A Friendly Town that's Almost Always by the Ocean by Kir Fox and M. Shelley Coats

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I love middle grade novels that employ a fresh sense of adventure and creativity. I feel there is something about books in this age group that allow them to be creative and innovative in fun ways and A Friendly Town That's Almost Always by the Ocean is no exception. This book is utterly charming while still having the kind of heart that you want a book like this to have. The story isn't sacrificed for the creativity, so to say, though it's format is quite different.

Davy moves to Topsea which is unlike any place he has ever been before and certainly unlike his last home. He's been facing a lot of changes in his life and he's trying to adjust, but Topsea's differentness presents quite a challenge to him. For example, he finds out his locker is at the bottom of the swimming pool!

The book is full of charming characters with their own quirks and in between chapters focused on these characters you can find historical anecdotes about Topsea as well as letters, articles from the school newspaper and so forth. The illustrations are also full of character and add just the right touch to the book.

Will Davy adjust to Topsea? Read this delightful book to find out! I do think this sort of book would make an EXCELLENT read aloud book so that is also something to consider for the family.

Recommended!

Autonomous by Andy Marino

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

If you've been following the news lately, you know that as a country we are finally starting to come to terms with a topic that has been begging to be discussed in more depth for awhile. Data management. In exchange for the opportunity to use many tools on the world wide web, we've exchanged the rights to our data. And I do think that for a lot of people we don't fully realize how adept technology is at tying it all together. It can be shocking, then, when in order to verify our identity for something we realize just how much is known about us.

And it can be a weapon as we're realizing. We passively engage and use many tools and live our lives. Meanwhile, others are figuring out how to use their knowledge of us against us in order to achieve their own goals.

So with these interesting topics in mind, I was delighted to participate in a blog tour for Autonomous. Autonomous is not just about our data though that is certainly a lot of it, but also combines the subject with our increased technology in the area of artificial intelligence, specifically self-driving cars.

William Mackler is just an ordinary teenage boy who miraculously wins a driverless car and a dream road trip with his friends--the last summer before they head off to college. They are all excited for various reasons to do it and they quickly head off on what they think will be a dream trip. However, several things happen along the way that reveal the car is more than just a regular car and they feel they are losing control. Not only of the car, but their futures and friendships.

The characters in the book were all pretty fun and I was able to feel sympathetic towards their various situations. I liked how the story touched on a lot of relevant issues concerning technology and data while still being futuristic and fun.

The plot took some turns I didn't expect, and the overall theme ended up being a little different than I anticipated. I appreciated that! It was fun, it made me think, and kept me engrossed.

If you like fast action packed stories and are interested in fiction that draws from some of the current slate of issues we face without being too preachy, I think you would enjoy this book.