The Trouble with May Amelia

Lots of people debate about sequels and the Newbery, because I am a giant fan of A Year Down Yonder, I am pretty open to the idea of a sequel winning.  It just needs to stand on its own.  I have not yet read, Our Only May Amelia, so i would say this book does stand on its own.  May Amelia lives with her father, mother and many older brothers. May's father believes that girls are useful for nothing more than being wives and mothers. May Amelia is having none of it. She is determined to convince her father that girls are just as good as boys. She is a complete feminist!!!!! May struggles to gain her father's respect but eventually it tears the family apart. The story of May and her family is truly inspiring. I recommend this book to every girl, middle school and up.




Rating: *****

Turtle in Paradise

I finished listening to this book a few days ago, and I really enjoyed it.  Quite a few people reccomended it to me at ALA, and now I finally had the chance to listen to it.  Thanks again to the kind people at Random House Audio/Listening Library for sending me Turtle in Paradise!!!  I was enchanted by Turtle's point of view on her life as an  "orphan" while she was  living with her aunt, uncle and cousins in Key West, Florida.  Turtle learned about what it is like to have a family and how to come out of her shell during the Great Depression.  Sometimes reading books expands your knowledge of other books and authors; in this book I learned about adult author Ernest Hemingway in a fun way.  I liked this book a lot, but I don't think that it is serious enough to be a Newbery.  But who knows, I might be surprised!

Rating:  *****