The Book with no Pictures by B. J. Novak

This week I've been reading The Book With No Pictures to all my primary classes.  They love it!!  Today I even read with a grade 5 class and they begged me to read it again.  I'm sure anyone walking by the library would have wondered what we were up to because they kids were so loud!

I start off by apologizing for picking such a boring book.  Some of the kids buy into this but most of them don't believe me because I always read the best books.  I start reading and I hear some mumblings.  Well as the rules of reading state, the person reading the book must read every word, no matter what.  BLORK!!!  Totally ridiculous!!  This books gets the grown up readers to say silly words and the kids are laughing hysterically.  So much fun.  So simple.  It's a must read.  Now all the kids at school are dying to take it home and trick their parents with it.

Got the kids loving books.  Got them all worked up shouting and laughing.  Sent them back to their teachers.  Love my job!  Love this book!

Adult Onset by Ann-Marie MacDonald

Adult Onset is a beautifully worded story of relationships.  Adult Onset tells the story of Mary-Rose MacKinnon and all the roles that she plays in the span of a week.  Mary-Rose is a mother, a spouse, a sibling, a daughter, a friend and an acquaintance.  Mary-Rose is a constant worrier and thinks often about her relationships past and present.  One of her most complicated relationships is the one she has with her mother.  Mary-Rose is a successful young adult author and she really should spend more time working on the final novel of her best selling trilogy but there are so many distractions and she’s not sure she’s got a third one in her.  She spends a great deal of her time alone with her two young children.  Life with a two year old can certainly be complicated at times and something as simple as going out for a short walk in the neighbourhood can quickly turn into such a mess.  Mary-Rose hasn't been feeling well lately either, and although she knows better, she can’t resist the temptation of looking up her symptoms on Google and self diagnosing.

Reading Adult Onset feels like having coffee with a good friend that’s having a bad week.  You listen to how they’re coping; perhaps you can relate to certain aspects of the week.  If you’re a great friend you’ll know when they need their space and when to show up at the door unannounced and take over.

Ann-Marie MacDonald is an extremely talented Canadian writer.  Her previous novels Fall on Your Knees and The Way the Crow Flies have won numerous awards.