That's Noteworthy! (vol. 9)

a plethora of books (and more) sent to you straight from the beach!

Happy Thanksgiving week! I’m happy to be on break from work (and from coaching kids through all their homework 😫) for a week and sending you this missive (a bit late) from my campsite by the sea…

📚. Books I recently read…

• The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1) by Rick Riordan :: I finally read this beloved series opener. My son loves this series, and it is still one of the most popular in the school library after all these years (the newest volume is on order!). I really enjoyed this adventurous, Odyessey-like romp, and definitely plan to continue. The audio experience was great, and I’m excited to see where the story goes from here as Percy gets to know his powers, identity, and new friends more.
  5⭐️s

• Hollowpox (Nevermoor #3) by Jessica Townsend :: I loved going back to this world, finally tackling book three. This book was cleverly plotted and and in it we really see Morrigan’s skills as a Wundersmith grow and evolve which is fun, and she also gets involved in plenty of good-versus-evil challenges. It was pretty wild to read this after living through a pandemic, knowing that she planned and wrote this book before we all lived through a situation that was in many ways alarmingly similar the what happens in the book.
  4.5⭐️s

• The Takeout by Tracy Badua :: This was my first book by Ms. Badua and I really enjoyed this one! I recently saw her chat about this book on a panel and the San Diego Festival of Books and so I was excited to pick it up. This is a fun summer story of a girl who is trying to save her family’s food truck which is suddenly at risk of being shut down because of some shady business going down in town. There’s some Filipino magical realism, friendship themes, a young girl standing up for what’s right, and a hard-to-please grandma in this one. Great for fans of Kelly Yang, Jessica Kim, Lisa Yee, and Janae Marks.
  4.5⭐️s

🤓. In the library…

My 5th grade book clubs finally finished our reading of Chasing Vermeer. We had such a fun time with this book. I loved the discussions we got into. One kid pretty much had the mystery figured out (or at least who the main bad guy was— good job, Ilan!). At the end we made our own set of pentominoes, which are a main element of the story. The Scholastic Gold paperback version we used also had some great bonus content in the back that we looked through (including a guide to making a set of pentominoes!).
Also, I’ve started putting some new books out on display, and I always love seeing how excited kids get to see a new highly anticipated book in our library.

📖. What my kids are reading…

• Gigi (16) is doing a reread of one of her favorite series, Keeper of the Lost Cities (she’s read them all up to book 9, Stellarlune, which just came out in paperbook and she recently bought for her collection). She’s currently on book two. She’s also reading Live No Lies by John Mark Comer.

• Brody (13) just read a delightfully illustrated graphic novel, Lightfall and its sequel, and the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, No Brainer. He’s now finally reading the much-awaited new book in the Eragon Series, Murtagh by Christopher Paolini.

• Hallee (12) is reading Front Desk and The Vanderbeekers Ever After (she adores this series!).

this morning’s view after the early rain cleared

🥰. Things bringing me joy right now…

• One Day HH, a social media challenge that Laura Tremaine started years ago is always fun to participate in and see what everyday life looks like for others.

• Gigi and I took a trip to our local Barnes & Noble, where we drooled over all the books we wish we could buy. I used a gift card from a friend to buy a very anticipated sequel (autographed copy!) that I’ll be reading for book club in January.

• My WIP is at the midpoint! I’ve been able to crank out quite a few words in the last month, which has been fun. I’m really enjoying this middle grade story. My son keeps me accountable… he likes the sound of my bluetooth keyboard and he often asks me if I’m going to “boogity-boogity” which is apparently how he describes the sound my keyboard makes. 🤣

• Camping at the beach with family of friends… with lots of time to read and relax. This week I will enjoy my yearly re-read of The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, which pairs perfectly with the sound of the crashing waves.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all and happy reading! As always, I’m thankful for you taking the time to read my words.

xo,
Nicole

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