Reading Roundup: April 2015

I read seven books this month:

I’ll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios (YA)
In Real Life by Cory Doctorow, illustrated by Jen Wang (YA graphic novel)
Get Over Yourself (Princeless, Vol. 2) by Jeremy Whitley, illustrated by Emily Martin (graphic novel)
The Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds (YA)
Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future by A.S. King (YA)
Not Otherwise Specified by Hannah Moskovitz (YA)
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes (adult)

Three of the seven are for book club, and the number of book club books I read is going to increase a lot because the summer children’s lit book club I belong to meets once a week over the summer. Yeah, it’s pretty intense.

Of note:

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Alcoholism in YA Lit

I recently finished I’ll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios, which is mostly about a girl falling in love with a Marine with PTSD, but which is also about a girl dealing with her alcoholic mother. And as I was reading the book, something started niggling at me about the way the mom’s alcoholism was described/treated. It sounded really familiar.

In the past year or so, I have read the following YA books that deal with a parent’s alcoholism:

  • I’ll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios
  • 52 Reasons to Hate My Father by Jessica Brody*
  • This Side of Home by Renee Watson
  • Best Foot Forward by Joan Bauer*
  • The Museum of Intangible Things by Wendy Wunder*
  • The Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Robin Palmer
  • The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson
  • The Year of My Miraculous Appearance by Catherine Ryan Hyde

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Recommendation Wednesday: Kissing Ted Callahan

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Why, yes. Yes it is, baby Fred Savage. (source)

If you’re totally into kissing books (WHICH I AM), you might like this book. As the title plainly states Kissing Ted Callahan (and Other Guys) by Amy Spalding is about main character Riley and her quest to kiss Ted Callahan..and finding some other guys to kiss along the way.

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March 2015 in Review

I finished nine books this month:

Princeless by Jeremy Whitley, illustrated by M. Goodwin (graphic novel)
This Side of Home by Renée Watson (YA)
Fast Sam, Cool Clyde, and Stuff by Walter Dean Myers (YA)
The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy, narrated by Bronson Pinchot (middle grade, audiobook)
The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom (adult)
52 Reasons to Hate My Father by Jessica Brody (YA)
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (YA)
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (children’s lit)
Shakespeare Saved My Life by Laura Bates (adult lit, non-fiction)

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Top Ten Characters I’d Love to Check In With

…or the chance to write our own fanon, I’m guessing.

hosted by The Broke and the Bookish
hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

 

1. Steven from Monster  — I am sure he went to college and is doing great. He also does lots of mentoring and outreach to connect with kids who are on the path to destruction.

2. Zoe and Wheeler from A Crooked Kind of Perfect  — I am sure they went to prom together and either stayed together forever or remained really good friends.

3. Ursula and Matt from Big Mouth & Ugly Girl — I like to think Ursula has let down her guard a little more (and made it to the WNBA) and that Matt invites her to the plays he’s written, and it’s like nothing has changed even though they don’t see each other nearly as often.

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