In April I was surprised to have read only 12 books. In May I am surprised that I managed to get through 6. What a month May was! My darling Dad passed away, my work was chaotic with deadlines, and I worked through grief and day job stuff to try to meet a writing deadline for my poetry resource which will be published later this year. So yes, I’m not surprised to tally my reads and find only 6 – but 6 is better than none. And there are some goodies in this list.
Books for Children (an adults too!)
Aster’s Good, Right Things, by Kate Gordon (Riveted Press, 2020). I love everything Kate Gordon writes, and this is no exception. A really touching story about a girl who believes that if she does enough good things then her life will turn around. When she makes friends with a boy who lives next door to her school, but doesn’t got o school himself, things gradually shift. Hard to explain this book – you just need to read it to see how lovely it is.
We Are Wolves, by Katrina Nannestad (ABC Books, 2020). Wow. Sometimes I read a book that is just so perfect I have no words. This is one such book. Set in Germany and East Prussia at the close of World War II, it tells the story of Liesel and her siblings as they flee the advancing Russian Army and struggle for survival and to be reunited with their mother. heart wrenching but also beautiful.
Books for Young Adult Readers
Displaced, by Cristina Sanders (Walker Books, 2021). I love historical fiction, and this one took me into a slice of history I was unfamiliar with – new Zealand in the late 19th century. the main character, Eloise, emigrates from Cornwall with her family, but nothing goes to plan and she finds herself increasingly needing to hold her family together in ways she could never have foreseen.
2.
Game Changer, by Neal Shusterman (Walker Books, 2021). this one took me a while to get into, but that is perhaps more about my interrupted month than about the book. Ash is a high school football player who gets a knock on the head which knocks him into an alternate universe. Only he knows that things are changing and, as weeks progress, he is catapulted into increasingly shifted versions of reality. He has to try to figure out a way to get everything back to where it was.
3. 
One of Us is Lying, by Karen M. McManus (Penguin, 2017). I picked this one up on a remainders table and then it sat in my pile for a while. part murder-mystery, part thriller, and an exploration of the ways teens interact with each other and with social media. I really enjoyed this one.
Nonfiction
A Year of Loving Kindness to Myself & Other Essays, by Brigid Lowry. This little gem of a book was a soothing balm in a period when I was grieving and unsettled. Lowry writes with wisdom, honesty and wonder. A lovely book. Brigid also guest blogged at Aussiereviews last month, which you can read here.
This brings my total for the year to 67 books, which isn’t too shabby, and June is looking a little more laid back, so hopefully I can at least crack double digits again. What have you been reading? I’d love to hear.