The Romantics by Leah Konen

 Teen fiction. I drove to Utah and back twice in the past week or so and to prepare for these trips I downloaded about 10 audio books to listen to during the drive. I normally listen to one for about an hour and then grow tired of it and choose another one. This one held my interest and I finished listening to it after the drive was over. 

It seems at first that it will be a typical teen romance novel, but there is one thing that keeps it from being cliche and predictable and that is it's narrator. It is written from the point of view of LOVE, meaning that love is an entity that influences all relationships. LOVE understands what people are thinking and feeling and what relationships will work and which ones won't. Of course the people involved don't know any of these things and often make poor choices. This story focuses on one family, specifically the 18 yr. old son, and his attempts at having good relationships with his friends, girlfriend and his family. 

Recommend: Yes. 

The Hundred Dressed by Eleanor Estes

 Junior Fiction. This is a wonderful very short book with an enduring message. I've read it several times and decided to listen to the audio version on a drive back home this past week. It won a Newbery Honor Medal in 1944 and was inspired by a true story from the author's childhood. Wanda Petronski is a poor girl who only has one dress she wears every day to school. One day she tells the other girls she has one hundred dresses in her closet. The girls know she is lying and start to make fun of her for constantly affirming that she has one hundred dresses. Wanda is missing from school one day and the class finds out her father pulled his children out of the school and moved to another town because his family was being bullied. Two of the girls in Wanda's class feel miserable about it and attempt to make things right. A wonderful story about how we treat others. 

Recommend: Yes.