I rarely have much to say about board books.  Not because I don't greatly appreciate this category, but because a good portion of them were picture books first.  Recently, though, I was introduced to a charming little board book named Little Gorilla.  The book was originally published in the 1970s as a picture book, but as my first experience with it is in its board form, I decided to call out this edition.  My older son bought it for my younger son as his Christmas present.  At first I was sort of skeptical about his choice.  After all, I used to buy the board book category for Borders, and I didn't remember this book.  Of course, one read through told me I was wrong and that my 5-year-old son knew what his 3-year-old brother would like to hear better than I did.  Little Gorilla tells the tale of a young gorilla who is loved by all the other animals in the jungle.  From a boa constrictor to a hippopotamus to a roaring lion, Little Gorilla is one popular little dude.  Soon, though, Little Gorilla starts to become a big gorilla, and he worries that his jungle friends' affections will not be as easily shared.  A surprise birthday celebration tells him he need not have worried.  Even big, he is just as well loved.  For anyone who loves Goodnight Gorilla, Tumble Bumble or Bear Snores On, Little Gorilla will be a great addition to the bedtime story rotation.

With its steamy, cinematic writing, it's no wonder that What I Saw and How I Lied is nominated for the National Book Award in Young People's Literature.  In film noir style, Judy Blundell tells the dramatic story of Evie and her family post World War II.  When Joe, Evie's father, returns home from the war, Evie expects that life will go back to normal, but then the phone calls start, and Joe decides to whisk the family away to Florida for an extended vacation.  There, they meet Peter Coleridge, an ex-GI who served under Joe in Austria.  Evie comes to realize that Peter's appearance in Florida is not coincidental.  There is a secret between Peter and Joe, but Evie falls in love with Peter anyway.  Then an accident occurs, and Evie is forced to decide whether to be loyal to her first love or save her parents from ruin.

Much Like Godbersen's The Luxe, Blundell has given readers a dark, secretive historical novel with a contemporary feel.   This is a coming-of-age story with a sharp edge that is sure to entice even those young readers who believe all historical novels are boring and banal.

When I was 14 my older brother was dating a lovely girl, who also happened to be named Amy.  She called for him one afternoon, but he wasn't home, and I picked up the phone.  Somehow never having met Amy, she and I managed to have an hour long conversation.  While her relationship with my older brother didn't last, our friendship has managed to do so through high school, college, career, marriage and children.  I often find myself thinking what if I hadn't answered the phone that day or my brother had been home.  It's amazing to think how some of the best happenings in our lives are completely random, and Every Soul a Star does an excellent job of reminding readers to be open to the randomness and beauty of life.

The novel alternates between the voices of three unlikely friends.  Ally, short for Alpha, is an astronomy wiz who appreciates all the wonders nature has to offer.  She has lived most of her life at the Moon Shadow Campground, where this summer thousands will converge to view a rare total eclipse.  Bree is a prom queen wanna-be who acts kind of silly, but is a lot smarter than she would have people believe. Nature and camping are so not for her.  Jack is over-weight, unpopular and kind of lazy.  His only reason for being at Moon Shadow is to get out of summer school.  All three have reasons to hate what has been thrown their way this summer, but as the eclipse gets closer, they come to realize that this may be the best summer they've ever had.

While using some sort of rare astronomical event as the focus of a middle grade novel isn't new, I still found Every Soul a Star to be refreshing.  Mass does a wonderful job of making the voices of her characters distinct.  In addition, novels structured like this can often be a bit repetitive as events are repeated from the perspective of another character, but Mass does not do this.  She lets the novel flow naturally, giving the reader an opportunity to suppose what the other characters might be thinking.  If I had one complaint about this novel, it would be that I would have liked to know what happens to Ally, Bree and Jack when the summer ends.  I'll even go so far as to admit that I would have loved to have Jack and Ally somehow end up at the same school.  Yes, I know that would have been totally sappy, but somehow after reading about a total eclipse of the sun, it just didn't seem that implausible anymore. 

If you like this novel, you might also enjoy Love, Stargirl and Smiles to Go by Jerry Spinelli.

I often tell people that I fell in love with my husband in our senior AP English class.  We had a teacher who loved to have us read our papers aloud.  While mine were fairly uninspired, I could have listened to my husband read his for hours.  Not only were they insightful and eloquently composed, he was completely confident that his interpretations were the only correct ones.  He had a certain bravado that few at 17 or 18 have yet mastered.  Reading a John Green novel makes me think back to those high school days and how audacious teenagers can be.  Whether you're a nerd or the new guy in school or just completely average, a John Green novel suggests that all young adults can be intrepid given an appropriate opportunity.  This is certainly the case with the protagonist of Paper Towns.  Quentin, also known as Q, Jacobsen generally travels the road of the straight and narrow.  He works hard in school, is a loyal friend and freakishly well-adjusted given that both his parents are therapists.  Only Margaret Roth Spiegelman knows how to crack his upstanding citizen facade.  Margaret is Q's the girl-next-door, but is really anything but.  Needing an associate and a car for a series of necessary revenge pranks, Margaret taps Q. to become her accomplice.  After the all night revenge campaign, Q. wakes up the next morning to find that Margaret has disappeared.  She's done this before and all assume she'll just show back up in a few days.  She doesn't, but Quentin discovers that she has left some clues as to her whereabouts, and it's up to him to find her.  As the quest becomes more convoluted, Q. ponders whether he really knows Margaret at all: 

" That was perfect, I thought: you listen to people so that you can imagine them, and you hear all the terrible and wonderful things people do to themselves and to one another, but in the end the listening exposes you even more than it exposes the people you're trying to listen to." 

Searching for Margaret isn't really about searching for Margaret.  It's about searching for Q's idea of Margaret and how can she possibly live up to that?  Still, Quentin's journey for Margaret does require him to be bold and daring in a way unknown to him.  It allows him to live life before "the allure of a life rightly lived - college and job and husband and babies and all that bullshit" takes over.  It's a gift from Q's girl-next-door much like this novel is a gift to all who read it.

For its similar beautiful and comedic qualities, I suggest you read Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You by Peter Cameron.