Book Squirt

V is for Very Close!

Well, we’re very close to being done with the A to Z Challenge! We have five letters left, (counting today) and I only have one more author that I’ve already thought of. This will be interesting…. *sigh*

Since my theme is “Very Close”, here’s some other things that I’m very close to:

-Moving into our new house!
-Not having to commute anymore!
-Getting my drivers license!
-A whole year of blogging! (Okay, so that happens in September.)
-Finishing my Outward Bound experience recap. (I don’t know whether I’m excited or scared of that fact.)

Hm… that’s all I can think of. I guess I’ll go brainstorm the rest of my A to Z Challenge posts. 🙂

U is for Um…

U is for Um because I have absolutely no idea what to blog about for U. *sigh*

Never mind, I remembered something. Remember how when I blogged about Jessica Day George, I said that I was super excited for her new book, Wednesdays In The Tower? Well, a couple of days after that she tweeted that there was a giveaway for a copy of it. So I took two minutes to enter and promptly forgot about it.

Two days ago I was going through my emails at the end of the day – I had almost fifty, but most of them were just Twitter/Pinterest/Google+ notifications. In the middle of the stack of notification emails was this one:

Hello,
Thanks so much for entering our Shelf Awareness giveaway. I’m happy to inform you that you’ve won a copy of Wednesdays in the Tower by Jessica Day George! Please respond with your mailing address so I can send your prize.
Thank you,
Emily —–

I might have danced around the soaproom the same way I did with the last giveaway I won. 😀

So now I’m getting my own copy of Wednesdays In The Tower! I’m really excited about this – not only did I win one giveaway, but I won another one two weeks later! And I NEVER win giveaways. 😀

T is for Tolkien

I’m sure everyone knows who J.R.R Tolkien is. And if you don’t recognize the name, then just know that J.R.R Tolkien is the man who created Middle-Earth, the land of Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit.

The Hobbit

The Hobbit is where it all began! In the Hobbit we meet Bilbo Baggins, who ends up going on an adventure with a company of dwarves. I used to have all of the dwarves names memorized, but I don’t anymore. I just remember Oin and Gloin, Nori, Dori and Ori, Fili and Kili, Dwalin and Balin, Bifur, Bofur and Bombur, and Thorin Oakenshield.

Wow, okay, that’s all of them. Never mind, I still have them memorized. I’ll admit, I did look up how to spell Bifur, Bofur and Bombur. 😀

The Lord of the Rings

And then of course, there’s the Lord Of The Rings.

If you enjoyed the movie, then there’s a pretty good chance that you’ll enjoy the book too. It’s even more fun if you know the movie well – because then you can see exactly what they took from the book. 🙂

And if you want to get all four books, (The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King), they have a boxed set with all four of them.

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

*All links are Amazon Affiliate links.*

S is for Smith

I’ve podcasted about this book before – it’s the book my best friend Abigail wrote!

 

 

Orion’s Son

It’s been a while since I’ve read this book, but I do remember that I loved it! I thought it was a great book (and this had nothing to do with the fact that my best friend wrote it.)

 

I loved the shape-shifter, Mayine, and how Persus and Isobel’s relationship grew. But I think my favorite part about the whole thing was that they were actually together in the end – Abigail loves nothing more than ruining the love lives of her characters. 🙂

If you’re interested in a quick, cheap read, Orion’s Son is a good one. 🙂

Outward Bound – Day Thirteen, Part Eleven

To read part ten of day thirteen, click here.

I think I was the only one who had seen the lightning bolt. Because when that Thunder sounded, everyone jumped. I was expecting it, but it scared even me!

But I think (crewmate who shall not be named) was the most scared. He/she jumped out of his seat and landed on the table.

“The table is shaking! Is it an earthquake? What’s happening?”

We all laughed. “______, the table’s shaking ’cause you jumped on it.” He/she sat back down with a sheepish “oh”.  Josh, (the Course Director who was conducting our “CD Interview”) let us laugh for a couple of minutes before making us focus again.

I don’t remember what happened for the rest of the interview/meeting. I just remember _____ jumping onto the table. 😀

When we were done with our interview, we went back to our platform. It was only drizzling, but we still hurried, praying that it wouldn’t rain. We made it back in time, but barely – it started raining harder about two minutes later.

We sat around and just talked. I think it was the first time any of us really realized that we’d be going home the next day. It was a very emotional hour or two. But it wasn’t all emotional stuff – we did some fun stuff too!

Katie pulled a bottle of purple nail polish out of her pack. “Who wants to paint nails while we tell the rest of our life stories?” I didn’t say anything – if there was time before the Banquet I’d paint my nails, but I’d let everyone else who wanted to paint theirs first.

“I’ll tell my life story if Bruce gets his nails painted!” Tullia announced. The other guys all looked at Bruce and laughed. The girls looked at him and wondered – would he do it?

*Everything here is from my own memory and may not be correct. Outward Bound is not responsible for anything I post here. Thanks too NCOBS for letting me use their photos.*

R is for Riordan

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?

*All links are Amazon Affiliate links.*

Q is for Quandary

I’m in a bit of a quandary today. It’s Q day, and I haven’t found a Q author or even a book that I’ve read that starts with Q. And I guess that’s okay. Because there is no rule that says I have to stick to my theme if I have trouble.

So today I’m going to blog about a book that I won in a giveaway not too long ago.

Etiquette & Espionage

I never win giveaways. But I wanted to win this one really badly – Skye (the lady giving it away) had written a review of it on her blog, and it sounded like a really good book. And it was an ARC – an Advanced Reading Copy. So I used all the entries I could and tweeted Skye often, telling her how much I wanted to win. (Sorry if I annoyed you, Skye!)

I was on Twitter when she announced that she was about to randomly choose the winner. I tweeted her that I was really, really excited to know if I won or not.

After an agonizing five minute wait, she tweeted me. “You wouldn’t happen to know a Brett Jonas, would you?”

Yes, I had won the giveaway. I might have danced around the soaproom a bit, sitting down when I got the tweet that she was emailing me to get my address. And then I had to wait.

And man, it was hard to wait! And I had a bit of pressure too – Mom had declared April a No Reading Month. Basically, we were going to be moving and working on the new place and all that fun stuff, so she decided that it would be easier to get all the work done if we couldn’t run off and read whenever she turned her back.

E&E got to the soaproom on April 1st.

I begged Mom for special permission to read it. Then I asked her what I had to do in order for her to give me special permission. “Help me get the newsletter out.” she said.

Well, I got my special permission! And I can tell you this – it was worth all the work I did to get it. 🙂

I can’t wait for the next one to come out! And I’m still reading this one. 😀

P is for Pearson

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?

*All links are Amazon Affiliate links.*

O is for Osborne

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?

*All links are Amazon Affiliate links.*

N is for Nesbit

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?

*All links are Amazon Affiliate links.*

M is for MacDonald

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?

*All links are Amazon Affiliate links.*

Outward Bound – Day Thirteen, Part Ten

To read part nine of day thirteen, click here.

We hit the trail, everyone rubbing their eyes as we tried to reach our shoes from underneath the platform. I had to ask someone to get my boots – I was too short to reach them from up on the platform.

Everyone grumbled as we climbed up a hill -our legs were still really sore from the PCE that morning!

We arrived at the building we’d passed multiple times that day. The Office. We walked in and sat around in the main lobby, waiting to be called into the room. We got there just in time – it had been drizzling while we walked, but it started pouring not long after that.

Our crew was called into a room. “Have a seat.”

There was a bit of a rush to get to the better seats and someone brought popcorn into the room.

Yes, I said popcorn. None of us could believe it.

“This is the best meeting ever!”

“Oh sweet, popcorn!”

I kept my hands out of the bowl and waited for everyone to get their own before reaching for mine. I stuck a few kernels in my mouth and realized that I should probably take my retainers out. I tried to take them out without everyone noticing, but at least three of the crew made a face at me while I was doing that. 😀

We were in the middle of our meeting when I saw this HUGE lighting bolt right outside the window. Like, it was right there. Before I could even say thanks to God for the fact that we weren’t out in that, I heard the loudest thunder I’d ever heard in my entire life.

*Everything here is from my own memory and may not be correct. Outward Bound is not responsible for anything I post here. Thanks too NCOBS for letting me use their photos.*

L is for Levine

One of my favorite authors is Gail Carson Levine. I know where her books are at the library, and every time I go I check to make sure she hasn’t released any more. (I don’t go very often. LOL)

The Enchanted Collection

This collection has three of my favorite books – Ella Enchanted, The Two Princesses of Bamarre, and Fairest. All three of them are wonderful fairy tales with happily ever afters. I’m a sucker for stories where the right guy ends up with the right girl. And so all three of these books make me happy. 🙂

While most people look at these books and think “that’s a girl book”, that’s not necessarily true. My brother has fallen in love with these books too!

I was wondering why they didn’t include Ever in this collection as well. My guess is that it came out after this collection had already been put together.

A Tale of Two Castles

Elodie goes to the town of Two Castles to become an actress (a Mansioner) but she’s turned away. The only one who will help her is Meenore, a dragon. Elodie agrees to help Meenore crack her newest case, and joins the ogre’s kitchen staff. I guess she forgot that her father told her to “stay away from dragons and ogres.” 😀

I picked this one up not too long ago and enjoyed it. It was a bit different from the things I’ve been used to from Gail Carson Levine, but it was still really good! 🙂

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

*All links are Amazon Affiliate links.*

K is for Konigsburg

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?

*All links are Amazon Affiliate links.*

J is for Jacques

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?

*All links are Amazon Affiliate links.*