Ms Rush Reads

copyright date: January 1, 2021 primarily marketed for: middle grades The Greatest Superpower  by Alex Sanchez is a gem. I was in a bit of a reading slump until I picked up this book, thanks to NetGalley .  This middle grades book is about comic book loving Jorge who is navigating his parents' divorce and his first crush on a girl. Jorge's parents not only announce they are getting divorced, but his father also reveals to Jorge and his twin brother Cesar that she is transgender and wishes to live as her true self.  Although this announcement is a confusing surprise to Jorge, his love for his father ultimately trumps all. Cesar, however, is angry at their dad and works to prevent Jorge from sharing the truth with his friends.  In the midst of the changes in Jorge's family life, he and his friends are trying to invent a new superhero for a comic book contest. When Jorge blurts out the idea of the superpower to gender-shift, his friends jump on board.  Conversatio...

copyright date: February 2014 primarily marketed for: young adults (high school) Reading Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith felt like being let in on a secret.   The flap copy had me completely baffled as to why I wanted to read a book about an unstoppable army of hungry, horny, giant praying mantis creatures.   However, after reading Winger , I was sure Smith’s writing would be brilliant, and the buzz amongst my social media connections was that the book kept people thinking long after they finished reading.   There was no way to know for myself other than to jump right in and start reading, to hear the secret firsthand.   From the very start I was equally shocked, amused, and charmed by Austin Szerba and his friend Robby Brees. They are pretty typical teenage boys living in a small town in Iowa.   Austin is struggling with typical teenage boy things, like confusion over his feelings for his girlfriend and his best frie...

  copyright date: May 2013 primarily marketed for: Young Adults (high school) Have you ever read Looking for Alaska by John Green?   I never thought I would ever read another book that I could recommend as being just as good as Looking for Alaska .   Until I read Winger by Andrew Smith .   I laughed audibly at fictional characters while reading this book.   My heart ached for fictional characters while reading this book.   I had tears streaming down my face over fictional characters while reading this book.   It is a good book.   Great book.   Incredible book.   It is about a brilliant fourteen-year-old kid at a boarding school with sixteen-year-olds.   After getting into some cell-phone trouble, this self-proclaimed runt is thrust into living in Opportunity Hall, the dorm for troubled students.   The kind of troubled students who would love to squash a fourteen-year-old boy.  ...

copyright date: May 2011 primarily marketed for: young adults (high school) Shine by Lauren Myracle is one of those books I felt an itch to talk about as soon as I finished reading.   The story is that powerful, the craft that stunning, the characters that compelling.   It is a book that will surely linger in my mind for days to come. Ever since I took a summer literature class in Southern American Fiction, I have been in love with stories set in the South.   So, I am sure that element drew me further into what is already a captivating story.   Shine begins with a fictitious, yet chilling, newspaper article reporting the brutal beating of sixteen-year-old Patrick Truman, apparently driven by his homosexuality.   From that point on, while Patrick lies comatose in a hospital, the story becomes Cat’s.   Cat used to be one of Patrick’s closest friends, before a traumatic event in her own life caused her to quietly withdraw fr...

copyright date: August 2012 primarily marketed for: young adults (8 th grade and up) Every once in a while I read a book so amazing that I am torn between the urge to keep the wonder of its story all to myself and the desire to share its goodness with all the world.   Every Day by David Levithan is just such a book.   Becky Anderson, an owner of Anderson’s Bookshops said this is a book everyone should read.   She is right.   Every Day is the story of ‘A.’   ‘A’ wakes up each morning in a different person’s body.   ‘A’ has no gender, no race, no sexual orientation.   ‘A’ takes on the unique qualities of whatever body ‘A’ is inhabiting for the day.   Being that ‘A’ shifts from body to body, it is nearly impossible to make connections.   Any connections made have the potential to create difficulties for the owner of the body in which the connection was made.   As a result, ‘A’ seems desti...

copyright date: May 2012 primarily marketed for: middle school (age 10 and up) Everything you have heard about this book is true.  It is one of those books that will find its way into your heart and nestle in for a good long while. See You at Harry’s by Jo Knowles is filled with endearing characters far beyond the protagonist: twelve-year-old Fern.  Fern’s family is made up of a (much) younger brother Charlie, (who only pronounces his /r/ sound when calling Fern’s name), an older brother Holden (who is struggling with his own identity), an older sister Sara (who wears her hair in dreadlocks and torments her siblings as much as she adores them), a mother (who is juggling attending to her husband’s passion for the family business and a house full of children with varying needs), and a father (whose love of his restaurant often comes at the cost of family embarrassment).  The story largely takes place at Harry’s, the family restaurant, which hosts...

copyright date: May 2012 primarily marketed for: young adults (14 and up) Kekla Magoon is the amazing author who won me over with The Rock and the River (historical fiction) and captured my heart with Camo Girl (contemporary realistic fiction).  I have been waiting impatiently for her latest book 37 Things I Love to be released.  Did you know she will be our visiting author for the 2012-2013 school year?  I. Can’t. Wait. 37 Things I Love has been described as Magoon’s first book that is really meant for a high school audience.  I agree.  Although, I think mature 8 th grade readers will also appreciate this story. High school sophomore Ellis is struggling to remain positive in the face of some major challenges.  Her father is on life support, putting strain on her relationship with her mother, and her best friend is becoming increasingly self-centered and self-destructive.  With little support around her, Ellis turns to a ...