The Best Book I read in OCTOBER was...

[Jemima]

Add books you enjoyed this month using the 'add book/author' link, and tell us why you enjoyed it.

[Jemima]

I read Tara Thunderbolt and the Sky Dancer Cat yesterday, and I'm not sure what I thought of it. On the one hand it seemed a bit 'twee' in my parlance, which if it's not a familiar term to you, means sweet and cosy and moralistic. On the other hand I can see good messages in it especially for young people needing to see things from other people's perspectives. So it's a 'growing' book. The issues that are dealt with are very real and I enjoyed the way they were presented.

Not sure what younger readers would think - it may appear 'new' and so be thoroughly enjoyed, or it could be seen as being talked down to. I'd love to know what our younger readers think!

[Madeline]

That book sounds interesting. Do you think it would be appropriate for a 13 year old like myself to read?

[Madeline]

I recently read a wonderful novel which you have probably heard of entitled, The Outsiders. It takes place in Oklahoma and New York in the 1960's and features two rival gangs, the Socs and the Greasers, as they battle out their feud. The Socs are a gang of high-class, rich kids, and the Greasers are a band of poorer and less fortunate teens.
I thoroughly appreciated the use of older terms such as "tuff" meaning "cool" and "rank" meaning "uncool" because I enjoy expanding my vocabulary. The characters were also very dynamic and S.E Hinton (the author) made you really care about them.

[Cheryl]

I'm glad to hear that The Outsiders is still being appreciated. I loved it when I was a teen, too.

I have to remember to keep track for this monthly thread because I do love it. I'm not sure it's the best, but I just very much enjoyed The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic by Jennifer Trafton. Very interesting world-building, and even though some of the adventure/ quest is much like other fantasy adventures, the fresh ideas and characters, and the good writing, kept me engaged.

[Jemima]

Madeline wrote: "That book sounds interesting. Do you think it would be appropriate for a 13 year old like myself to read?"

Yes, I think you're just the right person to judge it, Madeline!

[Rebecca]

I didn't real a lot of middle grade stuff in October, for some reason. I did greatly enjoy Bloomability by Sharon Creech.

[Jemima]

I've just whizzed through Frankie Dupont And The High Seas Heist which I think is Julie Grasso's best in this series so far (and they're all good), and also The Headmaster's Cave which is well worth reading. It's maybe a little uneven in its plot, and I dislike the amount of bullying and snarkiness, but it's a good story. Both were read for Book Blasts in the next few weeks, so I got free copies.

[Justine]

Surprisingly, I managed quite a few books in October. Here are the ones worth mentioning.

I was blown away by Feather Boy -- only just realised it's even been adapted for TV and a musical!

The other two books are Wild Boy and The Fastest Boy in the World

Hmmm, that's a coincidence; they all have "Boy" in the title.