Eric Gansworth | There's a Book for That

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

Join Jen from Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki from Unleashing Readers and share all of the reading you have done over the week from picture books to young adult novels. Follow the links to read about all of the amazing books the #IMWAYR community has read. You are guaranteed to find something new to add to your list.

A strange #IMWAYR post for me because there are no picture books included here. We were away for an entire week and I just packed novels in my bag. But, oh, what novels . . . The first two were titles on my #MustReadin2014 list

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Eerie. Haunting. Painful. Beautiful. Captures family dynamics – holding these messy aspects up in all of their raw and real glory. If you have read this book, you know, it isn’t possible to write details that aren’t spoilers. So leaving it here. Wow.

The Summer of Letting Go by Gae Polisner

Should have been just so sad but somehow this title was light and full of hope. Truly beautifully done -this is the YA fiction I want my daughter to read as a teen. Easily one of my favourite YA titles of 2014. I loved the vulnerability in the characters, the exploration of grief, the superb writing and of course, little Frankie Sky.

If I Ever Get Out of Here by Eric Gansworth

I can’t quite remember who told me that I should read this book. Many, many thank yous! These characters will be with me for some time. A powerful story of the complexities of friendship, the reign of a bully, what it means to stand up and stand out, of finding home . . . Mix in the music of the Beatles, the vibe of the mid-seventies and a stop the world storm and whoa, what a novel. If you haven’t read this book, put it high up on the TBR list.

Bluffton by Matt Phelan

Purely and perfectly captures long ago summers on the page – specific of a particular place and era – Muskegon, Michigan in the early 1900s with Buster Keaton. Certain images lift of the page and invite you to step right inside. Phelan is brilliant.

The Round House by Louise Erdrich

This is an adult novel, a rare read for me. I am including it here because the main character is a 13 year old boy and it is told through his eyes. Upsetting but beautifully written.