Reading Roundup: January 2015

By the Numbers
Teen: 9
Tween: 4
Children: 3

Sources
Review Copies: 7
Library: 6

Standouts
Teen: Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

This is what a relationship story looks like, as opposed to a love story. Perkins explores how a relationship changes and impacts the people in it, particularly their flaws and screw-ups.

Tween: Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
I've been over the written-in-verse thing for awhile, but this one (and The Red Pencil, mentioned below) were exceptions. Woodson takes us through her young life, with all its trials and joys, in a story worthy of the National Book Award it garnered.
Children: The Mighty Mars Rovers by Elizabeth Rusch
Did you know how much geology went into interplanetary exploration? Because I didn't. This book goes behind the scenes of the little-rovers-that-could to show the humans that worked their butts off. Another worthy entry in the long-running Scientists in the Field series.

Because I Want To Awards
Come Here, I Need to Smack You: The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski
This book is a worthy successor to one of my very favorite books of 2014, with its twisty plot and its heroine trapped between a rock and a hard place. But boy, did I spend a fair amount of time wanting to smack its hero. (Out in March)
Personal Connections: The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney, illustrated by Shane W. Evans
I work in a library where many of my patrons, large and small, are refugees from the kind of situation that this book explores. As such, it was very difficult to read, because I kept seeing people I knew in the story. But oh, so good.