The best book I read in January (2020)

[C.J.]

We're kicking off a new year, with a fresh round of challenges. Have you set your reading goal for 2020? There are also the A-Z Challenge and the Series Challenge here in our group. So! What books made a great first impression in January? Share your best reads.

Two I'll highlight from last month are Tumble & Blue by Cassie Beasley, which involves a longstanding feud between two families whose fates became tangled by a magical golden crocodile. (Contemporary with a magical-realism slant.) And I was finally able to settle in and read Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead, which is a school story, a drama club story, but mostly a story of three girls who have made a solemn vow to always be friends.

[Harley]

Words on Fire by Jennifer A. Nielsen tells the story of eleven-year-old Audra who is smuggling books into Lithuania during the Russian occupation and book ban of 1893. This is a fantastic story with lots of suspense and danger.

[Carlin]

Ohh, I've gotten ahold of some great books in Jan, but my middle grade favorite is definitely Song for a Whale!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

@Harley, Words on Fire is on my list!

[J.S.]

Harley wrote: "Words on Fire by Jennifer A. Nielsen tells the story of eleven-year-old Audra who is smuggling books into Lithuania during the Russian occupation and book ban of 1893. This is a fan..."

I'm working on this one and it is fantastic!

[Leone]

After watching the new movie "Little Women" during the Christmas holidays, I had to go and re-read my copy of it when I returned home from my visit with relatives. Since I'm a collector of early editions of Louisa May Alcott's books, I had two copies. And I realized, again, why Jo started me on my career in writing for children...(including, at a young age, writing in our attic!) There is still much to be learned from Alcott's story of the March family. You don't soon forget Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. And Marmee, and Laurie, of course. My favorite book, and not just for January!

[Rebecca]

Leone wrote: "After watching the new movie "Little Women" during the Christmas holidays, I had to go and re-read my copy of it when I returned home from my visit with relatives. Since I'm a collector of early ed..."

I love that book, too :). I don’t have my list with me, so can’t recall just what I read in January... I do recall I read and liked Twerp, which I think was one of our Feb. nominees for the “bullying book.” I think it was better than Restart (which come to think of it, I also read in January), because I felt like the MC had to do some actual reflecting and maturing.

[Justine]

I only managed two MG books in Jan, because one of them was about 800 pages long which is Legacy and it got the higher rating than the other book. This is the 8th book in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series.

[Jemima]

I read a new publication from Harriet Whitehorn, which I got from net-galley. A Conspiracy of Magic is the follow-up to The Company of Eight which I raved about last year, and it’s just as good!