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Showing posts with the label can you keep a secret?

Little White Lies by Jennifer Lynn Barnes - OPTIONAL

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Little White Lies by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, 400 pages.  Freeform Books (Disney), 2018.  $18.   Content: Language: PG-13 (28 swears); Mature Content: PG-13; Violence: PG.   BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS – OPTIONAL   AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE    Sawyer Taft is used to taking care of herself because her mother has always been a bit distracted and Sawyer thought she had no other family who was interested in her life.  But at eighteen, Sawyer’s grandmother, Lillian, shows up in Sawyer’s life and offers her half a million dollars to come live at Lillian’s and participate in the debutante season.  Sawyer quickly gets thrust into a lifestyle that she had never dreamed existed with family, new friends and confusing enemies that have secrets Sawyer couldn’t even imagine.   This is one of those books that the story and the setting were intriguing, but the characters weren’t deep or endearing.  I liked trying to figure out the mystery and the twists and turns were entertaining.  My issue with the book wa

Property of the Rebel Librarian by Allison Varnes - OPTIONAL

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Property of the Rebel Librarian by Allison Varnes , 267 pages. Random House, 2018. $16.99.  Language: G, Mature Content: G, Violence: G BUYING ADVISORY:   EL, MS – OPTIONAL AUDIENCE APPEAL: LOW June loves to read. When her strict parents find her reading a book about witches, they take all of her books away and complain to the school. The school has the librarian and half the collection removed. Then the principal decides that all students must have their books approved and all books not approved will be confiscated. June begins borrowing books from the Little Free Library she passes on the way to school. Other kids find out and before you know it, she has her own library operating out of an empty locker. She's eventually caught and realizes it’s time to stand up for what she believes. This book had a lot of potential. It tackles the issue of censorship, but loses the argument by exaggerating the case. There are three likable characters: June, her friend Matt and Ms. Bradshaw the