100 Books in 2013: Lunch Lady

Book 28:  Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Book 29:  Lunch Lady and the Summer Camp Shakedown by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

I really enjoyed these fun intermediate-middle school graphic novels!  The lunch lady and her colleague are secretly crime fighting heroes with their lunchtray laptop, spatu-copter, and other cafeteria inspired crime fighting gadgets.  Hector, Dee and Terrance are always trying to avoid the bully Milmoe and his cronies while keeping the lunch lady's crime fighting activities a secret.  Fun reads with cool illustrations!

100 Books in 2013: Eight Keys

Book 27: Eight Keys by Suzanne LaFleur

This is the story of Elise, living with her aunt and uncle, hanging with her friend Franklin, enjoying life, until she gets to middle school where everything changes.  She gets picked on from day one.  She starts acting mean towards her best friend.  She's just not happy.  And then on her 12th birthday she receives a key which will unlock one of the eight rooms on the second floor of the barn at her house.  Through these eight keys to eight rooms she learns about life, love, learning, and being who she really is.

100 Books in 2013: Little House on the Prairie

Book 26: The Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

As a kid, I loved this whole series of stories about Laura and her family growing up on the new frontier.  My daughter and I read this 3rd book in the series of Wilder's writings, and it brought back great memories of reading these with my own mom.

100 Books in 2013: Drama

Book 25: Drama by Raina Telgemeier

Another fun graphic novel by this author and illustrator:  Drama is the story of Callie, who love the theater and is super excited about being on the stage crew of the middle school play.  She's also discovering she likes a boy or maybe another boy or his twin brother but one boy likes boys and not girls....it's middle school drama at its best with humor and great illustrations.

100 Books in 2013: Horseradish

Book 24: Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid by Lemony Snicket

This was a fun, tongue-in-cheek, but often true read with commentaries on all sorts of subjects such as love, literature, health, travel, school, family, home.  My favorite chapter title, though, was the commentary on "An Overall Feeling of Doom that One Cannot Ever Escape No Matter What One Does."  Daniel Handler, as Lemony Snicket, has put together a nice, make you giggle and make you think collection of truths.

100 Books in 2013: Cinderella

Book 23:  Cinderella (as if you didn't already know the story) by Barbara Ensor

This is a fun retelling of the Cinderella story with some cheeky remarks thrown in by the storyteller here and there and a little twist at the end. A quick read to refresh your memory about this famous fairytale and give you some new insight.

100 Books in 2013: Three Times Lucky

Book 22:  Three Times Luck by Sheila Turnage

I loved the story of Moses Lobeau, or Mo for short, as she and her friend Dale try to solve the mystery in their little small town.  The story includes lots of interesting characters, like the mother and father figures, Miss Lana and the Colonel, who are raising Mo.  The small town is all in a dither when one of theirs is found dead in his rowboat.  Who could have done it?  The big city detective is down from Winston-Salem to help solve the crime, but he won't be out done by the Desperado Detectives (Mo and Dale).  This Newbery Honor Book is a fun, exciting, and heartwarming read by NC author Shiela Turnage.