Review: Breakout

Nora's looking forward to summer vacation; school is almost over for another year. Two more things happen before the end of school - their time capsule project and mile madness. Nora can't wait to win the mile race and throw water balloons at her principle.

Then two things happen - a new faster girl moves to town two weeks before the end of school and inmates escape from the prison. Now more than ever, Nora wants to work on her reporter skills because all of this will be relevant for the time capsule.

But life when changes when the inmates aren't caught immediately. As time drags on, Nora begins to understand more about her community and more about racial tension. Will things ever return to normal?

My Thoughts: I loved this book. It's written in reports, letters, text messages, recordings, and more. I liked how life changed for everyone in town. I liked the small town and how people knew everything about each other and how gossip spread  -especially about the inmates.  I loved how Nora starts looking at the world differently. I loved the poetry from Elidee. I loved how Elidee decided to be herself. I liked learning more about the manhunt - and how it was based on true events. I love how Elidee and Nora learned from each other. A wonderful book for discussion on many topics and levels.

Cover Thoughts: Great
Source: My Library
Library Recommendation: Highly recommended for both school and public libraries.

Blog Tour: Journey of the Pale Bear

About the Book:

The polar bear is a royal bear, a gift from the King of Norway to the King of England. The first time Arthur encounters the bear, he is shoved in her cage as payback for stealing food. Restless and deadly, the bear terrifies him. Yet, strangely, she doesn’t harm him—though she has attacked anyone else who comes near. That makes Arthur valuable to the doctor in charge of getting the bear safely to London. So Arthur, who has run away from home, finds himself taking care of a polar bear on a ship to England.

Tasked with feeding and cleaning up after the bear, Arthur’s fears slowly lessen as he begins to feel a connection to this bear, who like him, has been cut off from her family. But the journey holds many dangers, and Arthur knows his own freedom—perhaps even his life—depends on keeping the bear from harm. When pirates attack and the ship founders, Arthur must make a choice—does he do everything he can to save himself, or does he help the bear to find freedom?

My Thoughts: I really like this book. I felt so terrible for the bear. I loved the friendship between the bear and Arthur. I love how Arthur found his courage, his footing, and his sense of purpose. I like that he created a life for himself because his home life wasn't great. I enjoyed his interactions with the King. As a person of Welsh descent, I enjoyed the mentions of Wales and the use of the Welsh language. A tale that will tug at your heartstrings and make your heart race with the action. 

About the Author:

SUSAN FLETCHER is the acclaimed author of the Dragon Chronicles as well as the award-winning Alphabet of Dreams, Shadow Spinner, Walk Across the Sea, and Falcon in the Glass. Ms. Fletcher lives in Bryan, Texas. To read about the fascinating story behind the inspiration for Journey of the Pale Bear, visit her website, SusanFletcher.com

Praise for Journey of the Pale Bear

★"A stupendous coming-of-age tale stuffed with adventure and laced with deeper questions."

— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Doesn't this book sound good?

You're in luck! One lucky winner will receive a copy of Journey of the Pale Bear, courtesy of Margaret K. McElderry Books (U.S. only please).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Picture Book Review: Cookiesaurus Rex

Cookiesaurus Rex knows he's the king of cookies - and he should be decorated accordingly.

When the other cookies are getting sprinkles and gumdrops and more, he isn't. He pitches a fit. The decorator decides to take revenge on him.

I loved this picture book for several reasons: Cookiesaurus Rex's attitude, all the decorating, the jokes between the cookie and the decorator, and the puns. I loved the illustrations. This one is pure fun and perfect for sharing.

Library Recommendation: Highly recommended for both school and public libraries

* There's a Christmas themed sequel that came out last month.

Top Ten Tuesday: Long Reads

This week's topic is longest reads. I do like a good long book.

 I think I have a pretty good idea without looking at good reads, but we'll see...

- meme from That Artsy Reader Girl

And I forgot about one adult series. And I thought Sarah J Maas's books would be higher, but they didn't even crack the top 10 (the first one checks in at #14)

Here we go:

Count of Monte Cristo: I read this one in high school for fun. And it was amazing!

The next three are all part of a series:

Harry Potter:

More Game of Thrones:

Middle Grade:

Keeper of Lost Cities: I adore this series. 

More Harry:

Twilight: Breaking Dawn

Holly's Inbox - read this one if you like Bridget Jones's Diary or Meg Cabot's Boy series

Blogoversary: 10 years

Wow, I can't believe I've been blogging for ten years at YA Book Nerd. Where does the time go? I wanted to thank everyone who's been with me on this journey. From fellow booknerds to librarian colleagues - thank you! To authors, publishers, and publicists - thank you! I've loved being a part of the book conversation.

The pups enjoying some dog ice cream in celebration! 

And things have certainly changed on the blog over the past ten years. My reviews have gotten longer. And while they're more personal than my reviews for professional journals (Voya and SLJ), I think they work at showcasing why I enjoyed reading the book.

Recently, I went back and looked at the past ten years. My blog posts varied from book reviews (first mostly YA books, then cozies, then middle grade, then romance, and picture books). At first I was afraid to branch out because I called my blog YA Book Nerd for a reason. But now I'm comfortable sharing my views/opinions on the books I read.

I've also hosted blog tours, author interviews, book spotlights, author news. I've talked about my work in the library with display videos, program ideas, book trailers. I've talked about movies I've enjoyed and movies I want to see. I've shared reviews from other sites: Voya, SLJ, Teens Read Too, Fresh Fiction, and the YALSA blog. I've shared my love for pop culture. I've written personal posts on politics, my life, and share pictures of my pups.

I used to share things on the blog that I now share on Twitter instead. It took a while for me to find my blogging feet. I used to play around with the template a bunch - and it took me ages to find a blog counter that worked. Finally I asked Icey Designs to create me a blog template. I loved it. And I've been using it ever since. Sure, lots of the pictures no longer work. Some of the posts are cringeworthy - but it's me.

Here's a look back:

First Post: Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

Last Post: Christmas by Accident

Most Popular Post: Summer Reading Ideas: Life Size Games

My Biggest Blogging Year: 2013 with 450 posts (I try to post at least 5 times a week and sometimes on the weekend.)

Search Term People Use Most to Find My Blog: Christmas

A few blog posts that represent the blog pretty well:

2008: Forever Princess (My love for Meg Cabot is strong!)

2009: Facebook Flair (remember that?), Meeting Rick Riordan, The Season book review, Fake Book Cover (my second biggest post)

2010: A Meg Cabot Moment

2011: Book Ideas for Christmas (I do this now every year, it's one of my favorite posts but it also takes a LOT of time)

2012: Eating Disorder Awareness Display and Special Thank You

2013: Dear Mr. Potter, If You Like Pins (some of these more popular pins made it to Buzzfeed!)

2014: 10 Years and Book Covers and Prom Dresses 

2015: Fall TV

2016: National Princess Week

2017: Nasty Women's Books and New Addition

2018: National Library Week

I hope you enjoyed this look back over the years. And thank you again for being part of the journey!

Christmas Book Review: Christmas by Accident

Abby gets into a car accident on her way to visit her uncle in hospital. Her uncle raised her after her parents died. There's an issue with her insurance and the insurance adjuster Cater becomes involved.

Carter hates his job; it bores him. To spice things up, he adds creative details to the paperwork. His boss isn't interested in his creativeness. He's fired.

Fate throws them back together; could they help each other.

My Thoughts: I liked this book - it reminded me a little of a hallmark movie. I really liked Uncle Manny and how he wanted the best for Abby. Of course I loved the bookstore and the employees. Plus those desserts made my mouth water. 

Cover Thoughts: Cute
Source: Book sent for review

Reviews: Two Peas in a Pod

* Book 11 in the Whatever After series *

After a rough day at school, Abby has no choice but to follow her puppy and her brother into the magic mirror. They fall into the Princess and the Pea story. Abby accidentally takes the place of the princess. But Abby knows she's not the person for the job.

She also doesn't like the way they view Princesses. She believes Princesses shouldn't be passive. Abby helps create a test for the next Princess - which involves kindness, strength, and intelligence. She hopes they can crown a princess before she has to return home.

My Thoughts: I really love this series. I adored this book - for all the usual things: the friendships, the sibling relationship, and the fairy tales. But I loved this book more because of the feminist twist. I love how Abby and other females in the book decided to test any girl in the kingdom. I love how they designed the test and how they decided which attributes a princess should have. I loved the contest and seeing how everything turned out. I will forever read this series.

Cover Thoughts: Adorable. I really love these covers
Source: My Library
Library Recommendation: A must have series for your school and public library.