Read Your Way Homewood

My Mom Has X-Ray Vision by   Angela McAllister ,  Alex T. Smith   (Illustrator) Matthews mom has X-Ray vision. She knows all kind of stuff that he's doing, EVEN WHEN SHE CAN'T SEE HIM! We all know that Mom's have super senses. They just KNOW things. This book highlights that mystery in a super cute way. The language is simple and straightforward, mostly from Matthew's point of view, allowing the reader to enjoy the mystery of "How does she KNOW that?" The pictures are bright and colorful, and Mom kicks butt - groceries in one hand, superhero outfit draped over an arm.  But what kicks this up a notch for me is it's role in the normalization of diversity. This isn't a book about a black kid whose mom has superpowers, it's a story about a KID whose mom has superpowers. The end. Great for kids of all ages, but really appropriate for the Pre-K to 2nd grade set. The pictures have lots of little things to look at with a giggly child on the se...

Erik Larson has done it again. After real-life thrillers like Thunderstruck and  The Devil in the White City , he has created another work of non-fiction that reads like historical fiction. In his latest, Dead Wake , he tells the story of the last crossing of the luxury ocean liner, the Lusitania. Believed to be impervious to the German U-boats that trolled the waters of the North Atlantic in the Spring of 1915, the Lusitania and its passengers proudly set sail on its fateful journey from New York to Liverpool. Unaware or just oblivious to the dangers that awaited them, the passengers all seemed to be in festive moods and happy to be on board the great transatlantic "greyhound," the fastest liner in service during that era. In addition to providing the reader with historical details about World War I and the events surrounding it, Larson's ability to breathe life into a cast of characters gives the reader a chance to see them as real people not just figures in a history ...

I came back to this book because the first time I read it, I didn't like it.  It's the third book in a series and I loved the first two so much that I was sure that I would love the third. I admitted to myself that I read the book very quickly because I had been eagerly awaiting its release.  Perhaps a slower read-through would make a difference. And it did.  All the things that I disliked in the first reading -- they made sense during the slower second time through. I still believe this one is the weakest of the three but I'm a huge fan of Kristin Cashore. Reviewed by Amy

A re-read for me because I love this author's way with words.   Only got 3 Libbies because it might not be everyone's cup of tea. Reviewed by Amy

Reviewd by Amy

I have to start by saying that this book has received tremendous reviews from  various news outlets.   It has over 6500 five star reviews on Amazon and was a National Book Award finalist.   Good job, book.   I’m going to first provide the Amazon summary, not because I don’t want to write my own, but because it doesn’t get much more condensed than this. “From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, the beautiful, stunningly ambitious instant   New York Times   bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II. Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve,...

Music journalist Will Hermes takes us on a wild ride through the streets of New York in this engaging monograph.  Love Goes to Buildings on Fire tells the story of the burgeoning music scene in the 1970s. Hermes flits across the 5 boroughs as he weaves tales of small loft performances and massive, sold out concerts. The book touches upon multiple genres, from the transformation of rock with performers like Lou Reed to the birth (and death) of disco. Hermes includes personal stories about his childhood growing up in Queens, painting New York as a dangerous city in a constant state of flux. Readers get a true understanding of both the turmoil of the city and the music that spouted from it. This book isn't for everyone. The 384 page count is a bit daunting for casual readers. The descriptions of concerts got tedious after awhile. I found myself skipping around quite a bit toward the end of the book. Also, Hermes is heavy-handed with some of the musicians' stories....