Amy Makechnie

First sentence: IN A LARGE PINK FARMHOUSE at 238 Marigold Lane lives a most unusual nanny: Lord Tennyson, a short, middle-aged gentleman with white whiskers and a royal pedigree. If he could speak, it would be with dignity and a touch of an English accent. If he wore clothing, he imagines he’d wear a suit of gray silk and a striped bow tie. But he does neither because Lord Tennyson is a dog, a miniature schnauzer to be exact, who wears only a blue-and-green collar that has teeth marks in it from when Sweetums was going through a particularly bad biting phase.
Despite his distinguished appearance and pedigree, he was not spending his morning caring for a dignitary’s son or the daughter of the president. Rather, his duty was herding the unruly McNiff children from the old pink farmhouse into the old red farm truck for the first swim of summer vacation. There were six of them: two boys and four girls. As you can imagine, getting all of them to and from the lake was not an easy task.

My thoughts (preview): I fell in love with the book cover. I did. It looked like it would be an awesome book that I would just click with from the start. The premise also sounds awesome: a DOG as a nanny; six naughty children having adventures/misadventures for hundreds of pages. I was disappointed. There is a good possibility it is all on me. I think the timing was off. I tried so many times to read this one and get hooked, get invested. I kept waiting for it to come naturally. For me to be able to read smoothly, naturally, to fall in love with the characters and story. Never happened....for me.

Premise/plot: A SENIOR miniature Schnauzer is a "nanny" for six horribly, naughty children. The McNiffs need Lord Tennyson (the dog) to help teach them how to be loving, caring, decent human beings. They need a lot of help because they are so not there yet. The children couldn't get along if their lives depended on it. There is fussing, fighting, arguing, grudges, revenge, sneakiness. The parents are mostly absent. The dog is the narrator.

My thoughts (conclusion): I really HATED the melodrama of the next-to-last chapter. I realize that he is a senior dog. I realize that dogs die. But to have this melodramatic death scene (turns out to be near-death not actual death), was just CRUEL. I think this nearly losing Lord Tennyson is the climax of their behavior. This is the first glimpse of hope that the kids can unite for something--or someone. But still.

I *wanted* more than just naughty children. Personally. I do think it was just bad timing on my part. Maybe if I'd read it a few months from now or a year or two from now, it would be the right time and place for me to love this one.… (más)

Ten Thousand Tries is a 2022 Lone Star novel.

Golden lives and breathes soccer. His parents decide to settle in this small town and create soccer teams at average schools that competes against the top schools. Because the school is small, they are a co-ed soccer team. This year represents the year that Golden believes they will win the championship. Everything he does is to improve upon soccer. He believes that if you spend 10,000 hours practicing, you'll be the best. He also has two best friends, one of whom lives next door. Lucy and he consider themselves twins--born on the same day and raised together. She's been gone all summer to Maine, so Golden is desperate to see her. Benny is their plus one--he was added years ago and they've been close friends ever since.

Golden fails to see the truth and chooses to believe that trying will conquer everything. He works constantly in hopes of being captain of the team. The truth Golden is avoiding deals with his father, who has ALS. This disease makes every muscle atrophy, so that eventually every muscle stops and death occurs. The novel takes place over the fall soccer season as they compete against teams in hopes of making the championship while also detailing the decline of Golden's father. Golden believes that if he can get his father to fight, he will win. The disease will go away. There's also the reality of Lucy's mom's boyfriend who may move Lucy's family to Maine. Golden can't lose more. He's already sharing a room with his sister and trying to act like a captain. He's still an 8th grade boy, who struggles to control his emotions and struggles to grow up. The lessons he learns teach him that the world doesn't revolve around him. He often feels victimized, believing he is losing everything, failing to see what his family is also losing, especially his mom and dad. Ultimately, the novel builds to the championship game and the decline of Golden's father.

I am not someone who likes to read sad books, so the story of a family losing their father gets too close to realism for me. I prefer escape in my books. I like Golden's optimism, but his continual denial felt repetitive to me. After a while, I thought, "Come on--live in reality. Stop being a stupid jerk." Of course, I'm a grown woman and he's an 8th grade boy. He's a very realistic 8th grade boy! It's truly a good book about the grace it takes to face adversity and accept help. No matter how hard we want something to happen, it doesn't mean it will no matter how hard we work for it. However, our attitude and ability to still notice and help others instead of feeling victimized brings growth and ultimate peace.… (más)

Who doesn’t get sucked in with an opener like this?

“I was ten when Gaysie Cutter tried to kill me. It was just like her too—always leaving a bad first impression.”

When I read this line, I knew the protagonist would be great if the author could hold on to her personality. It’s a Kate DiCamillo kind of opener. While Makechnie did not top DiCamillo, it’s not bad for a first book. It’s an odd one with quirky characters, but that’s what makes it so entertaining.

Guinevere’s mother suffered brain damage when Gwen was 4-years-old and since then can’t remember anything that happened after age 13. Now Gwen is 11 and her mother is functional, but doesn’t understand she has two daughters. Her father has moved back to their hometown in Iowa hoping the familiarity will restore her memory. Guinevere calls her mom by her first name, Vienna, because there is no mother-daughter relationship. This bothers Gwen, but she bears her burden with strong shoulders.

In this small Iowa town, Gwen becomes friends with two boys, Micah and Jimmy. Micah is the son of the eccentric, quirkiest of all characters, Gaysie. Gaysie is also the childhood friend of her parents. Gwen takes an immediate disliking to Gaysie and when her field hand, old man Wilbur, goes missing, she’s sure Gaysie had something to do with it. Gwen wants to be a lawyer so she takes advantage of Wilbur’s disappearance to practice her investigative skills.

There’s a lot going on in this book. There’s also the homebody Mrs. Myrtle, the childhood sledding accident, and the bully Travis Maynard. The author weaves it all together well enough, but some editing could have yielded a tighter story. For example, I would have eliminated the bullies or her younger sister, Bitty, in favor of more on Mrs. Myrtle or Wilbur. Those are characters that bring originality. Bullies are overdone in middle grade books and Bitty offered nothing to the story.

I’m going to say this again. It’s quirky. At times I felt like I was in a Twilight Zone episode. Gaysie cuts off her finger with little reaction and Micah rings a goose’s neck. Twilight Zone. The setting is in the present because computers are mentioned, but there are times when I could swear it feels 70s. Then there’s the double mystery of the sledding accident and Wilbur’s disappearance which don’t get resolved until the very end. Twilight Zone. But just like the Twilight Zone, I loved it.… (más)