Just finished, and just started

I just finished Against the Odds, by European author Marjolijn Hof.  This book may be short, but it is intense!  Kiki lives with her mom, dad, and really old dog, Mona.  Her dad is a doctor, but not the regular kind.  He goes to war zones to help take care of the people that need medical attention most.  Kiki always has a hard time when he father leaves, but this trip seems worse.  She begins to think about odds that he will not come back.  Once she starts thinking like this, she begins to do some pretty strange things.  Her behavior get worse as her fear grows.

I thought this would be a great book to read around Veteran's day, because although Kiki's father isn't a soldier, he is still putting his life at risk to help others.  That is truly heroic - even if Kiki doesn't always see it that way.  This book is definitely unique in its plot, as well as the way it's written.  So if you are interested in     trying something new, Against the Odds may be for you.


The next book I just started is very different from everything else I've been reading lately.  You Don't Even Know Me: Stories and Poems About Boys, is a combination of poetry and short stories.  This book was written by Sharon Flake, who also wrote the amazing and very popular book The Skin I'm In.   I received an email a few months ago from Amazon let me know this was coming out, but then I was so excited to see it at our school book fair! I was very lucky to receive a copy from one of my generous students and his family.  Anyways, this books is great so far! I'm only about 30 pages in, but so far I really like that there are so many different stories being featured.  No one story can sum up the lives of all teenage boys.

I am also excited because in reading the authors biographical information, I saw that she wrote another book for girls called, "Who Am I Without Him?"  This also looks fantastic, and I can't wait to get that one for my class library as well!