40-50. End of Year Quick Summary Part 1

40. Wickham's Diary by Amanda Grange
This is a prequel to Pride and Prejudice told from Wickham's viewpoint. It's interesting to see how someone can become the bad guy. I think Amanda Grange is one of the better authors in Pride and Prejudice fan fiction universe. I liked this one.

41. The Salamander Spell by E.D. Baker
I love all of her books and this was just as good as the others. It is a prequel to her Frog Princess series. It explores Grizelda's life before she was turned into a witch by the family curse. I would highly recommend it for a fun fairy tale/fantasy story.

42. Shredderman 3: Meet the Gecko by Wendelin Van Draanen
Wendelin Van Draaned is another author that I would recommend anything she writes. Shredderman strikes me as her "boy" series and is aimed at a younger audience (2nd-4th grade) than her Sammy Keyes series. They're still good mysteries though and I really enjoyed this one where Shredderman meets his movie star idol and is able to help him solve a mystery on set.

43. Shredderman 2: Attack of the Tagger by Wendelin Van Draanen
I read this series in reverse order. It was silly but it really didn't matter. This one is great also. Shredderman tries to solve the mystery of who is vandalizing his school and local playgrounds. It is a good look at the issue of tagging. I liked it.

44. Pride and Prescience by Carrie Bebris
I love these books. This is the first book in the Mr. and Mrs. Darcy mysteries series. They're fun and true to the original characters. And they are good mysteries. I also like that they entertwine other characters from the original Austen books, for instance, Caroline Bingley in this one. This is the fourth time I've read this one. I still like it.

45. Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
This is a great book that deals with environmentalism in Florida. It's very well written and interesting. The movie is pretty good but the book is better. Mary picked it for her bedtime story and we all enjoyed reading it together.

46. Mable Riley: A Reliable Record of Humdrum, Peril, and Romance by Marthe Jocelyn
This is a book I picked up randomly because of its great title and cover. It is just as good as its cover. It is a really cute story, told in journal format, of a young girl who leaves home for the first time to go with her sister to a frontier town and teach school. It explores the issues of women's suffrage in the early 1900's. It's funny and clever and a really quick read. I loved it.

47. The Trolls by Polly Horvath
My girls picked this book to read for our mother-daughter book club. We had previously read the book in the library's club. It is a cute book about some kids who have their aunt come and babysit them while their parents go on a trip. This is the first time they've met the aunt and she begins to tell them stories about when their father was a boy. The stories range from being really funny to being really scary. It is a good book to talk about how our actions affect other people in our family, whether we realize it or not. It is a good, fun discussion book.

48. Mudshark by Gary Paulsen
This is a hilarious book by a really good author (he wrote Hatchet). Kate chose this as a bedtime story because she'd read it at school and thought the other kids would like listening to it. She was right. We laughed a lot while reading it. It's the story of a boy nicknamed Mudshark who can solve any puzzle but comes up against his match when erasers start disappearing out of every class in his school. He also meets a parrot who is just as good at solving puzzles and becomes his arch rival. It is super funny and very short. It's well worth the time and works really good as a read-aloud.

49. Bobby the Brave (Sometimes) by Lisa Yee
This book is hilarious too. It's about a boy named Bobby who's father is an ex-pro football player. Since Bobby is small and scrawny, he feels like he's nothing like his father and a complete disappointment. It takes all his courage to confront his father about their differences. It is a really cute book. This is an author I found out about by going to the library's teen book fest. They were right: she's a great author.



50. Dragon Princess by E.D. Baker
This is the 6th book in the Frog Princess story. This book is the story of Millie, the daughter of Eadric and Emma (the original frog princess). She has a small problem. Whenever she gets upset, she spontaneously turns into a dragon and her grandparents hate dragons. She decides to run away and go to see a mysterious witch who is supposed to know how to help her. It's a fun adventure/fantasy story. I love this author.

39. No Place For Magic by E.D. Baker

This is the fourth book in the Frog Princess series. It is just as good as the first three. This time Emma goes to visit her fiancee's home. But what she doesn't know is that Eadrick's parents don't know she is a witch and don't approve of magic. When their youngest son is kidnapped by trolls, Emma and Eadrick are forced to go and rescue him and Emma is forced to not use her magic, because the trolls can find her by her magic. It is a really funny, well-written book. I would highly recommend it.

37.Fly Guy Meets Fly Girl by Tedd Arnold

This book is hilarious!! Emma picked this out for one of her free books at the library--right up Emma's alley. But Lily picked it out for bedtime story. Flies aren't really my thing so I wasn't too excited. But I was completely wrong. The pictures are hilarious; the story is funny; and I loved it. I would highly recommend it, especially for beginning readers. I'm looking forward to reading more books in this series.

36. Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

This novel is an awesome example of fairy tale retelling at its finest. The story revisits the fairy tale, the 12 dancing princesses. I loved the characters. They were original and likeable. I love the take on the story. This was a book that I had been wanting to read for a long time because we've met Jessica Day George several times at our library things. She's really funny. She's also a great writer. This is seriously one of my favorite retellings I've ever read.

35. The Magic Pony: A Dream Come True by Elizabeth Lindsay

Ruth wanted to read this for her bedtime story. I think she got the book at school. It was a cute story about a little girl who bought a horse picture and then the horse comes to life. I liked it. It has cute pictures and a cute story. They only thing I didn't like is the girl's relationship with her brother. But overall it was good.

32-33. Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine

Everyone should read this book. I think I've said this before but I really mean it this time. I read this book for the first time with the mother-daughter book club at the library, and the second time for my ward book club. One of the ladies in our club is a retired special education teacher and she loved it. She said that she thought every special education student should have a counselor like in this book. I love this book because it makes you want to be more sympathetic to those with the same challenges as those in the book. It tells the story of a little 10 year old girl who has Asperger's Syndrome. When her brother is killed in a school shooting, she has to try to deal with the situation and help her dad to do the same. I would highly recommend it for everyone. I would read it again myself. It also won the National Book Award, which is very hard to do.

29. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien

This is another Emma bedtime story choice and she seemed to enjoy it. I think that I first experienced this book sometime in elementary school. One of my teachers read it to me and I remember really enjoying it. I think I might have read it one other time since. But this is the first time I've read it in a long time. I loved it. It's so complex, but on such a fun level with all the animals. Emma loved it, but so did Lily and Ruth. It's such an interesting story and makes you think about lots of ethical questions as an adult. It's the story of a group of rats who were experimented on in a science lab and then escaped. After their escape they tried to establish their own community. I loved it and think that it makes a great read-aloud. I would highly recommend it.

26. There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom by Louis Sachar

This is another book that has sat on my bookshelf for about 10 years. And again it is just the right shape to fit in my purse so I picked it up. Louis Sachar is a popular childrens and young adult author and is on lots of recommended reading lists for middle grade readers. I thought this would be just another funny book about kids in school. But I found this book really thought provoking. It's the story of a boy named Bradley Chalkers who is a supposed trouble maker and bully. Only the story is told from Bradley's point of view. I found the story really sad and disturbing in a lot of ways because everyone treats Bradley like he will always do the wrong thing and that he can never be different. And the kid is only in fifth grade. Luckily, a new counselor moves in and tries to treat him like a valued person, and he starts to change. It is such and interesting and uplifting book. I really like it and would recommend it to anyone.

25. Penny From Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm

I've been meaning to read this book for quite a while. I really like Jennifer Holm and she won her second Newberry Honor for this book. She also visited our library last year and the girls and I were very impressed by her fun, bouncy personality. She won her first Newberry Honor for Our Only May Amelia, which I read a while back and really liked. She also writes the Babymouse series with her brother, who does the illustrations which Emma and Mary both really enjoyed. So when they decided on this book for this month's Mother-Daughter Bookclub, I was very excited.

I loved it. The book centers around 12 year old Penny who lives with her widowed mother and maternal grandparents in 1950's New Jersey. That side of her life is pretty sedate. Her deceased father, however, came from a big Italian family that adds spice and excitement to her life. She has lots of uncles, aunts, and cousins, along with a spunky grandma, who provide her with all the excitement she could ever want. There are lots of fun characters and stories about this Italian family. But along the way, Penny begins to unravel the mystery of her father's death and uncover the hardships suffered by this Italian clan in WWII. I had never really heard a lot about the Italian-American experience in WWII so it was enlightening to me. As a kid in school, we always talked about the Japanese-American experience because Topaz (a Japanese internment camp in Delta) was so close. (I grew up in Orem.) I enjoyed learning about it. I thought I was WWIIed out, after Kate's Holocaust play, but still enjoyed reading this different perspective on the war. I also liked that it was loosely based on the author's family history (her mother being the inspiration for Penny). I would highly recommend it to anyone.

20. Dragon's Breath by E. D. Baker

This is the second book in The Frog Princess series. It's another great book. My girls love this series and I think this is my second time listening to this book. This time Emmarelda and Eadrick try to help her aunt find all the ingredients that will transform her aunt's love from an otter back into a human. Along the way they meet sea monsters, sirens, and dragons. This story is funny, with lots of adventures and really interesting characters. I listened to the book on CD and the lady who read it was awesome. The books are some of the best fractured fairy tales out there. I would highly recommend them.

19. Bobby VS Girls (Accidentally) by Lisa Yee

This author was recommended at a children's and young adult literature class I went to at my library's literacy conference. I just randomly picked one or her books. I found this book silly and off-beat. It's about a fourth grade boy who's not sure what to do about having a best friend who is a girl. They pretty much pretend not to know each other at school, even though they do things after school and walk most of the way to and from school together. I remember being that age and having boy friends, even though you were only supposed to like girls. He ends up doing something dumb and making his friend Holly really mad, along with all the other girls in his class. My favorite parts though are his dad who is a stay-at-home dad who used to be a star NFL linebacker (nicknamed "The Freezer"), and the friendship he develops with his pet goldfish, Rover. The book is very funny, clever and well-written. I can't wait to read another book by Lisa Yee.

18. Joy the Summer Vacation Fairy by Daisy Meadow

This is another great fairy book that Ruth picked out. My favorite part of this book is when Jack Frost steals all the sand on the beach to make a giant sand castle. Classic!! I'm not sure what a beach would look like with all the sand missing, but it sure would be interesting. And the best part is when all the sand gets blown back at the end of the book, and no one seems to be terribly surprised, just grateful. I really love these fairy books.

16.The Night Fairy by Laura Amy Schlitz

This was last month's Mother-Daughter Book Club book. It is a cute, short book with beautiful pictures. It's not really a picture book, but more a novella with lots of pictures. It is the story of a little night fairy (a fairy who is awake at night and sleeps during the day) who accidentally has her wings ripped off by a bat and gets trapped in a garden. She is so traumatized that she decided to become a day fairy and has a bunch of adventures. It is a cute, short read and the fairy learns a lot about being herself. I liked it and so did both Kate and Mary. I think it would make a great read-aloud for any little girl. The author also won the Newberry Medal in 2008 for her book Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village.

15. Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson

My kids love this book. They have it on CD and have listened to it several times, to the point that they have some of it memorized. This was Mary's bedtime story pick. It was her way of getting me to read the book. Maybe my expectations were too high, or maybe I read it too slow, but it was not my favorite book. It is very clever and well-written, but something about the tone of it turned me off. John says I lost my sarcasm meter when we got married. Maybe that was my problem, I don't know. However, I really do have to give Sanderson credit for the books' turn-things-upside-down plot. I especially like the dinosaurs who are small, well-educated, non-violent, and speak with an English accent. There are lots of really funny parts and I would recommend it but I'm not sure if I will read any of its' sequels. We'll see.

13-14. Bethany the Ballet Fairy, and Jade the Disco Fairy by Daisy Meadows

These are the first two books in The Dance Fairies series. This is actually the second time I've read both these books because Lily has decided that she needs to read all the fairy books for her bedtime stories, just like Ruthie has. These are pretty good ones. Anything that combines dance and fairies is a popular hit with Lily. This time the mean Jack Frost has given his goblins the ability to freeze people (which doesn't actually hurt them, but lasts for a few minutes). I really liked the clothes in the disco fairy book. They made me laugh. They're fun, short reads.

12. The Princess Tales: Cinderellis and the Glass Hill

The Princess Tales are a series of short novels by Gail Carson Levine, the author of Ella Enchanted. Anything by Levine is awesome. These books combine and retell various fairy tales. They are witty and hilarious. This is the second one we've read as a bedtime story and they are definitely favorites with my girls. They make great read-alouds because they have short chapters, and lots of natural breaks which makes it easy to stop until the next time. I especially like the book design. They are skinny and tall little books that fit easily in your hand and have fun little pictures throughout. This particular book is a take-off on Cinderella with a little Rapunzel mixed in. This time the Cinderella character, Cinderellis, is a boy, incredibly gifted as an inventor. He lives with his two older brothers, who aren't mean as much as they just ignore him and are totally oblivious to any of his accomplishments. Meanwhile, in a nearby kinddom, lives a princess who's father is a little obsessed with random contests. He decides to offer his daughter's hand in marriage to the man who can climb up a huge glass tower and rescue her. Cinderellis decides to solve the puzzle in order to get his brothers' attention. It's a fun story. The characters are very likeable and it's an extremely creative story.

11. Stella the Star Fairy by Daisy Meadows

Yes, I read another fairy book. This is the Christmas edition of the fairy books. Jack Frost has stolen all the things that make Christmas great. Kirsty, Rachel, and Stella the Star Fairy defeat Jack Frost and his goblin minions. Ruth and I had fun reading it together. She obviously loves all things fairy and all things Christmas, so the mixture was a big hit.

10. Who Stole The Wizard of Oz? by Avi

Avi is a great author with incredible versatility. Everything I've read of his is very good. This book is no exception. It is a really fun mystery that also explores the true value of books. I really enjoyed the little puzzle that the main characters have to figure out to solve the mystery. Lastly, the characters are fun and likable. I found it just a fun, short book to read that helped me remember what I really like about children's literature, and especially children's mysteries.

9. Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes

First of all I have to say that this book defied all my expectations. This was the book for the mother-daughter book club last month. I had never heard of it, so I looked it up to see what it was about. I can't remember where I got the description, but it went something like this: "The story of Hurricane Katrina through the eyes of a young girl who can see ghosts and lives with her witch doctor grandmother in New Orleans." I groaned and decided I better read it before my daughters. I was looking forward to something totally depressing and weird. This book couldn't have been farther from that. It is really well-written and interesting.

It is about a little 12 year old girl named Lanesha who lives with an older lady who is a midwife and healer. This lady, named Mama Ya-Ya, took Lanesha in at birth after her mother died and the rest of her kin abandoned her. They have a very loving, positive relationship. The little girl can see ghosts, but in the book it doesn't seem creepy or weird, just the way it is. Lanesha loves math and approaches everything as a problem to be solved. So when the problem of Hurricane Katrina presents itself, she does her best to solve the problem for herself, her best friend, their dog, and Mama Ya-Ya. They live in Ninth Ward, one of the poorest areas in New Orleans, and have no way to evacuate when the city begins to flood. Even though this book is about a tragedy, it seems very hopeful and positive. I really liked it and so did my girls. A lady in our group who had lived in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, said the portrayal of the hurricane was very accurate. I learned a lot and would recommend it to anyone. And the author sent our group an autographed copy of the book, about 20 autographed book marks and two frozen cakes. What a nice lady!! (And very impressive that the librarian even tried to contact the author, way braver than I would be.)

5-8. Call Me Francis Tucket; Tucket's Ride; Tucket's Gold; and Tucket's Home by Gary Paulsen

These 4 books are the sequels to Mr. Tucket. I decided to just do one review because they read like one long book. This is great historical fiction. Francis Tucket leaves his friend Mr. Grimes and strikes out on his own with a wagon train headed west. Along the way he gets lost, gets robbed, and finds a small girl and boy that have been abandoned because of sickness. Later he gets kidnapped by Mexican banditos, finds Spanish gold and is rescued by Indians. The books are fast-moving and really interesting. I really liked the part about the Mexican-American war. I really hadn't thought that much about it. They're great quick reads, every one, and I loved them.