Marshmallow Clouds: Two Poets at Play Among Figures of Speech, by Ted Kooser & Connie Wanek

     A picture book with wonderful illustrations! U.S. Poet Laureate Kooser and Wanek construct some fun poems using various word plays, showing how one might see something one way, while someone else may see it another...perhaps I see an empty nest perched on the branch of a tree, but you see a clown balancing a pie in a tree! The book of thirty poems is divided into four sections, one for each element (fire, water, air and earth). The poetry is simple in subject but really stays with you afterward, like a Shel Silverstein poem but with less silliness (or maybe just a different kind of silliness). If you enjoy words, poetry or otherwise, and are open to possibilities in the world around you, check this out! Our school library has a copy, just waiting for you to explore it! 4 paws!

The Ghoul of Windydown Vale, by Jake Burt

     A new book by author Jake Burt that is receiving rave reviews, so I couldn't wait to read it myself! The story of Copper, a teen living in a small mountain town that has been half-swallowed up by mud over the years. The only thing keeping it alive - and the rest of the world from overtaking it - is the ghoul that lives in the woods, the mud flats...everywhere people can't really go safely and easily. The ghoul is gruesome, scary, frightening, awful, terrifying, and rumor is that it has killed more than its share of people over the years. The ghoul keeps the town living in fear, but also protects the town from unwanted visitors.

    When a young girl is discovered, injured at the hands of the ghoul and missing her father (who it seems has been killed by the ghoul), some in town head out to finally kill the ghoul. But is the ghoul real? Does anyone know for sure? It seems some people in town know...but they aren't telling. And who is this girl? Is she really missing her father, and is he really dead at the hands of the ghoul? 

    Things are not what they seem in Windydown Vale. Even when I thought I had the whole story figured out early on, which I don't like to do because why finish the story if you already know what is going to happen, right? But I was wrong, deliciously so! Burt has crafted a fun tale that twists at the right moments and keeps you guessing until the end. For fans of Goosebumps books who are ready for another level of scary mystery, you have to read this! Be warned that the cadence of the writing takes a little getting used to. But it's worth your time to get a bit further into the story...at some point the cadence falls into place, and the story takes over....and it's a good one! 5 paws!

The Girl from the Sea, by Molly Knox Ostertag

     Another graphic novel - that's two in a row! - and another book on next year's OBOB list! The Girl from the Sea is the story of 15-year-old Morgan who lives on an island with her mom and annoying younger brother. Morgan has a small group of girl friends that she doesn't seem super connected to, on the one hand, but who also seem to be her support group (that storyline is a little blurry). Except they don't know that Morgan has a new friend, a girl from the sea named Keltie. Morgan dreams of being rescued from drowning by this beautiful mermaid character, and secretly understands she has desires to be romantic with this girl as well...Morgan is gay.

    Author/illustrator Ostertag creates a good story about teen romance that will appeal to anyone who enjoys YA or teen books with romance as a theme - not just those among the LGBTQ community. The artwork is simple but good, better than the overall storyline I'd say. The story itself isn't bad, it's just...okay. Teen angst, annoying family members and rules, an absent parent, friends who don't quite understand you...this story checks a lot of the boxes. The interest Morgan has in Keltie is a nice twist, but not the only one. Keltie is actually a seal who turns into human form because of true loves kiss - Morgan's. So there's that twist as well.

    It's nice to see OBOB including the graphic novel category in its titles again this year! And nice to have the LGBTQ community a more included part of the program, too (even though OBOB has rocked the boat in the past with other LGBTQ titles, which hasn't always been received well across the state of Oregon).The Girl from the Sea is a nice addition to the season't list of titles, but not an amazing choice. It has enough going for it to make it a 4 paw book, however, and if you'd like a new graphic novel to read, or a new romance book for teens, you could do worse than this one!

Dragon Hoops, by Gene Luan Yang

     I've been wanting to get my paws on this graphic novel for a while now, but it's a popular book and tough to find at the library...a sign of a good book, right? I finally got a copy, and even though I'll end up returning it a little late (but worth the late fees!), I couldn't return it until I finished it! I'm glad I did!

    On the surface, Dragon Hoops is a story about the graphic novelist Yang (American Born Chinese, Avatar, and other good graphic novels) and the boys basketball team at the school he taught at in northern California. But there is so much under the surface if this story! It's the story of several individuals, adults and teens, who are part of the basketball program as well as of the school's storied history - good and bad. It's a story about taking that step, sometimes a first step, but always a defining step, in one's life that changes the path a person seems to be on. I don't think I can describe it as well as Yang does in over 400 pages of really good storytelling and illustration. 

    In this book you'll get a really good, brief history of basketball in the U.S. and around the world (for the sports fan in you), as well as a story about a boy with Chinese heritage living in the U.S., and the stereotypes and expectations that come with that. You also get a story of a group of teens who have come together for one purpose, to play basketball, but who each have unique stories and pasts, showing that you can never tell what stories people carry with them that we don't often get a chance to see or hear. And this is a book about mistakes people make, and how far we do or should go to forgive those mistakes.

    This is a good book, but a long one, yet in graphic novel format it reads quickly. It's worth your time, as I know because I've finished it but can't keep thinking about it...for me a sign of an exceptional book. Yang is a good writer and artist. If you haven't ever read one of his books, this is a great start! 5 paws!

While I Was Away, by Waka T. Brown

     My second OBOB book from next season's list, and of course I chose a biography, right?! This is the author's story of growing up Japanese American, living with her family in Kansas. As a teenager, her parents decided that she didn't know her native language as well as she should, so they sent her, alone, to live with her grandmother in Japan for 5 months. Those months included summer, when she normally would not be in school in Kansas, but in Japan she was right back in the classroom - only now she was in Japanese school, where Japanese was the language everyone spoke, wrote and expected her to learn and know. She knew a little, of course, as her parents spoke Japanese as well as English. But Waka went from being somewhat of an outsider as an Asian American in Kansas, to being another kind of outsider as an American in Japan. 

    Author Brown tells a compelling story of these five months, ended with some information about some of the people we meet in the story after the book ends. Although it is an autobiography, it often reads like a fiction story. It is easy to read and keeps you turning pages. This book reminded me a bit of A Girl From Yamhill by Oregon's own Beverly Cleary in that the author's voice comes through nicely, although there were a few parts of the story that became a little slow, I thought. Overall, a nice OBOB choice for next season, and if you like books in the 921 section of the library, I think you'll like this, too! 4 paws! 

Slider, by Pete Hautman

     Hautman is an author that has always been at the periphery of my reading radar, but until now I haven't read any of his previous books. Of course, being an OBOB book for next year gives me a reason to try one, finally, and Slider is the book!

    Slider is the story of David, who can eat an entire 16 inch pizza in under 5 minutes. Drawn to eating contests, he finds himself in an expensive situation, one that will take winning an eating contest to get out of...he hopes. But it isn't the overeating that drives this story. It's David, his two best friends, and his family, including brother Mal, who is severely autistic. The deft way that Hautman works his way through David's relationships is truly the highlight of this book. In fact, the eating part is a bit of a turn-off for me, if it were the central theme of the story, as I don't see overeating for "fun" to be a thing worth reading about. But Hautman makes David so likeable, and real, that days after I finished the book I found myself thinking about the characters. And as I've said before, that is a the sign of a good story!

    I didn't think I'd give this 5 full paws because the basis of the story is overeating for fun. But the book has stayed with me, and makes me want to read another book by this author in the future. For that, Slider gets 5 paws!

Otto: A Palindrama, by Jon Agee

     A newly released graphic novel with simple but eye-catching artwork, Otto is a story told completely in palindromes (words or phrases that are the same frontwards as they are backwards...such as the name Otto). A very clever idea, and in most cases the palindromes work very well throughout the book. There are a few that seem a little too manufactured for the story, but there were equally as many that made me LOL! 

    You know by time you get half way through the story that you are holding something very unique and creative in your hands. And I'll bet you find yourself, more than once, reading a phrase from back to front just to understand the palindrome you just finished! So expect a lot of smiles, some palindrome checking, and a genuine appreciation of what author and illustrator Agee has done with Otto: A Palindrama. It is fun, and it is clever, and although it may be a book many of you want to read again and again, I'll bet it will be a book you finish and quickly want to share with someone else! 4 paws!

Give Me Some Truth, by Eric Gansworth

     A follow-up book to an earlier OBOB title If I Ever Get Out of Here. Native American author Gansworth continues in his conversational writing style with Give Me Some Truth. This isn't a super new release, having come out in 2018, but I really enjoyed If I Ever Get Out of Here and wanted to circle back to this one at some point, and it just worked out that I needed a new book to read and didn't have anything else immediately available! 

    Like the first book, Gansworth's writing style is easy to read, like Catcher in the Rye without all of the language (although there is some). Most of his books are for adults, so he doesn't have a huge collection for teens, but like the first book this one is written in a way where you feel right away that you are dropping in on some friends, and picking life up right where it was before you arrived!

    Gansworth's characters are Native American, so this is an element that he brings that many other teen writers don't. I would compare him to Sherman Alexie, although I think Alexie is a better writer, as writing goes, but Gansworth is just as good writing voice into his characters. You really feel like you are in their heads, especially the main characters. That said, I really liked his OBOB title, but this one seemed tedious. It still flowed well, but the print was pretty small, so even at 400 pages, this probably was meant to be 500 pages or so. Probably too long for the publisher's liking, hence the small text. Older middlers may like this (maybe not as much 6th graders...), and it's pretty realistic, and getting into the lives of modern-day Native Americans is something that will help many of us better understand those perspectives. For those reasons, I give this 3 paws, but I recommend his OBOB book over this one, if you're trying to know where to start with this author.

Kaleidoscope, by Brian Selznick

     From the author of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, among other wonderfully written and illustrated books, comes Kaleidoscope, the new book by Brian Selznick. This book is a collection of short stories - very short, as in 2 or 3 pages each - connected by artwork that goes along with the book's title (a kaleidoscope is a tube that you look through at one end, rotate, and colored pieces tumble inside creating wonderful shapes and patterns and colors). The stories share common images, character names, and themes, but at the same time they are pretty loosely tied together. So much so that once I finished the last story I immediately re-read the first two stories, which made much more sense after finishing the book. The style is hard to explain, and hard to figure out until almost at the end of the book. But once you reach the end, I promise you, too, will re-start at the beginning. 

    I admit I didn't love the book at the start...giants and dragons and such aren't usually my thing (sometimes, but not usually). But after midpoint of this collection of stories I started to see them connected, and in very subtle ways (meaning the connections are not very obvious). And once they began to link together, Selznick's "voice" came through, and I truly hated to see the book end. This could have been 400 pages, instead of 200 pages, and it still may not have been enough.

    Give this book a try, and be patient with it! If it doesn't grab you right away, keep going anyway, because it will, and you'll be very glad you did. 4 paws and a wag for this gem!

Flight of the Puffin, by Ann Braden

     In Flight of the Puffin, the second book by author Braden, she tells the story of four different teens, living four very different lives, connected by a random idea that one of these young people has to create small index cards with hopeful messages on them and place them around town. One of the main characters, and narrators, Jack, is trying to save his small rural school from being closed down for the school board because the school does not offer gender-neutral bathrooms. Jack takes up the fight to save his school from having to change - out of love for his school and community - but his stand is seen as hatred and is quickly turned to something it isn't in the local press. Thanks to the random cards, and consequent conversations with others, Jack changes his mind. His empathy grows - his ability to put himself in someone else's shoes, so to speak.

    All four of the main characters are searching for their voices in this story, and the card idea is based on a real-life group called the Local Love Brigade. The ideas in this book would, alone, earn it 5 paws from me, but even though this is a truly important story, it wasn't written as strongly as the ideas it is sharing. So a good book, for sure, but the characters didn't stick with me after the final page (the message of empathy did, though, which I wagged at!). This book is getting a lot of good reviews, which it should, and I'm giving it one here, too! But 4 paws, not 5.