Have I mentioned that I'm tired of message books? NOT ALL BOOKS NEED TO TEACH A LESSON. Which may be why I loved the Bunnys so very, very much. There was little to no learning in this book and I absolutely adored it.

Book 49: Mr. and Mrs. Bunny -- Detectives Extraordinaire!, by Polly Horvath
Book 50: The Lions of Little Rock, by Kristin Levine
Book 51: Bad Island, by Doug TenNappel

I'm buckling down. I should be reading a book a night, at least. More, if the books are short. Time to git her done.

Book 48: The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate

In the past ten days I've been in the middle of nowhere Mexico (Aguascalientes to be precise) and the middle of metropolitan Canada (Toronto). Both were beautiful cities, but being the urbanite that I am, I know which one I'd choose if I were forced to. In any case I got a few things read, some synopses written, and some schmoozing accomplished, so the trips weren't a complete waste.

Actually, the trips were quite fun. I'm not sure who I'm trying to impress with my ennui.

Book 40-43: Big Adventures of Majoko, vols 1-4, by Tomomi Mizuna
Book 44: Bake Sale, by Sara Varon
Book 45: Guinea Pig: The Ferret's a Foot, by Colleen AF Venable and Stephanie Yue
Book 46: Makeshift Miracle: The Girl From Nowhere, by Jim Zub and Shun Hong Chan
Book 47: Kiki de Montparnasse, by Catel and Bocquet

My dream came true! The Flying Beaver Brothers book is hilarious. Ka-KAW!

Book 37: Dracula, the Graphic Novel: Original Text (Booklist)
Book 38: The Hammer and the Anvil: Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln and the End of Slavery in America, by Dwight Jon Zimmerman and Wayne Vansant (Booklist)
Book 39: The Flying Beaver Brothers and the Evil Penguin Plan, by Maxwell Eaton III

I won't be surprised at all if this book wins a bunch of awards. But I'll admit to really, really wanting to read a comedy next. I'm tired of all the weeping. I'm going to dehydrate if this keeps up.

Book 36: Wonder, by R.J. Palacio

I've been reading a bunch of picture books, which I'm not counting here. Just in case you thought I was slacking off...

Book 35: Chuck Close Face Book, by Chuck Close

I love it when the Newbery committee nails it.

Book 33: Inside Out & Back Again, by Thanhha Lai
Book 34: Pandemonium, by Chris Wooding and Cassandra Diaz

Wow, I am really out of practice at reading serial killer books. Even when I was in the thick of my mystery reading jag, I preferred cozies to the hard stuff. And this was hard. I'm not sure it really needed to be this hard in order to get the you-don't-have-to-grow-up-to-be-just-like-your-father moral of the story across. And if it weren't for that moral (and that the protagonist is in high school), I wouldn't have categorized this as a YA book at all.

I'm still tickled that I was the one who nominated Kevin C. Pyle's first book Blindspot for GGNFT all those years ago. This book is good, too, and different. I like when an author's books aren't all based on the same premise. An imagination is a good thing.

Book 31: I Hunt Killers, by Barry Lyga
Book 32: Take What You Can Carry, by Kevin C. Pyle

The trouble with getting review copies from Cinebook is that a) I have very little time to review anymore and b) they often send books from the middle of a series I've never heard of before. Thus was the case with Rumberley. It's a European, comedic look at the American Civil War and it's hilarious. But I'm not sure I know enough about the series to review it (which I'd love to do for NFNT -- I don't thing Cinebook releases get enough attention in general and from librarians in particular). In any case, I enjoyed it enough that I'll be ordering the rest of the series for my library. Once I have all five books in front of me, maybe then I'll make time to write that review.

Book 29: The Bluecoats, vol 5: Rumberley, by Raoul Cauvin and Willy Lambil
Book 30: Tua and the Elephant, by R.P. Harris

Huh. I'm surprised this won a Newbery Honor. Not because it isn't good, but because I'm surprised it ended up on anyone's radar. It sure wasn't on mine. But I enjoyed the heck out of it. I kind of want to insist Emil read it, if only because had to join the Young Pioneers when he was a kid. But I've already insisted he read The Hunger Games and I don't want to push my luck.

Book 28: Breaking Stalin's Nose, by Eugene Velchin