Some April Vacation Recommendations...

Next week is April school vacation week (!) and I thought I'd post some reading recommendations to keep you busy...

The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex - I've been hearing a lot of great things about this book so if you are interested in fantasy/sci fi/adventure stories, this one is for you:

Twelve-year-old Gratuity "Tip" Tucci is assigned to write five pages on "The True Meaning of Smekday" for the National Time Capsule contest, and she's not sure where to begin: when her mom started telling everyone about the messages aliens were sending through a mole on the back of her neck? Maybe on Christmas Eve, when huge, bizarre spaceships descended to Earth, and aliens - called the Boov - abducted her mother? Or when the Boov declared Earth a colony, renamed it "Smekland" (in honor of glorious Captain Smek), and forced all Americans to relocate to Florida via rocketpod? Gratuity's story is much, much bigger than the assignment. It involves her unlikely friendship with a renegade Boov mechanic name J.Lo, a futile journey south to find Gratuity's mother at the Happy Mouse Kingdom, a cross-county road trip in a hovercar called Slushious, and an outrageous plan to save Earth from yet another alien invasion.

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart - I love this book! This is one of my favorite books of last year, so full of adventure and great characters. And there's a sequel which will be out on May 1st! I'll be first in line for that...

After passing a series of mind-bending tests, four children are selected for a secret mission that requires them to go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where the only rule is that there are no rules.

Also, be sure to go online to The Curiousity Chronicle for more on The Mysterious Benedict Society...

Eleven by Patricia Reilly Giff - We just got this one in at the library so I haven't had a chance to read it yet but Patricia Reilly Giff is such a great author, I'm sure it's good. Also it's a mystery (which I love) and starts with this wonderful, creepy opener:

Eleven could be anything. It was only two lines, after all. It could be a month, a day, minutes. Maybe two trees in a bare winter field. A kid scribbling. A house number. It was Sam's birthday, April Eleven. That was a good thing, a great thing, so why was he afraid of eleven?

I know I'm intrigued...

Enjoy your April vacation! It's also National Library Week so come into the library, visit me and check out a good book!