Umbrella Summer by Lisa Graff

I have a love/hate thing with books that deal with the death of a child's sibling/best friend/pet. Even more as a parent. They just make me sad, and even the best resolution doesn't change that the main character has lost someone close to them. I distinctly remember reading Where the Red Fern Grows and sobbing so hard I couldn't catch my breath. But these books often end up being some of my favorites because they of the way they reach right into your heart and attach themselves to your strings.

Such is the case with Umbrella Summer. Annie Richards's older brother Jared is killed when a hockey puck hits him in the chest. Turns out he had a rare heart condition, and now Annie deals with the knowledge that terrible things can happen when you least expect it. She is certain some horrific disease or accident is going to befall her, and she's obsessed with every scratch or bump, taking extraordinary precautions to prevent injury or illness.

Author Lisa Graff (The Thing About Georgie) handles a delicate subject with just the right amount of empathy, as Annie's obsession and grief affects her family and her friendships. Annie's fear is paralyzing -- she refuses to do anything that might be dangerous, and believes every ache and pain is a sign of her impending doom. As her friend tells her, she's no fun anymore. Just careful. Annie, in some respects, is refusing to live. Her parents are doing the same thing, in their own way.

Annie will break your heart as she learns to find her way back to the land of the living. A mysterious new neighbor and a very special book play a big part.

While the resolution doesn't change the fact that someone special has been lost, Umbrella Summer demonstrates that learning to live without those we lose is hard, but living in honor of them is what's important.

Parents should consider reading along and discussing with their kids -- especially if the kids are tender hearted. Appropriate for 9 and up.

Book donation resources around Brooklyn, New York?

Last week I received the following email:

I have an 11 year old son who loves to read more then anything. He can read 5 to 10 books in a week.

He is home schooled due to a disability. He has a trachea and a feeding tube. He is very suseptable to infections and is not able to attend public school at this time.

He is not able to use the school library due to liability issues and our local libray is small and we are not able to utalize it due to too many doctor appointments for both of us.

I was wondering if there might be any resources that you can provide me that I can tap into so I can get some books for my son to read during the summer months where he will most times be home due to hot and humidity that he is not able to venture out.

I'm hoping a Cool Kids reader may be able to help me get more books into her sons hands.

Is there a resource near Brooklyn that has either donation or borrowing services for children's books? Maybe some sort of "leave a book take a book" kind of thing where books can get recycled and read? I'd love to hear some ideas.

If there are any authors out there who'd like to contribute their own books, please contact me and I'll get the mailing address to you.

Thanks!

Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen

Ruby hasn't had the best of childhoods. Her dad left when she was young and she barely remembers him. Her mother has slowly fallen apart ever since, crawling ever further into her alcohol bottle. And her sister went off to college leaving her alone with this poor excuse for a mother, never to be heard from again.

With one more year before graduation, Ruby finally sees a future of independence ahead of her. Until her mother disappears and social services picks her up. Now, the sister who abandoned Ruby ten years earlier is taking her in. And everything Ruby thought she knew about her childhood is about to change.

Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen isn't just about abandonment. It's about family and all the various definitions of it. It's about the impact people can have on your life, both positive and negative, and the part you play in allowing either to happen. It's  about the struggles of being a teenager, no matter your history.

Appropriate for 13+, Lock and Key gets  3 1/2 bookmarks.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

Sometimes a character will make a brief appearance in a story and disappear. That's what happened with Bree Tanner in Stephenie Meyer's Eclipse, book three of the Twilight saga. Bree's appearance was a way to show us the vulnerability of the newborns, to help us empathize with them despite their horrific and violent ways.

But Bree was more than that to her author. Meyer wanted to dig deeper into the backstory of  this young girl and how she ended up in a field with Edward, Bella and their family.

In the Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, dubbed "an eclipse novella" and weighing in at 178 pages, Meyer explores the days leading up to the battle between the newborns and our friends from Forks and La Push. In true Twilight fashion, her story is gripping and emotional, and had me immersed from the first few pages.

It's been a while since I read the saga, but I was quickly reminded of why I loved these books. Like Anne Rice before her, Stephenie Meyer has a way of capturing the humanness of inhuman creatures and ironically bringing them to life.  Even when you know where this story leads, which anyone who has read Eclipse will, it's impossible not to wish things turned out differently for Bree. After the last page, I was compelled to read the companion chapter in Eclipse from Bella's point-of-view -- which was interesting.

At the moment, the entire novella is available online to read for free, but $1 from each hard copy purchase goes to the Red Cross so I encourage you to make your Twilight Saga collection complete by buying one. No doubt sales will go through the roof without my encouragement, as Meyer has another hit on her hands with Bree Tanner.

Heist Society by Ally Carter

Katarina Bishop wants a normal life. That's because she's grown up assisting her father in some of the world's most famous art thefts. She thinks she's left that life behind after conning her way into an exclusive boarding school. But now, her father's in trouble and Kat must use her unique skills to help him.

Think Gallagher Girls meets Oceans 11, with all the adventure, exotic locations and snark that makes both series so fun.

Carter rounds out Katarina's team with a cast of young thieves, each with their own special skills. She does a great job of giving the criminal elements inherent in story about stealing masterpieces the right amount of altruistic spin necessary, weaving it nicely with a message of family loyalty.

But beyond that, this story is 100% fun and falls into the category of "un-put-downable". Looking forward to Heist Society 2, now in the works. Definitely a new favorite series. 4 1/2 bookmarks.