RI Mock Newbery 2013 - November Reads

(I will be adding to this post as I make it through the list ... favorites at the top)

 See You at Harry's by Jo Knowles
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Devastatingly heartbreaking. Fern's voice is authentic, the dialogue is believable, and the grief is crushing. I lost it at the answering machine.




One Year in Coal Harbor by Polly Horvath
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am always buying copies of "Everything on a Waffle" when I see it, and giving it to people, but I couldn't clearly remember why I loved it so much. Then I read the first page of "One Year in Coal Harbor" and it all came flooding back.

Delightful.

Loved it.

I read the entire thing in one sitting while waiting for my car to be fixed, and the dealership employees got to watch me laugh, grin, shake my head, and, finally, cry.

THIS is Polly Horvath! (I was so disappointed in the bunnies last year.) There are so so so so many quotable quotes.

12: "All your worry should be able to be traded in for a good result. i know that's superstitious but somehow I can't help thinking I can save the things I love with the force of my feelings."

33: "I liked everyone at that table and I couldn't believe how wrong they were all getting it. I felt I should hand out scripts."

72: "You know none of us can stay entertained with just our own life. We gotta be kept up to date with a bunch of different lives and what's happening in them. That's why TV's so popular, I guess."

75-6: "They didn't improve the ice cream but they didn't hurt it either and I thought that was what you could say about most things. Although I couldn't quite get to the kernel of that idea, the feeling of it made me happy because it meant in a way you didn't have to sweat and work so hard to improve things and you couldn't much ruin them either. You could change them but that was the most you could do. It kind of took the pressure off your time on earth. Mini marshmallow theory of life."

88: "This was to ward off any of the attempts they might make to throw us into burlap bags and drown us in the river. I knew this was probably just a flight of my imagination but I think it is better to be prepared in such instances than not. Then I wondered why burlap bags? ... was it because guys who looked like these were usually very environmentally conscious and wouldn't even think of using plastic?"

Vegetarian war orphans

167: Poem by Miss Lark:
Pussy pussy on the hill
Why so quiet, why so still?
Why no movement for so long?
Was it something I did wrong?
Are you just a peaceful cat?
Meditating this and that?
On your tranquil grassy bed.
Oh, my goodness, you are dead!


View all my reviews Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An engaging read, but at the end I felt let down. Other reviewers have stated that feeling manipulated fits in with the overall theme. And I guess I should have thought a little more about some of the things that made me say "What?" Anyways, good parts included smile therapy, big picture v. dots, and spelling reform via Bob Edwards Who Draws. And I always did find the taste bud map suspect.


What Came from the Stars by Gary D. Schmidt
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I am sad that I didn't really like this book. I saw Gary Schmidt speak at the Lincoln School Festival of Children's Authors and Illustrators, and he moved me to tears. I hadn't been able to find my copy of "The Wednesday Wars" to bring with me, so I bought this one for him to sign. Now I really wish I had found "The Wednesday Wars."

I was very confused by a lot of things. How did Tommy create an O'Mondim? How was Mr. PilgrimWay able to trick everyone? Etc. Etc. By the end, I was just glad it was over, and I couldn't even finish the Valorim history section.


View all my reviews The Boy on Cinnamon Street by Phoebe Stone
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Ugh. Terrible. Slow reveals were super annoying. THUMB's obliviousness got old quick. "Oh, why is he looking at me like that while I prance about in my dress?" Naive and traumatized does not have to equal cluelessly dumb.

And she decided on PAGE 151 that she is STARTING to crush Benny? Who even says "crush" like that? Who goes to writer's camp in the middle of spring semester? Who gets to randomly show up at a different school for lunch? Why didn't Reni know where she lived before if they were so close?

Also, the voice just didn't ring true. And enough Justin Bieber references.

I HATED THIS BOOK and I wish I hadn't bothered finishing.