End of Summer. Eventually.

And, the weather is finally marginally cooler.  Now we're only hovering in the mid-to-upper 90's.  Awesome.  

These write-ups will probably be kind of short, partially because there's not much to say about the first two and partially because Isaac's going to wake up soon.

The Sword Thief
by Peter Lerangis
160 pages
Scholastic, 2009
What's the first thing I read after finishing a summer's worth of YA novels?  More YA novels!  Actually, I was reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, but in the time it took me to finish that I got through a couple of kids books.  Cause, you know, they're short.

This is the third book in the 39 Clues series.  It offered some neat character growth for a few of the many characters in the book and some interesting tidbit about a historical figure I'd never heard of before (these books are great for that, by the way), but the adventure itself was kind of lackluster.  I spent most of the book thinking I'd probably drop this series after this one, but the ending was pretty good and I'll admit I'm still intrigued, so I'll probably pick up the next one at some point.  Oh, and worth noting, this book was worlds better than book #2 was.


Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
by Jeff Kinney
224 pages
Amulet Books, 2009
Now this is a series I may be done with.  The first book was hilarious, clever from cover to cover.  Highly recommended. The second suffered from sequel-itis.  The ideas weren't as fresh, many of the jokes weren't as clever, the overall story wasn't as strong. This book definitely suffered from three-quel-itis. Now, obviously, I'm not DOAWK's target audience, and the kids at my church tell me the second and third books are where the series starts to get funny.  Go figure. 

Here's my recommendation: next time you go to the library, pick up this book.  Read until you get to the end of the section about the kid writing his own children's book.  It won't take you too long, and it's incredibly funny.  Then put the book back down on your shelf and take the first Diary home with you. 

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
by Betty Smith
505 pages
Harper Perennial (Modern Classics) 2001 (orig. copyright 1943)
Ah, grown-up fiction at last. (And, note, not a fantasy nor an adventure story, either!  Way to branch out, me!)  This book was so good, I kind of don't know what to say about it.  There's a reason a classic is a classic. While the book is about a girl growing into womanhood, it's such a well-written, warm, relateable book that I never felt turned off by the fact that it's basically the origin of ChickLit.  It's a story of a family struggling in a small neighborhood in Brooklyn (where a tree grows, both literally and metaphorically).  What happens?  The usual things that happen.  Birth, death, poverty, first jobs, first kisses, crazy neighbors, outings gone horribly wrong, new schools, holidays.  There's nothing out of the ordinary in the story.  It's just a great story. It's a downer at points, but it's not depressing.  It's about the survival and not the obstacles.  Francie's family sort of takes the underdog role for most of the book, and it's easy to pull for each of them.  I read this book because a good friend mentioned she'd read it something like six times, and I can see how the re-read value would be high.  A high schooler reading this book will get an entirely different story than a college grad, or a new parent, or a grandmother, et cetera.

Now, it took me a while to get through, but not because it was a "tough read."  It was actually a really easy read.  However, the episodic structure of the story meant that most chapters wrapped up nicely.  There weren't many cliffhangers, so I was never itching to get back because I just had to know what happened next.  And with the way my life's been running lately, let's just say things like recreational reading have easily been dropped to the wayside for days at a time.  Nevertheless, phenomenal book.  Pretty highly recommended.