River Readers

More than anything Amara wants to go to New York and visit her dad's family there. When she finally convinces her dad to take her for her birthday, she is excited. She meets her family in New York and learns a bit more about why her dad and grandpa are estranged. She also learns a lot of history through walks around the city with her dad and grandpa. This was a fabulous family story that educates not only Amara but every reader. I loved all the historical tidbits about New York and Harlem.

Published September 2019

Oona and friends are off to light the Red Beacon on Moon Yatta. They discovered the beacons have to be lit in order, which is why they were unable to light the Blue Beacon. Jax is taken back to the starball team he played for before and its nefarious owners. Oona and An Tzu attempt to reach the beacon which is covered in machinery. The Mimic is on this planet too in the form of Stan Moon, a powerful individual who controls much of the planet. They must navigate the red maze around the beacon, rescue Jax and light the beacon all while under the eye of the Mimic. 

Our adventures are at the bottom of the world trying to find the Hall of Dreaming Treasures still pursued by the bounty hunter. They must each overcome something about themselves in order to survive. Afterwards they part ways, and Lu heads off for further adventures amongst elves and other dragons. It turns out she likes humans way too much for her own kind.

This is a fun fantasy series about a dragon adventurer Luvander who meets up with a dwarf and a prince with his bodyguard to find the legendary dragon treasure hoard. They are pursued by someone after Luvander deep underground where they discover the hoard isn't what they thought it was. 

This is a fun series and I like that there are three female lead characters who are all very different. I am hoping we get more backstory on the characters, especially Luvander, in future volumes.

Lilly is the only human on Satellite. She drives a cab for all the aliens, but her real job is as a bounty hunter. When she gets an assignment to infiltrate a crime ring, she gathers a group of like minded adventurers and takes off into space. Of course there is a twist when she finds out who the crime boss is. It seems the girlfriend she thought had died on Earth and whose death caused her to head to Satellite was not who she thought she was. 

Caroline Murphy lives on Water Island in the US Virgin Islands. She takes a speedboat to St. Thomas every day for school. Life is not all together pleasant for Caroline though. Her mother has left her and her father and her half-sister from her father's affair has moved nearby. Caroline is treated badly in school by her classmates and her teacher. She has no friends and believes no one loves her. Then she meets Kalinda Frances and falls in love. Even though love between two women is frowned upon in her country and by her religion, she still wants to explore her feelings for Kalinda.

Fumio Sasaki has moved from living a maximist lifestyle to a minimalist one. He has relieved himself of most of his possessions. In the process, he has found more time for himself, for other people, and for doing things he enjoys. He talks about how having so much stuff was a burden and how removing the stuff from his home and life released the burden and freed him. Sasaki is what I would call an extreme minimalist. He has very few possessions and that works for him. I want to be a minimalist, but I think I want to be a a bit less than Sasaki.

Ellie is dealing with a lot but doesn't let that get her down. She has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. Her dad left because he couldn't deal with her medical issues. Her grandpa has Alzheimer's Disease and has been getting progressively worse. So she and her mom have moved to Oklahoma to live with grandma and grandpa and help out. Not only is she the new kid, but she is the new kid in the wheelchair who lives in a trailer park. She bonds with two other trailer park kids and has great friends for the first time. 

Anthoni and her mother are spending the summer at The Showboat after skipping out on their landlord and unpaid rent. Mom has been doing great selling Beauty and the Bee cosmetics but seems to be in a real slump. Anthoni is determined to make a True Blue Friend and has set her sites on Maddy who she met years ago even though Maddy doesn't seem like she wants to be friends with Anthoni. Meanwhile Anthoni starts spending time with DJ and they discover all kinds of interesting things about the Showboat and its owner Charlotte Boulay.

This starts out with the story of King Midas and his wish to turn everything he touches to gold. Of course that wish goes sideways and he turns the entire earth and everything on it to gold. Fast forward hundreds of years into the future when the story and location of Earth have been erased from the records by the Federation. Three young rebels learn of its location and are determined to find the weapon they can use against the Federation. Of course the Federation is not going to let them get away with that. Everyone is very surprised to find the weapon is a man and not a machine.

Darius was named after Darius the Great but he doesn't feel great. He is bullied at school and medicated for depression. He feels less than his little sister because mom taught Lelah Farsi to communicate with their grandparents in Iran but he was never taught. He thinks he is a disappointment to his father because he is not sporty and is depressed even though his dad is also on depression medication. When they find out that grandpa is sick the family heads to Iran to visit him.

Southern California has run out of water; the taps have run dry and it is only a matter of time before chaos consumes the entire region. Alyssa and her family are your normal suburban, middle class family who are as surprised by the Tap Out as everyone. Luckily, they do live next door to Kelvin and his prepper family who are actually prepared for this eventuality. Alyssa and her brother Garret are struck by one tragedy after another as bad decisions and chaotic times work against them. They team up with Kelvin and Jackie to try and find water and survive the Tap Out. 

Our intrepid heroine chef Peony has been selected from Earth to compete in Space Battle Lunchtime, an intergalactic cooking competition. She is up against some of the best chefs in the galaxy and must find her way among alien ingredients and unfamiliar equipment. She makes it through the first couple of rounds, but will she make it to the finale?

Wax drops the sickest beats in Brooklyn but can't get the attention of the girl he likes, Pirate Patty. Then one day while he is djing, his entire block is sucked through a portal to Discopia. There he battles the King and sets off a series of encounters with Prince Choo Choo. This is a combination of rap, science fiction and kung fu as Wax becomes a SciFu master. It wasn't really my favorite. It was too long and a bit convoluted. But then I am probably not the right demographic for this either.

Every year Pipi McGee starts school thinking it is going to be a great year and every year some great humiliation happens. Well 8th grade is going to be the year she resolves all those past humiliations. She creates of list of each year's tragedy and starts working through them. There is of course the self portrait she drew in kindergarten that showed her future self as bacon...with boobs. There is the vomitathon, the pants peeing episode, the school picture with her finger up her nose, and so many more.