Heaven Is Paved with Oreos

Sarah is struggling with her relationship with her best friend/fake boyfriend.  She and Curtis spend so much time together that people teased them about dating, so they just decided to pretend they were.  But now that they are heading into high school, things are changing between them.  It's not just pure science anymore.

This is perfect timing for Sarah's wild Grandma Z to show up insisting she's headed to Italy on a pilgrimage, and she wants to take Sarah with her.

Things start out great, but Sarah begins to realize there is more to this trip than she realized as Grandma Z begins acting strange, even for her.

This trip will be more than an Italian adventure.  It will be a time for Sarah to learn some things about herself and her best friend/fake? boyfriend as well as some truths hidden in her family tree.

This companion novel can be read independently from the Dairy Queen series, but if you haven't read those, you totally should!  Catherine Gilbert Murdock's new book is a fun return to some favorite characters.

The Island of Dr. Libris

Billy is spending the summer in a cabin on the lake with no wi-fi and no TV.  What's a kid to do but read a couple of books from that locked bookshelf in the office.  No big deal, right?  As soon as Billy opens a book to read, he hears the characters in real life in the distance.

No, Billy isn't crazy.  He and his new friend Walter head out the island in the middle of the lake, and things really get crazy.  Characters from any book they read come to life right in front of them:  Hercules, Pollyanna, Robin Hood, even an alien villain from a comic book.

With all these characters running around, things start to get crazy, and the two boys have to figure out how to get them back in their books.  But Billy is working on another plan, one to get his parents back together.

What is causing these characters to come to life, and who is Dr. Libris?  Read Chris Grabenstein's book to find out!

The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia

Wow!  I really enjoyed this one!  I didn't know much about this family before reading the book, but now I feel like I know them as people.  Candace Fleming's book deftly portrays the final years of Romanov rule.

Tsar Nicholas was born to rule and raised to understand that he ruled by divine right.  Russia was divided into three groups in those days.  The aristocracy who personally owned over ninety percent of all Russia's wealth lived in opulent homes with servants and beautiful clothes never mixing with anyone else.  There was a professional class who were teachers, lawyers, doctors, clergy, etc.  Everyone else was a peasant scraping by from day to day hoping for food to eat.  Most peasants couldn't even afford shoes.

Still, many peasants still saw the Tsar as a benevolent father until his marriage to Alexandra, his German born Tsarina.  Nicholas was always weak willed, but after his marriage he bowed even more to his wife's dictates.  This, of course, included the welcoming of Rasputin a so-called holy man.

Rasputin's corrupting influence is just part of the reason Tsar Nicholas lost power.  Read this fascinating tale of murder and rebellion to get the full story including the sad end of the Romanov family.  Highly recommended!

Circus Mirandus

Micah believes everything his grandfather ever told him about Circus Mirandus:  the beautiful flying bird woman, the world's smartest elephant, The Man Who Bends Light.  It's always been Micah and his grandfather since Micah was little, but now Grandpa is dying.

When Ephraim was a boy, he visited the magical circus, and the Lighbender promised him a miracle.  He's been saving it all these years, but now it's time to call it in.  He's too sick to visit the circus himself, so Micah must go in his place.  Along with his practical friend, Jenny, Micah must find the circus to save his grandfather.

As if finding a magical hidden circus weren't hard enough, he also has to sneak around Aunt Gertrudis who does not believe in magic.  She won't even let Micah in to see Grandpa

Micah sets off on a grand adventure to save his grandfather, but he also learns some truths about himself and his family.  Can the Lightbender provide a miracle after all these years?  Read Cassie Beasley's book to find out!

From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess

Olivia has always considered herself average:  average smart, average height, even her skin is an average brown.  The only things about her that aren't average are her ability to draw, and the fact that she's basically an orphan.  Her mother died when she was a baby, and she's never really met her father.  She's talked to him on the phone, and she writes letters all the time, but his job makes it difficult for them to meet in person.

But Olivia is not average, and the truth comes out when the school bully starts taunting her one day about being a princess.  Olivia knows it isn't true and tries to fight back, but maybe she's wrong.  The truth comes out when none other than Mia Thermopolis shows up at Olivia's middle school and explains that Olivia is actually her half sister!

This explains a lot.  Her mother wanted her to have a normal life, so her father, the crown prince of Genovia, had to keep his distance, and her aunt and uncle raised her alongside her horrible cousins.  But all her worries could be over because Olivia really is destined for an extraordinary life!

This is the first book in a new series by Meg Cabot, and all your favorite characters from The Princess Diaries are here in supporting roles.  My only complaint is this book is pretty much all set up.  I guess we have to wait for book two for Olivia's adventures to begin.

The Fourteenth Goldfish

Sixth grade isn't going so well for Ellie.  Her best friend is now obsessed with volleyball and has less time for Ellie, but Ellie has yet to find the thing she is passionate about.  She's not artistic like her divorced parents.  Her mother is a former actor turned school counselor, and her father still makes his living as a professional actor. They've tried to make Ellie into an actor, but it just isn't her thing.

Her world is in for a crazy turn when her mother comes home late one night with an odd 13 year old boy named Melvin who turns out to be her long lost grandfather.  Melvin has been working on the cure to aging his entire life, and he's finally found success with some odd consequences.  No one believes he's the real Melvin; he's just a kid.  Now that he's a kid again, the law thinks Melvin needs supervision, and all the conflict Ellie's artistic mother has had with her scientist father come home to roost.  Now Melvin is the same bossy and stubborn old man he was before but in the body of a kind of cute teenager!

As Ellie begins helping Melvin recover his formula, she discovers something about herself.  Ellie loves science, too!  Is the world ready for the cure to aging?  Read Jennifer L. Holm's new book to find out!  I really enjoyed this one--fun and thoughtful!

The Swap

Ellie is about to start 7th grade, but what should be an exciting new start is hampered by her former best friend Sassy.  Ellie and Sassy have been best friends forever, but suddenly Sassy has turned her mean girls ways on Ellie.  Ellie isn't ready to let go, but every day with Sassy is a painful examination of all her flaws.

Sassy is obsessed "The Prince" Jack Malloy who seems to have everything.  He's popular, cute, and a great athlete, but no one knows the secret anxiety Jack feels every day.  Since his mother died, his father has been less a father and more a drill sergeant.  Nothing Jack does is good enough, and any show of emotion is weakness.

Things come to a head for Ellie and Jack on the first day of school when they end up in the nurse's office together as a result of separate altercations.  There's a strange new nurse who mutters something about switching places and standing up for yourself, and the next thing you know POOF! Jack and Ellie have switched bodies!

What follows is a weekend filled with hilarious and embarrassing situations as Ellie and Jack learn to navigate each other's lives.  Jack enjoys some nurturing time with Ellie's mom, and Ellie learns she's stronger than she ever thought from Jack's crazy and supportive older brothers.  The two form an odd sort of friendship, but it's not until they learn some gumption that they will get their own lives back.

I picked up this book because it's been very popular in the library, and now that I've read it, I know why!  This book is hilarious and heartfelt.  I love the way Megan Shull allows her two protagonists to see themselves through the eyes of someone else.  I wish we could all see our problems and our strengths from a distance like Ellie and Jack.  I highly recommend this book!  Just be aware that some of the hilarity arises from gentle references to normal parts of puberty.