Hi, I'm Mrs. F-B!

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Last weekend I started reading Fang, the most recent in the Maximum Ride series on my Kindle. If you've read it, you can imagine how dismayed I was to discover that I only had part of the book and I was left hanging midway through! Luckily, I was able to scrounge up a copy here at the WOMS library this week so I could finish it. As always, there was lots of excitement and action in the story. There were some old characters re-introduced, and a (super cute) new character was brought in as well. Supposedly he's Max's perfect other half. But wait, you ask, what about Fang. HE'S Max's perfect other half, isn't he? Isn't he? And that's exactly what Max is asking herself.

This was not my favorite Maximum Ride book - I thought it didn't have quite enough development - but I wouldn't have skipped it, either. It's true to the series and fans will love it.

Available at your WOMS library.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Rosanne Parry visits!

We had a most amazing author visit this evening at Mother-Daughter book club when Rosanne Parry, author of Heart of a Shepherd visited with our group. She talked about writing, about her book, showed us how to rope...or not...and read to us from her new novel which will be released in March. It was a fabulous visit and we are very thankful that she was able to come and share about her work, especially since she'd already had a long day at another school. Here are some pictures from her visit (and one of the yummy cookie snowmen we had for a treat!). Enjoy!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Book awards announced today


See the full list of book awards which were announced today at ALA here.

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Three new books reviewed

The Mystery of the Third Lucretia. A great YA mystery that involves international art and intrigue. Two intrepid young women discover themselves entwined with a man they know is evil, but they're just not sure exactly what he's being evil about. And then they do, and then they're in big trouble. Cannot go wrong in a book where the teen girls are dressing up in myriad costumes and doing a fine job of sneaking around. Plus you can travel the world without actually spending the plane fare. Looking forward to reading the second book with these young women.

Knit Two - the Sequel to Friday Night Knitting Club. I liked this book, but I think I may have actually read it too closely on the heels of book one, as I was a little tired of the characters by the end. Good continuation of the storylines, though. I would recommend it to those who like knitting or, more importantly, people who like stories about strong friendships.

Cheating Death - I don't often read non-fiction, but when I do read it, I often wonder why I don't read it more. this book, by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, was fascinating. It's all about the wonders of modern medicine and of how people who once would have died for sure are now living through amazing technology and through amazing no one knows what or why. It was so intriguing. Incredible reading for adults or older teens who are interested in health and or science.

Saturday, January 01, 2011

What do teachers do on vacation

Well, you know I read books, but here are some of the other things your teachers had fun doing over break, too, involving an Xbox Kinect and actual instruments, too.


Enjoy!

Winter Break reading

Well, I've been pretty busy over break, so I haven't gotten in quite as much reading as I thought I would - that always seems to be the case for me, but I have read several books, and I listened to one also. All the books I've read so far are grown up books, but I'm in the middle of a kid one now, and I am loving it.

For my birthday, Mrs. Volz gave me a book called 1022 Evergreen Place by Debbie McComber for my birthday, and I need to especially remember to thank her for throwing me into a series on book # TEN! What?? The good thing is, these books start with a cast of characters list so if you forget who they're talking about you can go back to page one and clear it up. It was a nice, easy read - perfect way to relax after the hectic end of school before break. Then when I was at hte library I saw a holiday book by the same author, so I took it to "give" to Mrs. Volz for part of her Christmas package, but it turned out she already had it, so I read it. It was called A Cedar Cove Christmas. A little too gimmicky, but I always like to read a book set at Christmas around Christmas time, so it fit the bill.

I saw a review recently of Nice to Come Home To, a first novel by by Rebecca Flowers and it sounded interesting, so I checked that one out form the library. I thought it was fine but not fabulous. I think she has the potential to become a really good author, and I think I'll probably read her next book when it comes out.

The Friday Night Knitting Club was sitting on my shelf for quite a long time, and I finally got to that this week. Loved it! I am, in fact, now reading the sequel to it. The book is chock full of character development which is what I love. I was not surprised at developments throughout most of the story, but I was very surprised by the ending of the novel. I tend to really like books about groups of women who form strong friendships, and that's the whole basis of the book. Plus this book is about women who get together and do something that's kind of a throwback thing, and that's something that I like to do - my friends and I get together and cook and bake and do crafts, too, and it's really fun. I also think it's really important for women to have other women friends. This was my favorite of the books I read over break.

The book I listened to was also excellent. It's a mystery called The Girl of his Dreams. It's set in Italy, and it's a mystery about a young Roma girl who drowns and is found with stolen jewelry on her. Most detectives in that situation, according to the story anyway, would just have chalked it up to being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but this detective doesn't. I thought it was really well done. The reader was good, too, with a good Italian accent.

In the next few days I'm planning to finish up The Mystery of the Third Lucretia which is a YA mystery that I'm enjoying quite a lot, and I hope to finish Knit Two which is the sequel to Friday Night Knitting Cub. I've also started listening to The Hunger Games which I know I'll like but so far I'm not entirely thrilled with. Too much dystopian fiction of late, I guess. I want a HAPPY new year!

Hope you've been enjoying the break! See you back at school soon.