Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls
I picked this one up in the local "Little Free Library" where you can put books you don't want anymore and take a new book to read. Wilson Rawls is the author of Where The Ren Fern Grows, one of my favorite young adult books ever. I still reread that one and I still cry like a baby by the end every time. So I was thrilled to find another book by the author (I almost bought it from Amazon but something stopped me). I really enjoyed the book, but I felt like it lacked the emotional gut-punch of Where The Ren Fern Grows. And I found the two books to be almost a little TOO similar to one another - poor boy living in the Ozark Mountains having adventures with his dog(s) and eventually winning/earning money that helps his family in a big way. But overall, I found the story enjoyable and in maybe another year or so, I'll recommend it to my girls, or perhaps read it to them. (Nothing racy or over their heads, but there is a fair amount of "women are crazy and boys can't understand them, boys are hunters and girls stay in the kitchen" because it takes place in the late 1800s, and I'm not sure my girls will fully grasp how different life was back then.)
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Another favorite from my childhood that I decided to reread. Its been a long time since I last picked this one up and only thought of it because I stumbled upon that fact that there are now 5 books in the series. I had known and read the sequel long ago, but the others are new, so I figured I would restart from scratch. As I've always felt, the book feels almost too short to me. I wish we'd seen more of Brian's struggles to survive and the ending feels a little too convenient and abrupt, but I still find it to be a short, fun little read.
