Losing My Mind

Last night I ran a few miles on the treadmill. I had to get off to read bedtime stories to my 3 girls. We read for almost half an hour and then I intended to go back to my exercise and do some weight lifting and toning. On my way down the hall from their bedroom I just happened to glance down at my feet. I had done all of the above wearing two entirely different pairs of running shoes. My right shoe was old and scuzzy looking and the other one was clean and white - my brand new Brooks running shoes, or shoe, I guess. I'm not sure how I managed not to notice for as long as I did, but I had a good laugh about with my husband and kids. So, am I losing my mind? I think it might already be lost.

Al Capone Shines My Shoes

Last spring I got to meet and hear Gennifer Choldenko when she visited our area. I wish I had my camera with me so I could post the picture I had taken with her, but that will have to wait. At that time we were still awaiting the release of Al Capone Shines My Shoes, the second of a planned trilogy. I had already read Al Capone Does My Shirts and loved it. Set on Alcatraz Island in 1935 the whole concept of civilians - children especially- living on Alcatraz just amazed me. I am still very intrigued by those people who grew up in this environment.

Since I read the first book so long ago, it took me a bit to remember more than just the general outline of the story when I started Al Capone Shines My Shoes, but once I got started, I was totally involved in the plot again.

Moose and his gang of friends are still on Alcatraz and still trying to spot different prisoners - especially the infamous Al Capone. Moose's sister, Natalie, has just started school off the island - a place that will help her with her special needs. Moose attributes Natalie's acceptance into this school to Capone himself, as he receives some short notes from someone inside the prison in his clean laundry. Some special visitors bring some added excitement to the island: Capone's wife, Mae, as well as J. Edgar Hoover and Elliot Ness. Piper is still the same annoying, spoiled girl she was in the first installment, but Choldenko humanizes her a bit more: Piper's mother almost dies from complications of pregnancy, and it is through this horror that we can see a kinder side of Piper. The book ends with a dramatic prison escape that kept me wanting to read more and find the resolution quickly.

Choldenko's notes about Alcatraz and the research she has done were also very interesting. Some of these points she touched upon when I heard her speak. My fifth graders will be ecstatic that I now have this book to circulate in the library, and I am waiting anxiously for the third installment.

Visit Gennifer Choldenko's website.

New Bookshelves

YAY! YAY! YAY! The girls' bookshelves are up! Their rooms look so much nicer! Now I just have to take a video of my living room shelf (after I do some cleaning!) and post that. I haven't put the shelves for the toy room up yet, either, so we aren't quite done.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teasers:I felt a flutter and light, imagining Tammy and me winning the Cup. We would each hold one of the handles and lift the trophy over our heads as the rest of the camp applauded (120)."

Taken from Jemma Hartman, Camper Extraordinaire by Brenda E. Ferber

Just Mediocre

Usually I am a big Anita Shreve fan. I admit there are some of her books that I like better than others - my two favorites being The Pilot's Wife and Testimony. A Change In Altitude was just so-so for me. I really felt like the story never got started and I didn't really care one way or the other about the characters.

Margaret and Patrick, an American couple living in Nairobi, Kenya, where Patrick is a doctor decide to climb Mt. Kenya while there. They decide to go climbing with Arthur and Diana, a couple who befriends them, and who allow them to live in the guest cottage on their grounds. A terrible tragedy occurs while on the climb and the couple is left to try and evaluate the events they witnessed. I didn't really get where Shreve could be going with this story. Even as I have now completed it, I am still questioning. I did like the setting, knowing already that Shreve spent some time in Africa as a young woman, and the way she was able to describe the beauty of Kenya.

After I read Testimony, the most recent Shreve book, I was left thinking about this book for days. A Change of Altitude was, for me, forgettable and mediocre at best.

Such High Hopes

This morning I used my Flipcam that we received as a Christmas gift from my parents last year to shoot a short video of some of the new book shelves that we have put up in the girls' rooms. They look great! It is amazing how much less cluttered things are. I should have also taken some 'before' shots so people could really see the difference. However, even though I have the video and have viewed it myself on the flipcam, I just cannot get it to download or even open up on my laptop. I will have to do some investigating to try and get this to work. In this case a picture really is worth a hundred words.
My husband also put together one bookshelf for our living room, so tonight might be a night of reorganizing. The shelves themselves weren't that hard to put together and really weren't that time consuming; it is the organization afterwards that takes a long time. We started working yesterday at 3:30 and were still going at 9 PM. We even had my mother-in-law helping, too.
I still have three more boxes waiting in the garage - shelving for the toy room. And while this has taken up some of the clutter, I still have boxes of books in the exercise room. So, another IKEA trip may be in the future (much to my husband's chagrin, I am sure).
For now I am ecstatic with the shelving I just got!

Germs in my House

I knew there was probably no way I was going to avoid sickness. My girls' elementary school had over 20% of their students gone on Tuesday. Last week I had a class of fourth graders that had only 9 students present (there are supposed to be 23) and a fifth grade class of 22 with only 5 students present. I have been using Clorox wipes on my books as they are returned, but when you teach to a group of students and have to talk above all the coughing, there isn't a lot of hope. I have had a cold, sore throat, achiness, chills and fever myself last week. I feel better, but am still horribly congested. Now my middle daughter is sick. She has been out of school since Wednesday at noon. Yesterday I stayed home to rest with her and took her to the doctor. She has an ear infection and pink eye. My oldest daughter is starting to cough today. Right now I am working at the public library and trying to get in some reading. I know it is the Read-a-thon weekend, which I am not really participating in, but figure I can get in some time while I sit here.
Yesterday I finished Jon Krakauer's Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman. I have been intrigued by Pat Tillman since a news story years ago about this incredible man who would give up an NFL career to join the Army. I liked Krakauer's look at Tillman, but as I often find with his books, Krakauer is perhaps a bit wordy for me. I did skim some of the background information on Afghanistan and politics because what I am most interested in is the story of Pat Tillman and his life. Pat's mother has also written a book about her son that I would love to read.
Now I have moved on to Judy Shepard's book The Meaning of Matthew about her son, Matthew Shepard who was beaten and tied to a fencepost in Laramie, Wyoming, because he was gay. I have seen this book receive great reviews, and even though I am not done, am really enjoying it. Shepard's writing is easy to read, like you are having a conversation with her. It seems incredible that her son died over a decade ago because I still remember seeing news stories about him, too.
That's what's up for my weekend reading. I have a few other books (OK, lots and lots of books) stacked up for me to begin as well, so I will have more than enough to keep me busy. Hopefully the germs find their way out of my house soon so I can get back to my normal routine of early morning exercise. That usually gives me an additional hour of free reading time that I am in desperate need of.

What My Children Are Reading This Week

In the past I have written about books my oldest daughter is reading in her free time and various books we have read for our nightly read alouds. I ran across Rebecca Reads, the host of this weekly meme and think I might start posting our weekly reads there as well. Sometimes our nightly read alouds last much longer than a week, but right now L is burning through books quickly so her reading is changing quickly.

Our nightly read aloud is The Tangled Web, an American Girl mystery. My oldest daughter was skeptical about this one, stating that she didn't like mysteries because they are scary, but three chapters in and she and my middle daughter are totally hooked. It has also allowed for me to make some predictions (because I am pretty sure I see where this is going) that we have talked about. Eventually I want them to be able to predict on their own, and we do that with picture books, but even though there might not be a big a-ha moment as the mystery is unraveled, they will have seen predictions modeled for them.
My oldest daughter continues to read on her own as well each night. She is going through the Moxy Maxwell books - enjoying each one. She giggles when the chapter title is read and there is nothing else on the page - how silly is that. I'm pretty sure she can relate to Moxy because I haven't seen L practice her piano any too frequently, either.

The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z.

The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z. by Kate Messner is the book I used for my Teaser Tuesday post, just having plucked the book off my TBR stack. A middle grade novel, this was easy for me to read and enjoy. I am always looking for some good realistic fiction novels to pass on to my students and my own daughters, too.

Gianna is very easily liked. She isn't perfect and struggles with many of the same issues most girls face. First of all, Gianna is out for cross country, and is a good runner. She struggles with organizing herself and is having an especially hard time with the science project she has been given: to collect, label, and organize twenty five leaves from different trees. Her Nonna lives with the family and has been having trouble remembering things lately. Gianna's biggest problem is trying to complete her leaf project - especially when one of the snotty, fashion-plate-like girls in her class sabotages her project. I don't want to give too much away, but after reading this part of the book I was so disgusted with Bianca. I was also amazed by Gianna's response. I can guarantee that when I was that age I would not have just moved on and tried to resolve things on my own. There would have been some adult intervention so that Bianca was held accountable for what she had done.

Nonna's forgetfulness continues to worsen and that is also something to be dealt with in this book. While no definitive diagnosis is made, it is obvious that Nonna is slipping away from something much like Alzheimers. How Gianna and her mother deal with it, and how Nonna does as well, is an important look at one family's struggle with this disease.

This is a great middle grade novel that gives girls a great character to relate to. This is Messner's debut novel, and I am hopeful she will be writing more in the future. Check out her website here.

The Frog Scientist

The Frog Scientist by Pamela S. Turner is a great non-fiction book. Turner contacted me a while ago to offer me a review copy and also sent me the trailer (above). At that point I hadn't yet seen The Frog Scientist, but it was already a selection I had ordered for my school. I am glad to have this item in my library; I don't have anything else quite like it.
Turner's book chronicles Dr. Tyrone Hayes' experiments with frogs. Hayes is looking at the chemical atrazine and how it effects frogs. His research is well documented with beautiful photographs to accompany it. I had never heard that atrazine may possibly feminize male frogs, causing males to develop eggs in their testes. Atrazine is outlawed in Europe, but currently the United States allows this chemical. Hayes chose frogs as part of his research because the animals are small and can be transported and have experiments conducted on them. Hayes initial ideas about atrazine seem to be right on as his research plays out and the fact that this chemical is still allowed to be used is somewhat concerning, especially as I am located in an agricultural community (atrazine is often used on corn).

This book will be wonderful for the upper elementary and middle school readers. The idea that a chemical could cause harm, even though it is not visible from the outside, is something we need to make our students aware of. Turner writes this book as though it is a story and the fact that background about Hayes' life is given makes him seem like a character in a book. While the text might limit some of my elementary readers, I think most would enjoy this book being read to them as well, and is a great book for discussion, and may spark some interest for further research.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Visit Pamela Turner's website. Visit photographer Andy Comins website.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"Nonna's doctor is running late, which is good, since Mom seems to be running late, too. I've breezed through four weeks' worth of People, and Nonna has surreptitiously ripped five recipes out of Dr. Hebert's Good Housekeeping and stuffed them into her purse, when the nurse pops her head into the waiting room (117)."

From The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z. by Kate Messner

All The Broken Pieces (MG/YA)

This is a book that I have had in a crate for several months now. I bought it last spring for my school library and took a bunch of books home over the summer to read so I could book talk for my students. Then I checked things out from the public library and I had to get through them before I could look at my own stack. So, last night after I finished The Calligrapher's Daughter by Eugenia Kim (which I haven't reviewed yet), I needed something to read. All The Broken Pieces has been reviewed by many others before me and has been one I thought I would enjoy. The only hesitation for me was fact that it is written in verse. That's not a drawing card usually, yet, I will admit that I loved, loved, loved Out of the Dust and that was written in verse.

This book just read so fast that it was over before I knew it. I loved every single word. While a novel in verse may not be my first choice, it was just perfect in this situation. While I was reading I was trying to envision how this novel would read if was written in the traditional format. There may have been more description, but that really wasn't necessary and the story is perfect as it is.

Matt Pin was airlifted out of Vietnam with a group of soldiers. Now, two years later, he struggles as memories of his life and family in Vietnam continue to haunt him. His adoptive family is loving and supportive, yet he wonders if they, too, will send him away as his biological mother did. Matt decides to go out for baseball, a sport he excels at. When he makes the team he is faced with hatred because he is Vietnamese. His family continues to look for ways for Matt to make peace with his past. Eventually he attends a support group for Vietnam veterans. His father's friend, Jeff, attends, and Matt also meets Chris, a man that his parents used to be good friends with until the war changed him.

There is so much in this short book that I can't put words to. Themes of acceptance, friendship, and loyalty can all be found, as well as a history lesson about Vietnam and its effect on people. Elementary readers will be able to handle this story because of the short text, but still may need a bit of background about Vietnam to make their reading more meaningful. Highly recommended.

The Black Girl Next Door

I have been reading The Black Girl Next Door by Jennifer Baszile on my treamdill and finished it up this morning. It is always so sad to see a great memoir come to a close. Especially when I am not really sure how things ended up. Baszile's memoir takes us up until she leaves for college in the late 80s. While her quest for identity as a black woman may have reached some closure by that point, I want to know more about her. How were her college years? Was Columbia everything she wanted? Was it easier to fit in there? What about her dating and romantic life?

Baszile was a young black girl in California in the 1970s. Her parents had overcome the discrimination they encountered during their childhood in the South and moved to California where they were both successful in their careers. Jennifer and her sister Natalie were smart, attractive, and also the only black children in their school. While they had friends, Jennifer never felt as though she truly fit in. Her parents wealth could not always fix their problems - when they moved into a nice California community they awakened to find their front yard vandalized because of the color of their skin. And, even though Jennifer's parents wanted her to fit in with her white classmates, they also didn't want her to forget her roots.

While I can't pretend to know what Jennifer went through, there are many African Americans of her generation that traveled a similar journey and will understand from their own experience all that Baszile write about. Her memoir was so intersting to me. It shows how a family that worked hard to fit in still didn't and how that affected their children. Jennifer is just a bit older thanme, so many of the things she refrences in her childhood are things I remember as well. What also struck me is that the discrimination she felt - sometimes subtly- has stayed with her. The people who inflicted these wounds on Jennifer carelessly underestimated their power and the length these slights were felt.

While Jennifer may have considered herself "the other one" and her sister "the pretty one", the photographs show that both girls are beautiful. Her writing and credential speak for themselves as well, and would love to know how Baszile's life developed after her highschool graduation.

Who Wants To Be A Poodle I Don't

Lauren Child has written a cute and clever new picture book. Trixie Twinkle Toes Trot-a-Lot Delight is a pampered poodle. Her owner, Verity Brulee believes that Trixie is a posh sort of dog and treats her to the finer things in life. All Trixie really wants is to be a dog- rolling in the mud, walking in puddles, experiencing other regular, ordinary dog activities. It takes Trixie rescuing a small dog from a puddle for her to owner to understand that Trixie doesn't really want to be the froo-froo dog Verity desires.

I liked the collage illustrations and the colorful, patterned backgrounds. Kids will enjoy this story of an animal who just wants to be herself - not what her owner wants her to be. The text is fun to read because of the different placement of various sentences in the story. The one drawback I do find to that is that if a child is reading the book, it is sometimes confusing to follow. I even had to look carefully a few times to make sure I was reading the story in the correct order.

This book is sure to appeal to our Fancy Nancy readers. A very cute picture book!

Visit Lauren Child's website

The Day of the Pelican

Katherine Paterson has written an important middle grade/tween novel that speaks to the atrocities committed against the Albanian living in Kosovo. These events took place less than a decade ago, something I think my students will be appalled by. At my school I have a large Bosnian population, and while this is not their story exactly, parts of it may hit home for them. It is also the only novel I have found for their age level about the events that led them and others like them to flee their country.

Meli Lleshi and her family are living happily in Kosovo. Although they don't have a lot of money and neighbors they were once friendly with have stopped buying food at their store because they are Albanian, it is the only life they have known and they are hopeful that things will change in the future. However, Meli's older brother, Mehmet goes missing and when he returns, the family fears for their safety more than ever before. It is decided they will flee their home and go to live with relatives in the country. From that point on, life is a struggle as they must try to find food and shelter for the family. The Lleshis become refugees. When Baba announces that they will be moving to America, they look forward to a new beginning, while mourning the fact that their family will be leaving their homeland. America is a new start for the family, but it is also full of struggles as language barriers exist and there are few job opportunities for adults with no language skills. When the attack against America occurs on September 11 by some Muslim extremists, Meli and her family who are also Muslim must now face discrimination once more.

This book is full of wonderful topics of conversations to have with kids if this were used as a read aloud. The topic is current and one that students will want to know more about. I am already looking forward to when this book comes out in paperback so I can buy multiple copies to use with a book club. Visit Katherine Paterson's website.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"I am a boring case, a complete injury, right out of a textbook. A curiosity, a nightmare, maybe even a freak show, but not a challenge. I'm leaving exactly as I arrived." (13)

From Head Case by Sarah Aronson

Comfort

My weekend reading consisted of trying to find time to fit in a wonderful middle grade/young adult novel, Comfort by Joyce Moyer Hostetter. Ann Fay has been afflicted with polio, and has just returned home from the hospital where she was staying. Her father has also returned home from fighting in World War II. Both are changed from their experiences. Ann Fay has grown up quickly, and wishes she could run and play like she used to. Her friends have moved on without her and she must stay in eighth grade, while her peers move on to ninth. Her father's problems aren't visible, but he is plagued by nightmares and just isn't the same man he was before he left. He is short tempered with his children and wife and doesn't seem to want to find a job. Ann Fay starts working at the local grocery store on Saturdays to help out with expenses and makes friends there with the regular customers. Otis, a customer that many of the regulars become irritated with wants to talk about the war - a topic the other men try to avoid.

Ann Fay has the opportunity to spend time at Warm Springs, President Roosevelt's rehabilitation facility for polios. When she is with others like her Ann Fay fits in. She develops many friends there and improves her physical skills greatly. However, when her neighbor, Junior, shows up telling her that her mother needs her at home, Ann Fay knows she must leave Warm Springs immediately. Her father's problems have become worse, and the once loving and gentle man has given her mother a black eye. Ann Fay's ability to deal with these problems and help her family show how mature she is. Ann Fay knows a bit about suffering herself, seeing as how she has gone through her own trauma with polio.

Hostetter's novel is wonderful. I felt like I could be right there with Ann Fay and her family the whole time. Hostetter includes notes at the book's end to share different facts about polio, and the effects of war on soldier during World War II, and Warm Springs. While this is the sequel to Blue, which I am looking forward to reading, I didn't feel as though I was missing anything by not having read that book first. My only regret is the fact that there is not another book about Ann Fay and her family. Wonderful historical fiction.

Check out Joyce Moyer Hostetter's website.

Shopping Spree

After many months- maybe a year- of talking about buying bookshelves to help with my total book addiction, I finally managed to do it. Right now seven boxes from IKEA are sitting in my garage waiting to be assembled.
My friend, Kristin, and I left after school on Friday and stayed up in the Twin Cities. We managed to hit the Medford Outlet mall, the Burnsville Mall, Kohls, Target, IKEA, and the Wild Rumpus children's bookstore (another lovely place). There were lots of books to look at as well as a rat that can be viewed through see-through floor panels - eww! I managed to restrain myself mostly and bought only the second Julia Gillian book by Alison McGhee and Confetti Girl by Diana Lopez. We had time to catch up on books we have read, want to read, and ones we have used with our students. This was only my second trip to IKEA and I am totally in love with that store. Hopefully tonight I will get to start putting bookshelves together and finish the book I started. What a great weekend!

What My Daughter's Reading

Right now this year it has been exciting to see what my oldest daughter has been reading to herself. Sometimes she reads before bedtime, but most of the time we are busy at night so that the one consistent time she reads every day is before she goes to sleep. Her second grade teacher has also been having her students keep a log of books they have read, and it is also exciting to see her finish books all by herself. This past week she has read through a couple great books - ones that I have given her and hope to read myself. Originally I thought I would read them to all my girls as our nightly read aloud, but since we already had a book at the time and L was looking for something on her own, I dug into my stash.

Julia Gillian by Alison McGhee was a hit with her. The fact that there were some illustrations probably helped, and made the book seem like it was moving quickly even though it was close to two hundred pages. The book begins by telling the reader that Julia Gillian owns a St. Bernard. Since we also had a St. Bernard for a while, this was an instant attraction.

I then recommended Julie Danneberg's Family Reminders. Amanda at A Patchwork of Books reviewed this one, and I love historical fiction so was anxious to get it. We talked a bit about the time period and location, but as L read, could tell she got it as she explained various parts of the plot.

Now she has moved on to Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little. This book is too cute and another quick read. I think the humor in it is also attractive, and will be quickly torn through. I happily reported that there are two more Moxy Maxwell books to read next.

After that, we'll have to see. There are some I want to pass on that for whatever reason don't appeal to L. I have been extremely pleased lately that she has actually taken my suggestions. Such fun to see her totally into her reading. And, it so reminds me of myself when I was that age.

Thursday Thoughts

Yesterday I received ten new boxes of books from Baker and Taylor at my school library. Talk about excitment. These books were purchased with a Target grant I received for the library. :) I am enjoying looking through the book a bit more today because right after the boxes arrived I had to attend a meeting at a different school. I hated to tear myself away from the excitement. Now I have fifteen chapter books in a stack for me to read. I also took home five picture books last night for bedtime.

Dogs Don't Brush Their Teeth by Diane deGroat was probably the hands down favorite at story time. The illustrations/photgraphs of real dogs showing what they do and do not do are so cute as well as humorous. I have heard this will be at the girls' book fair, so I am definitely buying a copy.

Big Bear Hug by Nicholas Oldland is another cute picture book about a bear who likes to hug things. He hugs animals, trees, and even the woodsman bearing an ax who is about to cut down a tree. The woodsman isn't used to this strange bear hug, and quickly leaves the forest - sparing the tree from the ax.

Star of the Week by Darlene Friedman and Roger Roth is a cute book about Cassidy-Li's experience being the Star of the Week at school. Cassidy-Li is also adopted from China so while she includes many things from her family, she also wants to include something about her birthparents. My girls loved this book, too. Maybe because they have experience being stars of the week at school, or maybe because we got to see Cassidy-Li work on her scrapbook-like picture collage of her life...whatever it was, my girls loved it. The author and illustrator of this book are married and have their own daughter, Eden, who they adopted from China in 1998.

Read It, Don't Eat It by Ian Schoenherr is a rhyming, fun look at book care. I can see many uses for this with my students - at the beginning of the year, but even at different times during the year to remind them about taking care of their books. The humor in the book helps teach the lesson without making it sound repetitive or too teacher-y.

The last bedtime book we read was Only A Witch Can Fly by Alison McGhee. I had such high hopes for this one. First of all, my oldest daughter just finished Julia Gillian by McGhee, so we were excited to read something else by this author. And, I have seen great reviews about this book everywhere. However, even though I really liked the illustrations-linoleum block prints- I just could never quite get the text to work for me. I spent several pages reading passages over, trying to get them to rhyme, or sound right, and they just didn't. I might try this one again, or give it to a teacher and see what they think. The title Only A Witch Can Fly is also the last line of the book, to which my daughters responded with many examples of other things that fly. Somehow I think the story was lost on them, too.

I have so many books to review right now which is not a bad problem to have - just overwhelming. I am looking forward to this weekend when I make a trip to IKEA and FINALLY purchase much needed bookshelves. YAY!

The Promised World

Yesterday I wrote about The Promised World by Lisa Tucker for Teaser Tuesday. This book was so hard to put down that I finished it up this morning at school (before contract time, of course! :) ) Tucker's writing is the type that sucks you in from the first page and keeps you wanting more until the very end.

Lila and Billy are twins- they share an unnaturally close bond. Both are brilliant, although Lila's intelligence is the type easily noticed by academic success, while Billy works at construction, had a child at a young age, and as the novel progresses appears as though he may be mentally ill, not just brilliant. Lila and Billy's parents were killed in a car accident. That is what Lila believes and what Billy has always told her. However, after Billy's tragic suicide it comes to light that Lila's mother is alive and well, living in a nearby town. Patrick is left to question all the stories that Lila has told him and whether their life together is also a lie.

Tucker creates a novel where there are a lot of unanswered questions. Lila, who is at the center of them all, is unable to answer them. She is without any significant memories from her childhood, and what she does know is only what Billy has told her.

I wanted to know what really happened to Lila as a child. I had my own guesses and was right about some of the things, and off the mark on others. While Tucker's resolution is satisfying, there are still things I want to know about Lila's life - as a child and after the novel's end.

If you read yesterday's teaser and that didn't spark any interest, hopefully this review will. Tucker's other novels are equally as good as her latest, and anyone looking for a new author should check her out.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"His gaze made her nervous, but she didn't look away. After a long, uncomfortable silence, he said, "Did you ever love me, Lila?" (page 123)

from The Promised World by Lisa Tucker

Sworn to Silence

Finally I have had a weekend where I have been able to get a few books finished up (although the TBR pile is just as high as ever). I thoroughly enjoyed Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo. This is the first of what is supposed to be a new mystery series featuring Chief of Police Kate Burkholder. Burkholder grew up Amish and is now the Chief of Police in her hometown of Painters Mill, Ohio. (The set-up reminds me a bit of the Julia Spencer Fleming mystery series featuring Clare Ferguson).

In this first mystery, a serial killer has come to Painters Mill, killing and brutalizing his victims. Kate is forced to remember a horrible act she committed when she was fourteen after having been raped. While she looks to her past to try and find answers about the killings that are occurring, more law enforcement departments are called in. John Tomasetti has been assigned to assist with the mystery, and arrives in Painters Mill much to the annoyance of Kate. Tomasetti notices immediately that Kate is hiding something, even though he doesn't think she is involved in the crimes. Tomasetti has his own burdens he is carrying. His wife and daughters were killed by a criminal Tomasetti had been hunting for years. Since then he has been virtually worthless at his job, and is sent on this assignment as a way of getting rid of him.

I liked this mystery a lot. I connected with the characters and am anxious for the next installment. Almost all reviews I have read have been positive as well. There was just one negative review claiming that the story was predictable. Anytime I read a negative review of a book I really liked, it makes me evaluate a little more closely what is was I did like about the book, and why the reviewer felt so differently from me. As far as series mysteries go, yes, Sworn to Silence is much like some of the other series I enjoy so much. So maybe it is predictable in that sense. I don't find that a bad thing. However, I didn't know who the killer was, and didn't even hazard a guess. I felt like the book was very suspenseful and also a fast read.

I am adding this mystery series to my list of "must reads."

Grandfather's Story Cloth

Grandfather's Story Cloth by Linda Gerdner and Sarah Langford is a wonderful story. This book is written in English and Hmong, as both Gerdner and Langford have interest and a background in immigrant needs and Laos in particular. This book was also produced in cooperation of the Extendicare Foundation which focuses on research, education and service related programs pertaining to Alzheimer's Disease.
Grandfather lives with Chersheng, his grandson and the rest of Chersheng's family. While they know that grandfather forgets things - like turning off the water, or where he is living, he has never forgotten something really important- like his grandson. When he forgets who Chersheng is and tells him he does not have a grandson, Chersheng is crushed. There is good information in this book about dealing with Alzheimer's and what to expect. Chersheng's mother explains to him in a way he can understand what is happening to his beloved grandfather. She also is able to share with him the story cloth Grandfather made that illustrates the events in his life. Chersheng truly cherishes this gift and then begins to draw his own story cloth. When Chersheng shares his drawing with Grandfather the two connect again as Grandfather is able to remember bits of his past.
I can see so many uses for this book - as a look at a different culture. There is information about story cloths and the Hmong culture. This is also a great resource for students who may have family members suffering from Alzheimers disease. And, the illustrations in this book are beautiful. This could also be used as a springboard to create your own story cloth about your life or that of your family. A wonderful addition to a school or public library.

Winnie's War by Jenny Moss

Winny's War by Jenny Moss is set in the early 1900's. World War I is almost over, but the Spanish Influenza pandemic is a more pressing problem for Winnie and her family. Winnie is a teenager - noticing boys for the first time, wanting to have a better relationship with her mother, and having a hard time with her grandmother, Clara, who lives with the family. She has a few problems with her best friend, Tillie, who has abandoned her for a more popular girl. But most concerning is the number of people coming down with the flu. No one really knows how to avoid getting sick, and one supposed remedy is the use of Vicks vapor rub. In the past people struck by the flu were the elderly and very young, but this time healthy people are also dying. Winnie's own family comes down with the flu as does her best friend (who she has reunited with) Tillie. Winnie is such a likeable character and my heart broke for her several times throughout this book. Moss does a good job of allowing Winnie to teach us a few lessons. By novel's end she has seen great hardship and sorrow, yet is able to go on living each day- recognizing that life moves on and that she needs to be able to live alongside her sorrow.

A great historical fiction book, a great coming of age novel and a wonderful story full of some important lessons.