I like picking up the Newbery Award winners and honor books. I don't think that being an adult stops a person from enjoying well-written children's books. So I checked out a book called Savvy by Ingrid Law.
The Beaumont children become "gifted" on their thirteenth birthday. None of them know ahead of time what their "savvy" will be. Grandpa can cause the earth to move. One brother can make weather change. Mom's ability is that she learns things very quickly causing the people around her to think she is "perfect". Mom tells her children that everyone has a savvy, it's just that theirs are a little different from most people.
Mibs is just short of her thirteenth birthday when her father gets into a terrible accident. He's in a coma at the hospital about 90 miles away. When Mibs wakes up on her birthday, she believes that her savvy is to wake things up. (This, by the way, is NOT her actual savvy.) She determines to get to the hospital to wake up her father. Thus begins a trip unlike any I've ever read about in any other book.
The sequel is called Scumble. It's a term that means getting control of your savvy.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Title: Harmony: a New Way of Looking at Our World
Authors: Charles, Prince of Wales; with Tony Juniper and Ian Skelly.
Call Number: 577 Cha
The authors describe the environmental damage that our industrial society is creating around the world. They attempt to identify the changes in our philosophy that allows most of us to be unaware of the problem. Then the authors propose a different but old philosophy that would help us to make changes to help solve these problems.
-Posted for Jim Wichman, retired IDNR nursery program manager who supervised the production and shipping of 150 million tree seedlings to Indiana landowners.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve
"How do you ever know that you really know a person?" The Pilot's Wife proposes this question and leaves you asking many more. Questions about love and marriage, trust and betrayal, and human relationships are explored in this novel by Anita Shreve.
This Oprah Book Club selection is one of several Shreve novels set in a large New Hampshire beach house that started out as a convent. Kathryn is awakened in the middle of a cold winter night with horrible news - her husband's plane has gone down - no survivors.
In the days and weeks that follow, Kathryn must cope not only with her own grief, but also her daughter's difficult adjustment, the publicity, the questions, and the growing uncertainty of her husband's past.
The Library's book discussion group, the Fantastic Fictioneers, rated The Pilot's Wife 8 out of 10. Enjoy this Anita Shreve book and well as her other beach house novels: Fortune's Rocks, Body Surfing, and Sea Glass.
Jane Kaufman
This Oprah Book Club selection is one of several Shreve novels set in a large New Hampshire beach house that started out as a convent. Kathryn is awakened in the middle of a cold winter night with horrible news - her husband's plane has gone down - no survivors.
In the days and weeks that follow, Kathryn must cope not only with her own grief, but also her daughter's difficult adjustment, the publicity, the questions, and the growing uncertainty of her husband's past.
The Library's book discussion group, the Fantastic Fictioneers, rated The Pilot's Wife 8 out of 10. Enjoy this Anita Shreve book and well as her other beach house novels: Fortune's Rocks, Body Surfing, and Sea Glass.
Jane Kaufman
The Walk by Richard Paul Evans
At the beginning of The Walk by Richard Paul Evans, Alan Christofferson's life is as near perfect as a human's can be. His wife McKale is the center of his life and his business is prospering.
When McKale has a disabling accident, Alan devotes himself singlemindedly to her care. Even though this is a proper prority, is turns out to be a disasterous mistake. Alan's business partner destroys Alan's business. When McKale dies, Alan believes he has nothing left to live for, but with almost her dying breath, McKale makes Alan promise to live.
Alan decides to walk across America from Seattle to Key West. What begins as an escape gradually turns into a journey of discovery. The road is neither smooth nor easy, but Alan persists.
Even without high suspense in the plot, I find myself looking forward to the next part of the journey.
Kathi Linz
When McKale has a disabling accident, Alan devotes himself singlemindedly to her care. Even though this is a proper prority, is turns out to be a disasterous mistake. Alan's business partner destroys Alan's business. When McKale dies, Alan believes he has nothing left to live for, but with almost her dying breath, McKale makes Alan promise to live.
Alan decides to walk across America from Seattle to Key West. What begins as an escape gradually turns into a journey of discovery. The road is neither smooth nor easy, but Alan persists.
Even without high suspense in the plot, I find myself looking forward to the next part of the journey.
Kathi Linz
Monday, February 14, 2011
The Age of Autism by Dan Olmsted and Mark Blaxill
The authors provide a good discussion of autism and the difficulties in finding the cause of this disease. Also, the authors point out the dangers of polluting our environment with mercury.
Call Number: 616.85882 Olm
Call Number: 616.85882 Olm
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Learn to Do Yo-Yo Crochet by Wendy Harbaugh
The book Learn to Do Yo-Yo Crochet by Wendy Harbaugh teaches you a technique to make rows (and other shapes) of crocheted circles. You join the rows as you go, so there is no sewing to do at the end of the project.
If you don't mind crocheting along a chain, this is a fun way to create many interesting and useful items.
Kathi Linz
If you don't mind crocheting along a chain, this is a fun way to create many interesting and useful items.
Kathi Linz
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)