New books by favorite authors!

Alex Gino, Author of George, has a new book which has just released:
Author's website: http://www.alexgino.com/








Neal Shusterman, author of The Unwind series and Arc of a Scythe series, has a new book which he wrote with his son:

Author's website: http://www.storyman.com/







Marie Lu, author of the Legend series, the Young Elites series and now the Warcross  series, has published book #2 in this last series.
Author's website: http://onetrueportal.com/marielu/









Dusti Bowling, author of The Insignificant Life of Cactus, has a new book!
Author's website: https://www.dustibowling.com/

Top 10 of 2018...so far

                    

Mockingbird.....going on my top 10 of 2018!

Mockingbird was.................
- touching
- powerful
[long pause...................]
- worth reading!

I have mentioned before that  sometimes we "know" that things are difficult for people with disabilities, however "feeling" how different they truly are is a gift to the reader. This book opened my eyes to autism. I applaud the author for creating a book with such power geared to our teenager readers. Bravo!

Summary:

In a nutshell:  A girl on the autism spectrum reaches out past her own family's tragedy to help others as she helps herself.

In Caitlin’s world, everything is black or white.  Things are good or bad.  Anything in between is confusing.  That’s the stuff Caitlin’s older brother, Devon, has always explained.  But now Devon’s dead, and her father cries a lot.  Caitlin wants to get over it, but as an eleven-year-old girl with Asperger’s, she doesn’t know how.  When she reads the definition of “closure” in the dictionary, she realizes that is what she and her father need.  In her search for Closure, Caitlin discovers that not everything is black and white--the world is full of colors--messy and beautiful, and it is through this discovery that she embarks on a road which leads her to find both healing and closure.

Mockingbird won the 2010 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.

Discussion Guide

Author's website: http://kathrynerskine.com/

Finding Someplace....how timely!

Goodreads summary:

Reesie Boone just knows that thirteen is going to be her best year yet—this will be the year she makes her very first fashion design on her Ma Maw's sewing machine. She'll skip down the streets of New Orleans with her best friends, Ayanna and Orlando, and everyone will look at her in admiration.

But on Reesie's birthday, everything changes. Hurricane Katrina hits her city. Stranded at home alone, Reesie takes refuge with her elderly neighbor, Miss Martine. The waters rise. They escape in a boat. And soon Reesie is reunited with her family. But her journey back home has only begun.

This is a story of a family putting itself back together, and a young girl learning to find herself.

My humble opinion:

What a story! I was on the edge of my seat even though I remember Hurricane Katrina. What I've learned through books: you may know about something but you've not lived through it!

Sometimes it is difficult to imagine what it is like to have OCD or live through a traumatic event. When you find a book that makes you feel what it's like then that book is worth sharing.

This book would also be a great book to introduce historical fiction with an event that students know.