This is Week Four of the
Triple Dog Dare, a time for resisting all new books. My cold hearted children left me to wander the halls of my beautiful local library by myself, resisting the siren calls of all the beautiful books.
Of course, it's also time to grab the next stack of Reading My Library Quest books, which I declared to be off-dare, so my misery was slightly mitigated. And a long-awaited hold book turned up. Really, someone who didn't know me would not have known I was on a dare as I checked out six new books... Oh, I forgot to mention that I snuck into the library late last week and grabbed a book of the hold shelf even though it wasn't officially Library Day. Don't tell anyone!
Horde, Ann Aguirre. I've had this on hold for months now; my son will steal it for a week or so and then I'll get to finish Aguirre's post-apocalyptic story. She's on my automatic-read list now.
Black Duck, Janet Taylor Lisle. This is from my online TBR list, and I have no memory of how it got there. At some point I thought it was a book I'd like to read, so I'll trust past-me's knowledge of my preferences.
Love, Ruby Lavender, Deborah Wiles. From the W shelf in the last corner of my library's J fiction section. I think this is the same illustrator as for the
Clementine books, which I love. Also, it takes place in Mississippi. I have my eye on my geography challenge here.
100 Cupboards, Nathan Wilson. This books sounds very familiar to me; I'm pretty sure I've heard it recommended somewhere. Also, I like cupboards.
The Unseen Guest (The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place), Mary Rose Wood. I quite liked the first book in this series (of which there were five copies on the shelf), and I'm a bit sad that there were no copies of the 2nd book. I hope I like this 3rd book!
When Molly Was a Harvey Girl, Frances M. Wood. I'm not sure why this was on the next library shelf, since it's alphabetically before Maryrose Wood, but I liked the cover, I'm interested in the time period, and I think it takes place in New Mexico. Win win win!
The Floating Circus, Tracie Vaughn Zimmer. Another historical fiction, although I'm not sure exactly where it takes places. This book is from the absolutely last shelf of Juvenile Fiction -- after this I'm on to J nonfiction, which I think is mostly picture books. Progress!
This means I now have 38 things out on my library cards, including ebooks. That's pretty good, since it includes CDs and books for my kids as well as my stuff. I'll go share my
Library Loot at the event co-hosted by Claire from the
Captive Reader and Linda from
Silly Little Mischief where all the library addicts compare their treasures.
Book credits banked: Four (Usually I reward myself by buying a book if my library total is less than my age, but since I can't actually buy anything right now I'm counting up these credits.)
Listen!, Stephanie Tolan. Dog books attract tragedy like fleas, but at least in this one all the sad stuff happens before the book opens -- the mom dies, the dog is abused. I liked the slow growth of trust between the girl and her pet, and how caring for the dog obviously helps Charley deal with her grief but this isn't belabored heavily. The insights into her mother's photography were powerful, as there was a real reason for sudden images to really mean something to Charley. The weakest part was the psychic link or whatever that gave Charley the ability to sense where the dog was; in a work that had built up their relationship with solid realism that magic just drained the suspense and power from the page. Lucky it was only a small part of the story.
The Shadow Thieves, Anne Ursu. Wow. This one was a lot of fun. It looks like a lightweight children's fantasy adventure, and it's a good one, but the characterization is spot-on, the humor is masterful, and the prose is delicious. The cover is dull, but I think that's been addressed in later editions. I've just put all of Ursu's backlist on my TBR list, and I really wish this wasn't due on Thursday because I bet my kid would love it. I think I'll give it to him anyway; he can easily finish it in a day.
Navigating Early, Clare Vanderpool. Two grieving boys in Maine go on a river journey to learn about themselves with the aid of amazing coincidences. I liked the independence of the boys, and how hard the narrator had to work to become loyal. I was suspicious of the "boy on the spectrum" thing, but Vanderpool does a good job portraying a kid who is a bit different than his peers expect. 
The Paperboy, Vince Vawter. Vawter does an excellent job showing how it feels to stutter and how it affects communication and self-esteem in non-obvious ways -- the boy nicknames his friends based on words he finds easier to say and plans out his conversations to avoid known land mines (I liked how he skipped collecting payments at one house because it moved the amount from a series of impossible syllables to a more manageable phrase). Simultaneously Vawter presents a view of segregation era Memphis, where black and white roles are rigidly set but nannies can sometimes move between the groups (a nanny with her white charge might be sitting anywhere on a bus).
Coyote Autumn, Bill Wallace. Set in Oklahoma, which jumped it up the queue. This turned out to be a coyote book rather than a dog book, although it had dogs too. (I thought it would be about a dog called Coyote.) I liked the family dynamics, which started out as cardboard antagonists but then developed more depth and emotional clarity.
The Templeton Twins Have an Idea, Ellis Weiner. I chose this because I knew my younger son enjoyed it. I see why. Actually, I had thought he had refused to read it but apparently he just reads faster than I realized, and when he saw me reading it he laughed again. I appreciate the summary questions at the end of each chapter, and I'm getting the sequel for my son. Too bad I can't read it until April. (See Triple Dog Dare)
