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October 2026 - Graciela in the Abyss
By Kristen · 3 posts · 51 views
By Kristen · 3 posts · 51 views
last updated Oct 28, 2025 11:24AM
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December Read - Three Times Lucky
By Kristen · 24 posts · 129 views
By Kristen · 24 posts · 129 views
last updated Jan 12, 2013 04:02PM
What Members Thought
It's got drinking and cussing and bad parenting and neglect and murder and child labor. It's also perfect. Every word counts. We need more books like this.
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No one could be more surprised at how much I liked this book than me. As a rule I loathe folksy narrators and down-home settings and quirky casts of characters. When I saw this book listed on a Newbery-possibility list, I cringed and hoped no one else would recommend it. Eventually I saw it in too many places and had to put it on hold.
This book is the real deal. Is it folksy and quirky? Does it have a lot of country/Southern speech? Yes. But it is never, ever cloying or irritating, because it se ...more
This book is the real deal. Is it folksy and quirky? Does it have a lot of country/Southern speech? Yes. But it is never, ever cloying or irritating, because it se ...more
2013 Newbery honor. Finished listening to the audio yesterday. Truly enjoyed this book. The reader is the late Michal Friedman. She was wonderful and I plan to find more books she had read before her early death. Now I am finishing the text to fill in the things I missed when driving and I can hear Michal's delivery when reading Mo's dialog. It is spot on. The story is convoluted but written so well I could easily follow it. The characters, while many, were so distinctly and believably drawn tha
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The plot of this book is wildly implausible. But...who cares? Mo Lobeau has become one of my favorite heroines in children's fiction. She is funny, brave, and smart; also irresponsibly impulsive and selfish at times. Turnage makes serious issues, such as domestic abuse, murder, and being abandoned by a parent believable to young readers, without being preachy. She also creates an enjoyable mystery, filled with misleading clues, suspense, and danger.
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I loved this book. It was laugh out funny and the characters were well developed. The main character, Mo, is fully of mischief and love.
Badass girl protagonist. Delightfully southern.
This is the kind of book that makes you want to live in a small town if only to discover your particular eccentricities and experience the familial love that the townspeople seem to have for one another.
Small Southern town character novel meets kidnap/murder detective mystery. Really lovely audio. My kind of book! Grades 4+
3.5/5
Jul 01, 2012
Jodi
marked it as to-read
Jan 28, 2013
Hannah
marked it as to-read
Feb 22, 2013
Beth Given
marked it as to-read
