WWW Wednesday

What are you currently reading?
Famous Last Words by Katie Alender
When Willa moved in with her new step-father in Hollywood. she didn't have a lot of expectations. Life had been rough since her father died two years ago. Meanwhile, Hollywood is under siege by a serial killer attacking young actresses. These two things converge when Willa begins to see things. Is she hallucinating? Or is there a spirit trying to tell her something about the killer?
Who doesn't love a serial killer story? This one has started out really well and I look forward to seeing how the case unfolds.

What did you recently finish reading?
The Madman of Pine Woods by Christopher Paul Curtis
Benji wants nothing more than to be a newspaperman, to finally be good at something that will get him praise like his younger siblings get all the time. Red is trying to make it through each day with his angry, sometimes viscous, Irish grandmother. These two very different boys have never met but when a local competition brings them together they for a loose bond, a bond that will be cemented by a mysterious man in the forest.
I haven't actually read the book that precedes this one (Elijah of Buxton) but that really isn't a big deal. The story stands very much on it's own. While race does play a role in the plot, at heart it is much more than that. It is more about what it means to be human, to be a good person. Curtis does not bully us into any conclusions, but leads us gently to some thought provoking ideas. This will be a great one to discuss with young readers.

What do you think you will read next?
The Only Thing to Fear by Caroline Tung Richmond
When I was a kid in history class I occasionally found myself wondering what life would be like if a key battle or something had ended differently. Clearly I am not the only one who thinks this way as Richmond has written a whole novel about a world where the Nazis won WWII. This could be amazing.