Dream and Dreamers Blogger Campaign ~ REVIEW

I have been able to read some really great Middle grade books over the past few weeks.  Kaden and I are wrapping up the last chapter on one of them tonight.  One of the reasons why I love this genre of reading is because of the innocence, the hope, the fire, the possibilities that are stirred up within each of the characters.  I love the wonder and adventure.  Real life is yucky at times and I find it therapeutic to curl up on the couch after Kaden's nighttime routine and escape with him.  But, sometimes I'm found sipping tea on that same couch reading long after he has gone to bed.

Here are the three last reads.....

THE LINE TENDER

Go Here for my full Review on this book.  But, here is the book description.

Heartbreaking but also filled with wit and hope, The Line Tender is the story of Lucy, the daughter of a marine biologist and a rescue diver, and the summer that changes her life. If she ever wants to lift the cloud of grief over her family and community, she must complete the research her late mother began. She must follow the sharks.

 Wherever the sharks led, Lucy Everhart's marine-biologist mother was sure to follow. In fact, she was on a boat far off the coast of Massachusetts, collecting shark data when she died suddenly. Lucy was seven. Since then Lucy and her father have kept their heads above water--thanks in large part to a few close friends and neighbors. But June of her twelfth summer brings more than the end of school and a heat wave to sleepy Rockport. On one steamy day, the tide brings a great white--and then another tragedy, cutting short a friendship everyone insists was "meaningful" but no one can tell Lucy what it all meant. To survive the fresh wave of grief, Lucy must grab the line that connects her depressed father, a stubborn fisherman, and a curious old widower to her mother's unfinished research on the Great White's return to Cape Cod. If Lucy can find a way to help this unlikely quartet follow the sharks her mother loved, she'll finally be able to look beyond what she's lost and toward what's left to be discovered.

FAR AWAY

This book was pretty cool, the main character Caraway June aka C.J travels the country in a tour bus with her aunt and the crew.  Her aunt is a medium and she believes they are spreading hope, giving closer and assurance to family and friends who have lost a loved one.  C.J is with her aunt because her mom has passed away and she is able to speak to her through her aunt.  Crazy.... I know.  Many things happen and discoveries as C.J comes into her own.  This is a time when kids do question and desire to know who they are, where they are from.  

Her and a new friend set off on a road trip and discovered some pretty hefty secrets that cause her to question her whole life.  Kaden and I both had fun reading this book together and were surprised over and over as the story unfolded. If your tween likes magic and mystery this will be a great summer read for sure.

Book description....

A book about life, loss, and the secrets families keep, reminiscent of Sharon Creech's Walk Two Moons, by National Book Award nominee Lisa Graff.

CJ's Aunt Nic is a psychic medium who tours the country speaking to spirits from Far Away, passing on messages from the dearly departed. And CJ knows firsthand how comforting those messages can be -- Aunt Nic's Gift is the only way CJ can talk to her mom, who died just hours after she was born.

So when CJ learns that she won't be able to speak to her mother anymore, even with Aunt Nic's help, she's determined to find a work-around. She sets off on road trip with her new friend Jax to locate the one object that she believes will tether her mother's spirit back to Earth . . . but what she finds along the way challenges every truth she's ever known. Ultimately, CJ has to sort out the reality from the lies.

AUTHOR:

Lisa Graff (lisagraff.com) is the critically acclaimed and award-winning author of The Great Treehouse War, A Clatter of Jars, Lost in the Sun, Absolutely Almost, A Tangle of Knots, Double Dog Dare, Sophie Simon Solves Them All, Umbrella Summer, The Life and Crimes of Bernetta Wallflower, and The Thing About Georgie. Lisa Graff's books have been named to more than sixty state award lists and have been touted as best books of the year by booksellers, teachers, and librarians. A Tangle of Knots was long-listed for the National Book Award in 2013. Lisa Graff lives with her family just outside of Philadelphia. Follow her on Twitter @LisaGraff.

The last book I want to share with you is called The Bridge Home and let me tell you your heart will be wrecked.  Get ready to fall in love with these characters hard.  The setting is in the streets of India where two sister are running away from an abusive home.  They connect with two homeless boys and the compassion, camaraderie and bond between the four begins.  I loved that this book touched on some heavy topics in a way that was age appropriate.  Kaden and I spent moments in deep conversation almost every single night after reading together.  Many of the situations these kids were in Kaden will never know or endure God willing, but it was eye opening to see the lives of children going through severe poverty, disability and abuse through their eyes.  
This book took my breath away and swelled my heart.  Kaden said he will keep this book forever in his collection.  This is a must read!!!

 

THE BRIDGE HOME

Four determined homeless children make a life for themselves in Padma Venkatraman's stirring middle-grade debut.

Life is harsh in Chennai's teeming streets, so when runaway sisters Viji and Rukku arrive, their prospects look grim. Very quickly, eleven-year-old Viji discovers how vulnerable they are in this uncaring, dangerous world. Fortunately, the girls find shelter--and friendship--on an abandoned bridge. With two homeless boys, Muthi and Arul, the group forms a family of sorts. And while making a living scavenging the city's trash heaps is the pits, the kids find plenty to laugh about and take pride in too. After all, they are now the bosses of themselves and no longer dependent on untrustworthy adults. But when illness strikes, Viji must decide whether to risk seeking help from strangers or to keep holding on to their fragile, hard-fought freedom.

AUTHOR:

Padma Venkatraman was born in Chennai, India, and became an American citizen after attaining a Ph.D. in oceanography from The College of William and Mary. She is also the author of A Time to Dance (IBBY selection, ALA Notable, CCBC Choice, Notable Books for a Global Society winner, and South Asia Book Award Honor Book), Island's End(ALA Best Book of the Year, ALA/Amelia Bloomer List selection, and CCBC Best Book), and Climbing the Stairs (Julia Ward Howe Award, Bank Street Best Book, YALSA BBYA selection, Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People, and CCBC Choice).