These are the books I’m currently reading at the moment. Some are ARCs and others I just really wanted to read. I’ll be sharing updates on these books soon when I get further into them, and of course, I’ll post reviews of each.
Synopsis:
Garvey’s father has always wanted Garvey to be athletic, but Garvey is interested in astronomy, science fiction, reading—anything but sports. Feeling like a failure, he comforts himself with food. Garvey is kind, funny, smart, a loyal friend, and he is also overweight, teased by bullies, and lonely. When his only friend encourages him to join the school chorus, Garvey’s life changes. The chorus finds a new soloist in Garvey, and through chorus, Garvey finds a way to accept himself, and a way to finally reach his distant father—by speaking the language of music instead of the language of sports.
Review:
This story was about a boy named Garvey who is really into things like science, reading, math, and singing. His dad really wants him to be more tough and play football. Garvey doesn’t know how to communicate with his dad the way, so he turns to food as comfort. Garvey is gaining more weight and his classmates and his sister have all noticed. So he tries to do a crash diet which doesn’t work.
In the end with help from his friends Joe and Manny he learned to accept himself for who he is. Take control of his weight and learn to talk to his dad better. I really enjoyed this, especially because it was written in my favorite writing style – verse.
Rating: 4⭐
Synopsis:
Eddie’s Great-aunt Mathilda is sick and he has to help take care of her. But when Eddie and his friends visit Mathilda’s house, strange things start to happen. Howie sees someone staring at him from the attic window and, when his back is turned, his garlic potato chips are used to spell the word ATTIC on the ground. During later visits the kids hear noises from the attic, but Great-aunt Mathilda swears there’s nothing up there. Could the ghost of Eddie’s Great-uncle Jasper, who died years ago, be haunting his aunt’s home? The Bailey School kids will find out!
I remember reading The Bailey School Kids series when I was in grade school and I enjoyed all of them. I would normally buy them at my school book fair, I wanted to collect them all. I enjoyed reading this it was fast paced then I remembered. But it brought me back to when I little reading these chapter books. These are really fun and cute reads.
Rating: 3⭐
Stacey is a little girl who loves words more than anything. She loves reading them, sounding them out, and finding comfort in them when things are hard.
But when her teacher chooses her to compete in the local spelling bee, she isn’t as excited as she thought she’d be. What if she messes up? Or worse, if she can’t bring herself to speak up, like sometimes happens when facing bullies at school?
Stacey will learn that win or lose . . . her words are powerful, and sometimes perseverance is the most important word of all.
My thoughts:
Stacy’s Extraordinary Words is a children’s book written by Stacy Abrams who is a state politician, author, activist, and lawyer. This book was about Stacy’s love of words and how she grew to love words of all kinds, their meaning and spelling. She entered into a spelling bee at school but this only pushed her to learn new words. This was a fast paced book and I enjoyed the illustrations.
Rating: 4⭐
June’s life at home with her stepmother and stepsister is a dark one and a secret one. Not even her dad knows the truth, and she can’t find the words to tell anyone else. She’s trapped like a butterfly in a net. Then June meets Blister, a boy from a large, loving, chaotic family. In him, she finds a glimmer of hope that perhaps she can find a way to fly far, far away. Because she deserves her freedom. Doesn’t she?
Review:
Paper Butterflies is a very intense novel. One of the most intense stories I have read in a very long time. This story is about a biracial girl named June. June mother (who is black) dies by drowning when she is young. June’s dad (who is white) remarried a woman named Kathleen and she has a daughter of her own named Megan. Even since June was in grade school Kathleen and Megan both abused June in awful ways. The abuse June had to go through by Kathleen was mind blowing. Kathleen hated June one part because she was half black and her mother was black. In the book this is brought up a lot. Kathleen had her daughter Megan help her in the abuse of June.
June’s dad was no help at all. June wanted so badly to reach out and tell her dad what was going on behind his back but he always stood and took Kathleen’s side no matter.
June meets a boy who ends up being not only her best friend but someone she loves. He goes by the name Blister.
June only wanted her voice heard and to be understood. She wanted the world to know about the abuse she was going through each day. She eventually told Blister.
In the end this is a very exhausting, emotional, frustrating and upsetting book to read.
My final thoughts:
My feelings changed with each chapter as I read. I felt for June at times I felt I was going through what she was facing. I felt so sad for her but was rooting for her at the same time. I enjoyed Blister’s and June time together with their friendship and love was nice to see. It was set up to be a real friendship before they started to say I love you. I wanted the best for June and Blister. Every chapter they were together made me smile. I liked the writing and the realistic nature of the story. I had an emotional connection with all the characters which never really happens when I read books. This story took all my feelings and I have to say I really enjoyed it.
Trigger warning:
Physical abuse, bullying, death, prison, death row
Rating: 5⭐