More Picture Books We Love

Where Is the Green Sheep?, by Mem Fox and Judy Horacek. A book of opposites and rhyming using sheep. Davis loves finishing the sentences.

Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs, by Byron Barton. Simple book about dinosaurs; doesn't name them, just uses adjectives. Nice, bright pictures.

The Goose Girl, Girl with the Pearl Earring

I read both these books last week. I absolutely loved The Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale, an author from Utah. It is a light, fun fantasy - well-written and easy to read. I am currently reading Princess Academy by the same author and have two more of her books on hold.

(Edit: Finished Princess Academy. Not my favorite. A little too slow for me.)

I did not really enjoy Girl with the Pearl Earring, by Tracy Chevalier. It was slow, not much to the plot line, and had a few "suggestive" parts. I saw this book on a reading list for high school (maybe it was 9th grade) and am still wondering why. It was historical fiction and offered an interesting look into life in the 1600's (I think that was the time frame).

"The Rag and Bone Shop", "Exodus"

I have really been enjoying reading young adult novels lately.

The Rag and Bone Shop, by Robert Cormier. A specialist is called in to interrogate a middle school boy about the murder of a neighbor girl. Most the book is about the actual interrogation. A quick read (I read it in one, very late night) and a simple plot. Great for a quick mystery.

Exodus, by Julie Bertagna. Set in the future when the world has flooded and the people living on the last few islands sail to the new cities built above the water, but when they get there, they are not let in. Very interesting look into a possible future. A very different world is described and really pulls the reader in. Great read.

This Week's Top Picture Books

We love our library. I have said it before and I will say it again, We Love Our Library! And luckily, Davis loves books, just like his mama. Even though he is so young, he has a definite opinion about which books he likes and which he won't listen to. And I still can't predict what he will like. So I check out a bunch of books and hope that there will be a few that he loves. When he likes a book, he will listen to it over and over and over. So these are the books he has loved from our latest library trip.

Spots, Feathers, and Curly Tails, by Nancy Tafuri. This is a simple book with farm animals. One page shows a small portion of the animal and asks what it is and the next page shows the full animal.

Old MacDonald had a Woodshop, by Lisa Shulman. Old MacDonald is a sheep who has a woodshop and instead of going through animals and their sounds, the story goes through tools and their sounds.

Tippy-Toe Chick, GO!, by George Shannon. A hen and her chicks have to figure out how to get past a grumpy dog to eat treats from the garden. A fun cadence and some repetition to the story.

NurtureShock: New Thinking about Children

I just finished reading Nurtureshock: New Thinking About Children, by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. It was so interesting. They have chapters on several different aspects of child development and raising children with insights and research that are completely different than the things we are used to hearing. They talk about language acquisition, teenage conflict, praise, sleep, learning programs, and several other things. It took me awhile to get through the book, but I really enjoyed it - enough to think about buying it.

These two authors also write columns for Newsweek along the same lines and you can read those articles at www.nurtureshock.com. They are not about the same things that are in the book, but you can see the kind of cool things they are finding out and writing about.

Forging the Sword, by Hilari Bell

Forging the Sword is the third in the Farsala Trilogy and I am really enjoying it. It is one of those books that makes me just want to hole up in my room and read all day. Not really an option when you have kids. But today I had one of those wonderful book moments . . .

I was reading an especially gripping part where the good guys were sneaking around trying to destroy some important things and free some slaves right under the noses of the bad guys. I was so into the story at one point that I realized that I was holding my breath and my heart was pounding and my body was tensed up as if I was the character in the novel and was scared of being caught. Now that's a sign of a good book!

The Lightning Thief

Before finishing the Farsala Trilogy, I was lent a copy of The Lighting Thief, by Rick Riordan, and decided to read it before picking up the next book on my reading list. It is the first in the series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and I am really enjoying it. It is an easy read, a little slow going at first, but as you read, there are some great twists in the plot. It is about a boy who finds out he is half-human, half-god - the son of one of the mythical Greek gods. He must go on a quest to save the world and war with monsters from the Underworld as he goes. The book has been made into a movie and comes out in Feb.

Pleasant Valley Branch Library

This is just a little plug for our awesome library. Last night I went to the first of four book discussions, all centered around the theme of hunger. The book we discussed was Hunger: An Unnatural History, by Sharman Apt Russell. I am a lover of fiction, so I was leery about such a deep subject, but the book turned out to be very readable and described the physical, mental, and cultural effects of hunger. I love going to the discussions because it is a good exercise for my mind and encourages me to delve into books I wouldn't normally choose. They are mediated by a WSU professor, Susan Young, who does an excellent job leading the discussions. For those of you looking for this sort of thing, the next discussion is on Feb. 24 and you can pick up the next book, Changing the Face of Hunger, by Tony Hall, at the library.

Tonight I went to a piano recital presented by the WSU music students at the library. There were not very many people there, but it was so wonderful to just sit and listen to beautiful music. The pianists were soooo talented! Check at the library for the next Thursday concert.

So, a great big thanks to the library for providing some great experiences!

Fall of a Kingdom, by Hilari Bell

This book is a quick read, even though it seems thick. If you have read Eragon, and enjoyed it, then you might like this. It has a similar setting, sort of ancient ... somewhere, though this book has much less fantasy and magic, so if you're not really into that sort of thing, it is still a good book. It is the story of a great kingdom (that falls, though that shouldn't be a spoiler if you read the title) and it is told from the point of view of an upper-class girl, a peasant boy, and a peddler. Fall of a Kingdom is the first in the Farsala Trilogy, and because of that, there really is no ending and no "closure." So make sure you know where to find the next book (Rise of a Hero) so you can keep reading! The third one has already been published, so you won't have to wait forever to finish the whole story.

Little Blue Truck

Davis loves books. He likes to have them read to him and he likes to "read" them. He will pick a book from the shelf, climb up on the couch, and turn the pages while he babbles. He does have a few books he chooses over and over again, enough to be able to quote a few of the things on each page. His latest favorite is Little Blue Truck, by Alice Schertle. It is about a little blue truck who is friendly with all the animals and teaches a big dump truck how important it is to have friends when you need them. I am pretty sure we read it about 5 times a day. We had first checked it out from the library, but then bought it used from barnesandnoble.com so we didn't have to check it out for the third time. Definitely worth the money!

Up Too Late

So, Darren had to work Saturday night and so I was reading a book (Breathless, by Dean Koontz). It has several different plot lines and one of them is a little creepy and the more I read, the more scared I got to the point that I was too afraid to get up and turn all the lights off and go to bed. So I just stayed on the couch reading. (Yes, there are several other solutions that would have ended better). After a bit, I was not so much scared anymore, but totally into the other plot lines and I just kept reading and reading. So I finally finished the book around 2 am and then realized how quiet it was. And I got scared again. So I turned on the tv and waited until Darren got home, about 2:30, and finally went to bed at 3 am (I had to explain to Darren why I was still awake), safe and sound. Of course, Davis was not aware of my poor decision and was up at 8 am, as usual. And it was Sunday, so 9 am church. Needless to say, I made it through, but didn't get a lot out of it. I think today is going to be a little rough, too - they always say it's not the day after, but the day after that that is the worst.