River Readers

Mason Buttle was a big kid, who was not very good in school and who sweat....a lot. He lived with his Gran, his uncle and a stray girl his uncle brought home one day. They lived on an orchard that had been in the family for generations. However, after the family had dealt two tragic blows it became hard for Gran and Uncle Drum to deal with the orchard operations. Things fell into disarray and soon Uncle Drum had to sell off parts of the orchard.

Dietrich BonHoeffer was a preacher during the rise of Hitler to power in Germany. He knew from an early age that he wanted to spread the word of God and his faith was strong. When the atrocities of the Hitler regime came to light, he knew he could not stay silent. He spoke out against the Nazi practices and started his own church. As the Nazi threat grew worse, he became involved in a spy ring whose ambition was to assassinate Hitler.

This biography tells the story of how Lil Hardin Armstrong became the first lady of jazz. She is primarily known as Louis Armstrong's wife but Lil was her own force to be reckoned with in the jazz scene. Brought up in Tennessee by her mom and grandmother, it was important to them that Lil get an education. She showed an early interest in playing piano and was taught by her school teacher. Later she got a job demonstrating pianos in a music store by playing 8 hours a day. She earned a reputation for playing swinging jazz and was offered a job with King Joe Oliver and his band.

Darius Kellner is a nerd, bullied at school and constantly waiting for his dad's approval. He also suffers from depression. He struggles with his identity being half Persian and being raised in the United States. He is not as in touch with his Persian roots or speak Farsi as well as his little sister Lelah. This all comes to a head when his grandfather in Iran becomes ill and the family travels to Iran to spend some time with time. Darius had never been to Iran, had never met his grandparents and knew little of the customs of the country.

Margo is a young German-American girl who finds herself at the Crystal City family internment camp during World War II due. This camp is for those people deemed "enemies of the state". Her father was lured into attending a Nazi-sympathizer gathering and while only her father was arrested, her family decided to join him so they could be together.
Haruko was in the Japanese section of the camp. Her father was also accused of "enemy" behavior.

Illegal is a graphic novel the tells the story of Ebo, a migrant from Niger, and his experiences trying to get to Europe as a refugee.

This graphic novel is a lesson in ocean conservation, told in an engaging way that delivers its message with a great story and beautiful artwork.

This is a delightful graphic novel that chronicles a hockey player’s years in school. Told in a series of “vlogs”, I found this book to be creative and inspiring. Any book that can interest me in sports has to be a good one.
 

This is the final installment of the Castle Glower series. In it we find Princess Celine, Rolf, Lilah, Lulath, Pogue and their mother in Grath to visit Lulath’s family. The ship that is being given to Lulath and Lilah for their wedding is being built. On its maiden voyage, they find that like the castle, the ship has a will of its own and takes them on a grand adventure.
This was a fitting finale to the series. It was engaging and full of adventure. I loved this series and highly recommend it.

Unicorn Crossing is the fifth volume of Phoebe and Her Unicorn. It is full of imaginative adventures and a wonderful vocabulary. It includes a glossary and advises the readers at the beginning to use the glossary when they come across words they don't know. It also references the page number it begins on. I highly recommend this series of graphic novels!

This sequel to The Witch Boy by Molly Knox Ostertag picks up with Aster finally getting to follow his dream of going to school for witches. He encounters difficulty, however, when he faces some discrimination from the teachers there. Charlie, his best friend who is not a witch, is back in school and befriends a strange new girl who keeps to herself and has many secrets.

I didn't like this one as much as I liked The Witch Boy but I did enjoy it and I think it is worth the time to read, especially if you enjoyed The Witch Boy.

Lily left a red journal at The Strand Bookstore with a list of challenges for the right boy to come along. The right boy was Dash. He accepted Lily's challenge and they established a relationship based on the writings and tasks they assigned each other, each wanting to meet and then again liking the anonymity the notebook offers them.

This is a practical guide to understanding gender pronouns and why the are important. Written by a genderqueer artist and a cisgender man, it offers insights and guidelines of pronoun usage for inclusion of transgender and gender fluid people.

Fridays with the Wizards has Castle Glower all together for the first time in hundreds of years. Back from their adventures in The Glorious Arkower (otherwise known as Hatheland), there is much to do. With the wedding between Lulath and Lila on the horizon, all the new griffins to train and the dilemma of what to do with the evil wizard Arkwright there is never a dull moment in this edition of the Castle Glower series. I enjoyed this installment of the series as much as the others and can't wait to read the last one!
 

Annabelle lived a quiet pleasant life in her little valley during the war. That is until Betty Glengarry came to live with her grandparents. Annabelle didn't know Betty's life story but it must have been a bad one because Betty was mean. Betty started threatening Annabelle if she didn't do what Betty wanted. When the town hermit intervened to protect Annabelle from Betty, things went from bad to worse.