The Slightly True Story of Cedar B. Hartley

This book is about a 12 year old girl named Cedar, her relationship with her new friend Kite, the circus, acrobats and so much more. I guess this book is classified as young adult but I thought of it more as a coming of age story and was surprised to see it classified this way. It is set in Australia so it was fun to learn some new words and phrases that I didn't know like what a squashed fly biscuit is. There are a lot deep thoughts from Cedar in this book that made me think. This book was a lot better than I expected.

Ready or Not

You know you have too many books when you just start looking through your books randomly and find a sequel to a book that you didn't know had a sequel and that you had no idea you even owned. That's what happened to me with Ready or Not. I had just read All American Girl and I assumed it didn't have a sequel. A few days later I found Ready or Not on one of my many book shelves. Hmp!

Anyway, this book takes place about a year after American Girl. I didn't enjoy this one as much as I did the first one. Samantha started to remind me more of Mia from the Princess Diaries but this isn't why I didn't like it. Most of the book is about Samantha's fixiation on one subject and I pretty much figured about her assumption and ultimately didn't like her decision.

All American Girl

Samantha becomes a national hero at age 15 when she stops a presidential assassination. Of course, her whole life in changed whereas she just wants to be herself; a similar premise to The Princess Diaries, also by Meg Cabot. Oh, and she also begins dating the president's son. The book was fun to read.

What's French for "Ew!"?

This is a fun young adult novel. I read another in this, which is about 16 year old Emily and her life since her family moved to Europe. This book focuses on her spring break trip to Paris. Emily has the worst luck but her adventures are hilarious. Oh, the book is written in a series of emails to her best friend in the U.S. I love books in this format. A fun book to read!

Who P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit?

I read Who Censored Roger Rabbit? last year and loved it. This book isn't exactly a sequel but it has the same characters. I love the inhabitants of Toontown and their interactions with 1930s Hollywood. It is also pretty funny and I love humorous books. Another highly recommended book.

Free-Range Kids

I was very excited to read this book. It certainly lived up to expectations. It was fantastic. This is pretty much how I want to raise my kids. I want them to be able to grow up with the same type of childhood that I had and not worry about every little thing that might happen to them; but it's hard not too worry! I don't like the trend of the "helicopter parents" and not giving kids any freedom. Skenazy brings data and facts to the argument that kids can do more than we think and the world is truly not a more dangerous place than it was 30 years ago. There was so much in this book that I agreed with. I was laughing aloud at timesl Skenazy is a funny writer at times and her style is very easy to read. I got this book from the library but I need to get my own copy.

The Civil War in Fairfax County

Civil War history is all around me where I live in Fairfax county Virginia. Although I majored in history in college, I have never been into military history.

I found out recently, though, that there could be Civil War trenches in my backyard, literally, as they have been found in my neighbor's yard. Fascinating!

I found this book at the library and decided to read it to find out a little more about the war in my area. It's a short book with lots of photographs. However, it took me a long time to read as I found it tedious in parts and a few times it seemed to abruptly change subjects. The book has a lot of first hand accounts of the war. I did learn some new information from the book but overall it was a tad boring to me.

Harry Potter and the Half- Blood Prince

I reread this book in July in preparation to see the movie. Have I seen the movie yet? No. Such is the life with 3 young children. I probably won't see it until it comes out on DVD now.

I haven't reread a Harry Potter book in a while. I think this is only the second time I've read it. It was very enjoyable again. I'd really like to reread book 7 now but I just have so many other books to read.

Child 44

I got this book last year from a big box of books that I won from Hatchette. I put it on my book shelves but it really didn't sound that interesting to me. I picked it up in July for a book group read not thinking I would really like it.
But I was wrong. It was a great book! It is set in the Soviet Union in the 1950s. A former MGB officer finds a disturbing pattern of murders. But officially, the state says there is no serial killers because they don't exist in the Soviet Union. He goes against the state to discover the killer. The theme of the book is definitely paranoia. I can't imagine what it was like to live the USSR then and fear everyone and everything.
The book is fast paced with a final twist that I did figure out before the end. I am glad I did read this book and highly recommend it.