One Chapter

Shadow in the Woods and Other Scary Stories

I loved this little book. I didn’t know what to expect as I thumbed through it but now after reading it, I want to see if my library has more in this series. I didn’t expect such great scary stories inside this book.

There are 5 stories in this book: Shadow in the Woods, The Monster in My Room, Fingernails, The Writing on the Wall, and The Animal Behind the Locker. One of the them, gives me chills, just thinking of it now. The other four stories were fun and entertaining stories that kids will enjoy.

I have read a lot of short scary stories to my own children, to my granddaughter, and to the children I sub for as a substitute teacher. I liked how these stories kept the action going throughout yet the stories were not that long. The illustrations were colorful and enhanced the story. The font is big and easy to read. Great scary stories to put a smile on your face.

In Shadow in the Woods, Hugh knows he’s not supposed to walking in the woods at night by himself, yet he does it. He has to. It seems to be a long walk and he’s supposed to be by himself. In The Monster in My Room, Ruby is sure there is a monster under her bed, she’s sure of it yet no one finds anything when they look. In Fingernails, Tommy has a problem with biting his fingernails so grandmother thinks she can help him. In The Writing on the Wall, Sophie doesn’t like her new house and she thinks that no one is listening to her. In The Animal Behind the Locker, Emma hears noises behind her locker so she climbs in to investigate.

They reminded me a bit of the stories of In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories, only these stories weren’t that dark. I hate comparing books to other books but I don’t want people missing these books because they think they might be too scary, they’re not. These stories make the reader use more of their imagination making them ideal for younger readers. They’re fun, engaging stories that I really enjoyed. 5 stars.

Could You Survive The Jurassic Period? by Matt Doeden

Now, this was fun! I’m so glad to see these books on the shelves. I have always wondered why they didn’t market these younger adventure stories sooner. I remember reading and loving The Choose Your Own Adventure Stories that my sons would read, when they were younger. They’re wonderful and addictive, once you get started.

Reading a You Choose Your Way book is like being the captain of a ship, as you’ll get to choose your own destiny in the book. You, yes you, are a character in the story. After reading a section in the book, you’ll be asked two questions and you’ll have to decide which one of the questions you want to do. Don’t think too long, just put yourself in the story and act. It’s pretty simple yet your consequences are another story as they could be simple or severe. Oh, there’s no peeking, so you shouldn’t look ahead to see if you should do the first task or the second one, just make a decision and go for it. Continue in this fashion until you reach the page where the book tells you that you’ve reached The End. Now, you won’t be at the end of the book heck, you haven’t even read all the pages, so start the book over and choose some different options this time and see how you do this time. It’s really quite fun!

In this You Choose story, you are in the science museum with your class, looking at a dinosaur fossil exhibit with your friend Eduardo, who is dinosaur obsessed. Eduardo shows Jasmine that he knows his dinosaurs, after she expressed her reaction to the exhibit. The class is moving on but the three of them stay at the exhibit. Eduardo sees this as the perfect opportunity for which he makes a suggestion and now, the three of them are reaching for the dinosaur fossil. Black-Out!

They awake to a blue sky, ferns surrounding them and a shadow flying by. Wait, that was not a shadow! That a pterosaur!

Reading a You Choose story, you get to choose your own path throughout the story. I was cautious my first time through and I lived a long life. A long, studious life. I reread the book over and over again, taking different paths each time and well, I didn’t do so well in my other lives. I had great adventures, saw many things but living a long life was not one of them. “As you faced your doom, you can’t help but feel cheated.” So, yes, you can get eaten in this book but it’s not in a gross and descriptive way, you die.

The illustrations in the book are gray, dark green and white in color. Again, nothing gross in nature but the dinosaurs look fierce and they’re not cartoonish. You need to be aware of this when letting young ones read this book. These books are like having a collection of stories at your disposal. I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading the rest of the books in this series. 5 stars.

Wreck This Picture Book by Keri Smith

I thought this book would be like Wreck This Journal which I really liked but it’s not. I have mixed feeling about this book as I didn’t care how this book was structured. I thought it was confusing. I liked the messages the author was trying to get across but the approach, didn’t work for me.

I felt that the whole moral of this story is that as you read a book, it becomes an adventure, as the person who reads the book shapes the story. That being said, a person can read a book today and reread the same book a year later and they can have a totally different experience because hopefully, they have grown during that year. In that year, that individual has had many different experiences to shape them.

That being the case. The author tries to get the reader to use their senses to explore this particular book at times and also, to expand this insight into the role of reading. Excellent! I love this message but how this is expressed in the book confused me.

The author gets the reader engaged into her book by physically doing things to this book: smelling, touching, etc. which is a fun activity and I can see individuals engaging in them but then, there are pages that confused me. Go ahead and take a look at this book, its very creative. Books are all about personal taste and this one, I just didn’t love. 3 stars

Kitty and the Treetop Chase by Paula Harrison

This is a series but you don’t need to read the previously books in the series to enjoy this one. I hadn’t read the previously books and I really enjoyed this children’s chapter book. This is a quick-paced story as Kitty is faced with a few obstacles as she solves another mystery using her superpowers with her cat crew at her side.

In this adventure, Kitty’s father has just finished creating a tree house for her and she can’t wait for her first sleepout. Mother has just informed Kitty that tonight, some good friends are coming over for dinner with their son, Ozzy. Mother thinks that Kitty should invite Ozzy to her sleepover. What?!? Kitty thought the tree house would only be hers.

When the family arrives, Ozzy seems too quiet for Kitty but nevertheless, she invites him to her sleepover. During the night, big changes occur for these two.

This was a fun adventure. I liked how there was some emotional ties and the mystery had a few layers to it. The storyline was easy to read but not childish. It was a good story.

Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters

When I read this synopsis at the library, I wondered why I hadn’t heard about this book before. I already had a mountain of books to read but what the heck, what’s one more. A fiddle that can summon ghosts from their grave, oh yeah! Imagine the significances of that but then again, what would be the repercussions?

Shady is the main character of this book and she’s been having nightmares since her father died in a tragic accident. Shady can’t make any sense of what these nightmares mean. If only she could talk to her father again, he could probably answer many of Shady’s questions

Shady has an interesting family. Her grandmother was a medium who helped individuals talk to their dead loved ones. Her father had a fiddle that could summon spirits. Only her father’s fiddle seemed to cause more trouble than good. Shady has not seen her father’s fiddle since the day of his accident, it was in the vehicle with him. If only Shady could find her father’s fiddle and play it, she could talk to her father once again.

I liked the depth of this story. The mystery surrounding the fiddle and the history of Shady’s family, I found these interesting. I have mixed feelings about Shady though, as I liked how she believed in her family but how she treated some other individuals, I thought it wasn’t right. Why these individuals would put up it, I didn’t understand. As the lies and the past came to light in the story, I started to wonder if anyone knew the whole account or if they all, just had their own little part. I think the book could have been shorter, as parts of the story felt drawn out to me. I’m glad that I found this book at the library and read it.

To Tell You the Truth by Gilly Macmillan

Finishing up her 5^th book, author Lucy Harper feels relieved until her husband Daniel takes her for a drive. As they pull up to the Cossley House, Lucy wants to return home, as the haunting memories of her childhood are still here. Lucy writes popular crime fiction books featuring a character named Eliza. Eliza, a popular, money-making character that becomes much more than just an individual in her books.

With two time periods in this book, I wondered when they would meet up. Why doesn’t Lucy like Cossley House? It’s a mansion. What happened in her childhood to cause such a reaction? When Lucy finds out that her husband bought it for her, I was surprised at her reaction. Now, the story is getting interesting.

It’s the summer of 1991, young Lucy sneaks out of the house at night, dragging her young brother with her. It’s early the next morning, Lucy returns home to find her mother rushing out to meet her. Her brother? Isn’t he in the house sleeping?

So goes the story in 1991. What happened the night young Lucy and her little brother snuck out of the house? And now, Lucy is set to move into Cossley House, where this area, the memories of her childhood live on. The drama keeps building as her husband is supposed to be her assistant but now, his actions and comments are making me wonder if he really cares about Lucy and wants what’s best for her. I’m beginning to get an eerie feeling about him. Lucy’s actions and comments are making me wonder about her also.

This was a fun read, I liked trying to figure out what was happening with the characters. Why were they acting the way they were and what was this big secret? The flipping of the time periods was not that hard to keep track of and it all came together nicely in the end.

The Home for the Friendless: Finding Hope, Love, and Family by Betty Auchard

I read this book for bookclub otherwise I think I would have missed reading this gem. What a great memoir! I enjoyed many things about this book and although, I live in the area that the author talks about, that is not what makes this book so special. This book is about the stories, the memories, and how those made me feel.

I could go on forever about the stories that are included in this book but some of my favorites were the name confusion story, Spike the dog, how her family lived through WWII, and her relationships with her family. The pictures that she included in the book were great, as I like looking at old photographs and they helped with the stories.

Pearl, Elizabeth, Betty, Betty Bop, Lizzie, whatever name you want to call her and that also depends upon who you were and what age she was (name confusion story) shares some great personal stories that left me smiling, shaking my head, and some almost left me in tears. Each chapter is a separate story and boy, does she have the stories.

When Spike got stuck in the toilet, I couldn’t quit laughing. In my mind, I imagined exactly what that scene must have looked like, as I read the words that were printed on the page. What a sight that must have been! When she wrote about WWII, as the family condensed themselves into 2 rooms, how cozy and scared everyone must have felt living side-by-side. Each story felt as if she was telling it to me personally, the details and emotions she wrote about were vivid. The story about eating the sandwiches during this time period and the free liver. I just cannot imagine.

I’m so glad that I read this for bookclub. I told our librarian that I appreciated her picking out this book for us. I will be recommending this book to others as it’s definitely one that others need to read. 5 stars

This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

Courtney is one of my favorite writers and I admit I was hesitating to read a book about a zombie apocalypse and a suicidal girl. I mean, if you think about it, it’s a sad situation really and a strange combination. Yet, Courtney pulled it off and the book was engaging, sensitive, and entertaining.

Sloane was relieved when she was distracted from eating her breakfast. Now, she wouldn’t get in trouble for not eating but what are they going to do with the woman that her father stabbed with the shard of glass? As Sloane looks out their door, she sees the neighbor with the heart condition, lying on the grass, with individuals hunched over him. As Sloane watches, she notices that his chest is being pulled open by their fingers.

If those images don’t want you to board-up your house, I don’t know what would? I don’t know much about zombie apocalypses but I know, I’m not ready for one after reading this book.

It is now a week later and I find Sloane in a high school, barricaded with a handful of teenagers. There are the typical teen power and relationship issues with these survivors which I’m glad the author included as it makes this drama more realistic. The high school is a great fortress, as it has a lot of amnesties except its BIG. Big means lots of places to keep secure and lots of places for problems. THUD! THUD! Someone is pounding on a door and now, what are they going to do?

Sloane doesn’t know why she is with these teens. She has wondered this from the beginning as she doesn’t share the same feelings as the other teens. While the others want to survive and get to where other humans are, Sloane feels just the opposite. Her feelings all started six months ago when her family started to have problems and they have only escalated. Sloane’s character was perfect for his book.

I enjoyed reading this book and was glad that I picked it up.

Grenade by Alan Gratz

If you’ve never read an Alan Gratz novel before and you read middle school/YA historical fiction, you’re missing out. You seriously need to read one of his books because I guarantee you that, you’ll be checking out the rest of his books before you finish that first book. Grenade was more than I expected. As I followed two different young men, they both were fighting a war, only they were on different sides. Hideki had become a member of the Blood & Iron Student Corp to protect his island and Ray, just landed on foreign soil and he heard that the enemy is waiting for them.

Armed with 2 live grenades, Hideki is sent into battle with other young teens like himself. His energy and enthusiasm are high until the reality of the war starts to sink in and the truth comes out. As Ray and his troops make their way into the new territory, he begins to wonder if this is what his parents and grandparents experienced in war. This is not what Ray had pictured. Hideki and Ray are moving towards each other, each of them battling a war their heart is not into.

I couldn’t tear myself away from this battle, I feared for the lives of these young individuals as they tried to fight for their country yet they weren’t prepared for what they were facing. I felt the dirt fall away as the bombs exploded and I saw the fear and anxiety on the faces of the young soldiers as they crept up the road, wondering what laid ahead for them.

The story is full is adventure, action and historical information. The characters stories were rich and I immediately became attached to them. I really enjoyed this story and I highly recommend it. Make sure you also read the author’s comments in the back of the book, as they enhance the book’s experience. I have read a few of Alan’s book and they don’t disappoint. My goal this winter is to read all of his books as I enjoy them so much.

Dear Justyce by Nic Stone

Do you need to read Dear Martin first to read this sequel? No, but I highly recommend you read both of these two books because they will get your blood pumping. It had been a while since I read Dear Martin but that didn’t matter, as the events quickly fell into place and my real world fell away.

My emotions were all over the place when I read this book. When the boys sat inside the rocketship at their local playground, I was glad that they had each other, even though the reason they found comfort there was not a happy one. With his dad back from the war, Justyce is now facing different challenges, ones that might be harder to face and predict.

As for Quan, he was trying to make life work, when he should have been just trying to live life. He needed a shoulder to lean on, a helping hand, just someone to encourage him along but he didn’t get that, so his reaction was based on what he knew.

I spoke to Quan many times while reading this book. I questioned his activities, praised his actions and I also raised my voice a few times. I enjoy these books that provoke me and draw me inside their pages.