Looking Forward ~ Looking Back This Week In Books

Sunday Salon

March is birthday month at our home! Both our lovely girl and sweet boy were born in this wonderful border month that stands on the edge of Winter and Spring.

Our Dave is already 8 years, and La-La will soon be in the 'double digits' for the first time later in the month. This means, of course, that they are reading books on their own. It also means that they bring home book-ideas for me! If it wasn't for La, I would have never discovered Gary Paulsen, or the BFG (Big Friendly Giant), or Louis Suchar or....


And just so you know, we still read together. And I hope that never changes.

Finished:

	Gary Paulsen has been my 'focus' author for 2010. So far I've read about 16 of his books and I have to say that The Haymeadow is now one of my favorites. There are the familiar Paulsen elements in this book -- a boy coming into his own/finding himself-- but The Haymeadow is a little different in that there is an underlying focus on the boy's family and family history. The setting is Montana. The boy, John, is called upon to take care of thousands of sheep up in a high grassy valley with only 2 horses and the working dogs. And what I love about this The Haymeadow is that at the end the quiet, self-sustaining men break down, open their hearts, and start to finally talk.
	Wow! That's what I heard coming from the backseat of the car -- where I frequently leave books to be 'discovered' by the children. They loved the accurately sized illustrations. See review here.
	Lady Knight is the last book in the Protector of the Small series. This book didn't have a super dramatic ending (i.e. I wasn't sitting on the edge of my seat), but it was very solid and logical and satisfying. Just an excellent quartet. I highly recommend this it.
	I'll have a review of this one up next week. (I'll place a link here when the post goes up.) It would make a good gift for horse loving kids. Very graphic. It lightly touches upon a variety of topics from grooming to showing.

Currently Reading:

	Birthmarked is a dystopian YA novel and so far I love it. The author gives little away and has kept me on my toes by never taking the story where I thought it would go. If you liked Maze Runner and even Hunger Games put this one on pre-order. On a light-medium-heavy scale, it's a lighter sort of read.
	Enjoying this Gary Paulsen too. It's downright poetic in places, and absolutely funny in others. I've woken up my husband twice with my laughing at night. It's a story about moving to a new locale and being uneasy around some girls -- and an island, of course. I'm curious to see what happens with the girl who actually has a voice in this book.
	Aggh. Been waiting to get back to this one. I'm sure younger readers would like it, especially boys, but in my opinion it should have been a longer book. Concepts don't have time to develop. I blame the publishers.

Incoming:

Truancy is a YA dystopian novel and so far I'm enjoying it. It's interesting on a number of levels. For one thing it was written by a fifteen year-old. For another it's a genre bending book takes a rather mature, if satyrical, look at education and society. So far, so good with this one. It's made me think; made me recollect my own early school years; and made me laugh.

Incoming and Outgoing... didn't snag me:

Cynthia Kadohata has received a lot of good press for her writing, so when A Million Shades of Gray showed up on the Amazon Vine, I was moved to check it out at the library. Unfortunately the book didn't grab me. The view of the rural life of southeast asia, circa late 1960's, was interesting enough, but I found the POV too shallow and hurried -- even for a kid's book. For example, when out on a mission with American troops, violence breaks out, men (including a friend) are shot, and it's all over with in a few paragraphs. Leaving this one for another try later.

Pam
Somewhere in the X-burbs