One Chapter

See the Dog! Three Stories About a Cat by David LaRochelle

5 stars Children’s

This book is hilarious. As you read the book, the author narrates the story, so you think that you’ll be seeing and reading a story about a dog. Throughout the story, the author tells you that the dog will bark, dig a hole, swim across a lake, etc., but in reality, there’s a cat that is taking the place of the dog in the book. The cat tells her side of the story in text bubbles on the opposite side of the author’s narration.

It’s comical as the cat tries to fill in for the dog and realizes that some of the activities are difficult for a cat. Dogs can dig a hole pretty easy and quickly but yet a cat……not so much as “If I dig a hole, I will get dirt on my fur.” What does cat do?

Well, the author insists that this activity get done so, the cat takes action, and they grab a backhoe and starts digging. Cat is so clever and funny! There are three stories in this book and the fun just does not end.

We loved how funny this story was. No matter how many times we read this book, we laugh! I enjoy the easy text as this would be a perfect book for learning readers. The stories are simple, but they do have structure and meaning. The illustrations are bright and colorful. What a fun book! David LaRochelle is becoming one of our favorite authors, I hope he continues to write fantastic books.

This book is bound to get laughs and smiles. We’ve checked it out so many times at the library, I think I should just buy my own copy.

Mr. Fox’s Game of No! by David LaRochelle

5 stars Childrens

Another fantastic book by David! Mr. Fox wants you to play his Game of No, are you ready? Is your brain ready for this? Even if you struggle and fail his game, you will be laughing by the time you finish this book.

Playing Mr. Fox’s Game of No requires you to say “NO” even when you would like to say “yes.” It’s a struggle, I tell you. You will definitely hesitate when responding back to Mr. Fox’s questions, as you think about what answer you want to give and what answer you do give to Mr. Fox. If you do end up saying “yes” by mistake, it’s not the end of the world, you just have to start reading this book from the beginning again.

Are you ready? I’m already laughing thinking about my grandson’s reactions to Mr. Fox’s questions and how much he loves reading this book.

You’ll love this book, and your child will want to read it again and again as they’ll love the silliness of Mr. Fox and how he tries to trick them throughout the story. With fantastic illustrations that compliment the story and easy to read text, this story is a definite read! 5 stars!

Dust by Alison Stine

5 stars YA

What if you lived your life without ______ every word that was spoken to ______? It’d be hard to fully engage _____ with others, as you’d have to either _____ what they said or just not ____ yourself in their conversation. Thea’s parents knew about her deafness, yet they did nothing to improve her situation. They had taught Thea to hide her impairment from others and so she had, missing out on bits and pieces of her life.

It’s her father’s rules that lands the family in the dust bowl. Her father saw opportunity, but did he really see the whole picture. It’s all around them……despair and dust. Every morning, the floor is coated before they give it a good sweep and the sandy pieces fall into every dish and surface, swallowing up their little house. Father wants them off the grid, he wants the family to be self-sufficient, but mother-earth has other plans. Experiencing her first dust storm, Thea becomes concerned with their new life and their future. Being isolated now, I liked how Thea began to take an active role in something, and she finally has something to focus on.

With money being tight, her father allows Thea and her mother to work outside the home. Thea’s boss sees a great opportunity and Thea meets Ray. Ray is a volunteer at the library, a wonderful guy, and is hearing impaired. To think that in this little dessert town, in the middle of nowhere, she meets someone like herself, Thea is thrilled! Thea begins helping Ray and Sam as they help others in the community. Thea just shines, as she finally starts breaking out of her shell with the help of Ray until her father gets wind of what Thea has been up to.

“My dads anger stuck to us, like dirt that would never wash off.”

I enjoyed the character of Thea as she grew inside the pages of this book. Her father tried to squash her; to mold her to his liking but she saw life outside his vision and wanted more. How can she have the best of both worlds: her family and the friends for which she has craved for her entire life? 5 stars

Creating Moments of Joy For the Person with Alzheimer’s or Dementia by Jolene Brackey

5 stars Nonfiction

This is a great resource for those who know someone or is caring for someone with dementia or Alzheimer. I have read quite a few books, but this book was what I have been looking for. With short, direct chapters, each section dealt with specific topics which allowed me to skip sections. I liked the examples and real-world scenarios that were inside the book. The advice inside the book seemed practical and there were times as I read that I felt that either the examples or the advice offered is something I could relate to. The positive vibe that ran through the book was greatly appreciated too.

There is a table of contents at the beginning of the book so you can quickly get to a topic you want to explore. There is lots of practical advice inside this book. The book is broken into 3 sections: Powerful Tools That Create Positive Outcomes, Let’s Talk Communication, and Memory Enhanced Environments. Some of those topics include Remember Their Greatness, “I Want to go Home’, Stop Correcting Them, “Give Me That”, Playing Favorites, Magic Words, Repeat, Repeat, Repeat, Create a Safe Haven, and A Commercial About TV. It’s definitely a book that you should check out. I highly recommend it. I also think those working with these special individuals would greatly benefit from reading it and applying the information to their work environment. I bought a few copies and gave them to individuals who would benefit from them. 5 stars

Crushed by Melanie Conklin

4 stars Middle School/ YA

I used to be a substitute teacher, so I’ve been in quite a few classrooms in my life. As I read this book, I felt the author hit the nail on the head on a variety of topics. It’s typical for kids to have friends and then, days or hours later, that friendship is not as strong as it once was or that friendship might even be gone. Kids also like to try to handle things on their own even issues that they’ve been encouraged to report or seek help. For some youths, it’s difficult for some of them to open-up. They don’t want to be seen as weak and/or they don’t want anyone to know that they have issues.

For the past few months, Sophie and Eve were best friends, or that is what Sophie thought. Sophie hasn’t been to school in about a month and Eve doesn’t know the reason why. When Sophie returns, her relationship with Eve has changed. Eve has moved on to other friends, which aren’t the type of individuals that she should be hanging out with. When Eve and her “friends” get reckless, Sophie takes matters into her own hands. Should she just leave Eve and her friends alone and move on? I realize that Sophie still cared for Eve, but I just didn’t understand why Sophie kept so much of her life underwraps. What was she hiding?

As we look into Sophie’s life, we discover that her mother is a doctor, and her grandmother and father own a bookstore. Sophie has a secret illness; she has panic attacks. When she has one of her panic attacks at school, it’s one of Eve’s new friends who records it and posts it on social media. You can just imagine Sophie’s reaction. The family’s bookstore is facing difficulties, and it’s bound to get worse before it gets better. I was glad that Sophie had her grandmother and mother in her life as I felt she had great relationships with them, and she was able to share some of her life with her. Still, Sophie needed someone her age, someone she could relate to and could understand her.

Sophie needed a confidant, someone that she could trust and be friends with. Eve needed to find a place to land, a place where she would feel comfortable. What these two “friends” had before is not going to work moving forward. 4 stars

Middle of the Night by Riley Sager

5 stars Thriller

To live with this guilt for years would have drove me crazy. Ten-year-old Ethan and his best friend Billy are sleeping in a tent in the backyard at Ethan’s house. This is nothing new, they’ve done it before, countless times. Only, this time Ethan awakes and finds that Billy is not there. What? Not only that but there is a slice in the tent. Yup, Billy is missing, and no one knows anything!

Dang! These ten-year-old boys were neighbors and friends and to have this happen, I can’t even imagine. It’s now thirty years later and Ethan returns to his childhood home. The memories of that horrific night linger and when strange events start to occur, Ethan is on high alert. What is happening? Who or what is doing this and why? Reconnecting with friends and neighbors, Ethan tries to piece together what happened in his backyard, thirty years ago. He’s finding similarities between the two events, yet I began to wonder about the reliability of the individuals Ethan is connecting with.

This was a great page-turner. As Ethan gets reacquainted with his past, I was conducting my own investigation and eliminating suspects. The author was kind enough to throw in some exciting twists into the mix and I had to reexam my predictions as some of them went out the window. I liked how it wasn’t just one mystery that we were trying to solve but Ethan was now living another nightmare, and this was linked somehow. 5 stars

The Vicious Circle by Katherine St. John

4 stars Fiction Mystery

I was hoping that something fantastic would happen to Sveta after what her fiancé put her through. When I read that they decided to take a break from one another, I was so relieved as I thought that Chase was still too much of a mama’s boy to get married. Finding out that her uncle Paul left her an unexpected inheritance, I was so excited for her and just hoped that it was enough that she could get rid of Chase permanently.

I knew Sveta still cared for Chase, but I really wished she would not have told him how much the inheritance was worth or who died. That information put him over the edge. She was now worth more than his family and there was no way that he would let her go now. Urg! Sveta must now make her way to her uncle’s funeral which is in the remote jungles of Mexico. Arriving, she meets her uncle’s attorney, Lucas, and they make their way to Xanadu, the wellness compound that Paul created. It has been many years since Sveta has seen her uncle, but she knows of his work. A famous spiritual leader, Paul had many followers and was known for his teachings. His estate, valued at 180 million dollars, is more than Sveta ever dreamed of.

Xanadu takes them both by surprise as they are both greeted warmly by Kali, Paul’s wife. I feel that there has to be some resentment for not getting Paul’s estate since she was his wife. There is some hesitation, as both Lucas and Sveta take in their surroundings. All electronic devices are stripped from them and a communal computer is made available to them and the other members of the compound. All individuals wear special clothing including Sveta and Lucas and this spiritual retreat compound is becoming more eerie by the minute. Lucas and Sveta start to ask questions about Xanadu and Paul yet the answers they receive aren’t what they expected. They’re learning and it becomes clearer what is actually happening here.

I really enjoyed the language in the book as the author drew me in. The whole picture was slowly being presented as the story unfolded. I was drawn in with the relationship of Sveta and Chase and I couldn’t wait for Sveta to venture to Mexico where I thought things would turn around for her but actually, things clicked into high gear as they realized what they had walked into. 4 stars

This book was part of the Scene of the Crime Early Read Program. Thank you for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

The Chamber by Will Dean

4.5 stars Mystery Fiction

What kept me up at night? It was this interesting story line that had great characters who were trapped inside a small vessel. I’m not claustrophobic but I could be under their circumstances since now, their 30-day mission is now terminated. Tea Bag is dead. They all knew, and they all executed the strictest rules of cleanliness and hygiene since boarding, so what went wrong? Living in such tight quarters, the fear of contamination and illness would spread rapidly amongst the six of them, so what happened?

The remaining five individuals barely get Tea Bag’s body and samples ready for transport outside the vessel when another one of the team members is found without a pulse.

“valve mask, pulse, compressions, IV, more adrenaline.”

Unfortunately, another team is now dead. What is happening! Holy Mogoly folks! The remaining team members are on high alert as there are only four members of the team left. The outside team requires them to follow the same protocol on this body as they did with Tea Bag’s, as they provide them with the necessary supplies. I felt on high alert myself as these individuals were friends. This team knew each other, they respected each other and their work and now, they’re dying.

Each team member was now having second thoughts on everything and everyone. There’s no room for them to stretch out and get away from each other. They’re stuck with each other and their thoughts while the outside team works to safely bring them back home. The stories they told and how they dealt with each minute and hour as they waited helped to pass the time, yet in the back of their minds, they were searching for the truth.

I was caught up inside the heads of these individuals as they were confided inside this vessel and their own thoughts. Their stories were interesting and gives everyone a look into who they. A storm makes the situation more pressing as the team tries to do their own investigating. Is the outside team part of their “team” or are they just “players” in a game? Being stuck inside the vessel, they are given limited information and the windows to the outside world can only provide a narrow view. They were frustrated and I understood why. Was information being held back?

I enjoyed this book, much more than I thought I would, going into it. I’m not one who likes technical books and when they started talking about valves and pressure, I was nervous. I thought this book might be too technical and detailed for me. It wasn’t a scary book (horror) but more of a mysterious, intense drama read that’ll pull you through until you discover the answer. 4.5 stars.

Gone Wolf by Amber McBride

3.5 stars YA Science Fiction

Sometimes a book tries too hard for me, and I find myself just reading along as the book pushes me through the motions. I felt this book was doing some of that as the book painted the picture that I wanted to create on my own. Inmate Eleven is living out her life in her cell with her dog, who “goes wolf” within their cell. Pacing back and forth, her dog acts as if there is more out of life than the 4 walls that surround them. A Blue, Inmate Eleven learns that in reality, Blues are not inferior to the Clones and that her “friend” (a Clone) hasn’t been completely honest with her. Her dog is right, there is more to life than the 4 walls that surround them and now, Inmate Eleven is determined to free them.

Flipping to the present day, Imogen is in the middle of the pandemic. Imogen feels confined and overwhelmed as things start closing in on her. As she begins experiencing phobias, the need to get a handle on the situation becomes increasingly urgent. With only her therapist and her mother available, Imogen tries to come to grips with what is happening and gain control of the situation.

I did like the two timelines and how the author tried to link the two events. Both characters had to take control of their own situation to move forward from somewhere they didn’t want to be. This desire pushed and strengthened them. 3.5 stars

Being Toffee by Sarah Crossan

5 stars YA Prose

“Dad badgered me to
grow up
hurry up
shut up
stop being a baby
stop whining
stop moaning
act my age
act like an adult
quit with the crocodile tears,
as though
being a child was a serious problem
and something I could remedy.”

Allison lives with her father, staying in the shadows. You can feel her pain and her desire to be something more as her words fall across each page. Her father expects everything from her, and she tries but it just isn’t enough. Through the years, Allison has realized that the physical pain she has experienced hurts just as much as the emotional pain. The scars from both, last longer than their appearance.

When dad’s girlfriend suddenly takes off, dad’s emotions run high, leaving Allison in his path. The time has come, and Allison needs to make her move. Allison finds temporary shelter in a shed, one belonging to Marla. Allison is good at staying hidden, for she’s been invisible for years. Allison discovers that Marla has dementia, and she starts to form a friendship with her. Allison was very good with Marla, and I enjoyed their friendship. Allison was thriving under these different circumstances, but I knew it couldn’t last forever.

Allison longs to be a part of something but where and what will that be? Will her dad ever miss her and really need her? What will happen to her friendship with Marla? This book was much more than I had anticipated. I will definitely have to read more from this author! 5 stars

“I wasted a lot of time
waiting for my father to be a better person,
wondering if she could change…..

I should have used my time more wisely:
I could have counted the hairs on Sophie’s dog,
I could have emptied a swimming pool
with a spoon;
I could have memorized Shakespeare’s plays,
the sonnets too.”

“I am hiding my whole history ,
hoping I will forget it.
I am hiding everything from you.
If only I could hide it from myself.”