The Boy With the Tail

Nonfiction by Grace Hunter

https://www.amazon.com

Although I still prefer paper books, I am getting more used to reading on the app on my phone. This is good, because this book appears to be only on Kindle ebook.

This is a true story from a British foster carer, much like Cathy Glass (see Mummy Told Me Not to Tell), but Grace Hunter is much newer at the fostering game and seems to bring an earnestness to the table that is fresh and fun and a little naïve.

In this book, Grace and her husband take on a little boy named Teddy. He is seven, the same age as their own daughter, but Teddy is very developmentally delayed and seems much younger. I liked the story and really felt I'd gotten to know Grace and her family, as well as Teddy. It was a good short read.

As for the tail, which is is an eye-catching feature on the book, does the boy really have one? You'll have to read and find out!

The Westing Game

 Fiction by Ellen Raskin

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This is a children’s/ young adult novel that’s kind of like a puzzle mixed with a mystery. 

In this book, several different people are brought together in an apartment building, but none of them realizes that they have been chosen for a purpose. The purpose, they will discover, is the “Westing game.”

This was a pretty good story with decent characters, but the plot was a little too contrived. 

The Devil Wears Scrubs and The Devil You Know

Fiction by Freida McFadden

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/https://www.amazon.com

Jane McGill is a young physician navigating her first year of medicine in the funny story The Devil Wears Scrubs. Then her story continues a few years later in The Devil You Know.

This two-book series is a quick and fun read.

Too Scared to Cry

Subtitled: How Trauma Affects Children, and Ultimately Us All
Nonfiction by Lenore Terr

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Dr. Lenore Terr did some pioneering research into childhood trauma in the late seventies and eighties, and this is her book.

This is a textbook rather than a storybook, and so it was generally more informational than the books I usually read. However, it had some powerful true stories inside it, so I enjoyed it. (Although I admit to skimming some of the boring parts....)

Nothing to See Here

 Fiction by Kevin Wilson

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

I hate this cover, but I loved this book! I have literally put off reading this novel because the cover is so ugly, despite the many good reviews I've read.

Don't be shallow like me; go ahead and read it!

The story follows a woman in her late twenties called Lillian, who has been coasting though life and living with her mom since she was kicked out of school at seventeen. Then she's offered a job opportunity from Madison, an old friend who happens to be a Senator's wife, and figures why not? Madison tells her they need a nanny/governess, and emphasizes the need for discretion. When Lillian meets the kids (from the Senator's first marriage), she discovers they are very unusual in a nearly paranormal way.

They catch on fire.

Wait, what? Don't try to explain it; just go with it and enjoy the story. This novel is quirky and funny, and heart-warming and sincere.

I also read by this author: The Family Fang

BTW I suggest this artwork for an alternative cover; it's from the New York Times review of the book:

See? Isn't that pretty? You can be weird and not ugly!

Yeah, yeah; I know. I'm just jealous because I didn't write this little jewel of a story and I'm nitpicking...

Under a Cloudless Sky

 Fiction by Chris Fabry

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

In 1933, Ruby was a little girl who had a best friend called Bean, living in a mining town in the mountains of West Virginia. But now it is 2004, and Ruby is an old lady in Kentucky who struggles to hold on to her independence--and her car keys!--while her grown children worry about her safety. Back in West Virginia, the mining company is still in charge, moving in to take away the land from the mountain people. The past and the present come together in this story about both versions of Ruby.

This was a good book with some surprises!

I also read recently by this author: The Song

Snow Crash

 Fiction by Neal Stephenson

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Published way back in 1992, this is one of the original versions of the "in-the-future-we-will-all-live-cyberspace-lives" stories that permeate the sci-fi universe these days.

I liked the beginning of this book, but then it turned so slow and confusing I gave up. I feel bad about it, but there you go. DNF (did not finish).