That's Noteworthy! (vol. 7)

mysteries galore, great performances, lots of links along the way

Dear readers,

It’s good to be back with you after switching this newsletter to bi-weekly/every other week. We’ll see if I decide to go back to weekly at some point. As it is, I have a lot to share with you today!

📚. I can’t stop, won’t stop with the mysteries right now, especially the middle grade sort, though I also do have a fun YA book to share with you this week, too.

• The Strangers by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Greystone Secrets #1) :: This was one of those mysteries where the reader simply must keep going to figure out what the heck is going on. It’s an intriguing story where our characters have to use codes and quite a bit of sneaking around to figure things out. Luckily each character has strengths that help along the way. And even when they do and things mainly wrap up, they almost are left with more questions than they started with (it’s the first in a series, so this isn’t a surprise). There’s not a lot more than I can say without giving things away, but if you’ve read it, I have two comp titles/readalikes that I mention (with spoiler tags) in my Storygraph review (one MG, one adult). Definitely ordering this one for the school library.
  5⭐️s

• Framed! (A T.O.A.S.T Mystery, #1) and Vanished! (#2) by James Ponti :: As a devoted fan of the City Spies series, I decided it was finally time to read James Ponti’s backlist series, which my son read and loved years ago. I absolutely love Florian and Margaret and how they use T.O.A.S.T (the theory of all small things) to help the FBI solve mysteries. These are totally unrealistic in some ways but also completely delightful and enjoyable, and also well-plotted mysteries. The adult FBI characters are also a great addition (sort of like in Stuart Gibbs’ Charlie Thorne series, another favorite of mine, but these focus more on the mystery and less on the action/adventure/science). I listened to both of these consecutively and and currently working on book three. I’ll be sad to see this series end. James Ponti is a fantastic MG mystery/spy thriller writer, and I look forward to whatever he writes next (more City Spies for now). Between these two books, we get mysteries related to art, international politics (not complex), and Thomas Jefferson— great for fans of Chasing Vermeer, Masterpiece, and Spy School. I have lots of fans of City Spies and Stuart Gibbs’ books at school, so I’ll be adding the Framed trilogy to the library this year.
  5⭐️s for both!

• Spells for Lost Things by Jenna Evans Welch :: I started this on my Kindle, and ended up switching to paper because I had a couple of times I felt the need to flip back and reference something earlier in the book. While this one started a little slow for me (it takes some time for the two storylines to converge, and then when it does, it really moves), but I ended up loving it. Jenna has such a way of writing teens going through hard things while also experiencing the joy of exploring a new place and meeting new people, and though this one is quite different from her Love and… books (which I loved), this one has a similar feel in that way. Add to that a lot of fun witchiness (it’s set in Salem) and some delightful aunts, and even though it was set in summer, it was a perfect fall read. I would definitely say it has some triggers so I will put those in my Storygraph review if you’re curious. As for content, it does not have anything graphic for younger YA readers (though the themes related to the triggers are tough, they are handled thoughtfully, but it’s still something to be aware of).
  4.25⭐️s

🤓. My district has generously given me a budget to purchase some new books for the library, and in addition, I have book fair proceeds to spend on books as well. So that means it’s time for one of the best parts of my job— buying books with other people’s money! 🤩 I’ve started building my list, both of books that need to be replaced because they’re too well-loved or damaged/missing, and newly published books or books requested by students we don’t have. I really love this part of my job— collection development— and I’d be happy in the future to share some of the books being added to our collection this year. Oh, I also created a featured book display (using a whiteboard) with spooky books… aka books that I will never read, LOL.

🥰. This is the big category in this volume… I guess it’s a good thing that I’m sharing a plethora of things bringing me joy this week!

• I had the privilege of experience two more wonderful artistic performances in the last couple of weeks (after my amazing Coldplay outing just previously). On a Friday, my mom and I went to see the touring show Les Miserables. Since we happened to arrive a little early and were at the first Friday night show of the run here in San Diego, we stumbled upon an awesome bonus, which was the fantastic pre-show chat hosted by San Diego Broadway Insider, where we learned insider info, interesting notes (pun intended!) about the music, and historical background of the show. We will definitely try to catch these chats again in the future!

  Neither my mom nor I had seen Les Mis before. I tried reading the book this summer but as of now, I’m still only 31% in (and mostly reading by audio whenever my library hold comes back around). Even that much gave me a helpful understanding of the beginning of the musical, which rushes through a lot of book content in a short span. I do plan keep reading it, very slow-but-steady (mostly slow, not super steady 😉) for as long as it takes. The musical was awesome. The cast was fantastic. The set was impressive. The music was so moving.

• The next night, my husband and I took our girls to see Owl City. My 16-year old is an Owl City/Adam Young superfan (since she was 2… we discovered him via a chance recommendation from Charlie Park who runs the awesomely simple budgeting site Pear Budget which we still use about 15 years later). Adam Young is an amazingly talented musician who plays several instruments well, and does incredible looping/electronic magic on-stage, while also maintaining a great stage presence. If you’ve never heard of him, his pop music is fun and catchy and his instrumental music is amazing— great for studying/working. We’ve seen him three times now (twice with the kids), and he does not disappoint. Opening act, Augustana (known for that classic early-aughts hit, Boston, which I love), also played a great set. Here’s my daughter’s epic Adam Young playlist, including all Owl City/instrumental/side project songs if you’re interested.

• Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara :: adding a bonus non-kidlit book down here because I loved it so much. I still can’t stop thinking about The Bear, and the first place I caught sight of this book was on that show (the amazing season 2 episode where Richie goes to another restaurant for a week). Then I heard about it on the podcast This is Taste and from bookish friend Chrissie Wright (I can’t remember—either on her podcast Book Delight or her insta/newsletter).
  So, I listened to it. It was inspiring and encouraging and can apply to so many aspects of life and different industries. The audio was fantastic (with a bit of bonus content), too (I love Will’s voice and storytelling seems to come natural to him). If you work in a service industry, read it. If you don’t think you work in a service industry, read it anyway. If you’re a human who works with other humans, also, please also consider this my personal recommendation that you read it. 😉 And if you love foodie books, you’ll probably find all the restaurant stories that much more interesting. I already started listening again, with my husband this time. 5⭐️s

• I preordered the last Vanderbeekers book, The Vanderbeekers Ever After, for my daughter from Books of Wonder in New York, and it finally arrived, complete with a personalized autograph from author Karina Yan Glaser, and a recipe book with favorite recipes from the series. They still have more of these bundles for sale! Hallee was so thrilled to get this just-because gift.

• The Dodgers lost in embarrassing fashion (not something bringing me joy), but I have had so much fun chatting during games with other baseball fans in Molly Knight’s paid subscriber chats. Molly is an excellent writer (she primarily writes about baseball and mental health) and she has grown a really fun niche community.
  Substack is such a fun community when you find writers you love to read and people you connect with. (I hope this humble newsletter can bring a little dash of that kind of joy to you; thanks for being here.)

Happy Friday and happy reading!

xo,
Nicole

P.S. I have a fun announcement coming next week for Young at Heart… stay tuned! 😏

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