River Readers

Leni's dad was a violent man. Broken after serving in the Viet Nam War, Ernt Allbright was unsettled and constantly looking to find the ideal life for he and his family. When the opportunity came to move his family to the Alaskan frontier, Ernt leapt at the chance. unprepared and broke, the family left all they knew in the lower 48 and moved the wilderness of Alaska.

Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be. -- Goodreads

This is the third installment of Jason Reynold's Track series. This edition follows Sunny who is the team's distance runner. When Sunny decides he hates running but loves feeling a part of the team, he has some things to figure out. He needs to confess to his dad that he is only running because of his mother and he needs to find his own place in his life and do his own thing, whatever that may be.

Thyme wasn't happy about moving to New York from San Diego but whatever it took to help her brother, Val, was what needed to be done. Val was suffering from a type of cancer and needed to enter a special medical trial to try to keep the cancer at bay.

This is a wonderful coming-of-age book about a sibling dealing with a sick brother and how the illness can affect the whole family. It explored the conflicting emotions of guilt and anger at the situation which sometimes manifests toward her parents and little brother.

When Thomas Birdsey cuts his own hand off in a library to protest the Iraqi War, his twin brother, Dominick is at a loss as to what to do. Thomas's mental illness has gotten progressively worse, making it difficult to care for him but institutionalization is not what Dominick wants for his brother.

This book traces the history of these brothers and their family to attempt unravel the mysteries in their lives, including who their father is.

This book is a step by step introduction to learning the mandolin. I had planned to teach myself by YouTube videos but when they moved too fast this book was the perfect remedy.

The children being cared for at Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children, the children have traveled to different worlds and for some reason or other had to return. They spend their days trying to find their doors to their worlds again or trying to move on and exist in the "real" world. When the students start dying, it is up to the new girl, Nancy, and her new found friends to try to find out what is happening and why.

Twelve-year-old Amal lived a rather ordinary life in her small Pakistani village with her mother, father and sisters. She dreamed of continuing her education and becoming a teacher. As the oldest, it often fell to Amal to help out with her sisters during her mother’s most recent pregnancy. When her mother gave birth to yet another girl, she fell into a deep depression forcing Amal to delay her education and care for her family. The world as she knew came crashing down one fatal afternoon when she disrespected a member of her village’s ruling family.

Celestial and Roy seemed to be on their way to their dream lives. Then Roy was wrongfully accused of a crime that sent him to prison. This is the story of what can happen to love and life in an instant.

Another Phoebe and Marigold adventure! This one was perhaps my least favorite but I still loved it!
This volume is back to being in comic strip form with the subject jumping around but it is still easy to follow. Perhaps one of the biggest disappointments in this volume was there was no educational excerpt at the back. This has been one of my favorite features of the series. The glossary is there (because of Phoebe's exceptional vocabulary, of course).

I am anxiously awaiting Volume 5 to become available at my library because it is another graphic novel.
 

Another Phoebe and Her Unicorn Adventure down and I think it was my favorite yet! The other volumes have been compilations of comic strips which sometimes jump from subject to subject. This one was an actual graphic novel!
I enjoyed following an entire story with Phoebe, Marigold, Dakota and Max trying to discover the cause of a power outage.

When Feyre mistakenly kills a fae disguised as a wolf in her forest, she must pay the price laid out in the treaty. Spend her eternity in the realm of the fairies across the wall that was erected during a war between the fairies and humans years ago. She lives in dread as to what she will find there and wonders whether she will survive. Under the watch of the High Lord of the Spring Court, Tamlin, she finds life is not at all what she expected. Something ominous is happening in the Court Of Spring and Feyre must find out what it is and if it will affect the human family she left behind.

Razzle, Dazzle Unicorn is the fourth in the Phoebe and Her Unicorn Adventures and it was just as good as the first three! Phoebe and her imaginary unicorn friend, Marigold Heavenly Nostrils get into all kinds of mischief. It is the perfect mix of adult and kid humor which makes it a wonderful choice for a parent and child to read together.

Lou was unhappy in her life. She feels responsible for the death of her mother and her brothers blame her. When she goes to the abandoned old mansion on the hill she slips through a time warp and ends up in 1913 at the pinnacle of the house's existence. Welcomed heartily by the family of the manor, the Mandeville's, she was expected by them.
Lou soon finds that her mission is to help the Mandeville's and to try to prevent the family tragedies that unfold in the future.

Bernadette is an eccentric woman with many hidden secrets. A genius, a bother, a wife and mother all describe her to a tea. When her daughter gets straight A’s at school and has been promised a reward trip to Antarctica things begin to unravel.