I started this book this afternoon and finished it before bedtime. The author’s story is engrossing yet so sad. I wasn’t popular in school by any means, but luckily I experienced not one iota of what the author had to endure. Hopefully this book will bring bullying to the forefront of parents’ and teachers’ minds and encourage them to learn more about effective responses to bullying.

My only minor criticism of the book is that I wished the author had commented more on how very lucky she was to have all the resources at her disposal that she did—a seemingly affluent family that for example, could whisk her out of the country on a moment’s notice. My heart goes out to kids who have to deal with bullying without those luxuries.

But I hope more parents, teachers, bullies, and the bullied read this book. Here are some resources that she lists at the back of the book for those needing help or wanting to learn more:
KidsPeaceBullying Online
National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-SUICIDE

This book didn’t grip me the way I expected it to. Maybe it was because of the large role that baseball played in the story, but I’m not so sure about that - I like sports more than my husband does! I found that I often had to look back to previous chapters to remind myself of certain elements in the fantasy world of the book, so maybe that’s why I didn’t enjoy it that much - the world didn’t seem organic to me in the way that other kids’ fantasy books have.

When I realized this was a novel in free verse, I almost put it down. Poetry just has never been my favorite thing. But this was a wonderful read, and I’m glad I didn’t put it down. I think kids who aren’t “getting” poetry in school would really identify with the main character and enjoy this book.

This is a great story about how witch hysteria affects a young girl’s life. I’ll definitely keep an eye out for the sequel to this when I’m at the library.

I never read this as a child, so I decided to check it out as an adult. What a clever story. Sometimes the “morals” were a little too obvious for my taste, but I don’t think kids will be as sensitive to that as I was, especially younger kids having it read out loud to them. I just wish I’d read it as a kid myself!

This was an easy read, especially for nonfiction. But more important than that, this book brought to life for me what the working poor in this country deal with every day of their lives—too-high (and rising) rents, wages too low to cover both housing and food (let alone medical costs), bosses that encourage and reinforce the idea that you don’t deserve higher wages, corporations that exploit the poor and lack any modicum of true respect for their employees as fellow human beings.

Because of this book, I plan to learn more about the working poor in my community and about the living wage movement.

Atwood is one of my favorite authors, but it took me a while to get into this novel. I liked the characters and they were interesting to read about—it’s just that it took me a while to get over the depressing setup of the book. But I’m glad I read it. It’s definitely given me some food for thought about the direction our society is heading.

I loved, loved, loved this book. It was exactly the right book for me. I almost didn’t buy it, though. I’m on a must-resist-book-buying sort of budget, but my husband pointed this book out to me at the bookstore. After reading the “Ten Indispensable Things You Need to Change the World” on the back flap, I knew I had to buy this book. (#1 is “A cupboard. To put your TV in.” Something I know I should do but don’t.)

The book is structured around the author trying to get a better grasp on the serenity prayer, which she has carried with her for years:
“Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change
The courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference.”

That first bit is where I get stuck. I feel this immense responsibility to devote my life to “changing the world” but I just end up feeling overwhelmed (duh, can you imagine?) and frustrated when I see that there’s no silver bullet solution to anything. This book spoke to me in a way that no one ever has. No matter how many times someone has said to me “There is no silver bullet” or “You can’t change the world in a day” or whatever, I nodded in agreement but didn’t really agree. Deep down, I truly believed that there is a silver bullet and I just had to find it.

But this book taught me that though there may be a silver bullet out there, devoting your life to finding out what it is isn’t nearly important as doing something that brings you joy and makes you feel as if you’re contributing something to the solution. I don’t want to ruin the ending, but I will if I say much more than that.

I just really, really loved this book. It’s exactly what I needed to read. Thank you, Isabel Losada, wherever you are.

Not my favorite Irving novel, but still a good read with rich, interesting characters.

A middle-grade novel about a daydreaming man and his love of penguins…very cute! It was first published in 1938, so some bits are outdated (like the fact that they spank the penguins for misbehaving!) but overall, it was a good book.