Monday, 14 November 2011

The Rescue - Guardians of Ga'Hoole Book 3 - Kathryn Lasky

The Rescue
Guardians of Ga'Hoole Book 3
Kathryn Lasky
Scholastic
ISBN 9780439405591
eISBN 9780545283342

With every book I read, I become a bigger fan of Kathryn Lasky and/or Ga'Hoole. Even though the movie is so different, it was my first introduction to Ga'Hoole and the Legends of the Great Tree and the Guardians who reside there. The books had been on my to-read list for a long time, but because they were older, had constantly been pushed down the reading list. But now I am completely hooked and look forward to each new adventure as I finish the previous book.

In this third installment we return to Soren, a Tyto, barn own, and his band of friends who go on a rescue mission searching out their beloved teacher Ezylryb. Ezylryb had gone missing while searching for information about a new villain on the horizon, Metal Beak. The history and legends of Ga'Hoole is a long and intricate tale. They are stories what will challenge your spirit and make you think you can be better than you currently are. They are stories as truth that will help you see the world in a new way. Lasky is a master story teller and these books are masterpieces each unto themselves and as a greater whole. So come join Soren, Gylfie, Digger, Twilight and Otulissa as they embark on yet another heroic adventure.




Books by Kathryn Lasky:

Guardians of Ga'Hoole Book:
1: The Capture
2: The Journey
3: The Rescue
4: The Siege
5: The Shattering
6: The Burning
7: The Hatchling
8: The Outcast
9: The First Collier
10: The Coming of Hoole
11: To Be a King
12: The Golden Tree
13: The River of Wind
14: Exile
15: The War of the Ember
A Guide Book to the Great Tree
Lost Tales of Ga'Hoole
Wolves of the Beyond:
1: Lone Wolf
2: Shadow Wolf
3: Watch Wolf
4: Frost Wolf
The Wolves From The Beyond Field Guide

Daughters of the Sea:
Hannah
May

Starbuck Family Adventures:
Double Trouble Squared
Shadows in the Water
A Voice in the Wind

Born to Rule
Unicorns? Get Real!

The Royal Diaries:
Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor, England 1544
Mary, Queen of Scots: Queen Without a Country, France 1553
Marie Antoinette: Princess of Versailles, Austria-France 1769
Jahanara: Princess of Princesses, India 1627
Kazunomiya: Prisoner of Heaven, Japan 1858

Dear America:
Journey to the New World: The Diary Of Remember Patience Whipple, Mayflower, 1620
Dreams in the Golden Country: The Diary of Zipporah Feldman a Jewish Immigrant Girl, New York City, 1903
Christmas After All: The Great Depression Diary of Minnie Swift, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1932
A Time for Courage:The Suffragette Diary of Kathleen Bowen, Washington, D.C., 1917

My Name Is America:
The Journal of Augustus Pelletier: Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804

My America:
Hope In My Heart, Sofia's Ellis Island Diary
Home at Last: Sofia's Immigrant Diary
An American Spring: Sofia's Immigrant Diary

Standalone Titles:
The Last Girls of Pompeii
Blood Secret
Broken Song
Star Split
Alice Rose and Sam
True North
Beyond the Burning Time
Memoirs of a Bookbat'
The Bone Wars
Pageant
Beyond the Divide
The Night Journey
Prank
Hawksmaid
Ashes
Chasing Orion
Dancing Through Fire

Children young adults non-fiction:
3038 Staat der Klone
John Muir: America's First Environmentalist
Interrupted Journey: Saving Endangered Sea Turtles
Shadows in the Dawn: The Lemurs of Madagascar
The Most Beautiful Roof in the World
Sugaring Time
Days of the Dead
Searching for Laura Ingalls
Monarchs
Surtsey: The Newest Place on Earth
Dinosaur Dig
Traces of Life
A Baby for Max

Picture Books:
Lunch Bunnies
Show and Tell Bunnies
Science Fair Bunnies
Tumble Bunnies
Lucille's Snowsuit
Lucille Camps In
Starring Lucille
Pirate Bob
Humphrey, Albert, and the Flying Machine
Before I was Your Mother
The Man Who Made Time Travel
A Voice of Her Own: The Story of Phillis Wheatley, Slave Poet
Love That Baby
Mommy's Hands
Porkenstein
Born in the Breezes: The Voyages Of Joshua Slocum
Vision of Beauty
First Painter
The Emperor's Old Clothes
Sophie and Rose
Marven of the Great North Woods
A Brilliant Streak
Hercules: The Man, The Myth, The Hero
The Librarian Who Measured the Earth
She's Wearing a Dead Bird on Her Head!
The Gates of the Wind
Pond Year
Cloud Eyes
I Have an Aunt on Marlborough Street
Sea Swan
My Island Grandma

Adult:
Night Gardening (pseudonym of E.L. Swann)
Dark Swan
Mumbo Jumbo
Mortal Words
Trace Elements
The Widow of Oz
Atlantic Circle

Author Profile Interview with Kathryn Lasky
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Friday, 11 November 2011

Lest We Forget - Je Me Souviens

We give thanks for those who serve and those who have fallen that we might have the freedoms we do. Thank you.
(Bottom image courtest Dirk HR Spennermann Photeography.)

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Wednesday, 9 November 2011

Bluefish - Pat Schmatz

Bluefish
Pat Schmatz
Candlewick
ISBN 9780763653347

Few books have as immediate an impact on me as this book. As someone who grew up with a learning disability, a dual form of dyslexia, reading this book was much like reliving some of my own childhood. Schmatz does an amazing job of capturing the feelings, emotions and immense frustration of having a learning disability and being different from other people. She captures the sense of being an outsider at school and the embarrassment of going out to special education classes. She also captures how that frustration can lead to physical outbursts as it often seems like the only outlet available.

Our cast of characters includes Travis, a young man with anger issues, and a learning disability who is living with a recovering alcoholic grandfather; Mr. McQueen, who is more than just a teacher, but also an educator; he knows how to reach students that others give up on. He is the type of teacher we all need at one point or another in our life, who really connects with us. And the immensely enjoyable Velveeta, a young woman in the special education class also who is an outsider but one with a big heart.

As these characters and their stories start to intertwine, we have a story that unmasks us as readers. With such strong believable characters this story is driven both by the action and the silences between the characters. As Travis and Velveeta begin to trust each other, they make a connection to one another, and that connection is the beginning of their own process of growth and healing. This book was an amazing read, and I know that it is one I will read over and over again.

Schmatz has written a book that should become a classic in Children's literature. It should really be required reading for all middle school children to help them see the people and world around them differently. This book was so amazing that I bought and read two other of Pat Schmatz's books in under a week. Get it! It will not disappoint.

Books by Pat Schmatz:
Bluefish
Mousetraps
Circle the Truth
Mrs. Estronsky and the U.F.O.

Author Profile Interview with Pat Schmatz
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Monday, 7 November 2011

The Seed - Fola

The Seed
Fola
Createspace
ISBN 9781463567897

There are certain "Self Help" books that I have read that have been favorites - sometimes for years, sometimes just for a season. Some of these were amazing. Paolo Coelho's The Alchemist, Dan Millman's The Way of the Peaceful Warrior; Noah ben Shea's Jacob the Baker, or Robin S. Sharma's The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari each had a lasting impact on me and was read a few times. So when someone approaches me with a book they think is in the same class, I am always a little leery, and when the author approaches me, even more so. Unfortunately that was the case with this book.

The author set it up as containing the wisdom of the ages and being very enlightening. I cannot say for certain it is the worst book I have ever read but it is definitely close. It follows a character through different periods of history, supposedly reincarnated or continually living and learning new lessons in each epoch of history. The story rambles, the character is weak and it was a great effort just to finish the book and not give up. On a scale of 1 to 10 I would not even rate this book. Usually I can find something good to state about a book - for this one, other than the author's enthusiasm, I can't find anything good to say.

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Friday, 4 November 2011

Why God Matters - Karina Lumbert Fabian and Deacon Steven Lumbert

Why God Matters:
How to Recognize Him in Daily Life
Karina Lumbert Fabian and
Deacon Steven Lumbert
Tribute Books
ISBN 9780982256534

This was an amazing little book. The physical book is almost 120 pages. The eBook comes in around 40 pages. But while reading the book, I went back and forth and reread many sections. I probably read the book about 4 times through. I read this as an eBook. The nice thing about it was having it with me all the time, on my iPhone, on my iPad, on my MacBook Pro, on my Desktop or on my Kobo eReader. What made it nice to always have it with me was that often I went back and reread sections a few times over, pondering them, meditating on them and absorbing them before moving on to the next point. The book is written as a series of pensees, reflections or meditations called life lessons. Each chapter is a different Life Lesson, which are alternately written by Karina and Steven, daughter and father. These lessons are:

The Reluctant Convert
Love in a Pot of Rice
So Help Me, God, I Didn't Do It
Martyr for the Trivial
Out of the Depths of Despair
Does God Send Flowers?
The Close Call
Bare Feet
Who, Me?
Small Steps, Steady Progress
Cough Up
My Non-Personal Relationship with God
The Patient Friend
Influence

Each chapter begins with a personal story and then the Life Lesson learned from the experience. Each life lesson is supported with a biblical verse and with a quote from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. This book is a little treasure that I know I will go back and reread again to inspire and encourage me in my faith. It is a great book that was very well written. The book also includes a list of books for further reading and a few prayers at the end of the book to help start us along the path of deeper devotion. So give it a try; it will challenge you in your faith and motivate you to go deeper in your spiritual journey!



Dex Hollister Series:
The Old Man and the Void
Dex's Way
...

Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator Series :
Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator
I Left My Brains in San Francisco
Shambling in a Winter Wonderland
…

DragonEye PI Series:
DragonEye PI Novels:

Space Traipse Series:
Space Traipse: Hold My Beer, Season 1
Space Traipse: Hold My Beer, Season 2
Space Traipse: Hold My Beer, Season 3
Space Traipse Stories
…

Madness of Kanaan Series:
(formerly The Mind Over Series)

Edited by: Karina Fabian:
Infinite Space, Infinite God I
Leaps of Faith
Infinite Space, Infinite God II
...


Contributed to:
Firestorm of Dragons
The Zombie Cookbook
The Book of Tentacles
Twisted Fayrie Tales
FRIGHTLINER: And Other Tales of the Undead
Mother Goose is Dead
Word by Word: Slowing Down with the Hail Mary
Image and Likeness Literary Reflections on the Theology of the Body
Corrupts Absolutely? Dark Metahuman Fiction
Weird Noir
The Complete Guide to Writing Paranormal Novels
Manifesto UF
Avenir Eclectia
Planetary Anthology: Jupiter
Planetary Anthology: Pluto
Planetary Anthology: Luna
Planetary Anthology: Uranus
FlagShip Science Fiction and Fantasy v2i5
My Little Book of Headdesks
To Be Men: Stories Celebrating Masculinity
...

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Wednesday, 2 November 2011

Old MacDonald Had A Farm - Little Scholastic - A Hand-Puppet Board Book

Old MacDonald Had A Farm
A Hand-Puppet Board Book
Little Scholastic
Scholastic
ISBN 9780545026031

This book is the first in this series that we have read. My children and I loved it. They want to play and read the book again and again. The 5 year-old can read it to the younger children, and the younger children love the finger puppets. It is amazing that the 6 pages in the little board book can read again and again. You use the finger puppets to point to the words and to the animals and it is a great learning tool.

Scholastic Hand-Puppet Board Books:
Hey Diddle Diddle
Old MacDonald Had A Farm
This Little Piggy
Hello Dinosaurs!
Twinkle, Twinkle Panda Bear
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Tuesday, 1 November 2011

We're Back!

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming. Or at least sort of, after taking the month of October off from being online, no blogging, no Twitter, no Facebook, no Google+. I have decided to make some changes to the lineup. Here is what I will be attempting to do with the blog for the next while. The goal is three posts a week; Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. If I have an author interview profile it will run on Wednesdays when I have them. Fitness reviews will run on Fridays. And I will attempt to review at least one Catholic book a month and post that review on the First Friday. Depending on when a Quarter ends fall I might have extra posts outside this schedule but will endeavor to meet this schedule going forward.

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