Middle Grade Review: Capital Chase

Twins race to find the thief stealing valuable historical artifacts before their family’s framed for the crimes.

Ten-year-old Ike Carter has committed large chunks of American history to memory. That’s what happens when you’re a genius who loves the past. His twin, Iris, prefers the present (aka reality) . She’s an elite athlete, dominating the competition thanks to her wicked-sharp spatial awareness.

During the opening night of a new exhibit at their mom’s boutique museum in Washington, D.C., Ike and Iris inadvertently stumble onto a robbery in progress. A girl not much older than them is stealing a miniature portrait of George Washington from the collection[ML1] [ASW2] [LMD3] . It's only the first in a string of crimes, all focused on items that were once gifted by the Marquis de Lafayette to his American friends. With some help from the National Archives Research Center, the twins puzzle out the culprit’s next targets, and are soon hot on the trail of the mystery girl.

But their efforts also put them in the crosshairs of the FBI’s Art Crime team, who suspect their family is involved. If the twins can’t catch the real perp as they target the final item, it’ll be game over. - Summary from the publisher

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this start to a new series. I loved how the twins were opposites of each: one was the brain and one was athletic. I read this on the plane - lots of action and lots of danger. I liked learning more about Lafayette. I loved the nerdy moments of research and fun facts. Of course I loved how they went into special libraries with rare books and artifacts. There were several National Treasure jokes in this book. I can't wait to see what happens in the next book.

Cover Thoughts: Love it! 

Source: My Library

Library Recommendation: Highly recommended. Hand this one out to readers of The Genius Files by Dan Gutman or Framed by James Ponti.

TBR Check-In: Summer

Here's the list and so far I've read:

3 books

Summer is a tough time for reading as it's the busiest season at the library. I have read other books, but clearly I need to get better at reading from my list.

How did you do?

 

Vacation Photos: Glacier National Park

We took a long vacation last week. The first stop was Glacier National Park.

Here are some photos from the park and the surrounding area.

Just a neat tree!

I might try to paint this.

We saw so many waterfalls!

The mountains were impressive and amazing

More mountains

(another good picture to paint)

We walked along a lot of rivers/streams/lakes

Another small waterfall

Lots of hikes to lakes

The other half of the lake

The color blue comes from glacier run off.

Want to know something sad?

The glaciers in the park will be gone by 2030 - that's six years.

Climate change is real, friends.

The best part of this hike was the lake views.

It rained. I did not have a rain coat

It hailed - for a brief moment. That was kind of fun.

The hike starts at a lodge - where the previous day, there had been a fire in the fire place.

I was so looking forward to that fireplace after the rainy cold hike.

Sadly, it was not roaring that day. 

The second best part of the hike, was the main reason for it - getting to this glacier. It was neat to see. 

We took a waterfall hike and saw three waterfalls.

More waterfalls

We also saw a black bear!

Views on the way back

The last hike in Glacier was the Highline Trail. It's a little scary if you're like me and don't like heights. This is one of the passages of the hike.

The views were amazing! 

I loved how the fog snuck in

It's such a gorgeous place! 

Stay tuned for pictures of our next stop: Banff!

Book Spotlight: Banned Books, Crop Tops, and Other Bad Influences

 

Rose is used to be a "good" girl; she doesn't question anything. But when Talia arrives in town, she starts asking all sorts of questions. They're not friends. But after meeting at the local synagogue, they have a conversation. Talia understands things like no one student at school.  Talia gives Rose a book to read. Rose gets in trouble for having the book in school; the book is on a list that's being potential banned book list at their school. Rose didn't even know about the list. Why are the books being banned from the school library? Why is her best friend's mom leading the charge? Rose joins a Banned Book Club with Talia and some classmates. How can Rose reconcile her new thoughts within her world? Will she have the courage to speak up?

I haven't finished this book. It makes me angry that both Rose and Talia have to deal with adults trying to stifle their learning. I'm glad that they've become friends. There's a lot of jokes about Talia being too much for Rose's mom. I'm curious to see where that goes. I'm curious to see how the book club turns out. I can't wait to see where this book ends. 

* Book sent for review

Book Tok Review: The Last Love Song

If you like:

 

You're going to love this book that takes place immediately after high school graudation.

 

@yabooknerdlibrarian Ok #booktok if you like #eastereggs and #taylorswift and #music and #whatagirlwants - this book is for you!!! Its super good and a little emotional and has a great romance! 🥰@Blackstone Publishing #Inverted ♬ original sound - Jennifer @YA Book Nerd 📚📚📚

Picture Book Wednesday: Fall Books (2)

Happy Fall, here are some more picture books celebrating fall.

There are some new to me and some new to all.

Apples are wonderful - and farmer Annie does lots of baking and sends her apples to the market. What a great day filled with all things apples.

There's lots of things to talk about here - all about falls and apples. 

Lawrence's class is bring their collection into share. Lawrence doesn't know what to bring in; he has nothing to share. Luckily his father has an idea - they can go into the woods and collect something. After a tricky moment, Lawrence ends up finding the perfect item to share. 

What a lovely idea - both the show and tell and what Lawrence ends up using. Another great book with lots to talk about with vocabulary and fall items. 

All the things a leaf could me.

This book has gorgeous illustrations and photographs of leaves. I love the way they are combined. I love this book about imagination and dreaming. I love the end pages with the leaves and their names. There's also an art project at the end of the book. 

A board book about exploring Fall animals with Hedgehog.

The illustrations are gorgeous - which make readers want to pour of them. There's a lot of learning in this board book - learning about hibernations and which animals hibernate.

October is hosting a party and all the animals are invited. 

The animals all gather up items at the end of the month for a party. It seems to be a thanksgiving type of story, but it's the wrong time of year. I love how this book depicts different animals and what they gather during the fall. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Fall TBR

 This week's topic is Fall TBR: which for me means books coming out September, October, and November. Minus the holiday romances (those were a different post). 

Kids:

Middle Grade:

Teens:

Graphic Novels:

Adults:

Have you read any of these? Any of these on your list?