No luck, but lots of guilt.

I want to buy every book I read. Well, I want to WANT to buy every book I read, but I don't, and I feel guilty. Goodness knows that I couldn't write a book. Having a book published is a triumph. But I can't buy everything, and I can't recommend everything, and I want my students to know why. This blog is mainly for them and their parents.

I need books that 1) fit the curriculum, 2) are something students ask for and 3) are so good that I can enjoy them even if they are about topics I don't want to read about. If they don't fit into a couple of those, I can't buy them.

So, I won't be getting Paratore's The Cupid Chronicles. It is relentlessly pink, but somehow not engaging. I was not drawn into The Wedding Planner's Daughter, either.

Pullman's The Ruby and the Smoke, a Victorian Adventure, would have been great if a boy were the main character, but I don't have students who would check this out, and I think it may be out of print anyway.

Hearn's Sign of the Raven was promising, but started with too many details about the mother's cancer and visiting the grandmother-- I have a lot of books returned the same day they are checked out, and the main reason is that they start slowly. Doesn't matter if they get better-- that slow start is a killer.

I liked Jones' Standing Against the Wind. May buy this one. An inner city girl strives to get into a boarding school so that she can improve her lot in life. The only thing lacking here is an audience. I will think about this one.