Violet and her family are going on a beach vacation to Florida, but she's sad because they can't bring along her beloved Pooch. She carefully packs Pooch a bag of his favorite things for his stay at her grandfather's house, but accidentally switches the bag with her own bag. When she discovers the mix-up she is distraught, but a call to her grandfather's reveals that Pooch has had a great day even without all of his stuff. The cutest part is that he happily snuggles up with Violet's doll
in lieu of his own favorite toy. I'm a dog lover, so of course I love this book, but I also think it does a good job of showing kids that they can have fun away from home without feeling guilty about what they may have left behind.

When Miguelito loses a tooth, the Tooth Fairy comes to claim it, but she finds someone else who wants the tooth. EL Raton Perez collected the teeth of Miguelito's parents and grandparents, and he wants Miguelito's tooth too! The two fight over the tooth for a time, but then work together to collect the tooth, and decide to share the tooth between them. I found this to be a great multicultural book that shows the way two cultures can clash, and promotes working together to overcome it. The book includes some background information on both El Raton Perez and the Tooth Fairy, and has a short glossary of the Spanish words included in the story.

A young boy is excited to start school, but his mom is nervous. All the way to school he reassures his mom that he is ready for the big kid school, but once he enters, he has second thoughts and his mom is suddenly the one doing the reassuring. By the end of the day, the boy is back to his happy self, having had a great first day of kindergarten. The illustrations are amazing in this book, with the mom being small and blue, and the son being large and bright. When the son begins worrying himself, he shrinks down and turn blue, and the mom grows larger to reassure him. I love that this book shows the child as confident about his first day of school (for most of the story), and it should definitely open the door to an honest discussion of feelings between parents and children.

Unless I finish reading the 800-page-biography of Joseph Kennedy I'm currently engrossed in in the next 24 hours (unlikely), this will be my last book review for summer reading, so I'm glad I can go out on a positive note! Messy is the sequel to Spoiled, which I recently reviewed, and picks up a few months after Spoiled ended. It follows the adventures of Max McCormack (bff to Spoiled's heroine, Molly) as she becomes the ghost blogger for wannabe-starlet Brooke Berlin. Messy is just as clever and funny as the first book was, and the authors have a real gift for creating interesting minor characters. It's the perfect summer read - quick and fun and funny, and, most notably of all, it's never mean-spirited, despite the constant mocking of Hollywood. Teenage girls would love this - and so would a lot of adults.

This is a sort of old-fashioned story, and I was quite surprised to discover that it was written in 2005, as it feels much older. The story follows the four Penderwick sisters (Rosalind - 12, Skye - 11, Jane - 10, and Elizabeth "Batty" - 4) on their summer adventures at Arundel. Rosalind is the quintessential oldest child, Skye is lively and a little rebellious, Jane is a little spacey and is writing a series of books, and Batty is silly and funny, though she keeps quiet around strangers. Arundel is an estate in the Berkshire Mountains where Mrs. Tifton and her son Jeffrey live. Mrs. Tifton has rented out a cottage on the property to the girls' father (their mother dies shortly after Batty was born). The girls befriend Jeffrey, as well as the estate's gardener, Cagney, and cook, Churchie, and though they can be a tad loud and overbearing, they are mostly good-intentioned.

I really enjoyed this book, and like I said, it seems older than it is. I think this is because the girls spend their time outside exploring and playing. Jane uses a computer to type up one of her books, and that is really the only time technology is mentioned. The girls don't call Jeffrey on his cell phone when they want to get together, and Rosalind doesn't spend her time reading Wikipedia to learn more to impress a boy she likes. I do not know if this will make the girls unrelatable to kids today, or if it will make the story timeless, but I thought it was a nice change of pace.

This is one of those books that I just did not get. I don't understand what is so funny and why this is so beloved. Perhaps having the entire comic all at once rather than waiting every day or week for a new page ruins the experience? Anyway, this book is completely written by 5-year-old Malachi Nicolle, and as such many of the characters are twisted and some of the plots are nonsensical. The illustrations are all done by Malachai's older brother Ethan, and they are all well done. This book includes the six original Axe Cop stories, sixty-two additional episodes (split into two stories), and a series of "Ask Axe Cop" which are short comics based on reader-questions. I found these questions the most interesting (only interesting?) part, because Ethan wrote a little note alongside each question giving back story or providing additional information. I also want to note how odd it is that this is written by a 5-year-old, but considered a YA graphic novel.

Meanwhile is a graphic novel that you will probably either love or hate. It's a choose-your-own adventure book, and instead of saying "to chose x turn to page 2, to chose y turn to page 3" it uses a series of "pipes" you must follow along the numerous tabs that stick out on the right side of the book. The pipes must be followed on the individual pages as well, because they doesn't follow the traditional left to right, top to bottom pattern. This can seem cool if you're loving the story, but can definitely grow frustrating. Some of the pipes even travel in a twisted knot, requiring you to follow the pipe exactly or get very confused when you turn to the wrong page. The plot is sort of silly, starting with a choice between chocolate and vanilla ice cream, but quickly turning to a mad scientist forcing you to pick between using three if his inventions. Overall, I think it is a wonderfully innovative idea, but the execution lacks.

This graphic novel is about a 14-year-old girl who is starting high school after being homeschooled. She has three older brothers who are already in high school, but that does not make her transition any less awkward, mostly because they all have their own problems that they are dealing with. These problems may or may not be related to their mom running out on the family, apparently needing a break after spending so much time home with her kids. The title comes from the fact that Maggie has never had any girl friends, apart from the ghost of a widowed lady who periodically haunts her.

Overall this is a fun read! The author does a good job of integrating text with the graphics but still using character expressions and body language to illustrate their feelings. She also mixes up the size and layout of the panels to show movement and better highlight certain areas (it also makes the pages more visually interesting, which is a plus).

Kampung Boy is an autobiographical graphic novel about a boy named Lat growing up in rural Malaysia on a kampung. The story starts when he is a baby and follows him through leaving the kampung for boarding school. There really isn't much of a plot besides Lat growing older. For example, as time passes, Lat's family grows with two younger siblings, but they just show up in a frame saying "now I have a younger brother" and that is it. The drawings are very funny, with characters wearing funny pants and having big teeth. I think this would be a good way to introduce kids to another culture. The story is fun and kids should be able to find some similarities between their life and Lat's life, but also will see the differences. The story does stop at an odd point, as an industrial company is interested in buying up the kampung, but Lat goes off to school without finding out what happens. There are sequels though, so I am sure the story picks up there.

This is a great book for kids! It includes a single page on each of the hundred dangerous things with a few fun facts, a simple explanation of what to do if you find yourself in the situation, a risk and survival rating, and a couple of pictures. Dangers are split into categories like natural disasters, lost in the wild, and dangerous animals.

I think the explanations give a good overview and could definitely inspire kids to check out more detailed books on some of their favorite dangers. I would be wary of recommending this to kids who are natural worriers, as they may find even more situations to be concerned about. However, it could also assuage their fear if the risk and survival ratings are low/high for their particular fear (though a new fear could replace it). The only detraction is that the author doesn't include where she got her information (especially how the survival and risk factors were calculated), and does not include any recommended books for additional information.

Chuck Klosterman is my favorite author, best known for Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs among many other similar works. I Wear the Black Hat is his latest book published in July of this year. Klosterman's work is a bit hard to explain (the book jacket says, "Klosterman continues to be the only writer doing whatever it is he's doing") but he essentially gives thematic insight to major pop culture events - past subjects have included why Kurt Cobain's death affected so many people and the impact of the events in Waco, Texas, with the Branch Davidians. He also wrote an entire book about classic heavy metal (Fargo Rock City).

I Wear the Black Hat takes a focus on villains and villainous behavior - the subtitle is "Grappling with Villains (Real and Imagined)." Klosterman's achievement in all of his works, including this one, is that he is able to pair intellectual ideas and theory with pop culture events and references. He began as a rock writer, so that is of course going to influence what he chooses to write about, but he is also incredibly smart, funny and insightful in how he writes about these topics. In one chapter he manages to tie together Rocky and Bullwinkle, Machiavelli and the Penn State scandal with Jerry Sandusky and Joe Paterno - cartoon, 16th century politics and 21st century sports scandal. I would definitely recommend this book if you enjoy intellectual commentary on contemporary popular culture and/or have an interest in villains.

Despite the large number of books out there about Anne Boleyn, Catherine of Aragon and Henry himself, I haven’t come across many from Katherine Parr’s perspective. Parr was the King’s last wife and had the good fortune to outlive him and to remarry. Though there’s obviously more intrigue behind Boleyn and his other wives, I find the idea of Parr’s position fascinating. She had been at court when the other wives were present and obviously knew what had happened to them. She’d also seen Henry’s physical and mental health decline drastically over a few years. And yet she married him.


Elizabeth Freemantle suggests she married him out of fear – a likely theory. Queen’s Gambit follows Parr from the death of her second husband John Neville through her courtship and marriage to Henry VIII and finally to her disastrous marriage to Thomas Seymour. Rather than focusing on the king’s health, Freemantle constructs a story based solely around Katherine’s trials. As a young woman, Katherine watched two husbands and at least one child die. Once she returns to court she finds herself the object of unwanted royal attention. In Freemantle’s story Katherine is independent and strong-willed; despite being the Queen of a suddenly rather Catholic kingdom , she reads Protestant books and corresponds with the noted female philosopher, Anne Askew.

I liked how Freemantle focused on Katherine’s story and allowed the book to be about Katherine’s mind. Though there are certainly moments of romance or tension, the book largely focuses on Katherine’s struggles with her faith and her decisions to pursue a life that is not wholly her own.



Looking for more books about the Tudors?

Gilt by Katherine Longshore
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

I know this book (and its two sequels) is super popular, but I resisted for a looong time because I'm sort of over dystopias at this point. However, I have to say that compared to its more popular Hunger-Games-ripoff cousin, Divergent, I liked Delirium a LOT more, and wish that this, and not Divergent, was the novel getting a movie adaptation. For those of you who haven't read it, this is the story of Lena and Alex, two teenagers in a society where love is considered a sickness and at 18 everyone is cured of the disease. A real upper, obviously. As I'm sure you can guess, Lena and Alex fall in love, and then must decide what to do with the date of Lena's cure rapidly approaching. I have to admit, one thing that bothers me about this current dystopia craze is that I think a lot of them kind of forget that the real point of dystopias is to make some sort of comment about our current society - see 1984, The Handmaid's Tale, even The Hunger Games. I am not entirely sure what sort of astute commentary one can get from a novel about a society where love is outlawed. HOWEVER, having said that, I'm going to stop being a grouch, because I still really enjoyed this book. It's hard to put down once you get into it, and since I was listening to it on audiobook (the reader is Sarah Drew, who Grey's Anatomy fans like myself [yes, STILL watching that show] will know best as April Kepner, and she does a pretty good job - it helps that she has a young-sounding voice so I totally buy her as a teenager) I actually sat in my parking lot for like 10 minutes one night because I didn't want to stop listening. I was spoiled on the ending in advance, but still ended up crying in my car, which I suppose is a compliment to the author. Anyway, I just picked up the sequel from the library and can't wait to read it. If you're looking for a quick, engrossing read, I'd recommend this - it also helps that Lauren Oliver writes beautifully, so even if you are experiencing dystopia fatigue, you can still enjoy the writing.

This is the sequel to Delirium, and I'm really glad I decided to read this instead of listening to it on audiobook like I did with the first one, because it was a REALLY fast read and really hard to put down. Anyway, it picks up where Delirium left off, with Lena out in the Wilds and follows her as she meets up with other Invalids and joins the resistance. There's also the introduction of a second love interest, which I didn't hate as much as I thought I was going to. Look, these books are never going to be the most original things on the face of the planet - the market is so saturated with dystopias at this point that it's impossible for any of them to feel truly fresh, I think - but Lauren Oliver is a fantastic writer, and the quality of her writing manages to elevate books with a somewhat tired premise to something very intriguing and beautiful (which was absolutely the case with her first novel, Before I Fall, as well). Teenage girls would love this, and it's a great book to give to any patrons who have finished The Hunger Games and want help finding something similar to read. If you haven't gotten 100% sick of dystopias, I'd recommend giving this series a shot - I'm not sure I liked Pandemonium quite as much as Delirium, but it was still a good read.

This is the final book in the trilogy that started with Delirium, and I thought it was a really good conclusion. The parallels to The Hunger Games seem especially obvious in this installment, including the dreaded love triangle (though I will say the circumstances that led to this one were less infuriating than most love triangles I've ever read, and Oliver managed to make the whole thing [which I still think is a stupid plot device] seem understandable and also make Lena seem less selfish than most protagonists involved in love triangles usually seem [which is my #1 issue with love triangles]). Anyway, if you're a reader who needs 100% closure and wants all the loose ends tied up, this might not be the book for you - Oliver doesn't particularly care whether you want to know exactly what happens to everyone or how every event will turn out. But this is what I liked best about this book. If she HAD tied everything up, I think I would have found it rushed (like I found the ending of Mockingjay, for example). Instead, she leaves a lot of questions unanswered - which is a bit frustrating, but also part of the fun of reading, in my opinion. Now, finally, please excuse me while I revert to being a 16-year-old again for five seconds, because the final thing I have to say about this book is: LENA + ALEX 4EVA. This concludes my highly intellectual and thoughtful review.