Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (from The House on East 88th Street and Lyle, Lyle Crocodile by Bernard Waber) Directed by Josh Gordon & Will Speck, starring Javier Bardem, Winslow Fegley. Shawn Mendes, Eagle Picture, Hutch Parker Entertainment & Sony Pictures Animation

A fun movie about a stage magician who finds a singing crocodile, whom he names Lyle.  With visions of fantastic success, he trains the reptile to sing and dance several popular songs.  But when he gets him on stage for their premier performance, Lyle freezes.  The magician goes on the road to earn money.  When he returns 18 months later, his old home on the first floor of the building has been sold to a family: a teacher, a cookbook writer, and a shy boy.  They have discovered Lyle and after initial shock have become friends with him.  The boy has come out of his shell, the woman is considering another book and the teacher has felt rejuvenated.  But the tenant in the basement is trying to ruin everyone’s day by cheating the magician out of his property and send Lyle to the zoo.  This is a fun movie for the whole family.  Who knew Javier could sing and Dance?

Better Off Dead by Lee Child & Andrew Child (2021) Delacorte Press

In which Reacher walks into a setup of an ex-Army intelligence officer who has set a trap to find her missing brother.  After convincing her he doesn’t know anything about it, he hides, and watches two thugs fall for the trap.  She thinks her brother is dead.  Reacher thinks otherwise.  There is a man who makes anything, including bombs for money.  He is willing to exert control over this out of the way town and follows-up his threats with murders.  The brother was working for this man.  Reacher is intrigued enough to go after the man and get him and his thugs off the street.  This collaboration with Child and his son works seamlessly.  The pace is just as intense as any of the previous books.

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (1993) Four Walls Eight Windows

A near-future story about society breaking down.  Specifically, what comes after and how a young woman survives the loss of her father, her family, her home and neighborhood to raiders and drug addicts, devises her own understanding of God, and finds a place to start over.  The story takes place in California.  The police and fire departments have become extremely corrupt.  Corporations are buying people and treating them like industry from the 19^th century.  People kill just to rob other people.  But in our heroine’s view, God is change and people can effect change.

The Warden’s Daughter by Jerry Spinelli (2017) Knopf Books for Young Readers

Cammie O’Reilly is the warden’s daughter.  Her mother was killed saving her from a milk truck.  She is taken care of by a trustee and is the adopted daughter of the women in prison.  She, of course, wants a mother and wished her father would marry the trustee.  She see’s the other kids who have mothers and is terribly jealous.  She acts our, trying to get attention that she refuses to accept.  When her favorite prisoner, Bobo, hangs herself, it takes time for her to accept that all the stories the woman told her.  She acts out even more and starts shoplifting.  Eventually she is caught, but instead of being punished, as the warder’s daughter, she is taken home.  Once there, she acts out against the trustee who sends her to the one place she has avoided, where the accident happened.  She returns in tears and the trustee cleans her up and calms her to sleep.  When she awakes, the trustee is gone, released for time served. Years later, she learns the woman spent an extra year at the prison just to help Cammie through her problems.

New Kid by Jerry Craft (2019) Quill Tree Books

Jordan Banks is the new kid in a private school who helps new friends overcome insecurities, prejudice, and negligent racism.  His teacher keeps confusing the name of another black student just because he’s black.  He finds a girl has a crush on him.  And he helps another girl overcome her fear of how people will see her because she has a burn scar from saving her brother’s life.  A well done, non-preachy book that deserved the Newbery it won.

Loyalty in Death by J.D. Robb (2004) Piatkus Books

“We are Cassandra” – the tagline of a group that threatens to blow up places where people gather to overthrow the government in a fourth world war (the series is set in the 2050s -the author should have added a century since we are coming up on the time of her stories and have not yet achieved interplanetary colonization or FTL).  Eve Dallas is personally targeted as are the properties of her wealthy husband Rourke.  The tension is constantly ratcheted higher to the climax on the statue of liberty.

The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M Cain (1934) Alfred A. Knopf

The only postman in this story is death. A Bum gets a job at a service station/diner and finds the diner’s owner’s wife is unhappy.  He wants to take care of that problem.  Cain weaves a story of murder and unexpected luck of both varieties.

Lirael by Garth Nix (2003) Harpercollins

The second volume in the Abhorsen series.  This follows a daughter of the Clayr who barely remembers her mother and does not know who her father was.  She only wants to gain the sight of her cousins and settles for being a librarian.  She is especially good at Charter magic and incessantly curious about the Library, especially wherever she is not supposed to go.  At the same time, the daughter and son of Sabriel and her husband, the king, Touchstone must keep the kingdom safe while the parents must continuously cross the kingdom, fighting free magic and the dead.  What Lirael and the Prince learn can make all the difference.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (2015) Henry Holt

A farm boy loses his big brother and their life savings to a conman.  He decides to do anything to get even and see the conman ruined.  To do so he becomes known as dirty hands since he will do anything for a price.  He gathers a team around him that becomes more successful than the other gangs on the docks.  Then he takes a job that promises enough money to buy freedom for his crew of six.  They break into an impenetrable fortress and steal a person.  Every character has background and things to hide.  But will the merchant they are working for keep his deal or make things much worse.

Robert B. Parker's Slow Burn by Ace Atkins (2016) G.P. Putnam's Sons

A Spenser story about fireman wannabes who think the Boston Fire Department needs help with budget for men and equipment to fight fires – and their brilliant solution is to start fires.  But that puts fire fighters and sparks, the people who provide coffee and blankets for the firefighters at risk.  Spenser is looking into what one of the Fire Chiefs thinks was the first incident where three of their own died.  At first glance it looks like fire for profit, leading Spenser to think a local made guy or his organization is responsible.  Instead that guy provides the video proof they need.