bookses

Hope was Here by Joan Bauer
Hope and her aunt, Addie, are moving to Mulhoney, WIS, to work at a diner. Hope lives with Addie because her mother and father abandoned her. G.T., the owner, has leukemia, but he still begins to campaign for mayor against Eli Millstone. Addie is a cook and Hope a waitress at the Welcome Stairways. They are quickly accepted, and soon G.T. asks Addie out, and Braverman, the grill man, asks Hope out. G.T. is losing the campaign, and at the end he is behind 114 votes. They are crushed. The truth comes out though: 120 of Millstone's votes are fake. G.T. and Addie marry, and they adopt Hope. But only a year and a half after G.T. was elected,tradgedy strikes.

Good. It seems like too much, though. Why does G.T. have to die only a year and a half after they became a family?
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Voyages of Slaves by Brian Jaques
Adrift on the Mediterranean, Ben is captured by a pirate, Al Misurata, and Ned (a dog)thrown into the water. Ned is found by circus performers, the Rizzoli Troupe. They are soon reunited. Ben's master proposes to take the Troupe back to their homeland. He is under false pretenses, though. He plans to sell them into slavery. They set sail on the Sea Djinn, and soon Ben and Ned escape and find themselves aboard the White Ram. Al Misurata traps the Troupe. Ben and Ned then go aboard the Blue Turtle, who takes them to a town close to the Sea Djinn's destination. They then go to the convent and rescue the Rizzoli Troupe. The pirates come afterthem, and again it is a bittersweet ending.

Don't be thrown off by the title, it's actually pretty good. I liked Kostas, captain of the Blue Turtle. He was funny. There was too much messing around, boring stuff
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A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeline L'Engle
On Thanksgiving day, Mr. Murry recieves a phone call about a madman's threat of nuclear war. Charles Wallace knows a rune, and after saying it, a unicorn, named Gaudior, comes. They cross very different times to set things right. First there is a fight between brothers, Madoc and Gwydyr, men who came to the Americas long before Columbas. Then to Brandon Llawcawe and his sister, and Indian, named Zille. Zille has been accused of witchcraft, but she is innocent. After that they go to Beezie and Chuck, and here the enemy win. Chuck dies by his sepfather's hand. Then to cIvil War times, where Matthew and Bran fight against Gedder just like Madoc. And because of all this, Mad Dog never made his threat, and instead a peace-loving man ruled.

very good. I loved Gaudior, he was so majestic, but funny at the same time. The time traveling was hard to get used to at first, but after a few reads it was OK. Wouldn't it be cool if some of that stuff really happened?

happenings

My birthday party is today! It's a progressive dinner. Fun! fun! fun!

We're thinking about getting an RV! It's old, but really cool. Dad almost couldn't fit on the bed!

James Taylor is growing on me. Listening to him right now.

I started a new story! I think it's going to be pretty cool.

East by Edith Pattou

East: Rose's family is poor, and the farm is doing badly. Then winter comes, and Sara falls dangerously ill. A white bear comes to the door, and asks for Rose in exchange for family wealth and health. SHe agrees, and they journey to the far north. Ater some time in the bear's castle, Rose begins to think he is enchanted. She begins to try to solve the mystery, but unfortunate events get in the way.

Okay. It was confusing, at first, that the chapters were named after characters, and that the chapter was told from sthe character's point of view. Some of the people weren't even in the story until much later.

strike!!

Todd! I AM NOT WORKING FOR YOU! Because you are annoying me so much, I'm not even going to make you cookies. SO STOP!

the latest resolution

I have just decided that when I'm older I'm going to get a big, black, fluffy Newfoundland and name him Fortinbras.
~Ruth, now 12

Bread and Roses, too by

Rosa is afraid for her family. Her mother and sister have joined the strike! She does not want them to die in the street, shot or trampled by the angry crowd. But they will not listen. Jake Beale is a boy of the street, reduced to stealing and lying by his drunkard father. He has had help from Rosa several times from Rosa already, and when he hears she will be sent to New York City, he is eager for the possibility. But after they are both on the train, he discovers they are not going to New York, but Vermont! Yet veront may not be so bad after all....

Good! The story was pretty vague about the place and time, but I'm pretty sure it was in Massachusets during the Industrial Revolution. It was a little hard to follow at first, from the jacket it was about a girl, but the first chapter or so was about Jake. But I'm glad I kept at it.

The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom

The Hiding Place: Corrie ten Boom is in her fifties when the Nazis attack Holand, and she and her family are soon part of the underground. They build a secret hiding place in Corrie's room for the six Jews that live with them to hide during raids. Yet they were betrayed, and the ten Boom family went to a concentration camp. This is the story of a family, who, through extreme pain and sorrow, came from it with a great faith in Christ and many other virtues that have influenced thousands others through her books, speeches, and homes for Holocaust victims.

How can anyone get through this without changing? How I wish I could be more like Betsie, and through Betsie, Corrie! This story is meant to be sad, but it's like the sadness of a Christian funeral. There is mourning, but they have gone somewhere better, heaven. Rejoice!

Volumes 3-4 Story of the World books by Susan Wise Bauer

Volume 3
Early Modern Times
The book opens with the Holy Roman Empire. Then you read about the spread of slavery, the great fire of London, the first American colonies, and Napolean.

I enjoyed reading about the Aztecs and Incas of South America. Their culture was so different from ours, yet they were pretty close to us, maybe closer than England, or France, who we copied.
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Volume 4
The Modern Age
the Grand Exposition in London, during the reign of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Then the Potato Famine of Ireland, the fall of the Ottoman Empire, and the rise of USSR and communism.

I wish Mrs. Bauer would spend more time on the Revolutionary War or Canada or South American revolutions than the Peace of Versailles, or the railroad, or Middle East partitioning.

Story of the World
History for the Classical Child
Volume 1:Ancient Times by Susan Wise Bauer
Ancient Times: The earliest nomads in the Fertile Crescent to the rise of Rome to the last Roman emperor. There's Greek, Norse, Chinese, and African mythology. The stories of empires all over the world-Roman, China, Egypt, and Islam.

These books are cool! I enjoyed reading about the Egyptians and the Islamic Empire. I've always liked Egyptian things, and I didn't know hardly anything about the Islamic faith or its origin. But why would you make a six-year-old emperor of Rome? Sheesh.
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Volume 2: The Middle Ages
The Eastern Roman Empire has a new name now. What is it? Who discovered North America before Columbus? Covering the world up until the Elizabethan period, you learn even more amazing things.

Isn't it crazy what the royal family's relatives will do to get power? Like the English king who shut up the two princes in the Tower of London. I would be scared if I were heir and there were envious uncles. But I'm a girl. -Sigh- (of relief)

Happy Birthday Drew! He and his friends went to the Little River Zoo today. It was pretty neat. Who's ever petted a kangaroo or lynx?

Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling

Harvey Cheyne is stuck in the middle of the ocean among fishermen! He was rescued by one after falling overboared an ocean liner. As a pampered son of a multi-millionaire, he doesn't know a thing about boats, and hates the crew for not taking him home. But after a year among the crew, Harvey is changed....

Rudyard Kipling is very good with accents and did a very good New English. I really dislike the name Harvey. Why would you name someone Harvey? I learned some things about boats too.


Gram took Anna shopping today. Anna's birthday is tomorrow. Anna told Gram what she wanted, and even got wrapping paper and picked out a card. An hour later, she opened it all.