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Thursday, May 1, 2014

{April in the Books}

In April I read 10 books.  I got halfway through the month and felt like I hadn't read anything at all, but looking back, I guess I did alright.  

I read one free about home organization on my kindle.  It was okay...nothing new, so I'm glad it was free. I almost feel like not even counting it.  I'm loving middle grade reader books right now. I've been reading them with some of the kids at school for my job, and getting recommendations from some of them too.  They are fast and easy.



The One and Only Ivan, Katherine Applegate
I read a couple pages of this book with a girl at school and was pretty interested.  It was a fun story.  Told from the point of view of Ivan, the gorilla living in a cage in a strip mall.  I think this book would be fun to read out loud to my kids at some time.  I think they would love it.



Close to Famous, Joan Bauer
I found this fun book at the library and decided to give it a try.  It was a fun story of Foster McFee, a young girl who aspires to be a cooking show host.  It's full of stories from her life and how she makes it through hard times.  It was a pretty charming read, I would recommend it to preteens or young adult readers.



Stargirl, Jerry Spinelli
I've had so many people tell me that I should read this book and I finally made time to read it.  My friend and I actually read it at the same time...although we still haven't made time to sit and chat about it yet:)  I loved Stargirl, and loved/hated Leo.  Sadly I could see my high school self being way more like Leo than Stargirl.  I think it's a pretty empowering book for girls to read.  It left me with a lot to think about.

Love, Stargirl, Jerry Spinelli
Since I loved Stargirl so much I thought I would go ahead and read the next book, Love, Stargirl.  I wasn't too impressed.  I found myself skimming and skipping around pages.  It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't Stargirl.


Dangerous, Shannon Hale
I think I am a pretty big fan of Shannon Hale. I have really enjoyed a lot of her books.  I was looking forward to this book, but was a little disappointed.  It felt a lot like Stephanie Meyer's book, The Host.  I wasn't a fan of some of the characters.  Without giving everything away, I wasn't  a fan of the boy she ended up with.  I wasn't in love with the end of the book either.  If you like young adult science fiction books you could try this book.


I think this could have been my favorite book I read this month.  I've read it a couple times actually. (it's only 50 or so pages, so it's really short and not hard to read in an hour or so)  I heard Emily Freeman speak at Time Out for Women this month and really enjoyed her perspective.  This book is exactly what I needed.  Everyone always talks about what happens at the end of a trial, but what happens in the middle?  How do you get through?  This short little book offers such great ideas and insights on how to make it through.


Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson
I read this book out loud to the 5th graders I read with at school.  I've seen the movie, but I can't remember if I've read the book or not before.  It is great, we laughed out loud at parts and really enjoyed the book.


This is another library find this month.  It's a middle grade reader about a girl named Ollie Love and the mystery she runs into in Binder, Arkansas in 1957.  It's a simple story, but has lessons that everyone can learn from.  I found it at the library, but wouldn't mind buying it for my own collection at some time.  I also am looking forward to reading the other book by Tess Hilmo!


Lemon Tart, Josi Kilpack
I've seen these series of books around the library and book stores for years and never really picked them up.  I'm not really big into mystery books, but I decided to try it this month.  I thought it was a good clean mystery and really enjoyed it.  I've already started the next book in the series.  I also am looking forward to trying some of the yummy recipes that are included in each book!

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My total for the year is now 37!  Wow!

What have you been reading?