What have been reading lately...

The summer months passed with not much page-turning being done in the Ehler house. But with the coming of Fall, a new school year, and a required outside reading assignment from the English 8 teacher we picked up the following:

Wings by Aprilynne Pike

Aprilynne Pike's best-selling debut, WINGS, is the first of four books about a seemingly ordinary girl named Laurel who discovers she is a faerie. When Laurel is thrust into the midst of a centuries-old battle between faeries and trolls, she's torn between a human and a faerie love. In this extraordinary tale of magic and intrigue, romance and danger, everything you thought you knew about faeries will be changed forever.

What did you read over the summer?

What are you reading now?

Schooled

We just read a really good book, kind of easy for our 7th graders, but very fun! It's called "Schooled" by Gordon Korman. It's about an 8th grade boy who is home schooled on a commune. He's never watched TV and he's never eaten pizza. Then, he has to go to public school. He's thrown into 8th grade and the story follows his adjustment process, which is quite unique.
Another good book (also very easy to read) is "The Boy Who Dared" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti. We are only halfway through, but it is very captivating. It is about the life of a heroic German youth who dared to stand up against the Nazi regime. The boy is also LDS.
Know of any good books? Any recommendations?
We will keep sending emails to everyone to let them know about what we've been reading!

Monique and Kelsey

An Interview with Heather Vogel Frederick

Cindy over at motherdaughterbookclub.com has posted an interview with Heather Vogel Frederick, author of one of our recent books The Mother Daughter Book Club.

Read the interview here

Using Common Sense

In my opinion, one of the most challenging aspects of being in a book club like ours is choosing the books. These days alone, given the vast ( and growing) selection in stores and libraries, it can be an overwhelming and daunting task. Add to that, the desire to choose a book that has age appropriate content and can capture the interest of both adult and pre-teen, choosing the right book for a book club is no simple task. I often rely on Amazon reader reviews and recommendations. But, I have also found another source for book reviews that I thought I'd pass along if you ever find yourself looking for a review on books you are unsure of: commonsensemedia.org. What I like about this website is their philosophy and beliefs regarding helping parents make informed choices over the the media their children interact with. From the website:

Media is fun and our kids love it. We also know that kids now spend so much of their time absorbing its messages and images that it has become "the other parent" in their lives. We started this organization because we know families need trustworthy information to help manage their kids' media lives.

among their top 10 Common Sense Beliefs:

3. We believe in teaching our kids to be savvy media interpreters - we can't cover their eyes but we can teach them to see.

I like that!

Although the organization does not write reviews from a "Christian" perspective, as a Christian, I can appreciate the reviews as a starting point for filtering media through my biblical worldview because they consider many of the same values I look at when discerning appropriate media for my children. I hope you find this source as useful as I have. Whether you are wondering if that book your daughter has brought home from the school library has any objectionable content or if the latest movie release they are begging to see will have you squirming in your seat over an inappropriate scene, being informed, as a parent, is always the best place to start.

A book you should read

Ok, now that i have this blogging thing down i can tell you a fabulous book title!  The book is "Love, Ruby Lavender" by Deb0rah Wiles.  It was my favorite book ever (i read it for my author study) and if you have not read it i highly recommend it!  Here is what it is about:

Ruby Lavender and Miss Eula are a pretty good team, for a couple of chicken thieves.  What other granddaughter-grandmother duo would drive the getaway car for chickens rescued from the slaughterhouse, or paint a whole house shell-shock pink?

But now Miss Eula has up and left for Hawaii to visit her new (smelly) grandbaby.  Poor Ruby.  Stuck in boring old Halleuia, Mississippi, with nothing to do except read to her chickens, sweep floors (torture),and be tormented by the curly-haired, tip-tapping Melba Jane.

But nine-year-old Ruby is in for some BIG surprises!

ps: i have put in a pic of the book and you can also read The Aurora County All-Stars(also by Deborah Wiles)

So Why a Blog?

Why not! Everyone else has one!

Actually, Julia and I started playing around with this blog last summer when she asked about how to start her own website. I thought it would be a great way for her to develop writing skills while learning to use technology. Express thoughts and ideas. Learn a little HTML. It's all good.

So here we are!

What can we "blog" about? Well, the girls can share thoughts they have about what we are reading between meetings. They can post reviews of the books we've read. We can share meeting recaps with discussion questions, food and activity ideas, recipes. You can post book suggestions, links to websites or anything else you come across that you think might be of interest to the group. Posts don't have to be long.

So, how do you post? Well, for one, only members can post so be sure to respond to your invitation and join the blog. (I think you have to open a Google account, but that is the only "hard" part). Once you have joined, just sign into Blogger, your account will display, click on post and a text box will appear, create a title for your

post, compose the body, preview, then hit publish post. Voila! You are a "blogger"!

Play around with the control buttons. You can add pictures, videos, links. So easy!

If you have questions, use the comment button. I'm new to all this too, so I won't have all the answers, but I'll do my best.

Happy blogging!

Caryn

This month's selection is.....

Don't you just love that title!

Here is the synopsis:

The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women is a fairly typical all-girls school - that is, it would be if every school taught advanced martial arts in PE and the latest in chemical warfare in science, and students received extra credit for breaking CIA codes in computer class. The Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses, but it's really a school for spies.

Cammie Morgan is a second-generation Gallagher Girl, and by her sophomore year she's already fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways (one of which involves a piece of uncooked spaghetti). But the one thing the Gallagher Academy hasn't prepared her for is what to do when she falls for a boy who thinks she's an ordinary girl.

Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, and track him through town without his ever being the wiser - but can she have a relationship with a regular boy who can never know the truth about her?

Cammie may be an elite spy-in-training, but in her sophomore year, she's beginning her most dangerous mission - falling in love.

It should make for some fun, summer reading! See you on July 14!!