Lizzie's War

It's been so long since I posted... but yesterday I felt like it was time to add to the blog.  I joined a new book club that I love.  I've been really trying to read a lot again lately.

This book was the book that started the whole book club.  Our organizer read this book and really needed someone to talk to about it.  Many  new people have joined the group and Lauren wanted to share this book with us.  I'm so glad that she did!

It's the story of Lizzie, a military wife, in the 60s.  She has 4 children and has one on the way with her husband in Vietnam.  This is the story of how she copes.  I also love that every other chapter in written from Lizzie's point of view and the others are from her husband's.

This was just a timeless story to me.  Although it's many years later, there are so many ways that I can relate to Lizzie.

Longing

In this story Bailey and Cody are still apart and dating other people while finding their place in the world. Bailey finds herself falling for Brandon.

I think this would be a great book for a young woman. To give them a good role model when deciding on who to settle down with and how to make the decision. It seems that first loves can be hard to get over. As bailey finds out.

Read:  June 2013

Vision in White

Do y'all have one of those friends where years go by without seeing or talking to them, but as soon as you see each other it's like you pick up right where you left off?  I totally do....  And reading Nora Roberts again after many, many years, it really felt like that!  Nora Roberts just write fun, easy to read books. I adore her trilogies (in this case quartet).

This is the story of a group of four friends who find love while running their wedding business. This story was about the photographer in the group. It was a sweet story. It took me back to my dating days with Aaron. Always fun!

Read: May 2013
Pages:  336

That's How!

Y'all this was a super cute one!  It is a story with a little girl asking a little boy how all sorts of different things work.  The boys gives some far-fetched and fun answers.  It was really cute to see how the boy answered and talk with James about them.  Then talk about how the things (like cars, airplanes, etc) really work.

I think kids of all ages would like this little one.  It is also predictable text which would be great for beginning readers memorizing text.

James' age:  4 years 2 months

Leaving

I picked this one up at the library recently. I hadn't read any Karen Kingsbury in awhile.  I was browsing the shelves and this one jumped out {probably because it looked new, am I a book snob?}. I thought it would be fun to read about Bailey Flanigan since I had read about her family in the Firstborn and Sunset series by KK.

For some crazy  reason it took me the full three weeks to read this one. But once I really got into it and had to hurry and finish before the due date, I loved it. I'm so glad I pushed through!!

This is the story of Bailey all grown up and about to leave the family nest for the first time. It was a sweet book and although I missed another series that gave a little background on the intervening years I followed just fine.

I think I also liked it because it  because Bailey and Cody remind me of Aaron and I in the early years. Friends who ended up dating other people and following different paths  before finding lasting love. :)

Read: May 2013
Pages: 328

Peek a Boo, Forest

It's so fun to get new things for Rachel.  My sweet sister-in-law sent this gem.  Rachel absolutely adores this book.  We do read it, but it's often a toy because it has lots of the crinkly stuff.  And it's well placed crinkly stuff.  I love this because it's not just a "toy book".  It actually has a good story to it.  Nice repetitive text.  So it's also good for James to help read to Sissy.  ;)  Little does he know he's working on his beginning reading skills, too!  Win, win!

I really like this one and would recommend it to anyone looking for infant books!

Rachel's age:  5 months

Where's Your Smile, Crocodile?

In my quest to help my sweet boy become a little more well-rounded, I grabbed this book during a library visit.  When we read it one night, James loved it!  Which made me so so very happy.  It's a cute little story about a crocodile who wakes up in a bad mood. He sets out to find his smile...in the end he finds it when he is helping someone else.  How's that for a nice sweet story with a good message?

The writing teacher in noticed the fantastic vocabulary.  You could totally use this when teaching word choice.  The author used a great variety of words for walking: crawled, plodded, clomped.  I loved how vivid her choice of words were.

So this book could be used for all sorts of ages depending on the purpose.  I highly recommend it.

James' age: 4