Fiona Finkelstein Meets Her Match (Aladdin, 2010) by Shawn K. Stout is one of those laugh out loud books. This fourth grader is an interesting character. Fiona doesn’t like “food that lies” and she’s too old for a babysitter, so has a “watcher” instead. She’s pretty happy in her world except that her teacher won’t choose her to be “electrician.” But then . . . a new kid comes to town and steps into her territory big time.
This is the 2nd book in a series and I had no problem reading it without having read the first book, though I’ve planning to read it now!
You can read about author Shawn K. Stout on her site. There I discovered she really likes peach pie. (Yumm, me, too!)
She answers some questions on her publisher’s site, too.
Tag: humor
Invasion
We all know the comics aren’t real . . . don’t we?
That’s what 16-year-old Colt is about to find out in the first C.H.A.O.S. novel, Invasion (Thomas Nelson, 2010), by Jon S. Lewis.
Summer vacation in Washington DC, but the building Colt’s dad has stopped in front of doesn’t look like a tourist place. Nor does it look like a camp. Inside he’ll find out all kinds of secrets about his world, but then not be able to remember them or even whom he met. Later while surfing at home in San Diego he gets attacked by a sea monster, but who’s going to believe that? It sounds like something out of a nightmare. Unfortunately, Cole’s going to experience worse in the days to come.
I enjoyed the humor in the book, and the relationship between the kids. It felt a bit comic bookish itself, so should appeal to comic book fans. As it should since the author has written comic books as well. Check out the series website.
Note: This is definitely not your stereotypical “Christian” book; in fact, there’s no preaching at all!
Jon S. Lewis is also the cowriter of the Grey Griffins Clockwork Chronicles.
I’d love to give this book to a boy who likes comic books. If you have a son, nephew, grandson, who’d enjoy the book, comment on this post with your email address, and I’ll draw from the comments and contact one lucky person to win this book.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
The Dangerous Days of Daniel X
I recently discovered The Dangerous Days of Daniel X (Little, Brown and Company, 2008) by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge. It reminds me of Men in Black except the aliens are dangerous and must be destroyed. Especially the ones who assassinated young Daniel’s parents. Yet Daniel, the Alien Hunter, himself is an alien, who has special powers.
The next book in the series is Daniel X: Watch the Skies by James Patterson and Ned Rust. I plan to read it soon. Then I’ll follow up with the third book, Daniel X: Demons and Druids by James Patterson and Adam Sadler.
James Patterson has a site called ReadKiddoRead to encourage kids to become readers for life. The site includes these categories:
– Illustrated Books
– Transitional Books
– Pageturners
– Advanced Reads
and also offers many other resources.
Read more about co-authors Michael Ledwidge, Ned Rust, and Adam Sadler on these sites.
The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Book 1: The Mysterious Howling
Of especially naughty children, it is sometimes said: “They must have been raised by wolves.” The Incorrigible children actually were. So reads the beginning of the jacket flap for The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Book 1: The Mysterious Howling (Balzar and Bray, 2010) by Maryrose Wood.
Take your typical poor girl who must be a governess and make it untypical with lots of humor and you’ll have Miss Penelope Lumley, aka Lumawoo, and the 3 children she must civilize. . . by the Christmas party. This story actually welcomes clichés. Watch out for squirrels and Old Timothy. And what exactly do the guests mean by their comments about a hunt?
I’m looking forward to the sequel, The Hidden Gallery, which will be in stores Feb 22, 2011.
Reading on Maryrose’s website, I discovered she also writes books for teens. I’ll have to check them out.
Her publisher offers the game below to go along with the book. (used by permission)
http://www.awesomeadventurebooks.com/swf/widgets/squirrelSpotter-widget-loader.swf
Assassin & Confessions from the Principal’s Chair
More books I’ve been feasting on. (I refuse to post about the books that strike me as famine.)
I’ve read two books by Anna Myers recently. She’s an SCBWI Regional Advisor in Oklahoma and always makes me laugh when I meet her. I’d suddenly realized after the SCBWI LA Conference this year that I hadn’t read any of her books. Duh! Both of these books are in that Tween land where they are sometimes classified as middle grade (mg) and sometimes as young adult (YA).
Assassin (Walker and Company, 2005)
This story is told in alternating viewpoints – Bella, a young impressionable girl, who has lost her mother to death and been abandoned by her father, wants to be on the stage, and Wilkes, better know as John Wilkes
Booth, the actor who shot and killed Abraham Lincoln. I sometimes was
annoyed with Bella, but Wilkes was totally convincing. Don’t skip the
prologue!
Confessions from the Principal’s Chair (Walker and Company, 2005)
Bird is sitting in the principal’s chair and how she got there and what she does takes you for a ride in the mind of an 8th grade girl.
This book is funny, and too true–boy, do I remember those feelings of trying to make my mother feel bad- and has a really satisfying ending.
Think I’ll have to go read more books by Anna…
If you want to know more about her, go to her website at http://annamyers.info/