I mentioned The Morning Gift was my favorite book a couple of weeks ago when I posted the vanillekipferl recipe. Though this isn’t a Christmas book, it fills me with such happiness that I am sharing it with you now.  I hope you all like it, too.

Eva Ibbotson is this amazing writer who caught my attention with her book A Countess Below Stairs (recommended to me by Julie). Her writing style is varied and complex, which, along with her exceptional knowledge of all things European and wonderful, makes you feel slightly inferior for just a moment before resolving to be smarter and better informed in the future.

Ruth, the main character in The Morning Gift, is an old-fashioned heroine, slightly reminiscent of Anne Shirley—intelligent, quirky, and lovable. She is half Jewish and living in Austria in the midst of Hitler’s power at the start of the second World War. Everyone in her family escape, but due to terrible complications, Ruth is stranded in Vienna. Her story starts when a young professor and colleague of her father, comes to check on the family to be sure they have all left the city safely. When he finds Ruth there, they discover the only way to get her out of the country is to marry. But dissolving the marriage when they arrive in England is more trouble than they expect.

This is one of those books that is more fun the more you read it. I found myself laughing out loud and calling my mom on the phone every time I got to a good part (She loves it too, by the way).

Some of Ibbotson’s Young Adult novels have some mature themes (nothing too steamy, though), as they were written initially for grown-ups. If you’re wanting a daughter to read this or any of her other Young Adult novels, you may want to preview them first.

Calamity Jack, the sequel to Rapunzel’s Revenge, is written by Shannon and Dean Hale, and illustrated by the awesome Nathan Hale.  It is a modern retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk, complete with giant villains and giant vegetation.  It even brings in a few new characters.  I like the fantastic new adventures, and Jack seems more cool in this book.

Calamity Jack is well written and magnificently illustrated.   It’s even funnier than the first book.

—Mr. Book Reviewer (That’s me up there, reading the book!)

If you don’t know what I am talking about, then first you need to go out and get The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Click here if you want to read my review of The Hunger Games), and read it. If you leave right now to go get it, you should have the book finished by tomorrow afternoon, easy. Then go out and get Catching Fire and read that.

Good.

I may spoil things for you if you read on, so be sure you read the books first, or that you don’t care about stuff like that. I won’t spill anything from Catching Fire, but I’ll talk as if you are up to speed on Hunger Games.

Phew! Now that that’s out of the way—let’s get to my question.

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Pinkalicious by Victoria Kann and Elizabeth Kann, has been a big hit at our house since we bought it at a Scholastic book fair last year. My daughter likes to read it over and over, so we did a little interview about it together.

And click here to make your own pinkalicious cupcakes!

me: What happens in the book?

ser: A girl turns pink.

me: How does she turn pink?

ser: She ate too much cupcakes.

me: What color were the cupcakes, were they green?

ser (smiling): Pink!

me: Is it a bad thing that she turns pink?

ser: Yes.

me: Why?

ser: Because Dr. Wink said.

me: Who is Dr. Wink?

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aBiGaiL!!!!

She entered so many times, that if she didn’t win, I was going to cry.  Congratulations, Abigail!!!!

Have your mom email me with your address so I can get you that gift card.  Would you prefer Borders or Barnes and Noble?

And to all of the rest of you, way to go with all your reading, thank you for the recommendations, and have a wonderful last few weeks of summer!

I am not one to assign superlatives to phases of my life (This is my best accomplishment, That was the worst day, This is my favorite movie). But I think, after living through the last ten months, this has been the most difficult time in my life.

I am going through a divorce.

There, I finally said it.

The strange thing is, no one has died. Everyone dies, yet death is never a cliche. Divorce looks a lot like a cliche. But it doesn’t feel like one.

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My little guy hardly looks like a “sensitive outsider” in this picture, and he’s not really. He’s as cheeky as they come.

So I suppose this book could really be for anyone who has ever felt they have something to offer, but no one around them seems to appreciate or understand.

Frederick, by Leo Lionni, is the story of a mouse who is a bit out of place in his family, but finds transcendence through words and imagination when he and his family face hunger during a long winter.

The other day, my three-year-old found it, and when I read it to him, I couldn’t stop crying. It’s one of those books where the words are very simple, very straightforward. And yet, as you read it, you know the story is speaking volumes between its pages. It resonates, and you believe that somehow, it will leave you better off for having read it.

What books resonate for you like that?

Here’s a chance for your kids to help you comment!

What have you read this summer so far?

What have been your favorite books? Which ones would you have rather left at the library?

On September 1, I will have a drawing for a $25 gift card to Borders. Starting today, every time you or your child reads a book, come to the comments section of this post, and tell us what book it was and how you liked it.

Then, on September 1, we’ll see who the winner is.

The more you read, the greater your chances will be, so have fun, and get reading!!!!

Here’s a book my mom and I found last year while browsing through Borders in Plymouth, Massachusetts (going to a book store with my mom, without kids, is probably my most favorite thing in the whole world).

My son wants to be a writer when he grows up, but before I hand this book off to him, I have been holding on to it myself to bask in all its good advice. Gail Carson Levine (author of Ella Enchanted, The Two Princesses of Bamarre, Fairest) takes young writers on a straight forward path to writing their first stories. The guidance it gives, however, is so pertinent that even we old gals trying to write would be wise to sit down for an hour or two and read it through. She makes writing sound fun and achievable, which, of course, it is.

My favorite chapter is called “Suffer,” in which Levine explains how we must, as writers, be vicious to our main characters.  It’s a wall I am trying to climb up in my own writing right now, but the chapter is so simple, so to-the-point, I can get up from the book, sit down at my computer, and make my characters’ lives cruel with much more ease than I could before.

Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly is encouraging, funny, and an absolute must for anyone trying to write a novel.

Here’s a little interview I did with my son after we went out and bought him The Last Olympian, the fifth and final book in the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan.

sm: How did you first find out about the Percy Jackson series?

srr: Last year, I won a reading contest at school and got a $50 Barnes and Noble card as a prize.  With the money, I bought books 1, 2, and 4.  I bought the rest later.

sm: Tell us about the books.

srr:  There are 5 books in total, written by Rick Riordan (pronounced “ry-er-don”).  They’re about a kid who is half Greek god, half mortal.  He goes on different quests in each book.

sm:  How did you like them?

srr:  They’re the best books ever!

sm:  Even better than Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia?

srr:  (nods his head with his thumbs up)

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