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.
(Yes, I know this is Saturday. Better late than never!)
I post the picture of the book
that I took when I finished reading it,
and underneath, my thoughts.
This week was crazy.
I had the Night Of Writing Dangerously,
two book club meetings,
and one book fair mini shopping spree,
and one game night.
But still got some reading in at free time at work 🙂 
THE FANTASTIC FAMILY WHIPPLE
By Matthew Ward
Arthur Whipple is different from his siblings immediately; when he’s born, he’s born on leap day, not March 1st like his parents and other siblings were. And he doesn’t seem extraordinary like the rest of his family, who break world records every day. Luckily for his parents, they have octuplets years later and it seems Arthur is the only one who is “normal.”
As he’s turning twelve, he desperately tries to break a record. All of his siblings have trophies and plaques for their accomplishments; Arthur just gets extra meetings with his Dad talking about his failure quotient. But then the Whipples start getting unlucky, and worse, losing record competitions to the Goldmans, another record breaking family. It seems like there is she history between the two dads, and a rumored curse that has returned to strike the Whipples.
Can Arthur find out what’s going on? And will he befriend one of the Goldman girls, who doesn’t compete and had only broken one record?
This book is PACKED with action and amazing things! The characters are extraordinary, as well as the situations they get into and the records they break. The story moves along quickly and you get drawn in immediately. Arthur is a great character and there’s already another book! Check this one out! 
FOILED
By Jane Yolen,
illustrated by Mike Cavallaro
This is a fun graphic novel that centers around fencing. Aliera is awesome at fencing, and practices a lot. But soon she gets distracted by the cute guy at school; he’s even responsible for taking her away from her family time, when she plays a role playing game with her cousin.
She goes to meet up for this date and starts seeing weird creatures…things take a magical turn and she finds out her practice foil (sword) which she thought was just a thrift store find, is actually something more magical. It seems like the role playing game has come to life, and Aliera and her cousin may play some big role in defending this magical universe.
I liked this one! The illustrations are great and the info about fencing is just enough to be complete without being overwhelming. I loved Aliera’s reaction to this cute boy (though I can’t remember his name!) and how she navigates her feelings, fencing, and family.
The magic literally came out of nowhere so it took me a little by surprise, but I liked it once I got a grip on what was going on. There’s another one, and I’m excited to see what happens next in the story.
LESSONS I NEVER LEARNED AT MEADOWBROOK ACADEMY
By Liz Maccie
Roberta is NOT happy to be starting tenth grade at Meadowbrook Academy, the fancy private school.She doesn’t know anyone there, and really just wants to go back to her one friend and her local high school, even if everyone thinks that friend is a bad influence. Meadowbrook is full of kids who have so much more money than Roberta does. She finds some unlikely allies and this story is the story of her entire first day at school.
There are memories and flashbacks, school classes, cute boys, crazy adventures, and serious issues woven throughout the day, but by the end of it you will certainly be falling for Roberta and her friends and wishing you could spend more time with them.
I LOVED the format of this book! I don’t think I’ve ever read a book before that only took place in one day. You would think things would feel contrived and forced at times, but they didn’t. I loved Roberta and her trying to figure out where she fits in and who she wants to be. Her friends are awesome characters too, and I love the adventure they take after school.
I met the author and she is so sweet! This is loosely based on her experience going to a private school. I love her voice and writing style and I hope we get to see more books from her! This was a heavy read at times; it is not afraid to shy away from important issues. But it was refreshing too. I think teens would love it and get so much out of it! 
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 
