A First Look at Some 2021 MG Debut Novels

Hi, everyone!

In an effort to avoid reading the news, listening to the news, and getting stressed out over the election here in the U.S. as well as the surging Covid cases (all over the world AND here), I've decided to resurrect my sadly-neglected little blog about books!

And the best use for this blog right now is to support and promote the first group of my fellow MG 21ders! (My own debut MG novel, EVERYWHERE BLUE, arrives June 1, 2021 from Holiday House. No cover yet. Sigh. It'll be revealed in January. For now, here's the Goodreads link.)

As a 21der, I have the honor and privilege of reading as many ARCs of the 21ders' books as I can. I won't be able to read all of them in a year or two -- there are 50 of us MG debut authors alone, and twice as many YA debut authors!

Please support these wonderful authors and consider pre-ordering their books from Bookshop, Indiebound, or your local Indie bookstore, or if you insist, from B&N or Amazon. You can even order direct from the publisher! I'm including the publisher links here.

CLUES TO THE UNIVERSE by Christina Li, HarperCollins, January 12, 2021

Told in alternating points of view, this lovely story of two very different 12-year-olds who become friends will resonate with you. Ro, grieving for her dead father, loves science and wants to build a rocket. Benji loves comic books and wants to find his father, who left his family a long time ago.

A quietly beautiful story about connections. The characters feel so real to me!  Ro and Benji will linger in my mind for quite a while. I love their growing friendship and the way they help each other through some tough times.  (I  actually posted about this book in September)

ALONE by Megan E. Freeman,  Aladdin/Simon and Schuster, January 12, 2021

A compelling novel in verse about 12-year-old Maddie, who is left behind when her town is mysteriously evacuated overnight. How she learns to survive makes for a fascinating read. In fact, I read this in one day. The verse format is perfect for this intensely emotional story, with absorbing details about Maddie's life on her own, accompanied only by a neighbor's dog.

TAKE BACK THE BLOCK by Chrystal D. Giles, Random House Children's Books, January 26, 2021

Fast-paced and exciting story about one boy's growing awareness of social justice. I'm so impressed by the voice in this novel! Twelve-year-old Wes feels like a real boy to me, with real worries about his friends and his neighborhood. His growth, from someone in the beginning who cares most about his shoes and clothes and video games, to a socially-aware and strong leader among his neighbors and classmates, is phenomenal! The writing style is highly accessible, and middle-grade readers will learn about gentrification and social injustice without even realizing they're learning. A powerful, timely read.

A PLACE TO HANG THE MOON by Kate Albus, Margaret Ferguson Books/Holiday House, Feb 2, 2021

Orphaned siblings join other evacuees from London during World War II, and seek a home in the country. They deal with bullies in their first billet, and overcrowded conditions in their second. But they manage to handle it all because they find solace in the local library.

I fell in love with this novel from the very first page. What a delightful story! William, Edmund, and Anna will steal your heart, and you'll find yourself racing to finish to learn if they find a forever home (and if it's the one you hope!). But at the same time, you'll want to slow down and savor this book, because it's such a wonderful read and filled with so many gorgeous, and very quotable, lines. (But since I read an e-arc, I'm not supposed to quote from it!)

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Next time: I'll be discussing THE GILDED GIRL by Alyssa Colman, REA AND THE BLOOD OF THE NECTAR by Payal Doshi, MANY POINTS OF ME by Caroline Gertler, and THANKS A LOT, UNIVERSE by Chad Lucas. 

It's lovely to have so much to read when I'm trying to escape from the world right now! How are you handling these unprecedented times? Stay safe, everyone!

Pandemic Diary Entry #4

My Dickens Village holiday display -- with an interesting addition from my son

Friday, April 3 (by my calculations, this is Day 23 of isolation, since we started a little before most people): I finally put away my last Christmas decoration, the Dickens Village display on the sideboard in our little-used dining room. Before you make fun of me for having a holiday decoration up until April, please know that it brought me great joy!

You see, back in early January, my older son surprised me with an addition to the village. A miniature version of my upcoming book. His degree in engineering certainly paid for itself with this sweet and delightful surprise. How he managed to make such tiny book covers, I'll never know. Yes, the title has changed since then, and also I couldn't show this to anyone in January because the contract hadn't been countersigned yet.

Now the future is so uncertain, I'm not sure when the book will actually be published.

Support authors! Support bookstores. Support publishers. If you can afford it, please order a few books from bookshop.org.

The world's tiniest book!

Saturday, April 4, 2020, Day 24 

I woke up after four hours of sleep with an aching jaw, from clenching my teeth in my sleep. This is also known as bruxism and can damage your teeth. Has this happened to you? For me, this is nothing new.

For months after each of my brain aneurysm ruptures, I woke up with aching jaws. My dentist made me a simple device to protect my teeth, but I haven't been wearing it for a while. I also found after each rupture, that massaging my jaw before bedtime really helped.

In addition, I learned not to watch something scary (like the news a horror movie!) just before bed. Oddly enough, last night we watched a really sweet movie on Netflix: About Time with Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, and Bill Nighy. It was actually the third time I've watched it. I love this time travel movie! And it made me forget for a brief two hours about the crisis we're in now. But as soon as it ended, my husband clicked over to the evening news.

I went upstairs.

So... is this aching jaw a sign of PTSD? Without a proper diagnosis, it's hard to tell. But we've ALL been stressed since this pandemic started! Except, we really can't call it "post" traumatic stress disorder, since we're still in the middle of it. Let's just call it TSD.

(Please note: The last thing I want to do is belittle anyone who has been through war, rape, abuse or other horrifying experiences and has PTSD. You're in pain. I get that and I feel for you. I hope you find relief. My brain aneurysm ruptures were pretty terrible, but I wasn't being attacked by anyone else. Only by my own brain.)



Sunday April 5 (Day 25): What a bizarre world we live in now, with religious services online only (except for a few holdouts in Southern states), and no sports anymore! What do you do when you would have been watching Basketball or Baseball or Golf, or even Formula One auto racing (my husband's favorite)?

I've never been much of a sports fan so it really doesn't bother me. Please don't get mad at me! I'm sorry! If you're going to throw anything at me, make it toilet paper. :)

When my husband would have been watching F-1 races, he watches CNBC. Sometimes he reads. If the weather's nice, he putters in the yard. What I do is read or organize the pantry or clean out a closet.

Today we took another lovely walk.

Our weeping cherry tree is finally blooming!

Currently reading:

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater, Book 4 in The Raven Cycle.  This one will take me a while too, but probably not as long as it took me to read The Overstory. I read the first three books in this Cycle back in January and February, when I could get them out of the library. Now the library is off limits, so I ordered a few paperbacks from bookshop.org. Fascinating, utterly absorbing modern-day fantasies published by Scholastic from 2012 to 2016.


Covid-19 stats (from the WHO)
as of April 5, 2020:

Countries affected: 209
Confirmed cases: 1,136,851
Confirmed deaths: 62,955


What are you reading? And do you ever wake up with aching jaws?

Stay healthy, friends! Stay safe. Stay home.

Pandemic Diary Entry #3

Yes, this is 8-year-old me, preparing for a future quarantine
 in which I'm forced to stay inside and read!

Pandemic Diary Entry #3

April 2, 2020


Hope everyone is staying healthy!


Monday, March 30: We received our first grocery delivery to our home. It was due to arrive between 6 and 9 pm (I had put in my order the Thursday before!), and the driver didn't drop off the bags in our garage until 10:45 pm! Which is normally about a half hour after my bedtime. We got more than I expected, though. We're going to try to eke it out for two weeks before we do any kind of shopping again. When we start to run out of food, there's always this (my husband bought it weeks ago!):

Cue the Spam Song!

Tuesday March 31:  I still miss my sons terribly, but I'm managing to find plenty to do. Walking (when it's not raining!), watching movies, cooking -- oh, and cleaning. Still cleaning. I try to clean one thing a day, not necessarily an entire room. One cabinet, or one closet, or a bathroom. Mostly, of course, these days, I'm reading.

Plus, I've learned a new skill: making dinner out of leftovers from several different meals, which often results in odd combinations, but occasionally delights us. I used to hate leftovers, but now I embrace them. Ask me about the stir fry dinner I made from half a boneless pork chop, sliced into tiny pieces, leftover pasta, and leftover peas, with a generous dollop of low-sodium soy sauce.


Wednesday, April 1: (Strangest April Fool's Day ever!) On our walk today, I couldn't help feeling our flowers are a little lacking compared to everyone else's. Yes, this is our sad flower bed in the front of the house. It's nearly empty for a reason: my husband removed all the overgrown hosta last year because it was a gourmet salad for the huge herds of deer that roam through our neighborhood, eating whatever they want. Bullies! Of course, they also eat hyacinths, so he's been spraying them with something this year. Don't ask.

As you can see, our daffodils aren't blooming yet. (Deer don't eat daffodils! That's why everyone in our neighborhood has them.) Our daffodils seem to bloom later than everyone else's, though. They always have. We suspect it's because when we planted the bulbs years ago, we followed the directions. Planted them six inches deep.

Thursday, April 2:

FINALLY, I finished reading The Overstory by Richard Powers, published in 2018 by W.W. Norton. It won the Pulitzer in 2019. What a stunning novel! Written in third person, it's long and sprawling and multi-layered, with multiple protagonists.

What's it about? In a word, trees! It's environmental fiction and it spans many decades, from the 1940s to the present.

Most of us realize we are connected with every living thing, but I'm afraid most of us think only of animals when we say "living things".  Like the polar bears and butterflies in my upcoming novel.

However, we are also connected to every plant, especially trees. Did you know they communicate with each other? That they help each other, as well as us? This novel is fascinating, even if keeping the many characters straight was a juggling act for me (since I read so slowly now). The story really takes off in Part 2 ("Trunk" -- Part 1 is "Roots", Part 3 is "Branches") when several of the characters from Part 1 meet up to protest logging companies that want to cut down old-growth forests.

This book has many quotable lines, but here's one of my favorites (from p. 443):  "You and the tree in your backyard come from a common ancestor. A billion and a half years ago, the two of you parted ways. But even now, after an immense journey in separate directions, that tree and you still share a quarter of your genes."


What have you read this week?


Have you learned any new skills this week?


Finally, a favor: If you can afford to do so, please donate some money to your local food bank. You can do this online. Not everyone can pay for groceries at a time like this.



COVID-19 STATS for April 2, 2020 (from WHO):

Countries affected: 206
Confirmed cases: 900,306
Confirmed deaths: 45,693


And if you're in the US and you're interested in seeing the predictions for the peak in your state, go here.




"It is the mark of a truly intelligent person to be moved by statistics." George Bernard Shaw

What I've Read So Far -- And a January challenge

Drum roll, please! Here is a list of all the books I've read in 2012 (divided up by months and not counting picture books. And please note that most of these were arcs, unless otherwise noted):

January
1. Cinder - Marissa Meyer
2. The Fault in Our Stars - John Green
3. A Diamond in the Dust - Kathryn Fitzmaurice
4. Chomp - Carl Hiaasen
5. Because of Winn Dixie - Kate DiCamillo
6. Looking for Alaska - John Green
7. Gil Marsh - A.C.E. Bauer
8. Never Fall Down - Patricia McCormick
9. Jake & Lily - Jerry Spinelli




February
10. What the Dog Said - Randi Reisfield
11. So Close to You - Rachel Carter
12. Breathing Lessons - Anne Tyler (paperback purchased from indie bookstore)
13. Wonder - R.J. Palacio
14. Curveball: How I Lost My Grip - Jordan Sonnenblick






March
15. Breath of Eyre - Eve Marie Mont
16. critique partner's MG novel
17. Guy Langman, Crime Scene Procrastinator - Josh Berk
18. Embrace - Jessica Shirvington
19. Insurgent - Veronica Roth
20. Kaspar the Titanic Cat - Michael Morpurgo
21. Small Damages - Beth Kephart
22. The Year of the Book - Andrea Chang
23. Remarkable - Lizzie K. Foley



April
24. The Wicked and the Just - J. Anderson Coats
25. Summer of the Gypsy Moths - Sara Pennypacker
26. Drowned Cities - Paolo Bacigalupi
27. Starters - Lissa Price
28. The False Prince - Jennifer Nielson
29. Chains - Laurie Halse Anderson
30. My Life Next Door - Huntley Fitzpatrick


May
31. Devine Intervention - Martha Brockenbrough
32. The Patron Saint of Beans (now called If You Find Me) - Emily Murdoch
33. Keeping the Castle - Patrice Kindl
34. Don't Turn Around - Michelle Gagnon
35. Gilt - Katherine Longshore
36. Lucid - Adrienne Stolz and Ron Bass
37. The Mapmaker & the Ghost - Sarvenaz Tash
38. A World Away - Nancy Grossman
39. Keeping Safe the Stars - Sheila O'Connor
40. Gold Medal Summer - Donna Freitas
41. The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy - Nikki Loftin
42. This is Not a Drill - Beck McDowell
43. Tiger Lily - Jodi Lynn Anderson


June
44. Jump Into the Sky - Shelley Pearsall
45. Noah's Compass - Anne Tyler (paperback purchased from indie bookstore)
46. What Came From the Stars - Gary D. Schmidt
47. Forge - Laurie Halse Anderson
48. Grave Mercy - Robin LaFevers
49. Son - Lois Lowry
50. Ungifted - Gordon Korman
51. Code Name Verity - Elizabeth Wein
52. Capture the Flag - Kate Messner
53. Edge of Nowhere - Elizabeth George



July
54. Nerve - Jeanne Ryan
55. Burning Blue - Paul Griffin
56. The Great Unexpected - Sharon Creech
57. Malcolm at Midnight - W. H. Beck
58. Ten - Gretchen McNeil
59. Lindsey Lost - Suzanne Phillips
60. The Diviners - Libba Bray
61. Age of Miracles - Karen Thompson Walker



August
62. What's Left of Me - Kat Zhang
63. critique partner's YA novel
64. Third Grade Angels - Jerry Spinelli
65. Beholding Bee - Kimberly Newton Fusco
66. Space Station Seventh Grade - Jerry Spinelli
67. The Spindlers - Lauren Oliver
68. Every Day - David Levithan


September
69. Empty - K.M. Walton
70. If I Lie - Corrine Jackson
71. True Colors - Natalie Kinsey-Warnock
72. Popular - Alissa Grosso (paperback I purchased at PAYA)
73. Pretty Crooked -- Elisa Ludwig (hardcover I purchased at PAYA)
74. Dying to Know You - Aidan Chambers
75. Seven Tales of Trinket -- Shelley Moore Thomas (hardcover purchased from indie bookstore)
76. Glass Heart -- Amy Garvey
77. Unspoken -- Sarah Rees Brennan
78. Liar & Spy -- Rebecca Stead

October
79. The Voyage of Lucy P. Simmons - Barbara Mariconda
80. Lovely, Dark and Deep -- Amy McNamara (hardcover from S&S)
81. Breathe - Sarah Crossan
82. A Dog Called Homeless -- Sarah Lean
83. Geeks, Girls and Secret Identities -- Mike Jung (hardcover purchased from indie bookstore)
84. Touching the Surface - Kim Sabatini (hardcover from S&S)
85. Ask the Passengers - A.S. King
86. The Secret Underground - Natalie Bahm (paperback purchased to help Baby Jayden)
87. The Brides of Rollrock Island


November
88. Double Vision - F.T. Bradley
89. The Tide-Changers -- Sandy Green (paperback purchased from Amazon)
90. Through to You - Emily Hainsworth
91. The Flight - C.F. Runyan (old paperback I've read before)
92. Circle of Secrets - Kimberley Griffiths Little (hardcover won from Deb Marshall)
93. A Tale of Time City - Diana Wynne Jones (paperback purchased from indie bookstore)
94. A Thunderous Whisper - Christina Diaz Gonzalez (hardcover won from Medeia Sharif)
95. Recipe for Trouble - Sheryl Berk & Carrie Berk (paperback won from Jennifer Rumberger)
96. Hokey Pokey - Jerry Spinelli

December
97. Hattie Ever After - Kirby Larson
98. When We Wake - Karen Healy
99. Dead End in Norvelt - Jack Gantos
100. A String in the Harp - Nancy Bond (paperback lent by a friend)
101. Storm in the Barn - Matt Phelan

So I've read more than 100 books and December isn't over yet. If you have questions about any of these books, feel free to ask!  Which one's my favorite?  Oh gosh, I couldn't possibly pick ONE favorite. For YA, I'd have to say The Fault in Our Stars, but Small Damages and Devine Intervention both hold a special place in my heart. For MG, I love Wonder, but also What Came From the Stars, and Malcolm at Midnight. Of course, I also loved The One and Only Ivan (but I read it last year!). One of those books had better win a Newbery.

For the next few weeks I'll be taking a blogging break to spend time with my family and to work on my third novel. In January,  I hope to be querying my second novel, but I'm also joining Katia Raina's 31-Minute a Day Challenge.  If you've never checked out Katia's blog, you should hop right over there. She's a lovely young writer I met at the New Jersey SCBWI conference last year, and her first novel is coming from namelos in 2013! Join the challenge! All it takes is a commitment to work on your project (whatever it is) for 31 minutes a day, every day, throughout the month of January. And there's a prize for a random winner at the end! Sign up on Katia's blog.
 
See you in a few weeks. Enjoy your holidays!

A WINNER -- Plus a Resolution That May Surprise You!

The winner of the arc of The Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges, according to random.org is:

*KATIA RAINA*

 

YAY!  Congrats, Katia!  Expect an email from me asking for your mailing address.

*  *  *  *  *

I've noticed a lot of posts this month in which book bloggers talk about their New Year's Resolutions to read more in 2012 than they did in 2011.

Well, I hereby resolve... 

to read fewer books.  

(Gasp!)  

Why?  Because I broke my own record.  In 2008 I read 101 books.  In 2009, I read 107 books.  In 2010, I read 105 books.  But in 2011, I managed to read a whopping 110 books.  I also blogged more often in 2011 (86 posts) than I did in 2010 (56 posts) and finally settled on a regular schedule of Mondays and Fridays (with occasional special posts popping up).

But did I meet my writing goals?

In short:  No.

I failed to finish the rough draft of my second MG novel by Dec 1, 2011.  I didn't even finish it by Dec 31, 2011.  I've now finished it (yay!), but we're well into January 2012.  And I haven't even started revising my first novel or my second, so I'm still too far away from my original plan of querying agents beginning in February.  I'll have to put it off until at least April at this rate!  Grrr...  So while book bloggers all over the blogosphere are resolving to read more and write more, I'm going to try to write and revise more, but spend less time reading.  I think 80 to 90 books a year is a fine number to aim for.  If I read more, great.  And if I don't, that's also fine.  I'll miss keeping up with all the latest releases, but I'll get there eventually.

To recap my reading list from 2011 (and keep in mind most of these are advanced reading copies from the publisher):

In January, I read:
1. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate -- Jacqueline Kelly
2. Words in the Dust -- Trent Reedy
3. Darkest Mercy -- Melissa Marr
4. Ship Breaker -- Paolo Bacigalupi
5. Cliff Hanger: Mysteries in Our National Parks -- Gloria Skurzynski
6. Season of Secrets -- Sally Nichols
7. The Great Wall of Lucy Wu -- Wendy Wan-Long Shang
8. An Abundance of Katherines -- John Green
9. All You Get is Me -- Yvonne Prinz
10. Drought -- Pam Bachorz
11. See What I See -- Gloria Whelan


In February, I read:
12. Cloaked -- Alex Flinn
13.The Wonder of Charlie Anne -- Kimberly Newton Fusco
14. Tending to Grace -- Kimberly Newton Fusco
15. The Last Sacrifice -- Richelle Mead
16. What Happened to Goodbye -- Sarah Dessen
17. Awaken -- Katie Kacvinsky
18. Strings Attached -- Judy Blundell
19. Like Mandarin -- Kirsten Hubbard
20. Small as an Elephant -- Jennifer Richard Jacobson
21. Wither -- Lauren DeStefano
22. Turtle in Paradise -- Jennifer Holm


Here's what I read in March:
23. The Trouble with Chickens -- Doreen Cronin
24. That Girl Lucy Moon -- Timberlake
25. Warp Speed -- Lisa Yee
26. Desires of the Dead -- Kimberly Derting
27. Out of the Dust -- Karen Hesse
28. Flip -- Martyn Bedford
29. The Great Hamster Massacre -- Katie Davies
30. The Last Little Blue Envelope -- Maureen Johnson
31. Sparrow Road -- Sheila O'Connor
32. Divergent -- Veronica Roth
33. Flutter -- Erin Moulton
34. The Resisters -- Eric Nylund

In April, I read:
35. My Not-So-Still Life -- Liz Gallagher
36. You'll Like it Here (Everybody Does) -- Ruth White
37. Beauty Queens -- Libba Bray
38. Tighter -- Adele Griffin
39. A Tale of Two Castles -- Gail Carson Levine
40. Daddy Long Legs -- Jean Webster
41. The Lemonade Crime -- Jacqueline Davies
42. The Penderwicks at Point Mouette -- Jeanne Birdsall
43. The Strange Case of Origami Yoda -- Tom Angleberger


 Here's what I read in May:
44. Dogsled Dreams -- Terry Lynn Johson (I won the book from Natalie Aguirre)
45. Brimstone Key - Derek Benz and J.S. Lewis
46. Liar Society -- Lisa and Laura Roecker
47. Possession -- Elana Johnson
48. Sharks and Boys -- Kristen Tracy
49. The Friendship Doll -- Kirby Larson
50. The Name of the Star -- Maureen Johnson
51. Second Fiddle -- Rosanne Parry (again, won from Natalie!)

And in June:
52. Bigger Than a Breadbox -- Laurel Snyder
53. 8th Grade Super Zero -- Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich (free copy from the author! Thanks, Bemi!)
54. The Summer I Learned to Fly -- Dana Reinhardt
55. The Chronicles of Harris Burdick -- Van Allsburg, etc
56. Relic Master -- Catherine Fisher
57. Juniper Berry -- M. P. Kozlowski
58. The Emerald Atlas -- John Stephens

In July I read these books:
59. Forever -- Maggie Stiefvater
60. The Centaur's Daughter -- Ellen Jensen Abbott
61. The Help --  Kathryn Stockett (paperback purchased for vacation reading)
62.  a manuscript of a YA novel by one of my CPs
63. City of Lies -- Lian Tanner
64. Cold Kiss -- Amy Garvey

In August I read:
65. The Elegance of the Hedgehog -- Muriel Barberry (paperback purchased for vacation reading)
66. Supernaturally -- Kiersten White
67. Mostly True Story of Jack -- Kelly Barnhill
68. The Future of Us -- Jay Asher/Carolyn Mackler
69. A Need So Beautiful -- Suzanne Young
70. Everybody Sees the Ants -- A. S. King
71. The Fox Inheritance -- Mary Pearson
72. Bad Taste in Boys -- Carrie Harris
73. 13 Gifts -- Wendy Mass


Here's what I read in September:
74. Imaginary Girls -- Nova Ren Suma
75. Secrets at Sea -- Richard Peck
76. The Beginning of After -- Jennifer Castle
77. Starstruck -- Cyn Balog
78. Year Without Autumn -- Liz Kessler
79. The Wave -- Todd Strasser (old paperback)
80. Pie -- Sarah Weeks
81. Island's End -- Padma Venkatraman
82. Impulse -- Ellen Hopkins (paperback I purchased)
83. Goliath -- Scott Westerfeld

October's reads:
84. Hound Dog True -- Linda Urban
85. Crossed -- Ally Condie
86. Invisible Inkling -- Emily Jenkins
87. Legend -- Marie Lu
88. The Lost Songs -- Caroline B. Cooney
89. May B -- Caroline Starr Rose
90. Cracked -- K.M. Walton
91. Winterling -- Sarah Prineas
92. Under the Never Sky -- Veronica Rossi
93. Darkfall -- Janice Hardy
94. Liesl & Po -- Lauren Oliver
95. Darth Paper Strikes Back -- Tom Angleberger
96. Variant -- Robison Wells

And now for November:
97. Scorpio Races -- Maggie Stiefvater
98. Daughter of Smoke and Bone -- Laini Taylor
99.  Unraveling -- Elizabeth Norris
100. Becoming Naomi Leon -- Pam Munoz Ryan
101. Try Not to Breathe -- Jennifer R. Hubbard
102. Diary of a Wimpy Kid #6 Cabin Fever -- Jeff Kinney
103. The Great Rabbit Rescue -- Katie Davies
104. The Cabinet of Earths -- Anne Nesbet
105. The Catastrophic History of You and Me - Jess Rothenberg
106.  Partials -- Dan Wells

Finally, in December I managed to read a few books:
107. Don't Expect Magic -- Kathy McCullough
108. The Mighty Miss Malone -- Christopher Paul Curtis
109. Tunnel Vision -- Susan Shaw
110.  Glory Be -- Augusta Scattergood

So I topped my previous record, but at what cost?

Do you keep a reading list? And if you're a writer, do you ever feel you're spending too much time reading (or blogging or tweeting...) and not enough time writing?

If you've read this far, you've reached the best part!  You can watch what happens in a bookstore after hours in this clever and imaginative video made by a Toronto bookshop owner.  

Giveaway reminder and What I've Read So Far: An "I Dig Reading Challenge" update

I'll be back next Friday with a new YA Friday post of an upcoming book by a local author!  But for today, I'm doing something different.

First, a reminder about my TWO ongoing giveaways:

Enter here to win a signed hardcover copy of
EVERYBODY SEES THE ANTS by A.S. King

Enter here to win a signed hardcover copy of
SECRETS AT SEA by Richard Peck

Now I want to shine a blog spotlight on:

Katharine Owens over at The Insect Collector (isn't that a great title for a blog?) started the I Dig Reading Challenge and I'm here to catch up on the last six (!) months.  (See this post for January through April, books #1 through 43.)  Most of these are ARCs, unless otherwise noted:

Here's what I read in May:
44. Dogsled Dreams -- Terry Lynn Johson (I won the book from Natalie Aguirre)
45. Brimstone Key - Derek Benz and J.S. Lewis
46. Liar Society -- Lisa and Laura Roecker
47. Possession -- Elana Johnson
48. Sharks and Boys -- Kristen Tracy
49. The Friendship Doll -- Kirby Larson
50. The Name of the Star -- Maureen Johnson
51. Second Fiddle -- Rosanne Parry (again, won from Natalie!)

(And for those books, I gave money to Philabundance)


Here's what I read in June:
52. Bigger Than a Breadbox -- Laurel Snyder
53. 8th Grade Super Zero -- Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich (free copy from the author! Thanks, Bemi!)
54. The Summer I Learned to Fly -- Dana Reinhardt
55. The Chronicles of Harris Burdick -- Van Allsburg, etc
56. Relic Master -- Catherine Fisher
57. Juniper Berry -- Kozlowski
58. The Emerald Atlas -- John Stephens

(I gave money to the Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri, for the people in Joplin affected by the devastating tornado)

And in July I read these books:
59. Forever -- Maggie Stiefvater
60. The Centaur's Daughter -- Ellen Jensen Abbott
61. The Help --  Kathryn Stockett (paperback purchased for vacation reading)
62.  a manuscript of a YA novel by one of my CPs
63. City of Lies -- Lian Tanner
64. Cold Kiss -- Amy Garvey

(And I gave money at church to help the people affected by the drought in East Africa)


In August I read:
65. The Elegance of the Hedgehog -- Muriel Barberry (paperback purchased for vacation reading)
66. Supernaturally -- Kiersten White
67. Mostly True Story of Jack -- Kelly Barnhill
68. The Future of Us -- Jay Asher/Carolyn Mackler
69. A Need So Beautiful -- Suzanne Young
70. Everybody Sees the Ants -- A. S. King
71. The Fox Inheritance -- Mary Pearson
72. Bad Taste in Boys -- Carrie Harris
73. 13 Gifts -- Wendy Mass

(And I donated to First Book)

Here's what I read in September:
74. Imaginary Girls -- Nova Ren Suma
75. Secrets at Sea -- Richard Peck
76. The Beginning of After -- Jennifer Castle
77. Starstruck -- Cyn Balog
78. Year Without Autumn -- Liz Kessler
79. The Wave -- Todd Strasser (old paperback)
80. Pie -- Sarah Weeks
81. Island's End -- Padma Venkatraman
82. Impulse -- Ellen Hopkins (paperback I purchased)
83. Goliath -- Scott Westerfeld

(I made a donation to the Sunday Breakfast Mission)

And finally, October's reads:
84. Hound Dog True -- Linda Urban
85. Crossed -- Ally Condie
86. Invisible Inkling -- Emily Jenkins
87. Legend -- Marie Lu
88. The Lost Songs -- Caroline B. Cooney
89. May B -- Caroline Starr Rose
90. Cracked -- K.M. Walton
91. Winterling -- Sarah Prineas
92. Under the Never Sky -- Veronica Rossi
93. Darkfall -- Janice Hardy
94. Liesl & Po -- Lauren Oliver
95. Darth Paper Strikes Back -- Tom Angleberger
96. Variant -- Robison Wells

(And I gave to breast cancer research)


See, I'm still keeping a list (as I've done since 2002) of what books I read.  But now I'm doing some good with that list. If you haven't followed The Insect Collector yet, get on over there.  And join the I Dig Reading Challenge. There's no obligation. You can give as much or as little per book as you want.  Even a dollar per book can help someone.  And you don't have to let anyone know how much you're giving.

I think it's safe to say I'll definitely make my goal of 100 books read in 2011.  Do you have a reading goal? How many books have you read so far this year?

KO's I Dig Reading Challenge Update

Last year, I posted this mid-year post about how many books I'd read.

This year, I'm doing things a little differently.

Some of you may remember that in March, after the disaster in Japan, I blogged about KO's I Dig Reading Challenge.   It's never too late to join.  There's no pressure. 

After you sign up on her blog,

         1. Just keep a list of how many books you read each month 

              AND

          2. Pledge to give a certain amount per book to charity 

The beauty of it is that YOU decide how much to give per book.  A penny per book, a dollar per book,  two dollars, whatever you can afford.  And if you're uncomfortable talking about money, you don't have to tell us how much you gave. You can keep that to yourself.

To recap the year in books and donations so far:

In January, I read:

1. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate -- Jacqueline Kelly
2. Words in the Dust -- Trent Reedy
3. Darkest Mercy -- Melissa Marr
4. Ship Breaker -- Paolo Bacigalupi
5. Cliff Hanger: Mysteries in Our National Parks -- Gloria Skurzynski
6. Season of Secrets -- Sally Nichols
7. The Great Wall of Lucy Wu -- Wendy Wan-Long Shang
8. An Abundance of Katherines -- John Green
9. All You Get is Me -- Yvonne Prinz
10. Drought -- Pam Bachorz
11. See What I See -- Gloria Whelan

I didn't actually join KO's challenge until February, but I'd already given money to my local fire company, and it was enough to cover those 11 books.

In February, I read:
12. Cloaked -- Alex Flinn
13.The Wonder of Charlie Anne -- Kimberly Newton Fusco
14. Tending to Grace -- Kimberly Newton Fusco
15. The Last Sacrifice -- Richelle Mead
16. What Happened to Goodbye -- Sarah Dessen
17. Awaken -- Katie Kacvinsky
18. Strings Attached -- Judy Blundell
19. Like Mandarin -- Kirsten Hubbard
20. Small as an Elephant -- Jennifer Richard Jacobson
21. Wither -- Lauren DeStefano
22. Turtle in Paradise -- Jennifer Holm

For those eleven books, I gave to the Alondra Hernandez fund (victim of a brain aneurysm rupture).

In March, I read:
23. The Trouble with Chickens -- Doreen Cronin
24. That Girl Lucy Moon -- Timberlake
25. Warp Speed -- Lisa Yee
26. Desires of the Dead -- Kimberly Derting
27. Out of the Dust -- Karen Hesse
28. Flip -- Martyn Bedford
29. The Great Hamster Massacre -- Katie Davies
30. The Last Little Blue Envelope -- Maureen Johnson
31. Sparrow Road -- Sheila O'Connor
32. Divergent -- Veronica Roth
33. Flutter -- Erin Moulton
34. The Resisters -- Eric Nylund

For those twelve books, I gave to Shelterbox for Japan.

In April, I read:
35. My Not-So-Still Life -- Liz Gallagher
36. You'll Like it Here (Everybody Does) -- Ruth White
37. Beauty Queens -- Libba Bray
38. Tighter -- Adele Griffin
39. A Tale of Two Castles -- Gail Carson Levine
40. Daddy Long Legs -- Jean Webster
41. The Lemonade Crime -- Jacqueline Davies
42. The Penderwicks at Point Mouette -- Jeanne Birdsall
43. The Strange Case of Origami Yoda -- Tom Angleberger

So I only read 9 books in April (I was, um, kinda busy getting my parents moved).  But I gave to one of my favorite charities, Smile Train.  Since I have a relative who was born with a cleft palate, I understand how life-changing this operation can be.

In short, I'm still keeping a list (as I've done since 2002) of what books I read.  But now I'm doing some good with that list. If you haven't followed KO at The Insect Collector yet, get on over there.  And join the I Dig Reading Challenge.

How many books have you read so far this year?  Which one was the most compelling?  (I'd have to say Divergent!)

Now more than ever... Join KO's I Dig Reading Challenge

You may have noticed this interesting badge in my sidebar for the last few weeks.  Read More, Give More?  I Dig Reading Challenge?  What's this all about?

KO of The Insect Collector knows that we're all readers, so she came up with the brilliant idea of tying in charitable donations with how many books we read that month.  It can be as much or as little as you want.  You can give a penny a book, or a penny a page.  A dollar a book.  Five dollars per book.  Your choice. The beauty of her I Dig Reading Challenge is that YOU choose both how much to give and what charity it give it to! You can also choose whether to tell the world or to keep it to yourself if you prefer.  

I pledged to give $5 per book.  Last month I read 11 books and gave the money to a brain aneurysm cause.  This month, I've read 12 books and I'm giving to Shelterbox for Japan.

But it's entirely up to you.  No pressure.  If you'd like to participate, hop on over to Katharine's blog and copy the cool bug badge she created (after all, her blog is called The Insect Collector).  Just give her credit!  Then sign up with her if you wish (there's a tab at the top), keep track of what you read, and pledge to give a set amount of money for every book you read in 2011.  (And it's never too late to sign up  -- I didn't start until February).

With the disaster in Japan this month, the New Zealand crisis in February, the ongoing problems in Haiti, and many other situations both around the world and close to home, isn't this the time to give money? And what better way to do it than by keeping track of how many books you read.

Now that's what I call multi-tasking.

(And if you're looking for a cool charity to give to, check out Shelterbox -- thanks to Maureen Johnson who's been raising money like crazy over on her blog and on Twitter to get these emergency shelters to New Zealand and Japan.)

What should I read next?

You may remember, waaay back in July (actually, I can't even remember back that far -- I had to go look at my blog archive, heh heh), I posted this post about the first 49 books I'd read this year.  Go take a look.  I'll wait... *drums fingers on desk*

Oh, good, you remembered to come back!  Whew!

And then there was Psst! Wanna hear a secret? in which I confessed I'd never read Anne of Green Gables.

Well.... Guess what?

Here's the rest of what I've read so far in 2010.  (And yes, I'm woefully heavy on the fiction, and yes, I read very few adult books.)  Please note that most of these were ARCs, aside from the obvious ones (I mean, wow, can you imagine owning an ARC of #99?):

50. Plain Kate - Erin Bow
51. Scumble - Ingrid Law
52. Matched - Ally Condie

53. Bleachers - John Grishham
54. Sophie Simon Solves Them All - Lisa Graff
55. The Candymakers - Wendy Mass
56. Clockwork Angel - Cassandra Clare
57. Girl Parts - John Cusick
58. As Simple as it Seems -- Sarah Weeks
59. You - Charles Benoit
60. Paranormalcy - Kiersten White

61. My Abandonment - Peter Rock
62. Hunger - Jackie Morse Kessler
63. Ladder of Years - Anne Tyler
64. Blue Fire - Janice Hardy
65. The Unidentified - Rae Mariz
66. Nightshade City - Hilary Wagner
67. Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
68. Moon Over Manifest - Clare Vanderpool

69. Fortune of Carmen Navarro - Jen Bryant
70. Payback Time - Carl Deuker
71. Haven - Kristi Cook
72. Steps Across the Water - Adam Gopnik
73. Behemoth - Scott Westerfeld
74. Carnival of Lost Souls - Laura Quimby
75. Self-Editing for Fiction Writers - Browne & King
76. The Mermaid's Mirror - L.K. Madigan
77. Annexed - Sharon Dogar
78. On the Blue Comet - Rosemary Wells
79. A Finders-Keepers Place - Ann Haywood Leal
80. Delirium - Lauren Oliver
81. Where She Went - Gayle Forman
82. Please Ignore Vera Dietz - A.S. King

83. A Long Walk to Water - Linda Sue Park
84. Three Quarters Dead - Richard Peck
85. One Crazy Summer - Rita Williams-Garcia
86. The Mockingbirds - Daisy Whitney
87. Claim to Fame - Margaret Peterson Haddix
88. The Running Dream - Wendelin Van Draanen
89. Unearthly - Cynthia Hand
90. Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg - Rodman Philbrick
91. Like the Willow Tree (Dear America) - Lois Lowry
92. No Passengers Beyond This Point - Gennifer Choldenko
93. Nightshade - Andrea Cremer

94. The Red Umbrella - Christina Diaz Gonzalez
95. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - Sherman Alexie
96. Bud, Not Buddy - Christopher Paul Curtis
97. Museum of Thieves - Lian Tanner
98. Boom! - Mark Haddon
99. Anne of Green Gables - Lucy Maud Montgomery

Yep.  I'm reading Anne right now.  Well, not at this exact moment, no. Don't be silly. But this weekend. And, my, how times have changed.  Lucy Maud Montgomery doesn't introduce her main character until PAGE 10!  And just think about all that lovely description, the kind we're not supposed to write anymore. And the adverbs - oh my! But it works, because she tells a good story, with memorable characters.
 
So, when I finish that, what should I read next?  You'll notice the last 4 books on the list are MG.  Next up should be a YA, don't ya think?

Should I read:

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins?
The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff?
Trash by Andy Mulligan?
Any other wonderful suggestions?

And what's on your TBR list?

What's on YOUR reading list?

Ah, summer's in full swing here in the Eastern US. It's hot. It's humid. And the oil's still spilling into the Gulf...

In the meantime, the bookstore is crawling with teens buying their required summer reading. While they struggle through The Grapes of Wrath and A People's History of the United States, I left school behind ages ago (ahem) so I'm free to read what appeals to me. I'm getting ready to dive into the ARC of Scumble by Ingrid Law (the companion to Savvy), and Plain Kate by Erin Bow.

So, fellow Bookbrains, what about you? Do your summer reading choices tend to be lighter fare?

And how many books have you read so far?

Altogether, I read 101 books in 2008, 107 in 2009. Will I reach my goal of at least 100 books in 2010? Well, the year's half over and here's what I've read so far (not counting Young Readers and Picture Books) :

And yes, I keep a list (please note that not every book is aimed at kids, and some of the books I've read do not appear in the photo -- for the simple reason that I've lent them out) :

1. The Magus by John Fowles (3rd reading)
2. Linger (ARC) by Maggie Stiefvater
3. Finally by Wendy Mass
4. 13 Treasures by Michelle Harrison
5. House on the Strand by Daphne DuMaurier (3rd or 4th reading)
6. Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
7. The Clearing by Heather Davis
8. Alchemy and Meggy Swann by Karen Cushman
9. The Dark Divine by Bree Despain
10. The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer
11. This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer
12. How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford
13. The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan
14. That's Life, Samara Brooks by Daniel Ehrenraft
15. The 68 Rooms by Marianne Malone
16. A Nest for Celeste by Henry Cole
17. Purple Heart by Patricia McCormick
18. Green Witch by Alice Hoffman
19. The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan
20. Crunch by Leslie Connor
21. Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve
22. Sources of Light by Margaret McMullan
23. Thirteen Days to Midnight by Patrick Carman
24. Mr. Pip by Lloyd Jones
25. Thief Eyes by Janni Lee Simner
26. Keeper by Kathi Appelt
27. Body Finder by Kimberly Derting
28. Countdown by Deborah Wiles
29. Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr
30. Chronicles of Vladimir Todd 8th Grade Bites by Heather Brewer
31. Popularity Papers by Amy Ignatow
32. Gimme a Call by Sarah Mlynowski
33. As Easy as Falling off the Face of the Earth by Lynne Rae Perkins
34. Remember Me by Sophie Kinsella
35. Ravenmaster's Secret by Elvira Woodruff
36. Feed by M.T. Anderson
37. The Boneshaker by Kate Milford
38. Abby Carnelia's One And Only Magical Power by David Pogue
39. The Talent Show by Dan Gutman
40. Magic Thief Found by Sarah Prineas
41. Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead
42. We Hear the Dead by Dianne Salerni
43. The Beautiful Between by Alyssa Sheinmel
44. My Life as a Book by Janet Tashjian
45. Delcroix Academy Book 1 The Candidates (ARC) by Inara Scott
46. City of Ships (Stravaganza) by Mary Hoffman
47. Bruiser by Neal Shusterman
48. Ghost Hunter (Chronicles of Ancient Darkness) by Michelle Paver
49. Touch Blue (ARC) by Cynthia Lord

Tell me about your reading. Do you keep a list or just read read read without looking back?

Reading should be a pleasure

Just had to quote the wonderful Philippa Gregory in today's issue of Shelf Awareness:

"Reading should be a pleasure, a joy, and if I am not entranced and delighted then I don't bother."

Exactly.