Second Quarter Reading

Another good quarter of reading. I'm a little behind on my goal to read 24 books this year, but I'm not worried. I do some of my best reading while I'm nursing babies.

Books I Read

Books I Listened to

Excellent

1. QB: My Life Behind the Spiral by Steve Young. Steve Young tells about his football career, but also about his struggles with a severe case of separation anxiety. My dad recommended this one and as a major BYU football fan, I knew I had to read it. It was so interesting to learn about his struggles as well as his great successes.

2. Front Desk by Kelly Yang. Mia and her parents immigrate from China to the United States in the early 90s and unfortunately learn that life here is not at all what they imagined it would be for them. They think they are finally catching a break when they land a job managing a motel in Southern California, but that doesn't turn out like they had hoped either. This was definitely an eye-opening book for me. I had no idea things were so hard for immigrants in my lifetime.

3. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. A tiny girl is abandoned on a ship headed for Australia in 1913. She arrives completely alone with nothing but a small suitcase. She is taken in by the dockmaster and his wife and raised as their own. On her 21st birthday, they tell Nell the truth and she sets out to trace her real identity, but it is not until her granddaughter, Cassandra, takes up the search after Nell’s death that all the pieces of the puzzle are assembled. After reading The Secret Keeper, I wanted to read another of Kate Morton's books. No ending could compare with the ending of The Secret Keeper, but it was interesting to see how everything unfolded in the end.

4. Becoming by Michelle Obama. Michelle Obama's autobiography. She reads it herself and it was very enjoyable. I didn't vote for President Obama (and I was especially crushed when Mitt Romney lost to him), but I have a lot more respect for him after listening to this book.

Great

5. This is Where You Belong: The Art and Science of Loving the Place You Live by Melody Warnick. A non-fiction book about how we come to feel at home in our towns and cities. She provides suggestions about how to develop place attachment - the deep sense of connection that binds us to our cities and increases our physical and emotional well-being. I found this book extremely interesting. I think I am naturally good at becoming attached to places (We are not movers!) and it was fun to learn about why that might be the case. Even though I was incredibly interested in the book, it was NOT a page turner and it took me months to slowly work my way through it.

Books I Read to Corbyn and Peyton

The Giver by Lois Lowry. Jonas lives in a seemingly ideal, although colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his community. Another Newbery winner to go along with all the ones we read (or listened to) in the first quarter.

The Bravest Princess by E. D. Baker. Annie still can't rest while trouble in the kingdom threatens her good friend, Snow White. Snow White's evil stepmother has disappeared, and her father wants her married off right away, but who should she choose? How can she tell which prince is best? It's Annie and Liam to the rescue! 

Princess in Disguise by E. D. Baker. Annie and Liam's wedding day looks as if it's going to be perfect until everything starts to go wrong. Liam's father doesn't show up, nor do the magic-wielding guests. Members of the wedding party come down with strange afflictions, Annie's gown is ruined, a storm floods the castle grounds, and an unknown king lays siege to the castle. Queen Karolina decides that they need the help of her fairy godmother, Moonbeam, but only Annie and Liam can get past the magical fog to find Moonbeam. Even after they find her, it's up to them to discover who cast the spells that ruined the wedding, and why the unknown king wants to conquer Treecrest.

Books I Read to Peyton

I had somehow gotten out of the habit of reading books just to Peyton (Rog reads books just to Corbyn), but I picked it up again when our library finally got Tiana's Best Surprise. After we got caught up on the Disney Princess Beginnings books, I remembered the Never Girls series that I saw years ago when Peyton was just a baby and all those years ago I thought I'd like to read them to Peyton someday. She could read all of these books herself, but it's fun to read them with her. 

Tiana's Best Surprise by Tessa Roehl. Tiana is planning a surprise. Her daddy's birthday is coming up and she wants to make him the best gumbo ever. But there's one problem: she's never made gumbo without her daddy's help. Will Tiana be able to make her dream come true and give her father a gumbo he'll be proud of?

Aurora Plays the Part by Tessa Roehl. Aurora doesn't even know she's a princess! She's lived her entire life in a cottage in the forest with her Aunt Flora, Aunt Fauna, and Aunt Merryweather. She is thankful for her animal friends and the birds that sing with her, but she longs for some adventure. When she meets a young girl who is part of a traveling troupe of actors, Aurora's whole world opens up.

In a Blink by Kiki Thorpe. In the blink of an eye, Kate, Mia, Lainey, and Gabby are whisked off to Never Land, home to Tinker Bell and her fairy friends. The adventure of a lifetime is just beginning! But how will the Never Girls ever get home again?

The Space Between by Kiki Thorpe. It’s time for the Never Girls to go home. Lainey thinks it’s goodbye forever, but is that a Never mouse in her mother’s kitchen? And why can’t Mia find Bingo? Could there be a splinter between the worlds?

Books We Listened to in the Car

A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck. Mary Alice's childhood summers in Grandma Dowdel's sleepy Illinois town were packed with enough drama to fill the double bill of any picture show. But now she is fifteen, and faces a whole long year with Grandma, a woman well known for shaking up her neighbors and everyone else. All Mary Alice can know for certain is this: when trying to predict how life with Grandma might turn out . . . better not. Yet another Newbery winner.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling. In his fifth year at Hogwart's, Harry faces challenges at every turn, from the dark threat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and the unreliability of the government of the magical world to the rise of Ron Weasley as the keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. Along the way he learns about the strength of his friends, the fierceness of his enemies, and the meaning of sacrifice. We needed a long book to listen to on our spring break adventure, so this one was perfect. It's my least favorite of the Harry Potter books, so I didn't mind letting Jim Dale do the reading instead of me.

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool. Abilene Tucker feels abandoned. Her father has put her on a train, sending her off to live with an old friend for the summer while he works a railroad job. Abilene jumps off the train in Manifest, Kansas, aiming to learn about the boy her father once was. As she discovers Manifest’s secrets one by one, Abilene begins to weave her own story into the fabric of the town. A final Newbery winner for this quarter.