser, by Garth Nix

Wow, the start of the new school year has really slowed my reading down! Thanks for being patient...hopefully with the finish of Frogkisser I can get back on track.  Nix has been writing fantasy books for teens for many years, and I have to admit I have never read a single one. Not for any particular reason, they just never floated across my radar. This year one of his books made it into OBOB, and I was happy at the opportunity to read his writing.

Frogkisser is a mash up of fairy tale and fantasy story. It is the story of two princesses and their evil step-stepfather. Anya, the younger princess, finds herself on a journey across the land, first to turn a frog back into a prince for her sister, but eventually this turns into a quest to return the entire kingdom to its original, and long-past, glory. It is a really fun frolicking adventure through monsters, dwarves, wizards, flying carpets, and a lot of frogs (and weasels, and talking dogs, and ogres)...you get the picture!

Most of the time I found myself really drawn into the story, not being able to read the action fast enough. Other times, like the climax of the story, I found Nix rushed too quickly through what should have been the core of the adventure story. I like strong female characters, and Nix tried to mix up traditional fairytale gender roles with good female wizards and evil male sorcerers, which I appreciate (although he occasionally muddies up his attempts to do this with confusing titles for different characters). All in all, I was glad to be reading Frogkisser, but by the end I was looking forward to whatever I am going to read next. I would try another of his books again, just to see if his other work wasn't slightly better. That said, I can only give this one 3 1/2 paws.

House Arrest, by K. A. Holt

Aaaah, OBOB Season is fast approaching - finally! House Arrest is on this season's middle level list, and a book I have not read before. One of the regular's at the BMS Library checked this out late in the spring and really liked it (thanks, Maggie!) - recommending it to me and several other students over the course of several weeks! So when I was able to get my paws on a copy, I was excited to finally read this one!

Holt tells this story through a one-year series of journal entries, being written by the main character, Matthew, who is under house arrest for the year because he stole someone's wallet and used one of their credit cards. Stealing is wrong, and Matthew received one year of house arrest, weekly visits with his probation officer and a counselor, and was ordered to keep a journal of his "progress" throughout the year towards making better decisions and being remorseful for his actions. The reason he stole the wallet and used the credit card was to help pay for medicine for his baby brother who breathes and eats through a tracheal tube. Matthew's single mother is trying to keep up with bills and medicine but not doing as well as she would like. So, when he sees the opportunity to use someone else's money to help pay the high cost of medicine, he takes it. And the dilemma begins.

Is it wrong to steal money to help keep someone alive?

A good story, a lot of room for thoughtful discussion along the way. The style Holt chooses to tell this story seemed a little forced at times, but not too bad...maybe losing a "paw" for it, but still making this a book worth reading. Very realistic fiction, along the lines of The Honest Truth, perhaps, but with more believable outcomes and consequences. 4 paws.

The Reader: Book One of Sea of Ink and Gold, by Traci Chee

I've said it before, but...I'm not a big fantasy genre fan. I like to read about real events, or at least how real people react and respond to real life situations, even if they are somewhat far-fetched - that's just me! However, as I encourage you to do, I try to stretch my genre preferences now and again and delve into something unusual for me. The Reader by Traci Chee has a very cool cover, and when it came out it got a lot of good reviews, and so it's always been at the edge of my reading perifery. It just happened to be available at the local library last week, so I thought I's give it a try.

Apparently, this is the first YA book for Chee, and the first book in a trilogy (I just added the second book to the BMS library collection...we already have this book, number one, and I will soon add book three). The good reviews are warranted! It was a real page-turner, reminding me a lot of Fablehaven or Inkheart. Chee creates a new world, and writes three different story lines that, as the book progresses, eventually begin to work off of each other, until they come completely together, making the page-turning even faster! A strong female protagonist, great action, a story revolving around the power of words, especially the written word...and, of course, danger, death, destruction, lies, cheating, some violence...what more could you ask for?!  I can't say for sure that I will read the second book, because I really am ready for something back in my reading preferences, at least for the next few books. But I do recommend The Reader - I'll bet you won't be able to put it down, either!
4 paws!

The Poet X, by Elizabeth Acevedo

Sometimes you read a book and just want it to keep going, and going...and going.  This is one of those books! I first thought from the title that this book would somehow have something to do with Malcolm X, one of my favorite people in history, and I waited to read it until I was ready to dig into Black American history. It is not about Malcolm X, but X is short for Xiomara, the protagonist and narrator of this story. The Poet X is the name she uses when she starts to participate in poetry slams.

The book is written in poetry style, like The Crossover, another of my fave books. But unlike The Crossover, this story is about a young Latina from the Dominican Republic, living in the United States, a sophomore in high school, navigating family, God, boys, men, romantic relationships (the details get a little strong here...meant for older middle and high school readers, probably), a twin brother and best friend, expectations from all of these places...and more. It is REALLY well written - some of the best writing I have read for YAs and teens in a long time. I know Acevedo has a new book out, although The Poet X is only one year old, and I will definitely get to it! I cannot think of another Latina or Latino author that is currently writing about the LatinX experience in America today, let alone anyone doing it with such beautiful writing and insight as Acevedo. A National Book Award finalist, a Printz Award winner, and a Pure Belpre Award winner!  I love this book - I think you will, too! 5 paws!

The Unteachables, by Gordon Korman

Ah, Gordon Korman!  According to the book jacket for this book, he has written about 90 books for teens and young adults...yep, he knows what he's doing! The Unteacahables is his latest, and if you know Korman's work, you'll know this one, too, and probably like it! Easy to follow, great characters, funny, fast, good story line but nothing super new or groundbreaking.  Not as good as some of his better books, like Schooled, Ungifted, Masterminds, or even No More Dead Dogs, but still pretty good. Worth your time if you like lighter and often funny, well-written books that will not tax your brain very much - a great "beach read" for middle school! 3 paws!

Pan's Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun, by Guillermo del Toro and Cornelia Funke

Oh my...one review describes this book as a "page-turner", and it definitely is that! I couldn't hardly wait to read the next page, no matter what page I had just finished! In addition, I had to go back and check some of my usual review sources to see the age group this book was being recommended for...I still cannot believe it is being recommended for 6th graders and above - the details of the war, of different characters being tortured or killed, I found to be really dark and really descriptive - not that fans of fantasy and horror wouldn't like it, just that I'm not sure I would say 6th graders would be part of the target audience here...you be the judge of that!

All that said, this book is awesome! A mix of World War 2 Spain, underworld beings and creatures, fairies, the beauty and ugliness of humanity, struggle, wealth and poverty, gender inequalities, oh, and murder and torture. This book covers a lot of ground, and does it in a way that makes it difficult not to read the next page! I am not familiar with the movie version of Pan's Labyrinth, but perhaps some of you are. I am familiar with Funke, who has written some of the best fantasy in YA and teen lit, in my opinion - Inkheart being my favorite, but also Dragon Rider and others. It's been a while since I've read anything by her, but wow, she has gotten SO good with this book!

Knowing the story as I do now, I don't know if I could read it again, knowing what happens along the way. But I cannot remember a book that I wished I had not read so that I could read it again for the first time! If death and darkness do not disturb you, read this, and then let's chat about it! 5 paws for sure!

The Teacher's Funeral: A Comedy in Three Parts, by Richard Peck

What fun!  This is one of the upcoming OBOB books for the middle division, and it's short, and I was in the mood for something different - this fit the bill perfectly! Author Richard Peck has been writing books since paper was invented (or so it seems), and I have read a few of them, but not in a long while. The ones I read were very good, and this was no exception! I am certain that I can describe the plot to you and most of you would never read it based on my explanation! What Peck does (did...he passed in 2018) as well as anyone is take a simple plot line and make a really fun story out of it! In fact, several times I laughed out loud - out loud! When have you ever heard a pug laugh out loud?! Yeah, probably never! The story is simple, well-written, funny, fun, and very quick to read...I recommend this one, and wished it was a little longer! 5 paws!