The Entomological Tales of Augustus T. Percival : Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone by Dene Low

This book is delightfully silly, truly amusing, and a breath of fresh air in a world which increasingly descends to the crass and vulgar in attempting to entertain.  Such misguided buffoonery would clearly be beneath Petronella, a spirited, intelligent, stalwart heroine worthy of anyone's admiration.  In short, I loved it.  (Good for all ages; probably especially enjoyed by girls in the 9+ range.  A dignified alternative to "teenage girl" books  - a definite plus to my pre-teen girl.)

My Side Of The Mountain by Jean Craighead George

My Side Of The Mountain is about Sam Gribley, a 12 year old boy who decides to run away from his cramped home in New York, and learns to survive in the wilderness around his great-grandfathers farm up in the Catskill mountains. I found it interesting, well written, thought provoking, light-hearted, and enjoyable. 

The Roar by Emma Clayton

The Roar by Emma Clayton

The blurb: Post apocalyptic distopia, "mutant" psychics, Etc. Etc.

What it starts to look like: Enders Game/Neon Genesis Evangelion meets Carrie,
then edited until it looks PG(read: no aliens), if still depressing.

Plot Holes: Yes.
To name but a few:

• No space colonies(despite the bad guy having a space station)
• No underwater colonies
• The twin in the beginning not leaving anything identifying during her escape and capture(she has telekinesis for crying out loud)
• None of the "mutant" kids pulling a Carrie(except one, and he gets stopped by a glance)
• Convincing via television hoax * nearly two thirds of the planet to evacuate to the remaining third.

Premise: Great, 4 stars, could make for some excellent fanfiction.
Execution: Terrible, 1.9 stars, not as bad as it could have been, but there are better uses of my time.

*Spoiler, highlight to show.

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

I was surprised at how much I liked this book.  I'm normally just frustrated with books which include magic which may not be magic at all - I like fantasy, I like historical fiction, I like to know what I'm getting into.  But somehow this was such a well-told story that it didn't bother me at all.  And as a coming of age, family reconciliation story it was beautiful.  Suitable for young advanced readers; there is some talk of ghosts and one death scene.  Set in the Great Depression with flashbacks to WWI, just before the great Spanish Influenza epidemic - there are some serious topics, but (I felt) very well dealt with.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

I liked this book because even though at a couple of points I felt that it was somewhat unrealistic I thought that it did a good job showing how friendship can work, especially in a family setting. It was funny, interesting, and a light read---I think I would recommend it to just about anyone old enough to understand it.

Gardeners of Eden: Rediscovering our Importance to Nature by Dan Dagget

Many books about ecological responsibility leave you thinking there's no hope - that humans and a green, happy planet are antithetical to each other, or at least that technology and (planet) health are never going to work together.
This book did a remarkably convincing job of saying "it's not true." It's a slim volume, maybe half a dozen case studies, talking about how intelligent use of resources for humans can actually improve things for the other critters involved, too. Well!
I won't reiterate much of the argument here, only say that this has beautiful photos, lovely short stories, and made me feel that the idea of humans as caretakers - some would say stewards - for the earth is not such a bad one, after all.

Science Fair Season by Judy Dutton

Judy Dutton read a NYT article about a kid who was trying to train Madagascar Cockroaches in hopes of proving that they could be used as drug-sniffing-roaches instead of drug-sniffing dogs, and she was so surprised when he didn't place in the national science fair that she set out to find out why. This book-- with one chapter per project-- contains the answer to her question, which is basically that there were better projects out there. It also contains some of the most interesting science writing I've read in a very long time. My favorites are the story about the girl who taught her autistic cousin how to talk; the one aobut another girl who figured out a new and really cheap way to tell if(/that) DuPont was polluting the water in her town; and the Navajo boy who built a solar water heater for his house out of a radiator (didn't win, did get a scholarship to a much better school than the one he was at).