The Girl With Her Nose in a Book

A Summer Secret by Kathleen Fuller

2011-10-02T15:03:00.000-07:00

I was given a copy of A Summer Secret (The Mysteries of Middlefield Series) from BookSneeze in exchange for writing a review. First of all I am going to say that this is a young adult book and is an easier reading level.

The book starts out with thirteen-year-old Mary Beth, who is the main character. She is Amish and lives in a small Amish community with her family. She spends her time in a neighboring abandoned barn, where she gets away from her chores and taking care of siblings. After a while she finds a couple things in the barn that she did not leave. In-between her chores she finds time to look for more clues about the mystery.

After a few chapters she meets Sawyer, who is a run away who has been living in the barn. Through out the story Mary Beth and her brother, Johnny, make friends with Sawyer and try to figure out what they should do.

A Summer Secret is great for a 12-14 year-old, adults might like it, but it is not written for an older audience. I felt like it just barely kept you hanging on. It didn’t draw you in as much that you couldn’t stop reading it, but just enough to keep reading. It is a mystery but some things were really easy to guess and not many things surprised you, I really like suspenseful books and this wasn’t one of them. Overall this book was fine as a very light read but it would definitely not be one of my favorites.

Surfer Girls

2011-08-30T07:32:00.000-07:00

"You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf". -Jon Kabat-Zinn

So... that's what we did! After seeing Soul Surfer my number one goal was to learn to surf. Not just to ride the waves in on my knees, ( I had already done that), but to stand up on the board and ride the wave in. Now last Saturday was not a good day for surfers, most of them anyways... but for us kids, it was perfect...

Claire even went out...

Maddie and Jolie riding " Tandem"...

Here is a video my dad made...

Catching Up- July

2011-08-01T12:01:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a while since I've posted anything so here's what we've been up to...

We've been to the beach quite a few times....

Celebrated the 4th of July...

Went to the Midnight Premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2...

My dad turned forty four and I got to make the cake...

And we just got back from Utah.... More to come about that later.

I also got to go to girl’s camp in July and it was a lot of fun. If you haven't already seen it, scroll down I have a post about that.

Girl's Camp 2011

2011-07-31T20:05:00.000-07:00

This year I got to go to Girl's Camp at Camp Josepho. It was a lot of fun and I made a bunch of new friends. It was from July 5- July 9 and at first I was a little nervous about going but after I got there I love it. This year’s theme was W.O.W, Warriors of Worth. Here are some pictures from the week...

My bunk bed….

On our three mile hike we saw a rattle snake…

An old World War II bunker we hiked to…

My friends and I found this creepy old car just close to camp…

A cool old tree…

At the Rifle Range…

During the week we also swam at the pool, went on another hike, cooked, did archery, and just hung out. I had so much fun and on the last night we had a testimony meeting. I can't wait for next year.

Another Slice of Lemon Meringue?

2011-04-25T17:19:00.000-07:00

Everyone has heard of Pride and Prejudice, but have you heard about Pies & Prejudice (Mother Daughter Book Club)by Heather Vogel Frederick. My mom chose this book for me, and I had my doubts at first, but upon finishing it, I really liked it. I found out after I finished it that there was a first, second, and third book in the series before this, but I could figure out what was happening in the book without reading the other 3.

Pies and Prejudice is about a group of teenagers who participate in a mother daughter book club. But when Emma, a girl in the book club, finds out she is participating in a house swap and is moving to England, everyone thinks this is the end of their book club. But no worries, they figure out a way to continue their book club even when they are over 1,000 miles away. The girls plan to bring Emma home for Spring Break, and that's how their pie business Pies and Prejudice begins.

This book was really cute. I thought it was well written and drew you in, making you want to find out what happens next. I love the title of the book too. After finishing this book I wanted to start my own mother daughter book club. Luckily my teacher already does mother-daughter teas for my class and she thought it was a great idea.

A great to read with this would be Scones and Sensibility by Lindsay Eland. Both of these are quick reads (I finished mine within 3 days), but great ones at that.

Rereading a 'Classic'

2011-04-05T17:57:00.000-07:00

Some may argue, but I think of Harry Potter as a classic. When people ask you what your favorite book is you don't have to say Harry Potter because everyone knows it has to be one of your favorites. Recently, I got a copy of the first book of Harry Potter, so having not read it for at least four years, I decided to reread it. Upon finishing the first, I continued to reread the rest of the series and I must admit, I forgot how great these books are.

So here is my attempt at a quick summary of the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerors Stone, but with books like these almost everyone knows what they are about...

Harry Potter is just an average eleven year old boy, well almost. He lives with his aunt and uncle and has a lightning shaped scar on his forehead which supposedly came from when his parents died in a car crash. Sometimes Harry can make stuff happen without even trying to though. And on his eleventh birthday he finds out that he is a wizard and that his parents were killed by the most famous dark wizard of all who tried to kill him and failed. Soon after that Harry goes to Hogwarts, a school for witchraft and wizarding, where he is "famous". He is swept into the world of Quidditch, magic, and so much more.

Anyways, these books are great and if anyone has not read these, I highly suggest you do, and trust me, the books are so much better than the movies. Speaking of movies, I am so excited for to see the Deathly Hallows part 2. I am pretty sure it comes out in July 15.

Thankgiving... and Braces

2010-12-14T07:13:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in a while so before I get into a book post I've decided to do a "catch up" post. For Thanksgiving we went to Utah. We had been hoping it was going to snow and... it did! While we were there we went skiing. We got there on Saturday night and on Monday we went to to the Brighton Ski Resort. Maddie, Taylor, Braiden, and I all had never skied before so we all took lessons. In the two hour lesson we all had we all picked it up and got pretty good. On Tuesday we were supposed to have a giant storm, we were told we might be snowed in. We didn't leave the house so we went out to lunch, played in the snow a lot, went sledding and waited. It was really windy but not much snow. On Wednesday we went and saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows the movie with our friends Ben, Carter, and Ann. Thursday was Thanksgiving and we went to my grandparents house, it was a lot of fun. Last but not least we went skiing again at Wolf Mountain on Friday. Unfortunately, we had to leave the next day, we were glad to get back to some warmer weather.

Also last Monday I got braces. For now I only have them on the top teeth and in nine months I'll get the bottom too. I wasn't very excited to get them but my mom was for me. She insisted on taking pictures...unfortunately.

Before

After

Sprouting Wings

2010-09-02T08:06:00.000-07:00

A little while ago I read the book "Wings" by Aprilynne Pike. Now although this involves faeries it isn't your typical fairytale. It adds several twists in the plot and is a really exciting book.

Laurel has been home schooled her entire life, but after her and her adopted parents move she finds herself in public school for her sophomore year. But Laurel is different than other kids in a couple ways that lead up to her having a baseball sized bump on her back from which sprouts a long wing-shaped flower petal kind of thing. With help from her friend David, who loves science, she figures out she's a plant, or more specifically a faerie.

As she goes back to her old house, which is in the woods, she meets Tamani, a boy faerie. She soon gets dragged into an ancient battle between faeries and trolls, and everything ends up depending on her.

I really liked this book. It starts out a little slow but once you get into it, it really draws you in. I thought that the story line was good and that the book overall was very well-written. After this book there is also a second book in the series called Spells, which also is very good.

The Good, the Bad, and the Uglies...

2010-08-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

Well actually it was all good...

Imagine a world where everybody is actually divided into groups: those who are ugly, those who are pretty, and those who are special. The uglies spend their days dreaming about their sixteenth birthday and staring at Pretty Town. The pretties are who everybody wants to be, and the specials are only called in on special circumstances. No, I'm not talking about high school; it's a book called Uglies by Scott Westerfeld.

Tally Youngblood is only a couple months away from turning sixteen, and she can't wait. On the day of her birthday she'll get an operation that turns her into a pretty. Then she'll be swept off to Pretty Town where nothing matters but what she's going to wear to the next party.

But in the months before her birthday she becomes friends with Shay, an ugly who, unlike others, does not want to become pretty. Right before her birthday Shay runs away, and Tally has a choice: betray her friend or stay ugly for the rest of her life.

I loved this book! Although the setting was in the future it was easy to understand and keep up with. The book was very well written and it draws you in after the first couple chapters. There are 3 others books in the series that I would also recommend: Pretties, Specials, and Extras.

Talent Show

2010-04-17T07:07:00.000-07:00

My school had a talent show last week and usually I would play the piano but this year I sang "You Belong with Me" by Taylor Swift with a couple of friends. If any of you have ever seen the music video you know that there is a dorky girl and a cooler girl. Well in this case we had two dorky girls and one cooler girl. I was one of the dorky girls along with my friend, Kianna, and Valaree was the cooler girl. Out of 27 the acts we were last but we did good. It was really fun and we all had a good time performing.

Bran Hambric and Maximum Ride

2010-04-10T07:11:00.000-07:00

I've been reading so much lately that I'm a little behind in posting. First of all a new one by a new author, Bran Hambric and the Farfield Curse by Kaleb Nation. He's a new member in my ward and I really liked his book.

Bran Hambric was found in a bank vault as a six year old. He lives with the Wilomases in Dunce, where magic is forbidden. At a festival though he discovers he's a mage. With the help of a secret society he finds out more about his past. But people are waiting till the moments right to use Bran.

Another very good series I read were the Maximum Ride Series by James Patterson. These books are quick reads but very good.

This series is about 7 kids constantly running for their lives. They were born with wings in a scientist lab called the School. They have escaped but now erasers, half Wolf and half human that are used as guards', are after them. They must run for their lives and along the way they develop new powers, meet accomplices, and learn more about what they are meant to do.

There are are six books that I know of out right now and I love these books. I read most of them in about one day each. They are full of suspense,adventure, and action. I am sure any reader will fall in love with these books.

2010-04-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

My dad recommended that I read The Pushcart War by Jean Merrill because it was a book he read as a kid. I didn't expect it to be that good but I read it and I actually liked it.

In New York City the pushcarts are always in the way of the trucks. The trucks are in the way of everyone and they are getting too big for everyone else. So when one of the trucks intentionally runs over Frank the Flower's cart the pushcart's decide to fight back...with pea pins. (A pea with a pin stuck through it)

This book was really good. This book is so well written that I thought it was real, in fact I had to ask my dad if it was. It also was funny. This book is kind of short but I think adults might like it too even though it is more of a kids book.

The Lightning Thief Steals my Heart...

2010-03-05T16:21:00.000-08:00

Percy Jackson and the Olympians has stole my heart. This new series by Rick Riordan has 5 books out so far. This is one of the only series that even comes close to Harry Potter.

Percy Jackson has never been completely normal but when one of his teachers turns into a monster his mom takes him to a camp where his dad wanted him to go. It's a camp for half bloods, half Olympian and half human but there things get worse. It's supposed to make him safe but when he gets there he fights a minotaur with his bare hands. How could things get worse? They do.

I would recommend these books for any one who loves adventure books. Not only are they well written and exciting but they are also funny. These series will captivate any reader, children or adults.

.

Happy Happy Birthday Katie Dear!

2010-02-24T09:51:00.000-08:00

Well, I hope that you don't mind, Kate...but Mom has hijacked your blog to wish you a Happy Birthday! I cannot believe that 11 years has flown by so quickly... but here you are...on your way to becoming a "tiny" teenager.

This February 24th started out, like every birthday morning, with the traditional Grasteit song "Today is Katie's birthday, wake her up, wake her up!" Repeated over and over again. I know we should come up with some better lyrics, but I think the kids might be disappointed if we did. They so look forward to it. Then, Taylor made banana pancakes for breakfast and we were off to school, with cupcakes in hand. Tonight Kate has ordered pasta with shrimp, asparagus and mushrooms, for dinner, and crepes with strawberries and cream for dessert. (Not a traditional birthday cake...but better, maybe.) The rest of us will have chocolate drizzled over them as well, but Kate doesn't like chocolate. (She doesn't know what she is missing.) And we will have presents, too, of course. I will be off to finish shopping, as soon as this is done.

Although I am not a blogger, I have seen enough cute blogs to make an attempt at a little birthday tribute. So here we go...

K is for Kind. I don't think I have ever seen her be unkind to anyone...except maybe her siblings, occasionally, but that doesn't count!
A is for Avid Reader. Kate is always reading....early in the morning...late at night...in the car. We cannot get her to stop!
T is for Talk, Talk, Talk...another thing we can't get her to stop doing!
E is for Example, which she is to everyone around her, especially her family.

Kate, I think I got the best present of all, on your birthday...YOU! I am so lucky to get to be your mother. I love you and hope you have a wonderful day!

Books to take your breath away

2010-02-06T16:50:00.000-08:00

I have to tell you about a new favorite series of mine. It's called The Dreamhouse Kings Series by Robert Liparulo. They are young adult books but I bet even grown ups will love them.

The King family has just moved from Pasadena to Pinedale, California, and they've found a great house. It is a big old Victorian style house secluded in the woods. Even better it's got secret rooms - a whole hallway full of them. And even better, these rooms are portals to take you to all kinds of places. Want to see France during WW II? Or how about the Roman Coliseum during the days of the Gladiators? Maybe the great Civil War battlefields? But exploring these places is no fun for brothers Alexander (Xander) and David. Because each of the worlds is a very dangerous place, and they wouldn't even bother except for a family member that was kidnapped and taken into one of them.

I don't want to give too much away but these books are really good. I read the first four in about a weeks time - and each was about 300 pages long, so that was no small feat. Book 1 is House of Dark Shadows, book 2 is Watcher in the Woods, book 3 is Gatekeepers, and book 4 is Timescape. I can't wait to get Book 5 ,Whirlwind, and book 6, Frenzy, that comes out in a couple of months. This series is very exciting, I just couldn't put it down. It is a good thing I had all four of them together so I could read them without stopping in between. So if you get book 1 I recommend you have book 2 on hand before you finish because you are going to want to start it right away.

What a name for a book!

2010-02-04T19:56:00.000-08:00

Since I am "the girl with her nose in a book" I decided to write about some of my favorite books. Except this time, it wasn't my nose in the book, it was my ears. We listened to it on CDs in the car, and it's not even really a kid's book, but we all liked it a lot.
The book was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Marry Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. This book is a collection of letters from Juliet Ashton, an author in 1946 who after the war is looking for a subject for a book. She gets a letter from a man on an island called Guernsey and finds out about their lives during the war and also about their literary society with a very strange name.
I liked this book because it was interesting how it was all told through letters back and forth between the different people. I couldn't listen to all of it because my mom loved it so much that she couldn't stop listening to it even after she dropped us off at school. She always told us about what we missed but I am going to go back and listen to it again.

Christmas

2010-01-07T16:39:00.001-08:00

"Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!" I'm sure it's snowing somewhere...but not here, and I wish it was. We celebrated a sunny Southern California Christmas, and we had a lot of fun...even without the snow. For Christmas, I got Ipod speakers, clothes, a kayak (for Rincon), Wii Fit (from Uncle Johnny), pajamas, a new barbie doll and a barbie car. Later in the day, we were a little bored, so we went down to Hollywood and saw "A Christmas Carol" at the Disney El Capitan Theatre. We also saw a lot of interesting people. Hollywood is NOT my favorite place! Merry Christmas!

The Best Halloween Ever!

2010-01-07T15:27:00.000-08:00

I know, I know...Halloween was more than two months ago... but I have been busy and am catching up. This year we spent a long weekend at the beach house, in Carpinteria, and celebrated Halloween with friends there. We played games, swam, went down to the tide pools, watched the sunset and then we went down to the edge of the water and told spooky stories. My crazy brothers, and their friends, wrapped themselves in foil and went trick or treating as robots. It was so funny! I didn't get to trick or treat this year, but I didn't even miss it. This was the best Halloween ever!

By the way... at our school Halloween parade, I won the award for "Most Original Costume" for my bunch of grapes! It was a lot of fun!

Student Council President!

2009-10-03T22:17:00.000-07:00

On Friday, we had elections for student council president and I ran... and I won! My friend Jake is the vice president and we will find out about secretary and treasurer next week.

Also, my school just received the National Blue Ribbon Award. The Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United State government program created to honor schools. The Blue Ribbon award is considered the highest honor an American school can achieve. Go Huskies!

Avocado Festival...by accident.

2009-10-03T22:03:00.000-07:00

Today we were driving down to Carpinteria to go to a fabric store. As we got close to the exit, there was really bad traffic, and then we realized it was the first weekend in October... time for the Avocado Festival! They had a lot of tents set up everywhere and parts of Linden street closed off, so it took us a lot longer than we had planned, and we didn't have time for the beach because dad and the boys had to get home for conference. We did have time for our traditional stop at Robitailles (the best candy store ever), and we got to eat tri-tip and guacamole sandwiches from the Rotary Club stand. Mine was minus the guacamole, though.

I can't wait to go back for New Year's Eve camping...or hopefully, sooner!

I Have My Own Blog!!!

2009-10-03T21:54:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to have my own blog! My friend Cheyenne told me about her blog, this week, so my mom and brother helped me put one together.

My blog is called "The Girl With Her Nose in a Book" because I love to read so much. I will be sure and tell you about all the books I read, in case you think you might like them too.