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Summer ReReads P2
In honor of International Women’s Day, I’ll go into another two of my favorite rereads with some great female leads.
I shall start first with a very underrated series, The Hollywood Sisters by Mary Wilcox.
Jessica Ortiz is so not on the trail for homicide. Not one bit. She is a self-proclaimed recovering shy girl whose greatest goal in life is to fade into the background since whenever she is put in the spotlight bad things happen. For example, accidentally running over George Clooney with a golf card. Or saying she was in an X-rated movie. (She meant extra in a movie.) Did I mention that she said that to a room full of new classmates and nuns.
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Top 5 S.A.S.S. books
Oh this was really hard as it changes depends on. . . I don’t know what really. It just changes. So this is just my top 5 as of now, but all the books are good and I reread them a lot.
In case you’re wondering, there is not a lot of sass in this book. It stands for Students Across the Seven Seas. It follows each girl on a foreign exchange semester where they find themselves capable of more than they thought, expanding their horizons and a lovely romance. Cuz how can you go to a foreign country without a cute foreign fella.
Heart and Salsa by Suzanne Nelson
This one got top spot since it was the first one I bought and so I’ve read many many times. Cat travels to Mexico not only because she loves the Spanish culture and language but also to escape life in New England with her stepfather and mother whom she believes got together too quickly. Clearly her heart is overshielded while her best friend with whom she is eager to reconnect with is too loosely in love with her shady boyfriend. Friendship, and love abounds in this tale as it also gets into the heart of Mexican culture.
The Great Call of China by Cynthia Liu
This was such a good adventure as Cece travels to China against her mother’s wishes for the purpose of finding her birth parents. However, that’s a bit difficult as the internet is less reliable and there’s almost no paper trail to them. Will Cece leave without finding what she is looking for. Also goes into the differences between Cece’s Americanized life compared to her Chinese-American roommate, Jessica who feels stifled by her more traditional parents and that of her cute crush, Will whose parents are bitterly divorcing. There’s a lot more threads and history and Chinese anthropology too.
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Top 6 Little Mix books
Best friends (Untill I find someone better) by Erin Downing
I love a good anti heroine or at least morally questionable mean girl. At summer vacation, Izzy lets down her queen bee meanness but can she do the same when she gets back at school and her losery friends end up following? Well you can figure out how it goes, but I enjoy Izzy’s snarky point of view.
Trauma Queen by Barbara Dee
This was such an interesting premise as Marigold is a girl who is embarassed by her mother. More so than other embarassed daughters as her mother is a performing artists whose pieces often leave others giggling. She desperately wants to seperate herself from that. It’s a great piece on mother daughter relationships that I’m sure you’ll laugh and cringe with her.
Plastic Polly by Jenny Ludquist
This is a book for all those Mean Girls Karen fans. Not that Polly is dumb. She just tends to be more passive, but when her bff and mean girl extraordinaire (not that Polly realizes it) puts her in charge of dance committee, she finds herself having to lead. Having to make decisions. And finding out the nickname everyone has dubbed her. It’s time for her to step up and decide if she wants to be Plastic Polly for the rest of her middle school life.
Front Page Face Off by Jo Whitmore
I love the newspaper reporter angle here as Delilah seeks to cement her place as head honcho in journalism. However, her usual professional demenour is ruffled when her best boy friend seems to have a crush on the new foreign exchange student, just as she starts realizing her own crush on him. It also has a great underlying thread about an arsonists, a snooty school clique the Debs vying for her to keep good press on them and former school bullies. Very compelling read.
Rules for Secret Keeping by Lauren Barnholdt
Another unique premise following a young entepreneur who makes her business trading notes for people. No, Samantha Carmichael does not use it for malicious blackmail purposes. She takes her business very seriously. However, when a rival tries to edge on her turf and ruin her reputation, well then watch out. Not to mention a little secret admirer thread. Compelling for at least one read.
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Top Candy Apple books
Does anyone remember this imprint? It was tweenage drama and fun, which I sadly think it’s defunct now, but it was all the rage in scholastic bookfair mags and my mom bought them by the bundle. So in honor of those sparkly apples, here are my faves.
1. Wish you were here, Liza/See you soon, Samantha/Miss you, Mina by Robin Wasserman, Laura Bergen and Denene Milner
I used to read this trilogy every summer because as you can guess it, it was all about summer vacay. Liza’s was my favorite as it is a road trip across the US to all the corniest tourist traps because her parents insist on finding the ‘real’ America. With that premise, there are plenty of cool adventures as Liza learns to embrace her weird and stop being so self-conscious enough to find her thing. Sam was my second fav as the boy-crazy girl learns to embrace a summer of singledom at the beach, finding ways to make do on her own. Finally Mina gets to go to an art camp in NY with her beloved aunt but it is not as she dreamed it would be as she gets critiques and deals with a girl who won’t play fair. They’re all really fun adventures and nice to see how they get interconnected knowing how each are spending their summer apart.
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Summer ReReads P1
I don’t know about anyone else but I am the kind of person who likes to reread and rewatch my favorite things once a year. That being during the summer because I have a lot of time to relax and enjoy.
Why I chose these specifically, I don’t know really. Nostalgia probably. Also that I bought them all at the summer book sales so I just automatically associate it with summer. In general I think these series’ are underrated and more kids should know of these series.
Disney Girls by Gabrielle Charbonnet
This was done in the early 2000s just for the purpose of hyping up their own brand I suppose but I found it cute. It’s about a group of friends who each relate to a certain Disney princess whether it to be in personality or familial circumstance and just follows their adventures. It has the requisite moral lessons about growing up and such, it’s just quaint.
Kat the Time Explorer by Emma Bradford
I also enjoyed this book as another sort bit of historical fiction for kids. As the tagline says, “Sometimes history needs a little help” which is what Kat and her Aunt Jessica do after figuring out their grandfather’s mysterious contrapation can take them back to the past from Mongolian Empire to Renissance Italy. Seeks to inform and entertain and has little related crafts at the back of the book. Also just look at the cover illustration, it and the others inside, are gorgeous.
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Mysteries and Supernatural series
Mysteries
Codename: Dancer by Amanda Brice
What happens when you mix Dance Academy with murder, you get snarky ballerina sleuth Dani Spevak series. I like how it tries to keep it realistic like a modern day Nancy Drew, and Dani’s voice was very fun to read. Good YA mystery series.
The Lying Game by Sara Shepard
I’m one of the few who haven’t seen or read the infamous Pretty Little Liars series (yet) but I did read her shorter six book series, The Lying Game and I can see why Shepard is so good. All the twists and turns kept me at the edge of my seat and I wasn’t able to guess who the killer was at all. Yet the reveal made so much sense, I couldn’t believe I didn’t figure it out in the first place. Nice series if you want to start small before getting into the 21 book series that made her famous.
The Postcard by Tony Abbot
A funny yet bittersweet mystery as Jason heads down to Florida to sort through his grandmother’s things after her sudden death. But as it’s wont to happen in mysteries, Jason finds a mysterious postcard among her belongings and decides to follow where it leads. Of course there’s murder attempts, crocodiles and twists as Jason runs around Florida for clues, and then. . . well you’ll just have to find out yourself.
Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney
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Women’s History Month Books P6
Dynamic Dames by Sloan DeForest
This is a great addition to any TCM or feminist library going into 50 iconic female roles from Jane Eyre to The Bride and the actresses that portrayed them, showing how their characters influenced and widened the scope of how women can be portrayed in film and make a difference in public perception.
The Book of Awesome Women by Becca Anderson
If you want to add to your collection, this is a solid book that gives snapshots into the lives of 50 boundary-breaking women. It is spread across time and the world giving some boosted diversity as one of the only books that mentioned tribal leader, Wilma Mankiller. However, the tone of the book is hard to take seriously, using the word “shero” a lot and making puns with their names like Jane Goodall, not monkeying around. Better for middle schoolers.
Modern Herstory: Stories of Women and Nonbinary People Rewriting History by Blair Imani
As the title says, this book doesn’t delve too much into the past, but into the present role models and ruler breakers that are chaning the world. This book is one that mainly delves into women who have been excluded from the lists of activists, focusing prominantly on women of color, and/or part of the LGTBQ community and/or being nonbinary. Additionally, their causes range from sexism to other less-talked about ones such as disabilities and body positivity.
Nevertheless, We Persisted
This anathology of essays range from teen activists to US Senator, Amy Kloubacher to actress, Alia Shawkat and more. All focusing on a moment where they’ve been held back, be it by race, gender, sexuality, religion etc. and how they overcame. The message is clear that even in the face of rejection, you can persist and achieve. It can be hard to read especially if you relate to some of the slurs/obstacles/prejudices that are in this book, but it is meant to be inspiring that while life may throw difficulties in your way, you cannot give up.
For a similar anathology of essays about feminism, empowerment and injustice read Our Stories, Our Voices from the experiences of 21 of the top YA authors in the field.
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Books about Books
How to be a Heroine: Or What I’ve Learned from Reading Too Much by Sam Ellis
I have read this at least seveb times, it’s so addictively good, reading about someone who loves books so much as well as analyzing their influence, their subtle feminism and their failings. Of the heroines and the authors behind them. The memoir is again, personal as memoirs are depicting how these books have influenced her life, helped her deal with her epilepsy diagnosis, her future as a playwrighter and more. I plan to reread it again very soon, it’s just that good.
Take Courage: Anne Bronte and the Art of Life by Sam Ellis
This book provides a lovely interplay between narrative story, memoir and research into the least well known Bronte sister who had a quiet strength and dark emotion in her novels that tend to be overlooked compared to the brooding Heathcliff and cold Rochester. Why is that? As Ellis analyzes, Anne portrayed this dark heroes not as romanticized love interests but for being the harsh, cruel men they woul be in real life, practically abusive. I enjoyed learning about Anne and she has made me her favorite Bronte for now. Even though I still prefer her sisters’ novels.
A Secret Sisterhood: The Literary Friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, George Elliot and Virginia Woolf by Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeny
This is a cool book showing that despite the previous mythologies of these women dilligently writing alone by the windows, there is actually a lot more interplay and inspiration. Each of these women had fellow (less known) writer friends for which they could share their ideas, forming a mini community of writerly cameraderie. My favorite was the one between George Eliot and Harriet Breecher Stowe. Do check it out. It also features a forword by Margret Atwood!
Fiction
The Mother Daughter Book Club by Heather Vogell
I highly suggest this eight book series following a group of unlikely friends from the beginning from sixth grade up to senior year graduation (though it skips 10-12 grade year). They all come together because their moms want to make a book club as a chance to bond. However, bookish Emma, shy Jess, fashionista Megan and sporty Cassidy loath the idea as any teenager does. But the book club does give them a bond as they find their literary counterparts offer more than entertaining stories but relate to them today. It covers the bond between mothers and daughters, the complexities of friendship, romance and growing up and I especially enjoy how she subtly copies the plots of the books they’re reading. It is especially pronounced in Pies and Prejudice but I’ll leave you to find out.
Shelf Life: Stories by the Book edited by Gary Paulson. Written by M.T. Anderson, Joan Bauer, Marion Dans Bauer, Ellen Conford, Margaret Peterson Hendrix, Jennifer L. Holms, Kathleen Karr, A. LaFaye, Gregory Maguire and Ellen Wittlinger
This is a ten story anthology for the charity, ProLiteracy Worldwide. The only condition is a book must be mentioned.
As such a lot of the stories focus on the power of books as a source of knowledge, friendship, memory and escape. What else would you expect from a bunch of writers?
I particularly enjoyed the subtle humor and nostalgia of Joan Bauer’s Clean Sweep and the jokester getting comeuppance in Conford’s In Your Hat. Same with Wittlinger’s ability to capture female friendship in Wet Hens and Dans Bauer’s Ths Good Deed.
Anderson’s Barcarole for Papers and Bones was notable for its creepy atmosphere and ambiguity while Maguire brings his signature kookiness in Tea Party Ends in Bloody Massacre, Film at 11.
The others were okay like Karr’s historical tale in What’s a Fellow to Do? It takes place during the 1893 Chicago World Faire which is always unique. Haddix was the only other realistic fiction while Holm goes for sci-fi in Follow the Water, and the magical realism of LaFaye’s Testing, Testing 1…2…3.”
#anathology, #asecretsisterhood, #booksboutbooks, #chatto&windus, #emilymdorikawa, #emmaclairesweeny, #garypaulsen, #heathervogell, #howtobeaheroine, #literarybooks, #marinerbooks, #rachelreads&reviews, #samellis, #shelflife, #simon&schuster, #simonandschuster, #takecourage, #themotherdaughterbookclub -
Mythological Books
The Book of Goddesses by Kris Waldherr
This book contains 26 goddesses from around the world with gorgeous, meticulous illustrations of each. Detailing their origins, their powers and how each could help you in your daily life.
Legendary Ladies by Ann Shen
This book took a lot of references from above, so much so, when I first read it I thought it was plagerized. It is not but the content is very similar so your choice of book can come down to which art style you prefer or that you want 50 instead of 26.
We Goddesses: Athena, Aphrodite, and Hera by Doris Orgel
Another beautifully illustrated book, this goes into the three main goddesses who fight over the infamous golden apple. It shows their origin myths, their power and shows a different perspective of the Trojan War through their eyes.
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Women’s History Books P5
Power in Numbers: The Rebel Women of Mathematics by Talithia Williams
This book doves into a field that I have little interest but still holds amazing forgotten women that basically helped create theories that provide the basis for so many things we have now. Curtained into three neat chapters of The Pioneers, From Code-Breaking to Rocket Science and Modern Math Mavens, it has a nice diverse spread of women in many mathmatical areas. It also introduced several that I never heard of before like Mary Golda Ross, a Cherokee women that helped shape the space program and launch ballistic missles, and Shakuntala Devi, arguably the smartest women ever (I think). Besides covering the now well-known figures like Grace Hopper and the West Computers, Mary Winston Jackson, Katherine G. Johnson and Dorothy Vaughen, the biggest chapter is dedicated to modern mathmeticians. I thought this was a nice choice to show how there are many breaking boundaries and making history today, providing current role models.
Also this book is definately for high schoolers looking for math sheros because it does not explain the concepts. It expects you to know the terms. Like when the author writes of Winifred Merrill’s thesis showed new results in “obtaining relations between Cartesian and oblique systems and the oblique and triplanar systems to obtain the needed equation arrays for the Cartesian and triplanar systems (Williams 34).” I guess that’s impressive, I just have no idea how.
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Rachel Reads & Reviews 