This One Should be Mandatory Reading for Every 5th - 8th Grader

I say that this book should be required reading for every 5th -8th grader, but truly every person should read this book. It is the tramatic yet inspiring story of one girl who survived being bullied in middle school/ early highschool. She experienced events that just made me shake with anger and amazement at how children could possibly be so cruel to one another.

This story really brings home that impact that bullying has - not just on the victims, but also their families. The implications are far reaching and long lasting. Some victims never overcome the trauma that they experienced in a place that is supposed to be safe.

If you have children, please, please, please talk to them about the repurcussions that their words and actions have on other people. Let's create a world that has zero toleriance for bullying.

It's been a while

Oh, I've been reading - like a fool, actually, I just haven't been blogging. Too much going on with work, school, kids, moving.... LIFE. Here is a brief pictoral of what I have been reading with short synopsises where appropriate.




The author has a very unique view of angels, demons and everything in between. The story is original and entertaining, but it didn't make my MUST list.







Both of these are part of the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series. It is a wonderful series, very entertaining with real depth to the characters and the plot. This story has so much more to it than initially meets the eye. Everyone in our family has loved the entier series and I can't recommend it highly enough. I have three more books in the series to go and I am looking forward to each one.



Trite and unnecessary retelling of The Blind Side. I loved the Toughy's after reading the Blind Side, I didn't need further in depth analysis of why they did what they did for Michael Oher to love them more or find their story inspiring.




Completely unbelievable. Sorry I wasted my time....



This story was completely original and showed so much promise initially. Two totally disparate events and stories, woven together in a way that finally makes sense - it's a beautiful thing. Unfortunately, Card gets caught up with too many plot tangents and the books is at least 150 pages too long. It gets interesting, then it drags, interesting, then it drags. I really had to struggle to get through it and in the end, it simply wasn't worth the effort.