These Are a Few of Mom's Favorite Things

Remember how I told you I live with two librarians?  Dad does some boring computer library stuff - whenever he tells me about it I just glaze over.  But Mom is the one who brings home all these great books and reads them herself after The-Little-One-Who-Plays-With-My-Ears has finally gone to bed. These are some of her recent favorites:

"Crooked Kind of Perfect" by Linda Urban.  Girl desperately wants piano, gets organ instead.  Learns to play anyway, enters crazy organ contest, meets amazing people and has funny, fabulous time.  Does she finally get her piano?  Read it and find out!

"Eight Keys" by Suzanne LaFleur.  Elise lives with her Aunt and Uncle because her parents died when she was young.  Now she is twelve and mysterious keys are appearing in strange places.  They go to eight locked rooms in the barn.

"Hidden" by Helen Frost.  Darra and Wren end up at the same camp.  Years before Darra's father stole Wren's family car while Wren was in it.  What happened then, and what will happen now?

"One Year in Coal Harbor" by Polly Horvath.  Sequel to "Everything on a Waffle".  Quirky characters fill up this little town that Primrose now calls home.  Will Uncle Jack and Miss Bowser ever get together?  What will happen to Ked the foster child?  One of Mom's all-time favorite authors.

"Ungifted" by Gordon Korman.  Donovan Curtis is horribly accident-prone.  When he mistakenly ruins the Middle School Gym (read the book and find out how) a lucky mistake sends him off to the Gifted School and away from the very angry School Superintendent.  Donovan's story is so funny.   Good read for boys.

"Guitar Notes" by Mary Amato.  Tripp Broody, the disgruntled, rebellious guitar player, exchanges notes in a shared music practice room with Lyla Marks, the "perfect" cellist.  An unlikely friendship develops.  Good read for boys.

"One for the Murphys" by Linda Mullaly Hunt.  Carley Connors leaves what she knows for a foster family.  Emotional and affecting, with no easy answers.

"Three Times Lucky" by Sheila Turnage.  Mo was found floating down the river during a hurricane.  She is raised by the Colonel and Miss Lana in the tiny town of Tupelo Landing, NC.  Detective Starr comes to town, there is a murder, and the trouble begins.  Lots of eccentric characters make this a touching and funny story.

"My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece" by Annabel Pitcher.  An unusual book, beautifully done.  Jamie's family falls apart after one of his older twin sisters is killed in a terrorist attack.  Five years later Jamie hardly remembers her and feels guilty for not feeling the pain the rest of the family is feeling.  When he meets Sunya she is like a ray of sunshine, but she is muslim and therefore his family's "enemy".  Cathartic end that made Mom cry and cry.

"The Bully Book" by Eric Kahn Gale.  Eric Haskins is "chosen" as the 6th-grade Grunt, or victim.  It turns out there is a Bully Book and Eric is the first Grunt to try to stop the cycle.  Find out how he makes it through the year and ultimately outsmarts the book.  Good book for boys.