Booksome

My reading schedule has been turned upside these past two weeks. Things I had been reading or had been planning to read got pushed aside for my three day trip to San Antonio for the ABA Children's Institute. I was lucky enough to receive a full ride to the conference-- dinners, hotel, conference fees, and travel expenses were all picked up by the lovely people at Source Books and a bit from Harper Collins. As a sign of my gratitude, I'm trying to get through as many picture books and early chapter books as possible so I can sell their words to the readers at my store. I also picked up The Mist by Stephen King because my brother gave it to me and one can handle so many feel-good stories before you need some tentacled monsters thrown into the mix.

An Alien In My Pocket: Science UnFair is the second in a goofy and delightful series written by Nate Ball. Those who remember the public access TV show ZOOM from their childhood will find something to love in this book. Science UnFair gives us the continued story of Zack McGee, a normal young boy... until an alien crash lands in his bedroom. Despite all the trouble the little alien causes him, there's one or two things an alien can come in handy for. Particularly making Zack's science fair project one his school will never forget. I had the pleasure of meeting Nate Ball at a boat ride/dinner with the Harper Collins sales team.

At this point I'm about 2/3 finished with Falling into Place by Amy Zhang. It's addictive and fun, as any good teen novel should be. Our narrator is the imaginary friend of the popular and cruel Liz Emerson. Of course, since Liz is in high school, the imaginary friend has since faded far into the background of Liz's mind. Especially on the day Liz tries to kill herself by running her car off the road. Through the imaginary friend's eyes, we get the thoughts and experiences of a variety of characters before and after the "accident". This is a must for fans of 13 Reasons Why and anything written by John Green.