Bloomability by Sharon Creech

I’ve always liked the cover of this book but I never actually read it. Until this month that is. It’s about a young girl, Domenica aka Dinnie who’s been kidnapped to Switzerland. Well, not really kidnapped. Her family is having lots of dysfunction that the eleven year old doesn’t comprehend so her mother leaves her with her aunt and uncle who run an international boarding school.

Man, if I knew that before I might have reead it sooner, I love travel stories and Creech does an excellent job in having Dinnie gradually develop by learning about her fellow classmates and how similar they are despite their cultural/language differences. After all, they’re in the same boat navigating a new country, homesickness, coming of age, and come to have a tight bond because of it.

Not that it is all close friendships as Dinnie hs to deal with the fellow ugly American in the form of her sort of friend, Lila who is a true annoyance despite her home life. With her, Creech is able to demonstrate the tumultuous feeling of adolescent friendships with everyone changing and Dinnie deciding what kind of person she wants to be.

It can be meandering some of the time. Since Dinnie is only eleven she is unable to comprehend the bigger events happening around her (Lila’s father’s neglect, her sister’s teen pregnancy, her brother’s delinquent tendencies), I, as an older reader wish these events could have been explored more but it wouldn’t make sense for her age.

Still it’s a thoughtful slice of life book for kids.

Don’t You Know There’s a War On? by Avi

Avi is the best when it comes to historical fiction, and he brings his expert touch with this WW2 story. An adult Howie reaccounts a pivotal moment in 1943 when upon spying his horrid school principle (on suspicion that he’s a spy), he learns his favorite teacher is going to be fired.

The premise is simple as Howie attempts a white knight rescue of Miss Gossim but there is an undercurrent of sad ominousness throughout the proceedings. Howie is preoccupied with Miss Gossim, but you can sense that it is a distraction from worries about his soldier father and a way for him to cling onto the one constant in his life.

Miss Gossim is gorgeous in Howie’s life but she is also encouraging and kind and with his mother constantly exhausted, the constant war newsreels and general sense of unease, he needs Miss Gossim to be there for him.

Avi’s imagery and descriptions are top-notch by throwing readers back in time but that is colored by a nostalgic tone from older Howie. For even though he was worried about Miss Gossim, she had represented a hopeful dream/idealism that he hasn’t been able to feel since then. The end of the war brought new normalcy but it also brought scars to the adult Howie and he wishes he could go back.

Welcome to Wonderland series by Chris Grabenstein

Grabenstein brings a rollicking adventure for kids to enjoy in the vein of Phineas and Ferb. If Phineas was a smart-talking P.T. Barnum type. I mention P.T. Barnum because this P.T. was named in homage to the showman and he embraces that wholeheartedly.

After all, why ruin a good story with the truth?

Cuz truth is the Wonderland Motel is near the end of times. Ever since the far more popular Disneyland opened (a year after Wonderland did as P.T.’s grandfather points out), they’ve been puttering by. But P.T. isn’t going to let greedy developers or corporate hotel chains put his family business in the ground. With business-whiz kid Gloria and his generously kooky grandfather, P.T. foils geriatric thieves, surfs with movie stars and potentially meet his long lost father.

I was only able to read the first three books in the quartet but I was taken not only by the dynamic illustrations (by a Lumberjanes illustrator if the style looks familiar) but by the tricky plots. Grabenstein manages to throw in several intriguing red herrings that broke any predictability in the mysteries. Or I’m really bad at guessing whodunnit.

Even if you’re are good at it, P.T. is entertaining with his well-intentioned schemes and Grabenstein utilizes the Florida setting to a hilt because anything can happen in Florida, land of crocs, carnivals and more.

Books I read this month

Finding Famous by Candice Jalili, Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott, Quiet Girl in a Noisy World by Debbie Tung, Women Who Changed the World by Laurie Calkhoven, Seven Tales of Trinket by Shelley Moore Thomas, Rad Girls Can by Kate Schatz and Miriam Klien Stahl, America’s First Ladies by Kathleen Krull, Bloomability by Sharon Creech, Don’t You Know There’s a War Going On by Avi, The Girl Who Rode a Shark by Alissa Ross, Beauty Queens by Libba Bray, Behind Every Great Man by Marlene Geller-Wagerman, Rita by Rita Moreno, Becoming by Michelle Obama, Teashop Girls and The Secret Ingredient by Laura Schiffler, Drawing the Vote by Tommy Perkins, Scout is Not a Band Kid by Jade Armstrong, Welcome to Wonderland trilogy by Chris Grabenstein, Be Prepared by Vera Brogsel, Fable Comics edited by Chris Duffey, Adventures of Johnny Chuck, Mr. Mocker, Ol Misth Buzzard, Unc’ Billy Possum, Reddy Fox, Bowser the Hound, Sammy Jay, Prickly Porky, Old Man Coyote, Whitefoot the Woodmouse , Lightfoot the Deer and Old Granny Fox by Edgar Thorton Burgess, Hey Kiddo by Jarret Kroczcka, Invisible by Christina Diaz Gonzales, Puzzled by Pan Cooke, Confectionaly Yours quartet by Lisa Papademetriou, Wonder Girls series by Jillian Brooks, Friendship Rings sexttent by Rachel Veil, Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiNozzio and Holly Black, A Hermit and his Wild Friends by Mason A. Walton, New Girl by Cassandra Calin, Wish You Were Here, Liza by Robin Wasserman, See You Soon, Samantha by Laura Bergan, and Miss You, Mina by Denene Milner

Creepella Von Cacklefur #1-9

Donut Dreams #1-8 by Coco Simone

Cruella de Vil #3-4

Lilo and Stitch #1-4

Hercules #1-3

Thundercats (2024) #1-5

Justice League: Girl Power by DC Comics

The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes #1-20 + Super Specials #1 & 2 by Anne Mazer

Sabrina the Teenage Witch #5 

Pep #204, 255

Jughead’s Jokes #28,29,32,34,55

Jughead #155, 162, 192, 194, 200, 234, 261

The World of Jughead #194, 209

Reggie and Me #30, 50, 53, 54, 77

Reggie’s Wise Guy Jokes #40, 41

Archie’s Girls Betty and Veronica #136, 166, 174, 177, 178, 191, 199, 212, 284, 276 

Betty and Veronica Spectacular #197 

Betty and Veronica #64 

Betty and Me #26, 51, 96, 98,110

Veronica #100

Laugh #283, 309, 335

Archie #231, 273,276, 277,289,498

Archie’s Jokebook Magazine #137, 155, 160,178, 183, 185, 240, 242, 245,261 

Archie Giant series magazine #158, 187,197

Little Archie #67, 72, 73, 115, 172

Life with Archie #70, 89, 110, 124, 136, 142, 151

Archie’s Tv Laugh out #16, 23,53,58,71,73

The World of Archie Giant #192, 193, 200, 210, 211, 492

Everything’s Archie #1,40, 70

Archie’s Christmas stocking #190

Archie Annual #23,24

Archie and Me #49, 50, 51, 70 

Archie’s Pals n Gals #63, 72, 77-80, 117, 138

Archie’s Parables, Archie’s Circus

Archie’s Christmas Love-In #192, 218 

Archie at Riverdale High #75

Katy Keene #25