I think I would be more likely to feel like April is gone if the weather would remind me that it’s spring. *sigh* Even so, I’m finding I’m reading more now that I’ve come out of my winter blahs. Except, now I want to be outside digging in the garden. Choices choices.

Violet in Bloom (Amulet Books): “Katie-Rose, Violet, Milla, and Yasaman—four girls with seemingly little in common but their flower names—are nurturing their new friendship and are busy building luvyabunches.com, their very own social-networking site. Their first flower-power task? A doomed campaign to get their school to serve healthier snacks. The Jelly-Yums they champion—soon dubbed “beans of grossness”—taste like candied beets. And that’s just the start of their troubles. A scheming classmate tries to drive a wedge between Katie-Rose and Yasaman, Violet may have been slammed in a secret journal, and poor Milla unintentionally commits hamstercide. It will take all the strength and genuine affection of these pals to weather a particularly stormy week of fifth grade. Bestselling author Lauren Myracle brings her understanding of the weight of fifth-grade dramas to another hilarious and memorable book that preteens will love!”
Everything a jacket flap should be: interesting, giving out plot points without giving away anything, and fun.

Their Eyes Were Watching God (Harper Perennial Modern Classics): “One of the most important works of twentieth-century American literature, Zora Neale Hurston’s beloved 1937 classic, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is an enduring Southern love story sparkling with wit, beauty, and heartfelt wisdom. Told in the captivating voice of a woman who refuses to live in sorrow, bitterness, fear, or foolish romantic dreams, it is the story of fair-skinned, fiercely independent Janie Crawford, and her evolving selfhood through three marriages and a life marked by poverty, trials, and purpose. A true literary wonder, Hurston’s masterwork remains as relevant and affecting today as when it was first published — perhaps the most widely read and highly regarded novel in the entire canon of African American literature.”

Classics are so hard to write a jacket flap for, but I think this one succeeds quite admirably.

Zita the Spacegirl (First Second): “Zita’s life took a cosmic left turn in the blink of an eye. When her best friend is abducted by an alien doomsday cult, Zita leaps to the rescue and finds herself a stranger on a strange planet. Humanoid chickens and neurotic robots are shocking enough as new experiences go, but Zita is even more surprised to find herself taking on the role of intergalactic hero. Before long, aliens in all shapes and sizes don’t even phase her. Neither do ancient prophecies, doomed planets, or even a friendly con man who takes a mysterious interest in Zita’s quest. Zita the Spacegirl is a fun, captivating tale of friendship and redemption from Flight veteran Ben Hatke. It also has more whimsical, eye-catching, Miyazaki-esque monsters than you can shake a stick at.”

I think every jacket flap needs to have the words “shake a stick at” in it. End of statement.

Other Books Read This Month
Falling In (audiobook)
Sweet 15
Exile
Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie
Olympians, the Graphic Novels
The Natural History of the Senses
The Last King of Texas
One Hundred Years of Solitude (DNF)
My Unfair Godmother