Carnival Girl by Sonja Herbert

The author of this book had a rough childhood. She lived in a carnival growing up and she traveled from town to town in Germany. Her mother was part Jewish and had escaped the Nazi’s by joining the circus and then later her mother and father (who owned a carnival) married.

Sonja tells many stories. Some stories make me sad and a bit disturbed but the over-all story is of survival and getting through tough times. It is a memoir and sometimes real life isn’t so glamorous. To me this was an eye opener of how hard someone’s life can be. I had a lot of sympathy for her and I am glad she is doing well now.

Keeping Score by Linda Sue Park

Maggie (or Maggie-0 like Joe DiMaggio because her parents love baseball) loves to listen to baseball games on the radio. Sometimes she goes down to the firehouse to listen. One time she goes down to the firehouse and watches Jim keeping track of the score on paper. She is intrigued and learns how. She becomes very good at keeping score. Then Jim gets called to the Korean War. She learns to keep track of the war on paper.

This story has twist and turns. It is hard to stop reading because I always wanted to know what was going to happen next. I like this story because I learned about baseball while reading and I learned about the Korean War while reading. It also brought back memories of keeping score as a kid myself which I forgot all about. This is a touching story and it makes me a better person for reading it.  It even had some insights into prayer and hope.

First Boy by Gary Schmidt

This is a good solid book.   This book has strong messages of strong values, of hard work and of things that truly matter.  This is a story about a boy named Cooper.  Cooper has some challenges in his life.  Homework, Cross Country running, and getting chores done are all things he struggles with.  But then, suddenly his grandfather passes away and he has to worry about everything by himself.  It has mystery that starts with dark, black Sudans that are hanging suspiciously around the town.  Find out who is in the vehicles and how this amazing boy figures out how to get by without his grandfather.  I enjoyed this book that wasn’t afraid to talk about religion either.  It is a refreshing book.  I liked it a lot.

A Tale of Two Castles by Gail Carson Levine

I feel like I’ve just returned from an adventure after reading this book.  Elodie is from a little town called Lahnt.  That is where her family lives but she is venturing off to hopefully get an Apprenticeship in the town of Two Castles.  Right off she gets bad news.  It appears that they have done away with free Apprenticeships.  It is too late to turn back so she sets out anyway.  She is hoping for a lot of good luck but finds everything seems to be the opposite of good luck.  She doesn’t know who to trust but makes unexpected friends in places she hadn’t dreamed of. This was a book full of adventure.  There are castles, ogres, dragons, magical animals, kings, princesses, dogs, lions, an ox, poison, acting and plenty of adventures await her. 

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

Okay, so, this is part of the story of twilight.  I went in reading and knowing that it is a tragedy because I have read the Twilight series.  It was good to get her story.  I was rooting for her even though I knew the ending. 

I like this story because it helped me understand her and what she had been through.  It was easy to dismiss this character.  I didn’t know her background.  That is what I did first when I read about her in the twilight series.  I wasn’t worried about whether or not her life ended.  I didn’t know her.  It was good to get to know her and feel with her. 

 I am glad to have read this book and think it is worth the read.  It helps one in real life by realizing that following someone with a blind faith isn’t always wise.  Sometimes feelings help us to know that we need to not follow that person on blind faith.  We need to trust our feelings.  That is a good lesson for me.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by JK Rowling

This book by JK Rowling is really fun.  I enjoyed these stories.  This book was written to help JK Rowling’s Charity with money.  There are 5 stories.  The stories are the magic version of what we would call “Fairy Tales” or “Fables.”  These are what the magic communities in Harry Potter’s world would be read to for bedtime stories though some could be quite shocking for little ones to be read to at bedtime.  My favorite part of the book is the actual stories.  They have some fun bonuses though.  Dumbledore (the character) gives insight and commentary on each one.  That is fun to read.  Also, the author JK Rowling gives footnotes.  Hermione (the character) is to have translated the stories.  I really thought the stories were fun and believable.  It was quick, light reading that went best when I was using my imagination.

Cinder and Ella by Melissa Lemon

What if the story of Cinderella has been wrong all this time?  What if all this time no one has gotten the details right?  The author writes this as being the real Cinderella story.  This is a story about a very happy family which consists of:  a dad, a mom and 4 little girls (Katrina, Cinder, Ella, and Beatrice).  Then something in the story happens that breaks up their happy family.  There is a change.  Soon things are not happy.  Cinder finds herself in a position to try to save her family and she’ll also have to save the entire kingdom from a very dark and evil prince.  That’s a heavy burden for anyone to bear but, Cinder will find she can do much to help.  I really liked this book.  It wasn’t the typical happily ever after book and yet it had a very satisfying ending.  It was a book that really makes you think about real life troubles and of family.  It was very hard to put down.