Ms. Anderson's ATM

Wow. Here we are at one of my favorite weeks of the school year. I'm not sure how it's already the end of November, but I'll take it. I confess that my joy has something to do with there only being two days of school! I look forward to some down time (which never really happens) and imagine loads of extra time to read (a girl can dream). Honestly, the week serves as a mental break and a promise that winter break will come and all of the things I didn't have time for this week will happen then.

In the meantime, I'm still carving out bits of time to read and listen to books. Here is what has my attention right now:

Jennifer Chan is Not Alone is one of those books that is nothing like I expected but I don't know why. It is the story of mean girls, friendship, mistakes, and forgiveness--all wrapped up in aliens. Different, right? The thing that I love about this book is how it examines the pain of bullying and being bullied. Tae Keller creates wonderful characters that are flawed, real, and grow across the story. I like this book the more I read it and with only 25 pages left it was hard to put down this morning so I could get ready for work!

I love Marie Lu. In fact, I read Legend and The Young Elites as soon as they were released. So I am still a bit confused about why I was seemingly reluctant to read War Cross. Maybe I wasn't feeling scifi? No idea really. Anyway, I finally took the audio plunge after a student insisted I read it and then later the same week so did my niece! And I am so glad I took their advice. This is space opera at its best: action, technology, a dash of romance, and loads of suspense. I typically don't read sequels but this one is begging to be continued.

Lotus Bloom is cover love at first site. I literally have this book sitting under Jennifer Chan because I will likely put down JC when I'm finished and crack open LB straight away. I'm hopeful that this is a winner since it is on the National Book Award long list but I'm a smidge curious about the story since hasn't shown up on more of the "best of 2022" lists. Insert shrug emoji here.

That's all for now. I hope you have a lovely break!!

Happy reading!

Ms. Anderson