I'll Be There

I'll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Of course, some kids don't want to go to school-"It's boring, I don't learn anything." Blah, blah, blah...to that I say, Hah!



View all my reviews

Sam would love to attend school since he hasn't for well over ten years. His dad keeps them on the move, running from town to town, with Sam's younger brother, Riddle, riding along in the back seat of the beat up pick up truck. That is until Sam meets Emily and everything about his life changes. Riddle, who hardly talks, begins talking with Emily's mom while they cook dinner. Even cooking food is new to Sam and Riddle-they usually eat gas station food out of plastic wrappers. But what happens when their bi-polar dad finds out about Emily and Sam-yikes-it is a wild journey for Sam and Riddle to get back to Emily, her family and stability.

This book was very entertaining, not sappy, not funny, but thoughtful.

I've Lived A Thousand Years

I Have Lived A Thousand Years: Growing Up In The Holocaust by Livia Bitton-Jackson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


What an amazing story.



View all my reviews

I don't know what it is about holocaust stories, I find them very compelling. I think it is that something so awful did and continues to happen and that somehow people actually survived. I think what gets me though these books is knowing that the author will survive.

Elli and her family live in Hungary and are swept off to concentration camps in April 1944. Elli is able to stay with her mother but they are separated from her brother, Bubi, and father. Days without food and water...somehow they survive.

Matched

Matched by Ally Condie




I have taken this book home at least three times and I am so glad that I finally read it. This book is about a utopian society 70 years in the future. The society provides everything for you including the best marital match. What happens when the society makes a mistake that isn't really a mistake-who do you marry then. By the way, don't cross the society or you could end up in the farmlands or worse-the outer provinces.

I am looking forward to book 2. It is on reserve.



View all my reviews

<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8901945-hidden" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Hidden" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1316638921m/8901945.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8901945-hidden">Hidden</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/49193.Helen_Frost">Helen Frost</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/209361420">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
there are so many things that I like about this book: the characters, the friendships.  It is written in prose, which I alway enjoy, but the author has added a second dimension to it.  There is an explanation in the back of the book about how to read.  the kidnapping is written from the pov of the kidnapped child,Wren,  but the second half of the book is written from her pov and the child of the kidnapper, Darra. Plus each "long" line of prose from Darra's pov has additinal meaning if you read it correctly-so fun.
<br/><br/>
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/1823985-jennifer">View all my reviews</a>

Okay for Now

http://jennifer-storytimelady.blogspot.com/Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I loved everything about this book. He is able to make lemonade out of a lot of very sour lemons. He has to fight against his jaded view of the world, because his dad is a jerk, to realize there are some really great people looking out for him.



View all my reviews

Life of a middle schooler.

My son, Sam, is the kindest most loving boy , he does very well in school and sees the best in all people except teachers.  He thinks that all teachers are after him and that after teaching for two years they should get out because they just become mean and hate kids.  I honestly love the little tidbits about school that he gives me that have to do with how the teachers act and his view of their actions. 

Here is the most recent story.  The kids and I were sitting down for dinner and having a nice dinner conversation.  It is OAA week so all three of them have stuff to tell me.  I'm listening to Adam and I hear part of what Sam is saying but it catches my attention and I ask him to repeat it.  It went like this:
Me:  Sam, what did you say?
Sam:  The teachers think we are disgusting and won't touch our papers.
Me:  What do you mean they won't touch your papers?
Sam:  After the testing they take our papers and make copies.  They will touch the copies but the originals they treat like they have a major disease on them.  They keep the copies but send the originals off to some company to grade.
Me:  Ah geez Sam do you really think that.
Sam:  Yeah Mom it happens all the time-they think we are gross or something.
Me.:  Okay first of all they send the original off to be graded because that is the process.  Not because they don't want to touch it.  Secondly, they keep a copy just in case something happens to the original-not because they don't want to touch it.
Sam:  (Sly smile on his face)  Mom, I don't think that I want you to work in the schools-you make the teachers seem human.

To be continued...