Stars: ****

I received this book for review from Annick Press. I also read it for the Planet Earth 2008 Challenge.

“Burn explores the potent and dynamic role of fire over the course of human history, from facilitating communication, as a powerful agent in the natural world, to its use as an instrument of war.”

This book is marketed for young readers ages 10-12 but I wouldn't recommend it for the under 12’s as it talks about death, natural disasters, war, guns and other sensitive issues. In fact the first two paragraphs of the whole book talk about a very sad and upsetting disaster that had ME upset so I’d be careful with sensitive kids.

For my own notes (thanks to ABookGeek for the idea)

Need to Read for Challenges:
Through a Brief Darkness by Richard Peck (by Dec. 1)
A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck (by Dec. 1)
Strays Like Us by Richard Peck (by Dec. 1)
Baby Be Mine by Diane Fanning
Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom
Merry Christmas Babies by Tara Taylor Quinn
Eve's Christmas by Janet Dailey
Booked to Die by John Dunning
Bookman's Wake by John Dunning
Bookseller of Kabul by Anne Seiersted
Red Rage by Rachel Ward
Leaving Simplicity by Claire Carmichael

Need to Finish for Review Books:
Splitting Harriet by Tamara Leigh
For Parents Only
Last two in above list as well

Hope to Finish for Group Reads:
Christmas Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini

Stars: **** I received this book for review from Annick Press.

This is a non-fiction book about animal babies for ages 7-10. It would be interesting for ages 5 and 6 if you read it to them. Each double page spread is a different animal baby. There is a colour photograph of the animal baby, the name it is called, a sentence or two about the animal baby and some fun facts. There are also illustrations by Mariko Ando Spencer in each section.

Okay so I meant to sign up for this challenge back in February. Oh well. I should be able to read 5 nonfiction books about health and wellness by Nov. 14.

1. The Hidden Dangers of Soy by Diane Gregg
2. Nourishing Your Daughter by Carol Beck
3. Stick Figure: A Diary of a Former Self by Lori Gottlieb
4.
5.

Stars: *****

This was read for the Book Awards Challenge, Read it Again Challenge and Newbery Project.

I first read this in grade school and loved it. When I saw I needed to read it for the Newbery Project I decided to reread it and I'm glad I did. I remembered it almost exactly and I enjoyed it very much again. I love his writing and would like to try some more of his books to see if they are as well written.

Stars: *****

This book was read for the Reading the Author challenge.

I had major Deja Vu when reading this book. I think I may have read it before but I couldn't remember what happened before it happened so if I did, it was many years ago. This is the first Richard Peck I've ever read and I loved it.

Stars: *****

I read this book for the Bibliography challenge.

I'm glad I found and read this book. Dunning is a great author and I thoroughly enjoyed his writing. Reading about buying and reselling books was very interesting and makes me want to learn more about it so I can make some money finding good deals. There is some really good information on the hobby too, not just a passing mention. The way the book is written, it could almost pass as a memoir. It all sounds so real, I kept having to remind myself it wasn't.

The story was very intriguing. The plot was well thought out. I had trouble stopping reading for the night

Stars: *****

I chose this book because I picked it up at a library sale but I’m 95% sure I’ve actually read this once before. This is also the first 5 Star book of 2008. (Even thought it's not the first 5-star review posted.) I also read this for the Casual Reading Challenge.

It’s the story of Lauren and her friend Andrea who both feel too fat and want to lose weight. Only Andrea takes it too far. It’s the story of Anorexia and a teen girl’s pressure to be thin. It’s told very well and I think it would be the perfect book to read along with your teen and discuss. I think if more parents discussed this book with their teens, we might make teens more aware of anorexia and the warning signs.
I HIGHLY recommend this book to all teen girls ages 12 and up.

Stars: ****

This book was read for the Unread Authors Challenge and because I won it in a contest.

I actually read this a few months ago but didn't get a chance to review it.

I really enjoyed this book, the storyline was very well thoughtout and very interesting. My only problem with this book was it was a little long. I like books that cut to the chase and don't have a lot of insignifcant detail (like Ray Bradbury.) I think a few chapters could have been cut from this book and it would still have been fine.

Stars: ****

This book was read for the Four-Legged Friends challenge and the Fall Into Reading challenge. This book was read in November.

This is a tween novel, ages 9 and up about a boy who is thrown overboard of a ship to save his life and is washed up on an island full of dogs. The dogs were left behind by the former islanders. The dogs have split into two groups, with the more wild dogs called Fangoes by the sheep dogs. However it's been a while since people were on the island and most of the dogs don't remember humans. The boy, Jack, is the first human they've seen and he doesn't fit what they have heard about humans.

Stars: ****

I re-read this for the Christmas Theme Challenge only because I wasn't able to get to the library to get a new-to-me book. It was also for the Read It Again challenge.

I read this book every year in the week of Christmas (although it only takes me a day to read it.)

Stars: *****

This book was read for the Book to Movie Challenge.

I always loved the movie and I'm glad I read the book. There were some differences like the shoes were silver and not red (ruby) and there were lots of new things like more creatures than the munchkins. It was very creative and interesting. There are more than 20 books in the series, 14 of which were written by Frank Baum and I'd love to read them all. Unfortunately my library has 1, 2, 4, 6 and 11. *rolling eyes*

Highly Recommended.

At a Loss for Words / Diane SchoemperlenToronto : HarperCollins Canada, c2007.
Before this year ends, I want to get in a few last reviews of some of the reads of 2007.

Stars: ***

I was sent this book to review from Annick Press and chose to read it during the read-a-thon.

I was excited to read it because I like explanations of how math is used in real life. However I was a little dissapointed, the whole idea was great, it wasn’t just non-fiction, it was fiction too as everything was told as a story. However the explanations weren't very simple and I was lost on a few of them and I’m an adult!

Stars: ***1/2

This book was read as part of the R.I.P. II challenge. It was an extra book.

I'm glad I got to this book. It was a good book, but I rated it 3 1/2 stars because it wasn't what I would want in a ghost-hunting manual. Most of it was about different kinds of ghosts and lots of case stories. Although I imagine you would need to know about types of ghosts to be a ghost-hunter I do think more information would be needed on actually looking for ghosts. There was a section on making and using some tools to find ghosts but there should have been much more. This book was more of a guide to types of ghosts.

Stars: **1/2

I read this book the last few days of October (I thought I'd already reviewed it) for an online group however I was counting it towards an extra R.I.P. II Challenge book as well.

Lots of people read this book for the RIP challenge but I seem to be the only one who didn't like it. I didn't like it for the same reason others liked it. It's too wordy for me. I don't like long, detailed descriptions. I like short and concise. For me, the plot got lost in the descriptions. Half the time I had no idea what was going on.

Stars: ****

Read for book group and for Children's Book Week

Good story, very literary, full of literary devices. It was a little too wordy for me. I prefer short and concise to long and detailed. It wasn’t too bad though and I just skipped a paragraph or two if it was too much for me.

Stars ***

This book was read for the Reading the Author challenge and the Fall Into Reading 2007 Challenge.

Strays Like Us is the story of Molly who is temporarily living with her great-aunt until her mother gets out of the hospital. She’s moved all over; all her life. Molly meets Will who’s staying next door with his grandparents. The town seems to be fully of strays.

It was a cute book with an interesting storyline but there was one part in it that played to a stereotype that doesn’t need any fueling. If it weren’t for that this book would have gotten 4 stars.

Stars: ****1/2

This is a great pagan parenting book with great sabbat sections. The book has original stories by the authors.

Stars: *****

I recieved this book from Annick Press for review. I also read it for the Baby Steps challenge.

Red Rage is a translation of a German book. It is about a teen girl with a violent temper and an unstable home. It is a very good book but very hard to read. It made me angry when she was angry and feel depressed when she was depressed. Don’t read if you are already depressed, definitely not if you are severly depressed. What is says on back of book is totally true: “Filled with raw emotion and unflinching honesty, Red Rage is a vivid portrait of one teen lost in the vortex of her own aggression.”

Stars: *****

I read this book for the bibliography challenge.

This one was even better than the first! Great follow up to Booked to Die.

I love the way the books are written and the information about book dealing is awesome. It makes me want to take it up but don’t have the money to start. Loved trying to figure things out as the mystery unfolded and was wrong the whole time. I love not being able to guess what’s going on. I look forward to reading The Bookman's Promise.

Stars: *****

This book was read for the 2nds Challenge.

Summary:

Mitch Albom began visiting his old college professor Morrie Schwartz after seeing him on ABC’s “Nightline” talking about his fight against Lou Gehrig’s disease. One Tuesday visit turned into another, resulting in a “final class” between professor and student in what you learn about life once you truly prepare to die.

Stars: ****

This book was read for the Reading the Author challenge.

This one was better although I still think I liked A Brief Darkness better. It’s hard to say, they are so different. This one is actually a Newbery Honor book, National Book Award finalist and an ALA Notable Book.

Geraldine Brooks
368 pages

Reason for Reading: Pub'08 Challenge, Interest.

From the Publisher:

Stars: ****1/2I read this book for the Celebrate the Author challenge and the Reading My Name challenge.

Celebrate the Author Note:
Dr. Seuss is one of my favourite children’s authors so I didn’t want to cheat and just re-read some of his books that I’ve read a million times. So I decided I’d read a few of this books I haven’t read yet as well as a book about his life.

This book is a Children’s Non-Fiction book about he early life of Dr. Seuss, before he was known as that. It explains who he was as a boy and how he came to be an author and artist. The story itself is written like a picture book and ends when he is 22 and his writing life is taking off. After that is an explanation of how he came up with the idea for some of his books as well as information on his life after 22 such as when he was married and how The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham were the result of bets by his publisher.

Stars: *****

I read this book for the Newbery Project, From the Stacks, Winter Reading Challenge and Back to History challenges.

When I found out it was Historical fiction I was nervous as this isn’t a genre I usually read. However I needn’t have worried. One of the few histories I do read about is African history. This story is based on what happened June 3, 1840. A slave ship called The Moonlight shipwrecked in the Gulf of Mexico. Of the 13 crew and 98 slaves, only 2 survived.

Stars: *****

This is the first audio book I’ve ever heard/read. I listened to it on my ipod mini as I walked to and from playgroups and the library with my kids. I’ve always been wary of audio books for two reasons. 1. I didn’t think they were really reading, that they didn’t count. 2. I didn’t think I could follow it.

Stars: *****

I recieved this book for review from Random House.
Wow. Received for review and I’m so glad. This is similar to A Far Cry From Home but mostly the story of one girl instead of many. I have not read Girlbomb which is the author’s story of herself homeless.