Top Ten Tuesday

This week's topic is:

Top Ten Books when you need something light & fun

Georgia Nicolson (series) - Louise Rennison (my review)

Babe in Boyland - Jody Gehrman (my review)

Scott Pilgrim (series) - Bryan Lee O'Malley (my review)

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks - E. Lockhart (my review)

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place (series) - Maryrose Wood (my review)

43 Old Cemetery Road (series) - Kate & Sarah Klise (my review)

Anna and the French Kiss - Stephanie Perkins (my review)

The DUFF - Kody Keplinger (my review)

Sparks - S.J. Adams (my review)

Bloodthirsty - Flynn Meaney (my review)

The Broke and the Bookish is a group of college aged and twenty somethings that have an unhealthy obsession with reading and would spend every last penny on books even if it meant skipping a few meals. We are the people  who lurk in the library, buy handbags based on how many books can be stashed in them, and who refer to characters in books as if they are personal friends.

We sought after other bookish college students to share in our love for reading and were brought together by the College Students group on Goodreads that was created in September 2008. Our desire to share great books with each other in and our tendency to be opinionated and passionate about all things book related naturally led to the birth of The Broke and the Bookish in June 2010.

Middle Grade Monday| Review: 43 Old Cemetery Road: Hollywood, Dead Ahead - Kate & Sarah M. Klise

Middle Grade Monday is a feature started right here at Reading Nook. It's a way to share news or reviews of middle grade novels on a blog that doesn't exclusively post middle grade content. Feel free to join any time and link up. 

Where I got it: Library

Rating: 5 stars  

Cover Rating: 3 stars (Don't love it, but don't hate it. I'm glad all the covers are match-y though. )

Genre: Middle Grade

Publication Date: April 2, 2013

Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books

Page Count: 132 p.

Buy it: Book Depository | Indie | Amazon

Add it: Goodreads

book 5 in the 43 Old Cemetery Road series

I just thought I'd share how much I am still loving this series. Each book is just as delightful as the last. The illustrations and the format just make these such quick and enjoyable reads. If you like quirky middle grade fiction, these are books for you. I highly recommend these for reluctant readers or kids who enjoy graphic novels. There's lots to keep the attention of kids who aren't huge fans of reading (and ones who love to devour stories).

In this novel they are casting the movie of 43 Old Cemetery Road and the family is excited, because they figure now they will be famous. Unfortunately Hollywood thinks that the family isn't quite right for the parts of themselves and some of them need huge makeovers. They do get to meet someone very interesting though, that turns out to be a great edition to their family. This was a fun and fast and delightful read. 

First Line:
"Welcome to 43 Old Cemetery Road!"

Favorite Line:
"Look at Olive cut your long hair with her death claws."

This is a Middle Grade Monday Post feel free to link your middle grade reviews/news below :) 

(doesn't have to be posted on a Monday)

This Week in Books

This Week in Books was created by Alea at Pop Culture Junkie and showcases books that were received that week!

For Review: Thanks Viking, Dial and William Morrow
Gilt - Katherine Longshore
When Kitty Tylney's best friend, Catherine Howard, worms her way into King Henry VIII's heart and brings Kitty to court, she's thrust into a world filled with fabulous gowns, sparkling jewels, and elegant parties. No longer stuck in Cat's shadow, Kitty's now caught between two men--the object of her affection and the object of her desire. But court is also full of secrets, lies, and sordid affairs, and as Kitty witnesses Cat's meteoric rise and fall as queen, she must figure out how to keep being a good friend when the price of telling the truth could literally be her head.

Three Times Lucky - Sheila Turnage
Rising sixth grader Miss Moses LoBeau lives in the small town of Tupelo Landing, NC, where everyone's business is fair game and no secret is sacred. She washed ashore in a hurricane eleven years ago, and she's been making waves ever since. Although Mo hopes someday to find her "upstream mother," she's found a home with the Colonel--a café owner with a forgotten past of his own--and Miss Lana, the fabulous café hostess. She will protect those she loves with every bit of her strong will and tough attitude. So when a lawman comes to town asking about a murder, Mo and her best friend, Dale Earnhardt Johnson III, set out to uncover the truth in hopes of saving the only family Mo has ever known. 

In the Bag - Kate Klise
A successful chef and single mother, Daisy Sprinkle, is on vacation with her teenage daughter, Coco, who picks up the wrong duffle bag at the airport. That situation is not improved by the note Daisy finds tucked into her carry-on, apparently from the man in 13-C. Daisy is in no mood for secret admirer notes or dinner dates. Or even men, for that matter. 


Andrew doesn’t know what possessed him to do something like that. Hitting on strange women on airplanes is definitely not his typical style. But there was something about the woman in 6-B that could not be ignored. Of course, now he has no time to think about her, since his son Webb seems to have made off with a budding fashionista’s luggage. 


Determined to make the best of a bad situation, Daisy cooks up a plan to calm her daughter’s panic over the lost bag with a week of fabulous food, shopping, and museum hopping. Andrew is busy woking on his latest project and hoping Webb finds enough to entertain himself. Little do they know the teens are making their own plan. . . one that will ultimately reunite Ms. 6-B and Mr. 13-C. 


Won: Thanks Regal Literary and Knopf
The Night Bookmobile - Audrey Niffenegger (signed)
Wonder - R.J. Palacio

Bought:
Comic Book Tattoo - Various authors and illustrators

That's what I got this week. What did you all get?

Middle Grade Monday #1

Okay so I know Green Bean Teen Queen has her Tween Tuesday. This is a little different (I guess). Middle Grade Monday will be a feature I host here every other Monday (hopefully). This feature will be all about middle grade novels and their authors. Some weeks I'll have book reviews, some weeks I'll have author interviews and some weeks I may just show covers and talk about which books I look forward to reading. Maybe we can even have book discussions. Feel free to join in on this feature from your own blog. I'll have a Mr. Linky on all my MGM posts so that people can check out what you have to share this week.
The only rule for MGM is that it has to be Middle Grade related. No Adult, YA or picture books allowed!

This week's MGM I'd like to talk about 43 Old Cemetery Road. There are two books in this series by Kate Kline(illustrated by M. Sarah Kline) so far. The first one is titled Dying To Meet You and the second is Over My Dead Body. I just finished reading them and I thought they were really fun. The book is written in letters, newspaper clippings, legal documents and other such things that the characters use to interact with each other. The first book is about an author named Ignatius B. Grumply (I.B. Grumply) who rents a Victorian house for the summer. Of course, upon renting it he did not realize that there was an 11-year-old boy and his cat (and a ghost) that he was in charge of as per the rental agreement he had his attorney sign for him. Throughout the book Mr. Grumply is having trouble believing that ghosts are real and blames the young boy, Seymour, for all the strange things that happen. Eventually he realizes that it may not be just the boy after all.
I just thought these books would be excellent for reluctant readers. There are some nice vocabulary words in there and great illustrations. These books were a very fast read for me and just fun. I certainly will be trying to get the kids who think they don't like to read to read these books. After these books they might like to tackle books like The Name of This Book is Secret, Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat, Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, or maybe even The Graveyard Book.
So these are definitely a nice quick read and something you could have in younger grade classrooms. They are funny and entertaining and have great illustrations.