There were two books I remembered liking a lot when I read them in 4th grade, but couldn't remember the titles of later. Google helped me figure out they were Owls in the Family and Follow My Leader.

I wonder how they will hold up to re-reading.

I love the Tomorrow books, and I wouldn't say they drop off, exactly. The last book has to wrap up the action and try to move them towards the new normal life.

They do have to do that, yes. I just don't find the sequence with the POW camp all that pleasant. It all gets a bit more grim in the last one, I guess, as you start to see what the new status quo will be.

Ginger, did you hear that if this movie does well, they'll be making it a trilogy? Interesting.

dcp, is Follow My Leader about the kid blinded by a firecracker who gets a guide dog? I loved that one. And really took to heart the "don't play with leftover firecrackers on July fifth!" message. It was a nice little lesson for kids in perceiving life from a blind person's POV, while retaining the kid's personality.

I highly recommend finding a copy with lots of notes.

Thanks, Laga. I live near a university, so this shouldn't be hard.

That is exactly my problem, well, the biggest, with AMS.(I enjoyed the Number 1 *show* so much more than the books...Jill Scott was great) But really? Soothing mysteries? ur kinda doin it wrong. Also words that sound right coming out of Africans seem strange when a white guy puts in on the page. Although Pelecanos is absolutely a white guy(although first time I did check) who writes black people, and I fangirl all over him. But it only rarely feels like he writes dialect, which generally makes me uncomfortable. Huh, maybe he is not only soothing then.

I'm currently reading The Body Artist by Don DeLillo. It's very intersting, and I just loved the opening section with the description of a typical breakfast between the couple. The stops and starts of conversations with questions unanswered or unheard seemed much more realistic to me than most dialogue one finds in novels.

Soothing mysteries? ur kinda doin it wrong.

Not to me. That return to order when the mystery is solved is the component of the mystery I value the most, probably because it's soothing. I'm fine with cozies.

Also words that sound right coming out of Africans seem strange when a white guy puts in on the page.

That was my biggest problem with the Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books. I enjoyed the first one but found that eventually they mostly irritated me. All the dialogue seemed like people were speaking in a language they weren't entirely fluent in, which seemed like a peculiar [edit: and patronizing] way to write those characters.

Well, I guess it works sometimes, -t. I mean, I used to read Miss Marple a lot. I guess I think you can take it too far and end up with that endless "The Cat Who Couldn't Shoot Straight" series. I like cats and mysteries, but somehow I've not found them two great tastes that taste great together.Even Rita Mae Brown never really made that happen and I was such a fan in high school I got the "If there's anything you'd like to talk about," pause more than once. Now, I think my parents should get partial credit. Yeah, Kate, somehow I found that really embarrassing. It's hard to explain because obviously I'm the palest white devil to come down the pike, aside from those few drips of NA blood, and I've never really been to Africa so it's not like I can say "But it's not Authentic."

If Follow my Leader is about the kid blinded by fireworks I totally read (and re-read) that book when I was a kid. I remember thinking it would be worth being blind to have such a great dog. ...I don't think that way anymore.