"Amelia to Zora: Twenty-Six Women Who Changed the World" & "Akira to Zoltan: Twenty-Six Men Who Changed the World" by Cynthia Chin-Lee, illustrated by Megan Halsey and Sean Addy

How I wish that these books had been around when I was younger!  When I was in the 6th grade, I went through a crazy biography phase. Remember the Childhood of Famous Americans series?  Well, my school library probably had about 50 of them and I read every single one of them during that school year (except for one that always seemed to be checked out).  Everytime my family went on vacation and I saw one of those books, that what I wanted instead of souvenirs.  I just couldn't get enough.  Reading these books brought back some of these memories.

Amelia to Zora: Twenty-Six Women Who Changed the World & Akira to Zoltan: Twenty-Six Men Who Changed the World by Cynthia Chin-Lee (and illustrated by Megan Halsey and Sean Addy) are exactly what you'd expect from the title.  Each page covers a different famous person in history, in alphabetical order by first name, from A-Z.  Though the descriptions are incredibly brief (each person does only get a page), I feel that the author really did her research and does a good job capturing the person in that small amount of space.  I think that these books are perfect for any teachers that plan to assign biographies to their students.  I remember getting such assignments and watching the majority of my classmates struggle to find someone to write their paper on. I think these books would be an excellent first step in that process.  Students could read the book and find someone they are interested in and then begin the more in depth research process.  I certainly would have enjoyed these books when I was younger.

I can't talk about these books without mentioning the illustrations- they are gorgeous!  It is clear that a lot of time and effort went in to the design of this book.  The pictures are made up of various elements- images of the people, paint, paper and other found objects that are tied together beautifully.  I think I spent more time pouring over the illustrations than the text (teachers, this might also be an idea for an assignment too).  Halsey and Addy certainly are talented and I plan to look for more of their projects soon.  These books are my current favorite reads of the year (so far)!

Happy Reading!
-Melly

"Pretty Little Liars" by Sara Shepard

I have heard great things about the Pretty Little Liars series by Sara Shepard.  However, I'm not sure if they are quite for me.  I plan on giving the next one or two a shot, but based on how I felt about the first book, I may not see this series out.

The first book opens with a sleepover that goes horribly wrong.  Alison leaves the sleepover and never returns- anywhere.  The novel then picks up three years later. Hanna, Spencer, Aria and Emily have grown apart since Alison's disappearance.  The majority of the novel focuses on each girl individually and they only reconnect at the end of the novel when they find out that all are receiving messages from someone identified only as "A" and that someone knows all of their secrets.  I thought that the idea for the novel was kind of interesting.  However, I felt like there wasn't quite enough character development for each of the girls.  I found myself referring to the summary several times just to keep straight who was who (granted, I am used to stories that have multiple points of view having both male and female characters- maybe having four female leads was just too much for me).  They each had unique storylines, but I couldn't help but feel like they were just one person split into four separate stories.  And each of them had a little bit too much drama for my taste.

I am a little intrigued and would like to see this story out- and find out who "A" is, but I get the feeling that these books may be a little too soap opera like for my tastes.  It was nice to see that Shepard is not afraid to tackle difficult topics- missing persons, bulimia, underage drinking, are just a few things included in the first novel.  I certainly see the appeal of these novels and am really going to try to keep reading them, but we shall see.

Happy Reading!
-Melly

"Every Day" by David Levithan

I picked up this book for two reasons: the first being that I was able to check it out at the library for my kindle, the second being that it's by David Levithan.  I haven't read very much of his work (yet), but have loved everything that I have read.  Every Day is no exception.  I loved it!  Something that I especially enjoyed is that I haven't read anything that I can really compare this book to.  A wakes up every day as a new person.  For 24 hours, he inhabits the body of someone new.  Sometimes they are male, sometimes female, but they are always the same age as A.  It also seems that they were always located in the same area geographically (as I recall this was a minor detail.  There wasn't too much detail but I like that it was addressed).  Most days are the same- he learns how to blend as the person he is currently inhabiting.  He does his best to keep from allowing any questions to be asked, to keep from being noticed.  But of course this all changes they day he meets Rhiannon.  Suddenly she is the only motivation and he will do whatever it takes to be with her, even revealing his secret to her- and accidentally revealing to one of his "hosts" that something had taken over his mind and body.

I really didn't know much about this book before starting it. Sometimes I see a name attached to a book and don't even bother reading the description before I read the book.  In a way this is really nice because I don't start with any misconceptions about the plot and I don't go in expecting certain questions to be answered.  I just loved that this felt like a wholly original plot.  Again, I can't really compare it to other books that I have read (though there's probably some other title(s) out there like this book, but I just haven't come across them yet).  A is a very interesting character.  A has no physical description and no real gender (though in my head, A's presence was always male, no clue why.  Probably because the first person we meet A as is male?  I don't know.  Not that important really, but this is why I keep referring to A as "he.").  It was also really interesting to see how Levithan created all of the characters in this book and how he was able to intertwine so many of their stories.  This was one of those books that I was actually a little sad when I had finished it.  It had a good ending, but I wasn't ready for the story to end.  It will definitely go on a re-read list at some point.

Happy Reading!

-Melly