I have been reading lately just not blogging.  Sounds like a recording, I know

I am thinking about moving my blog back to Blogger.com  I have a blog there and maybe I will actually be able to keep up if both blogs are at the same place.

Here is the link:

PawsN2Read.blogspot.com

Just not blogging!   It’s been a terrificly busy Summer, Fall and Winter.  And, Yes…I was reading, just not blogging.  :-(

I finished  quite a few books in 2008.  I read 159 books all total.  This year, I am going to aim for 50 and just see where it goes.  If I reach 100, that’s great.

Some of the books I read but didn’t post about are:

Stolen Innocence by  Elissa Wall
The Shack by William P Young
Souvenir by Therese Fowler
Susannah’s Garden by Debbie Macomber
13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
The Breaking Point by Karen Ball
Hidden by Shelly Shepard Gray
Mail Order Marriages  by Debbie Macomber
Family Men by Debbie Macomber
The Last Two Bachelors by Debbie Macomber
8 Sandpiper Way By Debbie Macomber
When Christmas Comes by Debbie Macomber
Innkeeping With Murder by Tim Myers
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer( Very good book and a different writing style than I am used to, but I would highly recommend this book.)
The Christmas Promise by Donna VanLiere  (a new author, to me, and very good!!)
A Dog named Christmas by Greg Kincaid
The White Cascade: the Great Northern Rail
way disaster and America’s deadliest avalanche by Gary Krist  (if you like history, you will enjoy this book.  It was rather detailed for me but I am sure others will find it really enjoyable)

The Christmas shoes by Donna VanLiere
The Christmas hope by Donna VanLiere
The Christmas Blessing by Donna VanLiere
A Cedar Cove Christmas by Debbie Macomber

Call me anal, but once I start with an author, and I like them….I have to read all their books.  Usually, tho, I read several and then switch authors for a few books and then go back to that original author.  Otherwise, it seems, I get burned out.  NOT SO with Margaret Peterson Haddix.

She writes for teens or the younger generation or at least that is where I find her books, in the youth section.   But, she also writes for those younger, too.

On a lark, I started reading her “Shadow Children” series because my youngest Granddaughter was reading them.  I got through all of those and then just kept checking out all her books.

It’s been hit and miss here on my blog because my other Granddaughter is visiting and I signed her up for the library’s summer reading program, so we have been mega reading so she can earn a free T Shirt.  So far, we have read 76 books together.  So, that is why I haven’t gotten a lot of books read on my own.

But, I have managed to get quite a few books read, late at night

1. The girl with 500 middle names
2. Just Ella
3. Turnabout
4. Say What?
5. Leaving Fishers
6. Uprising (based on a true story)

“The girl with 500 middle names” is about a young girl who’s parents move to a better area to give her a better chance in life.  The school that Janie goes to is more upscale and the kids that attend have better clothes and homes than she does.

Her Mother makes custom made sweaters with names on them to sell to help with finances.  She custom made them for a company and had a large inventory ready when the company decided they could get them elsewhere at a lower cost to them.  So, the Mother is stuck with sweaters she can’t sell.

Her Daughter, who is a new kid at a new school, decides to wear them to school and just tells people that it’s her middle name.

What ensues is something that changes the direction of the family’s life.

Cute story!!!  Yes, it’s basically for kids but still was very enjoyable.

“Just Ella” is about a girl who accepts

the proposal of a prince, only to find that she hates the palace rules and the royal etiquette she must learn to be a proper princess.  So, she plots to escape.  Fun read!

“quote” from Fantastic Fiction.com

“Melly and Anny Beth are fifteen – and can no longer drive a car. Soon they won’t be able to walk…or feed themselves. They had both lived full lives – Melly was one hundred years old, and had been left in a nursing home, waiting to die. Then Melly and Anny Beth were selected for Project Turnabout and were given an injection to make them grow younger. It worked – but the follow-up shot, which was supposed to stop the un-aging process, has killed everyone who has taken it. Melly and Anny Beth have left the project and taken care of themselves for the past eighty-five years. But who will take care of them when they can no longer take care of themselves?”

Wow….. what a concept, huh?

Family rules.  We all have them.  But what takes place when a Mom and Dad decide to change the rules is hilarious.  I would like to try this, myself, altho my grown kids would probably put me in a nursing home thinking I had lost my mind.

I just thought this was such a good way to get kids to do things without yelling and screaming, yet after their parents are ‘found out’, they decide to do this one day a month just for fun!

“Leaving Fishers” is about a family that moves to a new community and the daughter starts a new school, where she feels so alone.  A group of kids befriend her, and ask her to go to a youth party with them and then a retreat and finally group meetings.

She starts going to the group meetings with them as they are the only kids at school that have paid any attention to her.  As time progresses, she gets a ‘mentor’ who says what she can and cannot do.  She starts to feel a little uncomfortable at how ‘controlling’ her mentor becomes.  Yet, she keeps trying hard to do what is asked of her as she doesn’t know anyone else at school and doesn’t want to lose the only friends she has.

Then, when her ‘mentor’ tells he she can’t eat at the family Thanksgiving dinner, but has to fast instead, to atone for her ’sins’ of not doing what she was told…..she goes thru with it but starts to have serious doubts about the whole group.

Eventually, she has enough and breaks free…….but it’s heartbreaking to think about all of those kids out there that might lack the courage to break free.

“UPRISING” is based on a true story about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory.  Haddix researched this tragic event and then wrote this book about two immigrant girls who came to America seeking a better life and one wealthy girl whose life, altho she didn’t want for anything, was less than happy.

Jane is the wealthy girl, who’s father also owns a factory.  When Jane, out of curiousity, goes with some other socialites, to a strike that some of the employees from the Triangle factory are staging, she starts on a journey where she realizes how her wealth was obtained and makes her even more unhappy.

The three finally end up together in a ramshackle apartment……and the rest is history or near enough.

If you haven’t read any of Margaret Peterson Haddix’ books, start with Shadow Children and then venture on to her novels.  If you have pre teen and teenage kids, they will also enjoy her books.   I know I did and I am WELL PAST the teen years.

What if two different woman had the exact same name?

When Nancy Stern gets flowers from someone she doesn’t know….she soon finds out that they are not for her.  Neither are the phone calls and invitations she receives to parties and film screenings, but instead are intended for another Nancy Stern (a journalist) that has just moved into her building.

On a whim, Nancy (who is a preschool teacher and hasn’t had a date in a long time) accepts a date from one of the callers (to find out how a celebrity actually lives) and eventually mayhem ensues when the ‘other’ Nancy Stern is found murdered in her apartment.

Then, throw in a gaudy brooch given to her by one of her pupils and the plot thickens

This book will keep you guessing as just who committed the murder and why.

This was a fun read.  John Grogan writes about his dog, Marley.

The author tells his story of how Marley was adopted by the family and how the dog, even though rambunctious, to say the least, stole their hearts.  It’s a heartwarming read for anyone.

He also has written two other books about Marley.  ”Bad Dog, Marley” and “Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog”

Well, she did it again.  I had just finished the “Shadow Children’ series and then realized that Margaret Peterson Haddix had a new series, “Missing”.  So, i picked up the first one in the series, “Found”.  It is also a page turner.

“Quote” from Fantastic Fiction:

Thirteen-year-old Jonah has always known that he was adopted, and he’s never thought it was any big deal. Then he and a new friend, Chip, who’s also adoped, begin receiving mysterious letters. The first one says, “You are one of the missing.” The second one says, “Beware! They’re coming back to get you.”

Jonah, Chip, and Jonah’s sister, Katherine, are plunged into a mystery that involves the FBI, a vast smuggling operation, an airplane that appeared out of nowhere — and people who seem to appear and disappear at will. The kids discover they are caught in a battle between two opposing forces that want very different things for Jonah and Chip’s lives.

Do Jonah and Chip have any choice in the matter? And what should they choose when both alternatives are horrifying?

I can’t wait till the next book is available!

This book, was written by a journalist, Michael Finkel, who had lost his job because of fraudulent reporting amd then tried to revamp his reputation by befriending an accused murderer, Chris Longo, who had been found in Mexico, after the death of his entire family, using Finkel’s identity.

His whole idea in befriending him was to get to know IF he did murder his family and what the story was behind it.  He figured if he got the ’scoop’, he would be back in the swing of things with his story.

But, as time goes on, Finkel ends up actually becoming friends with Longo thru their conversations via phone and letters.  Then, after the trial proceeds further and further and Finkel is able to hear Longo tell his story to the public, he realizes that Longo was an adept liar and manipulator. Things start adding up and Longo ends up hating the man for what he has done and is disgusted with himself that he fell into the ‘trap’.

Thank goodness, the book doesn’t go into graphic details, but it was still horrifying to know what some people would do to keep their ’status’ with the community and church.

I’ll leave the rest of the story for you to read

I’m a little behind on my reading this month as I have my granddaughter visiting.  We have been very, very busy.

But, before she came, I managed to finish the Shadow Children series.  The last 5 books included:

Among the Betrayed

Among the Barons

Among the Brave

Among the Enemy

Among the Free

This was an intriguing series, to say the least, and gives you an .  Very thought provoking even if it is a book for youth.

I will be starting her first book, “Found” in the Missing Series, soon.  But before I do that, I need to finish up the Elm Creek series and a few other books I have checked out from the library.

My granddaughter is in the Summer reading program at the library while she is here.  For every 3 hours she reads, each week,  or has someone read to her…she gets to hand in a coupon and when she reaches the 3rd week, she gets a prize.  The fourth week she receives a free book and the final week, she receives a T-shirt.

And, our library is also conducting a challenge between our county and the next county over….to see who can get a million pages read first.  So, I get to count the books I read to her plus my own.

Summer time is really busy for me,  but I still want to try and meet my own personal challenge of reading 100 books this year.

Again, another page turner.  Luke is given a chance to live life on the ‘outside’ but he must leave his family and everything that is familiar to him.  Through a set of circumstances, that I don’t want to give away if you haven’t read the first book, Luke receives a new identity and is sent to a boarding school.

What he endures there makes him wonder if his ‘freedom’ is really worth it.  But, as he goes through hardships on the outside, he builds character and learns more about the ’society’ in which he is now living.  He finds that everything is not always as it seems and you aren’t completely sure WHO you can and cannot trust.

The school he attends has no windows and that seems odd to him.  Other boys bully him and try to break him down.

In the end, he prevails, but at what cost?  Did he just trade one set of hardships for another?   Keep reading and you’ll find out!

Do you ever read a book because your 13 year old Granddaughter is reading the series?  Well, after talking to mine, online, I had to see what was so fascinating about the books she was reading.  So, I checked 7 of them out at my local library.

“Among the Hidden” is the first book in the series, “Shadow Children”.  It revolves around a futuristic society where the Population Police enforce the law limiting a family to only two children.  Luke has lived all of his twelve years in isolation and fear hidden in an attic on his family’s farm until another “third” (a hidden child) convinces him that the government is wrong.

I had to read this book straight through to the end.  It was fascinating, yet at the same time a little scary to think about.

Margaret Peterson Haddix About Margaret Peterson Haddix

Margaret Peterson Haddix is the best-selling author of many books for children and teens. Her books for young readers include Running Out of Time, Among the Hidden, Among the Impostors, Among the Betrayed, and The Girl with 500 Middle Names.

Her work has been honored with the International Reading Association Children’s Book Award, American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults and Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers citations, and several state Readers’ Choice Awards. Margaret Peterson Haddix lives with her family in Columbus, Ohio.