It's Monday 7/12! What Are You Reading?

Running a little late this morning!  There's just no routine during the summer (which is kind of nice).  I've been staying up too late and getting out of bed too late.  Plus, this morning, I got an emergency post-sleepover phone call from 12-year old Craig.  I picked him up at 8:30, he came home, ate breakfast, and went right to bed!

Reading has slowed down since vacation ended:

• Jamie, 15, is still reading Firestarter by Stephen King.  Since we got home, video and computer games have sucked him in and reduced his reading time!
• Craig, 12, who doesn't like to read much in the summer anyway, was getting nervous about his required summer reading for school, so he set aside his Hardy Boys book and has started reading Sounder by William H. Armstrong.  I never read this classic myself, so maybe I'll read it when he's done.
• I also set aside one book for another this week, something I don't generally like to do.  With my two main book groups on summer hiatus, I've been in book discussion withdrawal!  So, I decided to read my library's selection for their July discussion (this Wednesday) - The Sunday Philosopher's Club by Alexander McCall Smith.  It's not my usual type of book, but I'm enjoying it.  It's a mystery set in Scotland, with lots of philosophical musings. 
• My husband, Ken, finished his father's day gift, 61 Hours by Lee Child, one of his favorite thriller authors.  He just started Everywhere That Mary Went by Lisa Scottoline, which I read during vacation - lots of book trading goes on in our house!

I had fully intended to resume my normal routine of writing book reviews last week but was just snowed under with all the post-vacation catch-up - laundry, mail, bills, phone calls, doctor's appointments, etc.  I will post some new reviews this week - I promise!

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Mondays is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey).

It's Monday 7/5! What Are You Reading?

Hope everyone had a good 4th of July yesterday!  We just returned from our 3-week, 4,000-mile road trip to Oklahoma and New Mexico Saturday night (that's why I've been mostly missing from the blogging world).  It was a wonderful vacation - we all really loved New Mexico.  You can check out photos at our trip blog - just scroll down to June 13, 2010, to read them in order.

We read a LOT of good books along the way!  I posted a Monday update a couple of weeks ago while I was at my father-in-law's and could borrow the neighbor's wifi, but here's the rest of the books we enjoyed on the trip:

• I gave each of the boys a surprise book partway through the trip.  Craig, 12, is reading one of his favorite Hardy Boys' mysteries, What Happened at Midnight.  Summer is time for reading old favorites!
• I gave Jamie, 15, the fourth and final book of the Book of Ember series by Jeanne DuPrau, The Diamond of Darkhold.  He read it immediately, then passed it along to me!  We both loved this middle-grade adventure series, and the last book was excellent.
• Jamie continued his vacation read-a-thon with a string of new releases.  He finished The Thirteenth Child (Frontier Magic, Book 1) by Patricia Wrede and said it was excellent - an engaging combination of history and fantasy.
• He read the brand-new undersea science fiction book, Dark Life by Kat Falls, and he absolutely loved it!  The plot and setting were right up his alley - a futuristic earth where the sea levels have risen, with people split between high-level "stack cities" and an undersea community on the ocean floor.
• He also loved William S. and the Great Escape by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, a middle-grade book that's been sitting in our to-read pile for a long time.  He thinks Craig will really like this one.
• Jamie is now reading his first-ever Stephen King book, Firestarter.  He is, of course, bowled over by King's amazing writing and gripping suspense.
• I finished Everywhere That Mary Went by Lisa Scottoline and enjoyed it more than I expected to!  I would definitely read more in that series of legal thrillers set in Philadelphia.  I also finished The Diamond of Darkhold, as I mentioned above.  I'm sorry the series is over, but it was a good ending! 
• I've just started The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson, which my mom lent me.  I enjoyed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for my book group this winter, and the second book is just as good so far.
• We're almost done with our read-aloud book, a middle-grade/teen adventure story about geocaching, Hide & Seek by Katy Grant.  It's due for release next month, and we have all loved it!  Craig was begging for "one more chapter" every night!
• In the car, we listened to Oracles of Delphi Keep by Victoria Laurie, a middle-grade fantasy/adventure novel.  This excellent audio, read by Susan Duerden who played Claire's mother on Lost, kept us all happily occupied for many hours in the car - it's a great book and very well-read.  We'll look for the next book in the series for our next road trip!
• We started but haven't yet finished another audio, First Light by Rebecca Stead, author of When You Reach Me.  It's another middle-grade novel, about a 13-year old boy spending some time in Greenland with his father, who is studying global warming, and a girl who lives in a secret world under the ice.  It's excellent so far.

Whew, I think that covers it!  Now I'm surrounded by piles of laundry and stacks of mail...back to real life.

What are you and your family reading?

(What are you reading Mondays is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey)

It's Monday 6/21! What Are You Reading?

Happy Official First Day of Summer and Longest Day of the Year!  Though it seems odd that today is the first day of summer, since it's been 100 degrees every day here in Oklahoma all week.  We've been on vacation, so I've been completely disconnected  from the blogging world.  My father-in-law's next-door neighbors are graciously letting us use their wireless internet while we're here, so I thought I'd pop in for my Monday update.

What an update!  Summer vacation is great reading time, especially for my 15-year old son, Jamie, and me.  Here's what we've been reading lately:

• I just finished Pendragon, Book Nine: Raven Rise by DJ MacHale, and I just have to say...WOW!  I have mentioned many times before  that this is one of our favorite middle-grade/teen series of all time, and it just gets better and better.  I read for hours yesterday as I neared the end of this latest installment.  We usually wait until the books come out in paperback, but I wanted to jump in the car and rush right out to the bookstore last night to buy the final book, Book Ten: The Soldiers of Halla.  It's just so good!!  Jamie was thrilled I finally read book 9 so we could talk aboutit.
• I just started Lisa Scottoline's Everywhere That Mary Went, a book that's been sitting on my shelf for over a year!  I've heard lots of great things about Scottoline's books, and it seemed like a good summer vacation choice.
• Jamie recently finished The Bourne Supremacy (book 2) by Robert Ludlum and LOVED it!  He only recently began reading some adult novels, and he loves the intricate plots.  My father-in-law has the DVD of The Bourne Ultimatum (based on book 3), so we watched that after Jamie finished his book.  Great movies, too.
• Jamie is now reading a brand-new middle-grade/teen fantasy novel (start of a new series, I think) called Thirteenth Child by Patricia Wrede.  He says it's great so far, with a unique plot that combines historical fiction with fantasy, set in the early American frontier.
• Craig, 12, has been coasting along since school ended and he no longer HAS to read.  He's been occasionally dipping into Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney, though he's never really loved these books - he thinks the main character is kind of mean and doesn't treat his friend well (that's my boy!).  He just got a copy of Sounder by William H. Armstrong, which he has to read during the summer for school, but he hasn't started it yet.
• At bed time, we've been reading aloud from an advance copy of a new book, Hide & Seek by Katy Grant.  The cool thing about this book is that it's a mystery about geocaching, something that we enjoy doing ourselves (it's kind of like a treasure-hunting hike with a GPS).  It's good so far.
• My husband, Ken, has been reading Here There Be Dragons, the first book in the series, The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica by James A. Owen.  This is a really cool fantasy series that's especially fun to read because it is chock-full of references to all kinds of kids' literature and has lots of action as well.  The Imaginarium Geographica is an atlas of of all the fictional places from myths, legends, books, and fables that a group of writers has been chosen to protect.  I read and enjoyed the first book, but Jamie's been telling me I need to read the rest of the series (4 so far, I think) - he says it just gets better and better!
• And, in the car, we've been listening to The Oracles of Delphi Keep by Victoria Laurie, a middle-grade fantasy novel that is excellent so far.  Can't wait to get back on the road tomorrow to hear more!

I guess that's it for now.  What are you and your family reading?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila of Book Journey)

It's Monday 6/7! What Are You Reading?

Well, it's actually Tuesday now, but I still wanted to post my weekly update because we leave on vacation soon, so I won't be around the blogosphere for a while.

I missed Monday because my mother-in-law passed away on Thursday morning after a 30-year battle with Parkinson's disease.  We scrambled to get flights out to Oklahoma as soon as we could, but my youngest son and I still missed the funeral service.  Our later flight on Friday was delayed for four hours, then finally cancelled.  We spent the night in a hotel near the airport and got up at 4 am the next morning, but we still arrived a couple of hours too late.  We were horribly disappointed, but at least we arrived in time to see some of our family before they returned home and to spend several days with my father-in law and our nephew and his family.

So, it's been a long, rough week for us.  We did have lots and lots of reading time, though, on planes and in airports, waiting and waiting and waiting...

• Jamie, 15, finished The Game of Sunken Places by M.T. Anderson last week and enjoyed the middle-grade fantasy adventure very much.  He's looking forward to the sequel.  I think I'll take this one on vacation with me.
• Jamie wanted to bring our hardback edition of Stephen King's The Stand with him to Oklahoma.  Though I know he'll love it and I've been wanting him to read it, I talked him out of carrying the heaviest book in our house through all those airports!  Instead, I set him up with a nice lightweight paperback of Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Supremacy.  He recently enjoyed the movie version of The Bourne Identity, so I thought he'd like this.  It kept him well distracted during our long flight last night (we didn't get home until 2:30 am!)
• Craig has been working hard to read Charlie Bone and the Red Knight by Jenny Nimmo before school ends this week, so he can meet his Accelerated Reader goals.  He's really impressed me, reading more in one week than I've ever seen him read before.  He's only 40 pages away from the end of this 600-page book.  Of course, again, all those hours in planes and airports helped (though he slept all the way home last night - lucky!)
• I finished and absolutely loved D.J. MacHale's new Morpheus Road: The Light.  Scary, suspenseful, great characters, and lots of surprises!  I hoped to post a review last week, but now I may not have time before vacation - we'll see.
• I started How To Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregivers by Toni Bernhard, a good online friend of mine who has the same immune system disorder I have (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome).  I love her book so far and am finding it very inspirational, but I knew I needed some gripping fiction for the trip, so I had to set it aside temporarily.
• During our trip, I read What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell, a recent teen/YA release that won the National Book Award.  It was definitely award-worthy, a mix of a coming-of-age story, history (set after World War II), romance, suspense, and even a possible murder mystery.  It easily held my interest during those long waits and flights.
• On last night's flight, I started The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.  It pulled me right in - I barely noticed when our plane returned to the gate to straighten out some sort of passenger mix-up (after an hour on the runway).  I'm about halfway through it now and am thoroughly entranced by the unique post-World War II story told through a series of letters.  Hmmm...I just noticed I read two books set in the same time period this week, but the first was set in the U.S., and this one is set in England.
• Finally, I've been slowly working my way through a middle-grade audio book, Keeper by Kathi Appelt, about a ten-year old girl who sets off in a small rowboat to find her missing mother, who she believes is a mermaid.  It's very good so far.

So, that was our very long week.  Thank goodness for good books to distract us from all of life's craziness.

What are you and your family reading?

(What are you reading Mondays is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey).

It's Monday 5/31! What Are You Reading?

Happy Memorial Day!!

It doesn't feel like a Monday, with the whole family here with me.  It feels more like a second Sunday.  I wasn't sure everyone would be posting their usual Monday stuff, but I checked this morning and my blog reader was full of it, so I decided to take a few minutes out of our family stuff today to post our reading update, too.

Thanks to everyone who posted updates from BEA - I really enjoyed living vicariously through you!  I love NYC and would love to go to BEA.  And meeting up with fellow book bloggers sounds like a lot of fun!

We've read some good books this week:

• Jamie, 15, is reading a new middle-grade book this week, The Game of Sunken Places by M.T. Anderson.  He says it's interesting and very unique, a story about two boys who play a weird board game that launches them into all sort of real life adventures (but Jamie says it's nothing like Jumanji).
• Craig is finishing The Wind in the Door today, Madeleine L'Engle's sequel to A Wrinkle in Time.  He's trying to choose his next book, but he's only got two weeks left of school and still needs 11 points for the Accelerated Reader program.  He really wants to read Charlie Bone and the Red Knight by Jenny Nimmo, but it's too new to be on his school's AR list, so he'll have to write a summary of it instead.  He and I will both be glad when summer vacation starts, and he can read whatever he wants (though then I'll have trouble getting him to read at all!).
• I managed to squeeze in Tinkers by Paul Harding with only a 2-day fine at the library!  This short novel just won the Pultizer, and I was hoping it would be a quick read, but it was a very dense book with lots of description and long, twisty sentences where I'd forget how the sentence had started by the time I got to the end.  I'm glad I stuck with it, though.
• This weekend, I've been reading Morpheus Road: The Light, the first novel in DJ MacHale's new trilogy.  That's been just the opposite of Tinkers - I've been blowing through the chapters like it's popcorn - stuffing big handfuls in!  Wow, it's an amazing book, with incredible suspense.  I've stayed up way too late every night reading it and hope to finish it today.  We're all huge fans of MacHale's Pendragon series, and this new one is just as good (though scarier!).
• My husband, Ken, has been reading grown-up books lately, rather than teen novels.  His favorite genre is suspense/thrillers, but last night I talked him into reading This Is Where I Leave You, a hilarious drama by Jonathan Tropper that I reviewed in January.

Last week was so hectic I didn't even fit in a review, but I plan to write one of Morpheus Road this week.

Enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend!

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey).

P.S. Trying to write a blog post with the whole family home, demanding my attention, was beyond challenging!!

It's Monday 5/24! What Are You Reading?

Just another Manic Monday...

We heard that song on the way to the bus stop this morning, and it's very appropriate today!  Craig almost missed his bus because he forgot to pack his band stuff, Jamie called and asked me to bring some papers to school that he left at home, and after school I need to take BOTH boys to get x-rays (one wrist, one ankle).  Whew, and it's not even 9 am yet.

Thank goodness for good books!

• Jamie, 15, read Morpheus Road, the hot new book by DJ MacHale, author of one of our favorite series, Pendragon.  He says the new trilogy is very different from Pendragon but just as compelling!  This is next on my list.
• Jamie started Charlie Bone and the Red Knight, Book 8 in The Children of the Red King series by Jenny Nimmo, the latest addition to an old favorite series.  This is one of Craig's favorite series, too.  It's too new to be on his list at school, but he wants to read it this summer.
• Craig, 12, is still reading The Wind in the Door, the sequel to A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.  He's enjoying it, but the nice weather makes it tough for him to sit down and read!
• I finished Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann for my neighborhood book group.  Almost everyone liked this complex novel about intersecting lives in New York City, and it was great for discussion.
• Next, I read The Soloist by Steve Lopez for another book group (I've had three book groups in three weeks this month!).  Even though I had already seen the movie, I loved the book and read it very quickly.  Book or movie, it's a fascinating, moving true story of the friendship between an LA Times reporter and a homeless, schizophrenic man who is a talented musician.
• I have a huge stack of kids' and teen books I want to read, but instead I started Tinkers by Paul Harding.  It's due back at the library tomorrow (!), and now that it's won the Pulitzer, the wait list will be miles long, so I decided to try to squeeze it in.  I should have lots of reading time this afternoon at the x-ray place!

Last week, I posted  a review of two middle-grade audio books by Polly Horvath: My One Hundred Adventures and Northward to the Moon.  I enjoyed both very much.  I also posted a review of Sea Trails: Poems and 1977 Passage Notes by Pris Campbell on my grown-up book blog, Book By Book.  I'm not able to maintain Book By Book regularly right now, but if you're interested in what I think about the grown-up books I read, you can find me at Goodreads.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Mondays is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey).

Middle-Grade Review: My One Hundred Adventures and Northward to the Moon

Over the course of the past month, I listened to two audio books by Polly Horvath:  My One Hundred Adventures and its sequel, Northward to the Moon, and thoroughly enjoyed both.  These books are sweet, funny, and heartwarming stories about growing up.

In My One Hundred Adventures, twelve-year old Jane loves her family and her life on the beach in Massachusetts:

“Jane, Maya, Hershel, Max,” calls my mother.  She always calls my name first.  She is finished gathering [clams and mussels] and her baskets are heavy.  We run to help her bring things back to the house.  No one else lives year-round on the beach but us.  A poet with no money can still live very well, our mother reminds us, and I do not know why.  Who would think having to leave the ocean for most of the year is a better way to live?  How could we not live well, the five of us together?  I love our house.  I love the bedroom I share with my sister.  Our house has no upstairs like the houses of my friends.  It has one floor with a kitchen that is part of a larger room, and off of this large room with its big table and rocking chairs and its soft old couch and armchair and miles of booklined shelves are three bedrooms.  One for my mother, one for my brothers, one for my sister and me.  “I love this house,” I say to my mother often.  “You cannot love it as I do,” she says.  “No one can ever love it as I do.”

As much as she loves her life, Jane has grown a bit weary of the sameness of it.  At twelve, she feels she’s ready for some adventures, and she starts her summer hoping to find some – one hundred of them, if possible.  Jane gets what she hoped for – and more – in all sorts of unexpected events during her summer.

She takes a surprising ride in a stolen hot-air balloon, meets a supposed psychic, and possibly injures a baby with a Bible.  Meanwhile, she wonders whether every new man she meets might be her father or the father of one of her siblings (she’s not sure but thinks they may all have different fathers).  Jane is an innocent girl, ready to step out of the protective comfort of her family and experience life for herself.

In Northward to the Moon, the family leaves their beloved beach house to travel across the US and Canada, meeting far-off family and friends.  This book is filled with even more adventures for Jane, as she struggles with some hard lessons about growing up and learns what being part of a family is really all about.

Some reviewers thought these books would be better appreciated by adults rather than their intended audience of middle-grade readers, but I think kids of a certain age – especially girls – will relate to Jane’s yearnings for adventure and her desires to both grow up and still stay close to her family.  I think the books are best suited to kids between about 11 and 14.  The lower end of the stated age range of 9-12 seems a bit young to me – many aspects of the book might be a bit over the head of younger kids.

Horvath’s writing is lyrical with beautiful prose and little life lessons within that you want to write down and remember.  There’s a subtle yet pervasive sense of humor in Jane’s quirky adventures that makes you smile.

Readers who enjoyed Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor or  The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron will also enjoy these books about Jane's adventures.

Listening Library

Download the audio book or listen to a sample at audible.com.

    

It's Monday 5/17! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday again - this time of year is so busy!  I've been feeling a little better the past few days and am trying to get caught up on everything that piled up over the past 6 months or so.  I was so proud on Friday when I finally got through the remaining 200 unread e-mails still sitting in my Inbox from spring break - woohoo!  It doesn't take much to make me happy.

We have another busy week coming up, with book group for me, soccer for the boys, a business trip for my husband, and my mom and her husband coming to visit for a couple of days.  But we still find time for some good books:

• Jamie, 15, finished Freefall by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams, the third book in a wonderful middle-grade underground adventure series that started with Tunnels.  He keeps telling me that this book was amazing, and I need to make time for it (I still need to read book 2, Deeper first).  We're both excited about an upcoming movie version, but Jamie says he hopes they don't try to combine more than one book into the movie - he likes it better when the movies stick close to the books.  We both agree this could be a really cool movie if they get the special effects right.
• Jamie started The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan, a new teen fantasy novel.  He says it's good so far - a little dark, definitely for teens and not younger kids.  He's already thinking about lending it to a friend of his who kind of gave up on pleasure reading for a while, but Jamie's been working on him - it's so much fun to share great books with friends!
• I usually alternate between grown-up books and kids/teens books, but I didn't have time this week to squeeze in any kids' books in between two book club reads!  I finished Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos (I enjoyed it) for the library book discussion last week, and I'm now in the middle of Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann for my neighborhood book group - I still have over 200 pages to read before Wednesday!
• To my great delight, Craig, 12, finished A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle and said he loved it!  When I told him I have the rest of the series, he said, "It's part of a series?!"  He was even more excited to find out that the other books are on his AR list (Accelerated Reader - a program at school where they read books, then take quizzes about them online), so he has started A Wind in the Door.  He came downstairs last night to say, "Can I please stay up 15 more minutes?  This book is so good I can't put it down!"  Craig's not always excited about reading, so I'm loving this - he's not only reading without being made to, but he's hooked on my all-time favorite series.
• I finished two middle-grade audio books by Polly Horvath - My One Hundred Adventures and Northward to the Moon.  I enjoyed them very much and will post a review this week.

Last week,  I posted a review of Anything But Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin, a middle-grade novel written from the perspective of an autistic boy.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Mondays is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

Middle-Grade Review: Anything But Typical

Anything But Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin is anything but a typical middle-grade novel.  Its narrator, 12-year old Jason, is autistic, and he tells his story from his own unique point of view, providing both an interesting story as well as fascinating insights into what it’s like to be autistic in a world filled with “normal” people, as in this scene at school:

Neurotypicals like it when you look them in the eye.  It is supposed to mean you are listening, as if the reverse were true, which it is not: Just because you are not looking at someone does not mean you are not listening.  I can listen better when I am not distracted by a person’s face.

What are their eyes saying?

Is that a frown or a smile?

Why are they wrinkling their forehead or lifting their cheeks like that?  What does that mean?

How can you listen to all those words when you have to think about all that stuff?

But I know I will get in trouble if I don’t look at the lady’s eyes.  I can force myself.  I turn my head, but I will look at her sideways.

I know the right words to use.

Last year, Jane, my one-on-one, taught me to say, “I am okay just as I am.”

I am okay just as I am.

She told me I had to say something in this sort of situation.  She said that people expect certain things.  She said that people will misunderstand me if I don’t say anything.

This is one of the many, many things I need to run through in my mind, every time.

Jason is intelligent and caring but, as you can see in that scene, has a hard time interacting with people in the ways that they normally expect.  But there’s one place where Jason feels completely comfortable – online at his favorite website, Storyboard.  Jason loves to write stories and post them on Storyboard, and he’s quite good at it, too. 

Another Storyboard member, Phoenixbird, enjoys Jason’s stories and leaves comments on his latest one. Jason and Phoenixbird get to know each other online, where they each admire the other’s writing, and Jason thinks he may have his first-ever real friend.  An opportunity comes up for them to meet in person, but Jason is afraid that Phoenixbird (whose real name is Rebecca) won’t like him anymore when she sees that he is autistic.  The novel alternates between Jason’s real life and updates to the story he’s posting on Storyboard.

I was captivated by Jason’s unique perspective and the chance to view life from an autistic person’s point of view.  For instance, I always thought people with autism didn’t feel emotions normally, but it is clear from Jason’s story that he feels plenty; he just doesn’t know how to express those feelings. I really enjoyed this warm and insightful book that contains some interesting plot twists and surprises.

195 pages, Simon & Schuster

It's Monday 5/10! What Are You Reading?

Wow, last Monday I said it felt like August; this morning it feels like March!  Crazy spring weather.  I hope all you Moms out there had a good Mother's Day.  We drove to Connecticut to my mom's house for the weekend.  My sister and her family were there, too - our annual celebration for both Mother's Day and my mom's birthday (tomorrow).  It was great to see everyone and to play with my niece and nephew, but I'm pretty worn out this morning!

We had an enjoyable reading week:

• Jamie, 15, finished his nostalgic re-reading of all 14 Deltora Quest books on his shelf, an old favorite middle-grade fantasy series by Emily Rodda.
• Jamie started Freefall by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams, the third book in a wonderful middle-grade underground adventure series.  Jamie, Ken (my husband) and I all read the first book, Tunnels, which was excellent, a unique plot with plenty of suspense.  I haven't gotten to Deeper yet, the second book, but Jamie's says it's even better, and he's enjoying book three now, too.  The series is being made into a movie which should be amazing!
• I finished Num8ers by Rachel Ward and could hardly put it down!  Check out my review of this exciting teen paranormal thriller that kept me up way past bedtime.
• Now I'm reading a grown-up novel, Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos, written by a local Wilmington author, for my library's book discussion this week.  I'm enjoying it very much so far.
• Craig is reading A Wrinkle in Time for English class and still loving it!  I'm thrilled that he's enjoying my favorite book from childhood!
• In the car on the way to and from Connecticut, we listened to more of Erec Rex: The Search for Truth by Kara Kingsley.  This is the third book in a fantasy series we've been enjoying on audio since last summer's vacation - the boys really love this series.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Mondays is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey).

Teen/YA Review: Num8ers

I devoured Num8ers by Rachel Ward this weekend.  This new teen/YA paranormal thriller was one of those books that completely captivated me  – I carried it around with me all weekend, reading a page here and there whenever I had a spare moment.  I’m not a huge fan of the recent flood of paranormal teen romances involving vampires, werewolves, and angels, but I love this kind of paranormal book, where a character has some sort of unusual power or insight.  It reminded me somewhat of Wake and Fade, which I also loved.

Fifteen-year old Jem has had a rough life.  Her mother died of a drug overdose when she was six, and since then, she’s been shuttled from one foster home to the next.  She’s developed something of a tough-girl exterior along the way.  But Jem is different from other disadvantaged teens on the streets of London because she has a unique power: when she looks into someone’s eyes, she sees their date of death.

Everyone’s got one, but I think I’m the only one who sees them.  Well, I don’t exactly “see” them, like something hanging in the air; they kind of appear in my head.  I feel them, somewhere behind my eyes.  But they’re real.  I don’t care if you don’t believe me – suit yourself, I know they’re real.  And I know what they mean.  The light went on the day my mum went.

I’d always seen the numbers, for as long as I could remember.  I thought everyone did.  Walking down the street, if my eyes met someone else’s, there it would be, their number.  I used to tell my mum people’s numbers as she pushed me along in my buggy.  I thought she’d be pleased.  She’d think I was clever.  Yeah, right.

Jem is struggling with school, trying to get by and avoiding people’s eyes as much as possible, when Spider comes into her life.  She knows him vaguely from school and, as usual, doesn’t want to get to know him better, but he’s very persistent.  Soon they become friends, two outsiders who feel a connection to each other, although Jem is very disturbed to see that his number is coming up soon.

Playing hooky from school one day with Spider, Jem foresees a terrible tragedy in downtown London and runs away in fear.  That sets off a chain of events over which she and Spider have no control.  It’s them against the world, as time is running out.

I found this fast-paced thriller to be so compelling that I had trouble sleeping after staying up too late reading it!  It’s a unique concept that is carried out well, with lots of London street slang in the dialogue, well-drawn characters that you come to care about, loads of suspense, and even a touch of romance.

325 pages, Chicken House (Scholastic)

It's Monday 5/3! What Are You Reading?

How can it possibly be May already?  (and do I say that at the start of every month?)  It hit 90 degrees here this weekend and feels like August already - yuck!  Good thing we had good books to read:

• I finished Anything But Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin and really enjoyed the story written from the perspective of a 12-year old autistic boy.  Review to come this week.
• I also read a grown-up book, Sea Trails: Poems and 1977 Passage Notes by Pris Campbell, a slim volume of poems, prose, and pictures about the author's sailing trip down the east coast.  Pris has the same immune system disorder that I have, and I was really impressed with her new book.  I'll review it at Book By Book.
• The book that's been keeping me up at night this weekend is a new teen thriller, Num8ers by Rachel Ward.  I've been carrying this compelling and unique suspense novel everywhere with me this weekend!
• Jamie, 15, continues with his personal quest to re-read the entire set of Deltora Quest series by Emily Rodda, an old favorite of his.  There are 14 books in all in these middle-grade fantasy series, and I think he has only two left to go!
• Craig, 12, is enjoying A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle very much, but he's frustrated that he can only read a little at a time.  This is a book he's reading for his Literature Circle in English class, and he's not supposed to read ahead of his group.  I love to hear him complaining that he wants to read more!
• In between his assigned sections of A Wrinkle in Time, Craig is also reading The Wright 3 by Blue Balliett.  He loves mysteries but says it's a little slow to start.
• I finished the audio book Northward to the Moon by Polly Horvath, the sequel to My One Hundred Adventures.  I thoroughly enjoyed both of these sweet middle-grade audios and will review them here soon.

I posted a review of Kate DiCamillo's tender and beautiful novel, The Tiger Rising, this week.  Even though I'm on leave from my other book blog, Book By Book, I posted a review there this week of a funny new road trip novel, Roastbeef's Promise.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Mondays is hosted by Book Journey).

Middle-Grade Review: The Tiger Rising

As I mentioned last week in my review of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, I love Kate DiCamillo’s writing; her prose is beautifully written and her characters wonderfully real.  The Tiger Rising, a slim novel we just finished reading aloud, is no exception.

The Tiger Rising opens with twelve-year old Rob waiting for his school bus and thinking about his recent discovery:

Finding the tiger had been luck, he knew that.  He had been out in the woods behind the Kentucky Star Motel, way out in the woods, not really looking for anything, just wandering, hoping that maybe he would get lost or get eaten by a bear and not have to go to school ever again.  That’s when he saw the old Beauchamp gas station building, all boarded up and tumbling down; next to it, there was a cage, and inside the cage, unbelievably, there was a tiger – a real-life, very large tiger pacing back and forth.  He was orange and gold and so bright, it was like staring at the sun itself, angry and trapped in a cage.

Rob’s secret buoys him as he boards the school bus and endures yet another morning of teasing and bullying.  But something else is different today.  A new girl, Sistine, gets on the bus.  She’s not like anyone Rob has ever seen or heard before, and he feels an immediate sense of connection with her:

Nobody wore pink lacy dresses to school.  Nobody.  Even Rob knew that.  He held his breath as he watched the girl walk down the aisle of the bus.  Here was somebody even stranger than he was.  He was sure.

Rob’s life is very difficult right now.  His mother recently died, and he and his father are both lost without her and unable to comfort each other.  They’re living in a run-down motel where Rob’s father works as a maintenance man, and Rob has a terrible case of what is probably eczema that makes him an outcast at school.  But now things are different for Rob; he’s not alone anymore.  Now he has a secret tiger in the woods and a new friend.

Like many of DiCamillo’s award-winning novels (this one was a National Book Award Finalist), The Tiger Rising tells its simple yet poignant story with lyrical style that pulls you in so you feel like its characters are your friends.  All four of us loved this novel and couldn’t wait to find out what happened next.  As in real life, everything does not turn out perfectly, but there is hope and encouragement in its satisfying conclusion.  I highly recommend this tender little novel, either for kids to read on their own or as a read-aloud.

121 pages, Candlewick Press

 Accelerated Reader:  Level 4.0, 3 points.

It's Monday 4/26! What Are You Reading?

It was a dark and stormy Monday...

It is dark and stormy, but I'm feeling much better than I was the past two weeks and am ready for a new week!  Lots of great books read in our house last week:

• I read a grown-up novel, Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane, which was excellent.  After seeing the recent movie ads for Shutter Island, my husband mentioned that we had the book, so I decided to read it. I haven't read a suspense novel in awhile, so I really enjoyed this dark psychological thriller. Only problem was the chase dreams I had last night!
• I just started Anything But Typical, a new middle-grade/teen novel written from the perspective of a 12-year old autistic boy.  It's good so far and reminding me a bit of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, a novel told in the voice of a young man who is autistic (also excellent).
• As he had planned, Jamie, 15, plowed through all 8 books of Deltora Quest by Emily Rodda in a rush of nostalgia for his old favorite series.  He's now moved onto Book 1, Cavern of the Fear, in the Deltora Shadowlands follow-up series.  if you have any middle-grade fantasy lovers in your family, Jamie says they should try the Deltora books.
• Craig, 12, finished another Hardy Boys book, The Clue of the Screeching Owl.  He especially enjoyed this one when he discovered that one of his favorite Hardy Boys' TV episodes was adapted from this book.
• I was thrilled to learn that Craig is now reading A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle for his English class literary circle.  I was an avid reader when I was a kid and had lots of favorite books, but this book - and its sequels - was my all-time,  #1 favorite!  I even played the role of Meg, the main character, in our class play based on the book.  He stayed up past bedtime last night and read all the way to page 60 (his assignment for the whole week), so I think he's enjoying it, too!  If you're a fan of A Wrinkle in Time, too, then you will enjoy When You Reach Me, a recent award-winner by Rebecca Stead that is based on part on A Wrinkle in Time.
• We finished The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo last week.  Even though my boys are now 12 and 15, they still enjoy bedtime read-alouds.  Our whole family loved this wonderful little novel that we started on our recent vacation.  It inspired me to post a review last week of another amazing DiCamillo book, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.

 So, what books are you and your family reading this week?

P.S. I finally found time to post pictures of our recent spring break road trip to Louisiana.  if you're interested, you can check them out at our road trip blog (scroll down to the April 1, 2010 post to read the entries in order).

(What are you reading Mondays is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey)

Middle-Grade Review: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

This week, we've been reading A Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo with our sons and loving it, so I thought I'd post a review of another DiCamillo book we enjoyed on audio a few years ago.  She has such a talent for beautiful prose and warm, touching stories.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo tells the story of Edward, an exquisite china rabbit who is treasured by 10-year old Abilene. Edward has a good life with Abilene, but he is self-absorbed and arrogant.  Then he gets lost and embarks on a journey that takes him from the bottom of the ocean to the top of a garbage heap and through many different owners, including a fisherman, a hobo, and a seriously ill child.  

Edward’s travels are more than just a fanciful tale. Through his adventures, he learns all about love, loss, and life.  The audio book narrator, Judith Ivey, reads DiCamillo’s beautiful language with considerable talent, bringing the diverse characters to life with a wide range of voices and taking listeners through laughter and sadness to the satisfying conclusion. On a road trip a few years ago, my husband and I and our two boys, then ages 9 and 12, were all captivated and touched by Edward’s miraculous journey.

Although we listened to the audio, I've heard that the illustrations in the book are as beautiful as the prose.

Listening Library/Random House Audio

The audio is appropriate for ages 8 and up.

 Listen to a clip:



AUDIO:     BOOK: 

Top 100 Children's Books

I just read this list of Top 100 Children's Books over at Eating YA Books (this list was originally compiled by Elizabeth Bird at Fuse #8 based on voting from readers and posted on the School Library Journal Blog).  I just had to play along - I love lists (as you probably know if you've read my Top Ten Lists here).  Last year, I posted a similar list of 100 teen/YA books.  I only read 22 of those, but I did better with the children's list - I've read 45 of these (those highlighted in bold).   It's an interesting list, with a nice mix of both older classics and newer titles.  I read  some as a child and some more recently with my own kids (many of them on audio).  How about you?  How many of these books have you read?

100. The Egypt Game — Snyder (1967)
99. The Indian in the Cupboard — Banks (1980)
98. Children of Green Knowe — Boston (1954)
97. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane — DiCamillo (2006)
96. The Witches — Dahl (1983)
95. Pippi Longstocking — Lindgren (1950)
94. Swallows and Amazons — Ransome (1930)
93. Caddie Woodlawn — Brink (1935)
92. Ella Enchanted — Levine (1997)
91. Sideways Stories from Wayside School — Sachar (1978)
90. Sarah, Plain and Tall — MacLachlan (1985)
89. Ramona and Her Father — Cleary (1977)
88. The High King — Alexander (1968)
87. The View from Saturday — Konigsburg (1996)
86. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets — Rowling (1999)
85. On the Banks of Plum Creek — Wilder (1937)
84. The Little White Horse — Goudge (1946)
83. The Thief — Turner (1997)
82. The Book of Three — Alexander (1964)
81. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon — Lin (2009)**
80. The Graveyard Book — Gaiman (2008)
79. All-of-a-Kind-Family — Taylor (1951)**
78. Johnny Tremain — Forbes (1943)
77. The City of Ember — DuPrau (2003)
76. Out of the Dust — Hesse (1997)
75. Love That Dog — Creech (2001)
74. The Borrowers — Norton (1953)
73. My Side of the Mountain — George (1959)
72. My Father’s Dragon — Gannett (1948)
71. The Bad Beginning — Snicket (1999)**
70. Betsy-Tacy — Lovelae (1940)
69. The Mysterious Benedict Society — Stewart ( 2007)
68. Walk Two Moons — Creech (1994)
67. Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher — Coville (1991)
66. Henry Huggins — Cleary (1950)
65. Ballet Shoes — Stratfeild (1936)
64. A Long Way from Chicago — Peck (1998)
63. Gone-Away Lake — Enright (1957)
62. The Secret of the Old Clock — Keene (1959)
61. Stargirl — Spinelli (2000)
60. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle — Avi (1990)
59. Inkheart — Funke (2003)
58. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase — Aiken (1962)
57. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 — Cleary (1981)
56. Number the Stars — Lowry (1989)
55. The Great Gilly Hopkins — Paterson (1978)
54. The BFG — Dahl (1982)
53. Wind in the Willows — Grahame (1908)
52. The Invention of Hugo Cabret — Selznick (2007)
51. The Saturdays — Enright (1941)
50. Island of the Blue Dolphins — O’Dell (1960)
49. Frindle — Clements (1996)
48. The Penderwicks — Birdsall (2005)
47. Bud, Not Buddy — Curtis (1999)
46. Where the Red Fern Grows — Rawls (1961)
45. The Golden Compass — Pullman (1995)
44. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing — Blume (1972)
43. Ramona the Pest — Cleary (1968)
42. Little House on the Prairie — Wilder (1935)**
41. The Witch of Blackbird Pond — Speare (1958)
40. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz — Baum (1900)
39. When You Reach Me — Stead (2009)
38. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix — Rowling (2003)
37. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry — Taylor (1976)
36. Are You there, God? It’s Me, Margaret — Blume (1970)
35. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire — Rowling (2000)
34. The Watsons Go to Birmingham — Curtis (1995)
33. James and the Giant Peach — Dahl (1961)
32. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH — O’Brian (1971)
31. Half Magic — Eager (1954)
30. Winnie-the-Pooh — Milne (1926)**
29. The Dark Is Rising — Cooper (1973)
28. A Little Princess — Burnett (1905)**
27. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass — Carroll (1865/72)
26. Hatchet — Paulsen (1989)
25. Little Women — Alcott (1868/9)
24. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Rowling (2007)
23. Little House in the Big Woods — Wilder (1932)
22. The Tale of Despereaux — DiCamillo (2003)
21. The Lightening Thief — Riordan (2005)
20. Tuck Everlasting — Babbitt (1975)
19. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory — Dahl (1964)
18. Matilda — Dahl (1988)
17. Maniac Magee — Spinelli (1990)
16. Harriet the Spy — Fitzhugh (1964)
15. Because of Winn-Dixie — DiCamillo (2000)
14. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban — Rowling (1999)
13. Bridge to Terabithia — Paterson (1977)
12. The Hobbit — Tolkien (1938)**
11. The Westing Game — Raskin (1978)
10. The Phantom Tollbooth — Juster (1961)
9. Anne of Green Gables — Montgomery (1908)
8. The Secret Garden — Burnett (1911)
7. The Giver — Lowry (1993)
6. Holes — Sachar (1998)
5. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler — Koningsburg (1967)
4. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe — Lewis (1950)
3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s/Philsopher’s Stone — Rowling (1997)**
2. A Wrinkle in Time — L’Engle (1962)
1. Charlotte’s Web — White (1952)**

Besides these 45 that I've read or listened to, I've seen the movies for a few more and recognize several titles my kids have read that I haven't.  In fact, I think I'll print this list for them to look at, too!

There are so many favorites of mine on this list.  I just finished The Phantom Tollbooth yesterday!

How many have you read?

It's Monday 4/19! What Are You Reading?

Whew, what a week here!  I have to first apologize - I didn't have any time at all to visit blogs last week.  Besides the usual after-vacation back-up of things to do, my week was packed full with soccer practices, school stuff, my mom's visit, and dentists appointments (in fact, I'm sitting in the dentist's waiting room again right now!).  Also, as soon as we arrived back in Delaware, my allergies hit hard, causing a severe flare-up of my immune system disorder, so I spent much of the week (in between all that running around) resting.

Fortunately, things seem to be slowly returning to normal.  I finally found a combination of meds that keep my allergies managed well enough that I don't feel completely wiped out all the time (just partially wiped out).  We finished unpacking and vacation laundry this weekend.  And I even posted our Louisiana vacation pictures online at our Road Trip Blog - take a look if you're interested (scroll down to April 1, 2010 to read/view the posts in order).  Today, I need to tackle those remaining 300 unread e-mails...

So, enough of all that - what you really want to hear about is our reading week, right?

• Since I was feeling so crummy, I chose a light read for my next book, The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster.  Believe it or not, I have never read this classic before, and Craig was working on it in English class, so I finally picked it up.  It's wonderful; I love all the clever wordplay!  And it was just perfect for my semi-functioning brain last week.
• Jamie, 15, read one book after another last week as usual!   He started with a fairly recent release, The Wizard of Rondo by Emily Rodda.  This is the sequel to The Key of Rondo which he enjoyed last year.
• Jamie finished that book and said to me, "That was great!  I had forgotten what a great writer Emily Rodda is.  I'm going to re-read the Deltora Quest series" (a middle-grade series by Emily Rodda that he loved when he was Craig's age).  So, last night at bedtime, I asked him, "Are you really going to re-read the entire series?"  He held up the book he was reading and said, "Yeah, there are thirteen, and I'm already on book 3!"  Classic Jamie - he loves to re-read old favorites (and hates to ever get rid of any books).  So, that should keep him busy for awhile...maybe a week or two!
• Craig, 12, is enjoying The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau, the first book in The Book of Ember series that Jamie and I both loved.

In addition, I posted reviews last week of  In Search of Watson, the third book in the Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars series and Incarceron, an amazing new teen fantasy that we listened to on audio during our trip.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Mondays is hosted by Book Journey).

Teen/YA Review: Incarceron

On our recent 2700-mile spring break road trip, we listened to a new teen novel, Incarceron by Catherine Fisher, and those miles just flew by!  Incarceron is the start of a new fantasy series that is attracting a lot of attention.  The reason?  Excellent writing and a unique story set in a fascinating world.

Many years before the start of the story, it was decided that gathering together all of the criminals, mentally ill, and other undesirables in society and locking them up in their own separate world would solve the world’s problems.  That world is Incarceron, and it is not a typical prison; it is an entire world of cells, cities, wilderness, and metal forests that is sealed off from the rest of the world.  Legend says that only one man has ever escaped.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world, Outside, exists in an enforced time-warp of an idealized old-fashioned time, despite the fact that advanced technology exists.

The story alternates between two main characters.  Finn, a seventeen-year old prisoner, is convinced that he once had a life Outside, despite the fact that everyone says he was born in Incarceron.  He wants to escape, but some people even doubt the existence of an outside world.  Then, he finds a strange crystal key that allows him to communicate with a girl named Claudia who is most definitely not in Incarceron.

Claudia is, in fact, the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, and she desperately wants to escape her arranged marriage that is quickly approaching.  When she discovers the connection with Finn, she wants to help him.  But neither of them understands the real nature of Incarceron and what it will take to escape.

All of us – my husband and I and our two sons, ages 12 and 15 – loved this imaginative story.  It’s like nothing else we’ve ever read.  Fisher has created a wholly new world that is both similar and completely different than our own, described in a riveting way that slowly unfolds as the story develops.  It is a dark and violent story at times but with glimmers of hope. We really came to care for both Claudia and Finn and were rooting for them.  The book came to its own satisfying conclusion, while also setting the stage for a sequel…we can’t wait!

NOTE:  Book 2, Sapphique, is scheduled for release on December 28, 2010.

Listening Library

Listen to a sample clip here:


     

Middle-Grade Review: In Search of Watson

A few years ago, my son Jamie discovered our huge volume of Sherlock Holmes stories and read the complete works of Arthur Conan Doyle from cover to cover.  He even lugged the encyclopedic-sized book through airports during our holiday trip to visit grandparents!  So, when he heard about a new series based on the original Sherlock Holmes’ stories, he couldn’t wait to read it.  Jamie read the first Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars book, The Fall of the Amazing Zalindas, written by husband and wife team Tracy Mack and Michael Citrin and was hooked on the series right away, but it’s taken me a few years to give it a try.  I recently read the third book in the series, In Search of Watson, and found out what I’d been missing.

The Baker Street Irregulars are a group of ragtag street urchins who help Mr. Holmes with his cases in 1890 London.  Pilar, a young Spanish girl who lives with her mother, helped the Irregulars on their last case and yearns to be one of them.  Here, she enters their hide-out home:

Pilar came to the wood slats that appeared to be a boarded-up window, gave the covert double-knock, and then pushed.  The boards were in fact a trapdoor which opened into the “Castle,” an abandoned carriage factory that was home to the Irregulars.  Pilar entered a cavernous room with a dirt floor and a catwalk framing its upper perimeter.  Two large wood doors that had been long sealed made up the far wall.  A formerly grand but now dilapidated coach that they’d recently named the “Grand Dame” sat on blocks in front of them.  In the center of the room a fire pit glowed.  Around it, most of the boys lounged.

Wiggins, the leader of the gang, stood by the fire in the midst of a tale, his hands flying and his copper eyes shining.  Pilar couldn’t help but notice how easily he became all the characters in his stories. 

“So Oz and me, we roped ‘im good.  I thought we were just goin’ to tie ‘im up, but Ozzie, he runs the rope into the gears and zip, that mad knife thrower was dragged across the ground and strung up like a Christmas goose in Coven’ Garden!”

Soon enough, the Irregulars are summoned to Sherlock Holmes as he begins the investigation of a murder at the British Museum Library.  He sends them off to follow up on various leads, as the mystery becomes more complex.  Things turn dangerous when Dr. Watson is kidnapped, and the Irregulars begin to suspect there may be a traitor in their midst.

It’s a fast-paced, intriguing mystery, filled with interesting characters. There’s even an extra section at the end of the novel called Facts and Practicals for the Aspiring Detective that includes bonus material related to the story – information on ciphers, the Tower of London, and the art of disguise in this one.  The series will appeal to young mystery lovers and may even lead them to read the original Sherlock Holmes stories.

195 pages, Scholastic

Accelerated Reader: Level 5.1, 4 points

It's Monday 4/12! What Are You Reading?

We just returned last night from a 10-day spring break trip.  We drove, with our pop-up camper, down to Louisiana and back.  We camped along the way and spent some time in Cajun country and New Orleans.  It was a wonderful trip but re-entry is so difficult!  I've decided to momentarily ignore the 400 e-mails, the unpacked suitcases, and the mountains of laundry (I estimate at least 11 loads!!) and instead take a break and tell you about all the great books we read while we were gone:

• Craig, 12, finished his latest Hardy Boys' book, The Bombay Boomerang, and started The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau, book 1 of a wonderful series that both Jamie and I loved (check out my review of the series).
• Jamie, 15, loves to read on our road trips.  He started with Sphere, a classic scientific thriller by Michael Crichton.  He recently enjoyed the movie version of another Crichton book, Timeline, so my husband and I suggested he try some of the author's other books.  He loved it!
• Jamie also read the third book in the Book of Ember series, The Prophet of Yonwood.  He'd read books 1 and 2 last summer and loved book 3 just as much.
• And Jamie started book 4 in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, The Battle of the Labyrinth, one of his Easter gifts.  He loves this series.
• I love to read road trip books while we're on a road trip, so I read Roastbeef's Promise by David Jerome, a funny book about a young man who fulfills his father's last wish by sprinkling his ashes in all 48 contiguous states.  I'm up to the part where he visits Louisiana, which I'm enjoying very much.  I'll post a review on Book By Book when I finish.
• At bedtime, I've been reading The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo to the boys.  Even though they're older, they still enjoy a bedtime book, but we don't always have time at home anymore with homework, soccer, etc.  We're all really enjoying this wonderfully written novel.
• We love to listen to audio books on our road trips, and this one was no exception.  We listened to an awesome new teen fantasy novel (the start of a series), Incarceron by Catherine Fisher, about a strange world that is divided between Outside and a unique prison known as Incarceron.  I'll post a review of this excellent new novel later this week.
• We started listening to Book 3 of the Erec Rex series by Kaza Kingsley, The Search for Truth.  This is one of the boys' favorite audio series, about a young boy who discovers he is part of a magical world and must complete a series of quests to become king, and we're all enjoying this latest installment.

Finally, though I read it during the holiday season, I kept my copy of Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table by Sara Roahen by my side for much of this trip, referring to Sara's favorite New Orleans restaurants and reading passages out loud to my family.  If you have any interest in New Orleans (or in good food!), you'll enjoy this wonderful memoir.  And if you want to know more about life in rural Louisiana, as well as in New Orleans, check out one of my favorite books of 2009, The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder by Rebecca Wells.  My mom just finished the audio that I lent her and kept calling me to talk about it (and cry over it)!

And now, I guess it's time to re-enter the real world of groceries, laundry, e-mail, work, and to-do lists.  Vacation can't last forever...can it??

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at One Person's Journey Through a World of Books).