What I Read: June 2024

Audiobook sale details! Plus three breeze-through novels.

Jun 29, 2024

**If you’re reading this on or before June 30th, pop over to Libro.FM’s audiobook sale! Several of our favorites including Little House in the Big Woods, Greenglass House, The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street, many of the Mac B. Spy Kid books (as low as .99!), the Green Ember series, and more for children and adults are on sale now! I bought several for the kids and Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver for myself. {all affiliate links}

I almost read nothing in the month of June, aside from reading books to the kids. Then, this last week arrived and I read three novels. Maybe I just needed a good fiction binge to kick off my summer reading?

The weather has been weird. We all have interesting tan lines. Our childcare schedule is wonky. And my camera roll is mostly plants, books, and pictures of Tennyson passed out in the car after some mini-adventure or another.

Summer is here.

Here’s What I Read in June:

Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief

by Wendelin Van Draanen

Ashley Brooks recommended this series in her last newsletter as one that she read and loved as a kid. I had never heard of it, so picked up the first one and enjoyed a short-and-sweet mystery that was a complete and total 90s throwback of a book. Sammy Keyes is not-so-legally living with her grandmother in a senior living complex in the city. When she accidentally sees a robbery take place through her binoculars, her natural curiosity and quick-thinking take her on quite an adventure to capture the thief and clear her own name. I’d say this is meant for the 11-15 year old crowd.

For fans of Trixie Belden or Nancy Drew. For a younger audience (7-10), I recommend the Jigsaw Jones mysteries.

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The Getaway List: A Novel

by Emma Lord

This fit the bill for light summer read, for sure. It even opens on Riley’s high school graduation day, which felt timely here in June. Riley realizes that her mom has been keeping her from going to see her best friend, Tom, who moved away to NYC three years ago. What she thought was bad luck becomes young-adult level anger, and following graduation Riley hops the next train for NYC herself. The novel details leaning into herself, meeting new people and finding new dreams, and resurrecting her friendship with Tom — which (of course!) turns into something more. This novel was perfectly fine for what it is — an emotional roller-coaster of YA-angst and entry-level romance, nothing steamy — but I found the “I spent one summer learning about the wider world and now I know who I am” to be a little over the top.

If you like a good YA rom-com, can I recommend The Sun is Also a Star, Beneath Wandering Stars, Love & Gelato, and my personal favorite, Fangirl.

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How to Walk Away: A Novel

by Katherine Center

I knew roughly the plot of this book within the first 50 pages… but that didn’t make me want to read it any less. Katherine Center has become a reliable choice for when I want a rom-com that sweeps me up and holds my attention, without the subject matter being too shallow. Center layers her love stories on top of big questions that often don’t have good answers — how do we handle a school shooting? big diagnosis? feeling like we’ve made every mistake in the book? — and her characters feel really human. This book was no exception. Margaret has everything going for her: fresh MBA, dream job on lock, and her perfect-for-her boyfriend is about to propose any minute. So what if she’s afraid of flying and he’s about to earn his pilot’s license?

If you like this kind of book, I’d recommend What You Wish For, Happiness for Beginners, and The Bodyguard, all by Center. Or Love & Saffron or Attachments, not by center.

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What I’m Reading with the Kids:

We read a novella-length fable called The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin as one of our assigned “free reads” for First Grade, and started our last one for the year: Peter Pan, which I don’t think I’ve ever actually read before. I’m enjoying the tongue-in-cheek prose so far.

We continue to enjoy the Charlie & Mouse early reader books and have started in on the classic Henry & Mudge series. Mudge *almost* makes me want a dog. Almost.

Beautifully illustrated, Birdsong by Julie Flett follows four seasons in the life of a young girl who has moved far from home. It’s a story of care and friendship and nature. Make sure to noice the pronunciation of a couple of Cree words in the title pages before you start reading.

I find The Summer Nick Taught His Cats to Read absolutely hilarious! It was the book Arthur chose to take to be with him several nights in a row, and I don’t blame him.

After loving the the Mo Jackson series by David Adler, I checked out both The Metric System and Light Waves by the same author, and realized we’ve read another by Adler before: Telling Time. All great non-fiction explanations of complicated topics.

What I’m Reading Next:

I ought to pick up some nonfiction after a month of giving my brain a break. I’ve got There’s No Such Thing As Bad Weather checked out from the library, and an audio version of Grenade, a YA fiction book on WWII. So maybe I’ll tackle one of those next?

I’ve also got a summer reading challenge bingo card to fill out from the library, which may invite me to read some sci-fi or mystery, too. I’ll report back!