As Simple As It Seems is a wonderful book written for tweens. It is about a young girl who struggles with the knowledge of her very origins in life. She has been dealing with the knowledge that she is the daughter of a man who is legally her uncle…a man who is not a good person. The young girl named Verbena Colter is adopted.
As she processes the knowledge, she begins to be confused about who she really is and whether she is a good person or a good person who is infected with bad genes who will turn into a bad person because of the blood that runs through her veins. This is the old story about the importance of what creates who we are to become as an individual; is environment or genetics more important. She risks alienating her parents affects because of her behavior and her self esteem.
Verbena doesn’t know who she is but she thinks she knows who she will turn out to be. She forges a new friendship with a summer resident and that helps her to figure out what is really important in life; but will she figure it out in time?
Sarah Weeks is the author of As Simple As It Seems and she does a great job of writing believable characters. Before you know it you are swept up in the story that is Verbena’s life. This book was published in 2010 and was published by Harper Collins. You can view their site here: http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com
Michigan- The Great Lakes State is a book written for children; however, I think many adults will find this short book about the state of Michigan to be fascinating. The short book, a mere 24 pages, is part of the Our Amazing States Series from PowerKids Press. It was written by Tika Downey; published in 2010, and covers a variety of subjects.
The book starts off talking about the fact that Michigan has two different peninsulas; often people only think of the upper portion of the state as a peninsula. The state of Michigan is surrounded by water, thus it is a state that is divided into two portions and both halfs are considered to be peninsulas. There is information on how Detroit got it’s nickname of Motown.
Michigan is rich in history and this book doesn’t cheat you from discovering some of that richness. There is information on explorers, Native American tribes, the Underground Railroad, sand dunes, rivers, lakes, mountains and wildlife.
An important thing to know about Michigan is what it contributes to the rest of the country by way of manufactering, farming, forestry and tourism. The book discusses those things and also gives you ideas of things to do for fun and learning in Michigan. For instance, did you know that Michigan has the most lighthouses of any state in America? There are over 120 of them according to this book. I find that information to be fascinating.
Many famous people were born or raised in Michigan including presidents of the United States Of America, athletes, writers, and inventors. There is much to learn between the covers of this book and you will enjoy the pictures as well. I highly recommend this book for children from ages 5-13 and adults as well.
The Talent Show was written by Dan Gutman who just happens to also be the author of the children’s book, The Homework Machine. He writes children’s books with a wonderful gift of knowing what makes a kid tick. The Talent Show is all about kids coming together to save their town, Cape Bluff, Kansas after it is destroyed by a tornado.
I like how he lays out the story of what each child is doing when the tornado hits. Then he delves into the chaotic world of the adults who are stumped on how to overcome the despair that comes with the responsibility of rebuilding a town which has seen disaster more than once. As the adults are brainstorming ideas on how to go about financing the rebirth of their town and their personal lives…one adult has a crazy idea.
That idea just happens to be putting together a talent show. When that crazy idea is compared to the other crazy idea…well, let’s just say that the crazy idea of a tallent show…suddenly becomes very popular. Not only that, but kids become empowered and energized and so do the adults. Everyone pitches in to make it a success. Each child discovers things about themselves and their friends that they never knew.
Of course, as the town gets behind the talent show and it’s efforts to raise money for the school library, that’s lost all of it’s books in the tornado, trouble brews behind the scenes. Characters and personal integrity are revealed and friendships are strengthened and lost in the process. What I like about Dan’s book is that if one pays attention; lessons on positive personal development can be put to good use. Discovering our own strengths and weaknesses and learning how to encourage positive self- growth and diminish the negative qualities we possess, can be very enlightening.
If you want to learn more about the writer Dan Gutman or his books check out his website here: http://www.dangutman.com . This book, The Talent Show was published in 2010 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. I would say that this book is ideal for kids 7-12 years old.
For Hannah Montana fans this book, Hannah Montana The Movie Secret Crush is going to be a treat. It basically details the movie that Miley Cyrus made last year. It tells the story of Hannah/Miley who lives a double life as a regular country girl from Tennessee who makes in big as a pop star and who now lives in California. However, she gets so caught up in her pop star life that she begins to loose sight of who she is on the inside by neglecting her friends and family and being content to live her life on the surface of glamour and media attention.
Hannah realizes that she needs to reconnect with herself and her life before the life of a popstar, and that includes her horse Blue Jeans, her grandmother, her town and her other friends and family.
There are some really great pictures from the movie. The story reminds Miley/Hannah of who she is and that her friends, family and new boyfriend are what is really important to her as a person. It is a good value to instill in the young tween and pre-teen readers who will find this book appealing. The book was published in 2009 by Disney Press. It was adapted by Kate Egan and based on the screenplay written by Dan Berendsen.
She said Yes….The Unlikely Martyrdom Of Cassie Bernall is quite a book. It is not a huge long-winded book…but, the searching and yearning of a mother’s heart as she seeks to “know” more about her daughter, after her death in the Columbine shooting is quite inspiring.
Cassie Bernall is probably most remembered for her last spoken word. That word was a simple, Yes. It was in answer to the question, “Do you believe in God?” There is so much more to who Cassie was; and, how she came to be the person she was…and this mother’s quest to understand the journey Cassie was on, is very enlightening. It has alot to teach both parents and children.
From a typical teenager’s angst…to a world of occult, peer pressure, self- image struggles, drugs, cutting, and anger….the struggles that Cassie endured attest to the power of a parent’s love and intervention when it comes to fighting for a positive relationship with your child in the face of all that the world throws between parents/children. This is a must read!
Simple Sleight-Of-Hand, Card and Coin Tricks For The Beginning Magician is a nice book that teaches the simple moves that all budding magicians need to learn.
This book was written by Paul Zenon and it was published in 2008 by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. Simple Sleight-Of-Hand is one of the books in a series of books on magic. There are three other titles in the series, Gimmicks and Card Tricks (Illusions for Intermediate Magicians), Cool Card Tricks (Techniques for those Advanced Magicians), Magic of The Mind ( Tricks For The Master Magician).
The book has word descriptions, hints and techniques as well as photo illustrations to help a student of magic learn both verbally and visually. This book will teach simple “tricks” that will impress the young magician’s friends and family, with it’s “Wow, how did you do that; factor!”
The author has alot of television experience with his magic and has even had his own show. There are loads of websites that are referred to in this book including: http://www.magiccastle.com, http://www.magic.org, http://www.magictimes.com, http://www.magictricks.com, as well as the publishers referral link: http://www.rosenlinks.com/am/ssha.
Wow…this book i have to say made a huge impact on me. I started this book late last night and read it from page to page (all 290 of them) today until i finished it. It was a roller coaster ride of connecting one emotional experience to another for me.
This book is about a 12 year old girl who is Waiting For Normal. She is living with her mother, Denise; her biological father died when she was a three year old girl.
Her biological grandfather (whom Denise hates) and her ex- step-father Dwight, bind together to protect Addie from her mother’s inability to parent in a healthy way. Dwight became a huge part of her life. Dwight and her mother had two other young girls together; but, when their marriage came apart he took the young girls to live with him.
He wanted Addie as well…but, he had no legal rights to her. He wasn’t her father in the eyes of the law. Addie’s mother has some real problems. She caused them to loose their home by mismanaging their money; she didn’t pay her mortgage or many of her other bills. She spends tons of money for office supplies when she doesn’t have an office job.
Denise puts too much responsibility on Addie. She teaches Addie to hide their circumstances from those in a position to help her. She doesn’t keep enough food in the trailer. She is obsessive about chatting on the computer; and she is obsessed with a television show. Denise keeps her three children a secret from her new boyfriend. She also is newly pregnant. Addie keeps all of her mother’s secrets from those who need to know to help Addie; much to her own detriment.
Dwight comes to the rescue and allows them to live in a small trailer in a broken down part of town. He comes to check up on Addie as often as he can; he lives quite a distance out of town due to his job in construction. He loves her as deeply as he loves his biological girls. He tries to put up safety nets as best he can; for when her mother fails her again. Denise fails Addie often.
Addie’s mother Denise is not a very consistent parent; she is all or nothing in everything she does. Addie loves her mother; but, she is often left alone while her mother is out making a business plan. It never amounts to much except that Addie is left alone to feed and clothe herself. Addie develops friendships with a couple of people who run a local convience store across the city lot.
Addie becomes their hero as the lady owner, her name is Soula , is sick with cancer. She takes Addie under her wing when she is able and is a surrogate aunty. She entertains Addie, and encourages her as well as keeps an eye on her.
Addie fears the protective services workers as her mother has failed her before. Addie’s mother very much sounds like someone with a personality disorder or maybe someone afflicted with bi-polar/manic/depressive disorder. She isn’t able to meet the needs of any of her children; yet she finds ways to meet her own needs without burdening herself with day to day care of her 12 yr old child who she treats as an adult equal.
It all blows up in the end…twisting and turning…this family drama. By the end of the book…i am weeping with sorrow, and joy. I am truly moved, as Addie’s story touches the parts of my heart that allowed me to foster parent many children like Addie for over 19 years of my own life.
My heart hurts for the brokeness of the family that Addie longed for and needed. My mind tried to find ways to comfort and fix her life circumstances and in the end… I resigned myself to read the pages before me, until Addie’s life was resolved in a way i could live with. 
She is a survivor and an overcomer in all the ways that count; and she does those things without loosing her ability to love.
Waiting for Normal is a very good book for a young person to read no matter their own family circumstances! This book was published by Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers. It was copyrighted in 2008. The author is : Leslie Connor