The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I have had this book before it became popular because of the movie.  I remember trying to get my book friends to do it for book club.  But, at that point I hadn't read it.  So here I am many months later....the movie here and on DVD and I just barely finished it.  It is a very good book.  It tells the story in three different perpectives.  Two of these people are black (Minnie and Aibileen) and they work at white people's houses as maids.  The other is white (Skeeter) and she wants to write a book about "the Help."  Skeeter grew up with a maid in her life.  She was raised by her and she loved her with all her heart.  When she comes back from college her maid is gone and no one will tell her why she is gone.  Skeeter looks at her friends and their help and how they are treated.  Those things lead her to the idea for the book along with her desire to write.

This book is about writing the book and the adventures that come along with it. I learned much and felt much as I read this book. There is a part that was not wholesome about an intruder in Minnie's employer's backyard.  I kind of wish that wasn't there but, other than that I thought the book was well written.

The Kissing Tree by Prudence Bice

December 8th is the day this book will officially come out.  It is fun to have read it before it has come out.  This was a gift to me from a great friend who has more connections than I.  I had loved Prudence Bice's first book the Widower's wife.  This one was great too...if not even better. 

I love the story line.  It is just fun.   It starts with the young girl, Georgiana (Georgie) stealing a kiss from Ridge, one of her best friends.  Little did she know that she wouldn't see him for 5 years after the kiss.   Her family went to New York for what she thought was a visit and it ended up that her family stayed there.

This is a love story and I loved every minute of it.  It's another one of those books I just couldn't put down.  I love the characters and I love the way they interact with each other.  It was just so fun.   I can hardly wait for her next one.

Perceval by John Perkins illustrated by Gennady Spirin

The illustrations in this book are absolutely incredible.  It gives the book such an authentic feel to it.

I had the opportunity to be attend a symposium when Gennady Spirin was speaking.  His son acted as an interpreter.  I was impressed with his vast experience and how he really thinks things out.  He has such good values and character.  It comes out in his illustrations I believe.

This book has a great story that made me think about curiousity and asking questions.  This is in the days of the knights of the roundtable.  It is about a boy who wants to be a knight.  His mother is heartbroken but lets him go.  She gives him advice as he leaves.  He does follow most of the advice.  I haven't heard this story before but it is a famous story.

This book is very fun.  A quick wonderful read with candy for the eyes.  I hope to re-read it again.

Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson

Love this series.  It's hard to put these books down long enough to eat, drink, or sleep.   Once I get started reading them I just can not stop.  I enjoyed these books quite a bit.

This book is written in Curzon's point of view instead of Isabel's.  It was good to see through his eyes the happenings of Valley Forge.  I would not have liked to have been at Valley Forge.  I had no idea about the happenings that went on at that time.  I learned a lot and have much sympathy for the soldiers and for slaves.  Laurie Halse Anderson sure can create wonderful characters that it is hard not to like them.  It's hard not to pull for them as they go about the story.

I look forward to the next book (not out yet) called, "Ashes."  I might be like my kids on a vacation trip in the car..."Are we there yet?" or in this case..."Is it published yet?"

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

Here's a book that is absolutely TOUGH to put down even for a minute.  I finished this one very quickly.  I am going to be off in a few minutes to read the next volume of this story called "Forge." 

This is a story about a girl working as a slave.  She finds her owner has passed away.  Her owners last will was to set her and her sister, Ruth, free upon her death.  Things don't always work like they should and the new owner of the property (the nephew of her deceased owner.) has different ideas.   You grow to love Isabel all through the story.  It is one of the resiliency of the human soul.  It is one of hard work.  It will touch your heart.  I do not cry easily BUT I cried in this book.  I loved this book!

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

Well, I did it.  I completed the series.  I enjoyed this book but had a hard time starting it.  I have been so busy lately and yet I know that if I start it is hard to put it down.  I was happy to have some time to read it.  It was truly a great way to end a series with a spark of....there could be something more about the subject in the future. 

This book is the story of the battle against the Titans.  They are going to try to take over Olympus.  It has lots of twists and turns and the unexpected creeps up very often.  It was a book that you never knew what was going to happen yet.  I liked the sparks of romance in it too.  I enjoyed reading it.  Kudos to a great book.

Tris & Izzie by Mette Ivie Harrison

This was a love story and adventure.  Mettie Ivie Harrison has such a unique way about writing.   I really like this book.

Izzie is in love with Mark.  Her mom is a witch.  She has a best friend that is acting strangely toward her and she doesn't know why.  Then a new boy comes to the school named Tristan.  Life changes dramatically when he comes to the school.  I'll let you discover that for yourselves but, I never expected the fun in the story plot.

Maid for Me by Kat Lieu

This book I bought on accident.  I was on Amazon looking for all the books I could find that were free (for my ipod).  It was late and I was tired and not watching what I was doing.  In the end I purchased it for my Ipod.  I couldn't take it back because I didn't notice it costed until about a week later when it when through my bank.  I felt like an idiot.  I decided to read it because I didn't want to waste it. 

So, I expected it to be weird and perhaps a bit inappropriate due to the cover.  It ended up being a pretty good book.  It is definitely a book with the intention of hooking the teenage reader.  There's much about it that I enjoyed.  The story line is funner if you discover it yourself but I really like the main character.  I like her spunk and independence.  I also like the change in her through out the book.  It was a good read strictly for entertainment.

The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

Who knew a Labyrinth could be so vast and so complicated?  This book puts it all into perspective on how big the Labyrinth in the book is.  It's huge and extends to many cities far apart (from San Fransisco to New York to New Mexico and bigger).

Annabeth gets a quest and takes along Percy Jackson, Tyson (Percy's half brother) and Grover.  The quest is to go through the Labyrinth to get to Daedalus to prevent Luke from getting the string that would help him get through the Labyrinth to attack Camp Half-Blood. 

There's fun adventure and even Percy's new friend, Rachel, helps out in the Labyrinth.  We also learn more about Nico di Angelo.

I liked this book in the series a lot.  It was easy to get carried away in the story.  There's more romance in this book.  That makes it even better.

Now on to the next one!!!

The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan

Percy has more adventures with Thalia (and Zoe, a new friend, too) as they try to save the Hunting goddess, Artemis and to try to save Annabeth.  Atlas is in this volume as are many Gods and Goddesses from Greek Mythology and their friend, Luke comes to play in this volume too.)  I enjoy the Percy Jackson books.  Percy comes out of some amazing situations usually with the help of others.  It was a fun read.  I am excited to read the next two volumes.

Daphne's Book by Mary Downing Hahn

This book was fun.  As I was reading, I started to think about when it was written.  Things reminded me of when I was growing up.  Things like combs in the back pocket made me wonder how old the book is.  I looked in the front of the book.  It said: "First Avon Camelot Printing: May 1995"  and it said copyright was 1983.  So then I understood because it was made back in the day when I was the girls age.  That was kind of fun to think about.

This is a book about a girl named Jessica.  Jessica is really shy.  She is paired up in class with a girl named Daphne.  She doesn't dislike Daphne but doesn't want to have people make fun of her like they make fun of Daphne.  She's afraid to say anything. 

But, as Daphne and Jessica work together to on their school project of a children's book they become close.  Daphne draws and Jessica writes the story.  Then Jessica learns something about Daphne that is a secret and it is a secret that might be too big for Jessica to handle. 

This book was well written and I enjoyed it.

December Stillness by Mary Downing Hahn

I finished this book last night. The last book I read of Mary Downing Hahn's I didn't recommend but this one I would recommend.

This is a story about a girl named Kelly McAllister.  She is given an assignment in her class to write about something controversial.  She decides to write about homeless people.  She tries to talk to Mr. Weems.  Mr. Weems is a homeless man who comes to the library each day.  Mr. Weems doesn't want help or friends.  This is a story of how she struggles to help this man and the reactions of the people around him.   It is a good read and I was able to really think about some of the issues.

I think this book could really help a youth to see this issue in a different perspective and discover along with Kelly more about Vietnam and about Homelessness and what a problem it can be.  A good handle on a controversial topic.

Peasant Queen by Cheri Chesley

This was a fun little tale that I enjoyed.

Krystal is a girl that her brother's take care of since her mom is blind and her father has died.  Her brothers set up an arranged marriage for her.  She is not happy about it and runs away.  As she runs away though she is surrounded by some guards and kidnapped.  Magic is used and she is very far from home and taken to a castle and to King Gregory.  This is a different life and there is lots of adventure in this distant land.

One thing about the book I would have liked to have different is I kept wanting to make the main character eat. It seemed she never ate. She was always too involved in what was going on around her to bother eating.  Her stomache was often upset.

This book has magic, romance, kissing, adventure, beauty and is just a fun read.  I enjoyed it.

The Wind Blows Backward by Mary Downing Hahn

This book is about a girl who starts to hang out with an old best friend from her younger years.  Though she resists she finds she still likes him even though he wouldn't talk to her for many years.  Now he seems to want to share something with her.  She has to wait for him to share it when he is ready.  They become quite close and he does share his secret with her.

I probably wouldn't recommend this book. While this book gives me an idea of another way of thinking different from mine, I think I would have like to have spent my time on a different book.  I picked this one up because she was an author at the BYU Symposium on Books for young Readers.  I think she handled things well, but I would have rather had a book take a stand to not have sex before marriage.  I think she is a great author.  She weaves a great story and she writes with interest BUT it just wasn't my kind of book.

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

This is a GREAT book.  I highly recommend it.  At the first, there is his teacher.  He is sure she is out to get him.  I love this book and enjoyed the ups and downs at school.  This is just so full of fun stories.  You'll love it too.

Fever by Laurie Halse Anderson

LOVED this book!  I enjoyed reading this story.  It is a sad story but I think she handled the sadness with great care.  There was a comforting hope in the story too.

The more books I read of Laurie Halse Anderson, the more I just love and value her writing.  She is a very talented writer that is able to handle difficult topics in a wise manner.
 
This is a story about the Fever that happened in 1793.  At first, there was talk of an outbreak.  It was thought that only the people by the docks were affected.  Then later many more die and are affected.  Many flee the city to go to the country to get away.  This is a story about a young girl that has to grow up awfully quick to get through the situation happening where she lives.

I loved her characters especially the grandfather.  He was quite the character.  What a fun, quick read!  I recommend this book.  :)

Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

This book is beautiful.  I am still finding myself pondering some of the words and thinking about the story.  There are so many lessons to learn in this book.

This story is based on South Africa.  It is a story about a man who goes from his small village in search of his son in the big city.  In the process I learned much about South Africa that I did not know.  I fell in love with the characters and was inspired by their actions.  Human kindness, Poverty, Big Cities, Africa, Family, Politics, and Choices are all talked of in the book.  This book is written differently than most books I've read and I enjoyed learning a new way.  The conversations are written differently and many times I noticed that the dialogue had changed on me and I didn't notice it right away.  It kept me on my toes.

I highly recommend this book and recommend re-reading it if you have.  :)