What are you currently reading?
The Vanished Ones by Chad Lucas - When boys start disappearing from the Mission and no one in charge seems to care, a young trainee searches for answers.
What did you recently finish reading?
Safe Harbor by Padma Venkatraman- A verse novel about a young immigrant struggling to fit in.
What do you think you'll read next?
Under the Same Stars by Libba Bray
Over the summer, a friend of mine gifted me with a rabbit. Galactus the Devourer of Worlds is a fuzzy French Lop and while she was still a baby when I got her she's now around 10 pounds of attitude and fur.
Author: Kimberly Newton Fusco
Age range: middle grade
Genre: historical fiction
Similar books: Light and Air by Mindy Nichols Wendell
Bea and the New Deal Horse by L. M. Elliot
Summary (provided by publisher): A recipe for The World’s Most Comforting, Twelve-Layer Honeycake:
1 quiet girl named Hurricane, who runs like the wind along the Mighty Atlantic with her old dog Brody-Bear.
1 imperious aunt, who steps up when Hurricane’s world turns upside down.
1 kind-hearted boy, who helps wounded animals (and may smell a little of fish)
1 lonely and flea-bitten cat with a ragged ear and a crooked tail.
1 gentle chauffeur, who knows exactly what to say…and when not to say a thing.
Mix them all together in big, fancy house in the city. What you get might surprise you.
What I liked: This is a surprisingly gentle story. With short chapters that say exactly what they need to, the reader moves quickly through the plot. Characters are allowed to develop naturally and while they aren't always likeable they are believable. All around, a solid read.
What I didn't like: Not much about this one jumps out as a problem for me. The historical setting may be a challenge for some but it doesn't lean too hard into those elements.
More information: The Secret of Honeycake releases January 21.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley
I had a plain t-shirt in my craft supplies that I decided to decorate for my mother for her birthday (which is today - Happy Birthday to Mom!). I decided on this fellow from Animaniacs for the theme:
Here's my take on him, painted with silver fabric paint.
What are you currently reading?
Where the Heart Should Be by Sarah Crossan - A verse novel about the Potato Famine
What did you recently finish reading?
The Secret of Honeycake by Kimberly Newton Fusco - When her sister falls ill with TB, a girl is sent to live with her strict aunt
What do you think you'll read next?
Danilo Was Here by Tamika Burgess
I've read books about kids being raised by preppers, but this may be the first I've read where the teen is the one instigating the changes. This book promises a protagonist responding to climate anxiety and trauma with prepping and a boy who turns her world upside down.
Until the book Al Capone Does My Shirts I hadn't given much thought to the lives of children of Alcatraz guards. Most schools teach little about the prison, focusing primarily on it's fearsome reputation, but not much about the details of life there. This book aims to change that. We learn about the way the prison was set up, allowing for some families to live on island, and how the prison was a part of their daily lives. This book is very accessible, with simple language and easy to follow text all well-supported by photos and charts. There is, of course, little detail but it's compelling reading.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley
