River Readers

In the second book of the Court of Thorns and Roses series we find Feyre returned to the spring court after being brought back to life by the High Lords of all the Courts. She is now fae with a bit of each of the courts powers. She is alive, immortal but profoundly unhappy at the cost of her immortality. Set to marry her love, Tamlin, she is plagued by nightmares and the growing despair at having to give one week a month to the terrifying Rhysland, High Lord of the Night Court. As she is going down the aisle to wed Tamlin, Rhysland appears to take her to fulfill her obligation.

Michelle Obama's memoir is exactly what one would expect it to be. It is excellent, inspiring, poignant and full of her experiences. I loved the way it was organized and the main theme of becoming what she is today.

Mia, a young Chinese immigrant, ran the front desk of the hotel her parents managed. Having immigrated from China, Mia's family was having a hard time adjusting to life in America. They were struggling to survive and were easy prey for those who would take advantage of the desperation of the immigrants who came to America with little money or knowledge of how to avoid such predators.

Kya was all alone on the marsh. Abandoned at a age ten by everyone in her family, Kya learned to fend for herself by selling mussels and smoked fish to the only person to look after her, Jumpin, and his wife. They did not intrude on Kya's solitude but merely made sure she was ok, had some food and adequate clothing. Shunned and made fun of by the locals, Kya lived a solitary existence where the marsh was her only friend. She drew, collected and cataloged marsh life. Befriending the gulls, and other creatures who didn't judge her.

I really enjoyed parts of this book but I thought it was a little helter skelter and could have used more organization of topics. A few parts made me a little uncomfortable but I think that says more about me generationally than the book. And I am 100% sure that’s the point the author is trying to make.
 

Bestselling adult author of The Bear and the Nightingale makes her middle grade debut with a creepy, spellbinding ghost story destined to become a classic

Marjorie Glatt was just thirteen years old and trying to hold what was left of her family together. Since her mother's death, her father was just barely hanging on and it was left to Marjorie to run their family business, a laundry service.

Wendell was a little ghost who was looking for a friend. He left his ghost town and found himself at the laundry run by Marjorie. This is a cute story about friends, love and loss.

2019 Pura Belpré Honor Book
2019 Walter Honor Book for Outstanding Children's Literature
ALSC Notable Children's Book, 2019
A School Library Journal Best Book of 2018, Middle Grade
Shelf Awareness 2018 Best Children's & Teen Books of the Year
NCTE 2019 Notable Verse Novels

Twelve-year-old Güero is Mexican American, at home with Spanish or English and on both sides of the river. He’s starting 7th grade with a woke English teacher who knows how to make poetry cool.

Leigh Chen Sander's mother committed suicide. Leigh is certain her mother has become a beautiful red bird and is trying to give her a message. Her mother had always been allusive about her childhood, her family and her life in Taiwan. Her father, so devastated by her mother's death is unwilling or unable to tell Leigh much about her mother's past. Certain that the key to the message her mother was trying to get her to uncover was somehow tied to her family in Taiwan, Leigh and her father travel there.

Merci Suarez attends Seaward Pines Academy on scholarship. She may not have the fancy houses, cars or go on exotic vacations like the other students at her school but she has her family. Merci, her parents and brother live in one of three houses in a row. The others are occupied by her aunt and twin cousins and her grandparents. They all pitch in and help one another and have each other's backs. When Lolo, Merci's grandfather, starts acting strange and having a lot of mishaps, the family tries to avoid facing the truth.

Nan Sparrow was a "climber" for a heinous chimney sweep named Wilkie Crudd. She had no choice since her mentor and protector "The Sweep" had mysteriously disappeared. All he left her was a chunk of char she kept with her always. When Nan got stuck in a chimney the truth about what the Sweep left her became known.

Candice was spending a few months in her grandmother's home town of Lambert, South Carolina. She was going there with her mom while their house in Atlanta was being renovated for sale. A lot had been going on in Candice's life. Her parents were divorcing and she had lost her grandmother to a heart attack. Candice did not want to go to Lambert and be uprooted from her friends and father. Yet, there was an even bigger reason. Her grandmother had been fired from her job as city administrator for digging up the tennis courts for no apparent reason and then left town in shame.

This book is set in India just prior to the exit of British rule in 1947. Nisha is a twelve year old who's deceased mother was Muslim and her father is Hindu. With the exit of the British, the religious factions are quarreling over representation and who will settle well. It is decided that they will partition India with the Muslims in part and the Hindu's in the other part. Thus is born India and Pakistan. Nisha's family, who practice Hinduism, will need to leave and travel to the "new India" in order to be safe.

I was excited to read this memoir of Sally Field as I was/am a HUGE fan. I always thought of her as a bubbly, easy-going person but this memoir tells a different story. I did think, however, that it could have done with a bit more editing as I didn't feel it was the best written thing I'd ever read. It did read completely as her voice, though, so maybe that was intentional. It is a great example as to how we, as a society, think we "know" someone who is a celebrity when in reality we have no idea who they are and what they have gone through.
 

The imaginative tale is told from two perspectives. Livy is a girl who is visiting her Gran in Australia for the first time in 5 years. Bob is the creature who has lived in the closet for the same five years, awaiting Livy's return.
Livy doesn't remember much about her last visit since she was only five and she certainly doesn't remember Bob. However, as the two of them start trying to piece together where Bob came from and how to get him back, the bits and pieces of Livy's past creep slowly back.
This book was a delightful tale full of family, friendship and love.