Book Review 32: Greetings from Nowhere by Barbara O'Connor

This was a sweet, endearing book. The main characters lives all came together at a motel by chance. Aggie, an old lady who owns the motel, but is running out of money to pay for it, so puts it up for sell. Willow, a girl whose mother has just left her and her father, and her father decides to buy the motel to get a new start. Kirby, a young boy who is on his way to a special school for troubled boys with his mother, they get stranded when their car breaks down on the way to the school. And Loretta, a girl who receives a box full of trinkets from an "other" mother she never knew existed, visits the museum with her loving adopted parents as they visit places represented by charms on a bracelet out of the box. And of course, Ugly, Aggie's cat. They all work to be a family in a way, and it is really great to see them all fit together and kind of heal/help each other with what is needed at that moment in their lives. Great book.

Started last night was Hard Gold by Avi.

Book Review 31: Go Big or Go Home by Will Hobbs

So as I mentioned at the end of my last blog, this one started out with a good hook, a meteorite crashed through the roof of the main character Brady Steele's house. I assumed, this was just a hook, didn't know it was actually going to turn what I thought would just be a boys biking extreme summer story, into a sci fi story. So, in other words, I ended up really enjoying this. Turns out the meteorite wasn't just from the asteroid belt, it actually came from Mars, and was carrying some hitchhikers, bacteria from Mars. Brady gets infected, and it causes him to be really strong. But there's a later, not so good effect that will come from this. And it will tie into Brady's long standing nightmare of being cut open for an autopsy while still alive.

I love how this talks about the history of the Crazy Horse monument as well as Mount Rushmore. I think it's so interesting that the boys are able to ride around on their bikes with no parents around for a long time. Even just go camping overnight to go fishing without actually getting permission from their dads. There's also a rivalry with neighbor boys, and their dog Attila. The dog also gets infected. Then there is his cousin Quinn's dad who needs a job, and that is affecting what happens with the boys as well. I enjoyed this book, and could see it on the list for next year.

Very early this morning I started the book Greetings from Nowhere by Barbara O'Connor.