To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

I hadn't read Harper Lee's classic since high school, so when I heard her new book was coming out later this year, I decided it was the perfect time to re-read To Kill a Mockingbird. I've always counted it as one of my favorite books, so I was curious to see if that sentiment would hold true 15 years later, now as an adult and mother.

I was sucked in from the very first page. It's a shame Lee never really wrote anything else. Her writing is captivating. The characters are so rich. And I have a confession to make. I. LOVE. ATTICUS. FINCH. He strikes a perfect balance of tirelessly sticking to his guns while being the most empathetic person in Maycomb County. His ability to stay cool under pressure speaks volumes about his personal integrity.

One of my favorite things about this book is that it's told from Scout's perspective. The events of this novel would be interesting regardless of who's narrating. But having the whole thing told from a young child's perspective brings a certain clarity and naive honesty to the story. Atticus often has to reign in Scout's temper and teach her the very principles that make him such a respectable man. Scout is also proof that the racial prejudices at the foundation of the story are culturally imposed, not something we identify with as children. Scout, who has been raised by a black nanny, can't understand why the white people in town are so willing to believe a lie about a black man when there's a pretty questionable white man tied to the problem. I would guess this fact may be the reason Lee chose Scout as the narrator. By examining racial prejudices from a child's perspective, Lee illuminates just how unjust things were in segregated communities not so long ago.

I'm glad I took the time to re-read Mockingbird and plan on doing it again a few years down the road. It's a literary masterpiece that examines issues that, although removed in time and place, still exist today. It's a good reminder to try to look at things objectively and not let our own prejudices create blind spots.

Overall Rating: 5 stars

Content Warning: Occasional language. Sensitive subject matter for children (the central point of the story is a lawsuit alleging the rape of a white girl).

Target Audience: Anyone high school age or older should read this book at least once in their lifetime. If you've been putting it off, go pick it up and read it!

Breathing Room by Marsha Hayles

Breathing Room is another Beehive Award Nominee that I picked up alongside Skinny and Paperboy. This children's novel tells the story of Evvy, a 13-year-old girl battling tuberculosis in 1940. As was customary at the time, Evvy is sent to a sanatorium where she rooms with several other girls battling the same, terrible disease. Evvy experiences pain, heartache and loss as she battles her own disease and watches those around her suffer as well. Her hopeful attitude carries her through as she makes dear friends and tries to heal enough to return home.

It's fascinating to me to read about how doctors used to try to treat various illnesses. They were often working blind, and so much of it was guesswork. I think we take medical technology advances for granted. When my oldest daughter was only 6 weeks old, she was hospitalized with an infection that led to a diagnosis of a kidney issue. After a 10 month battle with repeated infections, she had surgery to correct the problem. Many times in those 10 months, I thought about the fact that just 50 or 100 years ago, she would have died.

There are so many curable diseases now. Tuberculosis is one of those. We have vaccines to prevent it, and doctors know exactly how to treat it if you do contract it. But in 1940, it was dangerous enough to send small children to sanatoriums hundreds of miles from home, to be cared for by stranger, alongside other dying children. As a mother, I can't imagine sending my child a place like that. But it was necessary for survival back then. I found Evvy to be an admirable character, full of compassion, determination and, above all, bravery. In a time when she could have just worried about herself, she looked to help others. Amid bizarre, painful treatments, she found reasons to have hope. That's more people twice or three times her age could often do.

I thought this was a good quick, but insightful, read. Although the subject matter is a little heavy for a kids' book, I would read this with a 9 or 10 year old. I think it could provide for really good discussions about disease, death, and the amazing medical advances we've had in the last 75 years.

Overall Rating: 3 stars

Content Warnings: Heavy subject matter for young children.

Target Audience: Upper elementary/middle school kids.

Paperboy by Vince Vawter

This was the February pick for my neighborhood book club. It's another one off the Beehive Award Nominees table, and it was also a Newbery Honor book for 2014. Using his own life experience with a severe stutter, Vawter creates a simple story about a stuttering 11-year-old boy growing up in Memphis in 1959. The main character (whose name you don't learn until the end of the book) takes over his friend's paper route while he's out of town one summer. He meets some interesting neighborhood characters along the way and allows his naive innocence to put him in danger's way. 

One of my first thoughts about this book was how different our world was back then. The boy is put in some pretty sketchy situations that would make any mom nervous, from flirtatious older women to strangers inviting him in and a downright dangerous homeless man. I found myself distracted a bit by the minor characters and the problems they brought to the table that were never resolved. The author hinted at a lot of possible story lines with different characters, but most of them never came to fruition. The paperboy himself was forgettable and seemed a little too naive to me.

One member of my book club listened to the audiobook version of Paperboy and said the author's note at the end was very interesting to listen to. Vawter still has a bit of a speech impediment, which was audible in the small section he read aloud at the end. 

I do think this could make an good pick for a 4th-6th grade boy. Sometimes it's hard to find good "boy" reads in that age range. It has a wide variety of characters and introduces a different era of the not-too-distant past that they may not be familiar with. That being said, I didn't think it was great, and I certainly didn't think it deserved a Newbery Honor. When I was in elementary school, the Newbery Award was reserved for the best of the best. It seems these days, many of the Newbery books are just so-so, including this selection.

Overall Rating: 3 stars

Content Warnings: There are a couple scenes of adult drunkenness and hints of domestic violence.

Target Audience: Upper elementary to middle school boys

Don't Judge a Girl By Her Cover by Ally Carter (Gallagher Girls #3)

In the 3rd installment of the Gallagher Girls series, Cammie Morgan (spy girl in training), finds herself stuck in the middle of a complex kidnapping plot intertwined with a presidential campaign. As she tries to uncover who is behind it all, she discovers secrets much darker and deeper than she ever imagined.

Ally Carter stays true-to-form in this Gallagher installment, providing an easy, entertaining read with a little bit of intrigue. Although the premise of the whole series (top secret school for spy girls in training) is a bit far-fetched, it is highly amusing and will keep you laughing. Any girl who has watched Alias has tried to channel her inner Sydney Bristow at some point. This series does the same thing for teenagers. I particularly liked Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover because of the new insights into Cammie's history. The first two books seemed to just introduce a lot for the series. This book was the first one that seemed to delve into something a little deeper.

For me, this series is a perfect "in between" read. When I've just finished a lengthy novel, something really serious or anything non-fiction, this series provides a quick refresh before I jump into the next thing on my to-read list. Because of that, I haven't finished the series yet. I just pick them up as a quick 1 day read here or there. However, I'm confident Ally Carter will deliver with the final 3 in this series as well!

Overall Rating: 4 stars

Content Warning: These are pretty squeaky clean. There might be a mild swear word here or there, but I honestly can't remember any. I'd have no problem letting my 13 year old read this (and probably would have let her read them 2 years ago).

Target Audience: Teenage girls or women looking something quick and fun

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

When I finished What Alice Forgot, I was undecided if I wanted to read more by Liane Moriarty. However, the next day The Husband's Secret popped up on my Overdrive queue. I figured it would be a quick read, and with rumors of a movie in the works, I thought I'd just go ahead and read it. The Husband's Secret tackles the strange tale of Cecelia, a picture-perfect mom who discovers a letter written by her husband years before. He intended for her to read after his death, since it reveals a life-altering secret. As Cecelia's ideal life comes crashing down around her, she tries to piece together her husband's past mistakes and figure out how to keep living life under the burden of the secret. 

In the first few chapters, I had figured out what "the secret" was, so all that was left was to find out how Cecelia and her husband would move on with life. Much of the story is extremely contrived and rests on 3 women's lives intersecting at just the right moments. My biggest issue with the story line was the ending, where "the secret" comes out in the open. The resolution seems completely unrealistic given the serious nature of "the secret". I had a hard time believing any real human beings would let it play out that way given the characters' emotions that had been revealed throughout the book.

I'm disappointed this is the one of Moriarty's books that is being made into a movie. It's my least favorite of the 3 I've read. If you didn't love What Alice Forgot, I doubt you'll like this one. If you're just looking for a quick, light beach read, this could be entertaining enough. But don't buy it. This is definitely a library read!

Overall Rating: 2 stars

Content Warning: Like all of Moriarty's books, this one has quite a sprinkling of language, including quite a few f-words. There are some sexually suggestive scenes, but nothing graphic. "The secret" is a bit dark, and the event it refers to is described but isn't graphic.

Target Audience: Women looking for a light read with a bit of intrigue.

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

What Alice Forgot can be found on many a Pinterest list labeled "Books So Good You Can't Put Them Down". I did, indeed, read this one in less than 24 hours. It's a quick, easy read considering the length. I loved the way the author built the story. Alice, a nearly 40 housewife and mother going through a nasty divorce, one day finds herself waking up with a bump on the head and an interesting case of amnesia. She has lost the last 10 years of her memory and thinks she is 30, blissfully in love with her husband, and pregnant with their first child. Moriarty writes the story the way Alice gains her memory back - piece by piece. Each interaction with different friends or family members help Alice start to piece together what happened in the last 10 years to lead to her not-so-happy current life. It definitely kept me reading until the end. 

Without spoiling too much, Alice (at 40) is....not the nicest. She's burned a lot of bridges. I was so sad for her as she realized how many relationships she'd ruined. It would be so bizarre to wake up one day and find out the people you thought were closest to you didn't like you much anymore. As she started to get her memory back, she made some interesting choices that I didn't quite understand or agree with. I did like the ending, although it pulled together rather quickly considering how detailed the rest of the book was. I liked the book enough that I figured I'd try another Moriarty book. See my review on The Husband's Secret for my take on that.

Overall Rating: 4 stars

Content Warning: There is some foul language sprinkled through the book, though not excessive. There are a handful of f-words (that mostly come from 1 character). There is some sexual innuendo but nothing super graphic.

Target Audience: This is pure chick lit. Adult women only.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette?

Where'd You Go, Bernadette? is a humorous, quirky book with a touch of mystery. The story is told through the eyes of Bernadette's young daughter, who is trying to make sense of a complicated adult world around her. Her mother has disappeared, and she tries to figure out where she has gone by piecing together emails, messages and other documents from her mother's files. Online reviews rave about Bernadette's humor and characters. I enjoyed the book, but I didn't think it was as great as the reviews said. I mostly kept reading just to find out where she disappeared to! As Bernadette's back story unfolded, I felt sad for her sense of lost identity while simultaneously being outraged at her willingness to drag her whole family down with her self-pity. I think if I met her in real life, she would drive me crazy! Overall, it was a quick, fun read, but nothing that will top my favorites list or that warrants a second paragraph in my review!

Overall Rating: 2 stars

Content Warnings: There is some foul language sprinkled throughout the book, including a few f-words.

Target Audience: Adult women. I can't imagine a man being interested in the storyline of an eccentric woman (don't they get enough of that in daily life?!), and I don't think teens would be that intrigued either.

The Lady of Bolton Hill by Elizabeth Camden

When I picked this up at the library, I didn't realize it was Christian fiction. Considering that, I guess this was pretty good. The story line was more interesting than most Christian fiction I've read, and it wasn't quite as cheesy. There was a decent amount of suspense and a good romance.

My biggest problem with the book was the main character. She drove me crazy! Clara was raised with a silver spoon in her mouth. Despite a brief episode in jail for an article she wrote while in London, she really hasn't had hard things happen to her. Daniel, on the other hand, has experienced horrible tragedies in his life that have shaped him into a cynical, angry man. Clara's continued attempts to preach to him and convince him of the error of his ways were a bit hard to swallow. She had no understanding of what he'd been through and couldn't understand why he wouldn't just turn his life over to God. She also spent time trying to convert every person who crossed her path, including hardened criminals. I'm all for sharing your faith with others, but she was a little much. You have to take people for what they are and accept that their experiences have led them down a different path than your own. This girl could use a good walk in someone else's shoes.

Overall Rating: 2 stars

Content Warnings: It's Christian fiction, so it's squeaky clean. There is quite a bit of preachy stuff, so if that's not your things, then I wouldn't pick it up.

Target Audience: Teen girls or adult women looking for a clean read with a decent story line but can be forgiving of an annoying main character.

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

After hearing many friends rave about Wonder, I finally picked it up when my book club read it last fall. It started out pretty rough for me. It's the fictional story of a young boy with a severe facial deformity. The story begins as he prepares to enter school for the first time, in 5th grade. And here we reach my first hang-up with the story. Why in the world would parents who have kept their child out of school his entire life choose to have him start in middle school??? I was a normal kid and felt like I got eaten alive in middle school. This poor kid has a facial deformity that makes him look like a monster, and his parents decide to throw him in the lions' den of middle school.

After about 100 pages of reading about this poor boy get picked on and stared at, I looked at how much of the book was left and set it down. A few days later, I realized I really needed to finish it before book club, so I picked it back up. Shortly after my re-entry in the story, a new narrator picked up. Hallelujah! I didn't realize (until this point) the story is actually told from many perspectives: first, August himself, then his family members and friends. Once the narrators started shifting, I actually enjoyed the story. Instead of just seeing one, very painful point of view, I started to see the whole picture.

This book is all about character development. August himself grows by leaps and bounds. But the real story of change is in the people around him as they learn to live alongside this little "Wonder". I still think this is a very strange topic for an author to pick for a fictional story, but Palacio does a great job of revealing the good, the bad and the ugly of human character from a child's perspective.

Overall Rating: 3 stars

Content Warnings: Many people in the book, both kids and adults, say rude, hurtful and downright nasty things to August. It wouldn't be appropriate for very young children, but I think there are things in the story that are great conversation starters for older elementary kids. I know some 5th grade teachers use this as a read-aloud, which I think is a great starting age for this one.

Target Audience: upper-elementary to middle school kids and their parents

The Selection Series by Kiera Cass

**I'm going to treat this series as one book for two reasons. 1) I read all 3 books in about 48 hours, so it felt like one continuous book to me. 2) I liked all 3 books equally and didn't feel like any of them stood out of the crowd enough to warrant its own post.

The Selection series:
The Selection
The Elite
The One

Looking for a lighter read, I found this gem in the YA section and devoured it. It's like a mash-up of The Hunger Games and The Bachelor, all set in a fairy tale kingdom. 16-year-old America Singer reluctantly signs up to be on a reality show set up to find a match for the newly eligible prince of the kingdom, Maxon. Unlike the rest of the beauty queen wannabes and Maxon superfans, America is there to help her family, who is unfairly placed near the bottom of the kingdom's broken caste system. She develops a funny friendship with the prince along the way and finds herself enjoying the whole ordeal more than she expected.

Although the series starts out feeling like it might just be fluff, Cass does an excellent job of intertwining the dating escapades with more serious undertones of unrest in the kingdom. And what would a YA dystopian novel be without a love triangle? Although many of the elements in the book are similar to previous YA dystopian trilogies, The Selection provides a refreshing take on the genre. Usually by the 3rd book in these series, I feel like the author has given up and created a terrible ending. The Selection is the first trilogy of its kind that had me interested and satisfied to the end.

One warning: When I started The Selection, I thought the whole "Selection" process would be done in the first book. When I finished #1, I had to rush to the library to grab the next two books so I could find out what happened. My suggestion: grab all three at the same time. You'll be done with all three in a couple days anyway.

Once you've finished the series, you can join me in anxiously awaiting The Heir, coming in May 2015. It serves as a sort of epilogue to the series, giving you a view of what comes after happily ever after.

Overall Rating: 4 stars

Content Warning: There are a few slightly steamy make-out scenes and a few suggestive comments referencing what will come post-wedding, but nothing graphic or alarming. There are also a few mild swear words. Overall, it's very tame. I would let my 13 year old read this.

Target Audience: teenage girls or any female with a bit of a romantic streak