Last year I decided I need to up my reading numbers. I do read a lot more than most of the people I know and I am a regular at the library, But, I still didn't feel that I had read enough. So instead of my normal 20s- 30s book goal on goodreads, I said I was going to read 75 books. A daunting tasks that though my obstacles was obtained.
Something I just think my eyes get tired. I will read a few pages and stop. Maybe it is my ADD. I do LOVE books. I do love to read. I do also come from a very literary family. My mom's family loves books. My aunts recommend books for me. My grandmother was one of those kids who read every children's book in the Portland public library and then proceeded to lie to the librarian and say she was checking out books for her parents so that she could read the rest. Even with this nurturing, owning all the box car children books, little house on the Prairie, Random kids books of my day, such as The Christmas Tree ate my mother by Dean Marney and The eyes in the fishbowl by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, I wasn't a ravenous reader till well into my adult years.
My all time favorite books as a child were: When the Sky is Like Lace by Elinor Lander Horwitz and a book that was discarded from the San Diego Public Library and the hands of fate and my grandmother brought to me, The Melendy Family by Elizabeth Enright. A 3 book tome that came out in 1941. The family had a house that was 3 stories and a cupola which was called "the four story mistake". I loved that book as a child and keep it in the bag with my favorite childhood stuffed animal, Panda, along with When the sky is like lace.
Now, I find that I love middle grade mysteries. In fact all of my favorite books of 2015 where middle of that genre.
My favorite reads of 2015:
Secrets of Shakespeare’s Grave (The Shakespeare Mysteries #1) and Tower of the Five Orders (The Shakespeare Mysteries #2)
I loved these books! Twelve year old Colophon Letterford is from a long line of Letterfords, a family who has been in the printing business since it's inception. Both deal with a race against time to find her family's link to Shakespeare and a priceless artifact. I've seen these toted as Da Vinci Code for kids. I loved the Victorian house the Letterfords own in Warm Springs GA to to the family's home in England. I devoured both . (I recently found the second book for fifty cents at the friends of the library book sale!)
The Red Blazer Girls:
The Ring of Rocamadour (The Red Blazer Girls #1)
I have all four Red Blazer girls books at home. I initially got the third book from the library and read part of it and had to get the first, because they kept alluding to previous cases and people they knew from them. I felt that this novel was an excellent read for middle grade girls. It shows three girls who are smart and still super cool. They solve crimes using the skills they obtained by being excellent in mathematics, art and literature.
Much like Girl from Blake Nelson, I often forgot that these books were written by a man.
A famous game maker opens a library and in Willie Wonka fashion has a contest for kids to stay the night there and answer riddles to find their way out. This book was an unexpected enjoyment. It has almost perfect scores on goodreads. I love clever kids who get to do exceptional things.
Greenglass House
by Kate Milford
One thing that you might of already got out of this post is that I love old, interesting house. Now gaze upon the Greenglass house on the cover. This whole book is magical in a warm and fuzzy kind of way.
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