Sleeplessness equals more reading time

Apparently, homecoming here is cause for non-stop partying Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. This is accompanied, of course, by screaming, yelling, shrieking, chanting, singing, etc. I can usually sleep through most chaos, but not this time. Too much, too sporadic, too sustained. On the up side, I read 8 of the 30 juvenile/ya novels (or roughly 27%) I need to complete by the end of the semester.

For those looking for an interesting historical novel dealing with fire fighting, I recommend The Big Burn by Jeanette Ingold. She looks at the fires that took place during the summer of 1910 through the perspectives of several different people (ranger, ranger's brother who becomes a firefighter, homesteader, black army private called in to fight fires. With a double major in English and history, you'd think I'd be a big fan of historical fiction. Usually I prefer to keep fiction and history separated. I'm not a huge fan of historical fiction usually, but this book has interesting characters, different plotlines, and historical accuracy in a very readable combination. Plus, it's set in the west.

Another author I'm really enjoying who writes historical fiction is Joseph Bruchac. I read two of his novels in my reading stint. Code Talker and Hidden Roots. Code Talker is far more of a straight historical novel, dealing with the Navajo code talkers in WWII. Hidden Roots is more of a growing up novel set in a historical time frame (1954). It deals with family secrets, and for a short novel, it unravels the secret without giving it away until the very end of the novel.

Caroline Cooney's novel, Enter Three Witches, tells the story of Macbeth through a ward of the Macbeth's, Lady Mary, and a variety of other minor characters. It stays as dark (maybe even darker) than the original. Shakespeare's Secret by Elise Broach deals with a missing diamond, a new house, a father who's a Shakespeare scholar, and a bad start at a new school.

Other books read in the reading frenzy include Dog Sense (Collard), Ten Ways to Make My Sister Disappear (Mazer), and Project Mulberry (Park).