The Penderwicks...again.

I love the Penderwicks. I love Batty the littlest Penderwick who loves her dog Hound and whose imagination is amazing. I love Sky who is so logical and analytical. I love Jane and her love for books and stories. But my favorite has to be Rosalind who is always in charge and handles it with ease....usually.

In this book The Penderwicks on Gardam Street Rosalind gets thrown off a little bit and you see her be a kid. You see her make mistakes and forget things. It is all because her father gets a letter from her dead mother telling him he must date again. It is a story of minor deceit. All of the Penderwicks are guilty of it. It is the introduction of more characters and of minor catastrophes....which are common for the Penderwiks. It is in wonderful Penderwick fashion though. Simple and human, yet wonderfully entertaining.

If you have not read either of the books about the Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall I recommend you pick them up. I do not think you will be disappointed.

Charlie Bone

I am on my 6th Charlie Bone book. I love to hear what is happening in this crazy boy's life, but I wonder if it is every going to end. It isn't like Harry Potter where I know when and what to expect. I think I started reading these books because of Harry Potter. Someone suggested them if I liked Harry Potter. And I do like Charlie Bone. All of the books are very interesting and full of adventure. The children at Bloor's Academy where Charlie goes to school are all unique and easy to like. In this particular installment, Charlie is finally happy to have found his father, but the person who saved is father is now in danger. There are new sparks of evil appearing around every corner and Charlie is having a hard time deciding who is really on his side. In the end Charlie's friends, who are always there for him, and even some new friends are there for him again in order to do everything good he can do. One of the reasons I like Charlie and I think one of the reasons people compare Charlie Bone to Harry Potter is because of their quest for goodness. Both boys are not doing everything perfectly and may often get in trouble, but in the end are doing the "right" thing.

The Grimm Sisters

One of my students gave me a book to read. I have so many others to read, but her enthusiasm for this particular book was enough to make me start reading. Once I started I couldn't stop. Although Sabrina and Daphne are orphans when we meet them, which is something I feel is a bit overdone, they are easy to like and care about. The young Daphne compliments her bitter older sister with a youthful joy which is refreshing. The story quickly moves from one dramatic event to the other, keeping you wondering what crazy thing will happen next and there are enough plot questions imbeded in the story to keep the mind going at all moments. I enjoy Daphne much more than her older sister and love how easily she attaches to her crazy grandmother. I love her positive outlook on people and events and her willingness to do whatever she can for those she loves. Even though Sabrina is a bit pessimistic, she has good reason. She keeps this fairy tale story grounded and more believable.

We meet these girls as they are on their way to yet another foster home. Sabrina is nervous about living with her supposed grandmother, and becomes even more so when she first meets her. She suspects all kinds of terrible things about her, especially when she has them investigating giants. It takes her a while to have faith in her grandmother, but when the truth is looking her in the face she can't help but believe. And when her grandmother is taken from them, they do everything they can to get her back. The girls find themselves scrambling around in a town of fairy tale characters befriending some and fighting against others as they try to rescue their new family.

I enjoy the mix of fiction and fairy tale of this story and can understand how Michael Buckley has made a series with a great set of main characters to play with. I haven't actually finished the story so I am unsure if the girls actually find their grandmother or not or if they have enough faith in her to stay with her. You will have to read the book to find out just as I will. And my guess is that it will be worth it. I am already looking forward to reading the next one. I will move on to some other things before that, but eventually I will get there.

The curse of the series

I understand very well why books in a series are so "in" right now. I just finished Atherton, the house of power by Patrick Carman, which I had no idea was the beginning of another series, and now I am eagerly anticipating the arrival of the next of the series.

Books in a series, I have learned, work well when you attach yourself to the characters in a book. I think one of the big reasons Harry Potter is so popular is because JK Rowling created characters we wanted to love. Patrick Carmen does the same.

I was immediately addicted to Patrick Carman's last series (The Land of Elyon) because of the characters and the environment he creates. When I saw he had a new book out I quickly added it to my list of must reads.

Now that I am finished with the book, or maybe because I just finished reading The Giver, I found Atherton reminds me a lot of The Giver. I read another blog recently that had a hard time choosing a genre for The Giver, they called it social science fiction or dystopian/utopian fiction (depending on who you are I assume). Regardless, I would put these two books in the same category because they both have created an alternate universe, without leaving the "earth" we know as home behind.

Edgar is a young boy alone in his world, searching for something of which he does not know. We join him as he makes his journey throughout his world, always surprised at what he finds. As you read you want to help Edgar climb the walls and read the pages of his book. You want to be there for him when it seems he can't lean on anyone else. You understand why he is frustrated and want to comfort him in his loneliness. Patrick Carmen, as I believe he does best, creates a vivid and remarkable picture of the world of Atherton and all the people in it.

Even though this book is a children's book this story still raises questions about the environment, government, the limits on control those in power should have, and scientific discovery. I find that the more children's literature I read the more questions about life and possibilities are opened up for me. I think that by reading this book children can open their minds to the possibilities of tomorrow.

Deathy afraid of the Hallows

WARNING!!! There are spoilers in this blog. If you have not read The Deathly Hallows and wish to keep it that way read no further. I will tell you if Harry lives or dies as well as some other major plot points. So stop reading now if you want to be surprised!


I started out reading the most current Harry Potter novel scared to death that I would not like the ending. I swore that if JK Rowling killed Harry that I would never read another of her books again.


I spent the months leading up to the release of The Deathly Hallows on this website reading what thousands thought would happen in the most recent tale of The One Who Lived. I was prepared for the worst, but refused to believe it would actually happen. At one point in the tale I shut the book and shouted "I do not want to read this book anymore!!" Good thing I continued on because I was not disappointed.


The night of the realease party I was very antsy. I was going with a friend to a "Potter Party" to buy my book but I could hardly wait to get reading. As I browsed the above mentioned website I saw that JK had read the first chapter aloud in London. I quickly clicked on the link and listened to every word. The first chapter was not nearly as grabbing as when Lord Voldemort killed the old man in Harry's dream in Harry Potter 4 or being followed by Dementors as in Harry Potter 5, but it held me over for just a bit longer. We waited patiently playing multiple games of Rummikub on the floor of our local Barnes and Noble. I could hardly contain myself as I finally got a hold of my copy and headed home. My plan was to read as long as I possibly could.

I got home and settled into my comfortable spot and began to read. I didn't last long. My eyes were drooping after only an hour and I was disappointed in myself. I had gotten as far as Harry, Hermoine and Ron escaping from the wedding and going on the run and I couldn't make it any further.

The next day I headed up to Donner Lake to see a friend up from LA and of course I had to take my book with me. I read as much as I could on Saturday and Sunday and finally finished around 9 o'clock on Sunday night. Once I started the last third of the book there was pretty much no stopping me. I would have stayed up way beyond my bedtime for that ending.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I can't say it is my favorite because I still can't get past the history and sense of family we experience in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, but this book comes the closest of them all to being the next best.

The first half of the book is not the most exciting reading I have ever had. I enjoyed how JK brought new developments into the story to steer us from the horcruxes, but I had trouble with the monotony of the traveling. Honestly I had trouble believing it was so easy for the trio to stay out of trouble for so long. The safety precautions seemed almost too easy of a way for the kids to stay safe.

Once Ron took off, the story picked itself up quite a bit. I loved that Aberforth came into the story too help Harry. Regardless of what Dumbledore did or didn't do, Aberforth still realized the importance of Harry and his quest and i loved that it wasn't Dumbledore himself, but someone "close" to him. I wouldn't even have minded if Dumbledore had not made an appearance at all. I didn't care too much for the chapter when Harry spoke with Dumbledore.

I also didn't mind that Snape wasn't in the story too often. He is not my favorite character, but it was nice to get some resolution where he was concerned. The relationship he had with Harry was much easier to understand after the knowledge we gained and the fact that Harry was willing to give him his last wish as he died was particularly sweet after the history they shared.

One of my most favorite parts of the book is when Harry returns to Hogwarts and is met there by just about everyone he has encountered in his 7 years in the wizarding world. The backing Harry receives from the houses as he enters the main hall is especially powerful and brought me to tears.

Although, when Harry returns to Hogwarts and must fight Draco Malfoy and his friends again I was surprised there was not more anger on Harry's part. Throughout the entire book Harry despises Malfoy and when he gets his opportunity to do something mean or vengeful to him he doesn't even make an attempt. It is not as if I expected Harry to kill Malfoy, but I did expect him to lock him up in an unbreakable closet or something equally mean. It seemed that after all the years of hating Malfoy and knowing what Malfoy stood for that he would have wanted to give back some of the pain that had been afflicted on him.

While I was very happy with the book as a whole I was hoping for more information about the life of Harry Potter and the others once LV had left the world. It was a bit of a disappointing note to leave on. I almost wish that it had been left out entirely so I could make up my own happy ending. Almost, but not quite.

If I were an egg, I too would be cracked

I just finished Eggs by Jerry Spinelli, a super great children's author, and have decided I don't like it's title. When I first picked it up I thought to myself, if I were an egg I would be a bit cracked. The characters in this tale are surely that. A bit cracked, but further than that and an Easter egg hunt I can find the correlation between the title and the content. True, without the Easter Egg hunt there would be no story, but I think there could have been something better, more catchy and more applicable.



The story is an engaging tale of two children searching, or yearning for what they are missing. The create a unique pair, more like siblings than friends, that do very little besides bicker through the majority of the story. David met Primrose after he attended an Easter egg hunt he didn't even want to go on in the first place. Primrose was "playing dead" underneath one of the hidden eggs. David goes weeks or months without seeing Primrose again, but when he does he sure makes a scene of things.

As I continued reading I kept waiting for the climactic moment when these children would realize those around them loved them, and although there were people missing from their lives, they could continue to have wonderful lives without them. It never really came. I enjoyed the story anyway. David and Primrose are easy to like and you want for them to be happy. They have mini-adventures not like typical children have (like painting a van and using it as your home or making sure you follow all the rules you can possibly think of) and it is easy to picture the emotion and connection the characters in this story create.

Eggs is a quick read that will make you think about living without family and realizing, even when you didn't think it was possible, there are others too that care. I do recommend you read this book, but I wouldn't put it in my number one spot.