5 books a day keeps the librarian away! (or makes us love you)

So I was hanging out on iTunes last night when I see something interesting-- a new artist called Charlotte Sometimes. iTunes was so happy to know that she named herself after a Cure song. I wonder if either iTunes, or Ms. Sometimes, knows that the Cure song they feel so "in" knowing about is actually about a classic children's book? Probably not.

Anyway, 3 more reviews to round out the day. These books really don't have anything in common except that I read them recently.

Allie Finkle's Rules For Girls: Moving Day Meg Cabot

Can you believe that this is the only Meg Cabot I've read? I know! Luckily, I have The Princess Diaries lined up for the this weekend's challenge. (It's been neck-in-neck in the poll with Gossip Girl for first place. Right now they're tied. Also, the Alice McKinley books are a strong second. All are on tap for this weekend, baring last minute voting shockers.)

Anyway, I'm a late convert to the House of Meg. Ah well. This book, the first she's done for middle grade readers and the start of a new series, is a great introduction, methinks.

Allie has a list of rules to help her run her life:
You Can't Let Your Family Move Into a Haunted House
Don't Put Your Cat in a Suitcase
Don't Get a Pet that Poops in your Hand
Don't Stick a Spatula Down your Best Friend's Throat
and more.

And Allie needs these rules as her family is moving across town and her best friend is, well, kinda lame. Allie's not happy about either of these prospects. Especially because the new house is big and scary and her new school will not be as new and shiny as the one she currently attends. She can try all she wants, but her parents aren't buying her excuses as to why they should stay exactly where they are.

Allie is hysterical and believable and Cabot perfectly captures the trails and tribulations of 4th grade friendships, except that many of her observations about friendship are true even when 4th grade is a successfully repressed memory.

AND! We get the next in the series, New Girl in August!

full disclosure: This is an ARC provided at ALA midwinter to my dear friend Ann who scoured the exhibition floor for me and snatched up ARCs she thought I would like. Because I have KICK ASS friends.

Sunita's Secret Narinder Dhami

Ok, this book isn't published in the US, but it's available for cheap with free shipping and super-fast delivery from The Book Depository, which is where you should be getting all of your British books. I love these people. They are awesome. (Seriously, when I bought the British version of Clarice Bean, Don't Look Now because I couldn't wait until it came out in the US? Not only did I have it months before anyone else, but it ended up costing me, at the most, the same amount as if I had purchased the US edition. SERIOUSLY.)

Anyway... Sunita's father used to be an accountant and he embezzled a ton of money. Before he was caught, Sunita lived the high life. But now he's on the run from the law and Sunita, her twin siblings, and their mum are living in a small house, hiding from the neighbors...

Sunita wanted to keep her past a secret, but Celina, the most popular girl in her grade makes sure that can't happen. Everyone thinks she's a thief, just like her dad. To cheer herself up, she starts doing secret good deeds for others, and the idea spreads like wildfire... but then, Celina takes all the credit!

Set at Coppergate School, the Dhillon sisters make an appearance, but the action is post-Superstar Babes.

What I most like are Sunita's new friends, especially Zara, who decides that since they're both social outcasts they should be friends, purely as a business arrangement to make the school day a little easier... Also, I think Sunita's conflicted feelings about her father are spot-on, as is the family's desire to hide from the world, and how they eventually come out of their shell, little by little.

Fans of Dhami will definitely want to make the effort to track this one down--it's well worth it.

Project Paris: The Fashion-Forward Adventures of Imogene Lisa Barham

So, this is the second book in a series that starts with A Girl Like Moi and continues with Accidentally Fabulous, which comes out in August.

In this installment, Imogene and Evie are off to Paris for the summer. Evie is interning at a design house and Imogene is covering couture week for the fashion forecasting house she works for. And then... the models go on strike. Imogene is being called back to New York unless she can come up with something really big. When the girls find an abandoned collection of dresses, they decide to show them. Only... whose the designer? And when their web of lies catches up to them, what will they do?

Overall, I give it a resounding "meh". I could never believe Imogene as a character. She switches between 12 and 35. She was never believable at 18 unless she was talking about the boy she left behind, but even then I didn't understand what the fuss was about (maybe if I had read the first in the series?) I never connected with her, and frequent readers know I connect with almost every person to grace a page.

Also, I didn't understand her fashion choices. Barham obviously wanted Imogene to be chic and for her clothing not to date the book. But... that means it wasn't fashion forward and for super-classic high fashion? She ended up dressing much older than she was.

The whole thing devolves into madcap slapstick and it would make an entertaining movie for some it-girl du jour, but the action doesn't show up well on the page.

I will say that I was impressed by the production value--full color illustrations throughout the book! I actually quite liked the illustrations. They were light and frothy and what the book wanted to be, but ultimately wasn't.

Rainy Sunday

Doesn't fail, does it? Friday and Sunday, when I'm home, it's rainy out. On Saturday, when I was at work? Super sunny! Well, last night I enjoyed the weather at any rate.

And my flowers and herbs are loving the rain. The cilantro bush is threatening to eat my house it's gotten so huge. My peonies are blooming and they're lovely. My favorite flower. So I've been doing indoor things-- like reading and napping and occasionally watching TV. Today I baked-- Devil's Food cupcakes with a mocha butter cream frosting. (Recipe in How To Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food)

Anyway, some books...

First Daughter: White House Rules Mitali Perkins

This is one of the Fusion Stories that I'm reading my way through this month.

This one picks up with Sparrow and her family moving into the White House. Her mom needs to find a domestic cause to champion. Her cousin is sensitive to the grand income divide between the two of them and looking for a way to help support herself. And Bobby isn't calling-- because his parents think his sick grandfather won't approve of him dating someone who's biological parents were probably Muslim. To top it off, one of her commenters on her blog has called Sparrow rich and privileged and pointed out she wouldn't be able to "make it" in the real world. Sparrow isn't sure how to respond-- the criticism has more than a ring of truth.

If you liked First Daughter: Extreme American Makeover, you're sure to enjoy Sparrow's continuing adventures. Perkins manages to tackle some big issues while still having a fun book. The issues don't get in the way of a light-hearted story, but she still manages to do justice to them.

My complaints are minor--it's always hard to read fiction that's set in the place you live when large parts of the scenery are realistic but still, well... fiction. And Perkins choses the issues she wants to tackle-- such as racism, underfunded schools, and the Hindu/Muslim divide. She doesn't tackle other things-- I find it hard to believe that every member of the junior class in a DC public school could pass a background security check to be let into the residence of the White House. On the other hand, Sparrow is determined enough she might have pulled a few strings with the Secret Service.

Throughout it all, Sparrow remains assured, focused and determined, while at the same time being likeable and seems like a real girl that I'd like to hang out with. (Especially if she can get her cousin to make me some of those cookies!)

Superstar Babes Narinder Dhami

Ok, so... this isn't out in the US yet. BUT! Amber, Jazz, and Geena (of Bindi Babes fame) are back! (Also, you can buy it here with free world wide shipping! I buy from the Book Depository all the time when I can't wait for British books to come across the pond-- sometimes it's even cheaper than the American version will be! Fast delivery, too-- I highly recommend them!)

The girls have been bickering a lot lately and Amber decides it's because they need a project. Coppergate's new building has several rooms named after companies that donated large amounts of money--why not name the library after their mum? The sisters all over it, except it means raising 10,000 pounds. In 6 weeks. Nothing the Dhillon sisters can't handle, right?

Of course, there are other things going on as well. Their spoiled cousin Baby has moved in. Auntie and Uncle Jai seem to be having marital issues and they JUST got married! Plus, Dad's never home anymore and Geena has a secret. About a boy. But what is it?

Can Amber solve all these problems and raise the money in time? Maybe it will all happen when she gets her most brilliant stroke of genius-- a real live Big Brother-type reality show, right in Coppergate, staring her family. What could go wrong?

This series deserves a higher readership. Every time I have a 5th/6th grade girl come in looking for a "funny" book, this is what I hand them. We need more funny for girls. These books hasve fashion, big plans, friendship, girls making their own way in the world, and a healthy dose of literary slapstick. The latest installment doesn't disappoint and continues the wacky and endearing adventures of the Dhillon Sisters.

Series, banned, and work-related...

Last week, I read the very cute Kate Klise books Regarding the FountainRegarding the Sink : Where, Oh Where, Did Waters GoRegarding the Trees : A Splintered Saga Rooted in Secrets

These are children's books, at about a 9-12 year old reading level. They're silly and filled with puns and told entirely in correspondance. In the first one, the principal needs a new drinking fountain and hires someone who designs huge decorative fountains. Misunderstandings ensue and the kids get involved with the planning and it's all silly fun with such characters as Sam N., Wally Russ, Minnie O., Lily, Gil and Tad Pole. (And when the kids in Sam N's class form a band and call themselves the Tune-a-Combo... becoming Sam N.'s Tune-a-Combo...) Hee Hee Hee.

The second two are all along the same lines and are fun and interesting. My only complaint is that in the second one, they make great use of the Chinese province of Sinkiang, assuming it's pronounced Sink-king, even though occasionally they bring up that it is also spelt Xinjiang. And really, it's pronounced Shin-Jee-Ang... ai ya.

Then, the YA librarian knows my love of British Teen Chick-Lit, especially of Angelica Cookson Potts, and when we finally got Cherry Whytock's latest, My Saucy Stuffed Ravioli : The Life of Angelica Cookson Pottsshe handed it straight off to me!!!

This time Angel and friends and family are off to holiday in Italy. Hot guys! Romantic complications! and Oh! The food! More of the same, but ever so much fun! Plus, two nights ago I made the recipie for Spicy Meatballs, and it was super-tasty!
And wow, I used a lot of exclamation points in that review!

I also decided I just couldn't wait and got Narinder Dhami's Bhangra Babes

Also for 9-12 year olds, this is the third installment in the Bindi Babes series, in which Amber, Jazz, and Geena Dhillon get into all sorts of mad Indo-British adventures. Basically, Auntie finally got engaged and is moving out, a new girl and guy start school and are causing havoc and Amber has a hair-brained scheme to solve all their problems. Not only are these fun girly books without being over the top moral OR super girly, but I'm a sucker for fiction that explores the meaning of what it means to be British and/or addresses the post-colonial immigrant experience. And I love that these books do that without intentionally setting out to "Address the post-colonial immigrant experience"...

And finally, I read What My Mother Doesn't Knowby Sonya Sones.

This was one of the ALA's most frequently banned books in 2005, and I'm not entirely sure why...

For some reason, I missed the memo that Sones's books are written in poetry. This collection of poems traces Sophie's relationship with Dylan... and Chazz... and Robin... and explores the teenage emotions that come with being a freshman in looooove. Well written, a good way to get kids to read poetry, I still don't understand why this book was banned (unless it was the poem about her breasts seemingly growing over night, which is about as explicit as that got). I highly recommend and am looking forward to reading her other books!