The Sisters of Sinai : How Two Lady Adventurers Discovered the Hidden Gospels by Janet Soskice

meh

Stuart Little by E. B. White

I read this to Truman. Such a sweet story.

When Everything Changed : The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present by Gail Collins

This book was pure awesomeness; I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a nonfiction title as much as I did this one. It is an incredible story, well told, with pitch-perfect anecdotes. Highly, highly recommended.

Digging to America by Anne Tyler

Nice fluff.

Amos Fortune: Free Man by Elizabeth Yates

A pre-read for Simon. This was a middling book that, I think, has excellent discussion potential for 10-14 year-olds; as will be obvious from the questions, I think there are some troubling aspects to the attitude toward race presented in this book:

--Amos' experience of slavery is almost idyllic. What is your reaction to that? Is it wrong to present a very positive experience of slavery?

--What might be some of the advantages and disadvantages of the vendue system of caring for the poor?

--Was Violate wrong to bury the money? What do you think about how Amos and Violate solved their disagreement?

--Amos says, "it does a man no good to be free until he learns how to live" to explain his decision not to fight against those who captured him. This implies (or does it?) that he "learned how to live" while a slave. Is this accurate? Would he, as a young man in Africa, have thought that he didn't know how to live when he was a prince and therefore should be enslaved until he figured it out?

--Amos refers to Polly's poverty as a kind of slavery. Do you agree?

--Amos seems completely devoted to freeing women. Why?

--Amos responds humbly and patiently to racist insults. Was this the best policy?

--Would you have disbursed your money in the same way that Amos did?

--This book was written in 1950. In what ways do you think it reflects racial attitudes of that time?

The Making of a Mormon Apostle: The Story of Rudger Clawson by David S. Hoopes

This was very interesting: you just can't beat post-second-manifesto polygamy and mob murder.

Lies Across America : What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong by James W. Loewen

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Escape by Carolyn Jessop

Interesting, and sad.

Pocahontas and the Strangers by Clyde Robert Bulla

This was a pre-read for Simon. I didn't like it at all. I couldn't tell if the writing was stilted in an effort to keep it simple or because it reflected the author's perception of what a story about Native Americans should read like, but in any case it felt like reading Dick and Jane.

I've had several strike-outs with Simon's books this year. I didn't get very far with Walk the World's Rim or The King's Fifth, either.

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

You know, The DaVinci Code was at least entertainingly stupid, but this was just stupidly stupid.

A Lion to Guard Us by Clyde Robert Bulla

I read this out loud to the boys. I thought it was mediocre but they seemed to like it.

Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder

Wow. This book was superb. Highly recommended. (I also really liked his Mountains Beyond Mountains.)

My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett

I read this to Truman. meh.

A Leaf In The Bitter Wind by Ting-Xing Ye

I almost didn't read this because I thought the title and the cover were cheesy, but it was a very good book. Of course, I'm not sure you can write a bad autobiography if you lived in Maoist China--there's too much good material. And this one even had a couple of very unexpected twists at the end. Recommended. (Other excellent books in this genre: Wild Swans and Life and Death in Shanghai.)

Charlotte's Web by E. B. White

I read this to Truman. I think it is nearly perfect.

A sidenote: I used to wonder if I would detest rereading chapter books to my younger kids since I never re-read books on my own. I don't. I love it.

A final note: This is not the same cover as our book. I couldn't find that cover; it is the one I bought from Scholastic Books when I was in the first grade. I can remember taking this book on the boat when I was a kid. The spine is completely gone and the pages are loose.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

This is the best novel that I have read since Brooks' People of the Book . . . The Help completely knocked my socks off. Go read it!

The Examination by Malcolm Bosse

This was a pre-read for Simon and it was excellent--a great plot and lots of wonderful detail about Chinese history and culture.

It occurred to me that I probably need to add a little detail to my pre-read reviews so I have more to work from when subsequent children read the book in future years. (I wish I had thought of this two years ago . . .)

--Before reading: Discuss Confucianism and the Chinese imperial exam system.
--Discuss: Differences and similarities between Hong and Chen.
--Discuss: What should they have done when they encountered the woman, her daughter, and the men starving in the village?
--Discuss: How did the principles of Confucianism impact the choices various people made in this book?
--Discuss: What were the advantages and disadvantages of the exam system for Chinese society?
--Discuss: What is your opinion of the choices that Hong made throughout the book and at the end of the book?

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

I listened to this with the boys; it was very good.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows

Very, very good.

Paradise Alley by Kevin Baker

As is usually the case with me, I was completely enthralled by a novel and utterly disappointed with its ending. Is it me--or is it novels? I rarely used to read novels but now turn to them when my reading time needs to be relatively fluffy to balance out my other projects. Maybe I just need to stick with fluffy non-fiction?