Two years ago, I read the elementary school editions of the early Betsy-Tacy books for the first time ever. How did I miss out on this series? Either way, I’m glad to be reading them now. I was a huge Anne of Green Gables fan as a child and teen, and this series, set in Minnesota, contains many similarly charming elements. Betsy Ray is a beloved citizen of Deep Valley, and she has ruled the elementary coop with her best friend, Tacy Kelly. Yet life […]
“I hate seeing fat girls on TV or in movies, because the only way the world seems to be okay with putting a fat person on camera is if they’re miserable with themselves or if they’re the jolly best friend. Well, I’m neither of those things. ..”
I liked the message behind Dumplin’ a lot. It’s great to see a body positive YA protagonist with sass. I also have a weird obsession with beauty pageants. It seems like this should have been the perfect book for me…but it fell a bit short. The pageant really isn’t a huge part of the story. It’s more about relationships: Will and her mother, Will and her coworker/kinda boyfriend Bo, Will and best friend Ellen. The story isn’t bad by any means, but I really wanted […]
Teenagers work through their grief
I can’t remember how this book got on my wish list. I haven’t read anything else by Meg Wolitzer. I generally stay with young adult books and she is more known for her adult books than this YA one. In any case, I put Belzhar on my list at some point and it became available recently. I had no idea what to expect, but was quickly drawn into a world of troubled teens. The story is told from perspective of a high school student named […]
Cowboys can be detectives too
I first discovered Steve Hockensmith in my library with his Pride and Prejudice and Zombies books. While I am a big fan of the original Pride and Prejudice, I thoroughly enjoyed Hockensmith’s addition of the zombies and his humour, so looked for more of his books. Happily, my library has the Holmes on the Range mystery series as audiobooks, and I listened to the first four in quick succession. By the last one, The Crack in the Lens, it was getting a little repetitive and I […]