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.

I know I posted about Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling last week. This week I will focus on specifically the fourth book. I will tell you though, the book is long so I am not that far into it. The start of the book is a bit spooky. That is where I originally stopped. Once you get further into the book, it stops being spooky and becomes interesting. In the very beginning, Harry gets to go to the Quidditch ( a game played on brooms) World Cup. It is a once in a lifetime experience. After the World Cup, an unfortunate event happened. First, Hermione found out how mistreated house elves were. She starts trying to fix it, but it will take more than just her to make a difference (and she realizes this). They finally get to Hogwarts and that is where the magic begins. This book keeps me on my toes. I never know when it will take an unexpected turn. I love to imagine things. Therefore, it is natural for me to love to read about magic. I love the whole idea of magic. Alongside with this including magic, it is also very well written. If you are interested or are wondering " What in the world was the unfortunate event?" I recommend you read the book!

I have moved on to the next Harry Potter book. It is the longest of all of them. I jumped right back into the chaos. Voldemort is back. It seems like nobody believes Harry when he says that, though. Do people believe everything they read? Harry feels like too many people trust what the Daily Prophet writes about him. Aside from people being brainwashed by the Daily Prophet , Harry has to face a new Defense Against Dark Arts Teacher and a new Care of Magical Creatures teacher. Professor Grubbly-Plank (the new Care of Magical Creatures) isn't so bad but she will never be as good as Hagrid. Hagrid was Harry's close friend and Care of Magical Creatures teacher. I don't even know where to begin when talking about Professor Umbrige. She is the Defense Against Dark Arts teacher. Harry is starting to suspect that Voldemort possessed her or something. I have not watched the fourth movie yet but I am meaning to. What is going on in my book is nothing compared to the fourth book (even if you add the new keeper on Harry's Quidditch team). The book is still really interesting. It will not take long to realize what the Order of the Phoenix is. I highly recommend this book. Keep reading and checking with my blog! If you have any questions I recommend you read the book.

Dedicated to my dad I was visiting a bookstore called Bookmans. Bookmans sells used books. I was looking for a book about dads. I came across a picture book called "Night Shift Daddy". It is adorable! It shows a dad who puts his daughter to bed, goes to work and then in the morning the child puts her dad to bed. The book is mainly about the limited time they spend together and how they make the most of it. I loved this book so much. You can see how much they love each other. Even though I found this amazing book, you would be surprised at how few books about dads there are. Like I said, in the book the daughter and father have a huge bond, just like me and my dad. My dad is the best dad on earth. Make sure that you say "Thank you" to your dad today. Happy Father's Day.

I am constantly reading books. I am still reading Harry Potter, but one thing you may not know is that every night before bedtime, my mom reads me a chapter (or a few!) of a book. Usually we read chapter books, but occasionally, she reads me picture books. Currently, she is reading me The One and Only Ivan. So far, the book is sad. It is about a silverback-an adult male gorilla- that lives in a mall for a circus. In the book the gorilla- Ivan- expresses himself. He talks about the wild and how he was kidnapped. He is also frequently talking about one of my favorite character: a little girl named Julia. She loves doing art projects and gives Ivan the chances to draw and paint, too! Ivan had a really close friend: Stella the Elephant. Soon someone unexpected came. She was an elephant and her name was Ruby. Stella was like a mother to Ruby. Stella was wise. She said to Ivan, "I have never made a promise because promises are forever." Later in that chapter Ivan has to promise Stella something. It is the first promise Stella has asked of anyone. If anything happens to her she wants Ivan to take care of Ruby. She wants Ruby to have a better life than them. If you are curious where this book is going I recommend you read the book!

This is a wonderful book, and a few months ago I read it with my class. Winifred Foster (Winnie) gets horribly angry with her family. She decides into run away to the woods. Though the Fosters own this land, they never go into the woods. When she runs away, she met an interesting family- the Tucks. The Tucks and Winnie started to bond closely. For instance, they told her their biggest secret and she started to fall in love with one of their sons. Their names were: Angus, Mae, Jesse (whom Winnie loved), and Miles This book is amazing. I highly recommend it. I do say that about every book but it is because I like every book that I post about. Speaking of my posts, this will be my 50th post! I hope you are enjoying my blog. If you have any questions, like what is the families biggest secret. I think you should read the book. Have a great fourth of July! The Tucks lived in the woods so their house may have looked something like this:

As you know, I am in the middle of a 800 page book, written by J.K Rowling. Now that I'm farther into the book I thought I'd tell you a bit more. The large book has gotten interesting. You are always on the very edge of your seat. With O.W.Ls (REALLY important exams that could affect the students' careers) coming up Ron and Harry are buried under loads of homework. They keep letting their homework pile up while Hermione still manages to do it in a timely manner. Another thing that is creating chaos is Quidditch. Professor Umbridge is messing with Quidditch. She made a rule that stated that any club (including Quidditch teams) must be approved by her. She immediately let the Slytherin team play, but waited to give the Gryffindor team play. She messes with Harry's Quidditch even more, but I won't spoil anything. As I said last week, I think this book (and it's sequel) is amazing. If you have a question like " What more could Professor Umbridge do to mess up Harry Potter's Quidditch life?" To answer that question, I recommend you read the book!

I am sorry that I have not been posting a lot lately. I am trying get back into my routine. Let me start off by saying I always prefer books over movies. A while back I posted about a book called Kiki's Delivery Service. Last night I watched the movie. The movie was similar to the book but I am sure that I am forgetting parts of the book since I read it about six months ago. I did notice they skipped a few chapters/scenes where Kiki delivers items. I liked those chapters/scenes because they showed how Kiki gained the town's trust. Generally I think books are better because they have more time to go into depth of characters. Movies have to be summarized in 1 or 2 hours. The movie was really good, but the book was great, too. I'd say the book was better. Then again, I have never seen a movie that is better than the book. I forgot how sweet the story is and watching the movie last night totally refreshed my memory of the book. The movie does have some extra scenes of Kiki and Tombo building a friendship. I thought that was cute. Pros for Movie Cons for Movie Pros for Book Cons for Book -The cat is very -She loses her -She becomes a - Takes longer to funny powers due to well known icon read. ( about 200 -You see more lack of self around the town pages.) bonding through confidence as the delivery - I don't think Kiki and Tombo -Not much backstory girl. ` she saved on witches. -There are more Tombo like she scenes where she did in the practically saves movie the day.