Here it is folks...the weekly update of what books are stopping for a visit in the Millis household.
RAE...the 11 year old
In our current read together, my daughter and I are spending time stuck in a Washington DC airport while a blizzard brews outside. A group of 7th graders are searching for the stolen Stars and Stripes and diving into serious topics such as a parent's death and the other parent's remarriage, moving to a new city and school and a parent's incarceration.
Goodreads Summary:
Three kids get caught up in an adventure of historic proportions!
Anna, José, and Henry are complete strangers with more in common than they realize. Snowed in together at a chaotic Washington D.C. airport, they encounter a mysterious tattooed man, a flamboyant politician, and a rambunctious poodle named for an ancient king. Even stranger, news stations everywhere have announced that the famous flag that inspired "The Star-Spangled Banner" has been stolen! Anna, certain that the culprits must be snowed in too, recruits Henry and José to help catch the thieves and bring them to justice.
But when accusations start flying, they soon realize there's more than justice at stake. As the snow starts clearing, Anna, José, and Henry find themselves in a race against time (and the weather!) to prevent the loss of an American treasure.
Rae, our lover of graphic novels, is enjoying the two books in this series featuring a female heroine, Mirka. Mirka, like Rae, loves swords, getting dirty and stepping outside of her comfort zone.
Goodreads Summary:
Spunky, strong-willed eleven-year-old Mirka Herschberg isn’t interested in knitting lessons from her stepmother, or how-to-find-a-husband advice from her sister, or you-better-not warnings from her brother. There’s only one thing she
does want: to fight dragons!
Granted, no dragons have been breathing fire around Hereville, the Orthodox Jewish community where Mirka lives, but that doesn’t stop the plucky girl from honing her skills. She fearlessly stands up to local bullies. She battles a very large, very menacing pig. And she boldly accepts a challenge from a mysterious witch, a challenge that could bring Mirka her heart’s desire: a dragon-slaying sword! All she has to do is find—and outwit—the giant troll who’s got it!
Author and illustrator, Barry Deutsch draws the main character,Mirka, at 20x speed...fascinating.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB-Cg0TH0bA
REID...the 13 year old
This HOT teen read with zombies, an Apocolypse and demons is very popular. Recently, my book lovin son has stated he is too busy to read. It makes a mother librarian smile to see him stuck in a book.
Goodreads Summary:
The Apocalypse does not end. The Changed will grow in numbers. The Spared may not survive.
Even before the EMPs brought down the world, Alex was on the run from the demons of her past and the monster living in her head. After the world was gone, she believed Rule could be a sanctuary for her and those she’d come to love.
But she was wrong.
Now Alex is in the fight of her life against the adults, who would use her, the survivors, who don’t trust her, and the Changed, who would eat her alive.
JEN
Recently I have read
Fault in Our Stars and
See you at Harry's which both feature death. Both are brilliant and life changin good, but very deep and heavy in emotion. So, I tread carefully when opening
Me, Earl and the Dying Girl. It was...UNIQUE with some humor and awkwardness expressed from the narrator, a high school student with only one friend, Earl. To be honest, you'd have to read this one to truly understand and appreciate it.
Goodreads Summary:
Greg Gaines is the last master of high school espionage, able to disappear at will into any social environment. He has only one friend, Earl, and together they spend their time making movies, their own incomprehensible versions of Coppola and Herzog cult classics.
Until Greg’s mother forces him to rekindle his childhood friendship with Rachel.
Rachel has been diagnosed with leukemia—-cue extreme adolescent awkwardness—-but a parental mandate has been issued and must be obeyed. When Rachel stops treatment, Greg and Earl decide the thing to do is to make a film for her, which turns into the Worst Film Ever Made and becomes a turning point in each of their lives.
And all at once Greg must abandon invisibility and stand in the spotlight.
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I just started this book last night and am already mesmerized by this dark time in history. After seeing this book many times and reading gazillions of excellent reviews, I'm psyched to be turning the pages and finding out firsthand the depths of this story.
Goodreads Summary:
Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they've known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin's orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruelest of conditions.
Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously--and at great risk--documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive.
The author, Ruta Sepetys, shares the true history behind
Between Shades of Grayhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPiQ_LuKtDE
May you find time to enjoy a good read,
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