When I say that Rick Riordan is one of my favorite authors, I mean it! Every fall he releases a new book and about a month before it comes out, the countdown begins.

The Mark of Athena (Heroes of Olympus)

Gumpy (my Dad’s Dad) gave us a copy of the first book in this set, The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians), years ago. Ever since then we’ve been hooked! Percy and his friends are a great cast of characters that make you fall in love with them. And while you’re enjoying a story about Gods and Demi-Gods, you’re learning things about Mythology.

When Mark Of Athena came out, I woke up at 5:00 that morning to download it on my Nook. I finished reading it at 7:28 that morning. And then I woke my siblings up and told them that it was really good and laughed as they glared at me before racing to find their Nooks.

The Red Pyramid (The Kane Chronicles)

While the Percy Jackson books are about Greek and Roman mythology, these books are about Egyptian mythology. And like the Percy books, they’re a great way to learn about Mythology

 I wish he’d written more of these books, but he stopped at three. 🙁

The Maze of Bones (The 39 Clues)

I was at my cousins house once, and none of the cousins my age were there yet. So I went into one of the bedrooms and browsed through the bookshelves, finding this book and the next couple in the series. I ended up borrowing them, because I loved them so much!

Rick Riordan is a great author! Currently I’m waiting for House Of Hades, the next in the Heroes Of Olympus series. 😀

Have you read any of these? What did you think of them?

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Before I’d even read Peter Pan, I’d read Peter and the Starcatchers. But I didn’t know that Ridley Pearson and Dave Barry had written sequels until a few years ago.

Peter and the Starcatchers

Have you ever wondered exactly how Peter Pan became Peter Pan? And how Tinker Bell was born? These books do an amazing job of explaining it all! I can’t even tell you how much my siblings and I enjoy these books. 🙂 There are three other books in this set: Peter and the Shadow Thieves, Peter and the Secret of Rundoon, and Peter and the Sword of Mercy.

Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark

Two or three years ago, my awesome Aunt Ellie gave us the first book in this series. I was instantly hooked!

Because we go to Disney World every year, it was obvious to me that Ridley knew what he was writing – every single detail is perfect. For those of you that are Disney fanatics, this is a definite must-read. If you aren’t a Disney fanatic, you’ll probably enjoy it too!

All of the Disney Villains (the Overtakers) are trying to take over Disney World, and eventually the whole world. Will they succeed, or will the Kingdom Keepers stop them? To find out, read the rest of the books:  Disney at Dawn (#2), Disney in Shadow (#3), Power Play (#4), Shell Game (#5), and the one that just came out, Dark Passage (#6).

I haven’t read Dark Passage yet, and I’m dying to! I can’t read it until May, and it’s killing me. LOL

Have you read any of these? What did you think of them?

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I seem to be writing about a lot of children’s authors! Today’s author is Mary Pope Osborne, the author of the wonderful Magic Tree House books.

My siblings and I have loved these books for as long as I can remember! We got my little sister a whole bunch of these when she first learned to read and she loves reading them out loud to Jade, the five year old.

Boxed Set: Magic Tree House Books 1-4

Jack and Annie are able to visit other times and places by simply wishing and pointing to a picture in one of the books that the Magic Tree House holds. And they go just about everywhere – they visit Camelot, Pompeii, the Titanic, and many other places. There’s always a mystery to be solved, and there’s always someone who helps them along the way.

These books do a great job of getting my siblings interested in history and they pave the way for many interesting conversations. 🙂

Have you read any of these? What did you think of them?

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I was having trouble coming up with a N author, so I ran upstairs to our library and started looking around our shelves. After ten minutes or so, I found our books by E. Nesbit.

The Enchanted Castle

Gerald, Kathleen and James discover a castle while they’re exploring during their holiday. In the gardens they find a sleeping princess. When woken up, she shows them the treasures of the castle, including an invisibility ring. When she tries the ring on and it actually turns her invisible, she panics and tells them that she’s just Mabel, the housekeeper’s niece. The children have to figure out how to get Mabel visible again, taking care of her while doing so.

Talk about difficult! Because Mabel is invisible the children have to be careful what they do with her. The maids start screaming if they see Mabel eat, because all they see is food disappearing into thin air. And she can’t sleep in one of the beds, because then there’s a body that no one can see.

I loved the way the children have to solve the problem and keep Mabel hidden the whole time! I can’t imagine trying to keep a human hidden for as long as they did!

I’ve also read Five Children and It, and enjoyed that one too. 🙂

Have you read any of these? What did you think of them?

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I’ve podcasted about these books before – they’re some of my favorite children’s books. All of the Mrs. Pigglewiggle books (by Betty MacDonald) are awesome!

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s late husband was a pirate who buried treasure in the back yard, and she lets all the little boys dig holes in her yard to search for it. She has an upside down house, with upside down chandeliers on the floor that are  perfect for roasting s’mores or being an Indian campfire.

She herself is an evil witch or queen, a princess who wants to be set free, and the best friend the children of the town could have. She has a cure for everything: from Answerbackism to Quarrelitis, from Slow-Eater-Tiny-Bite-Tacker to Never-Want-To-Go-To-Bedders.

Sequels include: Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s Magic, Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s Farm, and Happy Birthday, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.

I’ve gotta say, these are awesome. I still love reading them, even though they’re targeted towards younger kids. I read these to my younger siblings a year or two ago and they absolutely loved them. 🙂

Have you read any of these? What did you think of them?

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I always thought that the author of these two books was Mrs. Basil E. Franweiler. Why would the book be called that if she wasn’t? It turned out that the author’s name is E.L. Konigsburg. Which was perfect, because I didn’t have a K author yet! (I still don’t have a Q author or book, if anyone has any suggestions. :D)

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

Have you ever wanted to run away? Where did you want to run to? Claudia knew exactly what she wanted – she wanted to run away to a place that was  comfortable, beautiful, and elegant. So she picked the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. Problem was, she didn’t have enough cash. So she invited her brother Jamie (who had a lot of money) to come with her.

I loved this story of siblings who ran away for fun and did it well, mainly through their ingenuity. They managed to avoid security for a week! This is the story of how they ran away and got safely back again, solving a mystery in the middle of it all.

The View from Saturday

It’s hard to describe this book. The only thing that I can think to say about it is that it is wonderful. It’s so wonderful that it won the Newbery Medal!

It’s the story of four kids who come together to be the sixth-grade Academic Bowl team from Epiphany Middle School. They’re the perfect team, and the way their stories intertwine is so cool to see. I actually have to re-read this book sometime soon – I haven’t read it in forever, and it’s totally worth a re-read!

Have you read any of these? What did you think of them?

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I’ve recently gotten my younger siblings hooked on Brian Jacques Redwall series, and I’m so glad I found the series a couple of years ago!

Redwall

Redwall is a very enjoyable series, filled with talking animals and adventure, friends and enemies. There are twenty-two books in the series, each with different main characters. (There are a couple that share characters, but Martin the Warrior is one of the only names that you see in every book.)

My siblings like to run away and hide with these books, and I can’t blame them! If you’ve never read these books, you should. They’re pretty amazing! I was so sad to learn that Brian Jacques died this past year. No more Redwall books. 🙁

Have you read any of these? What did you think of them?

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I was having trouble coming up with the letter I, so I looked at my podcasts to see if I had podcasted about a book whose author’s last name started with I.

I had! The author of the Maida series is Inez Haynes Irwin. You can listen to my podcast about Maida’s Little House here.

Maida’s Little House

I’ve always been fascinated by this book. When I was a little girl and first discovered it on our bookcases, I was intrigued by this little girl who brought her friends to a little house of their own. The way they split the chores made sense to me, and I loved the things they did to have fun.

One day I found the book before this one, Maida’s Little Shop, on Project Gutenberg.  I was glad to read it, because it gave me background information that I hadn’t had before.

There’re a lot more books in the series, but I’ve only read three total. I’m hoping to find more of them somewhere!

Have you read any of these? What did you think of them?

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Another “girly” book writer, Shannon Hale is also one of my favorite authors. Her books aren’t just for girls though – my brother is just as eager as I am to read her new books when they come out.

Princess Academy

The first Shannon Hale book that I read, it’s also one of my favorites. The sequel, Princess Academy: Palace of Stone came out not too long ago. I bought it immediately and read it as quickly as possible – it did not disappoint!

The Goose Girl (Books of Bayern)

Colter and I love this series. We don’t have it, but every year or so we get it from the library and re-read it.  There are three more in the Bayern series: Enna Burning, River Secrets, and Forest Born. We can’t decide which one we like best, they’re all so good! We actually named one of our baby goats Bayern one year, and Colter and I were the only ones who knew what it meant. 😀

I’ve also read Austenland, which was very enjoyable. I can’t wait to see what Shannon’s going to release next!

Have you read any of these? What did you think of them?

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I picked up Princess Of The Midnight Ball one day at my library and have since read all of Jessica’s books. Jessica Day George is an amazing author and I can’t wait for her next book, Wednesdays At The Castle, to come out.

Princess of the Midnight Ball

A new take on the Twelve Dancing Princesses, this book made me fall in love with princess stories all over again. The sequels, Princess of Glass and Princess of the Silver Woods were just as enjoyable.

Dragon Slippers

I love Creel because she’s one of those heroines who doesn’t let the hero take care of everything – she does it herself. And I love these books because, there’re dragons. Dragons are awesome! (The sequels Dragon Flight and Dragon Spear are awesome too.)

Tuesdays at the Castle

Celie is the only one who understands Castle Glower, and when her family goes missing she’s the only one who can find them. Another story where the girl is the hero. 🙂 The sequel to this is coming out in a month, and I’m excited!

Have you read any of these? What did you think of them?

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As a homeschooled kid, I love books that teach me things without being a schoolbook. These are all history books, but they’re a bit different than your average history book. Most history books take one person, or one event, and highlight that. With this set, you explore what was happening in the whole world during someone’s life.

“Considered the innovator of “horizontal history,” Genevieve Foster became frustrated when her two school-aged children complained about the boring presentation of history in their school texts. This frustration led to Foster’s first book, George Washington’s World (1941). In her unique approach, Foster weaves a story of the world around her central character; rather than focusing exclusively on geo-political events, as most textbooks do; she includes stories of scientific discovery and invention, music, literature, art, and religion. She has a keen intuition for stories that will especially delight and amuse her youthful audience.” (Taken from this page.)

Augustus Caesar’s World

George Washington’s World

Abraham Lincoln’s World

The World of Columbus and Sons

The World of Captain John Smith

This is me trying to fill in space so the pictures and text will stay in place. It seems to be working, so I’ll keep rambling and hope that it is enough to lower the text below this. I need one more line of text, so I’m going to type some more and hope it works.

These books are my favorite way to learn history! I wish she would write more of them. And when I have kids, I’m definitely getting these for them!

Have you read any of these? What did you think of them?

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I know that some people don’t like the Eragon books, but my siblings and I love them. We’ve been fans since one of my Dad’s best friends gave us Eragon about 6 years ago, and we eagerly awaited the other three. There was a lot of groaning about the fact that Christopher Paolini took three years to write Inheritance. 😀 My siblings and I are constantly playing games that involve the Eragon books. I’ve been cast as Arya many times, and had lots of fun in that role. 🙂 We’re currently naming places around our new property, and the boys are trying to name something, anything, Tronjheim or Ellesmera. Or really, any name that is from these books.

Inheritance Cycle (Paperback)

Eragon, Eldest, and Brisingr (Kindle)

Inheritance (Kindle)

Colter and I have had many debates with our cousin as to whether or not Christopher Paolini could write more Eragon books. Trevor doesn’t think so, and Colter and I think he could. What do you think?

Have you read any of these? What did you think of them?

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When I was thinking up the authors I wanted to feature, Roald Dahl was one of the first that came to mind. His children’s books are so good!

The Charlie Set

Everyone has heard of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, but not as many people know about the sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. They are both great books that everyone should read.

Matilda

Matilda used to be my favorite – a little girl who loved reading as much as I did! Thankfully I have better parents than her. 🙂

The BFG

When I was younger I had several dreams where I got to meet the BFG. They were awesome. 😀

Roald Dahl Phizz-Whizzing Collection

I haven’t read all of the books in this set, but I’m sure they’re all wonderful! I might have to add them to my TBR list…

Have you read any of these? What did you think of them?

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One of my favorite children’s authors is Beverly Cleary.  She’s a great writer!

The Complete Ramona Collection

Indigo is currently reading these, and I’m glad to report that she’s loving them as much as I did! It’s hard to not love Ramona.

The Ralph Mouse Collection

I made my brother read the Ralph Mouse books when he first learned to read, and he loved them. That’s when he realized my book recommendations could be trusted. 😀

The World of Beverly Cleary Collection

All of the books in this set are great – this set also has the Henry books, which I forgot to mention. (Oops!)

Have you read any of these? What did you think of them?

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