Enjoyable but not essential.

This book was an excellent one.

My only complaint was that I didn't feel the bully character was fleshed out enough. Why did she act the way she did? Is it an adult thing to want to know motivations? That was the only quandary I was left with in this otherwise excellent title.

Manami lives on Bainbridge Island with her parents, grandfather, and dog, Yujiin. They are forced to "evacuate" to an internment camp during WWII. Manami tries to sneak her dog along but gets caught on the mainland. The heartbreak leads to Manami not speaking and her grandfather rarely leaving their barrack. As the story progresses, both of them gradually heal. Sepahban tells a wonderful story about the pain of loss, one that will also help children understand what life was like in internment camps in the United States.

Sofie's family inherits a farm, and she desperately wants to have chickens. She writes letters to her dead grandmother, great uncle, and a local farmer to talk about her life, and also about the chickens that start appearing on the farm. A neighbor is also trying to steal the chickens. Can Sofie save them and the farm?

I really liked this book. I'm a fan of novels in letters, and Sofie is adorable and a great protagonist.

Normally when a book takes me five days to read (in a time of MSBA reading) I don't rate it highly. I have a lot of books to get through! I loved this one though. This is a genderbent tale of Vlad the Impaler, which was interesting enough to grab me. Lada learns early on that being a woman will only get you ignored and thus she swears off all men and acting feminine. The story is told partly through her perspective and partly through her younger brother, Rada's, perspective. He is soft-hearted, which drives Lada nuts, yet she loves him. The two are shipped off from their native land of Wallachia to the Ottoman Empire in exchange for peace. What follows is a complicated story of love, betrayal, battle tactics and gender roles. I really enjoyed it, and I'm intrigued to see where the story goes.

I enjoyed this book about one girl's experience as a bascha posh in Afghanistan. Obayda's father loses a leg while on a trip to a pharmacy with her to get her medicine. It results in them moving from Kabul to a more rural part of the country, one where a warlord watches everything. To increase their luck, Obayda's aunt suggests that they turn her into a bascha posh or a boy. During that time, Obayda discovers new freedoms and makes a new friend. What will happen when they want to change her back?

I thought the book got a little explain-y at times. Characters would talk about facts in a way that I'm not sure a real conversation would flow. Otherwise, for an initial look at gender differences and this specific aspect of Afghan culture, it is an excellent start.

Thank you, Rockland Public Library, for loaning me this book.

The actual story was fine--nocturnal animals are being kidnapped by a mysterious creature, and a group of friends form to solve the mystery. There's a fun take on a human game that is also appealing. I did find the language to be a bit didactic (animals explaining what their features are.) What I really didn't enjoy was the overly flirty sugar glider. Is that something we really need in children's literature? Perhaps I'm being unduly influenced by the political sphere, but I was irritated that the character with the most "personality" basically spent most of his time trying to woo a creature much larger than himself.

Thank you Auburn Public Library for letting me borrow this book.

Heartbreaking and beautiful. Ben and Halley capture your heart and don't let it go.