I can tell you what Love You Hate You Miss You is about from reading synopsis’s myself.  In fact, I’ll share with you from Scott’s website:

It’s been seventy-five days. Amy’s sick of her parents suddenly taking an interest in her. And she’s really sick of people asking her about Julia. Julia’s gone, and Amy doesn’t want to talk about it. No one knew Julia like she did. No one gets what life is without her.
No one understands what it’s like to know that it’s all your fault.

Amy’s shrink thinks she should keep a journal but instead, Amy starts writing letters to Julia. And as she writes letter after letter, she begins to realize that the past holds its own secrets–and that the present deserves a chance.

Looking over some of the reviews myself, it feels vaguely familiar but yet I cannot recall any feelings nor basic details about the book.  However, other reviewers were very enthusiastic about Love You Hate You Miss You and sad that it didn’t receive more attention at the time of it’s release.  Hey, it’s Elizabeth Scott, I say go read it despite my not being able to remember anything about it.  Will it stand the test of time?  For me, obviously not.  But I didn’t dislike it in the least.  I don’t think all books have to have staying power.  It was a good read at the time.

As a side note – I find it interesting to note how our feelings for a book change over time.  Do you find yourself  not being able to remember basic plotlines of books that you’ve read in the past?

Links of interest: My book reviews of Something, Maybe, Living Dead Girl.  Elizabeth Scott website and blog.  Other blogger reviews.
Genre:  Young Adult
Publisher:  Harper Teen.  May 26, 2009.
Hardcover, 288 pages.
Love You, Hate You, Miss You is available from your local independent bookstore, Powell’s, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

Frankie is ready to start school at Miss Wart’s Academy for Ghouls & Goblins and he’s very excited.  But his classmates – witches, skeletons, and vampires – won’t sit next to him and make fun of him for not looking like the rest of them.

But Frankie declares that he can be scarier than all of them.  By the end of the school day, Frankie undergoes a grotesque, bone-chilling, ear-shattering, and bloodcurdling transformation until he becomes scarier and scarier.  When he leaves for home after his first successful day of school, he has made many new friends and proved that even with his rosy red cheeks and blond hair, he can be scary as well.

The illustrations are bright and silly.  Kids will enjoy copying Frankie’s antics.

Links of interest: Lola Schaefer website, Kevan Atteberry website, more book blogger reviews.
Genre: Fiction Picture Book, approx age 4-8.
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books. July 2010.
Hardcover, 32 pages. ISBN 0761456562
Source: Review copy for 2010 Cybil’s nomination for which I am a 1st round  panelist.
Frankie Stein Starts School is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

But when his teacher, Mrs. Wimpydimple tells a ghost story in the dark, Splat gets so scared that he throws his jack-o’lantern up in the air and it lands straight on his head! Unable to see anything, he stumbles around and scares the entire class! Splat may be more scary than silly after all!

The illustrations in Scaredy-Cat, Splat! are adorable!  I don’t even really like cats all that much but Splat looks so soft and cuddly that I’d love to take him home with me. I particularly loved Splat’s friend Spike dressed as a mummy. Too cute. I think a couple of the pages of text at the very beginning were a bit too long as I much preferred the more brief text in later pages. But a fun story to read out loud.

A great Halloween book that kids will love.

Links of interest: More book blogger reviews.
Genre: Fiction Picture Book, approx age 4-8.
Publisher: Harper Collins, August 24, 2010.
Hardcover, 40 pages. ISBN 0061177601
Source: Library copy. A 2010 Cybil’s nomination for which I am a 1st round  panelist.
Scaredy-Cat, Splat is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

In Shattered Dreams, Irene Spencer told the devastating story of her arduous life in a polygamous fundamentalist Mormon sect [Church of the Firstborn of the Fullness of Times], sharing her husband with nine other women (and fifty-six children) in abject poverty and intense mental and emotional anguish.  As harrowing as the story was, it was only just the beginning.

Cult Insanity delves deeper into her story, focusing on the terrifying acts of Ervil LeBaron,, her brother-in-law and a self-proclaimed prophet who determined he had been called to set the house of God in order.

The older brother of Irene’s husband, Verlan, Ervil LeBaron had a zeal for living and teaching that was at first admired but soon took on a sinister tone.  Ervil’s ambitions quickly turned lethal when he uncovered a doctrine concerning blood atonement – the act of redeeming a sinners soul by taking his or her life.  Seeing himself as God’s Avenger, he used the role as a means to terrorize and destroy those who challenged him.

Irene quickly became enveloped in a dark cloud of fear and anguish.  Survival for herself and her ever-growing family turned into a constant flight from one desert camp to another across the harsh badlands of Baja, California.  Food was scarce and living conditions abhorrent.  Irene didn’t see her husband for months, never knowing if Ervil would make good on his vow to kill him.

I previously read Irene Spencer’s first memoir, Shattered Dreams, My Life as a Polygamist, two years ago and called it one of the best books I’d read all year.  While I would recommend that you read Shattered Dreams first, Cult Insanity can easily be read as a stand alone. Where Shattered Dreams focuses more on the intimate details of Irene’s feelings about living life as a polygamist, Cult Insanity dives deeper into the politics of the Church of the Firstborn of the Fullness of Times and the LaBaron family.

There are a lot of people to account for in Cult Insanity and Irene jumps around a lot in her telling, making the not linear account sometimes a bit difficult to keep track of.  But the account that she gives is as the title aptly calls it, pure insanity.  Just like Shattered Dreams, I couldn’t put this book down.  Shattered Dreams felt a bit more personal to me and thus I liked it a bit more. Don’t get me wrong though, this book was just one bit as interesting and also just as appalling.

Even as I continue to read these types of memoirs, I never cease to be shocked with what kind of behavior goes on behind closed communities.  If interested in polygamy and religious extremist groups and wanting to read a personal, firsthand experience about life among the LeBaron group then Cult Insanity is the book for you.

Links of interest:  Irene Spencer website, Maw Books review of Shattered Dreams, My Life as a Polygamist,  more book blogger reviews. Other polygamist memoirs I’ve reviewed: Stolen Innocence by Elissa Wall with Lisa Pulitzer, Escape by Carolyn Jessop,
Genre: Non-Fiction
Publisher:  Center Street. August 12, 2009.
Hardcover, 352 pages. ISBN 0446538191
Copy source: Review copy sent from the publisher at my request.
Cult Insanity is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

We recently had a dinosaur themed birthday party for my now five-year-old boy. I collected all of my dinosaur books and stood them up all around the room.  As kids came in and played many of them found books to read.  This one was really popular and so I decided to read it out loud to several of the kids.  They were totally into it.

Nothing can stop this dinosaur.  He takes on a pile of leaves, a big slide, a bowl of spaghetti, talking grown ups, bath time and toothbrushing and he always wins the battle.  But can he beat bedtime?

A fantastic bedtime book.  Which admittedly might get your kids more riled up when you want them calming down but this book is just too good to miss. Love this character.


Links of interest: Bob Shea website, more book blogger reviews.
Genre: Fiction picture book. Approx ages 4-8.
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH September 9, 2008.
Hardcover, 40 pages. ISBN 1423113357
Source: Library
Dinosaur vs. Bedtime is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

Dinosaur is having a great time making lemonade, splashing in the sprinklers, taking on a three juice box lunch, splashing in the rain puddles.  Nothing can beat him! He does a victory dance.  But wait, that might not be a victory dance after all.  Will he make it in time?  Will the potty win?

Such a fun, fun book to read aloud.  High energy and lot’s of roaring.  Both of my kids LOVE it.  As soon as we finished, the three-year-old said “Again!”  And then after a second reading “Again!”  We could go on and on reading this book over and over.  On just the second exposure to the book my 5-year-old was already reciting and anticipating  the text.

Love the big bold lines, the bright color, and one heck of a cute dinosaur.  Seriously love here for Bob Shea.  Thrilled that I met him at Book Expo America.  Loved the look on my kids’ face when they saw their names on the inside of the book signed by the author.  A bit confused to tell you the truth, “How did that get there?!”

Add this one to your potty training book collection.  It’s a must have.


Links of interest: Bob Shea website, more book reviews.
Genre: Fiction picture book. Approx ages 4-8.
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH. September 28, 2010
Hardcover, 40 pages. ISBN 1423133390
Copy Source: Review copy picked up from 2010 Book Expo America.
Dinosaur vs. the Potty is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

So it was pretty much a no-brainer that my kids would like the picture book  Ned’s New Home by Kevin Tseng.  In this book, Ned, the worm, lives inside a wonderful red apple.  He loved to bake apple pies.  But when the apple began to rot Ned knew that he would have to find a new home.  He tests out various other homes including a pear, watermelon, blueberries, lemon, kiwi, and a bowl of cherries.  None of them were perfect like his apple used to be.  One day he finds himself being lifted into the sky by a big hungry bird.  He manages to escape and lands in a tree full of big, beautiful . . . apples.

A happy ending for this cute little worm and a book which will make children happy as well.  And if only real worms were as cute as Ned.  If they were, he could move into my house.  But as it is, my rule stays.  No worms in my home.

Links of interest:  Kevin Tseng website,  more book blogger reviews.
Genre: Fiction Picture Book
Publisher: Tricycle Press. August 11, 2009
Hardcover, 32 pages. ISBN 1582462976
Copy source: Review copy for 2009 Cybil’s nomination consideration  for which I was a panelist.
Ned’s New Home is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

The Unwritten Rule

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.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

But what can I tell you about this novel besides the “Go read this book.  I really liked it!” spill?  Apparently not much because I’ve been sitting here for fifteen minutes just reminiscing over Russo’s characters and the introspective storyline only to discover that I’m not actually typing anything out.  I don’t often resort to the publisher’s synopsis’s but in this case, it’s a fine one indeed:

Griffin has been tooling around for nearly a year with his father’s ashes in the trunk, but his mother is very much alive and not shy about calling on his cell phone. She does so as he drives down to Cape Cod, where he and his wife, Joy, will celebrate the marriage of their daughter Laura’s best friend. For Griffin this is akin to driving into the past, since he took his childhood summer vacations here, his parents’ respite from the hated Midwest. And the Cape is where he and Joy honeymooned, in the course of which they drafted the Great Truro Accord, a plan for their lives together that’s now thirty years old and has largely come true. He’d left screenwriting and Los Angeles behind for the sort of New England college his snobby academic parents had always aspired to in vain; they’d moved into an old house full of character; and they’d started a family. Check, check and check.

But be careful what you pray for, especially if you manage to achieve it. By the end of this perfectly lovely weekend, the past has so thoroughly swamped the present that the future suddenly hangs in the balance. And when, a year later, a far more important wedding takes place, their beloved Laura’s, on the coast of Maine, Griffin’s chauffeuring two urns of ashes as he contends once more with Joy and her large, unruly family, and both he and she have brought dates along. How in the world could this have happened?

Griffen is a character that I didn’t easily forget as Russo dived deep into his thoughts and character habits.  What looks seemingly like a fantastic life, Griffen is very much discontented.  As a child, the only time he saw his parents happy was when they vacationed on the Cape. But those moments weren’t often enough and the disintegration of his parents marriage has Griffen continually questioning his.  Griffen is facing a classic mid-life crisis.  And if that’s not enough, it’s a mid-life crisis where he can not keep his mother’s voice out of his head. It’s this moment in his life where the culmination of his past will intersect with his future which will take him on a journey far different than he had originally planned.

That Old Cape Magic is a beautiful story of family, marriage, self-discovery, reflection, and intimacy.  The characters are extremely flawed and Russo portrays them with compassion.  This is a character study novel that Russo has pulled off brilliantly.  I loved it and Russo continues to be a favorite author.  Must get a move on and read his entire backlist.

Links of interest:  More book blogger reviews.
Genre:  Fiction
Publisher: Knopf.  August 4, 2009.
Hardcover, 272 pages. ISBN 0375414967
Source copy: Review Copy
That Old Cape Magic is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.
Keep in mind that this book does have more language in it than I normally read for those who appreciate knowing this.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

But this is not the only limit of Daniel’s abilities.  He has savant syndrome, which many of us are aware of through Dustin Hoffman’s portrayal of Charlie Babbitt in the movie Rain Man.  Not only can Daniel Tammet calculate huge sums of numbers in his head but he also can recite the number of Pi up to 22,500 decimal places, and learn languages in mere weeks (he’s fluent in about nine).  Daniel Tammet also has Asperger’s, a very high functioning form  of autism which unlike Charlie Babbit, allows him to communicate and interact well.  This was a skill that he learned to improve with time and practice.  It’s this capability that he’s able to give us a glimpse into one of the most rare conditions in the world.

This memoir is a fascinating glimpse into such an extraordinary mind.  Our brains are incredible and Daniel has opened himself up to science for study so we may better understand what we, as humans, are capable of.  Daniel takes us on a journey through his childhood, his home, family and school life, to embarking out on his own, finding love and creating his own successful business.  While the book is certainly factual in nature, a testament to how Daniel processes his surroundings, it was incredibly introspective and honest.  I love coming to learn and understand people who are unlike myself, and if you are the same, this is a memoir that you won’t want to miss.

The following video is a 50 minute film, titled The Boy With The Incredible Brain, which is a documentary that he talks about in length in the book.  If you don’t read the book, I’d at least watch the film.  But I’d recommend both!

Links of interest: Daniel Tammet’s website, more book blogger reviews. Did you know April is National Autism Awareness Month?  Check out all my book reviews that address autism.
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir
Publisher:  Free Press.  October 16, 2007
Paperback, 256 pages. ISBN 1416549013
Source copy: Own
Born on a Blue Day is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.