Reading Round Up 2013, Week 12.

11 Books this week.
Yeah, can you tell, I’M PROUD!
And, exciting news, I got an agent this week!

Well, I should say we.
Singe Singe likes to THINK he had something to do with it…

Anyway I’m letting him do the official video for it, so that should be out soon.
And more info, I promise!

In other news,
I have this ridiculous cough
that came out of left field.

It’s booming,
and annoying,
and has so far resisted
extra rest, extra tea, and extra honey and hot water.

We’ll see.

ANYWHO on to the books!

The Brief Thief is  really cute picture book.
So many questions: Who IS the Brief Thief?
Why are the Briefs there in the first place to be stolen?
And, most importantly, are those even BRIEFS at all?

Never Ever is a fun book.
I loved the illustrations, but I thought the story was kind of spare.
I think children will love it though and will bring their own imaginations to the images.

Rain! is awesome.
I love that it has two stories going on at once…
someone who loves the rain and someone who doesn’t.
How the stories come together is clever,
and the cut paper illustrations
(I think they’re also digitally manipulated)
are great!
One of my favorite reads in a while…and, I don’t know, perhaps award-winning illustrations?

Have You Seen my Blue Socks? is a great rhyming picture book.
Duck goes around asking about his favorite socks.
Kids will like guessing what word is going to come next and the illustrations are very sweet.
The story felt a little spare to me and I can’t say I was entirely satisfied by the ending…
I wonder what you other readers would think.

Thunderstorm is a timeline of a thunderstorm and how it affects the people of the town.
A nice wordless picture book with a TON of detail.
Children will be able to find plenty of stories in the images!

Dodger didn’t grab me right away,
but once I got over how I wanted it to move faster and I relaxed into the world,
I found the world and the pace quite cozy, and I was happy to be there.
Well, that’s a sentence, isn’t it?
It’s a great story, historical fiction/fantasy, and it has a different feel from any other YA I’ve read.

Oh, Clementine. 
Turns out, in this book, she’s having a hard time finding a talent.
It’s laughable how far she goes to try to pull something together.
There may or MAY NOT be a plot involving her little brother and a dog’s leash.
But what ultimately ends up being her talent is unexpected but right at the same time.

Gooney Bird Greene is someone I wish were real.
What a fun class that would be!
Gooney Bird tells “absolutely true stories” about her life,
and readers, as well as her classmates (and, at times, even her teacher!)
learn about what makes a good story, and a good storyTELLER.

Those last two are chapter books, but not too hefty.

It’s funny that these three were grouped together…I think they were the most surprising ones that I read this week.

FArTHER is visually stunning
and a picture book that explores how a dream can move from a father to a son.
I’ve never read anything like it.
I bet it would get children thinking about their parents, and themselves, in a different way.

I’m just going to say that The Matchbox Diary is going to win some big award this year.
It is visually AMAZING
and the story is universal and so singular at the same time.
I read most of the books this week while waiting at my local indie for an event,
and if I could only buy one of the picture books,
hands down it would be this one.
The conversations it could bring up,
the impulse to write,
and just the general awesome feeling of reading it over and over
would TOTALLY be worth the price.
(I’m sure I’ll be buying it soon!)

Penny and the Marble is a great easy reader that explores guilt in a very accessible way.
I’m amazed at how much story Kevin Henkes can pack in these easy readers,
and how much I was right there alongside Penny, feeling everything she felt.
The ending is really sweet, as are all the illustrations, of course.

Up next to read:
Probably more picture books. I need to up my book count!
But I also met Lisa McMann and Jennifer Nielsen this week, and have their books all signed and ready to read.

Also, soon I think I’ll be moving my blog/website.
Not until I figure out how to bring everything from this one over to the other one,
but I have friends who say they can help me with that.

Another also:
I realized I didn’t write up at least three, if not FOUR,
times that Singe Singe and I have met authors and illustrators at Hicklebee’s.
I hope to have it all more organized on the new site,
but I’ll revisit the notes and get some posts going.

Hope everyone is doing well and reading a lot.
And, recommend some picture books to me!

Until next time, we’re enthusiastically yours,
Kathy Ellen and Singe Singe