#91
Title: The Jasmine Moon Murder
Author: Laura Childs
Genre: Mystery
Challenges: Read & Review, Support Your Local Library, New Author, Book Around the States, The 4 Month, Fill in the Gaps
Rating: B
Date read: 8/1/10 - 8/28/10
Pub: 2004
Pages: 257

Set in Charleston, South Carolina, Theodosia Browning is the owner of the Indigo Tea Shop. She and her staff - Drayton and Haley - get involved in a murder during a function they are hosting. During the Ghost Crawl, Dr. Jacob Davis, is mysteriously killed. Despite the warnings of police detective Tidwell, Theodosia can’t seem to keep her nose out of the sleuthing business and is instrumental in solving the mystery and bringing the murderer to justice.

This is the first of this series I’ve read. I’m interested in her other series, too, the Scrapbook Mystery Series. Too bad these aren’t available on CD.

#90
Title: Bible Heroes
Author: Christin Ditchfield
Genre: Childrens Picture Book
Challenges: Read & Review, Read Your Own Book, PB&J, New Author
Rating: B+
Date read: 8/26/10

Porter snuggled up and listened intently at first to most of the stories. Grandpa interjected and told her the rest of the tale about Daniel in the lions den and then a bit later we read the last story about Jonah and the whale. Some of the other one page stories include Adam, Noah, Miriam, Moses, Deborah, David and Goliath and Elijah. I’m sure this’ll be read over and over.

#89
Title: My Dog Toby
Author: Andrea Zimmerman & David Clemesha
Illustrator: True Kelley
Genre: Childrens Picture Book
Challenges: Read & Review, The 2nd, PB&J, Support Your Local Library
Rating: B+
Dates read: 8/26/10


Waggy and licky, Toby is a great dog. While he can’t fetch, shake hands, play soccer or dance like other dogs in the neighborhood can, Toby is patient, smart and willing to be patient as his owner teaches him how to sit.

#88
Title: The White Tiger
Author: Aravind Adiga
Read by: John Lee
Genre: Fiction
Challenges: Read & Review, 1% Well-Read, Support Your Local Library, Audiobook, New Author
Rated: B+
Dates read: 8/16/10 - 8/23/10
No. of Hours: 8 on eAudio

Winner of the 2008 Man Booker Prize, Adiga gives us a contemporary view of Bangalore and New Delhi, India as seen through the eyes of Balram Halwai. He writes to a Chinese diplomat and relates his life over a seven day period. Beginning with a murder he’s committed, then regresses to his childhood and family, and how more recently he became the driver and servant of a wealthy family. And how he became the White Tiger, an entrepreneur, and scraped enough money together to …. Well as the review says ’decency can still be found in a corrupt world, and you can get what you want out of life (if) you eavesdrop on the right conversations’.

#87
Title: Sputter, Sputter, Sput!
Author: Babs Bell
Illustrator: Bob Staake
Genre: Childrens Picture Book
Challenges: Read & Review, Support Your Local Library, New Author, PB&J
Rating: B
Date read: 8/19/10
Published: 1998

Cute story told in first person, verse about a driver whose automobile gurgles and zooms around town. And finally goes sputter, sputter, sput. He doesn’t know what’s happened to his car until he realizes it’s out of gas. Once he’s refueled, off he goes …

#86
Title: Who Hops?
Author: Katie Davis
Genre: Childrens Picture Book
Challenges: Read & Review, Support Your Local Library, PB&J, New Author
Rating: B+
Date read: 8/19/10
Published: 1998

Not only do we find out who hops and doesn’t but who slithers, swims, crawls, flies and who doesn’t. Porter really got into this one by answering the questions asked about all the animals who do and don’t do the natural things they do. This was definitely a “do again” book and we laughed and laughed.

#85
Title: Old MacDonald Had a Farm
Author: Jane Cabrera
Genre: Children’s Picture Book
Challenges: Read & Review, Support Your Local Library, PB&J, The 2nd
Rating: B
Date read: 8/19/10
Published: 2008

A new twist on the classic song include MacDonald’s wife and baby. But as I sang the familiar tune, Porter was less than enchanted with it and couldn’t wait to get to the end. Yet the colors and placement of characters are quite endearing.

#84
Title: Cat’s Colors
Author: Jane Cabrera
Genre: Childrens Picture Book
Challenges: Read & Review, Support Your Local Library, PB&J, New Author
Rating: A
Date read: 8/19/10
Published: 1997

This was our favorite read of all the books we read this day. Porter loved the vibrant colors of the story and chose brown as her favorite color. Yet later in the day we looked outside and the neighbor’s cat wore her orange coat, just like the mama cat in the story which Porter immediately picked up on.

#83
Title: Little Gorilla
Author: Ruth Bornstein
Genre: Children’s Picture Book
Challenges: Read & Review, Support Your Local Library, PB&J, New Author
Rating: B
Dates Read: 8/19/10
Published: 1976

Little Gorilla’s family and friends try to help him overcome his special growing pains. Author and illustrator Bornstein endears us to all the jungle animals who befriend Little Gorilla.

#82
Title: The Secret Scripture
Author: Sebastian Barry
Genre: Fiction
Challenges: Read & Review, Audiobook, New Author, Support Your Local Library
Rating: C
Dates Read: 7/28/10 - 8/18/10
No. of CD/hours: 8/10

I was very disappointed with this story. For one thing, the description on the back wasn’t matching what I was hearing. Secondly, it wasn’t until I was about 4/5 of the way through did I hear anything about Roseanne’s manuscript being hidden under the floorboards of her room. Perhaps the Irish brogue of reader Wanda McCaddon which was as thick as pea soup lent itself to my discomfort. Finally Part 3 revealed the long-buried secret of the baby Roseanne had given birth to on the shore while a storm raged. My interest was peaked and I wanted to hear the rest of the story. The end was a bit anti-climatic, in my humble opinion.

#81
Title: Dog’s Colorful Day
Author: Emma Dodd
Genre: Childrens Picture Book
Challenges: Read & Review, The 2nd, Support Your Local Library, PB& J
Rating: A
Date read: 8/8/10
Published: 2000

I think both Porter and I liked this book the best of all the books we read this past weekend. Dodd has all the right combinations for bringing fun to a story. Colors and numbers -- rock!

#80
Title: Jump Frog Jump
Author: Robert Kalan
Pictures by: Byron Barton
Genre: Childrens Picture Book
Challenges: Read & Review, The 2nd, Support Your Local Library, PB& J
Rating: B
Date read: 8/8/10
Published: 1981

At first Porter would not sit still and read this book -- it wasn’t until yesterday that we finally got around to it. Lots of repetition and interesting pictures to look at.

#79
Title: My Car
Author: Byron Barton
Genre: Childrens Picture Book
Challenges: Read & Review, The 2nd, Support Your Local Library, PB& J
Rating: B
Date read: 8/8/10
Published: 2001

Sam explains all about his car -- the parts, when he drives it, how he cares for it and when he doesn’t drive it. Very charming. Porter likes all the people featured in the book.

#78
Title: Blue Sea
Author: Robert Kalan
Illustrator: Donald Crews
Genre: Childrens Picture Book
Challenges: Read & Review, New Author, Support Your Local Library, PB& J
Rating: B
Date read: 8/8/10
Published: 1979

Biggest fish, bigger fish, big fish and little fish swim in the sea with the biggest following the smaller fish. See what happens when each size fish is stopped from going where little fish goes.

#77
Title: Airplanes
Author: Byron Barton
Genre: Childrens Picture Book
Challenges: Read and Review, Support Your Local Library, New Author, PB&J
Rating: B+
Published: 1986
Date Read: 8/8/10

Jets, helicopters, transports, crop dusters -- these are the kinds of plane illustrated by Barton in this book appropriately entitled Airplanes. We read this book a couple of times. Grampa was most interested, too.

#76
Title: Just Like You
Author: Emma Dodd
Genre: Childrens Picture Book
Challenges: Read and Review, New Author, Support Your Local Library, PB&J
Rating: B+
Published: 2007
Date Read: 8/8/10

Baby bear is talking to Mama Bear and saying lots of nice things about her and that he wants to be just like her. Sweet pictures depict the duo as they play and walk and talk together. Porter is always interested in the mommy and baby in the stories we read.

#75
Title: Freight Train
Author: Donald Crews
Genre: Childrens Picture Book
Challenges: Read and Review, The 2nd, Support Your Local Library, PB&J
Rating: B
Published: 1978
Date Read: 8/5/10

Winner of the Caldecott Award, this simple book uses a different color for each of the train’s cars. Porter loves trains and comments each time she hears one -- which run frequently through our town.

#74
Title: Trashy Town
Author: Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha
Illustrator: Dan Yaccarino
Genre: Childrens Picture Book
Challenges: Read and Review, Support Your Local Library, New Author, PB&J
Rating: B
Published: 1999
Dates Read: 8/5/10

The trash man drives around town picking up trash until the truck is full. Repetition of asking the question is the truck full is great for youngsters learning how to read and wanting to read by themselves. Porter wasn’t that interested in the story, however.

#73
Title: Farmer Duck
Author: Martin Waddell
Illustrator: Helen Oxenbury
Genre: Childrens Picture Book
Challenges: Read and Review, Support Your Local Library, The 2nd, PB&J
Rating: B
Published: 1991
Dates Read: 8/5/10

Delightfully illustrated and artfully told, it’s about a hard working duck who doesn’t get any respect or help from the lazy farmer so the other animals band together to run the old guy out of town. Not as enchanting as the snow bear story but fun to read and talk about later. Porter liked the picture of the farmer being bounced out of bed by the animals.

#72
Title: Snow Bears
Author: Martin Waddell
Illustrator: Sarah Fox-Davies
Genre: Childrens Picture Book
Challenges: Read and Review, New Author, Support Your Local Library, PB&J
Rating: B+
Published: 2002
Dates Read: 8/5/10

Three young bears pretend to be snow bears and their mother goes along with their charade. Porter loved the winter story on a warm summer afternoon sitting in the park with me and her gampa.

#71
Title: The Hidden Staircase
Author: Carolyn Keene
Read by: Laura Linney
Genre: Children's Mystery
Challenges: Read and Review, PB & J, Support Your Local Library, The 4 Month, Audiobook, The 2nd
Rating: B
Published: 1930
Dates Read: 8/1/10 - 8/2/10
Cds/Hours: 3/3:12

Number 2 in the Nancy Drew Series, Nancy is asked by her friend Helen to solve the case of the ghost that haunts her great aunt Flora’s house. Nancy is more than eager to do this. At the same time her dad Carson Drew is in danger and goes missing. The young sleuth, as she is frequently referred to, steps up to the plate and hits a homer.

# 70
Title: The Secret of the Old Clock
Author: Carolyn Keene
Read by: Laura Linney
Genre: Children’s Mystery
Challenges: Read and Review, Support Your Local Library, PB&J, The 4 Month, First in a Series
Rating: B
Published: 1930
Dates read: 7/27/10 - 7/31/10
CDs/Hours: 3/3:14

The very first in the Nancy Drew series finds Nancy, age 18, solving a mystery involving a will the clue to which is found in an old clock. Nancy experiences some close escapes in a number of situations. Linney does a great job of narrating the story.

# 69
Title: A Heart Strangely Warmed
Author: Louise A. Vernon
Illustrator: Allan Eitzen
Genre: Children’s Historical Fiction
Challenges: Read and Review, Support Your Local Library, New Author, PB&J
Rating: B
Published: 1975
Dates read: 7/22/10 - 7/31/10
Pages: 126

This is a kids historical fiction book based upon the life of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. Young Robert Upton participates in the mobbing of the preacher and then through a series of events associated with meeting Mr. Wesley, listening to his sermons and watching how the minister dealt with opposition, comes to conversion and accepts Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Robert even is so impressed by the effect John Wesley has on him, he decides to fulfill a dream. To find out what it is, you’ll have to read the book.

My small group is studying the life of John Wesley so this seemed a perfect book to read as part of that study.