Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake

This is one of my absolute favorites. Betty Bunny is a handful, which she knows must be a good thing because her mother calls her one all the time. When she’s introduced to the wonders of chocolate cake, it’s all she can think about. She LOVES chocolate cake. She’s even going to marry chocolate cake when she grows up.


Betty Bunny has to learn about patience, because her mom won’t let her eat the chocolate cake until after dinner. But the cake looks so lonely by itself in the fridge that Betty decides to take it to school with her in her pocket. You can imagine how that turns out.


The illustrations are cute and unique, and the story is absolutely darling. It’s a very fun read aloud.

Author: Michael B. Kaplan

Recommended for: Everyone!

Cautions: None

Available in: Hardcover

Sequels: Betty Bunny Wants Everything

32 Pages

Ruby Red

Since the second one comes out in October, I decided to give Kerstin Gier's debut novel another read to refresh my memory. So. Good. As is usually the case with re-readings, I caught a lot of stuff the second time around that I’d been going to quickly to catch originally.

I fell in love with Gwyneth all over again. She’s just…awkward. I love it. She doesn’t have everything figured out, and she often says things that make me want to smack my hand to my head in sympathetic embarrassment for her. She’s an incredibly endearing character.

The book is a time travel book, which is a genre that I freely admit to disliking the majority of the time. Authors just leave out way too many factors and rules of physics in order to make the story work and I get caught up in the “But that would never happen”s. This book was masterfully done, though. I could sit back and enjoy the story because she didn’t get caught up in ignoring the laws of nature.

There’s also an underlying mystery of the book that Gier took off with. While you’re reading it you don’t realize that there’s all of this history factoring in to the plot until the very end when it all comes together and suddenly makes sense.

I loved every second of this book. It’s definitely one to keep for future re-reads.

Author: Kerstin Gier
Recommended for: Ages 14 and up

Cautions: Some language content

Available in: Hardcover, Paperback

Sequels: Sapphire Blue (Release date October 30, 2012), Emerald Green (Tentative release date Fall 2013)

330 Pages

Top Ten Young Adult Reads

As the designated Young Adult junkie at the Bookstore, I am constantly asked what some of my all-time favorite YA books are. Here's a beginner's list; all-time favorites as of today, but possibly subject to change as new fantastics come along. Many of them don't feel like young adult novels, though they are. Some are meant for slightly younger audiences. But all are wonderful and should be on the "read" list of everybody's goodreads account.

Disclaimer: No, Harry Potter is not on this list. But, really, if you need to read this list to tell you to read the Harry Potter books, you have bigger problems to worry about.

10. The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
      This book was my first introduction to the original fairy tale. It was a very sweet retelling, though the action sequences were intense. I loved how Ani had to struggle. Her already hard situation got infinitely worse and worse as the book went on, and as she struggled alone in a strange place, I felt that her situation and reactions were very real. Also, the love story? One of the sweetest in young adult lit. Love.

9. Beauty by Robin McKinley
      I hesitated to put this one up because everyone with half a brain should have read it already, but as this is the Top Ten list of most-time, it can't not be here. Everyone loves the fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast, and this retelling is absolutely amazing. True to form, McKinley dedicates almost half of the book to character development, which can make the beginning seem somewhat slow, but the story is so enchanting and the characters are worth every second of description she gives them.

8. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
      This book is unlike anything else I've read. I was excited to read it because it had a RAVING review by Veronica Roth, who, as I've mentioned before, is my pending bestie. I loved that Bardugo allowed her characters to make mistakes, sometimes mistakes that they couldn't come back from. There was often no safety net waiting to catch the characters, and that is so rare in a young adult novel. They had to deal with the consequences of their actions, which oftentimes affected their lives permanently. I also LOVED that the villain wasn't wholly bad. There was a real struggle that you could follow inside of him that made him so much more real, and made his actions all that more terrible. Fantastic.

7. The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen
       Because I read so many young adult novels for work (and for play) it's become rare that I find a book that can surprise me. This one succeeded fantastically. My first impressions of several characters turned out to be wrong, my assumptions about the plot were off, and I finished with a feeling of awe for Nielsen's writing. She's fantastic. I loved that it was told from a boy's perspective; more often than not, young adult books are told from the lovestruck girls' POV. It was refreshing to have the story told from the perspective of a snarky young boy.

6. The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman
       This book is like Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code for teenagers. I was really skeptical at first about the premise - I think that teens getting caught in ancient secret societies with fanatical serial killers and such is a bit of a stretch for my interest to handle - but I could not put it down. It seemed like a natural flow. I loved that the main character didn't have it all together. When horrible things happened to her, she did fall apart, as she should have. It was a fantastic read, not at all the far-fetched story I thought it'd be, and a definite re-read.

5. The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
      Okay, I will admit. Sarah Dessen can be a bit of a hit-and-miss author for me. Some of her books are duds, but when she hits the nail, she hits it RIGHT on the head. The Truth About Forever was definitely a center strike. I followed Macy's path to healing from the trauma of her father's unexpected death with giggles and sniffles. If I could have had a summer job like the one Macy finds with Wish Catering, I would have been an incredibly happy girl.


4. The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor
       While I do love Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, I will admit that it is definitely a story made for children. Frank Beddor's "real" telling is anything but. Packed with action, fantastic characters, and the same imaginative amazings that Carroll implemented in his original telling, this book series is one of my new favorites. Don't let the cover fool you - as awful as the outside looks, the inside is phenomenal. I totally have a fan girl crush on Hatter Madigan, and I guarantee that you will, too.


3. Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier
      I'm noticing a theme here. My favorite part of this book (as with many of these books) is that the main character, Gwen, doesn't have it all figured out. She is adorably awkward. There are multiple moments throughout the book that I had a facepalm moment on her behalf. Along with unexpectedly being able to time travel, Gwen has enough problems just trying to figure out who she is and how she fits into the crazy world around her. I can't wait for the release of the sequel, Sapphire Blue, in October.


Fun Fact: These books are international bestsellers. They were originally written in German before being translated into multiple other languages, including English. The story takes place in London, which is also an added bonus for those of us who are obsessed with the British empire.

2. Divergent by Veronica Roth
       AMAZING. That's really all I have to say. Divergent is a dystopian novel full of action and adventure, with characters that are real and raw. My favorite part of the book is that Tris, the main character, is a small girl in a situation in which strength and physical build are extremely important. Instead of being suddenly and impressively amazing at physical feats or just a whiny, sniveling damsel-in-distress, Tris gets the snot beaten out of her during her training, but still comes back, determined to do her best with what she's got. I loved her grit and her heart, and as soon as I finished with it I immediately wanted to read it again.

1. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green
        This book is hysterical. Though the main character, Hazel, has cancer, this is by no means a "Capital C Cancer book" (You know what I'm talking about. The books where the main character is gasping for their final breaths but still manages to ladle out soup for the starving homeless man). It has an almost irreverent humor that made it impossible not to laugh out loud. I laughed, I cried, I fell in love, and by the end of the book I was almost convinced that I should name one of my kids Augustus, if only in the hopes that he would be like the hero.

Exerpt: "An unattractive guy stares at you and it is at best awkward, and at worst, a form of assault, but if a hot guy stares at you...well."

Divergent

If Veronica Roth and I were to meet, I’m convinced we’d be instant besties. You can check out her blog at veronicaroth.blogspot.com to see why. Or, better yet, read her books. Divergent is great for fans of books like The Hunger Games (by Suzanne Collins) and Matched (by Ally Condie). Contributing to the intense, page-turning plot line are the characters, who are so believable and real that I felt instantly bonded to them. They became instant friends, and I was personally invested in their lives and decisions.

In this dystopian world, you’re born into one of five Factions: Candor, who value honesty above all else; Abnegation, who strive to be completely selfless; Dauntless, who push the limits of bravery to the breaking point; Amity, who are the peace keepers; or Erudite, who strive for knowledge of all kinds. When you turn sixteen, you choose which Faction you’ll stay in throughout your life. Tris, born into Abnegation, has always felt too selfish for her Faction. Though she’s small and petite, she dreams of joining the Dauntless, flinging themselves off of moving trains and living with as much heart as they can muster. But to leave her Faction is to leave behind everything she knows, because Faction is Family. Still, she chooses to follow her instincts, and is thrust into the Dauntless initiation, armed with nothing against the bigger initiates who are out for blood, the leaders who cross the line into cruelty and the stranger who threatens to break through her defenses and steal her heart.

While there is a romance (squee!), it’s not your typical YA drama fest. They care for each other, look out for one another, but they also push each other to be better. They’re not afraid to speak up when they don’t agree with one another. For those of you who are, like me, getting tired of the Damsel-In-Distress who is always being saved and doing nothing else, Tris is a breath of fresh air.

I recommend this book on a daily basis to anyone who will listen, and it’s definitely in my Top Ten YA Picks. Even people who usually shy away from Young Adult books will love this epic read.

Author: Veronica Roth

Recommended for: Ages 15 and up

Cautions: Some violence (not as bad as Hunger Games)

Available in: Hardcover, Paperback

Sequels: Insurgent, Untitled (Tentative release date Spring 2013)
487 Pages