SumoKitty

SumoKitty is about a stray kitty that is looking for food and warm home. He follows Sumo wrestles home. When he proves his worth by catching a mouse, he earns his place. Over time he gets fat and the mice come back but he is out of shape. The sumo wrestlers teach SumoKitty patience and moves to catch the mice.

In this book, the author included the Japanese words for the wrestling moves.

Stink and the Shark Sleepover

Stink’s parents won a sleepover at the aquarium for the family. Stink has never had a successful sleepover. With his friends and an aquarium guide, Stink gets to visit many parts of the aquarium. At the end of the tour, his group had a “campfire” and Ms. D tells them a scary story. As everyone settles down to sleep, Stink is wide awake. After pranking his sister, Judy and doing some snooping around in the dark, Stink was finally able to fall asleep.

Frankly in Love by David Yoon

Frank Li, the main character, is a son of Korean immigrants. Frank’s parents left Korea with a group of other young couples who have continued to keep in touch, meeting monthly for dinners. Frank and the other children of these couples feel as though their parents are keeping all of them within a bubble. Franks parents wish for him to find a nice, Korean girl to date and marry; they are not accepting of any other type of girl. Frank falls for a white girl named Brit, with who he has much in common. Frank knows his parents will not be accepting of this relationship, so he makes an arrangement with one of the daughters of his family’s Korean friends to pretend to date, all the while hiding his true relationship with Brit. What Frank fails to mention this detail to Brit; embarrassed to have racist parents, he tries to juggle the fake relationship along side his real one, bringing a lot of confusion and secrets.

This is a coming of age story, where the characters are trying to define themselves and learn about love along the way. Written with humor and a witty cast of characters, I highly recommend this book.

A Valentine for Frankenstein

It’s Valentine’s time and the monsters are having a party. All the monsters tease Frankenstein for being too nice and “normal.” Frankenstein is confused. Then he finds a Valentine in his pocket. The intrigue of which monsters put it there. The other monsters are baffled by the idea that someone likes Frankenstein.