Right on time! As long as the last day of the month is the deadline. I'm posting some short book blurbs. I don't want to call them true reviews since they are short and basically what I thought about the books. One middle grade and three young adult. I really must write the blurbs closer to when I read the books! But if it's anything like my writing exercises getting done on time, well, this will just have to do.
Baby
Mouse – Tales from the Locker: Lights, Camera, Middle School! by Jennifer L.
Holm (Author), Matthew Holm
(Illustrator)
I read the earlier Baby Mouse books and enjoyed them
so much. This is a logical step and highlights many middle school problems:
friends, fitting in, the dreaded cafeteria seating dilemma, younger siblings
and trying to succeed. It’s an easy read and very accessible to lower middle
grade readers. The ending felt abrupt to me; it suited the story but I
wanted more. That’s a good thing because there will be future books in this new
series!
No Good Deed by Goldy Moldavsky
The main character, Gregor, is a geek
going to a save-the-world type of camp with all the other nerdy do-gooders. But
it soon becomes a cutthroat situation when a coveted position is presented as a
prize. At first, Gregor annoyed me and I wasn’t sure I’d stick with the book. With
the intro of the antagonist celebrity girl he doesn’t care for, Ashley, their
interactions really propelled the story.
One hilarious aspect is the fact
that everyone is called by their “cause” instead of a name. Gregor is called
Children because he wants to Feed the Children. A few are called by their
names, but only the few (still geeky) cool kids.
I ended up being carried along and
enjoying the weird relationship that develops between Gregor and Ashley – each
defeating the labels attached to them. Maybe they can all end up seeing each
other past their causes.
It’s a fun, different, odd twist on the ever popular summer camp story.
This is a period piece with magic and European
society. It might have taken me a little bit of time to get into this world,
but once I was in, I was hooked. It was fun to be in this environment of
gypsies, balls and gowns, and magic spells. Throw in the one person who can
break magical spells and you have a nice twist with plenty of plot, character
and love interest. I know I’ll be reading book 2.
Scythe
by Neal Shusterman
What I liked about this
book was all the twists. The writer didn’t feel constricted to take one
storyline all the way through – it was okay to mix it up and change it and
that made it fun and interesting. I liked the main characters, Citra and Rowan,
and their sponsors, Scythe Faraday and Scythe Curie. I did have a hard time
reading the mass killing/gleaning scenes because they were too real. There is a
really good antagonist in Scythe Goddard.
I found it hard to
believe this could be a series until I was further in and along for the ride.
