(“Gleneden Beach, Oregon Coast,” photo by Nancy Ellen Row Rawley)

“i’d rather learn from one bird how to sing/than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance…”

ee cummings, from the poem “you shall above all things”

Reviewed today:

“Every Missing Piece,” the newest young adult title from author Melanie Conklin, (Little, Brown and Company, 2020, 284 pages, $7.99) just knocked me out. Fans of Lois Duncan, Jodi Picoult, and “Fault in Our Stars” author John Green will love this one. Middle-school student Maddy Gaines, is what therapists call “hyper-vigilant” — she sees trouble or possible trouble everywhere. She’s not crazy about her new stepdad, Stan, who is probably nice enough? Her mom tries to understand but isn’t quite in the know; and when she thinks that a new kid in town might be a kid who went missing from across North Carolina, where she lives… well. Maddy doesn’t really feel like telling anyone.

Because the sheriff and everyone else is starting to see her as the girl who cried wolf. Is she right? Is her best friend playing both sides? We will see…

This is just a great read, I finished it in two sittings. Looking forward to the author’s next book, “A Perfect Mistake,” which is scheduled for a July 2022 release.

Found another awesome young adult read in “A Kind of Spark,” by Elle McNicoll, an up-and-coming talented young author. (Crown Books for Young Readers, 2020, 179 pages, $16.99.) Addie is a kid who is neurodivergent, and does us the kindness of explaining, in a direct and thoughtful manner, exactly what that means to her, and should mean to us.

She has a teacher who is not so thoughtful, and when they talk in class about the women tried as witches in Scotland, where she lives, she decides to honor them in her own style, keeping it local. Great, provocative book. Looking forward to reading more from this author.

“The Woman All Spies Fear: Code breaker Elizebeth Smith Friedman and her hidden life,” by Amy Butler Greenfield, (Random House Studio, 2021, 328 pages, $18.99) is a new biography of an interesting woman who worked relentlessly during both World Wars as a code cracker. The book has been called “a real-life thriller” and that it is.

Bon appetit, babies! More spring reads on the way soon…

WM

Preview of Coming Attractions (Photo by Nancy Ellen Row Rawley)

Reading reading reading… here’s my current list. Thank you, St. Vinnie’s in Albany, Oregon, for the huge, inexpensively-priced collection. I picked up a few titles, received a few titles in the mail, and donated a load of books to friends, neighbors, and the Little Free Library.

Smiles, everyone, smiles!

• “The Undomestic Goddess,” by Sophie Kinsella — I love this author, I have always loved her since the first time I read her, and I always will. Loyalty. That’s what you get from me.
• “How to Live. What to Do,” by Josh Cohen — such an intricate read. I’ve been reading it for awhile, and it’s different from anything else out there, which is a good thing.
• “home is not a country,” by Safia Elhillo — brilliant book from brilliant young writer who is “Sudanese by way of Washington, D.C.”
• “Answers in the Pages,” by David Levithan — another writer to watch. (You may know him from “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist” and “10 Things I Hate About You.” I love him because of “The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S.” which was pure genius.
• “Nasty, Brutish, and Short,” by Scott Hershovitz. You know when you write a parenting book? About your own wild ones? And they ask, Wait. Is this about us? So much love for this book, and this family.

TTFN.

WM