Last weekends books

Back in town after a great weekend at the cabin. Got two more books from my summer reading pile read. I think the pile is down to only one or two now, and I start back to work in just two days, can I do it??? So the books I read were the following:

Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George - Okay, so this ordinarily isn't my kind of book, I'm much more of a realistic fiction kind of person, and I really thought the cover to be suitable for kids grades 4-6 - but I gave it a go and found that I did enjoy it. Here's the write up from the back cover -"When Creel's aunt sacrifices her to a dragon, Creel refuses to wait for a knight to rescue her. After bargaining for her escape and winning a pair of blue slippers from the dragon's hoard, Creel sets out to find her own fortune in the king's city. Along the route, she meets and befriends another dragon, who helps her find her way. But when she arrives in the city, strange things start to happen and Creel realizes that her mysterious slippers are more than just a pair of shoes.

A bit of fantasy, mixed in with fairy tale, with a feisty, independent main character made this a fast fun read totally appropriate for most middle school readers, especially those who like books by Gail Carson Levine or Shannon Hale.

The Sky Inside by Clare B. Dunkle
What would it be like to live in a community sheltered by a dome? Where every house matched, where the season changed by what decorations were hung in the windows, where things like birds are distant memories of your grandparents, where everything including babies arrives via packet cars, where most jobs are done by robots. Would you question this world? Would you wonder what was outside if you were always told that nothing can exist outside the dome? Martin begins to ask these kinds of questions when a mysterious stranger visits the dome to take away the wonderbabies, which include his little sister Cassie.
Can Martin escape and survive outside the dome?, more importantly can he and Chip (his amazing robot dog) find Cassie?

I think what found most likeable about Martin's character was how much of a typical teenage boy his is. Does he love his little sister? well yes, but most of the time he just tolerates her constant questions and interruptions. How Martin feels about school is just hilarious with its accuracy of the painful boredom he feels when there - (not that I'm saying school is boring, it's just that I found myself remembering feelings similiar to these " The mere sight of the place was enough to sap his energy and ruin his mood. Maybe it was the vomit green color of the walls, or maybe it was all those identical desks in rows. No amount of interesting decoration ever made up for the rigid lines of desks." I'm sure he liked his library though ;-)
I hope this review will peak your interest and you'll come in and ask to see
The Sky Inside.
Read on