The Umbrella House by ColleenNelson

The Umbrella House by Colleen Nelson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ruby and Scout decide to try to save their neighborhood from a rich real estate mogul who wants to buy their apartment building. As they dig for information about the history of the Umbrella House, they have questions they need answers to, one of them Who is this Midnight Muralist & can they help? I loved the beauty of this neighborhood, the authors' words and the power of so many people to save their neighborhood. A must read for middle school, one that will make you root for Ruby, Scout, their families and friends!

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The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Many thanks to my librarian friend, MaryAlice Briggs for lending me her copy of this awesome historical fiction book! I loved the story of Belle de costa Greene and her life and her job as J.P. Morgan's personal librarian. Fraught with mystery and suspense and the time in history, Belle becomes as famous as her employer, with her love of books and artwork, and her study of humanity as she flirts, uses her mouth as both honest and hiding her real identity and famous for her style. This reader rooted for Belle as she maneuvered her way around those who admired and/or hated her. A part of history I was totally unaware of and prepared for, I could not stop turning the pages in this thoroughly researched book! A must read!!!

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The Oceanography of the Moon by Glendy Vanderah

The Oceanography of the Moon by Glendy Vanderah
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This latest book by Glendy Vanderah effectively uses "magic" as the two main narrators/characters meet and their pasts are revealed/collide. I loved the narration by Brittany Pressley & Zachary Johnson as Riley and Vaughn meet at Riley's adoptive home where her brother, Kieran is a very special intuitive child where the all important magic resides. Since both Riley and Vaughn are hiding things, it will take trust, especially from Vaughn, if his past resurfaces. Once again, I loved the redemption in this book, the magic & beauty & healing of nature, and the strong characters who believe in forgiveness, family, and finding happiness in the future.

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Unsettled by Reem Faruqi

Unsettled by Reem Faruqi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Nurah's story of her family moving from Pakistan to Georgia contains some autobiographical elements of author Reem Faruqi's life when she moved to America. In the Author Notes, her experiences are explained. This novel in verse was about finding your place in a new place, making friends, dealing with racism and bullies, and finding your voice and using it for good. My heart broke for Nurah as she struggled to adapt to her new life, it broke further when her brother was attacked and Nurah feels responsible, but my heart began to feel joy as Nurah learned and grew from her new experiences in America---school bus problems, bullies, parental abuse into friends helping each other, Nurah's mom helping Stahr's mom, learning to swim competitively, Owais learning tennis, her father having Breakfast Club friends, learning and expressing in art class, and found her own special voice.

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Anonymouse by Vicki Van Sickle

Anonymouse by Vikki VanSickle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved the colors in this fun picture book; someone is drawing art all over for the creatures. In pinks, white, and black --VanSickle's book is a treat for all and will bring a smile on each page. But who is creating this art? Turn the pages...and prepare to be happy with the art.

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Many Points of Me by Caroline Gertler

Many Points of Me by Caroline Gertler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this Author Debut Book as part of my 2nd #BitAboutBooks Winter Reading Challenge for 10 points and I ached for Georgia as she grieved the death of her "famous" artist Dad from cancer a year ago. Georgia's life has been defined by her artist father and art history mother and she has loved every moment. She has been best friends with Theo since their birth and they sit around all the time working on their art. Theo is the son of single mom, Harriet, who is best friends with Georgia's mom. Theo has a graphic novel that features him and Georgia as avengers of good against the evils of the world. But with the death of her father, Georgia is feelings things she has never felt before; jealousy of Theo, anger at her dead father and living mother, and the urge to stop her artistic endeavors because art is just not working for her anymore. When she finds a portfolio of her father's pictures of her, Georgia takes his last drawing of her at age 10, and does not tell anyone about it. She becomes consumed with trying to solve a mystery; but with no one to talk to, she feels even more alone and questions everything in her life. As Georgia begins to lie more and more, things unwind, and she is threatened with so many questions and feelings--will she be able to right her wrongs? I loved this debut novel, the characterization, the plot and oh what I learned and loved about all the art techniques and colors was just awesome. A must read!

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Micah: The Good Girl #2 (Flyy Girls) by Ashley Woodfolk

Micah: The Good Girl #2 by Ashley Woodfolk
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read and LOVED this 2nd book in a series, Flyy Girls, by Ashley Woodfolk as part of the #BitAboutBooks Winter Reading Challenge. I will also be reading the 3rd and 4th books in this series too! Micah is a good girl who goes to church all the time with her parents but she is also secretly seeing Ty at summer camp where they both have jobs. But the big part of this book is the anniversary of her brother's death which weighs heavy on Micah. She does not always want the attention, interest, or pity about her brother. When she sneaks into her brother's room and finds his sketchbook there is alot she did not know about her brother and she tries to find out. Teens will love this book, middle school will relate as well as it deals with friendship, family, romance, school and death. Despite the drama, there is redemption and the positive meanings throughout this series, I highly recommend it!

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Junk Boy by Tony Abbott

Junk Boy by Tony Abbott
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow, this book was gripping, intense, and so true. Teens will love so much about this book and be sharing with their friends!!! Tony Abbott's novel in verse about Bobby Lang who is called junk boy because he lives in a house that is definitely a hoarding situation to anyone who sees the cars, junk, thrown out items, strewn throughout and around the yard and house. Bobby's dad is a drinker, doesn't work and belittles his son daily. In school, Bobby tries to be invisible but one day, he is drawn into fighting going on in a classroom. What he finds changes his life; a mother is slapping and yelling at her daughter (because she is gay). Once she leaves, after angrily demeaning him, Bobby helps the girl hang up art posters---thus begins the weird relationship of Bobby and Rachel. Rachel becomes his friend, dragging him to art shows and telling him how much she hates her mother. But things are not always good between them, Rachel has anger issues, lashes out, and Bobby becomes her target too. As their friendship grows, Bobby begins to seek help for himself and Rachel. As both teens experience abuse, will they both be able to rise above and become better? Highly recommended!

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Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam

Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is so important now, with the wrongful arrest of Amal, his trial and conviction. In a hard hitting novel in verse, Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam, craft an all too real story of a young African American who is failed time and time again, jailed and stripped of his humanity and hope. I grasped onto his anger as he turns it into hope through art, drawing and painting, he begins to accept those he is incarcerated with and how together they must become peaceful yet powerful to right the wrongs of racial profiling and prison reform failures. A must read for all!

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A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline

A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This audiobook was awesomely narrated by Polly Stone! My heart ached for Christina and her brother, Al but they loved their home, family, and each other during a life that gave her happiness, physical pain with her arms and legs, and her friendship with Betsy and Andrew Wyeth. Andy was quirky, shy, quiet but driven to paint and paint he did---he literally takes over the upper rooms of Christina and Andy's home and prodigiously paints their farm, Christina and Andy in their normal routine. I loved this foursome, Andrew Wyeth and bubbly Betsy his friendly, outspoken, kind wife and Christina and Al who the reader sees grow up with a taciturn father and cold mother, assorted brothers, relatives, and the people of their shore town in Maine. With a view of history, a small farming community, and the life and personalities of Christina and her brother, Kline moved this reader with her words, characters, history of the times, and how the beauty of art rescues Christina and her world.

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Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World by Ashley Herring Blake

Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World by Ashley Herring Blake
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this Stonewall Honor Award book for the 2019 HUB Reading Challenge. I listened to it and the audio narration was done by Chloe Cannon and she was superb! Ivy's story is one middle grade readers will want to read for all the contemporary issues it tackles in a really good story (LGBTQ, coming of age, friendship, family and loneliness) but readers will be gripped by the tornado and the havoc it rekes, both immediately and in the future. I enjoyed getting to know Ivy through her thoughts, words, and "stormy" pictures, major drama with her sister, Layla and feeling left out after the twins are born. The resiliency project,both Ivy and June were working on really showed these girls as they wanted the world to see them. Awesome book, I LOVED IT!

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I Believe In A Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo

I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I totally enjoyed Goo's funny book about super achiever, Desi - she is a great soccer player, student body president, involved in after school clubs and activities and very close with her dad, Appa. It is only when it comes to guys that she has ALL Flairures (love that made up word by Desi's friends)!!! When she meets new guy, Luka Drakos, Desi decides to plan her path to this her first boyfriend. By watching Korean dramas with her Dad, she crafts The K Drama Steps To True Love, which entails binge watching the Korean RomComs, taking notes and presenting to her friends Fiona and Wes how she will "catch" Luka. What the reader sees from the get-go is that Luka really likes her from the first moment they meet and despite the many steps she achieves (many with disastrous results) on her list - she and Luka, kiss, fall in love, etc. But, Desi is her own worst enemy and I enjoyed seeing her learn from her many disasters. I rooted for Desi & Luka (oh is he swoon worthy) loved her Dad and stalwart best friends. Goo has crafted a funny novel filled with good drama teens will enjoy, see themselves in and want to pass on to their friends!

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When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh what a great book, full of highs and lows as we get to know and follow feisty Dimple Shah as she embarks on the InsomiaCon program in San Francisco (to prove her coding worth to the world & herself) little does she know her parents have conspired with old friends for an arranged marriage with a nice suitable Indian boy. I loved Rishi Patel; he was the real deal, loved his parents, a pleasing personality and oh so much a romantic! After he sees Rishi and calls her "future wife" (he assumes she knows all about this) indomitable Dimple throws her iced coffee on him & all his hopes down the sink. I just loved Sandya Menon's words- she made me believe in both these teens, their culture, their insecurities, and finally their feelings & unshakable belief in each other's dreams. Highly recommended, you will fall in love with Dimple, Rishi, Celia, Ashish and their life changing time spent together in San Francisco, chasing hopes and realizing dreams can come true!

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I'll Give You the Sun - Audiobook by Jandy Nelson

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I listened to this audiobook as part of an April book discussion with a Goodreads group I joined, YG,MG, Seriously. Since I LOVED this book and did not want to read it again, I choose to listen to this book narrated by Julia Whelan and Jesse Bernstein and this venue DID NOT disappoint!!! I recommend YA and adults should read and then listen to this book. There is so much to totally love about this book- family lies, secrets, jealousies but also deep abiding love, compassion, and artistic brilliance.
You can read my book review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Highly recommended- join our April discussion too!

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