To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

 I don't know what to say about it, except that it fully deserves the praise that it has collected.  It's brilliant.  Weighty, but up-lifting.  Beautiful.  Honest.  Well worth the read.

Something Under the Bed is Drooling by Bill Watterson

About : Calvin
Type of book : comic book.
I thought it was pretty funny.
It's about a 6 year old boy who can change his world with his imagination.

Larklight by Phillip Reeve

Told from the viewpoint of Art Mumby, this is about the adventures that he and his sister Myrtle have across space. Set in the Victorian era and written as if the Victorians were right about everything that they thought about how science was going to advance (steam power for everything, alchemy, inhabitable planets, etc...) I really enjoyed this book.

Tuesdays At The Castle by Jessica Day George

When princess Celie's parents leave to get her oldest bother from wizarding school they leave everything in her and her two older siblings' hands. It was light and funny but it nevertheless kept a hold of my attention the whole way through, and I quite enjoyed it.

The Entomological Tales of Augustus T. Percival : Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone by Dene Low

This book is delightfully silly, truly amusing, and a breath of fresh air in a world which increasingly descends to the crass and vulgar in attempting to entertain.  Such misguided buffoonery would clearly be beneath Petronella, a spirited, intelligent, stalwart heroine worthy of anyone's admiration.  In short, I loved it.  (Good for all ages; probably especially enjoyed by girls in the 9+ range.  A dignified alternative to "teenage girl" books  - a definite plus to my pre-teen girl.)

My Side Of The Mountain by Jean Craighead George

My Side Of The Mountain is about Sam Gribley, a 12 year old boy who decides to run away from his cramped home in New York, and learns to survive in the wilderness around his great-grandfathers farm up in the Catskill mountains. I found it interesting, well written, thought provoking, light-hearted, and enjoyable. 

The Roar by Emma Clayton

The Roar by Emma Clayton

The blurb: Post apocalyptic distopia, "mutant" psychics, Etc. Etc.

What it starts to look like: Enders Game/Neon Genesis Evangelion meets Carrie,
then edited until it looks PG(read: no aliens), if still depressing.

Plot Holes: Yes.
To name but a few:

• No space colonies(despite the bad guy having a space station)
• No underwater colonies
• The twin in the beginning not leaving anything identifying during her escape and capture(she has telekinesis for crying out loud)
• None of the "mutant" kids pulling a Carrie(except one, and he gets stopped by a glance)
• Convincing via television hoax * nearly two thirds of the planet to evacuate to the remaining third.

Premise: Great, 4 stars, could make for some excellent fanfiction.
Execution: Terrible, 1.9 stars, not as bad as it could have been, but there are better uses of my time.

*Spoiler, highlight to show.

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

I was surprised at how much I liked this book.  I'm normally just frustrated with books which include magic which may not be magic at all - I like fantasy, I like historical fiction, I like to know what I'm getting into.  But somehow this was such a well-told story that it didn't bother me at all.  And as a coming of age, family reconciliation story it was beautiful.  Suitable for young advanced readers; there is some talk of ghosts and one death scene.  Set in the Great Depression with flashbacks to WWI, just before the great Spanish Influenza epidemic - there are some serious topics, but (I felt) very well dealt with.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

I liked this book because even though at a couple of points I felt that it was somewhat unrealistic I thought that it did a good job showing how friendship can work, especially in a family setting. It was funny, interesting, and a light read---I think I would recommend it to just about anyone old enough to understand it.

Gardeners of Eden: Rediscovering our Importance to Nature by Dan Dagget

Many books about ecological responsibility leave you thinking there's no hope - that humans and a green, happy planet are antithetical to each other, or at least that technology and (planet) health are never going to work together.
This book did a remarkably convincing job of saying "it's not true." It's a slim volume, maybe half a dozen case studies, talking about how intelligent use of resources for humans can actually improve things for the other critters involved, too. Well!
I won't reiterate much of the argument here, only say that this has beautiful photos, lovely short stories, and made me feel that the idea of humans as caretakers - some would say stewards - for the earth is not such a bad one, after all.

Half Magic by Edward Eager

Another favorite from my childhood, this has been easier than some of the others (Andy Buckram's Tin Men) to find for my children to enjoy. Delightful for elementary age on up: Well-written, good to read aloud, and a lovely episodic plot with a delightful overarching storyline. Highly recommended.

Vegetable Heaven By Mollie Katzen

Another of my favorite cookbooks; probably my favorite recipes from it are "Firecracker Red beans," "Baked Pineapple Pilaf," and a mixed grain dish I forget the name of but that we all call 'birdseed,' because it's made mostly of millet - very tasty.

All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor

This is a book - actually a series of books - about a Jewish family living in New York City in the early 1900's, right around the time of the first world war. When I first read it, I suppose it especially struck a note with me because this family - like the one I grew up in - is composed of five girls (though later in the series one baby brother is born). I think it also struck a note because while my family is not Jewish, we do practice our religion in ways that go beyond Sunday meetings- diet, customs, rituals, and holidays.
A beautiful piece of historical fiction; it is primarily a picture of family life, there mores and habits, and all the little things they do that are so ordinary to them and so surprising to us, a hundred years later. Beautifully written, excellent for reading aloud or for the elementary reader on up. Maybe I should note: a book that is good for reading aloud is one, to me, that is interesting enough for grown-ups, even if it was written for children.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

I picked this book up from the local library a few years ago, shortly after it came out. Wonderful! For the first time ever, I really felt like I really understood the relationship between physics and astronomy. The arguments for and against human evolution - not over-simplified; and dozens of bits and pieces of stuff that just made lots of random science make sense as a cohesive whole. Very, very well done.

The Big Necessity by Rose George

I picked this up from the library new book display a few weeks back; it was very enlightening. It talks about the many ways people deal with sanitation, and the problems and effectiveness of each.
Written as a popular science work rather than a technical treatise, I sometimes wished the author would have given a bit more technical detail. Even so, the overall picture is very clear: human waste must be disposed of. Safely. Or people die. What works about the systems we use now, what doesn't, and what the options are. She doesn't offer clear-cut solutions - there don't seem to be any. But I would definitely recommend this to every adult - and many teens - as an essential part of knowing how the necessities of life work.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane austen

I would say the book Pride and Prejudice is about etiquette and how it affects people in their daily lives as much it is about Elisabeth Bennett and the diference between being well manered and truly being kind.
It was well written , rich in plot and all in all a excellent book.

Vital Friends by Tom Rath

This is for all my friends, but especially those who are parents of gifted children out there. I learned about this book from a lecture I found in the archives of the SENG [Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted] website. The lecture is titled The Problem of Loneliness: Finding Friends and Fitting in When You Are Gifted, and it's found on the Seng website, about two-thirds of the way down the page I have linked to here. The lecturer talks about the different roles friends play in our lives, how important they are, and recommends this book.
This book lists various roles different friends take, and talks about where to look, in our lives, for friends who fill various roles.
Marvelous book, highly, highly, highly recommended - not only by the lecturer I've mentioned here, but by myself.

Drive by Daniel Pink

Last year, for the first time in many years, I won a prize at the library's summer reading program - and this was the book. A quick read, very good - it talks about what truly motivates us, what that means for business and education. It didn't surprise me, but only because I'd had an organizational behavior class several years before that talked about the same things. This is the book that pulls that information into popular literature.

Shortly after I read this, my sister sent me a link to a lecture on it here - a beautiful summary, very well done. Highly recommended.

The Curry Book by Nancie McDermott

If you're into expanding the flavors you try without purchasing expensive, exotic ingredients, spices are a great way to go. Spices naturally lend themselves to curries - hence this book on my shelf. This is the book that taught me to make my own curry powder (Indian) - the short or the long way; curry paste (Thai) - red, green, or yellow; some fabulous chutneys; and now-perennial favorites such as Tandoori-Style Chicken, Black-eyed pea and eggplant curry; and Thai curry - any kind. Also has recipes for chapatis and curried cashew chicken salad (possibly my favorite).

Vegeterian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison

Another cookbook from early in my marriage, my copy is nearly unusable by now. The thing I love most about this book is that it includes nearly every fruit, vegetable, or plant I've ever heard of eating - and it tells you how to prepare them deliciously, giving not just recipes but basic principles of what to look for and how to fix. Quite possibly my favorites are the white bean soup; the bean and pasta dishes; and the golden caramelized tofu with peppers.