BLACK WOODS BLUE SKY by Eowyn Ivey Today, I QUIT a book. Eowyn Ivey, author of The Snow Child, weaves breathtaking stories together - meshing fairy tales with the Alaskan wilderness. They are rugged with an air of pristine beauty. Unfortunately, BLACK WOODS BLUE SKY has too much sex in it for me, and while not in full detail, there's more description than I care for. I can only skip so much before it becomes bothersome. As a side note, there's also quite a bit of language including F-bombs.

SNAIL CROSSING by Corey R. Tabor I love flipping the border rocks around my flower gardens. Each flip exposes an entirely new world of what I will unscientifically call "creepy-crawlies." You know what I mean: those slithering and multi-legged creatures that freeze for a moment and then scatter as quickly as possible from the giantess that just invaded their habitat. Yes, that's me! One of those slitherers (maybe a glider is a better word choice) is the snail. Snail CROSSING is a super, fun read! Our sweet, little snail has worked himself up to the side of the road, sees a cabbage patch on the other side, and makes a go for it. I understand this snail! Completely forgetting the difficulty of the road, my eyes are on the prize on the other side! So, he slides out! Needless to say, he's going to run into some serious obstacles, but along the way, he makes some friends that help him out. The book doesn't end how you would expect it would, but I can promise you that it still ends in a good way that helps to cement the importance of good friends in our lives! Great read! Rabor's illustrations are a perfect match for the text. With a touch of comic style, the pictures add a light-hearted air to the difficult feat the little snail is trying to accomplish. Delightful!

THE LAST DRAGON ON MARS by Scott R. Eintgen Take a cup of sci-fi and add a splash of fantasy. Sprinkle in a pinch of Greek mythology and top off with a trace of dystopian flair. Mix it all together and pour into a rectangular pan to set. Check back in an indefinite amount of time. If you followed your recipe correctly, The Last Dragon on Mars is what you will see.  Every planet, every moon, every star is inhabited by a dragon. These dragons are borderline "god-like presences" on their planet, star, or moon. Earth was inhabited by the dragon,Gaia,(bring in our Greek Mythology - Gaia is considered the mother of earth - of all life) who gave up her life sacrificially to make Earth a habitable place for humans. When the room began to run out on Earth, humans looked to expand to Mars. But Ares, the Dragon of Mars, had no desire to give up his life to make it livable. A war ensued, and Ares was killed. As he died, he cursed Mars causing the living conditions to degrade with each passing year. Enter in present day and Lunar Jones. Lunar Jones is a 13-year-old living in a relocation center (orphanage). Survival is dependent on salvaging and selling valuable goods left over from the Mars war left buried in the sand. When a salvage hunt turns into a race for life and death, Lunar stumbles on a secret hidden in Mars' underground depths that could mean the saving of the planet for the human race. HEADS UP- This book is squeaky clean in language and relationship areas. However, it does allude to some Eastern Mysticism. There is reference to meditation to create internal peace and a oneness between the planets and their dragons creating life.

WRITTEN BY CALLIE (6TH GRADE)        Lions, Elephants, and Lies is a book about how one little lie can turn into a whole lot of problems. The little lie happens when Jessica and Janelle ( the identical twins) switch places in one of their school classes. Meanwhile, Nick, Lisa, and Dad Mulligan head to Africa to help with a baby elephant that lost its mom due to poachers. Will they help the baby elephant? Will the twins get caught? You'll have to read the book to find out! I highly recommend this book!!

THE ADVENTURES OF SOPHIE MOUSE: IT'S RAINING, IT'S POURING by Poppy Green. Illustrated by Jennifer A. Bell. Sophie Mouse continues to be one of my favorite early chapter book series. Each time I go to the bookstore, I pick one up to add to our collection! Sophie Mouse is back at her sweet adventures, but this time water is at the heart of it all. Her class is working on a project, boat-building. After everyone finishes, they head down to Goldmoss Pond to see if the boats float. The only problem? Goldmoss Pond has dried up from lack of rain. In fact, the lack of rain is affecting a lot of things around Sophie's home. Now, instead of wishing that rain would go away, Sophie is hoping the storm clouds will soon be making an appearance.

THE QUEENS OF CRIME by Marie Benedict Oh my goodness, do I get to bring a great, fiction read to you today! Many of you know how much I love a good MYSTERY, so could we possibly have anything more perfect than 5 REAL LIFE mystery authors who collaborate together to solve a murder? Not in my book! When Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham, and Baroness Emma Orczy are inducted into the male-heavy Detective Club, they quickly realize they are not wanted or respected. It's time to take matters into their own hands and gain the respect they all deserve. They form their own club within the club calling it The Queens of Crime and set out to solve the months old mystery of a murdered, young, English nurse named May Daniels. The mystery deals with some tricky topics, but Benedict does a good job of keeping it clean. HEADS UP- The book references Sayers' illegitimate child which is a fact. No intimate details given. The word b****** is used two or three times especially referencing children born out of wedlock.   SPOILER ALERT May Daniels was raped and is pregnant. No details are given about the encounter.

HOME IN A LUNCHBOX by Cherry Mo This is a BEAUTIFUL picture book not only in its illustrations, but also in its story of a young girl from Hong Kong that has recently moved to the U.S. that is desperately trying to fit in with her peers. Each day she writes a few English words on her hand to try and attempt to communicate with the kids around her at school. Her attempts often illicit lots of laughter as she uses the wrong words constantly. Then lunch comes. She goes to the lunch room and opens her lunchbox and is immediately transported home to her family and loved ones. Over time it is her lunchbox that helps her bridge the gap between herself and her peers. This picture book is extremely heartfelt and moving, as it should be, since it is based off the author's experiences as a child. Highly recommend!

GRACIE UNDER THE WAVES by Linda Sue Park Most of us may be familiar with the name Linda Sue Park because of her books A Long Walk to Water and A Single Shard. She's back with a new book about coral reefs and the fish that live there. GRACIE UNDER the Waves is the story of a girl who loves snorkeling. It's time to plan a family vacation, so Gracie puts together a persuasive presentation for her family on why they should head to Roatan, Honduras, this year and enjoy some amazing snorkeling. Her parents talk it over and next thing Gracie knows, they're bound for Roatan. While there Gracie learns that snorkeling isn't all just "laying back and enjoying the fishes" time. There are some serious things to know about as well. The coral reef is experiencing damage due to the boat traffic. Gracie gets a scrape on the coral that becomes pretty infected and limits some of her vacation plans. She also encounters a jellyfish bloom. Despite all of this, the coral reef is a special place for her and she loves to learn about all the fish that call this beautiful place home. This is a fun read for kids who love the ocean, snorkeling, or adventure in general. An added bonus to this story is that Linda Sue Park loves to snorkel herself, and a lot of this book is born out of her own experiences. I did struggle a bit at the beginning of the book with how realistic it was for Gracie to make the presentation to her parents that she did. It felt a little far fetched, but then we moved on. HEADS UP- The book mentions climate change and its effect on the reef area.  Gracie struggles with patience with her younger brother, Ben, sometimes. She strives to work on this, but does periodically lose her temper with him.

ONCE A QUEEN by Sarah Arthur It is always so fun to have a TOP PICK book to share with you! It is doubly fun when that book is a YA read! I'll just give you a hint of how much I enjoyed this book. I promptly closed the cover, picked up the phone, and ordered book 2 from my local bookstore. It's on its way! Once a Queen is a book for those of us who love fairy tales and grew up on Narnia, LOTR, A Wrinkle in Time, and A Secret Garden. Extract elements from each of these classics, mix them up in a bowl, bake, and what you'll hold in your hands is Once a Queen. Fourteen-year-old Eva has never met her grandmother. In fact, her mother and father married and moved to another continent to get away from her. When her mother announces that she and Eva will be going "home" to visit for a few weeks, Eva is intrigued by the mystery that drove them away. Arriving at the vast English estate and meeting her grandmother, Eva can't understand what would have caused her parents to leave. Her grandmother is everything she could ever hope for, but then Eva hears pieces of conversations hinting at secrets from long ago: tragedies that occurred, relationships broken, and at the heart of it all another world and a Queen who no longer reigns. This beautiful story, while a fairy tale, deals with brokenness, unforgiveness, and the toll that can take on people, but it's a story that offers up the hope that redemption is still available no matter how long it takes. It's a story that probably each of us can relate to in some form, and that's what makes it strike at the heart. Be sure and read Arthur's Author's Notes at the end of the book where she shares the heart and situations behind the writing of Once a Queen. HEADS UP- This is a squeaky clean read! However, there are some elements of magic that would be on a similar level to Narnia.

THE BROTHERS HAWTHORNE by Jennifer Lynn Barnes It's no surprise that more secrets are waiting to be revealed in book four of The Inheritance Games series. After all, that's what keeps readers coming back time and time again. What more could there be? With this family, I have a feeling we're just getting started. The surprise this time is that the focus of book four is on the backstories of Jamieson and Grayson Hawthorne, two of the four Hawthorne Brothers. Bit by bit in the first three books, the layers surrounding this family have been pulled back revealing a web of treachery, vengeance, deceit, power, and the pursuit of perfection, but encased in the center of all of these things is a grandfather's love for his grandsons. The hinge on which this book completely rests is what will each of the brothers do when they are given the choice to continue on with the family deceit. Is the price for making a change too costly to pay? Sorry to leave things in such a cryptic manner, but what else could you expect from a book where puzzles are a normal, everyday experience? This is a series of you choose to read, you need to start at book one and read in order. HEADS UP- There is a spattering of language. It is less than the previous books. No f-bombs. You know that one of the brothers is sleeping with Avery, the main character from the previous books. No details are given. However, there are a few passionate remarks (such as how their bodies fit together) and glances (notice how a wet T-shirt fits against the body, etc)

THERE'S ALWAYS THIS YEAR: ON BASKETBALL AND ASCENSION by Hanif Abdurraqie There's Always This Year is a complicated read, but moving none the less. Author Hanif Abdurraqib takes us right into the heart of inner city Columbus, Ohio, and his growing up years there. Intermixed with the author's clear love of the game of basketball are the stories of his life. The book is divided into four quarters, like a basketball game, and each quarter's content is divided into stories headed by a game clock's time counting down to the end of the quarter that continually moves us to the end of the "game." The first very striking thing about this book is Abdurraqib's writing style. Although written in paragraphs, it is borderline poetry. The thoughts are deep and often punctuated with emotion. There is a rhythm of life that hums through the words as you read them. Stories flow about his father, watching a beloved Columbus high school basketball team play against LeBron James' high school team pre-NBA, relationships, faith or the lack of, the culture, incarceration, making it out of Columbus, returning, and all the while a steady strand of basketball holds it all together - the hope, the rejection, the rising again. I personally struggled with the first two pages and almost dumped the book, but I continued on. Abdurraqib reaches out to make a connection with us. The gathering of our hand in his, the desire of an understanding being made of what we are about to step into is a beautiful picture in today's restless society, but then comes the talk of "enemies." The people who don't understand the music that pulsates, the complicated handshakes, etc. After a little while we move past this and begin to see the bond he has with his city and home. Trying to pinpoint why this book will go on my shelf and not be passed on is difficult. All in all, I think Abdurraqib gives us a window into what living in this type of life and mindset looks like that we often don't get. While there is anger, frustration, hopelessness at times, it is wrapped in a blanket of love for his home and the relationships he has made there. Like I said at the start, it's a complicated read. HEADS UP- We do eventually get to the police issues. At first I thought we were going to miss them, but especially at the end they came out. There are a lot of F-bombs. There is wrestling with faiths, both Muslim and Christian. (Abdurraqib grew up in a Muslim home.) There is a nonchalant attitude towards crimes committed.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY FROM THE CRAYONS by Drew Drywalt. Illustrated by Oliver Jeffers. I know we're getting super close to St. Patrick's Day, but I came across this today and busted out laughing reading it! It's St. Patrick's Day and the green crayon is on vacation. All the other crayons jump in to help Drew accomplish his St. Patrick's Day picture with some unusual color choices. HEADS UP- White is used to give the leprechaun some underwear.