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Oh Lydia and Julie, I just can't quit you!

Lydia is back home, and ready to get back of the swing of things in 6th grade in the States.  Lydia comes with a plan of course, laid out in list fashion, but after her first day back, she and Julie decide to try to implement a new plan.  Lydia shares the things that worked for her while she was in London...which includes trying to befriend some kids who don't have lots of other friends and forgetting about the popular crowd.

To help them focus their efforts on more important things, the girls put together a "trunk" (re bucket) list.  Letting popularity go, what could be on the list?   Things like starring in the school play, staying up all night, and being friends with Chuck again.  As usual, while Lydia and Julie have their hearts in the right place, their plans go awry.

What I love about this series is that the girls are growing.  Amy Ignatow doesn't simply employ a formula time and time again, the characters grow and learn from the experiences they have had in the past.  It's actually heartwarming to witness!

Fans who have enjoyed the first and second installments will eat this one up, but I can see new fans jumping on-board as Julie and Lydia grow-up bit by bit.

Fun!

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Here is a book that I originally blurbed over at Booktopia.  It's a go-to historical fiction and one of my favorite NYC stories.

Bird and Thomas are growing up in a Brooklyn apartment just as the bridge is rising. Over on Water Street, Bird is the youngest of 3 - daughter of a bridge worker and a healer. Thomas is pretty much on his own - Da being down at the pub all the time.

Thomas dreams of being a writer. He has fashioned himself a notebook and makes sure to write everything down. He has a shadowy memory of a woman in lace sleeves who told him that writing can change it all.

Bird has her own dreams of following in her mother's footsteps and becoming a healer herself. She has a notebook where she writes down remedies ... sliced onion for bee stings, coal from the turf fire held under the nose for sneezing.

Bird always needs to fix things. She needs to get her brother Hughie to stop fighting in the backs of pubs. She needs to get sister Annie out of the box factory. She needs to save all her money to help her mother buy a farm in New Jersey.

Thomas needs to find his past and try to fix his family.

This is immigrant Brooklyn in the 1870s. Patricia Reilly Giff has managed to bring in so many aspects of daily immigrant life without making it seem like school. The streets come alive (especially when Thomas and Bird venture into Manhattan) with sights and sounds and smells. It was a pleasure to read about Brooklyn instead of the Bowery.

This book is equally suited for older tweens and younger teens. There is a bit of detailed gore described in some healing scenes that may have queasy readers blanching. Told in alternating chapters, the stories of Bird and Thomas come to life and are a pleasure to read.

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So, what was the release date of this book? November 9th or something?  Well, it left our shelf on that day and didn't come back until Friday.  I snagged it and used a couple of commutes to get it read so that I can put it on the shelf to disappear for the next 3 months!

Greg and Rowley are on the outs.  Greg is considering his options for new friends, but he has to face the fact that they are few and far between.  Christopher Brownfield is more of a summer friend (he's really great for keeping mosquitos away!) and Tyson Sanders has a bathroom habit that's hard overlook.

More is changing in Greg's life than just his body (a fact that he can't avoid thanks to  his teacher insisting showers happen after PE and his mother giving him an embarrassing puberty book).  His mother has decided to go back to school.  Since she is not around so much, Greg, his brothers and father are left to fend for themselves for dinner, cleaning and getting ready for school often to disasterous results, as you can imagine.

One of the best segments in the book happens when the school has a lock-in sleep over.  After all of the games and cellphones are confiscated, the fun begins with ice-breaker games, too many chaperones and an incident involving body parts and polaroid cameras! 

There were fewer laugh-out-loud moments in this installment, and Greg isn't really growing too much as a character, however, tweens are still eating up the series.  The vignette style means that readers generally will recognize their lives in the book somewhere, whether it's having to take care of an egg for health class, being locked in at school for a sleepover, or having a parent who goes back to work.  The stories are solidly in tween territory now with issues of friendship, puberty, family and the search for self swirling through the pages.

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I was surprised when I saw this on the arc shelf at school. I hadn't know that Jacqueline Woodson was writing a sequel to Locomotion, and I was quite delighted to pick it up.

Lonnie is writing letters to his sister Lili. They are at separate foster homes, and each is quite happy. Lonnie, however, is torn. He pretty much loves Miss Edna. She's been taking care of him, and her son Rodney is like a brother to him. Rodney even calls Lonnie his little brother. But when Lonnie's best friend Clyde tells Lonnie "Your mama's real strict" (33), Lonnie has to point out that Miss Edna is only his foster mama. Lonnie does not want to chance forgetting his parents. Clyde then relates his own experiences with Mamas, and how Mamas can come and go for lots of different reasons.

To complicate Lonnie's life a little bit more, Miss Edna's other son Jenkins is over in the war. Jenkins was never a fighter, Miss Edna explains to Lonnie, but the army said they'd pay for an education if Jenkins signed up for the reserves, and the offer was too good to refuse.

When tragedy strikes, Lonnie knows that his foster home is about to change forever.

Change is an overarching theme in Peace, Locomotion. Changes in family, homes, friends, teachers. Readers will be on the edge of tears, and not simply for content. Jacqueline Woodson is a master of language, and no words seem wasted. Each seems like it was considered and placed "just so". The format pulls readers in, and the one sided nature of the letters does not feel isolating at all(readers only see letters from Lonnie). Woodson has quite a bit to say about teachers and teaching with the juxtaposition of Ms. Marcus, Ms. Cooper, and Miss Alina. I only hope that readers will not have too many Ms. Coopers in their lives!

This is one of those special books that I feel like I will be returning to again and again.

On shelves later this month.

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Annie, Durinda, Georgie, Jackie, Marcia, Petal, Rebecca and Zinnia are sisters. In fact, they are octuplets. On New Years Eve 2007, their lives suddenly changed. Their mother went to the kitchen to get some eggnog, and their father went outside to chop some wood, and they simply never returned. The girls frantically go around the house looking for their parents but all that they find is a note. An unsigned note telling the sisters that they each possess a power, and will each find a gift, before they can discover what happened to their folks.

How can eight girls (and their eight cats) find their powers, gifts, and parents while figuring out how to do things like paying the bills, making breakfast, and driving to school?

Each book is an adventure that leads the readers through a mystery where all of the sisters are involved, but the action focuses on one of the girls. Annie's Adventures highlights Annie and her power, whereas book 2 Durinda's Dangers highlights Durinda. Each girl has a distinct personality and the mix of all of them together results in something quite hilarious.

Part Snickett, part Dahl with a little dash of Gorey, author Lauren Baratz-Logsted along with Greg Logsted and Jackie Logsted have created a series that is perfect for the younger tween set. I have already test-driven the first two titles with my 4th graders, and they are bugging me for more. With 8 sisters, there is a character for every reader. Fun, fun, fun.

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