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Showing posts from August 11, 2019

9 Days & 9 Nights Review

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9 Days and 9 Nights  by Katie Cotugno Overview: In this brief follow up to 99 Days , Molly is exploring Europe with her new boyfriend when their paths collide with Gabe and his new girlfriend. Their trips wind up intertwining, and it causes old histories and feelings to bubble to the surface. Overall: 3.5 Characters: 3 The characters in this installment were much more flat. I did like Sadie, but, mostly, because I was drawn to the couple of personality traits that were listed. Ian also didn't come to life much beyond a couple basic descriptors. As for everyone else, Cotugno really relied on all the knowledge you'd gained about the characters in the pervious books to create their personality. There was't much additional growth or layering to be found. Plot: 4 This was a fun enough romp through Europe, though the sites aren't really the point. There were some fun moments and some swoony moments sprinkled throughout, but there wasn't much of a point to anythi

The Need For Younger YA

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There's been a new rise in the discussion of the need for a "Younger YA" or an "Upper Middle Grade" which is a wonderful development. Even though it will be a long road to actually see this change executed in the publishing world, the more times we have conversations like this, and the more authors, like Angie Thomas, who call attention to the need for it and want to write it, the closer we'll get. I'm hopeful that one day, we'll finally have books to build bridges between middle grade and YA and YA and adult as we're missing the connection points on both sides. I think that having books for the 12, 13, and possibly 14 year olds to read until they're ready for the gritty reality of YA is the most important spot we're missing because so many kids quit reading in that time. It's hard to stay dedicated to a hobby that doesn't seem to care about you anymore. Kids who love to read do find ways around it (continuing with middle grade,

Summer Bird Blue

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Summer Bird Blue  by Akemi Dawn Bowman (373 pages) Overview: Rumi lost her sister, and then grief drew a canyon between her and her mom. And then it was an ocean as she was whisked away from Washington to live with her aunt in Hawaii for the summer. Rumi has to learn how to confront her grief, her fears, and her anxieties to reclaim her life and heal. Overall: 4  Characters: 4 Rumi is angry. She's always been a bit grumpy, but after landing in Hawaii, she's just an explosion of rage. What started as a coping mechanism for her anxiety turned into armor against her sadness and grief. She shoves everyone out of her life, only to slowly allow them to return. The mother daughter relationship in the story perfectly represents Rumi, torn between love and animosity. She's always loved her mother, but, as the oldest child of a single parent who worked constantly, Rumi was like a second mom to Lea, her younger sister. Rumi felt like all of her mother's love went into Lea,