Book Wrap Up: Hidden by Helen Frost

Guess who finished her second read of 2020?!

Yep, isss me!

Woo hoo!

As you can see, my reading year is off to a slow start, but I’ve gotta turn this this ship around, and fast, if I’m going to make it to my goal of either 15,000 pages read, or 50 books read.

This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using one of these links, I could earn a small fee, at no additional cost to you.

Right after I finished book number 2, I started my third book of the year, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet.

Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are cemented in my mind as Holmes and Watson, so despite my best efforts, I keep imagining them as I read.

Now, let’s talk about what I actually read: Hidden by Helen Frost.

SYNOPSIS

Middle Grade Fiction | First Publushed: 2011

From GoodReads

When Wren Abbott and Darra Monson are eight years old, Darra’s father steals a minivan. He doesn’t know that Wren is hiding in the back. The hours and days that follow change the lives of both girls. Darra is left with a question that only Wren can answer. Wren has questions, too.

Years later, in a chance encounter at camp, the girls face each other for the first time. They can finally learn the truth—that is, if they’re willing to reveal to each other the stories that they’ve hidden for so long.

Told from alternating viewpoints, this novel-in-poems reveals the complexities of memory and the strength of a friendship that can overcome pain.

*****

FUN FACT: I ordered this book back on April 20, 2013. I finished this book on February 03, 2020: 20-freakin’-20! That’s 7 years it’s been sitting on my shelf, waiting to be read. I’m appalled! Best go see what else is lurking on my shelf from eras gone by. Aaah, I digress.

Continue reading “Book Wrap Up: Hidden by Helen Frost”

Book Spotlight: The Benefits of Being An Octopus (Middle Grade Fiction Novel)

I can’t figure it out!

I read The Benefits of Being an Octopus book months ago, and have wanted to talk about it since then but I just can not figure out how to.

Have you ever desperately wanted to express something, then opened your mouth to speak on it, and all of a sudden your thoughts jam?

(Brain jam…is that a thing? If not, let’s coin a new phrase.)

Well, that’s how this has been for me.

I don’t think I’ll ever have the right words, and again, it’s been months, so here goes nothing.

Heads Up: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using one of these links, I could earn a small fee, at no additional cost to you.

The Benefits of Being An Octopus (by Ann Braden)

♥ It’s a Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Novel.

♥ It gives us a peek into poverty and the family struggles that follow.

Continue reading “Book Spotlight: The Benefits of Being An Octopus (Middle Grade Fiction Novel)”

My Very First Reread: Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan

Esperanza Rising is one of my favorite books, though I’ve only read it once, 6 years ago.

A Brief Synopsis

Esperanza Rising is a riches to rags tale where we follow our protagonist Esperanza Ortega, 12 year old daughter of Sixto Ortega, a wealthy rancher in 1920’s Mexico.

One fateful day, Sixto is killed by bandits.

During this time in Mexico, only men are permitted to own land. And after Sixto is killed, his two corrupt step-brothers approach his widow, Ramona, and offer to marry her, so that she may stay with the land.

She refuses.

Fearing retaliation for their public embarrassment, and penniless, she and Esperanza flee to the United States to a work camp for migrant workers.

Heads up: Affiliate links ahead, which means I could earn a small fee if you make a purchase using one of these links.

We continue following Esperanza’s experience from here.

A Little Background on My Rereading Experience

I’d never reread a book, until now. With so many good books on my TBR that I have yet to read, compounded with the fact that I read like a turtle, I couldn’t make a case for revisiting a book I’d already read, no matter how much I enjoyed it.

But this time was different.

Continue reading “My Very First Reread: Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan”

Book Review: Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie (Realistic Teen Fiction Novel)

Important.

That’s the one word I’d use to describe this book.

Heads up: Affiliate links ahead, which means I could earn a small fee if you make a purchase using one of these links.

Synopsis

Book Cover of Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick, a teen, family fiction novel.
Title: Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie | Author: Jordan Sonnenblick | Genres: Teen Fiction, Family Fiction, Realistic Fiction | First Published: 2004

Meet 13 year old Steven Alper – he’s starting 8th grade, loves drumming, and has a crush on the cutest girl in school: Renee.

Steven lives with his mom, dad, and his annoying little brother: 4 year old Jeffery.

All is well.

Until it’s not, when Jeffery is diagnosed with cancer.  

With their world upended, we follow the Alpers as they as they navigate this unexpected terrain.

And we experience it all through Steven’s eyes.

Continue reading “Book Review: Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie (Realistic Teen Fiction Novel)”