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Maw Books – book reviews, book recommendations, book lists, author interviews and more!

Hashbrown Winters and the Mashimoto Madness by Frank L. Cole is the followup to The Adventures of Hashbrown Winters but I found one doesn’t need to read the first to understand the second.  This book is wonderfully strange, irreverent, funny, quirky, odd, and perfect for young boys who are reluctant readers.    Such a weird, weird, and oftentimes a very random book.

First let’s start with some of the character names: Hashbrown Winters, Brody the Ape Slayer, Snow Cone, Whiz (he has a bladder problem), Hummas Laredo, Butter Bibowski, Bubblegum, Four Hips, Pigeon, Gurgles Dunderland, Squeaky Mittons, Wish Bone Parker, Echo Rodriguez, Fibber Mckenzie, Measles, Yeti, McKean, Twinkles, Brandy Newspickle, Saddle Bags Bollinger, Cup o’ Noodle Hickock, Frosty John, Hambone, Teeter-Totter Williams.  Um . . . yeah.  Seriously not even kidding.  That alone should give you a taste of what kind of book this is.

Hashbrown has a lot of great friends and runs his treehouse club like a well oiled machine but when his arch enemy, Hi Mashimoto, starts his own rival treehouse club, Hashbrown is so jealous that he will do anything to prove that his treehouse is cooler than Mashimoto’s.  What he doesn’t expect is that Mashimoto will go to any length to secure his domination.

Kids will love the story, the antics, the stink bomb during school assembly, the prison out back of the school that holds all the bad kids, and the dungeon in the basement of Prudence Elementary.  Hashbrown Winters and the Mashimoto Madness is so random, so quirky that boys will eat it up.  Lots of strange humor and more than one potty joke.

But more than that, reminds me that reading is supposed to be fun.

Links of interest: Frank L. Cole blog, more book blogger reviews.
Genre:  Fiction, approx ages 9-12.
Publisher: Bonneville.  January 8, 2010
Paperback, 128 pages. ISBN 1599553783
Source copy: Review copy sent from author
Hashbrown Winters and the Mashimoto Madness is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

A decent amount of reading for July and August and a not-so-decent amount of actual reviewing.  The good news?  I may have broken through my writing block! I actually have reviews written and waiting to be published!  Who’da thunk?!

My favorite read from July and August?  The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien.  Amazing!

Fiction

1. In the Woods by Tana French
2. Unformed Landscape by Peter Stamm
3. The Postmistress by Sarah Blake
4. Sea Escape by Lynne Griffen
5. Love Begins in Winter: Stories by Simon Van Booy
6. How Dolly Parton Saved My Life by Charlotte Connors
7. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

Young Adult Fiction

1. The Scorch Trials by James Dashner
2. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
3. Glimpse by Carol  Lynch Williams
4. Dangerous Neighbors by Beth Kephart
5. Three Quarters Dead by Richard Peck
6. Yummy by G. Neri
7. Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson
8. Scars by Cheryl Rainfield
9. Grace by Elizabeth Scott

Middle Readers

1. Bink and Gollie by Kate KiCamillo
2. Hashbrown Winters and the Mashimoto Madness by Frank L. Cole
3. Grease Town by Ann Towell
4. The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter

Picture Books

1. Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten? by Audrey Vernick, Illustrated by Daniel Jennewein

Non-Fiction

1. Church of Lies by Flora Jessop and Paul T. Brown

And given the fact that 12 of these books were either review copies or brought home from BEA, I really feel like I’m making headway on that TBR pile!

What was your favorite book that you read this summer?

Dork Diaries: Tales for a Not-So-Popular Party Girl by Rachel Renee Russell is a very fun sequel to the cute Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life. If you recall my review of the first book, I loved it.  I thought it was so much fun and highly recommended it for tween girls and middle schoolers.  I’m glad that this second installment did not disappoint.  I found myself laughing out loud a few times and pretty much loving all the hilarious scenarios that Nikki Maxwell gets herself into.

Nikki still has a crush on Brandon, and things are looking up when he asks her to be his lab partner in school.  But Nikki is heartbroken when she discovers that Brandon is taking mean girl MacKenzie to the upcoming Halloween dance.  So it’s no problem when she agrees to spend the night instead helping out a kids’ Halloween party for her little sister.

It ends up that MacKenzie lied about the whole thing.  Can Nikki’s dream of going to the Halloween party with Brandon come true?  Can she juggle two parties?  Combine that with the natural adventures that Nikki manages to get herself into, and life is always interesting.

Dork Diaries is funny, easy to read, and has adorable illustrations.  Nikki’s full of spunk and her diary is certainly one entertaining read.  Can’t wait to continue with this series as they continue to be published and hope that they have a long life.  Hilariously good.

Links of interest: Dork Diaries website and blog.  Maw Books review of Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life, more book blogger reviews.
Genre: Middle Grade Fiction, approx ages 9-12.
Publisher: Aladdin. June 8, 2010.
Hardcover, 288 pages. ISBN 1416980083
Source copy: review copy
Dork Diaries is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott’s opening chapter is a mere four lines:

I liked him first, but it doesn’t matter.
I still like him.
That doesn’t matter either.
Or at least, it’s not supposed to.

Those four lines set up the entire book perfectly.  Ah . . . to be the third wheel.  It’s bad enough to be the third wheel, but it’s even worse when you have a major crush on your best friend’s boyfriend.  That’s exactly what it’s like for Sarah as she tries to convince herself that she doesn’t really like Ryan.  Her best friend Brianna doesn’t even know that she liked him first, so it’s not like Sarah can even be mad at her either.

And then as if things aren’t awkward enough, Sarah begins to think that perhaps Ryan is beginning to give her more attention.  Is it possible that he may like her in return?  When something happens (great scene by the way!) that confirms her suspicions, she is torn with guilt.  What to do?  Is it worth losing her best friend over?  But he’s so worth it . . .

While Living Dead Girl will always remain my favorite Elizabeth Scott book, I really liked The Unwritten Rule.  It’s a seemingly simple book but full of characters who felt SO real (they all made feel like I was 16 again!), great tension, and one that I’d easily borrow out to all the teen girls in my neighborhood.  The more I think about it later, the more I like it.

Links of interest: Elizabeth Scott website, on Twitter, more book blogger reviews.  Maw Books reviews of Living Dead Girl and Something, Maybe.
Genre: Fiction, Young Adult
Publisher: Simon Pulse.  March 10, 2010.
Hardcover, 224 pages. ISBN 1416978917
Source: Review copy
The Unwritten Rule is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

So first things first to get it out of the way.  Yes, Bifocal by Deborah Ellis & Eric Walters has an awful cover.  But on the other hand, it’s co-written by Deborah Ellis.  That’s enough for me to look past the cover.  Unfortunately, if kids aren’t familiar with how awesome Deborah Ellis, will kids pick this one up?  I don’t think so.  Definitely needs a cover redo. Not dynamic or interesting at all.  Covers sell books and this cover is likely hindering what I thought was a good book.

I love Deborah Ellis and the synopsis of Bifocal had me itching at the bit to read it:

Haroon is a serious student devoted to his family; Jay is a rising football star devoted to his team.  They may go to the same high school and walk the same hallways, but they are worlds apart. And that’s just the way it is.

One day the high school is put on lockdown, and the police arrest a Muslim student on suspicion of terrorist affiliations.  Is the boy really guilty, or has he been singled out because of his race?  Student loyalties quickly divide along racial lines, and Haroon and Jay will have to take sides with their own kins.

It’s not like they really have a choice.

A good look on what happens when we judge others unfairly and carry prejudices about others that we don’t understand nor feel as though we want to understand.  The story was engaging and Haroon and Jay are characters who grow and change throughout the course of the novel.  Not my favorite Deborah Ellis book (still reserving that for The Breadwinner series) but one well worth having on your radar.  Stories like these are always important.

Links of interest: More book blogger reviews.  Deborah Ellis books also reviewed by Maw Books: The Breadwinner, Mud City, Parvana’s Journey, Lunch with Lenin and Other Stories, The Heaven Shop.
Genre:  Young Adult Fiction
Publisher:  Fitzhenry and Whiteside.   October 15, 2007.
Hardcover,  240 pages. ISBN 155455036X
Source copy: Review copy at my request.
Bifocal is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.