It’s hard for me to read all the way through a long book review. But thankfully, mini-reviews (and miniature things in general) exist.
These are shorter thoughts on books I’ve read this month and one from May. Only good reads have been included.
SHORT by Holly Goldberg Sloan
Key words: honest, munchkins and winged monkeys, big personalities, Julia- a girl who spends a lot of time looking up.
Last sentence: And that’s the only place where growing really matters.
Thoughts: This book is a PRIME example of why I love realistic fiction with younger narrators. Big, unwieldy words and super long sentences cannot be found in this book. Julia’s voice is genuine and unedited. All her thoughts are in there, whether they’re selfish or profound.
KIDS OF APPETITE by David Arnold
Key words: gang of kids, adventuring, helping others, love in so many of its different forms, stories.
Last sentence: It begins with my friends.
Thoughts: I love how Mr. David Arnold writes. The way he strings words together is so great. For example, his chapter titles? They rock my socks off.
The Momentous Multitudes.
Cool, in the Traditional Sense.
The Magnificent Enigma of Simultaneous Extreme Opposites.
Those Tenacious Molecules of Chance.
ANGELFALL by Susan Ee
Key words: a girl who actually knows how to survive, an agnostic angel, the apocalypse
Last sentence: My face muscles twitch a tiny bit in response to my inner joy.
Thoughts: Okay, this book has two, big ingredients I don’t care for. Angels (characters who have unnaturally good looks because they are NOT HUMAN) and apocalypses (just in general not a big fan of any dystopian, the world is ending plots). But WHOA. I liked this book a lot. It’s not like the story is new. (Girl loses sister. Girl will do anything to get her back even if it means teaming up with the enemy. Befriends enemy.) It’s because Penryn is a cool main character. She knows how to fight- for real. She does what needs to be done- even if it means eating cat food. She doesn’t fall for the unnaturally good looking angel- well… not immediately.
THE MIRACLE OF ST. ANTHONY by Adrian Wojnarowski
(BEST book read in June!!!)
Key words: non-fiction, an old-school coach whose heart and bite is as big as his bark, inner city kids, basketball times a million billion, HARD WORK
Last sentence (but not really. The last, LAST sentence of the epilogue could be considered a spoiler, so here’s the last sentence of the book part): When the kids hustled out into the hallway for a drink of water between games on that warm spring day in Jersey City, Robert Patrick Hurley, out of Linden Avenue in the Greenville section of Jersey City, out of another time and place, reached for the broom and started sweeping.
(That only seems like a really long sentence right now, but it will mean something totally different after you read this book.)
Thoughts: Coach Hurley had been consistently turning his teams into champions for years. How? By yelling. A lot. And caring, loving, and looking out for them. This book reminds me of The Boys in the Boat (which if you didn’t know, is my second favorite book of all time). Both are narrative, non-fiction stories driven by sports. Both are so much more than that. Both are written superbly. This book is SO GOOD. It’s amazing.
BOOKED by Kwame Alexander
Keywords: middle school (which isn’t going so well), a dictionary (that Nick hates), April (his crush), Coby (his best friend), his parents (cool in their own ways), soccer (duh)
Last sentence: You’ll never believe what was inside…
Thoughts: Even though this book is written in verse and second person, which are two qualities I don’t like in books (whoa- this sounds like Angelfall all over again), Booked FLOWS. Nick Hall is having a much more eventful eight grade year than I did, but he approaches it in a very real manner. Also, I LOVE how the book is formatted with the titles and ellipses and the black out poetry and italization. I’ve seen nothing like it. And the characters aren’t bad themselves. Actually, they’re awesome. I WANT Mr. Mac’s shirts. And the relationship between Nick and his mom (and the growing one Nick has with his dad) is great. This book was great in general.
Wow, June was a good reading month. This is Annie, signing out. See you Saturday!
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[…] Uniquely Magic – annie shares my love for “kids of appetite” by david arnold ❤ […]
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AHH, thank you!!
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Hi, Annie! I nominated you for the Liebster Award!!! You can check it out here: https://findthebusstop.wordpress.com/2017/07/08/the-liebster-sunshine-blogger-awards/
Your blog is awesome! Can’t wait to see more from ya. 🙂
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Hey, Rayne! First of all, THANK YOU. Second of all, I forgot to tell you that I totally agree with your answer to question number six.
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You’re VERY welcome! Hahahahaha, that is hilarious! 😀
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Books! I am such a bookworm and I’m always trying to find something new to read. Currently I am rereading Skulduggery Pleasant because I read the 10th book that came out a month ago and now I’m hooked again!
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I looked up Skulduggery Pleasant and WHOA. I put it on hold at my library! Right now I’m just started My Berlin Kitchen. I barely started but so far so good. 🙂
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Even though I write quite long book reviews myself, I’m not much of one to sit through and read others extremely longgggggg and overly elaborate reviews either (don’t quote me on that – LOL). I’m so glad I’m not the only one!
Likewise, I’m a big fan of younger narrators just cause there always seems to be so many characteristics that are relatable to reality and that we can learn from.
Great post, I look forward to reading more mini reviews from you in the future!
Happy July Reading 🙂
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Yea, I totally agree! On both counts. I guess I would rather be reading a book than a review. As for younger narrators, it’s awesome to see life from their point of view. Especially after a more intense, serious book. AHH, thank you so much!
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