My Side Of The Mountain by Jean Craighead George

This is a book about a boy named Sam Gribly, who is 16 and runs away from home. He goes to the mountains and lives in a tree. He catches a baby duck falcon and names it Frightful. He trains it to hunt rabbit, deer and pheasant. He also lives off of nuts, berries and fish. He sleeps on a bed of ashes and sticks covered by a deer skin. He survived there a whole year through Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring. He also met a few humans in the woods, but they didn't give away his secret. One day his dad comes and tries to take him home. You will have to read the book to find out whether or not he goes.
Mary Rhodes, age 8

The Prodigal

The Ebersols suffer through another hard period in their life when a tragic yet delightful secret is revealed.

Leah worry's over Lydianne as she attends her first singings and starts courting her first beau... Lydianne hope her only one and to soon be husband and wife but when the secret is revealed, Leah is forced to do the thing that hurt her and changed her life forever. Now with the hard truth, Leah hopes to change her dear Lydianne's mind... And her beau's.

Sarah, 13

Sanctuary

Melissa James' life is in danger and is forced to go away without telling her husband and only leaving him a short note. When he comes home to find her gone he calls everyone he could think of including the police who didn't care much about the situation, and her only friend Ali.
Meanwhile, Ivanov had been working up a plan to get his money and revenge. Throughout the whole book Ryan and Melissa have trouble trusting eachother and the Lord as they struggle to get free from danger.
Sarah, 13

The Brethren

The Brethren is the third addition to The Englisher. Annie Zook struggles to keep her promise to her father (the preacher) as she longs to paint and be with her English beau. And at the same time, try's to help her best friend who is suffering from abuse from her husband, while holding the shun.

Sarah, 13

The Englisher

Preacher Zook is not happy when his daughter, Annie's 'non-Amish' pen pal comes for a visit and is afraid she might hender Annie from joining the Amish church. But he is completely wrong. Louisa (nicknamed Lou) helps Annie see the need to be faithful to her father and to the community that has helped her throughout her whole life. But then her father has another reason to complain. While Annie and Lou go help her Mennonite cousin clean and watch after little ones Annie runs into handsome Englisher Ben Martin. Lou starts courting a young Amishman (Sam Glick) but will that cause a problem for Sam?
Annie wants to be faithful to her father but her art and someone else is calling her to the modern world.
Sarah Rhodes, 13

Clue In The Jewel Box

Nancy Drew, 18, has solved many mysteries before. This book is exciting because of the fun but risky things all at once!!!!! In this book a queen lost her grandson. Nancy thinks Francis Baum is the grandson, Michael Alexander. But oops! No, he's a faker who uses stolen identity to steal more. Nancy finally finds the prince. Wait, who has been robbing everyone in River Heights? Francis Baum's buddy! Even though Nancy is over-joyed to have the mystery solved, Queen Alexander is still happier to have her grandson back. Mary, age 8

Changes for Kaya

Author: Janet Shaw
Book Review by: Catherine, age 8

At the beginning of the book, Changes for Kaya, Kaya and Speaking Rain, Kaya's blind sister, are told to watch a few children, including Kaya's young twin brothers, Wing Feather and Sparrow. However, the other women and girls gathered roots and berries. Kaya can't join them because she is still mourning in her heart for her namesake, Swan Circling. The Indians in this book believe that if you are mourning in your heart when you are picking food, it ruins the food. Later on in the book when the men are hunting, Kaya spots a herd of horses, she thinks her lost horse Steps High could be in the herd. However, Kaya doesn't know her horse had a foal (a baby horse). Later on in the book, Kaya tells Toe-Ta (a name for father) this, he said, there's not a big chance your horse is in that herd. However, Toe-Ta, Kaya, and a boy named Raven go to look for the herd. When they find Steps High they are surprised to see Steps High's foal. When they start to head home, a fire starts to spread, Kaya gets lost because Steps High runs away to find her foal. Finally, Steps High comes back with her foal. Kaya trys her best to get through the fire. She can't! She finally gets home when she hears a whistle. She follows it. At the end of her adventure, Kaya names the foal Sparks Flying. Kaya sure had an adventure! Eventually, Kaya does stop mourning. I really liked this book. To find more about this book, read it! Have fun reading it!

Knitted by Grandma

Lydia, 4, just read Knitted by Grandma by Ruth Hearson. "Grandma was sitting in her chair and the girl was sitting on a trunk. She sewed nice mittens for her, tank tops and diapers for the baby and socks, even something to eat. She knitted hats for the ladies, bonnets for the babies, sweaters for the knagaroos, earmuffs for the elephants. For the dinosaur and jester she made sweaters, fuzzy wings for the butterfly. The girl asked, 'Now what are you knitting?' ' It is something for YOU.' It was a real hat. She knitted everything she could. The End."

DW's Library Card

Lydia, 4, just read DW's Library Card by Marc Brown. "DW was at the library and she saw a frog book and Aurthur said no. She had to be able to write her full name. And so she finally wrote her name in her mashed potatoes. Then the next day she couldn't find the book and she found out that the Tibbles had it! And one of the Tibbles held out the book and said if she hurt the book the library would take away her card forever! Now the next Saturday she still had not read the book because she was afraid to open and break it. Aurthur told her that they wouldn't take her card away and he read it to her and then he told her she could renew it and she did. Over, and over, and over!"

Screwtape Letters

I just finished reading Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. It is a book of letters from a senior devil (Screwtape) to a junior devil (Wormwood). I can’t say that I enjoyed the book, but I can see how it could be helpful to some people. I do not think of devils very often. This book got me to thinking a little bit. C.S. Lewis is a excellent author, and even though I didn’t like Screwtape Letters I could see his writing all through it. Hannah, 15

The Mystery at the Moss Covered Mansion

The Mystery at the Moss Covered Mansion is a very interesting book. It is a Nancy Drew book. I love these books! This book is very exciting because the mystery is fun, including braveness, capturing, art, music and more! This book is about an eighteen year old girl named Nancy Drew. She is a detective. She finds a mystery called "the Mystery at the Moss Covered Mansion." There was some explosive oranges and an innocent man was arrested for stealing when one of his workers was the thief. He owned an orange orchard. A whole gang worked together to steal, catch fire to the orchard, deceive and more. Nancy Drew and her friends George, Bess, Ned, Burt and Dave work together to solve this "cliff hanging" mystery.
Mary, 8

So Many Bunnies

Lydia, 4, just read So Many Bunnies: a bedtime abc and counting book by Rick Walton/Paige Miglio. It is a children’s rhyming book to the sound of Old Mother Hubbard. Mother Rabbit has 26 bunnies and each of their names begin with a letter of the alphabet. Lydia’s favorite bunny is Able because he sleeps on the table. Reading this book brings lots of giggles because the bunnies’ names rhyme with funny places for them to sleep such as Kate who sleeps on the gate or Xed who sleeps on the shed.

As I look around my home books are a major part of our world. There are books in every room on any given subject. They are as varied as each member of our family. I have been amazed at how books have shaped us as individuals and as a family. The most important book to us all is the Bible. It is God's Word, inspired and inerrant. As we grow and read we pray that our family would feed on Scripture every day before embarking on any other journey that their books take them. With favorite authors like Jane Austin, Charles Dickens, Beverly Lewis, and Valerie Tripp you can be sure there will be many adventures.

One of my favorite stories about our children revolves around a book called Lost in the Woods by Carl R. Sams and Jean Stoick. It is about a fawn who has just been born and all the forest animals are trying to figure him out. The book opens with a red winged black bird who screeches, "Get up, get up, get up." Then a little field mouse whispers, "Shh, let him sleep." When I read this book to the girls, I try to use all my best forest animal voices and screech and whisper with the animals. On some mornings, as I am waking the girls up I will try to use my same red winged blackbird voice and call out, "Get up, get up, get up, says the red winged black bird." One particular morning, my seven year old didn't seem to budge until I got very close. Then from under the covers I heard very quietly, "Shh, let him sleep, whispered the field mouse." We burst out laughing and she climbed out of bed happier than usual.