Hold Back the Tide by Melinda Salisbury

 Disclaimer:  I listened to the audiobook.

Alva lives with her dad, who is a murderer.  He killed her mother when she was 8.  Now she is 15 and she tries to make sure he doesn't kill her by making herself very useful.  He is in charge of checking on the loch and he has nets in, but keeps finding them cut.  As she repairs them for him and replaces them she notices the loch is loosing water quickly from the paper mill in town and sees a hole in the bank that she thinks is an otter den.  As she and her friend Marren start to discover there are things her dad hasn't told her and she sees a large, white, skeletal being, her dad becomes extremely cautious to the point of locking her in the house.  She and Marren wonder what in the world is going on?  What was the creature?  Where did it come from?  And mostly what really happened the night her mother died.

Could not stop listening.  Wow.  What a ride.  So many things were thrown in that when I thought I had it figured out, I was WRONG!  Was a little slow to start and I kept thinking get to the point, but don't quit it is AMAZING.  

Dead Wednesday by Jerry Spinelli

Robbie, AKA Worm, is in 8th grade.  Every year the 8th graders participate in Dead Wednesday where the students are assigned a teenager who died in the previous year by things that could be avoided, such as drugs, alcohol, texting while driving, etc. The students always look forward to it because they become "invisible" and can pretty much get away with anything, burping in people's faces, climbing on desks, you name it and they get out 1/2 a day early.  Robbie and his best friend Eddie along with the entire 8th grade is planning on going to watch a huge fight at 12:30, but Worm's mom keeps texting him that she needs him to come home and help with the writer's retreat they own.  As Worm starts his day he gets his assigned dead kid, Rebecca Finch.  Things are kinda weird as the teachers don't talk to them, make eye contact with them, or anything.  Worm really thinks it's weird that he keeps seeing a girl in raspberry colored pjs. Once he gets close enough to see her face he realizes it is Rebecca, his dead kid!  Is he going crazy or is something else at work here?  He and Rebecca try to figure it out.  

Wow.  What a great book.  Worm is insecure, shy, and defers to Eddie.  He thinks the whole Dead Wednesday is stupid, but in participating learns a lot about himself and life in general.  Such a great what if book for small choices we make everyday.

 

 

Turtle Boy by M. Evan Wolkenstein

 Will is starting 7th grade.  He was supposed to get community service hours over the summer in preparation for his bar mitzvah, but he didn't so now he has to start visiting a 16 year old in the hospital.  He does NOT want to do that, he HATES hospitals.  His dad died when he younger in the hospital.  Will also has a health issue and his chin and mouth area will need surgery.  Because of his chin deformity he wears his hoodie around his face, but a couple of boys at school started the nickname Turtle Boy.  He also really likes turtles and has captured 4 in the nature preserve behind the school and has them at his house.  As he and the boy in the hospital, R J, begin to become friends, RJ shares with Will his bucket list for Will to work on.  One thing at a time, and eventually will realizes that RJ is terminally ill.  

LOVE THIS BOOK!  So many great things to say... compassion, empathy, doing hard things, dealing with death, not fitting in, overcoming fear, standing up for others even when you're scared, etc. This would be a great book for a book study group or even a read aloud.  

Dark Waters (Small Spaces #3) by Katherine Arden

 Brian, Ollie and Coco are back and anxiously waiting to see what will happen next with the Smiling Man after they defeated him in Dead Voices.  They are scared to look in mirrors and keep doors locked.  When they get a black round paper from him with a message they try to figure it out to keep clear of him.  AS the three friends take a boat trip with Ollie's dad and Coco's mom, they end up in dangerous peril after passing through a fog and end up on an uncharted island, with no boat, a scary monster, and a ghost.  

I was very disappointed in this one.  I loved the first two books in the series and hope that the 4th book will come back strong to finish the series.  

Rule of Three's by Marcy Campbell

 Maggie's life is going along pretty well, she has two best friends, Olive and Rachel,  one of which seems to be pulling away.  Her parent's "almost divorced" several years ago, but seem fine now and suddenly a boy shows up, Tony.  Tony is her dad's son! Her half-brother!  His mom is in rehab for drugs and she sent him to live with them while she gets her life together.  On top of that her grandmother is dealing with Alzheimer's and will have to move into a memory facility.  Maggie is trying to hold it all together.  She loves designing and when a school contest comes up to decorate parts of the school she and her two friends sign up.  They are called BFF, but Rachel doesn't seem to be up to participating, which just leaves her and Olive to finish the project.  Maggie's life comes to a head and she blows, but in the end pulls everything back together and realizes what is truly important.

It was okay.  It wasn't a book that I just loved and I had to make myself go back to keep reading.  Not my fav...

The Elephant in the Room by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Sila and her family moved to the US around 8 years ago.  Sila's mother had an issue with her immigration papers and returned to Turkey to clear things up thinking she would only be gone a few days.  It is now a year later and her mother can't seem to get things fixed.  Sila and her father are making due.  Her father is a auto mechanic and she attends school, but she has become withdrawn and her teachers and counselor become worried.  She doesn't share with them what is going on with her mother.  As she is paired up with an autistic kid, Mateo, they have trouble communicating, until a chance encounter with a man.  Her dad is called to fix an old truck for a man named Gio, whose wife was Sila's 2nd grade teacher.  Gio has recently won the lottery and his wife has passed away.  A connection forms with Gio and Sila and he ends up buying an old circus elephant and houses it on his large estate.  Sila and Mateo end up becoming friends through helping Gio take care of Veda (the elephant).

A lovely story about lonely people bonding and perfect timing.  I listened to the audiobook and didn't want to stop.  Great character development, real problems, a look into immigration problems and learning not to judge people.

 

Samira Surfs by Rukhsanna Guidroz

 Samira and her family are refugees from Burma.  They have escaped to Bangladesh where there was no room for them at the refugee camp so they live outside of town.  Samira's grandparents drowned while crossing a river on their escape and it haunts Samira, to the point she is scared of water.  She and her older brother help the family bring in income.  He works in a cafe and she takes hard-boiled eggs to the tourists at the beach and sells them.  She sees girls her age surfing in the ocean and wants to do that, but she is scared of the water.  As Samira develops friendships with the girls she overcomes her fear and begins to surf.  A contest is made for surfing and Samira wants to enter, but her mother won't let her at first and eventually relents, but then the judges won't let her because she is a refugee.

Good story about refugees, muslim restrictions for girls, and family working together in love.  Written in verse it reads quickly and is a great book for kids to see how others live. 

Violets are Blue by Barbara Dee

 12 year-old Wren's parents have divorced, her dad moving far away with his new wife and baby, and her best friend seems to hate her.  Wren's mom decides they need a fresh start so they move to a different school and job.  Wren's mom is a nurse and works a lot, which Wren is used to.  As she starts at a new school Wren's mom wants her to get involved and make friends.  Wren ends up doing the make-up for the cast of the school play to get her mom off her back.  She is really into costume make-up and her new step-mother sends her stuff all the time, but Wren hides it from her mother to not cause her mom to feel bad or angry.  Things seem to be falling into place for Wren when she starts to notice her mom is napping all the time, locking her bedroom door and sometimes tells her she is working when she isn't.  As Wren discovers her mom's secret addiction, things turn upside down again and Wren wonders if things will ever be "normal" again.

GREAT book.  Highly recommend.  Barbara Dee does it again, delving into teenagers dealing with their parents choices while also dealing with their social acceptance.

The Ambassador of Nowhere Texas by Kimberly Willis Holt

 This book takes place many years after When Zachary Beaver Came to Town. 

Rylee, Toby's daughter, is struggling to "belong" in her small town of Antler.  Twig has had an international trip and comes back seeming more mature or fashionable or something and Rylee feels like she has grown apart.  Her best friend Twig seems to be pushing her away and Rylee really doesn't have many friends, so when Joe moves in from New York, Rylee ends up befriending him as she works at her family's snow cone shop during the summer.  As people in the town are gifted photos from a deceased neighbor, Rylee hears some about her dad and uncle's experience with Zachary Beaver and Rylee and Joe determine to find him.  

Set against the backdrop of 9/11, readers will experience all the angst of middle school and the changing times of friendship, acceptance, and secrets.  

Letters from Cuba by Ruth Behar

 Set in 1938, Esther's father has left Poland for Cuba and she wants to be the one to go to help him make enough money to send for her 4 siblings, mother and grandmother.  She arrives in Cuba and begins adjusting to the culture and language.  As she helps her father make money by designing and sewing dresses, she learns that there is hatred everywhere, but there is also love and acceptance.  

Written in letters to her sister, this story is based on the author's family history.  It is a topic of Nazi/ Jewish history that I was unaware of and I feel most people would be the same.  I had no idea that Cuba was a refuge for Jews during the Holocaust.  It was fascinating to me to learn of this part of history.  

Time Villains by Victor Pineiro

 

Javi, Wiki, and Brady are shopping for a table and find one that purrs!  After they are assigned the yearly "if you could bring 3 people to dinner" assignment, they set up the table and BOOM, the three people Javi selected show up!  Once they are finished with their conversation, they send them back, but the pirate Edward Teach escapes the house and threatens harm to them unless they give him access to the table for his evil plans.  They don't know what to do, but in the process find out they are "Chosen Ones" and that their table has a long history of bringing historical/ fictional people into the present.

I LOVED this book.  It is such a fun read.  It reminded me of Time Warp Trio and The Goonies put together.  The characters are awesome and developed from the beginning with all the strong characteristics and personalities.  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. I hope this is the beginning of a series.  

Ground Zero by Alan Gratz

 Told in alternating voices and time:  Brandon has been suspended for the day for fighting and goes to work with his dad in the North Twin Tower on September 11, 2001.  His dad works on the 107th floor, the very top, in the restaurant.  Brandon decides to sneak down to a shop to buy a toy and on the way down in the elevator bad things start to happen.  The elevator gets stuck and then starts to fill with smoke and he and several others end up escaping out of it before it plummets to the bottom.  From there he tries to get back to his dad, but is unsuccessful and encounters Richard who takes him with him and together along with others try to escape the building.

Reshmina, and 11 year old Afghanistan girl, on September 11, 2019 is going about her day as normal until there is a fight among the Taliban and American soldiers.  She encounters a wounded American soldier, Taz, after the fight and decides to help him.  Because of her decision and her family's agreement to help Taz, her brother goes to tell the Taliban.  Reshmina tries to stop him, but is unsuccessful and puts her whole village in danger.  

I liked that the books gives different points of view and brings up some good points I had not thought of with our involvement in the Afghanistan war.  I think this book is EXCELLENT for point of view and getting a sense of how others might feel about things and empathy.

 

Hello, Cruel Heart by Maureen Johnson

In the summer of 1967, Estella is creating costumes for herself, Jasper and Horace to steal to survive, but she wants so much more.  On a chance encounter she meets a wealthy brother and sister who take her into their fold because of her clothes she designed and flair.  As Estella sees how they live she wants to join a normal society where she can design clothes and fit in with the wealthy.  However, her Cruella side comes into play and things go south in a hurry.

This is NOT a retell of the newest Disney movie, which I was worried it would be.  It is another part of her life and story.  Johnson did a good job of adding more depth and character to a familiar villain and how she got that way.  Fun, fast read for anyone wanting more of Cruella's history.