Pretties

by Scott Westerfeld
CMSW, paper, 370 pages

Tally has undergone the operation to become a pretty, but her friends in the "Crim" clique include Zane who seems very different from everyone else. Together, they strive to find out what Croy, an ugly, meant when he crashed a party in new prettytown and told Tally that he was hiding something for her. The cure. Interesting to see where the author has taken the story, especially with the visit to the wildlife preserve. Shay's character seems so very different from when we first met her.

Anne of the Island

by L.M. Montgomery
Carver County Library, paperback, 298 pages

Anne at college in Redmond. Older, wiser, less fun. An enjoyable book, but with the bittersweet tang of growing up and leaving childhood behind. Her rejection of Gilbert Blythe was easy to see coming. What a silly girl!

Tornado

by Betsy Byars
home, paperback, 49 pages

What a sweet little story. Not sure why it's down in my piles of papers by my desk. I think I'll see if the Prip boys would enjoy it. It's the story of a family who sits out a tornado in the cellar by listening to Pete's stories about his childhood dog. Short little kid chapter book - an "I can read" kind of thing.

Uglies

by Scott Westerfeld
CMSW, paperback, 425 pages

I started out listening to this on CD, but it was much too annoying. The reader's voice was making me crazy and I wanted to see how the story went. This is one of our 7th grade novel choices.

Tally Youngblood is a 15-year-old who is awaiting her sixteenth birthday and "the" operation that will turn her from an Ugly into a Pretty. She thinks up daring tricks, like sneaking into New Prettytown to see her best friend Peris, who is startled to see her and asks her to not get into trouble before she turns pretty and joins him. Soon she meets Shay, another 15-year-old who likes to do tricks. But Shay has no desire to ever turn Pretty, a fact she slowly reveals to Tally, asking her to run away and join the Smoke, a group of runaways.

Liked the dynamic in the Smoke, especially David's character. Loved the hoverboards. Didn't like the self-centered immaturity of Tally. Or the attack on the Smoke.

Anne of Avonlea

by L.M. Montgomery
Hennepin County Library, audioCDs, 9.25 hours
read by Barbara Caruso

Delightful sequel to Anne of Green Gables, but I don't like this reader quite as well. I suppose Anne needed an "older" voice, but her Marilla was especially crusty. I like the dynamics between Anne and Gilbert as well as the changes in Mr. Harrison. The story line with Miss Lavender isn't quite as captivating for me.

Anne of Green Gables

by L.M. Montgomery
Hennepin County Library, audioCDs, 10 hours & 21 minutes
read by Kate Burton

I love this story! I am glad, though, that it is no longer one of the 8th grade novels. I just don't see it as something that most 21st century 13-year-olds can really relate to much. Anne is an imaginative, creative, somewhat careless orphan adopted by elderly siblings Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert.

The reader is perfect for this story! She captures the characters beautifully and brings Anne's wistfulness to life. This is one of those "classic" books I should have in my home library for re-reads from time to time. Lovely.

Three Cups of Tea: The Young Reader's Edition

by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin
Adapted by Sarah Thomson
CMSW, paperback, 209 pages

This is our February book club pick. I really enjoyed it, and am curious now to read the original version. I did like the fact that this version included an interview with Mortenson's daughter Amira and had lots of color photos. What an incredible young man to take an experience like getting lost on a mountain and turn it into a life-changing opportunity for so many people in Pakistan and Afghanistan!

The most surprising thing to me was that he got married six days after meeting Tara! His persistence and determination to follow through on his promises are also admirable.