And another month has come to a close. My summer’s quickly fading; the girls will be back in school soon, and I’ll be back to having a more organized day. I’m not sure if that means more or less reading time, though….

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (Doubleday): “The wondrous Aimee Bender conjures the lush and moving story of a girl whose magical gift is really a devastating curse. On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein, a girl at the periphery of schoolyard games and her distracted parents’ attention, bites into her mother’s homemade lemon-chocolate cake and discovers she has a magical gift: she can taste her mother’s emotions in the cake. She discovers this gift to her horror, for her mother—her cheerful, good-with-crafts, can-do mother—tastes of despair and desperation. Suddenly, and for the rest of her life, food becomes a peril and a threat to Rose. The curse her gift has bestowed is the secret knowledge all families keep hidden—her mother’s life outside the home, her father’s detachment, her brother’s clash with the world. Yet as Rose grows up she learns to harness her gift and becomes aware that there are secrets even her taste buds cannot discern. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake is a luminous tale about the enormous difficulty of loving someone fully when you know too much about them. It is heartbreaking and funny, wise and sad, and confirms Aimee Bender’s place as “a writer who makes you grateful for the very existence of language” (San Francisco Chronicle).”
This is actually what made me want to read the book. It’s good copy: intriguing, inviting, and made me curious. Too bad the book didn’t live up to the copy.

The Demon’s Lexicon (Margaret K. McElderry Books): “Nick and his brother, Alan, have spent their lives on the run from magic. Their father was murdered, and their mother was driven mad by magicians and the demons who give them power. The magicians are hunting the Ryves family for a charm that Nick’s mother stole — a charm that keeps her alive — and they want it badly enough to kill again. Danger draws even closer when a brother and sister come to the Ryves family for help. The boy wears a demon’s mark, a sign of death that almost nothing can erase…and when Alan also gets marked by a demon, Nick is desperate to save him. The only way to do that is to kill one of the magicians they have been hiding from for so long. Ensnared in a deadly game of cat and mouse, Nick starts to suspect that his brother is telling him lie after lie about their past. As the magicians’ Circle closes in on their family, Nick uncovers the secret that could destroy them all.This is the Demon’s Lexicon. Turn the page.”
Reading flap copy as long as I have — trying to figure out the ins and outs of good copy — I start noticing that some publishers really get it right. Margaret McElderry is one of those publishers. And this is some good copy.

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda (Amulet Books): “Meet Dwight, a sixth-grade oddball. Dwight does a lot of weird things, like wearing the same T-shirt for a month or telling people to call him “Captain Dwight.” This is embarrassing, particularly for Tommy, who sits with him at lunch every day. But Dwight does one cool thing. He makes origami. One day he makes an origami finger puppet of Yoda. And that’s when things get mysterious. Origami Yoda can predict the future and suggest the best way to deal with a tricky situation. His advice actually works, and soon most of the sixth grade is lining up with questions. Tommy wants to know how Origami Yoda can be so smart when Dwight himself is so clueless. Is Yoda tapping into the Force? It’s crucial taht Tommy figure out the mystery before he takes Yoda’s advice about something VERY IMPORTANT that has to do with a girl. This is Tommy’s case file of his investigation into ‘The Strange Case of Origami Yoda.'”
I just loved everything about the design of this book, and that includes the clever back copy. Too much fun.

Other Books Read This Month:
In Mike We Trust
Donut Days
The Prince of Fenway Park
Jane Eyre, the Graphic Novel
Wishing for Tomorrow
The Night Fairy
Turtle in Paradise
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
A Step from Heaven
Incarceron
The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling
Carter’s Big Break
North of Beautiful

Running Total: 110 books
Adult fiction: 23
YA: 39
MG: 29
Non-fiction: 9
Graphic Novel: 11
Didn’t Finish: 6

Ah, June. When my reading totals start going up. When the fluff comes out. And, I’m cheating a little, and choosing four. It was a difficult month to get down to even these four, too. Either I’m getting less picky, or the copy is getting better…. Oh, and I mostly read middle grade books this month, and most of the copy choices are YA books. Interesting.

Enchanted Glass (Greenwillow Books): “Aidan Cain has had the worst week of his life. His gran died, he was sent to a foster home, and now malicious beings are stalking him. There is one person Gran told Aidan to go to if he ever got into trouble—a powerful sorcerer who lives at Melstone House. But when Aidan arrives on the doorstep, he finds that the sorcerer’s grandson, Andrew, has inherited the house. The good news is that Aidan can tell immediately that Andrew’s brimming with magic, too—and so is everyone else at Melstone. The bad news is that Andrew doesn’t remember anything his grandfather taught him. Chaos is swiftly rising, and he has no idea how to control it. A sinister neighbor is stealing power from the land, magic is leaking between realms . . . and it’s only a matter of time before the Stalkers find Aidan. If Aidan and Andrew can harness their own magics, they may be able to help each other. But can they do it before the entire countryside comes apart at the seams?”
Fun, clever, doesn’t give hardly anything away, and yet it makes you want to know: can they harness the magic?

Ash (Little, Brown): “In the wake of her father’s death, Ash is left at the mercy of her cruel stepmother. Consumed with grief, her only joy comes by the light of the dying hearth fire, rereading the fairy tales her mother once told her. In her dreams, someday the fairies will steal her away, as they are said to do. When she meets the dark and dangerous fairy Sidhean, she believes that her wish may be granted. The day that Ash meets Kaisa, the King’s Huntress, her heart begins to change. Instead of chasing fairies, Ash learns to hunt with Kaisa. Though their friendship is as delicate as a new bloom, it reawakens Ash’s capacity for love-and her desire to live. But Sidhean has already claimed Ash for his own, and she must make a choice between fairy tale dreams and true love. Entrancing, empowering, and romantic, Ash is about the connection between life and love, and solitude and death, where transformation can come from even the deepest grief.”
I liked this one solely because it avoided mentioning the Cinderella story at all. It would have been SO easy for the copywriter to throw in a line about a “retelling of Cinderella with a twist” and they didn’t. Kudos to them.

The Beekeeper’s Apprentice (Bantam Books): “In 1915, long since retired from his observations of criminal humanity, Sherlock Holmes is engaged in a reclusive study of honeybee behavior on the Sussex Downs. Never did he think to meet an intellect to match his own- until his acquaintance with Miss Mary Russell, a very modern fifteen-year-old whose mental acuity is equaled only by her audacity, tenacity, and penchant for trousers and cloth caps. Under Holmes’ s tutelage, Russell hones her talent for deduction, disguises, and danger: in the chilling case of a landowner’ s mysterious fever and in a kidnapping in the wilds of Wales. But her ultimate challenge is yet to come. Soon the two sleuths are on the trail of a murderer whose machinations scatter meaningless clues… but whose objective is quite unequivocal: to end Russell and Holmes’ s partnership- and their lives. “

It’s very rare that I like the copy of an adult book. But this one is intriguing, capturing the essence of the book, without giving away too much. It also name-drops and yet doesn’t play up either: it’s Sherlock Holmes, that’s a fact, get over it. Quite good.
Skunk Girl (Farrar, Straus and Giroux): “If Nina Khan were to rate herself on the unofficial Pakistani prestige point system – the one she’s sure all the aunties and uncles use to determine the most attractive marriage prospects for their children – her scoring might go something like this:

+2 points for getting excellent grades
–3 points for failing to live up to expectations set by genius older sister
+4 points for dutifully obeying parents and never, ever going to parties, no matter how antisocial that makes her seem to everyone at Deer Hook High
–1 point for harboring secret jealousy of her best friends, who are allowed to date like normal teenagers
+2 points for never drinking an alcoholic beverage
–10 points for obsessing about Asher Richelli, who talks to Nina like she’s not a freak at all, even though he knows that she has a disturbing line of hair running down her back

In this wryly funny debut novel, the smart, sassy, and utterly lovable Nina Khan tackles friends, family, and love, and learns that it’s possible to embrace two very different cultures – even if things can get a little bit, well, hairy.”
I didn’t particularly like the book in the end, but one of the reasons I picked it up was because this flap copy was so entertaining.

Other books read this month:
Harriet the Spy
Eat, Pray, Love
Wintergirls
Blubber
The School of Essential Ingredients
Wolves of Willoughby Chase
Princess of Glass
Greenwitch
The Grey King
Silver on the Tree
Manga Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Where the Red Fern Grows
Much Ado About Nothing
Two Moon Princess
A Song for Summer
Finally
Cosmic (DNF)
Finnikin of the Rock
The Frog Scientist

Running Total: 94 books
Adult fiction: 21
YA: 32
MG: 23
Non-fiction: 9
Graphic Novel: 10
Didn’t Finish: 6

Good heavens, where did May go?

It’s Memorial Day here in the states, and that’s not a holiday I’ve given much thought to since I graduated from high school and stopped attending my small town’s Memorial Day parade. Though things have conspired this year to make me feel guilty about that, and I’m looking for some suggestions as to what to do to remind my children that there are men and women out there sacrificing their lives so we can live in comfort and freedom. Suggestions?

And I suppose, since it is the last day of the month, I ought to give you my three favorite jacket flaps, huh?

Academy 7 (Speak): “Aerin Renning is a scarred fugitive, Dane Madousin a rebellious son of privilege. On the surface, they have nothing in common. But the two most competitive freshmen at Academy 7 share an undiscovered bond. Both harbor a dangerous secret that threatens their own destruction. And while their safety depends on their staying apart, the two are inexplicably drawn to each other. Evan as unknown forces conspire to separate them, their competition turns to friendship, and their friendship to romance. Now, not only their lives — but their hearts — are at stake. To survive, the two must unite all their knowledge, skills and gifts to uncover a secret bigger than either could have imagined. A secret as big as the entire universe…”

It’s not exactly accurate to the story, and it kind of blows things out of proportion, but, man, it makes you want to read the book. Doesn’t it?

Will Grayson, Will Grayson (Dutton Juvenile): “One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two teens–both named Will Grayson–are about to cross paths. As their worlds collide and intertwine, the Will Graysons find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, building toward romantic turns-of-heart and the epic production of history’s most fabulous high school musical. Hilarious, poignant, and deeply insightful, John Green and David Levithan’s collaborative novel is brimming with a double helping of the heart and humor that have won both them legions of faithful fans.”

Spot-on. Captures the essence, without giving too much away. Perfect.

Crossing Stones (Farrar, Straus and Giroux): “Maybe you won’t rock a cradle, Muriel. Some women seem to prefer to rock the boat. Eighteen-year-old Muriel Jorgensen lives on one side of Crabapple Creek. Her family’s closest friends, the Normans, live on the other. For as long as Muriel can remember, the families’ lives have been intertwined, connected by the crossing stones that span the water. But now that Frank Norman—who Muriel is just beginning to think might be more than a friend—has enlisted to fight in World War I and her brother, Ollie, has lied about his age to join him, the future is uncertain. As Muriel tends to things at home with the help of Frank’s sister, Emma, she becomes more and more fascinated by the women’s suffrage movement, but she is surrounded by people who advise her to keep her opinions to herself. How can she find a way to care for those she loves while still remaining true to who she is? Written in beautifully structured verse, Crossing Stones captures nine months in the lives of two resilient families struggling to stay together and cross carefully, stone by stone, into a changing world.”

I think it’s a bit too detailed, but perhaps they felt a need to spell out the plot because it’s a novel in verse. It’s still pretty good, though.

Other books read this month:
Radiant Darkness
My Double Life
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
French Milk
Griffin and Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence; Sabine’s Notebook; The Golden Mean
Confections of a Closet Master Baker
God Went to Beauty School
Running out of Time
The Wide-Awake Princess
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Letter to My Daughter

Running Total: 72
Adult fiction: 17
YA: 26
MG: 15
Non-fiction: 7
Graphic Novel: 9
Didn’t Finish: 5

Another month, another roundup. There were a lot of good books this month, it was hard to choose just three.

The Girl Who Chased the Moon (Bantam): “In her latest enchanting novel, New York Times bestelling author Sarah Addison Allen invites you to a quirky little Southern town with more magic than a full Carolina moon. Here two very different women discover how to find their place in the world…no matter how out of place they feel. Emily Benedict came to Mullaby, North Carolina, hoping to solve at least some of the riddles surrounding her mother’s life. For instance, why did Dulcie Shelby leave her hometown so suddenly? Why did she vow never to return? But the moment Emily enters the house where her mother grew up and meets the grandfather she never knew—a reclusive, real-life gentle giant—she realizes that mysteries aren’t solved in Mullaby, they’re a way of life. Here are rooms where the wallpaper changes to suit your mood. Unexplained lights skip across the yard at midnight. And a neighbor bakes hope in the form of cakes. Everyone in Mullaby adores Julia Winterson’s cakes. She offers them to satisfy the town’s sweet tooth and in the hope of bringing back the love she fears she’s lost forever. In Julia, Emily may have found a link to her mother’s past. But why is everyone trying to discourage Emily’s growing relationship with the handsome and mysterious son of Mullaby’s most prominent family? Emily came to Mullaby to get answers, but all she’s found so far are more questions. Is there really a ghost dancing in her backyard? Can a cake really bring back a lost love? In this town of lovable misfits, maybe the right answer is the one that just feels…different.“
It’s a bit long, but it’s one of those jacket flaps that make you just want to read the book. Enough information to tease and interest, but not enough to give away the book’s secrets.

A Conspiracy of Kings (Greenwillow Books): “Sophos, under the guidance of yet another tutor, practices his swordplay and strategizes escape scenarios should his father’s villa come under attack. How would he save his mother? His sisters? Himself? Could he reach the horses in time? Where would he go? But nothing prepares him for the day armed men, silent as thieves, swarm the villa courtyard ready to kill, to capture, to kidnap. Sophos, the heir to the throne of Sounis, disappears without a trace. In Attolia, Eugenides, the new and unlikely king, has never stopped wondering what happened to Sophos. Nor has the Queen of Eddis. They send spies. They pay informants. They appeal to the gods. But as time goes by, it becomes less and less certain that they will ever see their friend alive again. Across the small peninsula battles are fought, bribes are offered, and conspiracies are set in motion. Darkening the horizon, the Mede Empire threatens, always, from across the sea. And Sophos, anonymous and alone, bides his time. Sophos, drawing on his memories of Gen, Pol, the magus—and Eddis—sets out on an adventure that will change all of their lives forever.”
Great book. Really. Read the series; I promise you won’t regret it. But. Don’t read the jacket flaps. Because, really!, this is not what happens. Kind of made me mad, in the end.

The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance (Dutton): “It’s lonely being a Mormon in New York City. So once again, Elna Baker attends the New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance-a virgin in a room full of virgins doing the Macarena. Her Queen Bee costume, which involves a black funnel stuck to her butt for a stinger, isn’t attracting the attention she’d anticipated. So once again, Elna is alone at the punch bowl, stocking up on generic Oreos, exactly where you’d expect to find a single Mormon who’s also a Big Girl. But loneliness is nothing compared to what happens when she loses eighty pounds. . . . and falls in love with an atheist. The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance is the memoir about a girl who’s as paradoxical as the city she’s coming-of-age in: A girl who distresses her family when she chooses NYU over BYU; a girl who’s cultivating an oxymoronic identity as a bold, educated, modern, funny, proper, abstinent, religious stand-up comic — equal parts wholesome and hot. As Elna test-drives her identity, she finds herself in the strangest scenarios: including selling creepy, overpriced dolls to petulant children at FAO Schwarz; making out with the rich and famous; nearly getting married in Utah; and arriving at the New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance in an obscene costume. It all boils down to a young woman wondering where love comes from and what will make her feel the least alone in a city full of strangers. Brazenly honest, this is Elna’s hilarious and heartfelt chronicle of her attempt to steer clear of temptation and find out if she can just get by on God.”
I thought this was clever; it made the book sound so interesting. Unfortunately, it hits all the highlights. There’s not much else to the book except what’s in the jacket flap.

Other books read this month:
As You Wish
How to Say Goodbye in Robot
Kaleidoscope Eyes
Demon Princess: Reign or Shine
The Dark is Rising
I am Morgan le Fey
Neverwhere
The Storm in the Barn
The War of the Worlds
Amulet: The Stonekeeper
Amulet: The Stonekeeper’s Curse
Hachiko Waits
Return to Sender (DNF)
Hamlet (DNF)
Breathless (DNF)

Running Total: 57
Adult fiction: 11
YA: 20
MG: 12
Non-fiction: 6
Graphic Novel: 8
Didn’t Finish: 5

Shall we forgo the usual blather, since I’ll have a Library Loot post going up later, and just jump into this month’s books? I think so.

The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook (Bloomsbury): “What do a secret squirt watch, a pair of spring-loaded super-boots, and the incredible Kablovsky copter have in common? They’re all inventions of the Secret Science Alliance. This trio of gadgeteers is hard at work in a secret lab, tinkering with technology that’s definitely too cool for school! But when an evil scientist steals their blueprints and hatches a deadly plan, the Secret Science Alliance springs into action. Can three young inventors, armed with their crazy creations, defeat this criminal mastermind? Strap on your welding goggles and get ready for a high-tech adventure from comic supergenius Eleanor Davis!”

Doesn’t this book sound like great fun? I didn’t really love it, but I have to admit that this flap copy made me want to read it!

Shine, Coconut Moon (Margaret K. McElderry): “Seventeen-year-old Samar — a.k.a. Sam — has never known much about her Indian heritage. Her mom has deliberately kept Sam away from her old-fashioned family. It’s never bothered Sam, who is busy with school, friends, and a really cute but demanding boyfriend. But things change after 9/11. A guy in a turban shows up at Sam’s house, and he turns out to be her uncle. He wants to reconcile the family and teach Sam about her Sikh heritage. Sam isn’t sure what to do, until a girl at school calls her a coconut — brown on the outside, white on the inside. That decides it: Why shouldn’t Sam get to know her family? What is her mom so afraid of? Then some boys attack her uncle, shouting, “Go back home, Osama!” and Sam realizes she could be in danger — and also discovers how dangerous ignorance can be. Sam will need all her smarts and savvy to try to bridge two worlds and make them both her own.”

This sums up the book nicely, but doesn’t give away too much of the conflict. Can I mention, though, that I didn’t notice the guy on the cover of the book? And that I really am very tired of headless teen girls on covers??

Heist Society (Hyperion): “When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her on a trip to the Louvre…to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria…to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own–scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving “the life” for a normal life proves harder than she’d expected. Soon, Kat’s friend and former co-conspirator, Hale, appears out of nowhere to bring her back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has good reason: a powerful mobster has been robbed of his priceless art collection and wants to retrieve it. Only a master thief could have pulled this job, and Kat’s father isn’t just on the suspect list, he is the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat’s dad needs her help. For Kat there is only one solution: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it’s a spectacularly impossible job? She’s got two weeks, a teenage crew, and hopefully just enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in history-or at least her family’s (very crooked) history. “

Okay, so I guess I was in a “fun” mood this month: this one, too, makes the book sound like a huge amount of fun. Which it was.

Other books read this month:
Frankie Pickle
Scarlett Fever
Angus, Thongs, and Full-frontal Snogging
Howards End
Sugar
Over Sea, Under Stone
The Truth About Forever
Candor
Sea Glass
Open: An Autobiography
Swiftly Tilting Planet (DNF)
Timekeeper’s Moon
Marching for Freedom
The English American

Running Total: 42
Adult fiction: 8
YA: 15
MG: 9
Non-fiction: 5
Graphic Novel: 5
Didn’t Finish: 2

I don’t usually have reading goals for myself; I tend to let the books come and go as they are wont to do. But for some reason, this year, I’m feeling like I’m “behind”. I’m not sure that it’s affecting my enjoyment of reading, per se, but there’s a part of me that feels concerned that my numbers aren’t “up” around where I “want” them to be.

Silly, I know. And I have no idea why I feel this way, either. Do you ever get feeling like that? What do you do?

It was another slowish month… but here are the three best blurbs:

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (Little, Brown and Co): “In the valley of Fruitless mountain, a young girl named Minli spends her days workign hard in the fields and her nights listening to her father spin fantastic tales about the Jade Dragon and the Old Man of the Moon. Minli’s mother, tired of their poor life, chides him for filling her head with nonsense. But Minli believes these enchanting stories and embarkes on an extraordinary journey to find the Old Man of the Moon to ask him how she can change their fortune. She encounters an assorted cast of characters and magical creatures along the way, including a dragon who accompanies her on her quest. Grace Lin, author of the beloved Year of the Dog and Year of the Rat, returns with a wondrous story of happiness, family, and friendship. A fantasy crossed with Chinese folklore, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a timeless adventure story reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz. With her beautiful full-color illustrations featured throughout, Grace has created a charming, engaging book for young readers.

Outlaw: the Legend of Robin Hood (Candlewick): “How did Robin of Loxley become Robin Hood? Why did he choose to fight injustice instead of robbing for his own gain? Expressive and gritty, this graphic novel whisks readers back to Crusades-era England, where the Sheriff of Nottingham rules with an iron fist, and in the haunted heart of Sherwood Forest, a defiant rogue — with the help of his men and the lovely Maid Marian — disguises himself to become an outlaw. Lively language and illustrations follow the legendary hero as he champions the poor and provokes a high-stakes vendetta in a gripping adventure sure to draw a new generation of readers.”

The Lost Conspiracy (Harper): “On an island of sandy beaches, dense jungles, and slumbering volcanoes, colonists seek to apply archaic laws to a new land, bounty-hunters stalk the living for the ashes of their funerary pyres, and a smiling tribe is despised by all as traitorous murders. It is here, in the midst of ancient tensions and new calamity, that two sisters are caught in a deadly web of deceits. Arilou is proclaimed a beautiful prophetess—one of the island’s precious oracles: a Lost. Hathin, her junior, is her nearly invisible attendant. But neither Arilou nor Hathin is exactly what she seems, and they live a lie that is carefully constructed, and jealously guarded. When the sisters are unknowingly drawn into a sinister, island-wide conspiracy, quiet, unobtrusive Hathin must journey beyond all she has ever known of her world—and of herself—in a desperate attempt to save them both. As the stakes mount and falsehoods unravel, she discovers the only thing more dangerous than the secret she hides is the truth she must uncover.”

Other books read this month:
Dream Life
The Undaunted (DNF)
A Wind in the Door
Frankie Pickle and the Closet of Doom
Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith

The Catcher in the Rye

It’s the end of January (finally). It wasn’t a bad month, reading wise. It started out slow, but picked up near the end, I think. And that’s a good thing. On a side note: do y’all like my commentary on the jacket flaps or not? Sometimes, I don’t know what to say and so I’m wondering if I should just leave them to speak for themselves. Something to think about, anyway.

My three favorite jacket flaps from the books I picked up this month:

Odd and the Frost Giants (Harper): “In this inventive, short, yet perfectly formed novel inspired by traditional Norse mythology, Neil Gaiman takes readers on a wild and magical trip to the land of giants and gods and back. In a village in ancient Norway lives a boy named Odd, and he’s had some very bad luck: His father perished in a Viking expedition; a tree fell on and shattered his leg; the endless freezing winter is making villagers dangerously grumpy. Out in the forest Odd encounters a bear, a fox, and an eagle — three creatures with a strange story to tell. Now Odd is forced on a stranger journey than he had imagined — a journey to save Asgard, city of the gods, from the Frost Giants who have invaded it. It’s going to take a very special kind of twelve-year-old boy to outwit the Frost Giants, restore peace to the city of gods, and end the long winter. Someone cheerful and infuriating and clever… Someone just like Odd…”

The Year My Son and I Were Born (GPP Life): “With six other children at home, Kathryn Lynard Soper was prepared for the challenges another newborn would bring. But after Thomas’s complicated birth, his diagnosis—Down syndrome—forced her to face her deepest fears and weaknesses, her ignorance and prejudice, and her limitations as a mother and as a human being. Her struggle, coupled with the demands of caring for a fragile baby and juggling her family’s needs, sparked the worst episode of depression she’d experienced in decades. The Year My Son and I Were Born is Kathryn’s brutally honest yet beautiful account of how she escaped a downward spiral of despair and emerged with newfound peace. Antidepressant therapy restored her equilibrium, and interactions with friends and family brought needed perspective. But the most profound change came through her growing relationship with Thomas. His radiant presence shone through her outer layers of self, where fear and guilt festered, and reached the center of her very being—where love, acceptance, and gratitude blossomed in abundance.”

My Most Excellent Year (Dial Books):
“TCKeller: What’s ‘flap copy’ anyway?
AugieHwong: It’s what they put on a book jacket to tell you what’s inside, you rock-head. We can use the one from Liza Minnelli’s bio as a template.
TCKeller: Or not.
AlePerez: This is positively mortifying. They were just supposed to be classroom essays! I can’t believe the entire world is about to find out how I played Anthony like a violin for five months.
TCKeller: I let you do that. Hey, why don’t we open the flap with a quote about the 1918 Red Sox–
AugieHwong: No way, dude. If you’re looking for a warm-up act, we open /with Bette Davis in All About Eve.
AlePerez: Hello? Jacqueline Kennedy would be a far more appealing, not to mention intelligent, choice. Besides, I outrank both of you.
TCKeller: Oh, yeah? I have a Carlton Fisk rookie card.
AugieHwong: I have Angela Lansbury’s autograph.
AlePerez: I have a Secret Service agent.
TCKeller: Guys! Why don’t we just forget the flap copy and start at the very beginning?
AugieHwong: A very good place to start….”

Other books read this month:
Calamity Jack
Dream Girl
The Street of a Thousand Blossoms
Saving Maddie
Wrinkle in Time
Front and Center
Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart
Unfinished Angel
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
Carter Finally Gets It

Running Total: 13
Adult fiction: 2
YA: 5
MG: 3
Non-fiction: 2
Graphic Novel: 1

Another Middle Grade issue of the Jacket Flap-a-Thon. I promise next month will be more up to our usual diversity standards… In other news, stay tuned for the best-of-post tomorrow!

All the Broken Pieces (Scholastic Press): “Two years after being airlifted out of war-torn Vietnam, Matt Pin is haunted: by bombs that fell like dead crows, by the family — and the terrible secret — he left behind. Now, inside a caring adoptive home in the United States, a series of profound events force him to choose between silence and candor, blame and forgiveness, fear and freedom. By turns harrowing, dreamlike, sad, and triumphant, this searing debut novel, written in lucid verse, reveals an unforgettable perspective on the lasting impact of war and the healing power of love. “

I liked that this blurb evoked the simple, haunting style of the book. I don’t like the “lucid verse” part, but otherwise, a good blurb.

Bull Rider (Margaret K. McElderry): “All it takes is eight seconds…. Cam O’Mara, grandson and younger brother of bull-riding champions, is not interested in partaking in the family sport. Cam is a skateboarder, and perfecting his tricks — frontside flips, 360s — means everything until his older brother, Ben, comes home from Iraq, paralyzed from a brain injury. What would make a skateboarder take a different kind of ride? And what would get him on a monstrosity of a bull named Ugly? If Cam can stay on for the requisite eight seconds, will the $15,000 prize bring hope and a future for his big brother?”

This blurb SO effectively sums up this book in a few short sentences. Awesome.

Year of the Bomb (Simon and Schuster): “When Paul and his friends Arnie, Crank, and Oz find out that a horror movie will be filmed in their town, they can’t believe it — they even manage to get onto the set and meet some of the extras. But then they learn that some of the actors are really undercover agents, and the four boys find themselves tangled in an investigation. Nuclear bombs, conspiracies, and pod people are only supposed to exist in horror movies — right? Set against the backdrop of 1950s McCarthyism, this is a masterfully told coming-of-age novel by acclaimed writer Ronald Kidd.”

Again, a great job in capturing the tone and feel of the book. As well as giving the reader enough information to make them interested, but not so much that they give the story away.

Other books read this month:
Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters
The Wine-Dark Sea

Umbrella Summer
Heart of a Shepherd
The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis
The Ship of Lost Souls
Leviathan
Leaving the Bellweathers
The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg
Positively
Operation Yes
The Heretic’s Daughter
Dream Girl

It’s Cybils time around here at chez Book Nut, which means this is the Middle Grade edition of the Jacket Flap-a-thon. I haven’t forgotten about the drawing for the $25 gift card… you have until midnight (U. S. Central Standard Time) to enter. I’ll pick a winner tomorrow. Follow the link to enter.

And without further blathering, the best this month:

Born to Fly (Delacorte Press): “Ever since she can remember, Bird has loved dreamed of one thing: becoming a P-40 fighter pilot. The fact that she’s a girl has never seemed to matter. At least, not until the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor forces America into war and takes Bird’s dad, the one person who believes in her, far away. When a Japanese American boy named Kenji comes to school, everyone is sure he’s a spy or a traitor. But one night, after he saves her from drowning, Kenji and Bird accidentally discover a real spy in their town, one who’s plotting something deadly. No one believes their story, so Bird and her new friend are forced to try to stop the plot on their own. Their adventure will shake their town, test their friendship, and, if they fail, change the future o the war — and the world. This accomplished debut by Michael Ferrari, the winner of the Delacorte Yearling Price for a First Middle-Grade Novel, has everything: adventure, humor, a satisfying and nuanced portrayal of friendship, and a remarkable heroine who was born to fly.”

This one caught my eye because it makes the book sound adventurous and exciting. Good thing the book really is.

Anything But Typical (Simon and Schuster): “Jason Blake is an autistic 12 year old living in a neurotypical world. Most days it’s just a matter of time before something goes wrong. But Jason finds a glimmer of understanding when he comes across Phoenixbird, who posts stories to the same online site as he does. Jason can be himself when he writes, and he thinks that PhoenixBird — her name is Rebecca — could be his first real friend. But as desperate as Jason is to meet her, he’s terrified that if they do meet, Rebecca will only see his autism and not who Jason really is. By acclaimed writer Nora Raleigh Baskin, this is the breathtaking depiction of an autistic boy’s struggles — and a story anyone who has ever worried about fitting in.”

The best part about this jacket flap copy was that every sentence was written in a different font style and size. It’s disjointed and confusing, and I think works brilliantly, drawing the reader into this unique book.

The Brooklyn Nine (Dial Books): “1845: Felix Schneider, a 10-year-old immigrant from Germany, cheers the New York Knickerbockers as they play Three-Out, All-Out. 1864: Union soldier Louis Schneider plays baseball between battles in the Civil War. 1893: Arnold Schneider meets his hero King Kelly, one of professional baseball’s first big stars. 1908: Walter Snider, batboy for the Brooklyn Superbas, tries to sneak a black pitcher into the Majors by pretending he’s Native American. 1926: Numbers wiz Frankie Snider cons a con with the help of a fellow Brooklyn Robins fan. 1945: Kat Flint becomes a star for the Grand Rapids Chicks in the All-American Girls Baseball League. 1957: Ten-year-old Jimmy Flint thinks bullies and Sputnik are enough to worry about-until the Dodgers announce they’re leaving Brooklyn. 1981: Michael Flint finds himself pitching a perfect game during the Little League season at Prospect Park. 2002: Snider Flint tracks down the strange story of a bat that belonged to one of Brooklyn’s greatest baseball players. One family, nine generations. One city, nine innings of baseball.”

This one was difficult to write up, being a series of short stories. But I think the copy did an admirable job linking it all together. I especially like the two ending sentences.

Love, Aubrey (Wendy Lamb Books): “I had everything I needed to run a household: a house, food, and a new family. From now on it would just be me and Sammy–the two of us, and no one else. A tragic accident has turned eleven-year-old Aubrey’s world upside down. Starting a new life all alone, Aubrey has everything she thinks she needs: Spaghetti Os and Sammy, her new pet fish. She cannot talk about what happened to her. Writing letters is the only thing that feels right to Aubrey, even if no one ever reads them. With the aid of her loving grandmother and new friends, Aubrey learns that she is not alone, and gradually, she finds the words to express feelings that once seemed impossible to describe. The healing powers of friendship, love, and memory help Aubrey take her first steps toward the future. Readers will care for Aubrey from page one and will watch her grow until the very end, when she has to make one of the biggest decisions of her life. Love, Aubreyis devastating, brave, honest, funny, and hopeful, and it introduces a remarkable new writer, Suzanne LaFleur. No matter how old you are, this book is not to be missed.”

There was a toss up between this one, Wild Things and Also Known as Harper. This one won, I think, not only because it was short, but also because it caught just the right tone for the book.

Other books read this month:
Joey Fly, Private Eye in Creepy Crawly Crime
Al Capone Does My Shirts
Neil Armstrong is My Uncle
Strawberry Hill
Models Don’t Eat Chocolate Cookies
A Season of Gifts
Oracle Bones
Also Known as Harper
Wild Things
Fifth Business
Black Angels
Cotillion
The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had

October. That wonderful month of changes — at least here — when the world turns from Summer to Fall, when the mind turns to the holidays.

When life gets incredibly busy and there isn’t enough time to sit and read. Though I did get a fair amount read this month, surprisingly.

On to the best of the bunch:

The Summer I Turned Pretty (Simon&Schuster): “Some summers are just destined to be pretty. Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer — they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one wonderful and terrible summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.”

The best of the YA romance books I read this year: short, sweet, and captures the book perfectly.

Sweetness in the Belly (Penguin Press): “An evocative and richly imagined story of a British-born Muslim woman’s search for love and belonging in two very different worlds. When Lilly is eight years old, her pot-smoking hippie British parents leave her at a Sufi shrine in Morocco and inform her they will be back to collect her in three days. Three weeks later, she learns they’ve been murdered. Lilly fills that haunted hollow in her life with the intense study of the Qur’an under the watchful eye of the saint’s disciple she was entrusted to. Years later, her journey from Morocco to Harar, Ethiopia, is half pilgrimage, half flight. In Harar, even her traditional Muslim head scarves cannot hid her white skin in her strange new surroundings; the world farenji — foreigner — is hissed at her at every turn. She eventually builds a life for herself teaching children the Qur’an, and she finds herself falling in love with an idealistic young doctor.

I often complain about adult blurbs, but I think this one is spot on in capturing the tone and plot without being overlong.

Liar (Bloomsbury): “Micah will freely admit she’s a compulsive liar, but that may be the one honest thing she’ll ever tell you. Over the years, she’s fooled everyone: her classmates, her teachers, her parents. And she’s always managed to stay one step ahead of her lies. That is, until her boyfriend dies under brutal circumstances and her dishonesty begins to catch up with her. But is it possible to tell the truth when lying comes as easily as breathing? Taking readers deep into the psyche of a young woman who will say just about anything to convince them — and herself — that she’s finally co me clean, Liar is a bone-chilling thriller that will have readers seesawing between truths and lies right up to the end.”

Great! Intriguing, without giving a single. detail. away. Perfect.

Alvin Ho: Allergic to Camping, Hiking and Other Natural Disasters (schwartz and wade books): “Alvin Ho does not think the great outdoors is great. It is super-duper scary. here are a few reasons why: 1. Flash floods. 2. Meteorites. 3. Lots of creepy trees. 4. Pit toilets! Luckily, when his dad suggests — gulp! — a camping trip, Alvin is prepared. He has: 1. A portable generator. 2. Night-vision goggles. 3. Toilet paper. 4. More toilet paper! So grab your mosquito netting and your heavy-duty flashlight and experience the great outdoors with the one and only Alvin Ho.”

How can you not love Alvin? Really. And I love that the blurb writer loves him, too.

Other books read this month:
The Key to the Golden Firebird
Mission Control, This Is Apollo
Nothing But Ghosts
Ice
A Civil Contract (DNF)
Trail of Crumbs (DNF)
The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z
The Stand
The Princetta
Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree
Something, Maybe
Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell in Love

Ninth Grade Slays
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society
Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Practicing the Piano