Forest Born

I just finished Forest Born, by Shannon Hale. She's LDS (I'm almost positive) and her books are great (nothing religious at all, I just read her little summary about herself). This is the fourth in a series, the first is Goose Girl, then Enna Burning, then River Secrets. She also wrote The Princess Academy. It's taken me a while to read each one, just not enough time, but once I get about halfway through it's so hard to stop! The endings are all really good, and often surprising. Thanks, Deb, for tipping me off to her books! And letting me borrow one :)

The Miracle at Speedy Motors

by Alexander McCall Smith

This is the 8th or 9th book in his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Series. I love them. They're not difficult reads but they aren't light-minded either. The characters are well drawn. I love getting a glimpse of Botswanan culture, and sometimes, they are laugh-out-loud funny. I recommend them.

Nancy Drew and Fablehaven

Hi! This is Regan and Hadyn. We just finished the first book of Nancy Drew. (Editor's note: Regan's comments are in green and Hadyn's are in purple.) It was about three people who stole some furniture from the Topham's. I liked the book very much. Nancy was trying to find the clock the thieves took in a van. The secret was really mysterious. Inside of the clock was Josiah Crowley's notebook that said that another will was made. The Topham family wanted to destroy the will because they didn't get any money. You should read this book. I got another Nancy Drew book, The Secret of the Wooden Lady, from the library on April 9th, yesteday. I can't wait to read it. I want to read another Nancy Drew book as soon as possible. I hope the mystery will be mysterious and I bet I'll like it a lot. (Editors note, again: This is how every conversation goes in my house :) If I could have figured out how to type two sentences on top of one another I would have done so, just to make the convo more realistic. The girls LOVED Nancy Drew. Regan and I went to the library yesterday, and I taught her how to use the computers to find and/0r request books from other libraries as well. She's has a list of which ones she wants to read next. Hard enough to be challenging for Regan to read on her own, but easy enough language for them to follow the story when I read it out loud. Now we're on to Charlotte's Web, then back to Nancy Drew #2...)

I'm sure you've all already finished this, since I believe I am the last person on the planet to read it, but I really enjoyed it. A good fantasy, without the weird sci-fi stuff. It was easy to read and didn't take a lot of thinking, which is nice every now and then. I have actually requested the 2nd book from the library, so that tells you something, I guess. I also told the story to Regan, and now she has confiscated my copy and is reading it as well. I'm not sure she has the staying power to read that long of a book, but I don't mind that she does read it. There is one chapter where the plot gets a little scary. Not too bad. I'd still read it to Regan, but not as a bedtime story. Maybe an after school story for that chapter. This author lives in Utah, around the Point of the Mountain. Wave says the author is actually going to do a book signing at Joplin sometime soon. Regan and I might just have to crash that party... If you have been living on another planet and haven't read this one yet (as I was), I do recommend it. It's perfect for just picking up when you have 10 minutes here and there to read. Happy Reading!