Slob by Ellen Potter

I've read a lot of great books this summer. However, I was really surprised by Slob by Ellen Porter.  This novel is setting in New York City in present time. The genre is realistic fiction.  The main character is an overweight 12 who get bullied at his progressive NYC school.  For some reason, Owen is making a machine called Nemesis. I liked the first person point of view and the inner dialogue of  the character.  Although this book was sad at times, it was also very funny. I thought he was trying to get free cable.  Boy, was I wrong! I never could have guessed the direction that this book took. All I can say is that this is a must read. 

Dead End in Norvelt

I finally read Jack Gantos' Newberry Award winning Dead End in Norvelt.  Since Jack Gantos has been to our school twice, the last time after he won the Newberry, I knew the background of the book. Basically, the book is set in Norvelt, PA in the 1960s.  A boy named Jack helps an old lady write obituarites about the deaths of the Original Norvelters.  (They are dropping "like flies.")  I found the book very interesting because my grandparents were "Original Norvelters." This means that they built their own Norvelt house in the plan that was sponsered by First Lady Elenor Roosevelt after WWII.  There was a lot of history in this book that I also found interesting.  The book was a bit gross (all those nosebleeds!) but I think that will appeal to some readers. 

Insurgent

I finished Veronica Roth's second installment to the Divergent triology, Insurgent,  a few nights ago.  As usual, I had the "What happened in the first book?" confusion. I really felt the need to go back and refer to book one.  However, I checked it out from the library and did not have a copy of it.  For some reason, I was really confused about the Amity faction.  I also kept asking myself, "Who was Will?" I just had no memory of this character from book one.  Overall, I was not totally blown away by the beginning of this book.  Yet I'm really glad that I stuck with it because it really picked up. I don't want to be a "spoiler" but this book was action-packed. My favorite part of these books are the serum sequences.  Roth does an awesome job of incorporating those scenes.  I do look forward to book three and the possible movie.

I hope to start Michael Grant's Fear. This is the forth book in the Gone series.  Again, I hope I remember enough from book three so I know what is going on.