What I’ve Read in February

I didn’t get nearly as much reading done in February as I did in January — and I’m hiding my face in shame about the scarcity of blog posts on both my blogs, as well as the scarcity of my presence on others’ blogs in February. I will try to do better in all areas in March, but it’s going to be another busy month.

For now, let the book reports begin! (Do kids still write book reports?)

First of all, I mentioned at the end of last month’s post that I was reading Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt and was about to read Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky. Both books are excellent. I did a very brief blog post about them on The Starborn Revue, but need to do longer posts about them on this blog, because I just touched on a tiny part of what the books are all about.

Novels read in February:

Early middle grade:

Benjamin Pratt & the Keepers of the School, five-book series by Andrew Clements — This series is filled with suspense, excitement, mystery, danger, and history. Can one kid, Benjamin Pratt, go up against a huge corporation and save his historic school from being demolished and turned into a theme park? Maybe he can’t do it alone, but…

Middle grade:

Wonder by R.J. Palacio — I’m a little later than others in discovering what a moving and inspiring novel this is. About a middle schooler who has physical differences, and who has never attended regular school until the year the book is set in, it shows his reactions to the whole school experience, others’ reactions to him, the bullying he endures, and how he triumphs.

The edition I read includes one section written from the point of view of the bully. If you haven’t read the book yet, I suggest you get that edition. For an excellent review of Wonder, check out Patricia Tilton’s wonderful blog, Children’s Books Heal. I’ve added this book to my list of books read for The Unconventional Librarian’s Diversity Reading Challenge.

 

Another Elizabeth George mystery was tucked in last weekend, and there were a few books that I dipped into but wasn’t drawn to. There may be a bit more reading done in February, as there’s nearly a week left in the month and Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper is waiting for me at the library. It looks rather interesting.

On to March!