Angry Management: Review Haiku

Might be nice stories
without the heavy thwacking
of moral lessons.

Angry Management by Chris Crutcher. Greenwillow, 2009, 246 pages.

Dude. I am TOTALLY famous.

Somehow I made OnlineSchool.net's list of 100 Best Book Blogs for Kids, Teens, and Tweens. Clearly they were smoking something. [slinks away secretly thrilled]

If I Stay: Review Haiku

Unfathomable
loss, sensitively handled.
It will stay with you.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman. Dutton, 2009, 201 pages.

The Summer I Turned Pretty: Review Haiku

But wait a minute --
I wanted her to end up

with the other one!

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han. S&S, 2009, 276 pages.

Ten years ago today, I was doing this.

Happy anniversary, darlin'.

The Chosen One: Review Haiku

Chilling look at what
happens when men become God.
Hide your daughters, folks.

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams. St. Martin's, 2009, 213 pages.

The Guinea Pig Diaries: Review Haiku

We get it, A. J.:

your wife is a saint and you're
a work-in-progress.

The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment by A. J. Jacobs. S&S, 2009, 256 pages.

Lunch Lady: Review Haiku

Love these, but I can't
get Adam Sandler out of
my head. "Sloppy Joes . . . "

Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute and Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians by Jarret J. Krosoczka. Knopf, 2009, 96 pages (both).

Home Game: Review Haiku

Sort of like labor
stories: most interesting to
the people in them.

Home Game: An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood by Michael Lewis. Norton, 2009, 190 pages.

Lost in the Meritocracy: Review Haiku

Midwestern boy goes

East to find -- surprise! -- he's no
F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Lost in the Meritocracy: The Undereducation of an Overachiever by Walter Kirn. Doubleday, 2009, 211 pages.

Neil Armstrong Is My Uncle: Review Haiku

Perfectly captures
the selfishness of pre-teens.
A winning debut.

Neil Armstrong Is My Uncle and Other Lies Muscle Man McGinty Told Me by Nan Marino. Roaring Brook, 2009, 154 pages.

P.S. "Grabowskys." "Grabowskys'." Or if you prefer, "Grabowskies" and "Grabowskies'." Just please, for the love of God, NOT "Grabowsky's."

Life Among the Lutherans: Review Haiku

Warmed-up retellings
from APHC. Just like
leftover hotdish.

Life Among the Lutherans by Garrison Keillor. Augsburg, 2009, 183 pages.

Change-up: Review Haiku

Kept me on the
exercise bike twice as long. Plus,
Aaron Bleeping Boone!

Change-up: Mystery at the World Series. Knopf, 2009, 308 pages.

Wishful Drinking: Review Haiku

Somewhere in here there's
a lightsaber/electroshock
therapy joke.

Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher. S&S, 2008, 163 pages.

P.S. Happy birthday, Boy Scout!

Hell Is Other Parents: Review Haiku

Better than your
av'rage Mommy Confessional.
With bonus Boy Spock!

Hell Is Other Parents: And Other Tales of Maternal Combustion by Deborah Copaken Kogan. Hyperion, 2009, 209 pages.

Carter Finally Gets It: Review Haiku

Some problems with voice;
still, a painfully funny
take on teenagers.

Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford. Hyperion, 2009, 300 pages.

Best Friends Forever: Review Haiku

Another Weiner
winner -- but what does jacket
have to do with book?

Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner. Atria, 2009, 359 pages.

One False Note and The Sword Thief: Review Haiku

The clues fly fast and
furious: a convoluted,
high-stakes muddle.

One False Note: 39 Clues #2 by Gordon Korman. Scholastic, 2008, 174 pages.
The Sword Thief: 39 Clues #3 by Peter Lerangis. Scholastic, 2009, 160 pages.

The Wildwater Walking Club: Review Haiku

Sometimes, "one foot in
front of the other" is a
good philosophy.

The Wildwater Walking Club by Claire Cook. Hyperion, 2009, 239 pages.

Going Bovine: Review Haiku

Dude, this is pretty
f'd up right here. Gnomes, dwarves, cows,
angels, life and death.

Going Bovine by Libba Bray. Delacorte, 2009, 496 pages.