Book Reads 2014 - 2015

• The Alchemist by Michael Scott - was pretty impressed with this start to the series, will definitely recommend to my fantasy readers. Love the pic at the end of the Nicholas Flamel auberges in Paris!
• Delicious! by Ruth Reichl - Loved this little tale of a magazine gone the way of so many. Billie gets a job at a food magazine and has an incredible palate, but can not cook. She's the last person left in a glorious old federal mansion when she comes across a hidden room and letters written to James Beard. Loved this book!
• Life From Scratch by Sasha Martin - Somehow I got interested in Sasha and her German Tree cake! I did some research and told our foods teacher and a friend about her Global Table Adventure and heard about this book. It was hard to read about her early life. Brutally tough, choices, family a maelstrom of events that had me very torn to finishing this, but it ends well, with love, a passion and a family of her own and cooking! The recipes are fabulous (one at the end of every chapter) and one day yes, I'll try German Tree cake!
• Wildwood by Colin Meloy - Took me awhile to get into this thick book, but the story moved along and Port-land Prue caught my interest! Her little brother is lifted off to the Impassable Wilderness and she takes off to rescue him. A nice tale with an Owl Prince, a Dowager Governess and a Bandit King. Nicely done!
• Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman - what a perfect little gem of a book about an empty lot and how it affects the community all from a girl who one night plants some seeds there. The little vignettes of the people drawn there are superb!
• Bound by Donna Jo Napoli - A charming tale of bound feet wrapped into a Chinese Cinderella story. Very nice!
• The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe - Great read! Connie is sent to get her grandmother's house ready to sell while working on her dissertation subject and finds a primary source. A nice interweaving of Connie's modern life with Deliverance's time in 1681 as she is accused of witchcraft. Very nice!
• The Giver by Lois Lowry - an amazing little one day read. I can see why teachers use this book!
• Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick - nice boy tale of two misfits who together make a mighty impact on their community and themselves.
• Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac - loved this tale of the Navaho code talkers during WWII in the pacific. He certainly has a knack with historical fiction I envy! This is also an OBOB book this year and since I always thought I should read it, seemed like a good time to do so!
• Divergent by Veronica Roth - This was good. I was surprised at how much I liked it. I probably won't read the others, but I must say for dystopian teen reading, it was good. Too violent for me though.
• The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery - took me a long time to get into this story, and I nearly quit, but the ending made me realize that like life, you have to see some things through to the end. Glad I came around to a great book.
• Still Alice by Lisa Genova - read this because of my mom. Though I think her memory loss is due to other things, so helpful to read the story of this strong woman and how she coped and tried to keep her universe together as it unraveled before her family and how they made lives to make it all work. Loved it.
• Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford - a fabulous look at the Japanese internment that happened in Seattle during the war. A great weaving of times, back to the war, up to the present. And yeah, loved the ending!
• The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman - almost a novelette, but crafted so well. A staccato voice but soon it is natural and you hear the story of how another realm entered through his foot and how the women watching the ocean in the pond on their property brings the world back to rights.
• Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult - my first ever Ebook! Tried a sample and fell in love with this elephant tale. I've read a lot of her, but not for a long time so it was like putting on a favorite sweater you haven't in a long time and reloving it. What a twist at the end! Loved it!
• Bad Unicorn by Platte Clark - Ended up kind of disappointed. I was really enjoying Princess the unicorn and her destroyer capabilities, but somewhere the story just fell flat to me. Maybe it was some of the use of names from other things twisted, not sure, but wasn't happy when Princess died and the kids made it through the games. Oh, well, can't love them all.
• The Unfinished Angel by Sharon Creech - I be thinkful this story flew to my hands and with little phlishing made a home in my softest of hearts.
• Endymion Spring by Matthew Skelton - The Last Book and the work of Endymion Spring come together in the tale of one of Gutenberg's apprentices which link our hero to the past. Some very nice sentences, but a lot to chew on! Blake is chosen by the Endymion Spring book to unlock the fabled and sought after Last Book. Set in Oxford, I loved seeing the college town this way. I would love to see a Leafdragon.
• Heir Apparent by Vivian Vande Velde - Ended up really enjoying this little role play fantasy. Giannine gets a birthday gift card for total immersion role play and picks Heir Apparent. The parent club outside rampages through and she is left to either win the game or perhaps not live through it. Loved when she 'died' in the game and had to start over again!
• Tides by Betsy Cornwell - Loved this selkie tale! Mara and Noah are really drawn to each other in the between places. In between Mara's true water home and his summer job on the island. Together they overcome their fears, help each other out and grow in many ways. Loved this.
• Bones of Faerie by Janni Lee Simner - it really is just the bones of a tale, stark, shimmering with magic remembered and feared, a war, magic hidden. I wanted the story to be richer, but realize that it might be less of a story for more words. Really quite beautiful.
• Rump by Liesl Shurtliff - what a nice retelling of the legend of Rumpelstiltskin. All that gold, and the power it had over him was a great thing. The trolls made me laugh!
• Going Bovine by Libba Bray - what a ride! Does he have mad cow disease and will save the world and save himself in the process? Had a hard time getting into the book with all the negative teenage boy attitude, but then the disease is diagnosed and with his friend Gonzo (a little person), an angel named Dulcie and a garden gnome who is Balder (and is the Norse God captive in the gnome) they cruise through mayhem to save the world. Too much fun!
• Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs - loved this! The photographs are what attract, and then you start the journey of the story and it is quite the tale! Loved the mixture of bildungsroman, fantasy, and adventure! A must read!
• Pendragon Book One: The Merchant of Death - by D. J. MacHale - Interesting! I really thought this would be an Arthurian saga, but no way! Bobbie's uncle takes him on a ride, to another world where the answer always seems to be "This is the way it is meant to be". Bobbie is one of the Travelers, off to different places, but this book is on Denduron, and he writes to his two friends back on Second Earth to tell of his travels, and to maybe save another world in the process.
• The Book of the Dun Cow by Walter Wangerin, Jr. - Loved this old style of writing. A bit hard to plow through it at times, but so rich in detail it truly is a fantasy classic! Chanticleer is truly a hero for the ages!
• The Fault in our Stars by John Green - all the rage here at school! Two students did not pick up their hold copies so I snagged one home over the weekend. Boy and girl have cancer, meet and find they are worth the grenade of loving someone who has cancer - Gus takes his Genie wish to give Just Megan the trip of a lifetime to meet her favorite author. I can see why the kids love it :)
• After Hamilin by Bill Richardson - What did happen after the Piper took the children in payment? Penelope knows. She lost her hearing and wasn't taken away, but she got her eleventh birthday gift of Deep Dreaming and seeks out the Piper. A flying Trolavian, a skipping dragon and her wits bring the children back. I didn't quite like her entry to each chapter as she is 101 at this writing, but still, a fabulous story!
• Fairest by Gail Carson Levine - Aza was born into a world where singing is as important as breathing. Aza has a miraculous voice and comes to court. The King is ill and the queen uses Aza to sing for her and trouble insues! Really enjoyed this!
• Ingo by Helen Dunmore - Sapphire lives by the sea and discovers she can belong to the Mer world. She and her brother visit the undersea world. Interesting!
• Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson - a classic tale, glad I finally read it.
• The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate - loved this tale from Ivan's view of his life in a cage for 27 years in a mall and how he got out. I love stories based on true events!
• Nine Days a Queen by Ann Rinaldi - a short little book about Lady Jane Grey who was queen for 9 days just after the death of King Henry VIII. She thought to the end she would be saved.
• The Last Princess by Galaxy Craze - Elizabeth and her family struggle just like the rest of England after the Seventeen Days. A madman wants to take over England as ruler and she goes into hiding after he kills her father. A nice tale, dystopian, but things work out. Nice to have that happen! Did enjoy it!
• The Story of the Other Wise Man by Henry Van Dyke - this is a "must read for Christmas!!" book for me. Truely love it. How he tells the story in really not so many words and gets the point across is beautiful.
• The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo - I had started this book back at Bush and had just read the first chapter. Sat down this morning and finished this quick little book, but savored how Kate carefully folded her words together as a delight for all the senses. Loved it.
• The Kindness of Strangers edited by Don George - I love to travel and hearing these tales made me happy that I do!
• The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale - Loved this!! Ani is born a princess, but when a lady in waiting decides she's done with waiting, Ani is in the way. Ani finds herself tending the King's geese in a foreign country and discovers her own talent. A perfectly marvelous read! Recommended!!
• Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson - what a fabulous novel. I learned more about New York in 1776 than I think I ever knew before! I could smell the stenches, agonize over Isabel's remembery, shudder at the prisoners, tense up when she would deliver messages. Amazing book.
• Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool - loved this quiet tale of boys discovering themselves and how they can make a difference in the world just because they decide to take on adventure. Nice.
• A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray - Don't quite know what I was expecting, but not a tale of The Order and the Realms opened by a daughter and boarding school girl friends. Kept my attention, well done!
• An Elephant in the Garden by Michael Morpurgo - loosely based on a true story of WW2 this tale takes you on an adventure of finding out what truly makes a family that will last even through a war. Loved it!
• The Old Country by Mordicai Gerstein - What an enchanting little book! Really a lovely read with a great ending! Enjoyed immensely!
• Wonder by R. J. Palacio - August is different and the kids at Beecher Prep are going to have to combat their own ideas of who looks normal by their actions. A great read! Loved the Precepts! "Whenever given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind" Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
• Amulet - The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi - Graphic Novel - Don't we all wish we could change the bad things in life? A great graphic novel for kids - Emily's dad dies and her family goes to live in an old house where she finds an amulet left by her great-grandfather and travels to a parallel world.
• Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson - not at all what I thought! (asian teenage angst) but a delightful spin on Peter Pan as told by Tinkerbell - lots of interesting things in here, and not your Disney version. Loved it!
• The Hundred Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais - delightful little book of young Hassan from India who becomes a great chef in Paris because of a woman with her own Michelin two star restaurant in the mountains of France, just a hundred feet away from where his family settles and opens their own restaurant. Very nicely done.
• Lireal by Garth Nix - Oh, Yes!! Loved Sabriel a year or so ago and finally picked up Lirial - Super Fabulous!! Lireal is a librarian assistant in the Great Clayr Library (!!). Prince Sameth is the Abhorsen in waiting. When they are both summoned to help Sameth's friend Nick, - it's just too good!! The whole book had me from beginning to end. On to Abhorsen to finish the trilogy!
• Freeways to Flip Flops by Sonia Marsh - When her family seems off track (her teenage son nearly hits her in the hall one day, her husband stressed by his grinding attorney work) they sell their house and move to Belize. The lack of much to do pulls them together and she realizes that paradise is not a place but a state of being.
• Jungleland by Christopher L. Stewart - off to find a fabled white city, Chris leaves family for an Indiana Jones guide and tromps through the Honduras jungle in search of the site. Entertaining with a mix of his journey, and an explorer from the 40's, it was quite a nice read.
• Soldier Dog by Sam Angus - this was a great story of a boy and a dog during WWI. The boy suspects his father drowned his puppy, and runs off to the war to find his brother. He enlists though underage and becomes a 'Keeper' a dog messenger.
• The Shade of the Moon by Susan Pfeffer - the moon shifted and turned our world upside down. Jon has gotten a 'sllip' to belong to an elite community while his family struggles with being 'grubs'. His back and forth desires to do the right thing and yet keep the peace with his teammates keeps it interesting. It was all right, though the violence both verbal (no swearing though!) and physical was hard.
• Geek by E. Archer - cute little story of a tech geek who is shielded all his life from making wishes. When he decides to go off and help the England side of the family, he learns that wishes are not necessarily happy endings. A fun little book!
• If I Stay by Gayle Forman - what a great book! Loved it and can see why it was made into a movie. Would I choose to stay? Or go? I can't say I know, but this book gets you to thinking about it.
• Summer Reads 2014:
• Tigers of the Snow by Jonathan Neale - fascinating look at how the Sherpas became the mountaineers they are considered today and not just pack animals for the wealthy, all hinged on early 1930's climbs. Incredible book!
• Kerplunk by Patrick McManus - his stories really are funny, and I read many of them years ago, so I enjoyed reading him again.
• Cork Boat by John Pollack - charming tale of perseverance through corks! Peter starts collecting corks at an early age to build a boat, and finally in his thirties, he builds a boat and sails it down a river in Portugal. Definitely fun to read!
• The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani. Interesting tale of two children who met in Italy, and both immigrate to America. Not too bad.
• One Good Dog by Susan Wilson - delightful tail wagging story of a man sentenced to a soup kitchen and a dog trained to fight and how they rescued each other. Nice!
• Whatever You Do, Don't Run by Peter Allison - love this tale of his adventures as a safari guide in Africa. Truly enjoyed this one!
• Galore by Michael Crummey - odd little book about people on the eastern coast who find a man inside the stomach of a whale. Almost wonderful, definitely interesting!
• Changing Planes by Ursula LeGuin - I really love her stuff. People waiting at airports have a chance to 'change the plane they are in' and her character visits many different planes while she waits in regular airports for her plane. Very nice!
• The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason - Really loved this premise. A piano tuner is called from London in 1886 to go to Burma to tune the piano of an eccentric colonel in the British Army. Really enjoyed it until I realized that the ending would be sad. I don't like when the author ends a story by useless death. Too bad.
• The Bell at Sealey Head by Patricia McKillip - one of my favorite fantasy authors! A great read about families and the intertwining of two worlds on the edge of the ocean. The bell rings each night, but no one knows why. The myths, and the reality are a deep mystery.