Baptism, by George Durrant

This book is about a 7-year-old boy named George who is getting ready to be baptized. One story was about a fire. It was a rainy day, and George and his friends would usually cook potatoes in a bonfire, but it was rainy that day and they tried to chop down trees and build a fire, but the trees were too wet, so they decided to build a bonfire in Alan's barn. The barn caught on fire because they built a fire in there. George hid behind the stove because he knew he was in trouble. Their Mom and Dad talked about what had happened, and George heard that he was too little to know right from wrong, but George knew he really was responsible and had done something wrong. He decided to repent.

I liked this book because it had fun stories.

Calvin

(This was a fun book, just memories the author had of experiences that prepared him for baptism. I recommend it, especially for boys.)

Encyclopedia Brown Sets the Pace

written by Donald J. Sobol... reviewed by Regan E. Luke

Do you like mysteries?  I do.  So I decided to read Encyclopedia Brown Sets the Pace.  It's 10 small stories in one book.  One of my favorites was "The Case of the Crowing Rooster".  It started out that on a "Thursday evening Encyclopedia was trimming the bushes in front of his house when Lisa Periwinkle raced by on her bicycle."  Encyclopedia was wondering why she was in such a hurry.  Encyclopedia went with Lisa to go to the junkyard for a meeting.  When they got there Bugswent with his partner, Bill Canfield, and Bill Canfield had an invention to make the roosters crow.  Encyclopedia figured out that the roosters crowed three times because Bill was hiding it in the darkness because when roosters see light, they crow, so that's how come it crowed.  Bill said that if they gave him $5 to make more fake rooster machines he would give them one.  But Bill was actually just stealing money.  I liked this book because I love mysteries.  I also like it because I like how you get part of the story and you can figure it out on your own or go to the back and see what the answer is.  You should read this book...in fact your whole family should read it!

39 Clues Books 1-3

Scholastic scheme or not. I've enjoyed this series. I've been listening to them while I clean. The reader is really good. Each book is by a different author. The first author is one that Matt really likes. One and Three were better than Two. I'm looking forward to many more hours of entertainment!

The Hunger Games

by Suzanne Collins

Okay, here's my latest read. It is all the rage right now, at least around here, with the youth. I borrowed it from the library and found it in the young adult section. I really liked it. It is set in the future in the wasteland that was once the United States. In an effort by "The Capitol" to keep the outlying districts aware of their weakness and subservience, the Hunger Games are created. It is a bit brutal...a fight to the death by teenagers chosen by lottery from each district. It is sort of a spin on our increasing addiction to reality TV, I suppose. Anyway, it's one of those books you read without having to think to much, but it really draws you in. I finished very quickly, in fact, I had it at the house when we had everyone over for Memorial Day, and before I even got a chance to start it, Lisa borrowed it (to save the 100+ person wait list at the library) and read it, then Andrew and Dave read it. This was all within a week. So, I guess I'm not the only one who got into it. As of today, I am #117 on the library's wait list for book 2 of the series, Catching Fire. Enjoy!

Skellig

I can't remember the author. I think it's Alan Something? Maybe not. Anyway, it's about an English boy and his parents who move into a new house. They're trying to deal with fixing up the place, a premature baby, and all the adjustments involved. Meanwhile, the boy finds a mysterious visitor in the crumbling old garage....

I liked this book because of the relationship between the boy and his parents and his new sister. They were under stress, but underlying it all was love. Too many books about kids portray the parents as clueless or uncaring, but this one didn't. Plus it had a supernatural, mysterious twist that still doesn't entirely make sense to me that made the book memorable.

Affinities

Affinities and Other Short stories
by: Mary Roberts Rinehart

I picked this book up somewhere, I was drawn to the old cover as well as the authoress. At the time I thought it was Radcliffe not Rinehart. Radcliff is mentioned in Jane Austen's books. I began reading the first story titled Affinities and was a little shocked at the story line as it was married couples going out for a secret picnic with other people's spouses. This was especially troublesome to me after seeing that it was first published in 1909. I paused in my reading to do a quick wikipidea search on the author to rule out any Nora Roberts of the 1900's. I was reassured by what I found on the web and picked up the book again. It took me maybe an hour and a half to read the entire story and I'm so glad I did. It had a good moral and I had a good laugh after it was all said and done. The first thing I thought when I was done reading it was, my grandmother would love this story!

The Secret Life of Bees

This book is by Sue Monk Kidd, who it says lives in Charleston. Maybe Kellie will run into her :). Anyway, it's set in South Carolina (they mention Goose Creek!) in 1964 as the Civil Rights Act was signed. It's about a white 14 year old girl named Lily, and her colored nanny/housekeeper Rosleen. Lily runs away from home and takes Rosleen with her, after Rosleen got herself in trouble when trying to register to vote. They end up in the home of three colored sisters, one of whom is a beekeeper. The sisters let them stay. It's about Lily coming to terms with her childhood, her mother, her father, and the changing world; she has a policeman tell her she's lowered herself by living with these ladies, yet she finds she likes being there better than she ever liked her own home. There is swearing in it.

I'm now reading The Help, as Maria suggested, which is very good, and it's interesting to read these two books about the same subject - civil rights and segregation in the South in the early '60s. It would be interesting to hear what someone who lived in that era - hint, hint Mom - has to say about it, I'm sure that Utah/Idaho were far different from the South at that time. Was anything in Idaho/Utah even segregated?