Tag Archive | friendship

O = Outside In with self-taught sculptor, hidden treasures, by Jennifer Bradbury (book review)

Apr17

book cover of Outside In, by Jennifer Bradbury, published by Atheneum BFYR | recommended on BooksYALove.comSecret sculpture garden
filled with Ramayana stories,
art threatened by destruction!

Ram lives by his wits and quick feet, as many orphans do in cities and towns of India.

Discovering an immense garden of sculptures hidden in the forest leads him to work and food and thrilling tales from the Ramayana.

But will his repeated journeys into another sector of the city lead the authorities to this art paradise on ‘unused land’?

This fictionalized account of the amazing Rock Garden created from cast-off materials by self-taught artist Nek Chand over 20 years was inspired by the author’s time in Chandigarh, India.

What’s your favorite “people’s art” installation?
**kmm

Book info: Outside In / Jennifer Bradbury. Caitlyn Dlouhy Books/Atheneum BFYR, 2017. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

N is Name of the Blade calling Mio to danger & love, by Zoe Marriott (book review)

Apr16

US book cover of Name of the Blade, by Zoe Marriott, published by Candlewick Press | recommended on BooksYALove.comGrandfather said she would become guardian of this katana at age 16, as Yamatos have done for over 500 years.

Surely it’s okay if Mio takes the ancient sword from its hiding place a little early, while Mom and Dad are away…

Monsters and gods, worlds of humans and spirits, from Japan to London to the depths of despair to first love – the katana connects them all to Mio as she struggles to master herself and the legendary blade’s powers.

Glide into Mio’s no longer boring life by reading the first chapter here free (courtesy of the publisher). Yes, all 3 books of the trilogy are available in the US!

Family secrets – what to share?
**kmm

Book info: Name of the Blade (Name of the Blade trilogy, book 1) / Zoe Marriott. Candlewick Press, 2014. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

M is Messenger with psychic gift she doesn’t want! by Carol Lynch Williams (book review)

Apr14

book cover of Messenger by Carol Lynch Williams, published by Simon & Schuster BFYR | recommended on BooksYALove.comHer Gift arrives at age 15!
For cookery or fixing any hair, like her aunts?
Oh no! Not talking to ghosts?!

Maybe Evie will be the one Messenger in her family line who doesn’t have a psychic gift…nope! The Florida teen can see and hear and communicate with dead people!

How can that girl Tommie get into their house without Evie’s momma and stepdad hearing her?

Should Evie really kiss cute Buddy from across the street?

Wild thunderstorms, seeing dead people, and going to a new high school – what a birthday week!

Yes or no for seeing dead people yourself?
**kmm

Book info: Messenger / Carol Lynch Williams. Paula Wiseman Books (Simon Schuster), 2016 (hardcover), 2017 (paperback). [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

L = The Leaving Season and love and loss, after graduation, by Cat Jordan (book review)

Apr13

book cover of The Leaving Season by Cat Jordan, published by Harper Teen | recommended on BooksYALove.comSo many leave for college at this time,
but leaving for another country?
What if something goes wrong?

When Middie’s perfect (really, he is the best ever!) boyfriend is kidnapped while on a humanitarian gap year project abroad, she is utterly devastated – and only Nate’s best friend understands how she feels.

If only she and Lee had anything in common besides Nate – or do they?

Read the first chapter here for free, courtesy of the publisher, to meet Middie and Nate as he leaves for Honduras and she tries to start navigating her life without him by her side daily.

How do you cope with folks leaving?
**kmm

Book info: The Leaving Season / Cat Jordan. Harper Teen, 2016. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

K = Kim, with another Changers body-switch! Book 3 by T Cooper & Allison Glock-Cooper (book review)

Apr12

book cover of Changers Book 3: Kim, by T Cooper & Allison Glock-Cooper, published by Akashic Books | recommended on BooksYALove.comWoke up as a girl for grade 9,
as an African-American guy for grade 10,
what’s in store for Drew on the first morning of grade 11?

In the third Changers book (my notes on Book 1 here and Book 2 here), our hero/ine is now an Asian-American girl who has to deal with fat-shaming by peers and adults, body image, former friends not being able to know who s/he is now, and the long-standing conflict between Changers and Abiders boiling over.

Thankful for her drama pal Kris (so very, very dramatic), especially when her grandmother falls ill – oh, this third transformation is not the best one!

The authors say that Book 4 – where our teen must choose which body and identity to keep for life – is due for 2018 publication!

What lessons learned by fictional characters have you taken to heart?
**kmm

Book info: Changers: Book 3 – Kim / T Cooper & Allison Glock Cooper. Black Sheep/Akashic Books, 2016. [T Cooper author site] [Allison Glock author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

J is Japan in Last Leaves Falling, by Sarah Benwell (book review)

Apr11

Knows he is dying,
losing body control, bit by bit –
and finally finding friends who don’t care?

Have a hankie at hand when you read Abe’s determination to get the last word over the ALS that’s attacking his 17 year old body and his almost-too-late joy in meeting peers who look past his condition to help him when he needs it most.

Read the first chapter free at the publisher’s website here (scroll down to Excerpt), then discover the rest of this Japanese teen’s story at your local library or favorite independent bookstore in hardcover or paperback.

What would you do to help a friend?
**kmm

Book info: The Last Leaves Falling / Sarah Benwell (or Fox Benwell). Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2015 (hardcover), 2016 (paperback) [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

H for hoarder mom + hateful mom= no more home in Behind Closed Doors, by Miriam Halahmy (book review)

Apr9

UK book cover of Behind Closed Doors, by Miriam Halahmy, published by Firefly Press | recommended on BooksYALove.com

UK cover

US book cover of Behind Closed Doors by Miriam Halahmy, published by Holiday House Books | recommended on BooksYALove.com

US cover

One mom chooses stuff, stuff, stuff over her own daughter (and goes to jail for tax evasion).

One mom chooses her boyfriend over her own daughter (and he tries to have them both).

Then Mum’s so-called friends arrive to find valuables among the masses of stuff at Josie’s house (and won’t leave!)

How can almost-friends Josie and Tasha stay safe when neither home is a safe place to be?

Read the first chapters here free, courtesy of the US publisher, to meet Josie and Tasha as their home lives fall apart and the British teens have to fend for themselves together.

Publishing in the UK this summer – which cover speaks to you?
**kmm

Book info: Behind Closed Doors / Miriam Halahmy. Holiday House, 2017 (US); Firefly Books, 2018 (UK). [author site] [US publisher site] [UK publisher site] Review copy and US cover image courtesy of Holiday House; UK cover image courtesy of Firefly Press.

F is The Thing With Feathers, by McCall Hoyle (book review)

Apr6

book cover of The Thing With Feathers by McCall Hoyle, published by Blink | recommended on BooksYALove.com Managing her epilepsy while homeschooling is simple, with seizure-sensing dog Hitch always there.

Suddenly sent to public high school, Emilie refuses to tell anyone about her condition (hard enough to fit in when you’re the only teen on the Outer Banks who can’t swim).

Not even English project partner Chatham as they delve into Emily Dickinson or visit the lighthouse or worry about family complications.

Find this Sept. 2017 release at your local library or independent bookstore.

When is playing it safe the least-safe choice?
**kmm

Book info: The Thing With Feathers / McCall Hoyle. Blink, 2017.  [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

E is the END with Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza, by Shaun David Hutchinson (book review)

Apr5

book cover of Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza by Shaun David Hutchinson, published by Simon Pulse | recommended on BooksYALove.comHer virgin birth – science proves true.
Toys speaking messages from Beyond – also true.
People snatched by a sky-portal when she heals others – ditto.

Elena didn’t ask for healing powers, or for a drunken stepfather, or for inanimate objects to channel divine instructions to her since childhood.

But in author Hutchinson’s odd Florida (setting of his At the Edge of the Universe , my pick here) strange things happen regularly.

What is stealing away people? Why? Where do they go?

Maybe it’s a better place than Elena’s high school and now-constant demands that she heal people.

Fiction or science fiction? (or fantasy?)
**kmm

Book info: The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza / Shaun David Hutchinson. Simon Pulse, 2018. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

D for faked death list in Lucky Few, by Kathryn Ormsbee (book review)

Apr4

book cover of Lucky Few by Kathryn Ormsbee, published by Simon Schuster BFYR | recommended on BooksYALove.comFaking death without dying?
Oddest hobby ever…

Yeah, Stevie is homeschooled (don’t hold it against her), but new guy Max next door has all her co-op pals beat for weird (more than the usual “Keep Austin Weird” bumper sticker kind of weird).

Should she and best friend Sanger spend their Austin summer helping Max live out his “23 ways to fake my death without dying” list so that he can get over his near-death experience?

And is she seriously falling for Max?

Austin. Summer. Weird. Love. Funny = definitely!
**kmm

Book info: Lucky Few / Kathryn Ormsbee. Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2016 hardback, 2017 paperback. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.