Title: The Dirt Diary (#1), The Prank List (#2) and The Gossip File (#3)

Series: The Dirt Diary

Author: Anna Staniszewski

Publishers: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

Publication Years: 2014-2015

Blurb

Book #1

WANTED: Maid for the most popular kids in 8th grade.

Cleaning up after the in-crowd gets Rachel all the best dirt.

Rachel can't believe she has to give up her Saturdays to scrubbing other people's toilets. So. Gross. But she kinda, sorta stole $287.22 from her college fund that she's got to pay back ASAP or her mom will ground her for life. Which is even worse than working for her mother's new cleaning business. Maybe. After all, becoming a maid is definitely not going to help her already loserish reputation.

But Rachel picks up more than smelly socks on the job. As maid to some of the most popular kids in school, Rachel suddenly has all the dirt on the 8th grade in-crowd. Her formerly boring diary is now filled with juicy secrets. And when her crush offers to pay her to spy on his girlfriend, Rachel has to decide if she's willing to get her hands dirty... 

Book #2

Rachel Lee never thought she'd fight for the right to clean toilets. But when a rival cleaning business starts stealing her mom's clients, Rachel will do whatever it takes to save herself the horror of moving to Connecticut — which would mean giving up her almost, sort of boyfriend, her fantastic new pastry classes, and her best friend Marisol. 

Operation Save Mom's Cleaning Business is a go! 

But when the series of pranks Rachel and her BFF cook up to take down the competition totally backfires, Rachel worries that her recipe for success is a dud. You know what they say — if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen...

What I Thought

We both stupid, but we've both smartened up 

A light reading with the predictable endings for each problems. But still it's a fun read. The story is a pure teenager dramas: a unpopular MC who always be bullied by the most popular girl in school, the MC who had crushed to the coolest boy in school (and also our MC's archenemy bf), the MC who has unique bff so everybody called them as "duo losers" and in the end, the MC found herself adored by a cute boy she never noticed before. Sounds clichè, tho?

But the plus of this series is how Rachel Lee, our MC, must struggle to helped her parents get back together. From that point, the reader finally knew why Rachel tried to collected every cent she got from helping her Mom cleaned houses. The problems started when Rachel should cleaned her friends and also her enemies houses. She found so many secrets her friends have and everything revealed, she wrote in a diary. She called it The Dirt Diary.

In the second book, I love the way Rachel loves her family, so she did the pranks to help her Mother business. She also enrolled in a cooking course, but the tutor seemed hated her. And Rachel-Evan's relationship getting cuter. I hope there's more story about Whit 

And since I've not read book #3, I hope my wish granted :D

Title: A Tale and Dark Grimm (#1); In A Glass Grimly (#2)and The Grimm Conclusion (#3)

Series: A Tale and Dark Grimm Series

Author: Adam Gidwitz

Publisher: Dutton's Children Books; Gramedia Pustaka Utama

Publication Time: 2010-2013

Blurb:

Book #1

In this mischievous and utterly original debut, Hansel and Gretel walk out of their own story and into eight other classic Grimm-inspired tales. As readers follow the siblings through a forest brimming with menacing foes, they learn the true story behind (and beyond) the bread crumbs, edible houses, and outwitted witches.

Fairy tales have never been more irreverent or subversive as Hansel and Gretel learn to take charge of their destinies and become the clever architects of their own happily ever after.

Book #2

More Grimm tales await in the harrowing, hilarious companion to a beloved new classic

Take caution ahead—
Oversize plant life, eerie amphibious royalty, and fear-inducing creatures abound.

Lest you enter with dread.
Follow Jack and Jill as they enter startling new landscapes that may (or may not) be scary, bloody, terrifying, and altogether true.

Step lively, dear reader . . .
Happily ever after isn’t cutting it anymore.

In this companion novel to Adam Gidwitz’s widely acclaimed, award-winning debut, A Tale Dark & Grimm, Jack and Jill explore a new set of tales from the Brothers Grimm and others, including Jack and the Beanstalk and The Frog Prince.

Book #3

Widely praised and beloved by children, adults, and critics alike, Adam Gidwitz delivers a third serving of eerie new landscapes and fear-inducing creatures in a story sure to delight and frighten fans old and new. In the final book in the series, Adam's brilliantly irreverent narrator leads readers through a fresh world of Grimm-inspired fairy tales, based on such classics as The Juniper Tree, the real story of Cinderella, and Rumpelstiltskin.

What I Thought

I'm not used with retelling stories, but this one is too hilarious to be ignored. Yes, there were so many blood, decapitations and on the top of that, infanticides. In the first book, Hansel and Gretel must faced the fact that their parents killed them to raised their royal servant, Johannes. They also should faced the cannibal baker, cut a finger to made a key and the moon in their world ate children. This is kind of a retelling that the princess must be kidnapped first before married the kidnapper. And this is also kind of stories where children could live happily ever after with their parents after beated the dragon. 

In the second book, Jack and Jill (and the frog which is not a prince), met the Giants from the story Jack and The Beanstalk. This part quite disgusting for me, even though it was the part of Jill's clever plan. But in other hand, this book also the most hilarious book among others. It because of The Eidechse von Feuer, der Menschenfleischfressend a.k.a Eddie. This lizard and the Frog were the most interesting duo of this series. And the last book is the worst book of the series, at least for me. Before our MC's Jorinda and Joringel met someone unpredictable in the history of the retelling stories (okay, I'm babbling...), the story went awesome. But when the most surprising cameo on the retelling universe

I thought he would be a regular cameo. But of course, he was not. He influenced the plot so much and for me it was super weird!  I mean, this retelling basically are weird, but it's a FUN weird.

Well, for those who don't bother with a retelling with disturbing things I've mentioned above, I recommended this series. Besides, this series still has the most important things in the world of fairy tales: the moral of the story. 

(I've read the translation version for the first book but the other two were in English)

Title: A Boy On The Porch

Author: Sharon Creech

Publisher: Harper Collins

Publication Date: Sep 3rd 2013

Page Number: 179

Blurb:

Fans of Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech's Ruby Holler will love her latest tween novel about finding family when you least expect it.

When a young couple finds a boy asleep on their porch, their lives take a surprising turn. Unable to speak, the boy Jacob can't explain his history. All John and Marta know is that they have been chosen to care for him.

And, as their connection and friendship with Jacob grow, they embrace his exuberant spirit and talents. The three of them blossom into an unlikely family and begin to see the world in brand-new ways.

The Boy on the Porch is a singular story about opening your heart and discovering home in unexpected places.

What I Thought:

One day, a boy appeared asleep on the porch of Martha and John. He didn't talk and a note that he brought said his name is Jacob. Soon, they knew that Jacob is 'communicating' in a special way: tapping, making music, drawing. But he didn't say a single word. Martha and John felt curious, what kind of parents left their child in other people house and what kind of story that Jacob left behind. Then they tried to tracked down. When they finally get used with Jacob around, they day finally arrived.

The bad things of this book were Ms.Creech left some stories unanswered. But still, I love the story. I love how Martha and John supported each other for the worst possibility. How they approached Jacob to get some little answers. How they love the children.

Some reviews said that this book is not for children, because it probably didn't have any children appeal in it. I must be agree. But still, for an adult, this book is pretty much appealing. It's beautiful and for the reason I'm still wondering, I felt this book also warm-hearting.

Opening Lines:

The young couple found the child asleep in an old cushioned chair on the front porch. He was curled against a worn pillow, his feet bare and dusty, his clothes fashioned from rough linen. They could not imagine where he had come from or how he had made his way to their small farmhouse on a dirt road far from town.

Title: My Sister Lives On The Mantelpiece

Author: Annabel Pitcher

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for The Young Readers

Publication Date: Aug 14th 2012

Page Number: 225 pages

Blurb:

Ten-year-old Jamie hasn't cried since it happened. He knows he should have - Jasmine cried, Mum cried, Dad still cries. Roger didn't, but then he is just a cat and didn't know Rose that well, really.

Everyone kept saying it would get better with time, but that's just one of those lies that grown-ups tell in awkward situations. Five years on, it's worse than ever: Dad drinks, Mum's gone and Jamie's left with questions that he must answer for himself.

This is his story, an unflinchingly real yet heart-warming account of a young boy's struggle to make sense of the loss that tore his family apart.

What I Thought:

This book is so sad. How a family could be broken because of the seems-like-forever grieving of their dead child. They ignored Jamie, and also Jasmine, just because the father can't accepted his dead little girl. The worst of all was the mother. I have no idea, what kind of mother who dare to abandoned her children for an affair. Because she was sick of her former spouse. Because they never stopped blaming each other for Rose's death. I hate when other children felt invincible because of the gone of one child. I hate this kind of parents which focus on the lost, not what left.

But the great things of this book is it teach about tolerance, especially for people who has different kind of faith. I know (from some news and convos with my abroad Muslim friends) that it's not easy become a Muslim in the place that still have bad perspective to Muslim people. I think I understand about how Sunya wanted to be a "normal". This book is wonderful. I can say, I adore this book so much! Recommended for those who open minded, about everything.

Opening Lines:

My sister Rose lives on the mantelpiece. Well, some of her does. Three of her fingers, her right elbow and her kneecap are buried in a graveyard in London.

 

Title: Big Nate Goes for Broke

Series: Big Nate Novels #4

Author: Lincoln Peirce

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Publication Date: Mar 20th 2012

Page Number: 220 pages

Blurb

Mighty Jefferson Middle School always wins. Then Nate decides it's time to go from zeroes to heroes! Will Nate crack under the pressure of of the "Ultimate Snowdown"? Or lead P.S. 38 to its biggest victory yet?

For fans of the hilarious Diary of a Wimpy Kid series: Meet BIG NATE, notorious class clown and definitely NOT the teacher's pet.

What I Thought

What a great junior novel Big Nate is!! This volume has strong messages. I believe when my kids read it someday they'll get something in it.

And my favorite character in this book is Dee Dee!

Favorite Lines

Everybody has the archilles's heel. Anybody can be beaten.