Socks, this book is the only one I've read in the series. I think it would help to read the first one, get introduced to Skippyjon and why he thinks he should be a chihuahua instead of a cat. ;o) But otherwise, I don't think it would matter. We enjoyed our book very much without having read the first one. Gayle, if I worked at B & N I would spend my paycheck before I left the store! LOL. Otherwise, I would love that job! I would love to work in the children's section and do the storytimes; I love reading aloud to kids. Talley Sue, have your kids read the kids' novels by Carl Hiaasen? "Hoot" and "Flush." I love those books. They are funny, the perfect example of irony, and the language and pace of the plot appeals to middle grade kids. My 5th grader read them this year. He liked them a lot, and he doesn't like to read (whose kid is he?!). I also like the books by Deborah Wiles, for girls. We listend to "Love, Ruby Lavender" on CD while on a road trip. Sad, funny, smart, and cute, a good read. DD read "Every Little Bird that Sings," she is 8, 2nd grade, above-grade reader, but I think it was still a little above her reading level. One of my favorite volunteer duties at the school is to read the new children's novels that come in, they have to be screened for content before hitting the shelves for students. They tell me "just skim them" but I can't! Some of them I've liked recently were "Penny from Heaven" by Jennifer Holm, set post WWII, Italian family, very well developed plot and characters. And "Rules" by Cynthia Lord, narrated by the sister of an autistic boy, deals with accepting disabilities and the people who have them. It comes across very sincere and believable. I did not like the new series that tells of the adventurs of Peter and Pan, "Peter and the Starcatchers" by Dave Barry, et al. They were IMO, very boring, text was forced/dragged out into twice as many pages as they really needed. They are very long books, and I could not force myself to finish it. That one I did just skim. OK. I'm done for now. ;o)

I do think it's hard to make up fantastical worlds that are vastly different from the one in which we currently live and it still be relatable. My biggest gripe in scifi/fantasy is, the sky is the limit!, so why does the alien life form have to be humanoid, replete with all the same sensory organs. My son tells me it's this relatable thing. I dunno. Maybe it is. My point is, I don't know how to make up a fantastical world, what could be done differently, etc. It'd be a tough task, no doubt.

I just finished in the past hour Traces Remain: Essays and Explorations by Charles Nicholl, one of my favorite writers. Three of his earlier books I can read over and over and always find something I never considered before: 1) The Fruit Palace ( I think this is subtitled: On the Trail of the Great Cocaine Story -- anyway that's what it's about, two of his forays into Colombia in the 1970s and 1980s); 2) The Reckoning: The Murder of Christopher Marlowe; and 3) The Lodger: Shakespeare on Silver Street. I feel that I will ponder Traces Remain for a long time as well. The essays included are short pieces that I suspect anticipated Nicholl's longer explorations, such as: "A 'Naughty House': Mr. Mountjoy at the Magistrates' Court" (Christopher Mountjoy, a French Huguenot immigrant, was Shakespeare's landlord in Silver Street. It seems he might have been a pimp too,) "A Canterbury Tale: Christopher Marlowe's Boyhood" "The Life etc.: Shakespeare's First Biographer" (Nicholas Rowe, his "Mr. William Shakespeare" was written as a preface to a new edition of The Plays published 1702) However, Nicholl seems to have boundless interests -- from many times and many places. He obviously gets a kick out of literary forensic research. Three that tickle me are: "Screaming in the Castle: The Case of Beatrice Cenci" (Beatrice was executed in Rome in 1599 for the murder of her father) "The Wind Comes Up Out of Nowhere: Arthur Cravan in Mexico" (Cravan was a boxer who was also a poet! and the nephew of Oscar Wilde's wife Constance. But he's most famous for his disappearance in Mexico in 1918. "Mystery at Moonlight Cottage: The Disappearance of Jim Thompson" (Thompson vanished in Malaysia in 1967.) There are twenty-five essays in this book, but I could read fifty or a hundred more! I hope another collection is published.

I've completed my last book of the year, so I'm ready to commit: Ordinary Grace -- William Kent Krueger I really loved this book and bought copies for a couple of people and recommended it widely. I learned about it on Reader's Paradise when Reader_In_Transit recommended it in 2017. I discovered during a RP site search however, that it had also been listed as a favorite of Artiste8 in 2014. I didn't remember that. We Are Called To Rise -- Laura McBride I was attracted to the title of this book when I saw it on a shelf at the library. It was a great find! Little Fires Everywhere -- Celeste Ng I read this for my book club. I had read one previous novel by Ng (Everything I Never Told You) that, for me, was not enough to entice me to read a second by her, so I'm very glad that my book club made me take a second look at this author. Nomadland -- Jessica Bruder I have my book club to thank for this one also. I don't pick up much nonfiction on my own, but I thought this one was incredibly interesting. Birds in Fall -- Brad Kessler After reading Skibby's list, I had to come back and add this one. On her recommendation, I read it and really enjoyed it also.