Patriots Redcoats and Spies Review

Summary:

When Revolutionary War Patriot Lamberton Clark is shot by British soldiers while on a mission for the Continental Army, he has only two hopes of getting the secret message he’s carrying to General George Washington: his 14-year-old twin boys John and Ambrose. Upon discovering that their father is a spy in the Culper Spy Ring, the boys accept their mission without a clue about what they may be up against. They set off from Connecticut to New Jersey to find General Washington, but the road to the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army is full of obstacles; including the man who shot their father who is hot on their trail.

I decided to let my youngest brother read it first, as it was elementary historical fiction. His thoughts:

• Good for all ages
• Made history interesting
• Exciting action
• I liked that it was  Christian
• Seemed a little unreal

My review:
CONS
 While the book was very interesting and action packed, it was definitely unrealistic. From telling jokes to George Washington (what do you call a patriot dog? Yankee poodle!) or using more modern, 19th century words like 'ok', 'guys', 'yeah', 'Mom' and "Dad', there were certainly many historical flaws. Another 'con' would be the pictures. The people all resembled Quasimodo from the Hunchback of Notre Dame!

PROS
I DID, however, like the storyline. Ambrose and John, twins, had to choose to work together. They had to make many painful choices and sacrifices along the way to deliver their secret message. It was neat to see them mature and work together, and to learn more about the Culpepper Spy Ring.

The book had a Christian message, which I found uplifting.

I also found it fascinating that this book was based off a true character - Lamberton Clark was distantly related to the authors.

All in all, I give the book 2 1/2 out of 5 stars.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers <http://booklookbloggers.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Secret Adversary review

I had always wanted to read Agatha Christie, but simply never got around to it. I love a good mystery; Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, and Trixie Belden, etc. The first Agatha Christie I read,

Secret Adversary, got me hooked. It's free in the Kindle Store, too! And the BBC remake is on YouTube, free as well.

Here's your review:

In 1915, as the Lusitania sinks, a British spy gives a girl his secret papers, since she is a woman and will have a better chance of getting into a lifeboat. He tells her to get the papers to the American Embassy at all costs - even if it means her life. She agrees.

Flash forward to the end of World War 1, 1918. No one knows where that girl is, The papers were never delivered. Did she and the spy drown?

   Enter Tommy and Tuppence, a likable young 'couple' - they're mainly just friends, and there's not too much romance, which I liked- who decide to become mercenaries to earn a little money. Thinking the whole thing is a joke, they unwittingly stumble upon an enemy spy. He sees their innocent naivety and hires them to find the papers!

   Luckily, Tuppence realizes he's up to no good and she and Tommy decide to help one of the Queen's agents by alerting them to the enemy. He in turn recruits them, thinking they are experienced in the underworld. Hahaha-no. Tommy and Tuppence have no clue what they're getting into. They fall into a deadly game of espionage, torpedoes, amnesiacs, kidnapping, poisoning, and basically every exciting thing that could happen to a person. The book is very clean, and not graphic at all. It’s one of my favorite books, and there’s a great plot twist at the end!

Secret Letters by Leah Scheier Book Review

Oh my. This book was so amazingly written, so suspenseful and well crafted, it's hard to know where to start first.
Basically, the book is about an inquisitive, clever and feisty girl named Dora in 19th century England. She uncovers a massive secret- Sherlock Holmes just might be her biological father. Dora is thrilled- she's read his biographies written by Dr. Watson so many times! So Dora journeys to London to learn the truth, and to ask for Holmes' help in a case. Her cousin is being blackmailed over love letters she wrote when she was a teenager, and Dora is convinced Sherlock will help. So she joins her cousin in London and arrives on Holmes' doorstep- only to learn he was murdered in Switzerland by an adversary. However, his dashing young assistant Peter Cartwright, also guarding a secret past, offers his help in her case. He is investigating a disappearance of a heiress, and they soon realize their cases are intertwined. So Dora goes undercover as a maid to help Peter, learning surprising things about herself in the process. I highly recommend this book for fans of Sherlock Holmes and Victorian-age-literature readers. It was suspenseful, moving, and kept you guessing until the very end. I really enjoyed this read. (The only objectionable content- an unmarried, pregnant maid that Dora befriends mentions abortion, and while Dora 'knew it was terribly wrong, she could not find it in her heart to condemn this woman'.  The whole scene is very brief - not more than four sentences, but I just thought I'd mention it as some of  my readers are young.)
It is very sad at the end, I must admit I cried a little bit. I hope a sequel comes out very soon.
My rating- a must read for mystery fans.

My 15th birthday!

I had an amazing birthday! My friend JoGail came over and hung out, I got lots of cute and thoughtful gifts, and a general good time was had by all. :) (love that  phrase! It's so old timey- newspaperish.)
On my actual birthday, I worked in the surgery department, so I opened gifts when I got home. Then my family took me to Chuy's. I love that place. Then Saturday, I worked in the volunteer's concession stand to raise ,money for 4-H. I got some delicious cheesy fries. Then JoGail came over and we had a party!

JoGail!!

We did our nails, played outside with my brothers and their friend, and talked for forever!  My mom made me a delicious coconut cake with fluffy white frosting, which was really good.

I was rather spoiled this birthday:
My super amazing friends I volunteer with at the hospital got me a ring. A real ring! It's so cute. I just love it. You can see it in the picture at the bottom.
I got the book Secret Letters, about Sherlock Holmes' daughter. It was epic. You should read it!

I received a lovely pair of chic brown slacks and a scarlet blouse, orange flower earrings and bracelets. Also two adorable journals, a purify water bottle, candy, and an Amazon Gift Card. My lovely relatives sent money which was greatly appreciated. I'm saving it for college. Medical school isn't cheap. :)

So now I'm 15. Everyone asks if I feel older. Not really, but when people ask me my age and I say 15, then it hits me.
15!
Woot Woot!

Trixie Belden books!!

It's no secret I love to read. Anyone who has seen this blog knows how much I enjoy finding a good book!  I've been a huge fan of the Trixie Belden books ever since my mom gave me her old copy of The Red Trailer Mystery a few years ago. Now, whenever I go to yard sales or book fairs, I keep an eye out for Trixie books. There are 39 in the series, and 2 quiz books. I had 8. Then, a few days ago, at the library, I saw seven. SEVEN Trixie Beldens that  I did not have. The cool thing about this library is you keep the books. Forever, and for free. I had just scored myself 7 Trixie Belden books. Ah, what bliss followed me home! Then a tragic thought struck me. You, my dear readers, may not know who Trixie is!

Trixie and Jim

 Trixie is a teen living just outside the  town of Sleepyside-on-Hudson, in the Hudson River Valley area of New York. She lives at Crabapple Farm, which had been in her family for either three six generations  with her parents and three brothers, Brian, Mart, and Bobby. In The Secret of the Mansion (Book one) she meets lonely, sheltered rich girl Honey Wheeler whose family has just moved into the Manor House. A runaway boy in desperate need of their help soon arrives, and they have their first case!
Throughout the series, the two girls solve mysteries that baffle the police and, along with their brothers and friends, form a club called the Bob-Whites of the Glen, through which they have fabulous adventures. The books were written between 1948-1984, and some are VERY hard to find. I feel super blessed to have found the original editions. Here is a list of the first 10:
1. The Secret of the Mansion
2. The Red Trailer Mystery
3. The Gatehouse Mystery
4. The Mysterious Visitor
5. The Mystery Off Glen Road
6. The Mystery in Arizona
7. The Mysterious Code
8. The Black Jacket Mystery
9. The Happy Valley Mystery
10. The Marshland Mystery

Any other Trixie Belden fans out there? Comment and let me know!!

(Thank you, pinterest for the photo! :) )

Traitor in the Shipyard review

Andrew, my littlest brother, got me this book with his reading club form. (Can you say AWWW?) This is probably one of the best AG mysteries. It keeps you guessing until the very end.

• The American Girl: Caroline Abbot, from Sackets Harbor, New York.
• The plot: It's 1812, and Caroline's father's shipyard is frantically building ships to keep up with the British. When Papa's old friend arrives penniless, it's the least the the Abbots can do to give him a job. After all, he helped Papa escape from a British prison! Life is beginning to look up for Caroline. She even has time for sewing lessons at Miss Lucy's. But when things go missing around the shipyard, sails are slashed, and fires are started, Caroline soon realizes there's a British spy afoot- and it's someone who knows the shipyard well. Is it one of Abbott's trusted workers, whom she has known all her life, or could it be Papa's dear friend? It's up to Caroline to discover what's really going on.
• What I especially liked: Just when all the evidence pointed to a character you were SO sure was the spy, new clues and hidden pasts would come to light.  I loved that the plot wasn't easily guessable or boring. I also always enjoy the 'looking back' section, which told all about real-life spies in the War of 1812.

This was a very enjoyable and interesting  read, although I finished it quite quickly. It would be perfect for  ages 9-12, and was packed with facts about the war of 1812, which is an often overlooked part of our country's history.

The Happy Prince And Other Stories by Oscar Wilde

We've been reading Oscar Wilde's works for our homeschool literature , particularly The Happy Prince and Other Stories.  The book pictured above contains 9 stories. The first story, The Happy Prince, is the most famous. The story: A golden statue of a prince sits high above the city. Everyone looks up at it and thinks that it seems so happy. A swallow meets the statue ,which is of the late "Happy Prince". The statue houses the soul of the original prince, who in reality has never experienced true happiness. He explains to the swallow that he is very sad, as he can look down and see the suffering of the people. He never understood their suffering before. The statue convinces the swallow to help him by picking of his golden cover and taking pieces of gold to the poor. I won't ruin the ending for you, by
but I can assure you it is (very,very) sad, yet strangely beautiful.

My other favorite story from the book was The Remarkable Rocket. It is a wonderful example of personification, as Wilde does an amazing job making a group of firecrackers seem real. In the story, a bunch of fireworks are chosen to be set off for an enormous celebration of the prince's wedding. The smaller firecrackers are happily visiting amongst themselves when a large firecracker arrives. He brags about himself, what a great noise he will make when he is shot off, etc. When the time comes for him to be shot into the air, things don't go as planned. What make this story so enjoyable is the attention to detail Wilde puts into all his stories. He does not use so many words that it seems like overkill, but he uses just enough so you can picture it in your mind's eye. Below is an animated video from YouTube that follows the story EXACTLY. We enjoyed it very much.

Image credit : http://www.wordcandy.net/files/2012-05-22-another-one-ill-be-skipping.jpg
Video credit:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NZ0-TrP06I

Back to Homeschool Magazine Review

 

I've been a big fan of BTH magazine for a year now, and I write many articles for it. But today, I realized something very important. I forgot to tell my lovely followers of this! :)

The magazine is free, and sent straight to your email bimonthly. It's filled with stories, book, movie, and game reviews, jokes, poems, essays, and educational articles all written by homeschoolers JUST LIKE US! You can submit anything you've written to it. I write for the magazine's writer's board, which is a neat oportunity.

One of the main reasons I recomend it is that there is a wide variety of articles. The magazine always has a theme- fairy tales, sports, famous people- so there's always something for everyone. To read back issues before subscribing,  click here. The magazine is totally free, and there are no ads.

Book Review of Kiki Strike in the Shadow City

 I discovered a copy of Kiki Strike in the Shadow City  at my local library, and since then, my life has never been the same! No, really. This book is amazing!  Annika, a teenage girl living in Manhattan, is bored. As she looks out her window, she notices a mysterious hole in the ground, with a ladder leading down into it. She finds a secret, tiny underground room! Two construction workers digging a sewer discover her exploring
there, so she leaves. Then, her life changes when she meets Kiki Strike, a girl superspy. Kiki  wears all black, has an "army" of five talented Girl Scouts, and drives her Vespa all over Manhattan. She tells Annika that that little room leads to the Shadow City, a secret series of underground tunnels used as speakeasies and escapes for smuggler in the late 1920s - and it's up to them to protect it from falling into the wrong hands. Annika and Kiki, with the Girl scouts Betty( a master of disguise) , Luz,(an inventor) DeeDee(a talented chemist),and Oona,(a hacker and forger) form a group called the Irregulars, and they explore all over Shadow City. Annika and the other girls begin to wonder if Kiki has an ulterior motive for wanting to explore the Shadow City. Soon they find themselves trying to foil an international kidnaping plot- that could turn deadly for their friend Kiki, who isn't who she says she is....


    5 stars! This book was seriously awesome- like a combination of Nancy Drew and the Mysterious Benedict Society. I can't wait to download the rest of the series on my Kindle!

Dusk book review

So, I entered a writing contest over at Noveltea , and I won a super cute journal that says "Paris, mon amor" and I won this book, Dusk. It's really, really good. Basically, a young girl named Natalya is on a journey to find her grandfather and tell him good news- Princess Shalom is alive!! For years, the people have worried about the princess, for when Turglar was taken over by harsh and controlling Andor, the royal family was destroyed. But rumor has it that baby princess Shalom survived. Now, two decades later, the truth has been confirmed and it’s up to  Natalya  to find and tell the news to Beniel the goat-keeper, a legend in the towns and also her grandfather. Natalya's mother and father work at the palace , and they know for fact Shalom is alive. But it will be a long and dangerous journey for Natalya, yet someone must go.
 The book basically follows  Natalya on her journey, but it also tells stories over other citizens of Turglar, too. I don't' want to give it away, so I 'll just say you should totally read it! You can buy it here.

Book Review of The Mighty Miss Malone

 I was at the library, looking for books. It's a small place, and most of the titles I've read. Then I saw it. In between the musty, dingy, dated volumes, sat a brand new copy of The Mighty Miss Malone. A miracle, or as Deza would say, an epiphany. From the amazing front cover and alliteration-like title, this book did not disappoint!  It painted a believable, funny-but -sometimes tragic picture of a middle class black family living during the Great Depression. 

  It's about Miss Malone-Deza,who's 12 and lives in Gary, Indiana, with her parents, Roscoe and Peg, and older brother, Jimmie, during the Great Depression. Deza loves to write  and excels in school, and Jimmie is known all around town for his Gospel singing(and his dislike for school!). At first, Deza's life is perfects and it's like she lives in her own sheltered bubble. After an accident that injures her father, she learns that they live on welfare food, that they don't own their house, and that many people are prejudiced. Her father goes to look for work and disappears, and her brother goes to find him.
   
    Instead of letting this get her down, Deza decides to try to change things, and ends up turning everything around and reuniting her family. Deza in a character who seemed real. The author does a great job portraying her, her brother, parents, and the rest of her friends and family in a realistic way that feels that you're right there with them. I highly recommend this book!!!
Image credit:http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/files/2011/12/MightyMissMalone.jpg

American Girl Book GIVEAWAY!

Josefina, a New Mexican girl living on a rancho in 1826, has heard stories and legends all her life: priceless gold and silver buried in the hills, tales of La Lorna, a sad woman, who haunts the countryside. But she never thought that the tales might be true--until one day a mysterious stranger arrives at her rancho. At first, she thinks the the stranger is simply an interesting person. But when things begin to go wrong.... Can Josefina find the treasure before it's too late?!

To enter the giveaway:
You must be a follower of my blog! I can't count entries if not.
Only open to U.S followers.(sorry!)
Leave a comment with your e-mail. I won't give your e-mail out.
I'll draw a name out of a hat and e-mail the winner!
You have 10 days-till October 10th.
One entry per person, please.
Bonus entry:
Do a blog post on this giveaway and leave a link to it for one bonus entry!
Good Luck!

Book Review of Nancy Drew #64 Captive Witness

This Nancy Drew is one of my favorites. In it, Nancy is on a trip to Europe with a group of college students and friends. Suddenly, the elderly professor in charge of the trip has his bag stolen, causing Nancy, Bess, and George to chase the thief. Why would someone steal it? They can't imagine why. However, the girls soon learn the professor isn't just some old man-he's head of a secret rescue operation to get 10 refugee children from an iron curtain country to freedom! But before she accomplish this, Nancy's father tells her there's a missing entry in a foreign film festival. Not only is the entry missing, the man who was to have entered it has disappeared! Is he being held captive, the only witness to an unsolved crime? As the two cases intertwine, Nancy realizes she's on the trail of something huge. Boat chases, kidnappings, deadly foes, and international spies-will this become the one case Nancy can't solve?

                                 READ THE BOOK TO FIND OUT!!!!!!!!

Shades of Gray Review

Will Page's life and family was ruined by the Yankees. The war has destroyed everything he knew and loved. So when he must stay with his Northern relatives, he's not happy.He loved his home in the Shenandoah Valley and doesn't want to live with relatives he has never met, people struggling to make a living on their farm in the war-torn Virginia Piedmont area. But, worst of all is that Will's uncle Jed had refused to fight for the Confederacy. How could his Uncle be a Union sympathizer?  Uncle Jed is cowardly, not fighting for either side and saying he's for the Union-or so Will thinks. Will refuses to call him "uncle". Aunt Ella, the peacemaker is kind, reminding Will of his mother, and she tries to help Will. And then there's Meg, his cousin, who could care less about the war and just wants to be Will's friend. Still, she's a bit silly and she doesn't seem to understand Will's pain-even when he tells her the Yanks are responsible for the death of his whole immediate family. Just as Will starts to understand Meg, she brings home an injured Yank! Will is furious! However, the Yankee, Jim, is interested in befriending Will. He tells Will he never wanted to obey Sherman's orders of destroying the Confederate countryside. Still, Will is suspicious. Besides, he has his own troubles with bullies. He doesn't need a Yankee friend! Just as Uncle Jed, Jim, Meg, and Will begin to get along, Will's friends from the South offer to take him in. How can he choose between the family he's grown to love and his good friends? 

   I gave this book 5 stars because I think it really explains the Civil war from the perspective of both sides in an unusual way, and it teaches you that someone you might think of as an enemy could be your friend. I also think the author did an amazing job of describing the characters so you felt like you knew all of them. Plus, the book is great for a Civil war study or a Virginia study, because it teaches about both.

Louisa May Alcott

Maybe you love Louisa May Alcott's books(Little Women, Little Men, Jo's Boy's, Under the Lilacs, Eight Cousins, Rose in Bloom, just to name a few.), but you don't know much about her. If so, read on!

Orchard House

   Louisa was born  in 1832 in Germantown, Pennsylvania, where her father, Bronson Alcott taught school. Her father and mother, Abigail, were transcendentalists, which meant they had different view than most people of their time. They were vegetarians, abolitionists, believed in taking ice cold baths and sleeping on hard mattresses. Bronson believed boys and girls, black and white, should be educated together. His ideas were considered so radical that people took their children out of his school, and it had to close. So, the family(Louisa, her older sister Anna, younger sisters, May and Elizabeth) moved to Boston. Once, while in Boston, six-year-old Louisa became lost. Instead of becoming scared, she laid her head down on a big, kind dog and fell asleep. Another interesting thing that happened to her while living in Boston was that she fell into a frog pond in Boston and nearly drowned, except a young African-American boy came running, leaped in and saved her life. Louisa speculated perhaps this is what caused her abolitionist beliefs.

 After Bronson's job in Boston failed when he invited a black girl to his new school, the family moved to Orchard house in Concord, Massachusetts, where they would spend the rest of their lives. (You can tour  Orchard House.) He took odd jobs here and there. Louisa said that despite their extreme poverty, times at Orchard House were the happiest times of my life. It is these times she based Little Women on.

 The family had several notable neighbors- Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne, to name a few. These were Louisa's mentors, and they inspired her writing.


As a teenager, she wrote"blood and thunder stories" under a  pen name, earning a little money. Louisa always wanted to earn money for her poor family, but just as her writing began to get noticed, the Civil War broke out and she became a nurse. However, she contacted typhoid fever. During her illness, she wrote Hospital Sketches, about her life as a nurse. When she was asked to write a girl's book, she hesitated, saying she "never much liked girls, except my sisters." She wrote Little Women, which is loosely autobiographical, and it was a roaring success. Louisa never married, but she raised May's child Lulu, after May's death. She wrote until her own death at the age of 55 , from mercury poisoning. She contacted this from the medicine she was given when she had fever.

 Louisa lives on in her many writings, which remain popular to this day.

Find out who you'd be in Little women with this quiz:
http://quizilla.teennick.com/quizzes/767819/which-little-women-character-are-you-girls-only

Indiana Jones books

How I could have gone so long without reading these books is puzzling. For someone who likes adventure, mystery, and history books like I do, the books are a must-have! I've never seen the movies, but I do know the books don't have any bad words- and the movies do. (The books are adapted for teens)So, I advise you to read the books, watch the trailers on you tube,and then ask your parents to let you see the movies(or at least that's my plan!) Under the picture of each book I'm going to put a mini review.

It's 1935, and Indiana Jones is hired by a "wealthy collector" (gangster) who tries to kill him. In an attempt to escape, Indiana, Willie(a spoiled singer who seems like a brat but turns out okay in the end) and Short Round, Indy's junior assistant-end up in a remote village. Indy is asked to help recover the village's children, who were kidnapped by the blood-thirsty Thugees. It's up to Indy to save them -but will he be able to save himself, Willie, and Short Round when the Thugees decide to fight back?

1938. Hitler is rising to power- and he wants the Ark of the Covenant because he thinks it will make him powerful. So the American Government hires the famous archaeologist Dr. Jones, to find it before the Nazi's do- and to figure out what's going on. Can Indy triumph over the forces of evil? Along with the bedazzling Marion and Sallah, his trusted Egyptian guide, once again it's up to Indy and his bullwhip to save a precious treasure and keep it safe for all time.

Indiana's father has spent his entire life searching for the Holy grail-a cup that was believed to have been used by Jesus. So when Indy's called to find it, he can't understand why his father wasn't called instead- until he learns his father was kidnapped by the Nazis.(Look at the trailer for this one on youtube. It came out in 1981 and it's amazing)Indy comes face to face with the Nazi's evil leader Hitler, breaks into a Nazi-occupied castle, rides for miles hanging off the side of a tank-trust me, it's amazing.

1955, Indy's too old for adventure, right? NO! Being kidnapped by Soviets, searching for lost cities, and trying to help a mysterious teenage boy find his kidnapped mother and uncle-this book is great1It's full of surprises and shows that Indy can do anything!(almost. He's still afraid of snakes.:-) Indy and Mutt  head to South America to find them, meeting grave robbers, ancient warriors, scorpions-and a few pleasant surprises as well.

The Tangled web- a Julie Mystery

It's 1974, and Julie meets a new girl, Carla, and the two become fast friends. But why is Carla saying such strange things? And how can Julie help the sad young man at the Vietnam Veteran's Center? Is the woman at the farmer's market really who Carla says she is? All of Carla's stories don't add up, and Julie becomes suspicious. As she investigates, she learns lies really are a tangled web. On top of all this, Julie must give up her room to the eccentric Ms. Joyce, her mother's friend. Lies, an unwelcome visitor, a mysterious young soldier....maybe Julie's week won't be so boring after all!!

This book was AMAZING. It was super suspenseful, and really kept me guessing. I loved how the author worked different elements in with the story-quotes,little details, sayings from 1974, etc. The book teaches a little about the Vietnam war through the view point of a 10-11 year old American girl growing up in 1974.

 The Julie and Ivy(her best friend) dolls...

Reading matters!

Pic from https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyWzFRncBG-9uJPzUs0PUXZfMW0x5kSJcjYKTqYx305M-lM1yn0kQyLG5-qfQF3sTd1ATjWl7xQeoBzoKH3T10KTLkS0rT019vZQ8lBHRfPDatatZdmpNzv8rZVcrmLxX4JTHIXMXoFWo/s1600/PrettyPinkBooks.jpg

I love reading. Maybe you love reading, maybe you don't. But have you ever stopped to consider how important reading is?
   Reading does matter. Studies show that children who are read to at a young age will  have a love of reading later in life. Three in five inmates in U.S. prisons are illiterate, and 44 million adults in the U.S. can't read well enough to read a simple story to a child. If only they'd been read to when they were younger! My mom has always encouraged me to have a love of reading, and she taught me to read at a young age. But what about children whose parents can't read very well or don't know English? Reading can influence your future career, too. Approximately 50 percent of the nation's unemployed youth ages 16-21 are nearly or completely illiterate, with virtually no prospects of obtaining good jobs.
It's important to read to young children, too. You may think reading to a baby or toddler is boring or ludicrous, but.....

Children who have not developed some basic literacy skills by the time they enter school are 3 - 4 times more likely to drop out in later years.  Forty-four percent of American 4th grade students cannot read fluently, even when they read grade-level stories aloud under supportive testing conditions. You can help with this by reading to your younger siblings(or your kids, if you're an adult reading this post.) However, you also need to read, too! Studies of reading habits of students has shown that even just 15 minutes a day of independent reading can expose you to more than a million words of text in a year. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and read!! What you read is almost as important as if you read, however. Historical fiction is fun and educational, as are nonfiction books. Books like Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys are exciting and have lots of interesting vocabulary words. Fantasy and Sci-fi books are alright once in a while, but constantly reading them doesn't really help your mind. If you like those kind of books, however, just look for ones with challenging words or that are on grade level. Here's a list of good reads I've blogged on: Freedom's Crossing -historical fiction Beware, Princess Elizabeth-historical fiction Hitty, her first hundred years-historical fiction Gail Carson Levine's books fantasy The Hidden Gold-historical fiction/mystery The Invention of Hugo Cabret-historical fiction/mystery Blue Jasmine-modern times/social issues Soul Surfer-modern times/social issues And many more! Just click the label "books" (at the top of my blog)and scroll through!

Freedom's Crossing

Meet Laura Eastman, a teenage girl who returns home from living with her aunt and uncle in the South only to find her little brother,Bert, and her father are running a station on the Underground Railroad. At first, Laura is angry. They're breaking the law! How could they help slaves escape their kind masters? Soon Laura  learns that most masters aren't as kind as her aunt and uncle were. She also learns Bert isn't just helping slaves-he's hiding them in the house.
    Laura is outraged. She threatens to go to the sheriff. But her whole view in slavery changes when she meets a runaway slave....
Enter Martin Page, a twelve year old fugitive slave who will risk anything to be free. He knows how to read, write, and bake, and he explains to Laura what life's like for slaves who don't have kind masters.
Still, Laura is unsure about this, until one day, she must either break the law to help Martin escape-or send him back to the plantation.

I loved this novel by Margaret Goff Clark. The author does an amazing job of writing from the viewpoints of a Southern girl and a fugitive slave. I really enjoyed the book. 5 stars!

Ben Wheeler Library

This is the Ben Wheeler Library:

  It was once a schoolhouse. Now, it's a charming little library where you can get any 5 books you want free.
You can also attend special programs. We attended one of the programs and...

  ..... chatted with an opossum,

 made faces along with a beaver skull,

 learned about animal furs,

 ...came face-to face with big skulls like these...

...and had a great time!!

A lady from Texas Parks and Wildlife Services brought tons of animal skulls and furs to look at. We learned loads of interesting facts, such as how to tell what an animal is by looking at it's skull. The speaker was verry funny and her talk was very educational. I really enjoyed it. Something interesting: As I'm writing this, I just saw a coyote walking through our woods!