#NewberyEpicChallenge books for December!

📚Shadow of a Bull by Maia Wojciechowska
📚The Grey King by Susan Cooper

Happy Holidays!

#NewberyEpicChallenge books for November!

📙 Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson
📙 Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O‘Dell

Enjoy!

#NewberyEpicChallenge reads for October!

📘 The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

📙 Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George

Enjoy!

Great book, but I was left with one answered question, which is driving me a little crazy. 🙂

#NewberyEpicChallenge for September!

📘Roller Skates by Ruth Sawyer
📙A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L‘engle

Feel free to join in at any time. Enjoy!

One of the best Newbery award winners I‘ve read! Completely captured my heart. ♥️
#NewberyEpicChallenge

Great book! Truly enjoyed it! Jeanine Cummins is a great storyteller, and the Audible version is fantastic.
5⭐️!

Really great book with lots of valuable insight!

August books for the #NewberyEpicChallenge!
📚 Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
📚 From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

Happy reading!

Finally! I‘m so happy to find a graphic novel full of positivity with no questionable content. Great for the younger crowd - late elementary though middle school.

#NewberyEpicChallenge books for July!

📚The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron
📚The White Stag by Kate Seredy

Happy reading!

A Newbery honor book set in the 80s about a dysfunctional family and how they navigate life.

Ugh, I‘m struggling to finish this. Only four more stories to go, but I don‘t want to pick it up. The stories are so cheesy and not entertaining at all. I‘m not sure how this got an award. Maybe because it was a unique look at another culture. It‘s just not good, though; although, maybe children would enjoy it. I dunno. 😖 #NewberyEpicChallenge

#NewberyEpicChallenge books for June!

📚 Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
📚 Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen

Enjoy!

4/5🌟
I personally really liked this one, but it did seem pretty dark for a children‘s book. The earlier chapters were definitely more disturbing than the later ones. I‘ll probably have nightmares about Beatrix Potter now. 😬

3/5🌟
The characters and situations felt very true-to-life, and I really loved the main character, Merci; but I really hard a hard time getting through this one. It didn‘t really get going until I was more than halfway done, but I still really liked the story. #NewberyEpicChallenge

4/5🌟
Such a great book! Fun, quirky characters and lots of history. And so funny!
#NewberyEpicChallenge #dogsoflitsy

#NewberyEpicChallenge books for May!

1. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
2. Shen of the Sea by Arthur Bowie Chrisman

This one was borderline between “It was okay” and “I liked it.” Ultimately, I think it just wasn‘t the right time for me to read this one. I really liked the idea of the Suitcase Project, though. I might give my own kids that assignment. #mgbuddyread

Y‘all, I‘m in a serious reading slump. I can‘t seem to focus for more than a few minutes. I think it‘s all the stress with moving and church assignments. I just want to read! 😭

3/5🌟
#readtheusa2021 #virginia

2/5🌟
A book written in verse has to be written really well and cut straight to the heart. I don‘t think the author accomplished that. The main characters isn‘t all that likable either.

4/5🌟
I really enjoyed this one. Strong female characters, and it felt different from anything I‘ve read before. #onceuponabookclub

Great idea, just poorly executed. I found myself disconnected and dreading picking it up again. This was my March #bookspin.

#NewberyEpicChallenge reads for April!

1. Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos
2. Merci Suárez Changes Gears by Meg Medina

Happy Reading!

#BookSpin list for April!

Cute story about the relationship between humans and animals. Loved the dialects. The ending was very sweet. #NewberyEpicChallenge #ReadtheUSA2021 #Connecticut

Hubby took me to the bookstore tonight! 😍
📚Itty Bitty Princess Kitty: The Cloud Race (for my littlest)
📚Dragon Master: Rise of the Earth Dragon (for my hesitant boy reader)
📚Mrs. Friday and the Rays of Nimh (beautiful edition!)
📚Some Places More Than Others (#mgbuddyread)
📚Skunk and Badger (because I was looking for more by this author)
📚The Last Rabbit
📚The Toll (for my hubby)
📚Dracula (amazing cover!)
📚Gravity Falls (for the kiddos)

I usually don‘t read Murder mysteries, but this was a lot of fun and kept me interested throughout. Only bad thing was that the end was predictable and not very believable. #onceuponabookclub

Cute and lighthearted! Loved the inclusion of so much famous art! I didn‘t expect that. 🖼🎨🎭

5/5🌟
Made me want to live in a marsh, and sometimes I just want to be the “Marsh Girl.” 😍
#readtheusa2021 #northcarolina

5/5🌟
The Lord often delivers us in unexpected ways. So good, so insightful, and exactly what so many of us need to hear right now. So much goodness packed into one little book! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
#ldslivingbookclub

2/5🌟
I felt that this one was just not thought out very thoroughly and that the writing was pretty immature. A few things just didn‘t make sense. Like, if the animals could understand English, why couldn‘t they understand Spanish? I was frustrated with things like that. #amazonbookbox

4/5🌟
I listened to over half of it on Audible and didn‘t like the narrator, so I read the rest. Loved double stories and how they intertwined.
#NewberyEpicChallenge

4/5 🌟
I actually didn‘t have high hopes for this one, but I really liked it! You know those stories about four seemingly different people and then you find out that their lives are all somehow intertwined? This was like that, but with kids. Lots of feels and good messages. #mgbuddyread

2.5/5🌟
While this book was well-written, the emphasis on politically trending ideas left me bristling. I wouldn‘t want my children to read it.
#readtheusa2021 #southdakota

5/5🌟
Probably my favorite book of the year so far. Jess Redman perfectly captures that moment when a believer of miracles gets slapped in the face by reality and then gently brings us out of that dark hole again into the light. I just hugged this book after I finished it. Such a great story about grief, healing, and miracles. #amazonbookbox

#NewberyEpicChallenge books for March!

Holes by Louis Sachar
Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson

Enjoy!

Okay, jumping back in for March! #Bookspin list updated and ready to go.

1/5🌟
I found this book incredibly boring and biased. I can‘t imagine any child would find this enjoyable reading. The only reason I didn‘t bail on it was because I have a personal goal of reading all the Newbery books. So glad this one is checked off and I can move on. #NewberyEpicChallenge

4/5🌟
Great for fans of Educated by Tara Westover; very similar. Would love to see the movie.
#readtheusa2020 #westvirginia

3/5🌟
This second book from Allie Brosh started out strong in the funny, but midway through it became pretty depressing, and by the end it was kind of heartbreaking. I wasn‘t prepared for that. My heart goes out to Allie, who has been battling depression for years. ❤️

3.5/5 🌟
I had a hard time swallowing all the hate and violence on the side of the good guys in this one. You usually see the good guys take the higher road, but not so much in this. Sometimes they did, but too much of the time they did not. It was darker than I wanted it to be. However, it did have nice complexity.

3.5/5🌟
Cute and funny stories that Rudyard Kipling would tell to his children. Loved the daddy-daughter duo Tegumai and Taffimai. And the explanations he wrote for his illustrations were great. 😂 #childrensclassicread2021

4/5 🌟
Heartwarming ❤️
#mgbuddyread

#firstlinefridays

4/5🌟
Super quick read and really interesting and fun. Helps you quickly figure out which personality type you are and lays the basic foundation for the enneagram. However, I‘m still unsure which type I am, but that may be BECAUSE of the type I am. 😂 I‘ve at least eliminated 5 out of the 9 types.

1.5/5 🌟
If you want a headache, read this book. If you want to fall asleep, read this book. If you want to daydream while looking like you‘re reading, read this book. Also, “combs” is one of his favorite words, so if you like combs...

4/5🌟
I had to read this book twice to get full enjoyment from it, but it‘s a lovely book of whimsical poetry written in tribute to William Blake. I was intrigued enough by this book to pick up and read my copy of Selected Poems by William Blake.
#NewberyEpicChallenge

4/5🌟
Beautiful and touching story told in verse about CTE and it‘s affects on a family. Jacqueline Woodson has a powerful talent to get to the heart of things with ease and grace. #amazonbookbox