Finn's Going

by Tom Kelly
CMSW, hardcover, 278 pages

This was a very challenging read. Not sure I can recommend it to my students. Even though the protagonist is only ten, the writer's style is very stream-of-consciousness. The British terms and expressions are beyond those I've ever encountered. It took me a while to understand some of them. Honestly, I still don't know which brother is which. It's obvious from the start that something tragic happened to one of the twins, but it takes to the very end of the story for the explanation to come out. In the meantime, the reader wonders what the deal is with otters. And is this Danny or Finn who's sharing his grief with us? He tells Airplane Kev that he's Danny. But then he responds to his dad's "Hello, Finn" at the end with an affirmative. The title also plays into this ambiguity. Is "Finn's Going" in reference to the boy who died? Or does it refer to the remaining brother's going through his grief? All in all, not terribly accessible for most of my readers.

Rhubarb

by Garrison Keillor
Carver County Library, audioCD, 77 minutes
read by the author

A fun grouping of summer stories in Lake Woebegone. I like how he added local references for his live audience while he was on tour. Sometimes his stories make me sad, especially when the small-mindedness and meanness of small-town life come through (like the boy who was pressured into wearing a yellow ribbon at school even though he didn't want to), but more often the stories make me laugh. I especially liked the way he talked about rhubarb and how everyone thinks it's unique to their area.

Millions

by Frank Cottrell Boyce
Hennepin County Library, audioCDs, 4.5 hours
read by Simon Jones

British story about a boy, Damien, who finds a bag of cash. He and his brother have only a few weeks to spend it before the conversion to Euros. Their mother died a few years earlier, and that along with Damien's fascination with saints and their stories, make for some unusual plot twists as the boys find the money becoming a burden rather than a blessing.

Jones' voice is perfect for this work.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw

by Jeff Kinney
hardcover, CMSW, ? pages

I had to read book three (brand new) before checking it out to my students! How delightful! Even though Greg is a little stinker, the book rings true in many regards. I enjoyed this one as much as book one in the series, and waaaay more than book two. What fun!

Greg's mom thinks it's time for him to do his own laundry. His dad wants him to be more manly, like his boss's kids. Greg just wants to be a kid.

Stormbreaker

by Anthony Horowitz
Hennepin County Library, audioCDs, 4 hours & 37 minutes
read by Nathaniel Parker

I enjoyed this more the first time I read it. Listening to it, especially with two 21-year-olds mocking it, made it much less enjoyable. Alex Rider as a 14-year-old spy is pretty far-fetched. I don't think I need to re-read the rest of the series . . . but it's still fun to booktalk it to readers who want something fast and action-packed.

John 3:16

by Nancy Moser
paperback, Carver County Library, 402 pages

I liked (not loved) this book, but am eager for our book club discussion. When we talk about the books, then I really start to appreciate what the author brought to it and what each of us takes away as readers.

Without giving away too much, I'll say that the funeral and Roman finding Trudy's letter were the two parts that I liked the most. My favorite characters were William and Barry. I must just like kids . . .

Some parts of this just felt too pat. I had a really hard time getting into this book (I didn't get past chapter two for weeks!), but once I got into the different characters' storylines, I read quickly and enjoyed it.

As it's written in the book (not sure what version):
John 3:16. For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who belives in him will not perish but have eternal life."
Praise God!

Fast Food Nation

by Eric Schlosser
read by Rick Adamson
audioCD, Carver County Library, 9 hours (abridged)

I didn't realize this was an abridgement until the very end of the CD! Good thing it was, though, because nine hours of fast-food condemnation got old. There was some very interesting information. The part on slaughterhouses made me glad that we buy our beef from a local farmer and local butcher. But it's easy to understand how people make the choice to go vegetarian.

I thought he was a little over-the-top in making Ray Kroc and Walt Disney sound like the bringers-of-the-downfall of American society. But he makes some really strong connections between business and politics. Money and power are interesting forces throughout civilization . . . usually for ill rather than good. I'm glad that I'm already trying to eat healthier. This book is definitely "food for thought." I would love discussing it with other readers! (But maybe I should check out the book and read the whole thing.)

Adamson did an excellent job of reading this book, bringing energy and clarity to the diatribe against our fast food culture.

The Circuit

subtitled, "Stories from the life of a migrant child"
by Francisco Jimenez
hardcover, CMSW, 134 pages

What a beautiful but sad collection of stories about a family of Mexican migrant workers. Francisco is four years younger than his brother Roberto, and alternates between the little boy job of watching younger siblings and the grown-up job of working the fields. His joy in going to school is tempered by the challenges of trying to learn in six months what other students get nine months to learn.

The most heart-breaking point of this book for me was when his notebook burned in the house fire. The disappointments and frustrations were tangible. This is a beautifully written book!

Illuminated

by Matt Bronleewe
borrowed from Cindy Ottinger
hardcover, 311 pages

This was much darker and more violent than I expected. And yet the thing that bothered me the most was the idea of people mistreating rare old books! An interesting cross between the Da Vinci Code and National Treasure, Illuminated has two opposing groups trying to gain control of three copies of the Gutenberg Bible to look for clues to the Templars' treasure. August and April are divorced, but end up coming together to protect their son Charlie.

Brownleewe is a founding member of Jars of Clay. This is his first novel.

Kidnapped

by Robert Louis Stevenson
Carver County Library, audioCD, ~8 hours
read by Jim Weiss

From wikipedia:
The full title of the book, Kidnapped: Being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: How he was Kidnapped and Cast away, his Sufferings in a Desert Isle; his Journey in the Wild Highlands; his acquaintance with Alan Breck Stewart and other notorious Highland Jacobites; with all that he Suffered at the hands of his Uncle, Ebenezer Balfour of Shaws, falsely so-called: Written by Himself and now set forth by Robert Louis Stevenson gives away major parts of the plot and creates the false impression that the novel is autobiographical.

I didn't enjoy this story as much as Stevenson's other books I've read. I think it's interesting that I've always thought of him as a British author, but this story quickly led me to believe that he was Scottish. Indeed! There are many colloquialisms in this story. The reader had a great brogue!