June Wrap up (2014)

June was an awesome month for reading!! I read a lot of children's books, but I also read a lot of really good YA books too! In total I read 7 books!! Wow!!

Black Star, Bright Dawn by Scott O'Dell: I read this book a LONG time ago and loved it. I love anything that has to do with Alaska, Huskies and the Iditarod. This book had all three things~ After rereading it, a lot of it felt random, and there are a couple of conflicts that come up that I didn't even know were problems...but for a children's book, it's ok. ^^

Going Bovine by Libba Bray: One of my favorites this month...still thinking about it and it makes me randomly sad....I didn't know this book was going to give me such strong feels! I had to fight back tears because I was in public!!! >___< But when I wasn't trying not to cry, this book was hilarious!! Cameron, Gonzo and Balder are hilarious, the situations they get into are hilarious, and Libba Bray is a brilliant author. I bet she is a hoot to hang out with. XD This book has a VERY strong message in it and I think people really do need to read it. So....READ IT!!!

Moriah's Pond by Ethel Footman Smothers: This is another reread for me as well. My mom got it for me because it has my name on it, but I was really young when I read it and I didn't really remember what it was about. It wasn't as wonderful as I remembered, but I did still enjoy it. This was the first book I ever read that wasn't written by a white dead guy and it was the first book I had ever read that was written in a dialect.

Mr. Popper's Penguins: Uh, this book....I think I read it at least 10 times when I was younger. I love penguins and this book was hilarious when I was little and it made me really want a pet penguin. I wanted to read this again because I was vague about what happened (I guess that is the theme of this month: Vague details about childhood books XD). People in this book accept things way too easily! \>__</ But I still found myself laughing out loud at penguin shenanigans. XD

Island of the Blue Dolphin by Scott O'Dell: Another foggy childhood reread. This book is depressing!!! I had no idea!!!! Still mostly enjoyed it, but holy hell! I had to read an upbeat book after reading this one (I picked up the penguin book for a good chuckle). Yikes.

Wonder by RJ Palacio: My favorite book of this month! I cried, but happy good feeling tears. I haven't had those kind of tears in a long time! It felt good. ^^ I think everyone should read this book. It's so sweet and real. For more on my thoughts, read my review!~

Wake by Lisa McMann: This is actually the first book I got this month and it wasn't what I expected at all...but it was pretty good. ^^ But for more on that, I have a review on it. ^^

That's is everything I read this month! Until next time!! Bye!!

Wonder--The Review

August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school--until now. He's about to enter fifth grade at Beecher Prep, and if you've ever been the new kid, then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. but can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, despite appearances? (Taken from Goodreads.com)

*5/5 Stars*

This is officially one of my favorite books. I LOVED this book soooooooo much!! I laughed, I cried a bit, I sympathized and empathized with the characters and smiled though the entire book. I thought it was brilliant. And the little Auggie/additional character doodles are sooooooooooooooooooooooooo cute!! I originally heard about this book from Little Book Owl's channel on Youtube, and I bought it on a whim...actually it was a cover buy. I love this cover!! >w<

Through a majority of the book, Auggie is the narrator. Auggie is hilarious. He is sarcastic, funny, takes things in stride, is incredibly deep and is OBSESSED with Star Wars. I loved all the nerdy Star Wars references and they even played a role in the story! XD That makes me super happy. XD Auggie knows he is different and he knows that his look is hard to get used to, but he takes everything in stride. He kids around with the way he looks and uses it to make other people more comfortable with him. We do see him lose his cool a couple of times though out the book, but we also see how strongly he bounces back from the issues. I think a lot of people could learn a lot from Auggie. 

One thing I wasn't sure about was the fact that the book was written in multiple points of view. I ended up enjoying it because it gave us some insight into the characters who interact with Auggie like; his sister Via, his friends Jack and Summer and some of Via's friends. I thought they would be annoying (Justin, Via's boyfriend was kind of annoying because he didn't use capitol letters or much punctuation, but he did end up being awesome XD), but they added a lot to the story. 

I honestly can't think of any problems with this book...at all...It is currently on my favorites shelf and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys contemporary and a feel good, heart warming book. READ THIS BOOK!! That is all. XD

Cat's channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/LittleBookOwl/featured

Another Book Haul

Well...as you can see...I got a few more books...oops.  Most of these are from Goodwill.  The last two are from bookstores.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld.  I squeaked like a mouse when I found this! I saw Scott Westerfeld's name and I thought, ".....I know that name......I keep hearing it on Booktube..." So I grabbed it and got all wide eyed and squeaked, "Oh my gosh this book!!!" Now...this book is mangled, has writing on it (the top of the book says "yo." hahaha!) and the binding is broken to all heck...but I'm IN LOVE with this book. It's totally broken in, and I've never seen this printing of it. It was also a library book at one time (it has the check out card sleeve in it) so that explains the condition. But I've been curious about this book for a while now, and now I own it! I want to try and track down the rest of this series in this edition~ Wish me luck!! I love going on  hunts for weird things~

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. I had heard about this book from Booktube and I decided that it was something I would like (#Booktubemademedoit).  I'm pretty sure it's a movie now...haven't seen that either...The cover is nice! And...bees are pretty cool..I guess. Wow. Hahaha. I don't know what else to say about this...^^'

 Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya. I read this...hmmm...maybe my senior year of high school and I thought it was a pretty good book. I thought I'd get it and re-read it and see if I had the same feeling as I did when I was required to read and analyze it for a grade. I had also read Tortuga by the same author and enjoyed it as well, so if I enjoy it still, maybe I will check out some more books by this author.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas.  This book. Guys...This book. I have heard so many good things about it and when I saw it at Barns and Noble when I was in Chicago. It has one of those deliciously buttery covers and I weirded out my guy friend by making him pet my book (He said that was a sentence he'd never thought he'd hear. Haha!).  I am very excited to read this!! Yay!

Wonder by RJ Palacio. I have heard amazing things about this book. I don't entirely know what it's about, but I heard it was beautiful. I also LOVE this cover. It's very simple, but it's bright and interesting. I don't what else to say about it...^^'

Well, that's all for this haul! As I have stated above, at least a couple of times, I'm very excited to get to these books! Hopefully I'll enjoy all of them!

Until next time!