Pine & Boof: The Lucky Leaf by Ross Burach

Title: Pine & Boof: The Lucky Leaf

By: Ross Burach

Length: 40 pages

Publisher: HarperCollins 

Classification: Children's Book

Release Date: September 12, 2017
Source: Library Book

Frog and Toad meets Elephant & Piggie in the first installment of a humorous and heartfelt new picture book series about the adventures of Boof the bear and Pine the porcupine, from the acclaimed author-illustrator of There's a Giraffe in My Soup and I Am Not a Chair!
One blustery day, Boof the bear's lucky red leaf gets swept away by the wind. Fortunately for him, Pine the porcupine just happens to walk by with his lucky compass-and the two set off on an adventure to find the lost leaf, only to discover true friendship in the process.
In a tale both silly and sweet, Pine & Boof: The Lucky Leaf tells the story of an unlikely friendship through highly original characters and vibrant illustrations that are impossible not to love.

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Woodpecker Wants a Waffle by Steve Breen

Title: Woodpecker Wants a Waffle

By: Steve Breen

Length: 32 pages

Publisher: HarperCollins

Classification: Children's Book

Release Date: June 14, 2016

Source: Library Book

One day Benny the woodpecker awakens to the best tummy-rumbling smell ever and discovers it’s something called waffles. He must taste them!
He pecks on the door of the waffle house, but he gets the boot.
He tries to sneak in, but he gets swept away.
Each time Benny tries, he just can’t seem to get to those delicious waffles. The other forest animals laugh at him: “Woodpeckers don’t eat waffles!” they say. But Benny has a brilliant plan. . . .
Steve Breen has created a delightful picture book with pitch-perfect humor and tons of visual gags that will keep readers coming back for more! Now a Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Book of 2016!

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Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Markes & Illustrated by Doris Barrette

Title: Thanks for Thanksgiving

Author: Julie Markes

Illustrator: Doris Barrette

Length: 32 pages

Publisher: HarperCollins

Classification: Children's Book

Release Date: August 17, 2004

Source: Library Book

Everyone knows that Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks - the question is, where to begin? From the turkey on the table to warm, cozy cuddles, life is full of small things and bigger pleasures. But what is most important is being able to share them with family!Julie Markes reminds kids and adults alike about the little details that make each day enjoyable, while Doris Barrette's beautiful and striking illustrations bring her thoughtful words to life.

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Blog Tour: A DROP OF NIGHT by Stefan Bachmann (Guest Post + Giveaway)

Hi everyone! I am so excited to be one of the stops for the A Drop of Night blog tour! I am also very excited to have the author of A Drop of Night, Stefan Bachmann, on my blog today! 

The Distance From A to Z by Natalie Blitt

Title: The Distance From A to Z
Author: Natalie Blitt
Length: 316 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins (Epic Reads Impulse)
Classification: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Release Date: January 12, 2016
Source: e-book
Read: January 2016

This full-length novel by debut author Natalie Blitt is a pitch-perfect blend of Stephanie Perkins and Miranda Kenneally that proves the age-old adage: opposites attract.
Seventeen-year old Abby has only one goal for her summer: to make sure she is fluent in French—well, that, and to get as far away from baseball and her Cubs-obsessed family as possible. A summer of culture and language, with no sports in sight.
That turns out to be impossible, though, because her French partner is the exact kind of boy she was hoping to avoid. Eight weeks. 120 hours of class. 80 hours of conversation practice with someone who seems to exclusively wear baseball caps and jerseys.
But Zeke in French is a different person than Zeke in English. And Abby can’t help but fall for him, hard. As Abby begins to suspect that Zeke is hiding something, she has to decide if bridging the gap between the distance between who she is and who he is, is worth the risk. 

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Waiting on Wednesday #31: Burning Glass

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Burning Glass by Kathryn Purdie

Splat the Cat What Was That? by Rob Scotton

Title: Splat the Cat What Was That?

Author: Rob Scotton

Length: Approx. 14 pages

Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books/HarperFestival

Classification: Children's Book, Halloween

Release Date: July 2013

Source: paperback 

Splat the Cat and his friends have a Halloween adventure in Splat the Cat: What Was That?, a  lift-the-flap book by Rob Scotton, creator of the beloved Russell the Sheep. Halloween should be a black cat’s favorite holiday, but Spat the Cat is nervous about visiting a creepy haunted house. He’s worried it will be too scary. Splat’s friend Spike tells Splat not to be a scaredy-cat—the haunted house is just for fun! Splat and Spike’s visit to the haunted house turns into a rescue mission when Splat’s pet mouse, Seymour, gets lost inside.Kids will relate to Splat’s apprehension about visiting a haunted house and they’ll enjoy the exciting surprises under every flap in the funny, spooky book. 

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Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Title: Tiger Lily

Author: Jodi Lynn Anderson

Length: 292 pages

Publisher: HarperCollins

Classification: Young Adult, Retelling, Fantasy

Release Date: July 3, 2012

Source: e-book (purchased)

Read: June 2014

Before Peter Pan belonged to Wendy, he belonged to the girl with the crow feather in her hair. . . . Fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily doesn't believe in love stories or happy endings. Then she meets the alluring teenage Peter Pan in the forbidden woods of Neverland and immediately falls under his spell. Peter is unlike anyone she's ever known. Impetuous and brave, he both scares and enthralls her. As the leader of the Lost Boys, the most fearsome of Neverland's inhabitants, Peter is an unthinkable match for Tiger Lily. Soon, she is risking everything—her family, her future—to be with him. When she is faced with marriage to a terrible man in her own tribe, she must choose between the life she's always known and running away to an uncertain future with Peter. With enemies threatening to tear them apart, the lovers seem doomed. But it's the arrival of Wendy Darling, an English girl who's everything Tiger Lily is not, that leads Tiger Lily to discover that the most dangerous enemies can live inside even the most loyal and loving heart. 

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Panic by Lauren Oliver

Title: Panic

Author: Lauren Oliver

Length: 408 pages

Publisher: HarperCollins

Classification: Young Adult, Contemporary

Release Date: March 4, 2014

Source: ARC (ARC Tour hosted by On The Same Page)

Read: April 2014

Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a dead-end town of 12,000 people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do.
Heather never thought she would compete in Panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors, where the stakes are high and the payoff is even higher. She’d never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought. Dodge has never been afraid of Panic. His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game, he’s sure of it. But what he doesn't know is that he’s not the only one with a secret. Everyone has something to play for. For Heather and Dodge, the game will bring new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of first love for each of them—and the knowledge that sometimes the very things we fear are those we need the most. 

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*I borrowed an ARC of this book as part of an On The Same Page ARC Tour in exchange for my honest review*

Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi

Title: Ignite Me (Shatter Me #3)

Author: Tahereh Mafi

Length: 416 pages

Publisher: HarperCollins

Classification: Young Adult, Dystopian, Science Fiction

Release Date: February 4, 2014

Source: e-book

Read: March 2014

The heart-stopping conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Shatter Me series, which Ransom Riggs, bestselling author of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, called “a thrilling, high-stakes saga of self-discovery and forbidden love.” With Omega Point destroyed, Juliette doesn’t know if the rebels, her friends, or even Adam are alive. But that won’t keep her from trying to take down The Reestablishment once and for all. Now she must rely on Warner, the handsome commander of Sector 45. The one person she never thought she could trust. The same person who saved her life. He promises to help Juliette master her powers and save their dying world . . . but that’s not all he wants with her. 

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***This is part of a series. There will be spoilers of things that happened in the other book(s) so if you haven't read it and don't want to know things that happened, please stop reading now.***

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

Title: Unravel Me 
(Shatter Me #2)
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Length: 480 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins
Classification: Young Adult, Dystopian, Science Fiction
Release Date: February 5, 2013
Source: e-book 
Read: March 2014

tick
tick
tick
tick
tick
it's almost
time for war.
Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is a place for people like her—people with gifts—and it is also the headquarters of the rebel resistance.
She's finally free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch.
Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible.
In this exhilarating sequel to Shatter Me, Juliette has to make life-changing decisions between what she wants and what she thinks is right. Decisions that might involve choosing between her heart—and Adam's life.

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Into the Still Blue by Veronica Rossi

Title: Into the Still Blue
(Under the Never Sky #3)
Author: Veronica Rossi
Length: 400 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins
Classification: Young Adult, Dystopian, Science Fiction
Release Date: January 28, 2014
Source: E-book 

The race to the Still Blue has reached a stalemate. Aria and Perry are determined to find this last safe haven from the Aether storms before Sable and Hess do—and they are just as determined to stay together.

Within the confines of a cave they're using as a makeshift refuge, they struggle to reconcile their people, Dwellers and Outsiders, who are united only in their hatred of their desperate situation. Meanwhile, time is running out to rescue Cinder, who was abducted by Hess and Sable for his unique abilities. Then Roar arrives in a grief-stricken fury, endangering all with his need for revenge.

Out of options, Perry and Aria assemble an unlikely team for an impossible rescue mission. Cinder isn't just the key to unlocking the Still Blue and their only hope for survival—he's also their friend. And in a dying world, the bonds between people are what matter most. 

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**This is the final installment in a trilogy, so this review will involve things that happened in the previous two books, if you haven't read them, then you should stop reading here.**

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Title: Where The Wild Things Are
Author/Illustrator: Maurice Sendak
Length: Approx. 37 pages 
Publisher: Harper Collins
Classification: Children's Book, Imagination, Caldecott Medal
Source: Paperback

One night Max puts on his wolf suit and makes mischief of one kind and another, so his mother calls him 'Wild Thing' and sends him to bed without his supper. That night a forest begins to grow in Max's room and an ocean rushes by with a boat to take Max to the place where the wild things are. Max tames the wild things and crowns himself as their king, and then the wild rumpus begins. But when Max has sent the monsters to bed, and everything is quiet, he starts to feel lonely and realizes it is time to sail home to the place where someone loves him best of all.

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The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd

Title: The Madman’s Daughter

Author: Megan Shepherd

Length: 437 pages

Publisher: Balzer + Bray 

Classification: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Horror, Science Fiction

Release Date: January 29, 2013
Source: e-book

Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London—working as a maid, attending church on Sundays, and trying not to think about the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father's gruesome experiments. But when she learns he is alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the accusations are true.
Accompanied by her father's handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward—both of whom she is deeply drawn to—Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the depths of her father's madness: He has experimented on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. And worse, one of the creatures has turned violent and is killing the island's inhabitants. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father's dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it's too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father's genius—and madness—in her own blood.
Inspired by H. G. Wells's classic The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Madman's Daughter is a dark and breathless Gothic thriller about the secrets we'll do anything to know and the truths we'll go to any lengths to protect.

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Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Title: Shatter Me
(Shatter Me #1) Author: Tahereh Mafi
Length: 357 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins
Classification: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopian        
Release Date: November 15, 2011
Source: e-book

I have a curseI have a gift
I am a monsterI'm more than human
My touch is lethalMy touch is power
I am their weaponI will fight back
Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.
The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.
The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war – and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.
Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior. 

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Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Title: Under the Never Sky

(Under the Never Sky #1)

Author: Veronica Rossi

Length: 389 pages

Publisher: Harper Collins

Classification: Young Adult, Dystopian, Science Fiction

Release Date: January 3, 2012

Source: e-book

WORLDS KEPT THEM APART.
DESTINY BROUGHT THEM TOGETHER.
Aria has lived her whole life in the protected dome of Reverie. Her entire world confined to its spaces, she's never thought to dream of what lies beyond its doors. So when her mother goes missing, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland long enough to find her are slim.
Then Aria meets an outsider named Perry. He's searching for someone too. He's also wild - a savage - but might be her best hope at staying alive.
If they can survive, they are each other's best hope for finding answers.

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I LOVED this book!

I have found a new series to add to my Favorite Series list!

Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Title: Allegiant

(Divergent #3)

Author: Veronica Roth

Length: 544 pages

Publisher: Katherine Tegan Books-HarperCollins

Classification: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopian

Release Date: October 22, 2013
Source: e-book

The faction-based society that Tris Prior once believed in is shattered—fractured by violence and power struggles and scarred by loss and betrayal. So when offered a chance to explore the world past the limits she's known, Tris is ready. Perhaps beyond the fence, she and Tobias will find a simple new life together, free from complicated lies, tangled loyalties, and painful memories.
But Tris's new reality is even more alarming than the one she left behind. Old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless. Explosive new truths change the hearts of those she loves. And once again, Tris must battle to comprehend the complexities of human nature—and of herself—while facing impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice, and love.
Told from a riveting dual perspective, Allegiant, by #1 New York Times best-selling author Veronica Roth, brings the Divergent series to a powerful conclusion while revealing the secrets of the dystopian world that has captivated millions of readers in Divergent and Insurgent.

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***This is part of a series. There will be spoilers of things that happened in the other book(s) so if you haven't read it and don't want to know things that happened, please stop reading now.***