Reviews

"Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who's ever been chosen." 

Simon has been sent to save the World of Mages, but he's actually not very good at magic. He can't control his power and spends most of his time worrying about the location of his probably a vampire roommate, Baz. Simon is a wonderfully flawed character who is only a little bit like another famous chosen magic user...coughhackHarryPottercough. He's adrift in a world of magic with his friend, Penny, his girlfriend, Agatha, and his nemesis/roommate, Baz. The Insidious Humdrum is draining magic and threatening everything Simon holds dear. He's been attacking Simon regularly since he was 11 and started at Watford School of Magicks, but now, in his last year, their conflict is set to come to an epic conclusion.

For readers who are feeling lost without Harry Potter (at least until the end of the month, come on Cursed Child!) this will be a welcome treat. Watford is just different enough from Hogwarts to be new and exciting, while being similar enough to feel like coming home. The World of Mages is an interesting one and the rules of magic are very different from the Wizarding World. For Simon and the other mages, it's all about the words you use. A turn of phrase that "normals" use can hold strong power for a mage. Not every mage uses a wand to focus their power either - some use rings, swords, or even belt buckles! 

Pick up this excellent fantasy adventure if you're in the mood for some great summer reading. Don't forget to sign up for the Teen Summer Reading Program to earn points for all that reading. Grand prizes are Beats headphones, a GoPro, and a bluetooth speaker!

Something is happening to the dogs of Littlefield, Mass.  Is someone poisoning them or does the blame fall on something more supernatural?  A cast of delightful, small-town characters suffers through this travesty as circumstance and personality pit one against each other.

It begins with the posting of warnings: pet-owners should not let their dogs roam free in the park. The signs start off politely, then denigrate into meaner advice: “Leash your beast or else.” Then a white bull-mastiff is found poisoned in the park woods.  Soon the aldermen schedule a meeting to discuss two diametrically-opposed proposals: ban all dogs from the park, or create a leash-free area for the dogs to play and have freedom.

Littlefield, long on the top ten list of best small communities to live in America, appears to be coming apart in myriad ways. Most of the teens and adults have therapists. The veneer of social niceness quickly disappears.

Willowdean Dickson is a Dolly Parton fan, a self described fat girl, and a resident of a small town where the event of the year is a beauty pageant. Willowdean's mother is a former winner and now basically runs the pageant. Will does her best to ignore it, preferring to spend her time with her best friend, Ellen, and at her after school job where she has a crush on a coworker. After experiencing her first heartbreak and standing up to the school bully, Will decides to go for broke and enter the pageant.

Willowdean is a character to root for. She is a very real girl who finds herself an unexpected superhero for the misfits of her town. Her story is one of family, friendship, love, and self discovery that will appeal to many readers. Check out Dumplin' this summer and enjoy it with a big glass of sweet tea (Willowdean is a Southern girl after all). Don't forget to sign up for the Teen Summer Reading Program so you can earn prizes for reading!

If you ever worried as a child about bringing other children home from school and their possible reaction to your home and family life, this book will resonate with you. If you ever reconnected with a close relative after a long absence, ditto.

Lucy Barton had a pretty horrific childhood: dirt-poor for many years the family lived in an actual garage without running water. And not only was there little money, food, or clothes, but her parents provided little emotional sustenance. 

Strout takes you deep into the mind and heart of her protagonist, a young mother in her twenties, recently hospitalized after an operation.  Lucy is happily married with two young children whom she feels she has abandoned because of her illness. She also is a new writer, proud of her work, but still not at ease calling herself an author.

The present time of the book occurs in a New York City hospital where Lucy is amazed to see her mother, who’s come all the way from Iowa to take care of her daughter.  But this is so out of character for her, that Lucy can scarcely believe she has arrived. Neither parent has ever visited Lucy before and neither attended her wedding. At his one meeting with their future son-in-law, Lucy's father flipped out because her fiancée was German.