Welcome to Litsy!

I‘ve got my first book hangover of the year thanks to Idlewild. Once I started it I really never wanted to put it down. The passion and yearning of high school/ teen life, even when you aren‘t sure what the huge yearning feeling is for exactly, combined with such deeply considered characters.

While the ending felt right and very realistic, I did hope for something slightly different.

Best book of the year so far 😆. I did love this.
(Pic-Igor)

I‘m only 3/4 through, but I can feel this one is likely to make my best of list for the year. It‘s kind of exciting to say that this early in January!

Ground Zero, created by Alan Gratz follows two parallel stories that is framed around the 9/11 attack during and after the incident. In 2001, a young boy named Brandon is trapped within the World Trade Center, also known as the Twin Towers, after the terrorist attack happened and tries to survive. In 2019, an Afghan girl named Reshima faces consequences on the ongoing war in Afghanistan from the result of 9/11. Through both characters experiences,

I‘m pleased with this month‘s #bookspin picks 🙂📚. Thanks @TheAromaofBooks !

My 10 favorite books of 2024. Number 7

#2024Top10

This is a case of wanting to start all of these books right now, thank you Holly! I love that they are all from small publishers, and the oddities one doesn‘t even have any Litsy reviews yet so it‘ll be fun posting the first. I‘ll enjoy coloring the tea towels, what a cool project. And the bag did make me laugh, I used to love the little miss books from school book fairs. Pretty sure she was never featured 😆. Merry Christmas! 💚❤️💚

The skyline's changed. The two rectangular towers in the photo are gone, replaced by one glittering tower with a pointy top pricking the sky.

Students can explore themes of perseverance, empathy, and shared history as they follow Deja on her quest to learn about 9/11 and its impact on her family and community. This book helps with talks about how historical events impact individual lives and the world around us. Students who engage with Deja's story can have a greater understanding of the connections between history and their own lives.

Jewell Parker Rhodes' Towers Falling expertly combines fact and fiction, mixing 9/11 history with a contemporary, emotionally charged narrative. Rhodes brings history to life in a personal and sympathetic way by following Deja, a fifth-grader who is investigating the tragedy's impact on her family and neighborhood. The detailed descriptions of New York City's skyline, both past and present, give the story a strong sense of place and loss.

Granted I was in 8th grade when the tragedy of September 11, 2001 happened and was sheltered from much of the news but I had never heard of Gander, Newfoundland in any other historical context even as an adult let alone the hospitality the community shared with so many when American Air Space was shut down grounding flights for days.