The Man with the Violin by Kathy Stinson

I absolutely loved The Man with the Violin.  I did everything I could to drum up votes for this book in my school for the Forest of Reading.  Sadly, it only received a few.  How can you compete with The Day My Mom Came to Kindergarten.

The Man with the Violin by Kathy Stinson is based on a true story.  Joshua Bell an extremely talented and established violinist performed in a Washington, DC. subway station to see how many people would stop and watch him perform.  He had one of the most expensive violins in the world.  Joshua Bell gave an outstanding performance (you can watch it on YouTube).  Only 7 people stopped over 43 minutes.  He said that often times children wanted to stop but parents were too rushed.

I played a video of Joshua Bell performing Ava Maria for a class of grade 1/2's and they were mesmerized.  I hoped that they would listen to a minute or two.  They listened for the whole 4 minutes.  I saw a young boy get up to dance and my first reaction was that he was being silly.  He wasn't.  He was moved.  A little girl told me it sounded like a sad love song.  I was so impressed with their reactions.

So although this wasn't the Blue Spruce winner at my school I know that the book really struck a chord with them.  There were just too many choices.

Kenta and The Big Wave by Ruth Ohi

Kenta and the Big Wave is the story of a boy in Japan that is playing soccer when he hears the alarm that he needs to run for higher ground.  He loses his ball in the commotion.  When he gets to the school he finds his mom and dad.  Soon after though he discovers that his home is gone.  Meanwhile, his ball makes it's way across the ocean where another boy finds the ball and sends it back to Kenta.

First off, I quite like Ruth Ohi.  I had the chance to meet her this past winter.  I thought she was quite sweet as she sat signing autographs and personalizing them all with special little drawings.

However, I would have preferred to see this book with a bit more detail.  The story was quite short.  I think the story could have been a bit more developed and it would have made a fantastic nominee for the Silver Birch Express category in the Forest of Reading.

I think that would be one of my biggest complaints about the Blue Spruce/Forest of Reading.  There are ten books in each category that we librarians work quite hard at promoting to the students.  But I feel those ten books should be something that I could recommend to everyone in the targeted age group.  With Kenta and the Big Wave I really hesitated to read this to my Kindergarten to Grade 3 classes.  It felt like too deep of a topic to tackle in a short library period.  In the end, I did read it but only because there was another title that I felt I didn't want to tackle with the kids.  I know the kids will call me out for skipping one and I would never get away with skipping two.  This book just felt too serious for that age group but yet too simple for older grades.

And the Birds Rained Down by Jocelyne Saucier

Today I did some thing that I haven't done in about 15 years.  I read a book in a day.  Now it is only 160 pages but still it felt good.  I used to read a book a day all the time back in my teens and early 20's but these days there's no way that can happen.  But today the house was clean and the kids were busy.  So I sat and read.  A guilty pleasure.  I also had 3 cups of tea throughout.

And the Birds Rained Down was a Canada Reads 2015 nominee.  I've only had find time to watch the first days so far.  I have to say based on the discussions I wasn't overly interested in this book.  I thought it was all drugs and sex and old people.  And the Birds Rained Down certainly does have all those things but it also has so much more.  There's more than one beautiful love story throughout.  There's also Ontario scenery.  Art.

I really enjoyed it.  I'm not positive that it's the book that all Canada should read.  I do think the book would appeal to wide audience.  An enjoyable read for sure.

Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll

I don't know how to talk about Luckiest Girl Alive without giving anything away.  There's so much that happens.  So many twists and turns.  The book starts out with the main character Ani FaNelli completing her bridal registry with her fiance Luke.  Love story right?  Except Ani is thinking she'd like to stab him in the stomach.  And so it begins.  Each chapter seemed more shocking then the next.

I really can't say much more without giving too much away.  Already many of the early reviews are comparing it to Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl.  I suspect this book will do well.  I really enjoyed the fast suspenseful pace of it.

Jessica Knoll has been a senior editor for Cosmopolitan magazine.  Luckiest Girl Alive is scheduled to be published in May 2015.

The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B is the story of a fifteen year old boy named Adam.  He's just begun group therapy to help him cope with his OCD.  The first meeting he falls instantly in love with Robyn.  Adam vows to get better so that he can take care of Robyn.  But he's got other problems as well.  His parents are seperated so there's anxiety and guilt about which house he's staying at and when.  But Adam's mom also has some issues of her own and Adam can't avoid making them his problems too.

The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B does an amazing job at teaching teens about what life is like with OCD.  There's a note at the back as well advising what to do if you feel you have some of the symptoms described in the book.  Adam is a very lovable character that you can't help feeling badly for as you read through his struggles but the support group is quite the cast of characters and they do invoke some smiles.

The story also has a positive Catholic theme.  Adam is Catholic and throughout the story he teaches the support group about being Catholic.  The priest in the story is possibly the likely hero of room 13B.

I gave The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B a rating of 5 stars.  I really enjoyed the writing style, the characters and the message.  There is some inappropriate language in the book but I discussed it with my grade 8 teacher and he felt that it was acceptable.  He has actually requested to use this book for a literacy circle study in class.

The Great Bike Rescue by Hazel Hutchins

I've been working through the Silver Birch Express nominees with my grade 3 to grade 6 classes.  This week most of my classes completed their fifth book!!  I'm so proud of all of them.

The Great Bike Rescue is full of action from page number one.  Levi goes into the corner store just for a few minutes but it was enough time for someone to steal his bike.  He didn't lock it, but still, it's not right!!  The next day Riley's bike gets stolen too but his bike was locked.  The boys have a mystery to solve.  

The Great Bike Rescue was an action packed story.  Every chapter left on a cliff hanger.  In fact, this week as our library period ended I had two different classes ask me to read to them while they ate their lunch because they wanted to know what happened next.

This was a great read aloud.  I thought it might be too simple for the grade 6's but everyone seemed to enjoy it.  But the question remains...what will they vote for???  Stay tuned!

Inside the O'Briens by Lisa Genova

Still Alice by Lisa Genova is one of my all time favourite books.  It's the book that I suggest to readers most often.  Still Alice is the story of a Harvard professor, Alice that is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.  What I love about this book the most is that the story is written from Alice's perspective.  No one knows exactly what it feels like to live with Alzheimer’s but Genova does an outstanding job of writing an empathetic story.  Lisa Genova obtained a Ph. D. in neuroscience from Harvard University in 1998 so she clearly knows what she's writing about.

When I saw that Genova had a new book, Inside the O'Briens, coming out in April 2015 I couldn't wait to get my hands on it.  But I approached reading the novel with a bit of hesitation.  I loved Still Alice so much and I didn't know that Genova could live up to the pedestal that I had placed her on.  

Inside the O'Briens is the story of a police officer named Joe.  He's an Irish Catholic living in Boston.  He takes great pride in his beautiful city and protects it by serving on the Boston Police Department.  Joe also takes great pride in his wife, Rosie, and their four children.  But at age 44 he doesn't seem to be able to do his police work as well as he used; he's getting clumsy; making mistakes.  Joe's friends think he might be drinking a bit too much.  After a visit to the doctor it's not long before Joe receives his diagnosis - Huntington's disease.  Genova does an outstanding job of providing a compassionate story about Joe's life after diagnosis.  Sadly, Huntington's disease is a genetic disorder and the fear is that the disease has passed on to his four children.  The kids can undergo genetic testing and find out if they're gene positive or not.  Would knowing if they’re positive change the way they live their lives?  They're all going to die sometime; do they need to know how and when?  

Genova continues to educate readers on neurological diseases and she does so with a sympathetic heart.  Now that I'm finished Inside the O'Briens I'm happy to say Lisa Genova remains firmly in place on the pedestal that I've put her on.  

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me a copy to review.