New Books to Highlight

Wow! I haven't been reading and I haven't been blogging about books! What have I been doing? Where does the time go? The first 5 months of this year seems to have just flown by- with a capital whoooooosh!

So, here we go back on track with our Summer Reading Program. Here are some books I have read recently...
Jake and Lily are twins. Despite their slightly different interests and temperaments, they feel exactly the same—like two halves of one person. But the year they turn eleven, everything changes. Their parents announce it’s time for separate bedrooms. Jake starts hanging out with a pack of boys on the block. And Lily is devastated, not to mention angry. Who is she without Jake? And as her brother falls under the influence of the neighborhood bully, he also must ask himself—who is the real Jake?

I didn't really like the main storyline about the conflict between the twins as much as I liked the side story of Jake and his friends bullying another boy in the neighborhood. I think that part made the book much more interesting and emotional for me. Quick read from a well-known author.

Liar & Spy is a story about games and friendship. Seventh-grader Georges moves into a Brooklyn apartment building and meets Safer, a twelve-year-old self-appointed spy. Georges becomes Safer's first spy recruit. His assignment? Tracking the mysterious Mr. X, who lives in the apartment upstairs. But as Safer becomes more demanding, Georges starts to wonder: How far is too far to go for your only friend?

I really did not like this one. It wasn't suspenseful or mysterious. It was rather quirky, like the characters and the ending.

In the town of Placid, Wisconsin, in 1871, Georgie Burkhardt is known for two things: her uncanny aim with a rifle and her habit of speaking her mind plainly.

But when Georgie blurts out something she shouldn't, her older sister Agatha flees, running off with a pack of "pigeoners" trailing the passenger pigeon migration. And when the sheriff returns to town with an unidentifiable body—wearing Agatha's blue-green ball gown—everyone assumes the worst. Except Georgie. Refusing to believe the facts that are laid down (and coffined) before her, Georgie sets out on a journey to find her sister. She will track every last clue and shred of evidence to bring Agatha home. Yet even with resolute determination and her trusty Springfield single-shot, Georgie is not prepared for what she faces on the western frontier.

 

This book is ALL the lists for a possible Newbery contender, but I really did not enjoy it. I really did not like the main character, Georgie. Although as readers, we are meant to see her determination and grit, I just saw a bossy, rude, annoying girl that acted way too old for her age. It was interesting that the story was set in WI and the details about the passenger pigeons, but the rest left me wanting for more.

 

In the Urwald, you don't step off the path. Trolls, werewolves, and butter churn–riding witches lurk amid the clawing branches, eager to swoop up the unwary. Jinx has always feared leaving the path—then he meets the wizard Simon Magus.
Jinx knows that wizards are evil. But Simon's kitchen is cozy, and he seems cranky rather than wicked. Staying with him appears to be Jinx's safest, and perhaps only, option. As Jinx's curiosity about magic grows, he learns to listen to the trees as closely as he does to Simon's unusual visitors. The more Jinx discovers, the more determined he becomes to explore beyond the security of well-trodden paths.
But in the Urwald, a little healthy fear is never out of place, for magic—and magicians—can be as dangerous as the forest. And soon Jinx must decide which is the greater threat.



 

I thought from the description of this book that I would really enjoy it. I love fantasy. There were many parts I did enjoy but the most compelling part of the story- the relationship between Jinx and Simon fell short for me. I didn't feel the relationship had enough warmth or kindness to believe in the bond. The relationship is familiar in stories- the old crotchety old man who lives alone befriends a lonely young boy and  becomes a mentor and father figure. But I just never felt that with this one.