Truth About Twinkie Pie

TITLE: The Truth About Twinkie Pie
AUTHOR: Kat Yeh
RELEASE DATE: January 2015
PUBLISHER: Little, Brown and Company
PAGES: 342 pages
GENRE: ChickLit
OVERALL RATING: 4/5
APPROPRIATE AGE: grades 6+

SUMMARY: GiGi (born Galileo Galilei) moves from a South Carolina trailer park to Long Island when her sister DiDi wins a big baking contest and can finally afford to send her little sister to a prep school that is worthy of GiGi's intellect. While DiDi works in the saloon, GiGi goes to school determined for a fresh start. She changes her name to Leia and even becomes friends with the most popular boy in school, Trip. But this new friendship also comes with a new enemy: Mace who is intent on ruining Leia's dreams of a better life. 

WHAT I LIKED: Throughout the book Gigi uses her mom's recipes to compare to her own situations in life. I really loved this because by the time I finished reading, I wanted to make some of the recipes myself!

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: This book has a slow start. Too often I have students return it after only reading the first couple of chapters. The story seems a little immature for my junior high students, but after giving a short book talk on what else the book has to offer, students are intrigued and usually give it a second chance. All I have to say is, stick with it, the story gets really good about half way through. 

READALIKES: Genuine Sweet by Faith Harkey, The Battle of Darcy Lane by Tara Altebrando

BOOK TRAILER: not the official book trailer, but a good one created by Tobie Cattarin

Lost in the Sun

TITLE: Lost in the Sun
AUTHOR: Lisa Graff
RELEASE DATE: May 2015
PUBLISHER: Philomel Books
PAGES: 289 pages
GENRE: Realistic Fiction
OVERALL RATING: 2/5
APPROPRIATE AGE: grades 5-8 

SUMMARY: Everyone hates Trent, or at least, that's what he thinks. Mrs. Emerson hates him because he broke her plant on the first day of school, Coach Gorman hates him because he won't participate in PE, his dad hates him because he won't let him hold his baby sister, Annie hates him for causing her brother's death. But when one girl with a scar on her face admits that she doesn't hate him, Trent is introduced to a new world. A world where bullies don't matter, teachers actually care about you, and maybe no one blames you for that horrific accident on the ice last winter.

FAVORITE QUOTE: "When you do choose to speak... speak truths." (Graff, 245)
   

WHAT I LIKED/DIDN'T LIKE: This book was incredibly boring to me, but I forced myself to push on for the greater good. That and I really wanted to know how Fallon actually got her scar. But when I got to the last page, and the very last sentence of the entire book is, "As she told me the beginning of her story." I realized that I would NEVER know how she actually got the horrific scar on her face. And for that, I will forever hate this book. That one little thing was like the biggest cliffhanger in the entire book, it is what kept me reading, and yet the author never tells you.