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For picture book fans there's a new Charlie the Ranch Dog book from Ree Drummond, and Tad Hills has the bestselling duo Duck & Goose featuring in a book perfect for some pre-summer reading. Middle Graders have more from The 39 Clues and How to Train Your Dragon series, while teens can indulge in Kami Garcia's Dangerous Creatures.

Over at The Rumpus, middle-grade author Cecil Castelluci will coordinate the new Letters For Kids program–a subscription service giving readers mail from authors who write for kids.

According to the launch page, participants will receive “two letters a month written by middle-grade authors like Lemony Snicket/Daniel Handler, Adam Rex, Kerry Madden, Natalie Standiford, Susan Patron, Rebecca Stead, Cecil Castelluci, and more.” The service will cost $4.50 per month for U.S. readers, and $9 international readers. The project will expand upon The Rumpus’ Letters in the Mail program for adults.  Check it out:

Some of the letters will be illustrated. Some will be written by hand. It’s hard to say! We’ll copy the letters, fold them, put them in an envelope, put a first class stamp on the envelope, and send the letters to you (or your child) … Six is pretty much the perfect age to start checking your mailbox for actual letters. And if you’ve waited until you were ten, well, you’re four years behind but still, it’s not too late. And if you’re sixteen, that’s OK, there’s still something of the kid left. And if you’re sixty, well… OK. You’re young at heart.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Confessions Of The Sullivan Sisters Natalie Standiford

When The Almighty (otherwise known as their grandmother) declares that a member of the Sullivan clan has offended her greatly, and therefore the entire family will be cut out of her will, the family decides it must have been one of the girls. The only way for the family to regain their promised wealth is for the guilty party to confess, so the three Sullivan sisters write out their confessions.

Norrie dated an older man (interestingly enough, no one really mentions that he is probably African-American, the issue is his age and what happens in their relationship, which I really liked.)

Jane wrote a blog publicizing the family's secrets.

Sassy became immortal.

The premise is interesting and I liked the internal politics that play out in their set of Baltimore's upper crust. I liked how the sisters dealt with their wealth and society and tried to find themselves in the world they had been born to. The tone is light and often funny.

Overall though, I just liked the Sullivan family. I liked the sibling relationships and their relationship with their parents, especially Daddy-O. Sometimes their parents are absent or just clueless, but even though they don't have the most respect for them (especially their mother) the kids obviously love their parents and their parents obviously love and care for them. I also really liked the character of The Almighty. The Sullivan grandmother is the grand dame of Baltimore society, but through the book we see her struggles and private life that round her out a bit more for both the reader and the rest of her family.

I really liked it.

Book Provided by... my local library

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Jacket description:
"New to town, Bea is expecting her new best friend to be one of the girls she meets on the first day. You know the type: very cheery, very friendly, very average. But instead, the alphabet conspires to seat her next to Jonah, aka Ghost Boy, a quiet observer who hasn't made a new friend since third grade. He's not a big fan of people in general...but he's willing to make an exception for her. Maybe.
 

Bea and Jonah are not going to have a friendship like other people have a friendship, where it's all based on gossip and parities and what everybody else thinks. Instead, their friendship comes from truth-bound conversations, shared secrets, daring stunts, and late-night calls to the same old-timer radio show. They help each other and hurt each other, push away and hold close. It's not romance exactly- but it's definitely love. And it means more to them than either one can ever really know..."

I loved this quirky story, so much more than I thought I was going to. Natalie Standiford has created these two characters that I really believed in and felt had this love that is forced to go unexplained in an incredibly romantic way. I could picture someone from my own past, as Jonah, and I think that helped his emotions resonate  The ending is not at all typical of a teen novel and that had me loving it even more, as much as I wished it had ended differently...if only for my own, personal emotional state.

The part of the story where Jonah and Bea go off to find his brother, is a bit less believable as a whole, but since I felt the whole "point" of the book was to focus on this friendship that's a true, deep love for each other, so I wasn't hung up on the fact that I couldn't really see teens doing that. I loved the characters enough that it didn't matter what else was going on.

A beautifully written, quirky story, that will expand your mind to other realms of romance, rather than just all lovey lust, and making out.


How to Say Goodbye in Robot
Natalie Standiford
288 pages
Young Adult
Scholastic Press
9780545107082
October 2009
Review copy received from publisher for the Cybil Awards


To learn more, or to purchase, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon. I am an Associate and will receive a tiny commission from your purchase.

Today's Author Spotlight is on Natalie Standiford and her new novel "How to Say Goodbye in Robot," which tells the story of Bea, an alterna-girl after my own heart. Starting senior year of high school as the new kid, thanks to a professor dad who... Read the rest of this post