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Kiki's Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono is a book that was also turned into a Japanese animated fantasy film. Kiki is a young witch in search of a place to live but instead ends up searching for her purpose in life; helping others. See in Kiki's world as a young witch is "Coming of Age" they would have to leave their parents house and go to another town. Not only does Kiki have to stop relying on her parents but she has to find a way to make it in the world. She does this by making her own business. This business has to help people with her magical abilities, in Kiki's case this is flying. At first it was hard to find a good city! Once, she found a perfect city but there was already a witch living there. (The rule is one witch per city.) She finally finds a town by the ocean. It was a big town. The town did not trust her. She had to gain their trust. Witches gain trust by helping their community. What could Kiki do to gain their trust? She only had her mother's broom and her cat, Jiji. Her work began when a woman named Osono wanted to deliver a pacifier to a baby but had to walk the whole way. Kiki offered to help and flew it there quickly. That started her whole career. In the book it describes many of her different deliveries and the adventures those took her on. This sweet book was very good and I am looking foward to watching the movie. I am only telling you a bit of the story. For more details I recommend you read the book!

I just started reading this book. My friend suggested that I read it. It is her absolute favorite book! There are a lot of different versions of this book. The version I am reading is by Frances Hodgson Burnett. This famous story is written in a nice way. This story is about a young girl, Mary Lennox. Mary was brought to a huge house and has to adjust to a new life. This house is big but so many doors are shut. There are plenty of secrets hiding in this house and Mary is determined to find some answers. Mary finds a secret garden and for once she is not so "contrary." She finds friends, entertainment, and secrets. Of course I have not finished this big book. Therefore, this is not the whole story. I do know I am loving the book, though. I highly reccomend reading this brilliant book. Mary Lennox is facsinating (even if she is a fictional character). If you have any questions you should read this great book!

School has started up again so I will be checking in only on Sundays maybe Saturday. But without further ado I bring you "The House That Wasn't There" Now before I tell you about this book you need to know that when I BLOW through a book that means I'm loving the book. Some of you may do the same thing and I am BLOWING through this book. It is one of those books that every chapter they switch on and off characters although it is not the characters point of view. It is just spotlighted on that character. The 2 main characters are Alder and Oak. They are next door neighbors. And they have sibling cats that love to be together but Alder and Oak do not like to be together. I definitely think you should read this no matter your age. If you have the same taste as me.

I do not usually read biographies or even nonfiction, but the Who Was Series, introduces biographies to children. I like them because they are full of information but are not too boring. Previously, I have read a few books from Who Was Series including, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Alexander Hamilton, and Martin Luther King Jr. I have also watched every episode of the Who Was Show on Netflix, these are also filled with interesting facts and are also hilarious. I am now reading Who is Bill Gates by Patricia Brennan Demuth and illustrated by Ted Hummond. Bill Gates, and his buddy Paul Allen founded a company that focused on software. They decided to call it "Microsoft." Some of you may use Microsoft. Bill came up with "Windows" operating systems, which changed how people use computers. At the start I did not think I would be that interested in Bill Gates. Though since I use a computer almost everyday and because he was the first to think one day everyone would have a computer, it turns out that I am not just interested - I am thankful! Like many of the Who Was books this book is written in a way that makes you want to read more! If you are curious about Bill Gates or learning more about many people throughout history you should read the a Who Was book! Fun Facts about Bill Gates! Bill Gates was born in Seattle, Washington. Bill Gates loved computers as soon as he saw them. Bill Gates had to pay for computer time at their school. There is probably way more about Bill Gates that is still out there. I have not finished this book yet and I am excited to learn more about Bill Gates while finishing this book.

This week visited Seattle! While visiting, I decided to go to The Seattle Public Library. This library is huge and architecturally significant. Level one contains the Children's Center. Aside from books, the Children's Center has beautiful sculptures and art. The big, blue ox in the Children's Center represents the folktale of Babe the Blue Ox. There are other beautiful creations, too. An example of one is a paper mache monster from Where the Wild Things Are ( that book is a great book to read to your young ones). The Children's Center is big, too! I had read many of the books that they displayed. The library was beautiful! I think you should visit ( and while you are at it see the space needle) this great library! You could probably find any book in there. I like the Children's Center by the chapter books. What about you? `

This week I am reading a book by Andrew Clements. He is the author of bestseller Friendle. My teacher read Friendle to my whole class and I've been meaning to read another book by Andrew Clements. I am only to chapter four so the book might change. However, I know the following. Greg is a young boy that has a talent for almost everything. He is most skilled with money though. He loves to stack his coins and count his money. Greg soon found ways to start making money around the house. After that he found ways to make money... everywhere! One day at school Greg was missing a quarter for school lunch. His teacher asked if anyone had a spare. A lot of hands went up. Greg did some calculations and realized that school was the perfect place to make money. I have gotten a bit farther than that, but I do not want to spoil anything else. I promise you the "anything else," is fantastic, though. The whole book- everything I have read at least- is really good. If you are wondering about "anything else," I recommend you read the book.

Here and there it is always nice to read a short little picture book. There are many authors to choose from. There will be authors ranging from Mo Willams to Eric Carl. Mo Willams is the author of "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!" and the "Elephant and Piggie Books." Eric Carl is author of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." There are plenty of other authors. I probably could go on and on about authors, but I must move on because there is more to say. The question is: When do you read chapter books. I understand that in your free time (if you are even reading) you would want to read your current book. If you are looking for a message or an inspiration you may want to check picture books. For example, soon my family is going to Europe. We have been reading picture books that are set in where we are going. While rereading many cute picture books in the past week, I realized that picture books are not for just babies and toddlers. They are for everyone. That is really similar to something the librarian said ( in my first interview ) " Picture books are for everybody to share." If you are questioning whether that is true or not - I think you should read a picture book! Picture books are special and can bring you to a new world. Maybe a world like this one.

Dedicated to my amazing mom. My blog tells mostly about the amazing children's books there are out there. Not everyone reading this is a child though. I know there are adults reading this. For all the moms out there, Happy Mothers Day! There are so many books that I could mention. I will only talk about five books. The books will be: "Here Comes Grandma," "How to Babysit a Grandma," "The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes," "Mother Bruce," and finally, "The Way Mothers Are." Last week we talked about picture books . Mothers Day is not just about mothers. There are grandmothers and great-grand mothers. This book is by Janet Lord. "Here Comes Grandma," shows how a grandmother did some daring things to get to her grandchild. She gets on a horse, a car, skis, hot air balloon, and a plane. Not to mention she races a submarine throughout the whole ocean. At the end she did a single thing. It was not bizarre. It was loving. She gives a great big hug! My second book is very funny. This one is by Jean Reagan. This book is called "How to Babysit a Grandma." A young girl goes over every thing you should do to "babysit" a grandmother. What she is really going over though is all the fun things to do with your grandmother. They go to the park, bake snickerdoodles, and look at family pictures. My favorite probably is read stacks of books, though. They do lots of other stuff too. The book I will mention next is about an amazing mother. The author's name is Du Bose Heyward. The name of "The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes," probably does not sound like it includes a mother. The mother in this story is... the Country Bunny. The fine mother had 21 babies! Later in the book she was called wise, kind, swift and most of all brave. There is one additional message and it is that you can do what you set your mind to. I am going to go ahead and say this is by far the funniest book out of the five. Maybe some of you have read it. "Mother Bruce" by Ryan T. Higgins is adorable. Bruce only liked to eat eggs (it is very weird to think that he likes eggs but is a bear). He was rummaging around for food and he got eggs. When he tried to cook them his stove needed wood... When he returned... the eggs had hatched. The chicks now thought Bruce was their mother! Bruce is annoyed. Somehow he does become an unlikely great mother! My final book is special. " The Way Mother's Are," is so meaningful. It is by Miriam Schlein. I love this book because it shows that if you are naughty OR if you are good, mothers always love you. Of course, there will be times when they don't love what you are doing.They do still love you, though. I absolutely love this book. Just now, I reread the book. I think the message is so cute. It shows how powerful love between a mother and their child is. I highly recommend this book. Happy Mothers Day (if you are not a mom don't forget a card on Sunday, May 8! ). I hope I can do a Father's Day Blog. Reading together is a great way to bond. You could read a picture book with your mother (no matter how old you guys are).Each night my mom reads to me. Have a great Mother's Day and remember to thank your own mom for everything she did for you.

I am still reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire but I finished a class read-aloud at school. I figured this would be a great book to share. It is a classic. It is fictional. My class would complain every time we had to stop reading. The book is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G ! The story starts by a game of hide and seek. Lucy steps into a wardrobe to hide. She goes further into the wardrobe... and further... and further. Soon she finds herself in a magical place. She was in a place of wonder. This is how the journey begins. With Aslan at her side and her siblings (which actually sometimes betray her) they can defeat the White Witch and restore life other than winter! This book is great! I have actually read it twice now and I loved it both times. I highly recommend this book. I am guessing you have questions such as: Who is Aslan? Who betrayed Lucy? Is there more to the story? I can answer the last question. YES! For the other questions, I recommend you read the book.

It all started when Granny woke her up in the middle of the night. Louisiana was not suspicious of anything. Why should have she been suspicious? Granny had middle-of-the-night ideas all the time. Granny told her that they needed to leave. Did she mean leave all her friends? Yes. Could she bring her pets? No. What was this all about? Then it came to Louisiana . . . They were not going to come back. Lost. Hopeless. Who is Louisiana Elefante? All her life she had thought her parents were " The Flying Elefantes." She had thought Granny was her grandmother. Everything that she held on to as truth soon became a lie. After receiving a good-bye letter from Granny, the world seemed to fall apart. This book is by Kate DiCamillo . She is one of my favorite authors (right up there by Lois Lowry, J.K Rowling, and Roald Dahl). Kate DiCamillo has written many other books such as, Because of Winn Dixie and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. She is a marvelous writer, and I not only recommend this book but all of her other books, too. I love Louisiana's Way Home. I like personally putting my feet in her shoes and thinking about what I would do in her case. Most of the time she does the polar opposite. This comes to show how even if you are not at all alike with the character, you can still love a book. If you have any questions like "Why weren't they going back?" I recommend you read the book.

I was given the chance to do my very first interview. I talked to my school librarian because she loves books. I found out that she thinks what makes a picture book great is the message that it sends to people. The pictures are also important. I was told that all books need different qualities. For chapter books, she finds it very necessary that children can relate. I wondered what her favorite genre of books was. She said she loved Historical Fiction. She explained to me that it is probably because she had great history teachers when she was young. She likes learning history and reading a good story at the same time. The I asked her how she keeps up to date on new books. I learned that she reads a lot of book reviews. She also knows of the Children's Literature Workshop. After that I asked why she became a librarian. She responded by saying to me " I have a strong belief that if a child can read they can do anything!" She clearly showed me that she loves books. It is hard to narrow down books to your favorite. When I asked her what books she would recommend to the readers of this blog, she could not decide. She did tell me about a lot of amazing authors though. She told me about Sarah Weeks, Pam Munoz Ryan, and Jack Gantos. She also said two authors that I am familiar with. The authors were Grace Lin and Kate DiCamillo. I found out that she loved books as a child too. She liked Nancy Drew books. She informed me that she also loved Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary. To wrap it up, I asked her how her perspective on books is different from as a child and now. She told me she had broadened what she reads. For example, she is reading more nonfiction. Besides that it has not really changed. My librarian pointed out though that you should read what interests you. I would like to know what interests the readers of this blog! In the comments, please tell me what you are interested in so that I can talk more about those types of books. Thank you for reading this!

We were in Venice and we decided to visit this really interesting bookshop. The bookshop used up ALL of its space to store books and postcards with cats on them. I noticed that it seemed to have a strong connection with cats. There were hilarious photos of adorable kittens all around. Aside from all of the cats, they had a mammoth gondola in the middle of the bookshop. For those who don't already know, a gondola is a boat that is used in Venice. There are no cars in Venice. Most of the transportation is through boats. The bookshop filled a gondola with books, and they fit a lot of books inside it. There is more to this bookshop than just books, cats, and gondolas though. The bookshop seems to have a lot of books. The many books all must be protected. As you may know Venice gets many floods and the bookshop owners must make sure al of the books are safe. Though they are usually safe, the bookshop could not save to books from the peak of the tide across Venice. They say that they have lost hundreds of books. The final thing I want to mention is that they not only use their books for reading but also to create some walls and steps. It is very interesting to learn about the Acqua Alta Bookshop, or as the owners call it " The World's Most Beautiful Bookshop." I hope to come back to Venice someday. If I come back I might learn even more history about its ongoing floods. * The first photo is of the only cat I saw there. * The second photo is NOT a gondola. It is a wheelbarrow. * Do you see the wall of books behind me in the third photo? * Look how many books they store in the fourth photo. * If you read the sign on the fifth photo it shows how highly they think of themselves. * In the last photo you can sort of see the gondola. The read thing is a gondola seat.