Monday, December 15, 2014

January choices!

From Jillene for our January meeting:


1)  A Homemade life: stories and recipes from my kitchen table, by Molly Wizenburg. 

2)  Maman's Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen, by Donia Bijan 

3)  Bittersweet: thoughts on change, grace, and learning the hard way, by Shauna Niequist


Sunday, November 2, 2014

December reading choices

From Corinne:

The Caged Graves by Dianne Salerni
The year is 1867, and seventeen-year-old Verity Boone is excited to return from Worcester, Massachusetts, to Catawissa, Pennsylvania, the hometown she left when she was just a baby. Now she will finally meet the fiancĂ© she knows only through letters! Soon, however, she discovers two strangely caged graves . . . and learns that one of them is her own mother’s. Verity swears she’ll get to the bottom of why her mother was buried in “unhallowed ground” in this suspenseful teen mystery that swirls with rumors of witchcraft, buried gold from the days of the War of Independence, and even more shocking family secrets.
Valancy Stirling is 29, unmarried, and has never been in love. Living with her overbearing mother and meddlesome aunt, she finds her only consolation in the "forbidden" books of John Foster and her daydreams of the Blue Castle—a place where all her dreams come true and she can be who she truly wants to be. Shortly after her birthday Valancy receives some news about her health that makes her decide to throw caution to the wind and make a fresh start. Rebelling against her family she soon discovers a surprising new world, full of love and adventures far beyond her most secret dreams. One of Montgomery's only novels intended for an adult audience, The Blue Castle is filled with humor and romance.
In the tradition of Out of My MindWonder, and Mockingbird, this is an intensely moving middle grade novel about being an outsider, coping with loss, and discovering the true meaning of family.

Willow Chance is a twelve-year-old genius, obsessed with nature and diagnosing medical conditions, who finds it comforting to count by 7s. It has never been easy for her to connect with anyone other than her adoptive parents, but that hasn't kept her from leading a quietly happy life . . . until now.

Suddenly Willow's world is tragically changed when her parents both die in a car crash, leaving her alone in a baffling world. The triumph of this book is that it is not a tragedy. This extraordinarily odd, but extraordinarily endearing, girl manages to push through her grief. Her journey to find a fascinatingly diverse and fully believable surrogate family is a joy and a revelation to read.

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Choices for October

Christine's choices for October:

My theme is non fiction: stories of people and challenges

The boy who harnessed the wind: generating currents of hope and electricity
By William Kamkwamba 

The boy who harnessed the wind is one of my absolute favorite books of all time! So incredible! I really want everyone to pick this one.

The Glass Castle
By Jeannette Walls

Also an excellent book.

Chasing Chaos: My decade in and out of humanitarian aid
By Jessica Alexander

Really liked this book. The Howard county library doesn't have any copies but the Baltimore county have several.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Book choices for June!

A quick poll this time for June's reading:

1. The Tempest - Shakespeare
Prospero, sorcerer and rightful Duke of Milan, along with his daughter Miranda, has lived on an island for many years since his position was usurped by his brother Antonio. Then, as Antonio's ship passes near the island one day, Prospero conjures up a terrible storm...This play, combining elements of both tragedy and comedy, is believed by some to be the last Shakespeare wrote on his own, as well as one of his most fascinating works. The Signet edition also features an overview of Shakespeare's life and times, commentary by William Strachey, Montaigne, and others, and a stage and screen history, among other special content.

2. The Story of the Trapp Family Singers - Maria Augusta Trapp
With nearly 1,500 Broadway performances, six Tony Awards, more than three million albums sold, and five Academy Awards, The Sound of Music, based on the lives of Maria, the baron, and their singing children, is as familiar to most of us as our own family history. But much about the real-life woman and her family was left untold.
Here, Baroness Maria Augusta Trapp tells in her own beautiful, simple words the extraordinary story of her romance with the baron, their escape from Nazi-occupied Austria, and their life in America.

3. How Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm: And Other Adventures in Parenting - Mei-Ling Hopgood
A tour of global practices that will inspire American parents to expand their horizons (and geographical borders) and learn that there’s more than one way to diaper a baby.

Mei-Ling Hopgood, a first-time mom from suburban Michigan—now living in Buenos Aires—was shocked that Argentine parents allow their children to stay up until all hours of the night. Could there really be social and developmental advantages to this custom? Driven by a journalist’s curiosity and a new mother’s desperation for answers, Hopgood embarked on a journey to learn how other cultures approach the challenges all parents face: bedtimes, potty training, feeding, teaching, and more.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Options for May

Kirsten's choices for May!  Take a look:
 
False Prince by Jennifer A Nielsen 
 

Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore
 
 
Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
 

Monday, March 10, 2014

Choices for April

The theme:  books my 11-year-old might like to read.

Summer of the Monkeys, Wilson Rawls -- by the author of Where the Red Fern Grows.  I adore this book.  There is a review here.

Enchanted Runner, Kimberley Griffiths Little -- I have not read this one yet but it got great reviews and sounds really interesting.

Wonder, R.J. Palacio -- I recently read this one and am trying to get said 11-year-old to read it because it's really worth it.  Reviews here.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

For March: Carolyn's choice

The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster
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From Amazon.com:

     "It seems to me that almost everything is a waste of time," Milo laments. "[T]here's nothing for me to do, nowhere I'd care to go, and hardly anything worth seeing." This bored, bored young protagonist who can't see the point to anything is knocked out of his glum humdrum by the sudden and curious appearance of a tollbooth in his bedroom. Since Milo has absolutely nothing better to do, he dusts off his toy car, pays the toll, and drives through. What ensues is a journey of mythic proportions, during which Milo encounters countless odd characters who are anything but dull.
     Norton Juster received (and continues to receive) enormous praise for this original, witty, and oftentimes hilarious novel, first published in 1961. In an introductory "Appreciation" written by Maurice Sendak for the 35th anniversary edition, he states, "The Phantom Tollbooth leaps, soars, and abounds in right notes all over the place, as any proper masterpiece must." Indeed.
     As Milo heads toward Dictionopolis he meets with the Whether Man ("for after all it's more important to know whether there will be weather than what the weather will be"), passes through The Doldrums (populated by Lethargarians), and picks up a watchdog named Tock (who has a giant alarm clock for a body). The brilliant satire and double entendre intensifies in the Word Market, where after a brief scuffle with Officer Short Shrift, Milo and Tock set off toward the Mountains of Ignorance to rescue the twin Princesses, Rhyme and Reason. Anyone with an appreciation for language, irony, or Alice in Wonderland-style adventure will adore this book for years on end. (Ages 8 and up)

Friday, January 3, 2014

February Reading

Ashley's book choices for February:

* The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
 
* The Sword in the Stone T.H. White
 
* The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe C.S. Lewis