Are you looking for a new book to read?
Lucky you, I have some here for you to read up on!
Every Friday I recap what I’ve read during the week.
I post the picture of the book
that I took when I finished reading it,
and underneath, my thoughts . 
This was a pretty great reading week.
I read a lot around work, and this past weekend.
WORN STORIES
By Emily Spivack
I picked up this book for free at one of my favorite Indie bookstores. I was drawn to the cover immediately, and when I flipped to the back and read that it was a collection of short stories about items of clothing, I snagged it. (No pun intended. I seriously didn’t even mean to do that!)
There are more than sixty stories, most of them only a page, about an item of clothing. Each item is photographed in a white background, and each story is by a different person, maybe even some artist, designer, or writer that you know.
I loved that you could look at the photo and still have absolutely no idea the story that would come out. That’s kind of like people, right? This was a fun read. The stories ranged from light to somber, heavy to fun. It really made me think about the clothes and the things I keep, and the stories behind those items.
THE DOLDRUMS
By Nicholas Gannon
Archer Hemsley was born to be an adventurer, and how could he not be, growing up in the house of his grandparents, the great explorers Ralph and Rachel Hemsley? He loves getting packages from them and dreams of joining them on an adventure someday. He has never met them, but gets packages from them from time to time.
That is until the iceberg incident, when his grandparents go missing. This sends his mother, who is more a doer than a dreamer, into a sort of panic; Arthur is barely allowed to leave the house. He still manages to befriend Oliver who lives next door, and the two try to come up with s plan to go on an adventure and escape.
Nothing gets solidified until they meet Adelaide, a girl who moved to the neighborhood from France and has a wooden leg! She says she lost her leg to a crocodile, and soon the three start planning, and Archer knows where he wants to go: to find his grandparents!
There’s a lot of nonsense in this book but many sweet moments too. It’s the story of friendship and wanting to fit in and facing your fears (especially when they fear is a mean controlling teacher!) and how the adventure can sometimes be a stringing together of seemingly mundane events. I loved all the three kids and their stories, and also the different family dynamics. Some parents are supportive, others are stifling, and some aren’t even around!
There are also BEAUTIFUL full color illustrations in the book as well, sprinkled here and there and occasionally taking up a whole page or two. This felt like a quiet story with a lot of longing and a hint of adventure and magic. I thought it was great and can’t wait until the next one comes out!
STAR WARS JEDI ACADEMY
By Jeffrey Brown
Roan is so excited to be done with elementary school. He’s got his application in to the Pilot Academy and dreams of being a pilot like his older brother and father. Until he doesn’t get in. He thinks he’ll be stuck farming on Tatooine forever, but then he gets asked to come train at Jedi Academy!
It’s fun, but really hard. The rest of these middle schoolers have been training since elementary school. Roan makes friends and learns lots of great stuff, but struggles with The Force. Will he get the hang of it? Or have to leave Jedi Academy?
The story is told in journal style. Roan writes things out, draws awesome comics and illustrations, and includes things like schedules, report cards, fliers, and pictures. It’s a really cool format that I think kids will really respond to. There’s even a page in the back that encourages readers to start their own journals!
I loved Roan’s story of trying to fit in and finding his place, as well as all his friends and aliens he meets at school. Oh, Yoda is in here too! Did I mention that? This is a fun book and I’m excited to read the rest in the series!
JEDI ACADEMY: RETURN OF THE PADOWAN
By Jeffrey Brown
Roan is back for year two at Jedi Academy and this year they get to do flight simulation! He’s happy to be back with his friends after spending a summer away from them, and school goes well, until he hits a friend in the face with a dodgeball, and messes up another friendship over spring break.
He very quickly finds himself with no friends, and doesn’t know what to do. In the meantime, two kids from his class are bullying everyone else online. Soon, they start being nice to Roan, and he has to decide: does he want to be friends with them, or have no friends at all?
This one had the same great format as the first, with lots of drawings, documents, and journal entries. I really liked how conflicted Roan was and how tricky his friendships were and why; it’s totally something a middle schooler can relate to. I feel like he grew a lot as a character in this one and it sort of set up the tension for the next one! Reading it soon!!!
JEDI ACADEMY: THE PHANTOM BULLY
By Jeffrey Brown
Roan is back for his last year of middle school and excited to see his friends again. A new girl, Lilly, comes to school and is so awesome! Things are going well for Roan, even though his mentor is Mr. G, his least favorite teacher. He may even officially be Gaiana’s boyfriend!
But then weird things start happening; his backpack is stolen, their pet is acting weird. Roan has his suspicions of who is behind it, but no proof. Will he catch this bully that is making his school year extra difficult? Will he pass the end of the year tests? Will he keep all of his friends?
This book was great; I’ve loved the whole series. Again it has all sorts of documents mixed in: journal entries, comics, pictures, etc. The illustrations are awesome, and so are the characters. I’d love to see them again; this is just the end of middle school; it would be fun to see them in high school! This does feel like a complete series though. At the end of the book Roan’s little brother Ollie has a surprise for him, which could turn into a spinoff, who knows.
THE TRUTH COMMISSION
By Susan Juby
This novel is written as narrative non-fiction, from the pint of view of Normandy Pale, a junior at Green Pastures Academy of Art and Applied Design. It’s her special project this year, and she’s taking it seriously; there are footnotes and illustrations included as well.
Normandy and her friends Dusk and Neil are quite the group. Normandy works on elaborately embroidered portraits, Neil paints beautiful women, and Dusk is working on her first successful taxidermy project involving a shrew. Even though they have jose projects going on, they decide to start another one: The Truth Commission.
They pick “truth targets” at their school and ask them the question everyone is dying to ask. They find it exhilarating to hear the truth from someone, and Neil and Dusk are even sure that the truth teller is better for the experience; finally having someone to tell helps them out.
Normandy is not so sure. There are some secrets she’d like to keep, many involving her sister, the famous graphic novelist Keira Pale. When she was Normandy’s age she wrote her first graphic novel that takes place in our world and in a fantasy world. Keira had the same family in both worlds, but Normandy’s problem is the family hits too close to home. Each member of the fictional family is an exaggerated member of the real family; with their flaws being exaggerated.
Normandy’s sort of over it, but she doesn’t like how she or her parents are portrayed, or how her parents let Keira do whatever she wants. The whole house had to be super quiet when Keira’s home, which hasn’t happened in a while, thanks to her being at art school.
Until the day she comes home and misses her deadline for the third book. She leaves for days at a time and occasionally talks to Normandy about something horrible that happened at school.
Normandy feels uncomfortable asking people to reveal their secrets while she’s hiding this big one of her sister’s, but Neil and Dusk are impatient with her lack of participation. The tension and the truth will come out eventually.
I loved this book and the whole structure. Normandy does a good job playing with the structure of a book and getting a little meta with it, playing with footnotes, flashbacks, and exposition.
I LOVED the characters too! They are all so lovably weird and slightly messed up, with distinct personality quirks and strengths. The love story snuck up on me but I still liked it. And I loved the sort of behind the scene glimpse we get of an artist’s life, in the case of Keira. There are some crazy dynamics in this story; its dramatic and heartfelt at the same time. A great read!
Have you read any of these?
I’d love to hear what you thought of them!
See you next Friday with more books!
Bye for now,
KE
P.S. Full disclosure: The links above go to Indiebound and are affiliate links. If you buy at Indiebound, I’ll get a little kick back. That would of course be nice, but really I’m happy to be linking to an Indie site 
