Read This!: THE READER by Traci Chee

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The Reader (Sea of Ink and Gold, #1)The Reader by Traci Chee

Summary: Sefia knows what it means to survive. After her father is brutally murdered, she flees into the wilderness with her aunt Nin, who teaches her to hunt, track, and steal. But when Nin is kidnapped, leaving Sefia completely alone, none of her survival skills can help her discover where Nin’s been taken, or if she’s even alive. The only clue to both her aunt’s disappearance and her father’s murder is the odd rectangular object her father left behind, an object she comes to realize is a book—a marvelous item unheard of in her otherwise illiterate society. With the help of this book, and the aid of a mysterious stranger with dark secrets of his own, Sefia sets out to rescue her aunt and find out what really happened the day her father was killed—and punish the people responsible.

We all know that books are magic, but in Sefia’s world, it’s literally so. No wonder literacy is such a forbidden commodity, so coveted that there are those who would die – or kill – for the words on the page. With its twisty narrative and surprising turns, THE READER will keep readers turning the pages till the end, and turning over the big ideas presented long after the story is over.

THE READER is out now.

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Read This!: INTO WHITE by Randi Pink

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Into WhiteInto White by Randi Pink

Summary:  LaToya Williams lives in Montgomery, Alabama, and attends a mostly white high school. It seems as if her only friend is her older brother, Alex. Toya doesn’t know where she fits in, but after a run-in with another student, she wonders if life would be different if she were . . . different. And then a higher power answers her prayer: to be “anything but black.”

Toya is suddenly white, blond, and popular. Now what?

Randi Pink’s debut is heartfelt, honest, and sure to be controversial. The characters ring painfully true, from Toya, who must choose whose reality she will honor, to her sweet, smart brother Alex, who tries to dull his own genius to avoid standing out, to the clueless , racial-slur-spewing twins Amera and Amelia, who turn out to be powerless once called on their nonsense. Compelling and compulsively readable, this book is also a brutal, incisive commentary on the role of the media in denigrating black bodies and the mental and emotional damage that systemic racism does to the individual.

INTO WHITE is out now.

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Read This!: FRANNIE AND TRU by Karen Hattrup

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Frannie and TruFrannie and Tru by Karen Hattrup

Summary: When Frannie Little eavesdrops on her parents fighting she discovers that her cousin Truman is gay, and his parents are so upset they are sending him to live with her family for the summer. At least, that’s what she thinks the story is. . . When he arrives, shy Frannie befriends this older boy, who is everything that she’s not–rich, confident, cynical, sophisticated. Together, they embark on a magical summer marked by slowly unraveling secrets

A beautiful, literary coming-of-age story about a young girl opening her eyes to the wider world around her. Fifteen-year-old Frannie Little is prepared for the summer after her freshman year of high school to be a total disaster – she’s going to a new school in the fall, drifting away from her old friends, and her father’s work situation means her family is running out of money. But then her troubled, charming, two-years-older cousin Truman comes to stay for the summer, a refugee from his Connecticut prep school life. Frannie connects with Tru more than she has ever connected her own older brothers, and tagging along with him becomes a lesson in opening up to new experiences. The story is steeped in its Baltimore City setting, and Hattrup uses city landmarks to play against the themes of the story. Questions of race and class bubble up throughout, seen through the lens of Frannie awakening to the realities of how her experiences differ from those of her African American friends. Frannie is a quiet, thoughtful protagonist, blossoming slowly into a confident, self-aware young woman. More than anything, the push and pull of Frannie and Tru’s relationship – troubled and close and caring and contentious all at once – is a pitch-perfect portrayal of those seminal friendships that only seem possible in the throes of adolescence.

FRANNIE AND TRU is out now.
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Read This!: HOWARD WALLACE, P.I. by Casey Lyall

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Howard Wallace, P.I.Howard Wallace, P.I. by Casey Lyall

Summary: Twelve-year-old Howard Wallace lives by his list of rules of private investigation. He knows more than anyone how to work with what he’s got: a bathrobe for a trench coat, a makeshift office behind the school equipment shed, and not much else—least of all, friends. So when a hot case of blackmail lands on his desk, he’s ready to take it on himself . . . until the new kid, Ivy Mason, convinces him to take her on as a junior partner. As they banter through stakeouts and narrow down their list of suspects, Howard starts to wonder if having Ivy as a sidekick—and a friend—is such a bad thing after all.

This book was delight from start to finish! Lyall perfectly balances a compelling mystery, fantastic characters, and a spot-on narrative voice in the form of Howard’s hard-boiled twelve-year-old detective. I knew from the reviews that this book would be funny and that I would fall in love with the characters; what I didn’t expect was how heartfelt it would also be, as it confronts head-on the issue of friendships changing – sometimes painfully – in middle school, and the drastic measures some people will take to hold on to the past. I can’t wait to start putting this book into the hands of every kid I meet!

HOWARD WALLACE, P.I. is out now.

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Scenes From a Vacation

On Life

My son and I just got back from an epic 2-week camping trip to Tennessee and Arkansas.  For 2 glorious weeks, I did not work on anything and did not check even one email.  Here are some pictures from the fun:

View from our campsite in Knoxville:

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Fun in the fountain at World’s Fair Park in Knoxville:

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The alligator farm in Hot Springs (aka the content of my nightmares):

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The only picture I got from the absolutely gorgeous Garvan Gardens before my phone died:

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And my son’s favorite part of the trip: the ducks at our campsite in Hot Springs.  They followed us around and wagged their tails. So of course he named them.  (From left to right: Jerry, Tina, Mr. Grumpy Gills, Bob)

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