Violet Dawn- Brandilyn Collins

I'm not usually a fan of Christian fiction (even though I am a Christian), but once in a while I will find a good CF writer: Jan Karon, Frank Peretti, Terri Blackstock- to name a few.

Brandilyn Collins is one of the good ones.

This is the second book I have read by her.

The first one was "Eyes of Elisha." I loved that one.

It was extremely suspenseful and the ending was a surprise.

"Violet Dawn" was not quite as suspenseful, but it was still a very good story.

It grabbed my attention from the first page and I couldn't put it down.

"Violet Dawn" is the first in a new series by Ms. Collins.

It centers around a community called Kanner Lake.

I like small-town series, so I think this one looks promising.

Small town charm and suspenseful mysteries all rolled into one.

What more could you want? :-)

My verdict: loved it!

Check out the Amazon reviews for this book by clicking on the picture.

2007 total: 35

Hatchet- Gary Paulsen

I read this book because I thought it might be a good book for my son to read.

I hated it.

It's about a boy who is riding in a plane to visit his father.
He is the only passenger.
On the way the pilot has a heart attack and dies.
The plane crashes in the middle of the Canadian wilderness.
The book is about how he survives (catches fish and birds, builds shelter, etc.)

This might have been a decent book for my son to read, BUT there's a few disturbing situations. For one, the boy tries to commit suicide with his hatchet. The boy also knows a secret. He caught his mother having an affair with another man. She doesn't know he saw. His father doesn't know. He wrestles with the decision to tell or not.

Besides that, the book is boring in more than one place, there is not much resolution when it comes to his making a decision about "the secret" he knows about his mother, and the ending is very weak, IMO.

Most Amazon reviewers liked it but this is one time I have to disagree with them. :-)

2007 Total: 34

2007 Reads (so far)

January
Love, Lies, & Liquor (Agatha Raisin)
The Complete Peanuts (1950-1954)(2 books)
Then End- Lemony Snicket
The Year of Pleasures
The Tale of Despereaux
The Messenger of Magnolia Street

February
Miss Julia Stands Her Ground
The Edge of Darkness (Babylon Rising)
Cure for the Common Life
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies
Blue Shoes and Happiness

March
My Antonia
Louisiana in Words

April
Strawberry Girl
Sounder
Homeschooling from Scratch
By the Pricking of my Thumbs
The Whipping Boy
Farenheit 451
Bad Kitty

May
The Giver
Breaking Free

June
Digging In
Before You Leap (Kermit the Frog)
Monster
By the Light of the Moon

July
nothing :-(

August
The Sign of the Beaver
Murder at the Vicarage

September
Death of a Dreamer
Death of a Poison Pen
Out of the Dust

October
The Good Husband of Zebra Drive

2007 total: 33

The Good Husband of Zebra Drive- Alexander McCall Smith

I've read all of the books in this series and I've yet to decide whether I like them or not. lol
Sometimes I like them, sometimes I hate them.

I think this installment was much better than the previous two. I had to force myself to finish reading the last two. This one was read in one day.

In this book:
*Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni tries his hand at detective work.
* Two employees of Mma. Ramotswe and Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni resign......and then return
* The No.1 Ladies' Taxi Service has a very short lived existence
* Mma. Ramotswe solves the mystery of 3 suspicious hospital deaths
* Mma. Makutsi investigates theft in a paper factory
* Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni discovers an instance of insider trading
*Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni is shocked to find a photo of Mma. Ramotswe with another man. It can't be......can it?

Fall Reading Challenge

This is our reading tree (sorry for the weird background).
We spent the greater part of the afternoon making it.

I'm proud to say I didn't do anything on it except write down everyone's goals.
The kids did the rest all on their own. :-)
M. drew the tree, the squirrels (though they're hard to see in the pic), and the falling leaves on the left.
C. did the title and the falling leaves on the right.

I was inspired by Callipidder Days' Fall into Reading Challenge.

Here's how our tree is going to work:
I printed out a bunch of leaf templates on red, orange, brown, and yellow paper.
When someone finishes a book, we write the name of the book and the person's initials on a leaf.
Our goal is to have the tree full of leaves before the end of fall.
We all set goals of how many books we want to read.
I might also put a little fall sticker under each person's name for each book they read.

We're doing this from now until Dec. 22 (the first day of winter).
At the end of the challenge, whoever met or exceeded their goal will get a prize- perhaps
a new book. ;-)

The kids already have ideas for the next ones:
A snowman and snowflakes for the winter challenge,
a big flower and flower petals for the spring (or maybe a meadow to be filled with flowers),
a beach and sea shells for the summer.

I think this is a cute and fun idea to motivate them to read more.