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Saturday, April 25, 2009

In My Mailbox (2)

The stars must be aligned in my favor. I'm waiting on several books in the mail, but I have a ridiculously huge pile of library books waiting for me, and I didn't get much reading in this week for a combination of reasons, the least of which it's allegery season. Anyhoo, I got two books this week. To see what others got this week, check in with Kristi at The Story Siren and Marcia at The Printed Page.

I got a reader's request, Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult from Frugal Reader. It seems we only had one Picoult title, My Sister's Keeper in our library and the regular visitor really enjoyed it so I requested four Picoult titles from the trading site. If you're looking for a good place to trade books, check out frugalreader. com.

If you're a regular reader at BES, you know I'm a huge Jacqueline Woodson fan. Not only do I really enjoy her work, but our community of readers seem to like her as well. I get a lot of mileage out of her work for a few reasons: her YA appeals to both older middle schoolers through older high school. The slim volumes appeal to reluctant readers who are intimidated by books with too many pages. Because her books deal with serious issues, my older readers don't feel like they're reading books too young for them.

From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun deals with sexual orientation, first love and new love and race. One of the things I love about Woodson's work is that while her main characters are ususally African American, race typically informs but is often not the central theme of the book. In Woodson's work, we see whole and functioning families. And we see diversity in families. In this particular novel, it's a family of two but the mom is not a victim and the son is not caught up in a major crisis well not until his mom tells him she's in love. I got the paperback which is really small and that's probably a plus for our readers. I'm glad though, when I read it, the library copy was a hardcover. Much easier on my old eyes.

17 comments:

Liyana said...

Hmm, I haven't heard of Jacqueline Woodson, but I'll check her out. :)

the story siren said...

I love Jodi Picoult. Nineteen Minutes is one of my all time favorite books! I LOVE the new hearder Susan!! So CUTE!! Happy reading!

Cat said...

Never heard of this author before, but the book sounds very interesting.

I love coming here every Sunday and finding different and new books from you! Thank you.

Anonymous said...

I read My Sister's Keeper and it was good. Hope you enjoy it!

susan said...

Hi Liyana, Ms. Woodson is my favorite YA author.

Kristi, I've heard of Picoult but I haven't read her. I am interested in Nineteen Minutes. Thanks for the compliment. I'll pass it on to the person who deserves the praise.

Cat, you made my day.

Callie, I suppose I should read both. Thanks.

Rebecca said...

I haven't heard of that book before but it sounds interesting.

Marie said...

i love Jacqueline Woodson too!!

susan said...

Hi Rebecca, JW is amazing. Ask cupcakewitch. :-) Thanks for coming by.

Kaye said...

I've never read any Woodson books but you mke them certainly sound great and worth checking into. Enjoy! My mailbox is here

Mary (Bookfan) said...

I hope you enjoy reading them all!

Wendi said...

I haven't read Woodson yet, but have heard great things about Picult - I've got a few of her books in my tbr pile from a bzzAgent campaign a while back. :)

Here's my Mailbox! ~ Wendi

Serena said...

believe it or not I haven't read any Picoult, but I recently won a copy of Handle With Care and hope to get to it soon.

susan said...

Hi Serena,
I haven't read any of Picoult either. :-)

Join us for Little Lov'n Monday.

Marcia said...

Thank you for stopping by the mailbox this week. Enjoy your books!

susan said...

Thanks for coming by, Marcia.

christine said...

Your blog has been growing in wonderful ways. I'm so impressed with all the links, all the branches of your interests. Way to go! Just look at all these books here... .

susan said...

Christine, it is good to have friends like you. You and my other sisterfriends consistently come along and say the right thing at the right time. It's nice to know you've watched how BES has grown. It's a learning process. I like where it's taking me.