Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo

Fans of "Because of Winn-Dixie" will really love Kate DiCamillo's new book.  Raymie Nightingale is a beautifully told story about 3 girls that meet under unusual circumstances in 1975.  All three are taking baton lessons, but the lessons are going horribly. What grows from these lessons is the friendship between the 3. Raymie is a wonderful character. She is "plucky." She is convinced that winning the Little Miss Central Florida Tire beauty contest will make her famous and bring her father back (after he abandoned her and her mother to run off with the dental hygienist). This story is funny and touching and just delightful.

Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky

What a well written, moving story about being who you want to be.  Grayson knows "he" is really meant to be a "she." He lives with his Aunt and Uncle and does not feel it would be acceptable to live as "she" really wants to.  But then, a new girl comes to town and Grayson begins to take steps to live the life she was meant to live.  This books is amazing. Even if you have never met someone who is transgender, you will love Grayson. You will understand, cheer for and feel for this character.  I would love if everyone would read this book and maybe it would lead to more understanding for each other and the difficulties that each may be going through.

Seers by Kristine Bowe

This is a very unique book. Leesie has no memories of her life before she became a "Seer." Seers are people who can see into another's memories.  Leesie is a special kind of Seer, she not only can see memories, she can extract (remove) memories to help people. She has a handler and now she has a new mission. She is never given much information about her missions and she is starting to question this. This was a really fast read, and I believe it will  be a series because it left me wanting more.

Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

I wanted to read this again because it is coming out as a Netflix series soon.  I bought book 1 on Overdrive as an ebook, but there is also books 1-3 out as an ebook collection. It was as delightful as the first time I had read it.  This 13 book series is all about the Baudelaire children. After a house fire kills their parents, they have to go live with their evil uncle, Count Olaf.  He is really just after their fortune and he really is awful. I suggest reading this series (none of them are really long)  before watching the Netflix series...I ALWAYS suggest reading the books first.

Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck

I followed my own advice and decided to start the other series by the author I just blogged about.  I enjoyed Tiger's Curse as much as Reawakened.  This story is another romance wrapped in a mystery. This time it is a prince from India who has been cursed to live as a tiger for centuries. After caring for the tiger when she is working at a traveling Circus, Kelsey is found to be the one that can help him break the curse.  I enjoyed learning some myths and legends from India as I read this book.  Maybe too much romance for my taste, but still a great story.  This series has four books, so if you like this one, you have 3 more to look forward to.

Reawakened by Colleen Houck

This book is a great read for those of us that like the mythology of Egypt as well as adventure.  Lily seemed to "fall" for the Egyptian prince that has risen extremely quickly, which I found just a tad irritating. But, this did not stop me from enjoying this story as they make their way to Egypt and try to stop Seth, the god of chaos from rising and taking over the world.  The author did a great job creating a very vivid picture of Egypt. If you enjoy this book, you may want to try another by this author. She wrote the series: Tiger's Curse, which we have in the library. 

The One Thing by Marci Lyn Curtis and Gold Fish by Nat Luurtsema

Oh my goodness I really enjoyed both of these books.  Both were short and totally delightful.

The One Thing is about Maggie.  Maggie looses her sight when she gets meningitis. But, then, she meets Ben and, amazingly, she can see him. The fact that Maggie can see Ben is the focus of this story. Maggie and Ben are fantastic characters, they complement each other very well.  Maggie is angry and sarcastic and kind of mean, at times.  Ben is ever the optimist. He is generous and funny. You will like this book if you like books about overcoming difficulties.

Gold Fish is laugh out loud funny.  I really, honestly, laughed right out loud in several places.  Lou (Louise Brown) is hoping to be an olympic swimmer, but her hopes are dashed when she does poorly at the time trials.  Her friend, however, makes it to the High Performance Training Camp.  Lou isn't quite sure what to do with herself without her friend and without swimming.  Just like Maggie, in the story above, Lou has a pretty sarcastic sense of humor.  She decides to help a group of boys try out for a tv show doing underwater dancing and the results are pretty funny.