Winning Mr. Wrong by Marie Higgins

Cute, romantic, funny little story. This book is a really fun read. It was the kind of feel good reading that I often crave. It was a story about a girl named Charley. In High School, Charley had a crush on a boy from her High School.  His name is Max.  She is surprised to find out that he is now employed at the same place she is.  She reads an article on the internet about “10 Ways to Win Your Man.” She decides to try the ideas on Max. She has quite a bit of help from a neighbor who ends up being a big part of the story.

I loved every part of the book but, there were some parts of the book that I really smiled because the story is really fun.

I recommend this book for anyone wanting to read a “get away from life” book. It is a great book to read to get totally involved in a good story. I liked this book.

A Coming Evil by Vivian Vande Velde

I love, love, loved this book. It is s a story of a girl named Lisette whose parents send her away to her aunt’s in the country so that she is away from Paris and the bombings. When her father drops her off, both she and her father find out that it is not just the Aunt and her cousin that live there. Her Aunt is hiding some Jewish children in her home. This is a time when harboring Jews could lead to death or imprisonment. The Germans’ are trying to eliminate the inferior races.

In the story, there is even mention of a ghost in the story. I was a little trepid to read this book thinking it would be the bad kind of scary. I found it a very cool story of two periods of time: Hitler’s time and a time of knights, kings, priests, and nobles. I learned much from this story and found it to be a very moving story. I’d recommend this to everyone. This was a very great story.

Hoarders, the by Jean Stringam

Amazing kids...just AMAZING!!!

This is a book about two boys, Cheyenne and Joaquin Walker.  Joaquin sounds like Walking when you say it and so his name is Walking Walker.  I thought that was a pretty fun name.  There's a lot about this book that I really, really liked.  These two boys are very worried that they will not have any food in the future.  So they start saving food in their backpacks and hiding the backpacks.  One week their mom will shop and the next week there will be no food in the house.  Their Aunt Amy helps them with advice and feeding them when she is around but that isn't nearly enough.  The book has twists and turns that I just loved.  It ends in a place that I did not foresee.  I love it when a book can surprise me like that.

One of my favorite things is about two characters in the book that were twins.  Their family called them all sorts of things like: Ketchup & Mustard, Salt & Pepper, Ham & Cheese, Stars & Stripes, Bread & Butter etc.  Each time they were referred to they had a different name.  I liked that and wondered what they would be called next.  That just made the story so fun.

I would highly recommend this quick, fun, well written book.  It is an amazing book!

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.