Books on my reading pile

My reading pile seems very high right now so I thought I would share some of the titles with you here.  If I don't end up doing a longer review you can probably assume the book didn't really grab me but right now all of these look excellent.  I just need time to sit and read and read.

Mr Lemoncello's library Olympics 
by Chris Grabenstein

I read the first Mr Lemoncello installment in one sitting so I am very keen to meet these characters again and also dip into the intriguing mind of Mr Lemoncello himself.  The blurb for this one says :

"Kyle and his teammates are back, and the world famous game-maker, Luigi Lemoncello is at it again! This time Mr Lemoncello has invited teams from across America to compete in the first-ever Library Olympics. ... But some thing suspicious is going on - books are missing from Mr Lemoncello's library."


Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms 
by Katherine Rundell

I picked this book because I absolutely adored Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell and so I am very excited to read Cartwheels in Thunderstorms which Katherine wrote in 2011 under the different title The Girl Savage.  The blurb for this book says :

"Living half wild on an African farm with her horse, her monkey and her best friend, Will feels that every day is beautiful.  But when her home is sold and Will is sent away to boarding school in England the world becomes impossibly difficult.  Lions and hyenas are nothing compare to packs of schoolgirls.  Where can a girl run to in London?"


Olive of Groves and the great slurp of time 
by Katrina Nannestad.

I am a huge fan of Katrina Nannestad and I thoroughly enjoyed the first book about Olive of Groves. I actually expected it to be short listed for our CBCA 2016 awards but alas it missed this selection. I have started this second book (at the time of writing I am up to page 115) and it is another wild, riotous, madcap romp.

"Olive was brave and clever and practical.  She had a great capacity for solving problems and making the best of almost any situation.  If life handed her lemons, not only would she make lemonade, she would juggle the skins, compost the pulp and play a game with the seeds."

A seven letter word by Kim Slater

This book arrived in our library in a book parcel which is sent to us each term by Bloomin' Books.  Kate Colley always makes excellent choices for her book packs so I know this one will be good.

Here is a quote from the blurb :

"Scrabble genius Finlay McIntosh is a different lad to the one his mother left behind.  One day she was there, the next she was gone. And his dad won't even mention her name.  All Finlay has to remember by is a bag of letter tiles and an empty journal."


Fortune Falls by Jenny Goebel

This book appeared on a recent brochure from Scholastic Book Club. There is an excellent endorsement on the back cover of Fortune Falls from Natalie Lloyd.  She wrote the wonderful book A Snicker of Magic.  She says : "The town of Fortune Falls is exciting, twisted, and wonderfully strange, and Sadie's adventures there are heart-squeezingly lovely."


Theophilus Grey and the Demon Thief 
by Catherine Jinks

If you have been following this blog for a while you will know I adore Catherine Jinks. I first read her Pagan series over 25 years ago.  More recently I loved A very unusual pursuit and the sequels.

On a quick glance this book has some ingredients I really appreciate.  Maps, a huge cast of characters listed with annotations at the beginning of the book and a glossary to assist the reader with words/phrases such as "hop the twig", "stubble it" and "gull".