HATTIE EVER AFTER by Kirby Larson

Hattie had the adventure of a lifetime when she tried to make a go of her uncle's Montana homestead.  There were good times and bad, but Hattie wouldn't have traded them for anything.  She made long lasting friends, and they continue to support her endeavors.

After leaving the homestead, working in the boarding house enables Hattie to repay her late uncle's debt and set aside a bit for herself.  In this new adventure Hattie encounters a traveling theater group and joins them as their wardrobe mistress.  She has mixed feelings about leaving her new, comfortable circumstances, but her dream to be a newspaper reporter convinces her that this might be her only chance. 

Hattie arrives in San Francisco and is amazed by its awesomeness.  In her free time she explores.  She finds the huge buildings that house the city's three newspapers.  A stroke of luck lands her a job at one of the papers.  True, it might be just a job as a cleaning woman, but it gets her closer than ever to the job of her dreams.

A combination of Hattie's determination and being in the right place at the right time, allows Hattie to show off her talents as a writer.  Her dream seems to be within reach, but along the way she may find she is losing other things she has come to know and cherish.

Author Kirby Larson continues the adventures of a courageous, strong-willed young woman.  Fans of HATTIE BIG SKY will be happy she has returned.

THE BLOG TOUR IS ABOUT TO BEGIN!

These two great books will be featured on a blog tour over the next three weeks.  Readers will be able to read the opinions of three bloggers AND have fun entering contests to win signed copies and ARC's of both books.

 

Read on to find links to the blogs that will feature DEAD GIRL MOON by Charlie Price and PERIOD 8 by Chris Crutcher.

 

 

Blog tour schedule:

 

March 12 The Teen Librarian Toolbox at http://www.teenlibrariantoolbox.com/

 

March 19 Right here at Readingjunky's Reading Roost http://readingjunky.blogspot.com/

 

March 26 Author Cynthia Leitich Smith http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/

 

 



JANIE FACE TO FACE by Caroline B. Cooney

Thank you to Caroline B. Cooney for sharing Janie with readers one final time.  I enjoyed all the Janie books, but I didn't know we would be treated to yet another.  It is a nice conclusion to her story.

For those of you who haven't read the Janie saga, it starts with a teenage girl eating lunch with her friends in the high school cafeteria.  When Janie looks at her milk carton, she recognizes the face of the missing child pictured on the carton.  It is her own picture at the age of three.  What follows is a captivating story about how Janie had been kidnapped and left to be raised by another family.  She struggles with the fact that she loves this second family and has actually forgotten her original family.  She knows if she reports the discovery of this picture and her true identity, she will be ruining the lives of people she has come to know and love.  Eventually she is introduced to her biological family and then she must learn to adjust to having two families.

In this new and final book, JANIE FACE TO FACE, Janie is in college and trying to live independently of her families and the crazy media circus her story created.  Living with people who don't know her past is a refreshing change.  When she meets a nice young man, she even thinks she may have met someone who could replace her beloved Reeve.

Janie isn't really ready to introduce Michael to either of her families, but he manages to arrive on scene when Janie is visiting the parents she refers to as her "kidnap" family.  When Janie discovers Michael taking pictures of her father on his phone and texting them to an all too familiar phone number, she knows his intentions toward her are suspect.  Since the phone number she recognizes belongs to author supposedly writing a questionable book about her kidnapping, she realizes Michael has only gotten close to her to further the research he has been hired to do for the author. 

Her frustration and fear drive her to hop on a flight to visit Reeve.  The trip rekindles their romance and has them both realizing they never want to be apart again.

In alternating sections readers also meet Janie's kidnapper.  Hannah has new plans of her own.  Having never forgiven her own parents and the little three year old Janie who she sees as having ruined her life, Hannah is out to get revenge.  She is plotting a way to get even, but if Janie's family and friends have anything to do with it, she just might end up spending the rest of her life in prison.

Any readers out there who haven't discovered the FACE ON THE MILK CARTON and the other related books, go straight to your library or local bookstore and get your hands on this classic series.  You won't regret it!

PREGNANT PAUSE by Han Nolan

Elly is only sixteen and she is pregnant.  She hasn't made the best choices in her young life, and now her parents tell her she is paying the price.

Lam is the father.  Elly and Lam have had some great times together, but now their parents have decided the best idea is for the two to get married and spend the summer working at the kids' weight loss camp Lam's parents run.  It looks like their parents want Elly and Lam to think about what it will be like to have this baby and raise it by themselves.  When the teens come to their senses, the adults hope they will decide to give the baby up to either Elly's sister who has been trying to have a baby for years or to Lam's parents who lost a child to illness long ago.

The last place Elly wants to be is a summer camp.  She's physically uncomfortable and watching Lam continue to have fun and party without her makes her furious.  She wavers back and forth about whether or not to keep the baby or sign her rights over to someone else.  All she knows is that she regrets all the decisions that got her in this mess.

PREGNANT PAUSE is filled with little side stories in addition to Elly's pregnancy.  Campers with issues provide both drama and comic relief.  The counselors also have their adventures as they interact with campers and each other. 

Readers will definitely feel the emotional turmoil as Elly wavers from moment to moment.  Her determination to prove her parents wrong and her search for the love she feels she has been denied combine to create a roller coaster that will have readers turning pages and hanging on for the ride.



THE ELEPHANT OF SURPRISE by Brent Hartinger

ARC courtesy of NetGalley.com

Russel is determined to survive his breakup with Otto.  It was a mutual decision that their long distance relationship was probably not going to work, however, they both agreed that their friendship would continue.  Now Russel is swearing off love, but his other close friends, Min and Gunnar, don't believe that is possible.

Russel, Min, and Gunnar begin a new adventure the day they observe two teens climbing out of the dumpster behind their school.  The two identify themselves as Wade and Venus and surprise Russel and his friends when they also identify themselves as "freegans."  They explain the freegan lifestyle by offering to show Russel, Min, and Gunnar how they live.  According to Wade and Venus, they live using the things that the rest of society throws away.  They take Russel and his friends to a camp where local homeless people are living and show them how the castoffs of others are used to help these homeless folks survive.

This lifestyle is fascinating, but Russel is even more fascinated by the fact that Wade is gorgeous.  He decides maybe he should give love another try.  Russel finds every possible opportunity to get together with Wade.  They begin spending more and more time together, and Russel begins to think there might be a possible relationship forming.  Things begin to crumble when Gunnar's passion for documenting his life on film uncovers a possible terrorist-like plot that may change what they think about the freegans.

Author Brent Hartinger continues the saga he started in THE GEOGRAPHY CLUB.  His characters have many adventures in the series that started with the formation of the club, and they continue in THE ELEPHANT OF SURPRISE.  Russel and his friends have their eyes opened to an unusual lifestyle and also to the fact that not everyone around them has good intentions.


LINDSEY LOST by Suzanne Marie Phillips

Lindsey is a star runner with Olympic potential.  Her brother Micah is a star baseball player.  Their world revolves around their sports.  Lindsey spends countless hours on the track even in the off-season, and Micah hits the batting cages to keep in shape.  Together, they support and encourage each other.

When Lindsey suddenly disappears, Micah can't believe she is gone.  According to his father, he was found unconscious in the driveway on the afternoon she went missing.  The last thing Micah remembers was talking with Lindsey at the track after school.  He knows she was upset but the rest is all a blur.  When he tries to think about it, there are only glimpses of her running through the orchard.

The days that follow are filled with endlessly questions from the police, and then the unthinkable, Lindsey found dead in the orchard.  First Micah is a suspect, then his father, and even Lindsey's coach Kelly.  If only Micah could remember what he saw, he would know if he was a killer or a witness.

LINDSEY LOST is the author Suzanne Marie Phillips' first suspense novel.  It is filled with twists and turns right to the end.  I was happy to read on the cover blurb that she is at work writing her next thriller.  

THE MIGHTY MISS MALONE by Christopher Paul Curtis

Deza Malone is quite a character.  She loves school, she loves reading and writing, and she loves her family.  Deza, her mother and father, and her older brother Jimmie live in Gary, Indiana.  It's the 1930's and the depression has made life hard, but this family knows that family is what makes life worth living.

When she is not in school, Deza is at the library.  Her thirst for knowledge and her ability to communicate through speaking and writing are going to be the things that assure her success some day.  Everyone is sure her brother's success will come from his beautiful singing voice.  They are a couple of great kids and they make their parents proud.

After unbearable disappointment while looking for work, Deza's father decides he must leave the family and head back to their original home in Flint, Michigan.  If he can find work there, he can save some money and send for the rest of them.  The plan holds promise until Deza and her mother and brother are sent packing by their landlord.  What follows is their uncertain journey hopping trains until they arrive in a temporary camp outside Flint.  Their struggles there continue as they wait to hear from the husband/father and the job he has hopefully found.

Well-known author and Flint native, Christopher Paul Curtis, has once again created a fascinating tale with clever characters involved in an emotional and inspiring story.  Fans of BUD, NOT BUDDY and THE WATSONS GO TO BIRMINGHAM --1963 will fall in love with THE MIGHTY MISS MALONE.