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.

38. Murder in Grub Street by Bruce Alexander

This is the second of the Sir John Fielding Mysteries. These are amazing historical mysteries. This one begins with a mass murder of a family and the workers of a bookseller in 16th century England. It was a close call for the main character because he was supposed to apprentice with this particular bookseller and was set to move in when everyone in the house was killed the night before. He was considerably shaken and motivated to help Sir Fielding find the killer. It was a fun mystery and I really love all the historical tidbits. And even though it was a murder mystery, it wasn't gory. I like that. I would highly recommend this book and this series.

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.

34. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

I have to be honest that I didn't think I would like this book. I thought it would be really thick like Sherlock Holmes (which I really like but think are long). I was wrong. Agatha Christie has a very sparse way of writing that is very refreshing. The mystery is awesome, but I did have to write down all the characters so I could remember them. There are a lot of them. But the book is great. I guess there is a reason why Agatha Christie is one of the great mystery writers of all time. I really look forward to reading my next Agatha Christie mystery.

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.

31. Once Upon a Curse by E. D. Baker

This is the third book in the Frog Princess series. This time Emma and Eadrick are desperate to find the cure for the curse that turns Emma's family into horrible witches if they smell a flower after their 16th birthday. Emma has refused to marry Eadric unless they can find a cure. They end up going back in time on their search and meet the first Green Witch, an ancient ancestor. It's funny, witty and the story is surprising and unpredictable. I love these books. This is probably the third time I have read this book. Each time I have listened to the book on CD, and the reading is excellent. This is actually the first book I read of this series and I still love it.

30. The Survivor's Club: The Secrets And Science That Could Save Your Life by Ben Sherwood

This is not a book I would have picked up on my own, but a lady in my book club chose it for the month of May. Even though I was a little reluctant to read it, once I got started I couldn't stop. I found the book absolutely fascinating. The author, Ben Sherwood, had gone around and interviewed all these people who had survived crazy things. Then he tried to figure out why they survived or what factors contributed to their success. The book is organized into different things that affect your survival and different kinds of situations. For example, there is a whole chapter on surviving plane crashes, and one on how much God and your faith affect your chances. Just the true stories of the people who survived are worth reading. The people survived everything from jumping off the Golden Gate bridge to being attacked by a mountain lion to a horrendous knitting needle accident (seriously, knitting needles can be very dangerous--who knew?) My favorite part is obviously the stories, but the tips on surviving difficult situations were almost as interesting. And I think the overall tone of the book is very positive and uplifting: not "look at all the horrible stuff that can happen to you" but "here's what survivors do and you can do it too." I really liked it and would recommend it to anyone.

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.

28.Mr. Darcy's Great Escape by Marsha Altman

These books are some of my favorite Pride and Prejudice spin-offs. John told me after we went to see a Jane Austen play, that nothing ever happens in them. I think lots happens, but whatever. But I have to admit that this series is fun precisely because lots of things happen. Mr. Darcy gets trapped in a Turkish prison and Elizabeth has to rescue him. But it is not just the action that makes these books my favorites, it is that the characters are all likeable. I still like Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, even though they have flaws and weaknesses. They're not unrealistically good, and thus, boring. Nor are they so crazy that they are unrecognizable as Jane Austen's original characters. These are just fun sequels and I really enjoy them. I think this is the third in the series and I've enjoyed them all and would recommend them.

27. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares

I really have mixed feelings about this book. I picked this up because I had heard the name so often that I was curious about it. I have to say the book is much better than I expected. The characters are interesting and well-developed. I liked that there are lots of different personalities with lots of body types and stories. I liked that the stories showed that there are consequences to decisions. The part that makes me uncomfortable is that I felt ok reading it as an adult, but I'm not sure I would want Kate to read it, at least not for a long time. There is nothing graphic in it but it is definitely suggestive in a few parts. So there you go. My favorite part of the book though is that at the beginning of each chapter is a random quote. Some of them made me laugh super hard. My favorite is: "Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them, and you have their shoes."--Frieda Norris. I just couldn't stop laughing when I read that. I know it's horrible, but so, so funny.

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.