Completely Full Bookshelf

For MMGM, I am recommending Summerlost  by Ally Condie. (Note: The cover above is the original cover used on the hardcover edition, not the new cover used on the paperback edition.) Summerlost  revolves around Cedar, a 12-year-old girl whose life changed dramatically when her father and brother, Ben (who suffered from autism or a similar disorder), died in a car crash. Cedar, her other younger brother, Miles, and their mother move to a small town called Iron Creek for the summer, where Cedar meets a boy her age named Leo, who enjoys theater and works at the town's Summerlost festival, which puts on performances of Shakespeare's plays. As Cedar befriends Leo, she takes a job at the festival as well, where she sells programs to playgoers, learns about the actors and actresses who have participated in the festival (most notably the formerly-famous, now-deceased Lisette Chamberlain), and volunteers at the festival's costume department. One of Summerlost 's best qua...

For MMGM, I am recommending Save Me a Seat  by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan. Here's the publisher's description: Joe and Ravi might be from very different places, but they're both stuck in the same place: school. Joe's lived in the same town all his life, and was doing just fine until his best friends moved away and left him on his own. Ravi's family just moved to America from India, and he's finding it pretty hard to figure out where he fits in. Joe and Ravi don't think they have anything in common, but soon enough they have a common enemy (the biggest bully in their class) and a common mission: to take control of their lives over the course of a single crazy week. I really enjoyed this book! One of the best parts about it was getting to see unique ways in which people struggle in life . Ravi deals with having to learn new behaviors (such as not standing up when called on), having his name mispronounced, and being judged for his accent, cloth...

For MMGM, I am recommending Snow White: A Graphic Novel  by Matt Phelan. Here's the publisher's description: Award-winning graphic novelist Matt Phelan delivers a darkly stylized noir Snow White set against the backdrop of Depression-era Manhattan. The scene: New York City. The dazzling lights cast shadows that grow ever darker as the glitzy prosperity of the Roaring Twenties screeches to a halt. Enter a cast of familiar characters: a young girl, Samantha White, returning after being sent away by her cruel stepmother, the Queen of the Follies, years earlier; her father, the King of Wall Street, who survives the stock market crash only to suffer a strange and sudden death; seven street urchins, brave protectors for a girl as pure as snow; and a mysterious stock ticker that holds the stepmother in its thrall, churning out ticker tape imprinted with the wicked words  “Another . . . More Beautiful . . . KILL.”  In a moody, cinematic new telling of a beloved fairy tal...

For MMGM, I am recommending Bob  by Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead, with illustrations by Nicholas Gannon. Here's the publisher's description: It’s been five years since Livy and her family have visited Livy’s grandmother in Australia. Now that she’s back, Livy has the feeling she’s forgotten something really, really important about Gran’s house. It turns out she’s right. Bob, a short, greenish creature dressed in a chicken suit, didn’t forget Livy, or her promise. He’s been waiting five years for her to come back, hiding in a closet like she told him to. He can’t remember who—or what—he is, where he came from, or if he even has a family. But five years ago Livy promised she would help him find his way back home. Now it’s time to keep that promise. Clue by clue, Livy and Bob will unravel the mystery of where Bob comes from, and discover the kind of magic that lasts forever. Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead, two masterminds of classic, middle-grade fiction come togeth...