MADreads

Athena Greydon was engaged to Johnny Vine. As a wedding present for him, she bought the 10-foot-wide house attached to his. Four weeks before they're to be married, however, Johnny's older brother, Dr. Matthew Vine III, convinces him not to go through with the ceremony. Now, not only has Athena lost a fiance', but she's given up her job and home in preparation for her married life in Harlot's Bay. She's left with few options.

Wanda's big brother is the bravest kid she knows, but when her turn comes to match his feats of bravery, things are a lot harder than she thought. The monkey bars don't agree with her, the giant hill he biked down is a LOT bigger now, and forget about going to camp. 

When Wanda's friends cajole her to join them on the Coaster of Doom, she is relieved that she is still too short to ride. She wants to be brave though, so she spends all year practicing. She bikes and sleds down hills, tiptoes into the dark basement, and even tries out a climbing wall with a look of determination. 

I don't know where picture book authors get their ideas from. But I can tell you that if you asked me for what I might want to write about, the couch, is probably one of the last things I would have come up with. Luckily for everyone, Adam Rubin thinks a bit differently than me.

Every month there are new titles purchased for the Too Good to Miss collections at our libraries. If you're not familiar with TGTM (as we call it here in library-world), it's a special collection of popular books that are truly too good to miss. Some are new and popular titles, others are older titles that might not have had as much media attention as a bestseller or celebrity book club selection but are still great reads that deserve another look.