A great introduction to fractals and repeating shapes.

Adorable.

A great lady.

Most of the reason this book took me so long to read was because it slipped under the bed and got lost. The other reason was that it ran into MSBA crunch-time reading. Once I went back into reading it, I was captivated and could barely put it down. I definitely see the comparison to 'Easy A' and would recommend it for fans of that movie.

Mercedes, or Mercy, gives guys their first time so that they can provide their girlfriends with the first time experience she didn't have. On the side, she has her friend Zach, and they meet weekly for Wednesday "lunch dates." Mercedes' mom doesn't seem to really care what she does, and in fact might even be encouraging it. Her best friend wants to wait until marriage and runs the prayer group that meets at school. The careful system that Mercedes has set up to keep all this organized starts falling apart and running out of her control. Can she figure out what she really wants and who she really is?

Flynn does an excellent job of making Mercedes sympathetic. I wasn't really thinking about the implications of her actions until they were exposed. It says a lot that you can have this character who is regularly helping boys to cheat be sympathetic. I was also impressed that Flynn brought up the fact that while Mercedes was punished, the boys suffered very little, other than a few being broken up with after Mercedes has suffered a lot of humiliation. At times I was a little uncomfortable with all the sex that was happening, but it was more a reflection on my own prudish ways than on Flynn's writing. An excellent choice for libraries.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me an ARC to review.

I adored this story about a boy named Lewis, who is quite shy and unused to standing up to his overprotective parents. When his great-grandfather dies and leaves his house to Lewis's parents, Lewis gets to move into a fantastic tower room with an incredible view of the ocean. There's just one side problem: said room is also occupied by the ghosts of seven dead pirates, who want to return to their ship. Can Lewis overcome his fear and help these pirates?

I suppose I am a sucker for pirate stories in general, but this one really is adorable! The pirates help Lewis be brave and discover things about his town, his family and his classmates. I almost want to have ghost pirate friends myself (but not really. After all, they are still pirates.)

Madcap adventure story with a tiny bit of romance.

My favorite of the two typhoid books this year. Bartoletti goes in depth examining Mary Mallon's life, looking at ways laws have changed from then to now. It is a sympathetic portrayal, with explanations about why she did what she did.

I quite liked this start to a new series. Rip loves basketball and his best friend Red. Red has some quirks, but Rip rolls with them and helps Red adjust to changes in his life. There are a lot of them, too: a new 5th grader teacher is in town, with lots of different ideas including no test prep. 5th grade is also the year that you can play basketball on a team too. Very heartwarming--I might have teared up at the end.

Ada is such a great, prickly, narrator. I love her journey of standing up for herself. She has a clubfoot, and her mother keeps her locked away in their one-room apartment. However, when World War II arrives, Ada and her younger brother Jamie are sent to the countryside to be safe from the bombing. This is where Ada learns more about herself and her family. An excellent read.

I read this one in one go last night. Very adorable, great story about art vs science (and even how fights get started but no one remembers how!) as well as the politics of middle school.