Where I Live by Eileen Spinelli and Illustrated by Matt Phelan

Where I Live by Eileen Spinelli is such a "cute" book. I put cute in quotes because I am not sure I like that word to describe the book, but I guess I am sticking to it now.
A long time ago I found this little book for cheap by Eileen Spinelli (Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch) and I was intrigued because I really liked Jerry Spinelli, Eileen's husband. I got a lot of use out of that old little picture book. Which brings us back to this book Where I Live by Eileen Spinelli. Again I thought, what can I get out of this little book? Turns out, just a good feeling. It is not exactly a book for my age student. Probably more like third grade. However, Spinelli's interesting use of poetry/prose is perfect for this book and it left me with a good feeling about a subject that could be sad and sappy.
The main character, Diana has recently learned her father has lost his job, the family is short on money, and they will be moving in with their grandfather. For the first half of the book, Spinelli sets the scene to show how much Diana loves her own home, her friends, and her way of life. The second half of the book shows how Diana resolves her issues with moving. On top of all this, Spinelli weaves in neat things like Diana's love of poetry, writing, and all things having to do with astronomy. In the end the story comes full circle with a poem that matches the beginning poem, yet also matches Diana's new life.
One of my favorite character's in the book is Diana's younger sister, Lucy, aka "Twink." she reminds me of my own little sister, looking up to her older sister. (Or I might have just imagined that my little sister looked up to me.) Here is a small part of a poem "Twink" wrote for her older sister:

You are my big sister.
I like you the bestest
of any big sister
in the whole world.

Not to be missed in this book are the illustrations by Matt Phelan. I knew there was something special about the artwork, but I wasn't sure what it was until I read that Phelan illustrated The Higher Power of Lucky.
Other reviews of this book can be found at:
Fuse #8
Read It Again!
Book Hog
The Brack Blog

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So Totally Emily Ebers by Lisa Yee

I really stretched my brain while reading So Totally Emily Ebers by Lisa Yee. Not because the plot was difficult or anything like that, but I was had to think back to when I read Yee's first book Millicent Min Girl Genius. It is absolutely amazing the way Yee has written three books (The other being Stanford Wong Flunks Big Time) in tandem the way she has.
I read the first book back in 2003 so it was kind of a stretch to think back and try to remember the character of Emily Ebers, the main character in this book. But don't get me wrong... you do not HAVE to read these books in order. No, No, No... In fact Lisa Yee herself says the books "can be read in any order, any day of the week, and at any time, except when you're sleeping." However, I thought is was super fun to compare. I haven't even read the second book, but I will now.
If you read any of the books you know the characters and this book is about Millicent's "best friend" Emily Ebers. Emily is having a hard time adjusting to divorce, her move across country with her mother, making friends, fitting in, and all those other teenage woes. The book is written in the form of diary type entries she is actually addressing to her father. She has decided to give the whole notebook to him when she is done so he can see how her summer was while he was off touring with his band. (Something I would have never done at 12 years old, or 13-31 years old for that matter)
One thing that was a little weird for me, and maybe I am being critical and need to suspend my mind for a minute and get into book world... but there were modern references to things such as a Prius car. The thing that kept bugging me was I kept saying in my head "Was that around in 2003?" Just because the two stories were suppose to be tandem and a few things referenced, I couldn't think back to see if they could have possibly been in the first book. (Does that even make since?) (Okay, I just looked up Prius, it came out in 1997, but I really didn't hear much about it around here until at least the last couple years)
I highly recommend this book, especially if you have read the other two, but not only if you have read the other two. --You don't have to read the other two, but you will want to!