River Readers

This is a great graphic about a middle grade girl, Vera, who deeply desires to fit in at school or anywhere, really. She finds out about a camp for kids with Russian heritage and begs her mom to let her go. She believes that once there she will FINALLY fit in somewhere. Alas, all is not as it seems and Vera finds she must navigate the waters to becoming her own person herself.

This was a delightful book for middle grade students and has many good lessons to be learned.
 

Penelope (Peppi for short) was the new kid at school. Imagine her embarrassment when right off the bat she trips and splays out in front of everyone. They all laughed and no one helped her, except one boy. The other kids immediately started teasing and poking them both and it was obvious that the boy who helped was the target of the mean kids in the school. So what did Peppi do? She shoved him away and screamed "Leave me alone!" She immediately felt bad and wanted to apologize but couldn't work up the nerve.

This book is a compilation of interviews and stories of people affected by the Vietnam war. Included are the stories of a medic, an army nurse, a refugee, a protest singer and many others. It gives a personal take to horrors of the war and how it affected the lives of many.

Gen, short for Euginedes, touts himself as the greatest thief in the land. When he gets caught the king's magus offers him a deal he can't refuse. The magus knows the location of a magic stone and whoever possesses the stone will be the king. The magus wants the stone for his king. Gen agrees.
This book is full of adventure with twists and turns everywhere. I am re-reading it after having read it many years ago and loved it just as much as the first time. I can't wait to dig into the second book of this series.

Kivrin was getting ready to be transported back to the 1300's. The restrictions for time travel for that time period had been relaxed and she was as prepared as she could be. Her mentor, Dunsworthy, was opposed to the trip because he didn't feel it had been vetted enough and was being rushed. So many things could go wrong, but his hands were tied as it was not his drop. Immediately, things went wrong. All the precautions taken mattered not as circumstance after circumstance both in 2054 and in the 1300's. Would they ever get Kivrin back?

Tara Westover was raised by survivalist parents in the wilds of Idaho. They were isolated by choice from society and Tara's father was suspicious of anything to do with the government, including school. Tara and her five brothers worked mostly in their father's salvage yard and while they said they were home schooled there was no real education involved. As Tara grew older, her dad's fanaticism grew. Her father and one of her brothers was often violent and abusive and she longed to escape.

Brangwain Spurge is an elf who has been nominated to take a rare relic to the goblin world as a gift of "peace" to the goblin ruler. Werfel is a historian in the goblin world and he has been selected to be host to Brangwain during his stay. However, all is not as it seems with this excursion.

This second book in the Montague Siblings duo is center on Felicity Montague. Felicity wants to become a doctor but in the 1700's it is almost unheard of for a woman to enter that field. Her desire to practice medicine overrides her common sense and she embarks on a journey filled with adventure, danger and even pirates.

This book is just as delightful as the first book, A Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue. I highly recommend them both.

Long-listed for the YA National Book Award this book takes place in 2002, just after 9/11 and it chronicles the path of a young Muslim girl named Shirin. Shirin and her family have just moved, again, and once again she must endure the awkward stares, rude and racist comments and even some physical abuse because of the hajib she chooses to wear. Keeping her battle armor up and her head down is the only way Shirin knows how to maneuver through her day. That works for her until she meets Ocean. Ocean works to get Shirin to let him in even though she knows it will end in disaster.

Arthur is spending the summer in NYC while his mom is working there. So far his summer has been uneventful. He misses his friends from Georgia and can't seem to break through to make any new friends. Then he unexpectedly meets Ben at the post office. Ben is mailing a box of items to his ex-boyfriend and is caught up in the drama of it. Consequently, they leave without exchanging numbers. Will they meet again? Will the universe draw them together?

The Dunbar brothers were a force of nature. They lived alone with a menagerie of animals, their mother dead, their father AWOL. They fought to survive, they fought each other and they fought their memories. Clay was different somehow. He was just as tough on the outside but had a softer inside, he felt everyone's pain. This book is about Clay's story but is told by the oldest brother Matthew, and it begins with the return of their father after many years of leaving the boys to fend for themselves.

Hey, Kiddo is a graphic memoir from Jarett Krosoczka that tells the tale of his childhood. He was raised by his loud, boisterous grandparents who had a love for stiff drinks, his mother was a heroin addict who was in and out of his life and growing up he never knew who his father was. He states in the book, "When I was a kid, I'd draw to get attention from my family. In junior high, I drew to impress my friends. But now that I am in my teens, I fill sketchbooks just to deal with life. To survive." However, this book is about much more than survival.

Louisiana's grandmother woke her out of the blue and said, "The day of reckoning is coming, we must go" and off they went. Leaving Florida and everything Louisiana knew and loved behind. Granny was vague about their plans but whatever plans she had derailed when she became ill and lands them in Richford, Georgia. It is in Georgia Louisiana begins to unravel the mysteries of her.

When Stevie Bell gets into the exclusive Ellingham Academy she knows her life will never be the same. Established by the millionaire Albert Ellingham in the 1930's, the Academy was supposed to be a haven for gifted or out of the ordinary students. There is mystery and tragedy surrounding the Academy however, because in 1936, Ellingham's wife and daughter were kidnapped and a student murdered. The crimes were never solved. Stevie's passion is true crime and detective work so she is determined to solve the decades old mysteries surrounding the Ellingham's.

This is graphic novel adaption of the 2001 novel of the same name. The story is of a girl who endures a traumatic event and the more or less stops speaking. This is a novel of her finding her voice. It is well adapted to the graphic format and the superb artwork by Emily Carroll only adds depth to the story. I read the original novel when it came out in 2001 and I don't remember liking it that well. But the graphic novel was so good, I think I need to revisit the novel.