Touching Spirit Bear

After his anger erupts into violence, Cole Matthews, in order to avoid going to prison, agrees to participate in a sentencing alternative based on the native American Circle Justice, and he is sent to a remote Alaskan Island where an encounter with a huge Spirit Bear changes his life.

Cole, like most teenagers, thinks he has all the answers. He knows everything and he is afraid of nothing, or at least that is what Cole wants everyone to think. During his banishment to the island, all of Cole's perceptions are challenged.

This is a book about survival, but most of all it is a book about forgiveness. I was amazed at the breadth and depth of good life lessons that my fifth grade reading group was able to take away from this book. Some of their answers:
"Anger can motivate you, but harboring it can also damage you."
" There is a lot that we can learn from the animals and the world around us."
and my favorite, "In order to forgive others, we have to forgive ourselves first."

I would highly recommend this book to any YA readers, especially pre-teen and teenage boys who are often so difficult to find books for.

Roses by Leila Meacham

Leila Meacham is a 71 year old English teacher and this is her first work. I listened to the reviewers and publishers compare her work to Gone with the Wind and, loving that book the way that I do, I thought that couldn't possibly be true. After reading Roses, I think it is in many ways a very apt comparison.

Mary Toliver has a connection with her land and family name that is very like that of Scarlett O'Hara. They both make sacrifices throughout both books for their land, sometimes those sacrifices effect not only their own lives but also that of those around them.

The story follows three generations of Tolivers and Warwicks, but focuses mainly on the story of Mary and Percy. The book is a real page turner, you never notice the 500 some odd pages as they go by. I felt engaged by all he various characters - large and small. I cared about their lives and they felt as if they were a part of mine.

Some books, when you finish reading them, the story quickly fades from your mind as you move on to the next story. Others stay with you forever. Like Gone with the Wind, and like Roses.

If You Like Werewolves...

So this book is a YA book, but being a Jacob Black fan ( a la Twilight fame) I thought I would give it a try. Overall, the book was enjoyable and it addressed the topic of werewolves in a very different manner.

In the book we meet Grace, who is attacked by wolves as a child and saved by one of their pack. Since then, she is fascinated by "her wolf". The years pass and Grace becomes a young woman, when the wolves attack another - a teenage boy from her school In response, the local community sends out hunters to address the "wolf problem". Concerned for "her wolf", Grace tries to stop the attack but is unable to do so. She is surprised to later find a wounded young man on her back patio with the same yellow eyes as her wolf...

What follows is the story of Grace and Sam and the relationship between them. It's a predicatable love story in many respects, but what is interesting about the story is how the author treats being "biten" as having some sort of virus. Will Grace be able to help Sam find a cure before she loses him to the Pack forever?

The Last Song

What is it about Nicholas Sparks that always makes me cry? He spins the most wonderful stories and they always make you feel. In this case, I remembered how hard it was to make friends in a new place, the strain between father/daughter as a girl becomes a young woman, and the bittersweet pangs of first love.

This is a story of Ronnie and Jonah who haven't seen their father since their parents divorce. Now they are leaving their lives in Manhatten to spend the summer in a small North Carlina beach town with their Dad. Ronnie and her father have some unresolved issues between them and Steve ( Ronnie's Dad) has some unresolved issues with his own father.

Will they find a way to reconnect before it's too late?

This is a great read, and another taste of summer. I would recommend this book highly to all my friends, especially any who enjoyed A Walk to Remember and the Notebook.

For my Fifth Grade Reading Group

I faciliate a fifth grade reading group. I have six kids - 3 boys and 3 girls. I love meeting with them every week and it never ceases to amaze me what they take away from any given story. I feel like I learn so much more from them than they actually learn from me, but that's just part of being in a book club I guess.

Right now we are reading a book called Touching Spirit Bear together that I epect to be reviewing very soon. In addition to talking about books we have read together though, we also talk about bookds they are reading, what they like about them, what the learned from them, etc.... Since today is the 12th and Lightning Thief hysteria is in full gear, I thought I would offer my thoughts. My kids begged me to read this one - they all know what a Pottermaniac I am, so they wanted to compare and contrast. I finished Lightning Thief and The Sea of Monsters with three more books in the series left to go.

So here are my thoughts so far:

I can definitely see why the book is so appealing, especially to the boys. It is full of action and the story never stops. It is my opinion that this work reads more like a screenplay than a book and I believe that it was the authors intention to make it into a movie all along. I think that the idea of gods and goddesses and more importantly the moving of Mt. Olympus to reflect the heart of Western Civilizaton to be quite interesting. I think that Percy Jackson is very American while Harry Potter is definitely very British. I adored Greek Mythology when I was a child and it was fun to revisit some old favorites in this new venue.

In comparision to Harry Potter - well, Harry is written by J.K. Rowling - a woman and personal hero of mine. She is an amazing author that paints all of her characters with such a fine brush. The character development and plot in Harry is much more advanced and developed than in The Lightning Thief. Rick Riordan writes a good story, but he is like the Arnold Schwartzenegger of the fanasy literature world. Bang, bang, shot it up and make things happen. So far the character development in the first two books relies primarily on the events happening around the characters and not on the characters themselves.

I see many similarities between the two books - both center around three characters - 2 boys and a girl. Both invovle children who are in danger from dark forces surrounding them and both have a safe have for said children - one a school and the other a camp - where said children are "sorted" into houses or cabins. Both have at their heart a young boy about whose future prophecies have been made, and I could go on and one. There are some subtle differences, for example both of Percy's parents are alive, but all in all, I find the similarities remarkable.

I will love Harry until I die. I enjoyed reading Lightning Thief and plan to finish the series, but it will never have the magic that Harry Potter did. That said, I am very much looking forward to the movies which I think will be amazing. Especially since I believe that was the intent of the author from the inception of the story.

A Reliable Wife By Robert Goolrick

So, I am actually familiar with Robert Goolrick's work. Although this book is hailed as his first novel, he did write a biography entitled "The End of the World as We Know It" that I read last year. Although I found much of what he had to say in the biography to be disturbing, I thought he had a unique and amazing writing style. I was very excited when I saw this book at my local bookseller as I recognized his name at once.

I have to say that I loved, loved, loved this book. It hooks you right from the start. You want to know Ralph and Catherines stories and see how, or if, the stories intertwine. In so many books the plot twists are predictable, and transparent from the beginning. I loved this story because it kept me engaged and guessing.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone - readers, mystery lovers, romance. Check it out, I don't think you will regret it.

Sarah's Key

We read this for the February book club. It was a great selection and I'm glad that I read it. It was very sad, but also a quick read, once you are in to the story it is very difficult to put down.

I learned so much while reading this story. I had no idea that the French were complicit in the annihilation of thousands of French Jews during the Occupation of France. In July of 1942, thousands of men, women and children were rounded up and placed inside the Vel de Hiv under absolutely abominable conditions. One of the main characters of the story, Sarah, was one such child.

The story alternates between telling the story of Sarah in 1942 and Julia in the present. Julia is an American journalist living in France writing about the Vel de Hiv roundup. The story eventually combines the two storylines in surprising ways.

Sarah is a very strong character, and in the later chapters, when the storyline converges and focuses more on Julia, the story loses some of it's emotional connection. I felt empathy for Julia but lacked the intensity of feeling for her that I shared for Sarah and her family.

I am glad that I read this book. I think it is important to continue to learn more so that these atrocities will never be repeated. We will never forget.