Welcome to Litsy!

This is a fun & festive #MiddleGrade book for the holiday season! Adopted girls Aviva & Holly meet and realize they must be twins separated at birth. They decide to switch places to learn more about each other as well as Christmas and Hanukkah. The switching lives after just meeting wasn‘t very credible to me, but it was an incredibly heartwarming story.

* I received this #audiobook through the #Librofm Educator #ALC program. Duration: 8 hr 3 min

Processing this morning‘s garden haul while listening to my audiobook!

I finished listening to James this week while visiting southeast Missouri, including a couple towns right along the Mississippi River, which made it hit just a bit harder. I enjoyed this book, and I also want to read it again after revisiting Huck Finn. I especially appreciated the emphasis on language.

*I received this audiobook through the Libro.fm Educator ALC program.

#CampLitsy24 #audiobook #Librofm #ALC

There were a few aspects of the way this was written, terminology used by the characters that seemed odd for the time and the switching between perspectives, that sometimes distracted me from the experience of the story. However, the story itself of a woman raising her children on her own in the Australian bush and meeting an aboriginal man on the run was powerful. I was completely caught up in their stories and how those stories came together.

It‘s unusual to read a historical fiction set in ancient Mesopotamia, and I appreciated experiencing that culture. Jomar & Zefa are a brother & sister sent to the city of Ur to find a new life when their family is facing starvation on their farm. Jomar is apprenticed to a goldsmith, and Zefa tries to find her way as a musician.

*I received this #MiddleGrade #audiobook through the #Librofm Educator #ALC program.
Audio duration: 3 hours 34 minutes

This is another wonderful historical fiction story by Bradley set during WWII. Miri is a Jewish girl living in Paris who ends up hiding in a convent school in the French countryside. While there she learns more about French history and becomes even more involved in aspects of the war.

* I received an audio version of this book through the Libro.fm Educator #ALC program.
Audio duration: 8 hours 23 minutes

#MiddleGrade #audiobook #WWII #Librofm

This historical novel is set in Berlin in 1960 to 1961 in the months leading up to raising of the Berlin Wall. I‘ve read stories set in East Berlin, but always with characters ready to escape. Instead, this one includes a son of a U.S. soldier and his cousin who has grown up in East Berlin believing most of what he has been taught. They become friends during the time when people can still go back and forth between the two sides.

I‘ve read Caroline Alexander‘s book about Shackleton‘s expedition, & I have Alfred Lansing‘s on my shelf, so I couldn‘t resist downloading this audio as well. It‘s more straightforward & scientific in a logbook sort of way than Alexander‘s, but I still found most of it fascinating as a more immediate, first person version. The part about the Aurora got long to me, but other than that, I‘m amazed by this survival story every time I read about it.

Tre is a sophomore, and his family is dealing with the recent death of his older brother. This story is about his family dealing with that grief, but it‘s also about friendship, crushes, the pressure of high school sports, and figuring out how those things work together. It‘s also about a Native American team proving themselves, and includes some action packed basketball games. 🏀

Due to language and alcohol use, I would consider this mature YA.

The hype is to be believed re: this one - just extraordinarily good. And Dominic Hoffman‘s audiobook narration is brilliant (thanks to #LibroFM for the ALC!). I‘m tempted to listen to it again right now and curious about the experience of it in print, too.