Talk about the kidlit you're reading!

playground

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Just finished 100 Cupboards, beginning was slow but I did like the second half. I plan to at least read the second one and see if it keeps the pace of the second half of the first book and if it does I'll read the rest of it. Does anyone know how many books are in the series?

Onto Enders Game now.
 

Kitty Pryde

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Just finished Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree. Loved it! What sweet characters, and yet prone to average middle school girl bitchy behavior. I also like when the adult characters are 3-dimensional instead of being Generic Nice Dad or Generic Neglectful Mother. Thank goodness there's a sequel which I shall be reading immediately.

Now reading F@ery Rebels: Spell Hunters. Great storytelling, with somewhat dodgy themes though. Let's see, we have A Disability Is A Totally Reasonable Motive For Suicide, Motherhood Is A Terrible Punishment, and what seems to be A Group Of All Females Cannot Survive On Their Own Despite Reproduction Via Parthenogenesis Because They Have No Magic Or Artistic Skills And Also They Are Bitchy. Pushing on to the end to see where the author is going with this one.
 

Kitty Pryde

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well, you're not selling me on the faery rebels...

HA! I just finished it. The ending was...weird. There was a lot of Love Leads To Hideous Death and Kissing Also Leads To Hideous Death, which was weird, but then for some reason love won out in the end. One twist of the ending was pleasing but overall, a strangely unsettling book, but not really in a good way. And some terrible worldbuilding, as the fairy who knows all about fairy society but knows nothing about human society puzzles over why fairy society is so weird and different from human society. And I was like WHY would you think your own culture is strange when it's the only one you know? Worldbuilding fail.
 

Periwinkle

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I recently read Small Persons With Wings by Ellen Booraem and loved it. Excellent MG voice!

I also read Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta which I loved.

I'm currently rereading Harry Potter and Sorcerer's Stone for the 6th time, I think. Also reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

I love summer vacation! I can read to my heart's content!
 

romancewriter

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Finally decided to start buying the Warriors series. I have yet to read the books in order as they're too many of them, and when I decide to get them from the library I have to make do with what's available. Not sure why I'm so enamored with these books but I can't stop reading them.

And just to keep on topic I've also been rereading Kenneth Oppel Airborne series. Kind of forgotten how exciting those books are. I forgot about the pirates, and them being shippedwrecked, and the pirates' kidnapping Kate and Matt and . . . Well, very exciting books. Finished the first one last night.
 

sissybaby

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Now that vacation is a thing of the past, I'm back to reading. Yay! Just finished You'll Like It Here (Everybody Does) by Ruth White. Reminded me of The Giver, but wasn't quite so depressing for me. Actually, I enjoyed it alot.

While I was traveling, I stopped by my brother's, and he gave me signed copies of the two novels he self-published (I still haven't forgiven him for that). So I also have Star Wishes and A Tale of Two Hearts to read.

But first I'm going to read Moon Over Manifest. I've been waiting a while for the library to get it to me, and it's finally here!
 

timp67

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A friend just recommended her favorite book as a child. It's by Mary Chase, author of the play HARVEY (which I love), and it's called THE WICKED, WICKED LADIES IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE. I've just ordered a copy!
 

Eldritch

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Oh my gosh, Timp. Thank you for posting that. Many years ago, my fourth grade teacher started reading this book to our class, but she never finished it. I've always wanted to go back and read it, but I had no idea what the title was. Yay!
 

MsJudy

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Reading SCUMBLE, the "companion" book to SAVVY.

Took me a little while to get warmed up to it, but then it gets pretty delightful.
 

Morrell

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Reading SCUMBLE, the "companion" book to SAVVY.

I loved Savvy. Don't know why I haven't read Scumble yet.

I'm reading The Emerald Atlas, which so far is... okay. It seems like a lot of other MG fantasy novels, and I haven't really connected with the characters. I'll keep reading, though.

Just finished #1 Ladies Detective Agency for my book club--I know, it isn't MG, but it reads like it. I started out rolling my eyes, but it grew on me. :)
 

sissybaby

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Judy - I asked for Scumble the other day at my library, and they said it wasn't even available yet. What's the deal? I know I'm out here in Kansas, but give me a break!

How aggravating.
 

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I'm reading The Emerald Atlas, which so far is... okay. It seems like a lot of other MG fantasy novels, and I haven't really connected with the characters. I'll keep reading, though.

While there's some truth in your critique, I got a kick out of the lady who was crazy about swans in the first chapter (especially the part about her husband sneaking off on vacation each year, claiming that he's looking for beetles, but instead he's shooting swans at point-blank range with a crazed smile on his face).
 

Kitty Pryde

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The library finally sent me Ten (the prequel to Eleven!). It was a fun read but it felt like the author was working too hard to make the character immature as opposed to just making her young. Lots of humorous shenanigans, though. The funniest was when the BFF's mother warned her that fifth grade is when things might change and she might start being interested in boys. So BFF mandates that the entire circle of friends are now all required to have crushes on boys in their class, and she makes them all choose a different one. Meanwhile our poor heroine keeps insisting "I'm not in that stage yet!" I remember feeling like that, like, really? We have crushes now? Is that really necessary?
 

Librarykelly

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Judy - I asked for Scumble the other day at my library, and they said it wasn't even available yet. What's the deal? I know I'm out here in Kansas, but give me a break!

How aggravating.

Sissy, I'm here in southeast Missouri and it's available here. Well, I got it at Barnes and Noble not a library.
 

Librarykelly

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The library finally sent me Ten (the prequel to Eleven!). It was a fun read but it felt like the author was working too hard to make the character immature as opposed to just making her young. Lots of humorous shenanigans, though. The funniest was when the BFF's mother warned her that fifth grade is when things might change and she might start being interested in boys. So BFF mandates that the entire circle of friends are now all required to have crushes on boys in their class, and she makes them all choose a different one. Meanwhile our poor heroine keeps insisting "I'm not in that stage yet!" I remember feeling like that, like, really? We have crushes now? Is that really necessary?

I've been wondering about those books! Thanks for posting about them!
 

sissybaby

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Thanks, Librarykelly. I think she either looked at her monitor screen wrong, or meant it isn't available in libraries yet. I'm really anxious to read it. Maybe I'll order it on my reader.
 

Morrell

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Re: The Emerald Atlas--

While there's some truth in your critique, I got a kick out of the lady who was crazy about swans in the first chapter (especially the part about her husband sneaking off on vacation each year, claiming that he's looking for beetles, but instead he's shooting swans at point-blank range with a crazed smile on his face).

Yeah, that was kind of inspired. :)
I don't hate it, I'm just lukewarm about it--not sure why.
 

Librarykelly

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Re: The Emerald Atlas--



Yeah, that was kind of inspired. :)
I don't hate it, I'm just lukewarm about it--not sure why.

Ruth~ I didn't actually finish it (yet- I hate when I do that) but I think some people are lukewarm about it because it's just been done. And done again. And again. Maybe it'll pick up in book two?

~Kelly
 

Kitty Pryde

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I've been wondering about those books! Thanks for posting about them!

I am a big fan of all her books, this series included. I didn't like Eleven, but the three books after it are brilliant. Thirteen in particular has an especially hilarious take on the horrors of puberty.

Ruth~ I didn't actually finish it (yet- I hate when I do that) but I think some people are lukewarm about it because it's just been done. And done again. And again. Maybe it'll pick up in book two?

~Kelly

I think the problem is that the story's very generic and the characters are not interesting and the setting's fairly blah and the prose does not inspire. The author is a guy who used to write for teen tv dramas and it seems like he's not really on-target as far as what appeals to a younger crowd.
 

sissybaby

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finished Moon Over Manifest, which I LOVED, even before I discovered the author is practically my neighbor! Well, not like drop by and borrow a cup of sugar or anything, but we live in the same state. That's exciting for me.

But last night I picked up a little book titled How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O'Connor. I had the mistaken assumption that it would be a fun read, but it was so good I couldn't put it down. Read it straight through. It's funny and heartwarming. It's serious and heartbreaking. I highly recommend it - along with Moon Over Manifest, of course.
 

timp67

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I'm reading THE GIRL WHO CIRCUMNAVIGATED FAIRYLAND IN A SHIP OF HER OWN MAKING. Whew! What a title. The vocab is SO advanced and the writing is SO dense that I resisted it at first, but now its charm is working on me. I'm having a hard time seeing the typical MG reader reading it without frustration, however, or at least having to skip over so many difficult words. It's challenging me as an ADULT reader!
 

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I'm reading THE GIRL WHO CIRCUMNAVIGATED FAIRYLAND IN A SHIP OF HER OWN MAKING. Whew! What a title.

Sounds like the kind of title Lord Dunsany would have chosen for one of his fantasy short stories.
 

romancewriter

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Picked up the newest Nicholas Flamel, The Warlock. And I'll admit I'm kind of lost. The plot is starting to get a bit convoluted , but that could be just me. The creatures they're encountering are reaching more and more into fantasy, and the magic they're using to combat them is makes little sense to me. Probably most people could follow the plot with no problem, but not being big on fantasy with a lot of unique words I'm not really following what's going on, and I'm caring less and less what happens to these characters. Shame, too. I really enjoyed the first few books. However I'll probably keep reading. I'm almost done with it, and apparently there's another one after it. It'll probably make even less sense to me than this one. sigh
 

Kitty Pryde

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I'm reading THE GIRL WHO CIRCUMNAVIGATED FAIRYLAND IN A SHIP OF HER OWN MAKING. Whew! What a title. The vocab is SO advanced and the writing is SO dense that I resisted it at first, but now its charm is working on me. I'm having a hard time seeing the typical MG reader reading it without frustration, however, or at least having to skip over so many difficult words. It's challenging me as an ADULT reader!

This book had an interesting history--the title and premise were created for a book-within-a-book in one of her adult novels. That was that but then her fans asked if the book was real, and then demanded she write it. And it was originally supposed to be like an very old-timey kids book, which is why it's harder to read, I suppose. She also originally wrote it as YA, and then the publisher asked her to make it a younger tamer story IIRC. I saw her do a reading from the book, it was rather good.