Ghost Soldier by Elaine Marie Alphin

Reading Level: 4-6 grades

(4 out of 5)

Young Hoosier Award winner Ghost Soldier is a ghost story with historical twist. Dealing with the fact that his mother walked out on him and his father three years ago, Alexander, age 13, still hopes for her return. So when his father plans a vacation to North Carolina to visit a widow and her children, Alex is upset. While the group is touring a Civil War battlefield, Alex’s gift of seeing ghosts of events long past reappears.

Richard Francis Chamblee cannot rest in peace until he finds out what became of his family after the war. Reluctantly Alex agrees to help Rich discover the fate of his family whose homestead was in the path of Sherman’s march. Through Rich, Alexander learns some history of the Civil War, from the south’s point of view and finds answers to questions over one hundred years old.
Rich also helps Alex accept his mother’s exit from his life and his father’s need to move on.

Ghost Soldier is a book of mystery, paranormal and history. It was the Young Hoosier Award winner for the school year 2003 – 2004 selected by students in the intermediate grades. The author, Elaine Marie Alphin is an Indiana author.

M. Churley

City of Bones and City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

Reading Level: Young Adult
(4 out of 5)

Sometimes you can't go by what a book review says about a book. The review I read about this series almost made me not read it. I think it said something about the story getting bogged down by lengthy explanations but I didn't get that impression when I read the books. I really enjoyed them and I am anxiously awaiting the third book called City of Glass. It comes out in March of 2009. Just keep in mind that just because so in so doesn't like it doesn't mean you won't. You can miss out on a lot of good reading that way.

The main character is Clary. She is fifteen and her best friend is Simon. When they go to a club one night Clary sees three teenagers sporting tattoo's and weapons and they are about to kill another teenager. Clary goes to stop them and the three teens are in shock that Clary can see them. They are Shadow Hunters and they hunt demons. The teen about to be killed is a demon disguising himself as a boy.

Clary doesn't understand what is going on but she soon finds out that her mother has been hiding a terrible secret and she is kidnapped. Clary must trust the Shadow Hunters (Jace, Alec, and Isabelle) because they know things that could help get her mother back. Ms. Clare has created an intriguing world full of vampires, werewolves, Fae, and people that were born to fight the evil in the world. Clary is one of those people. Once you read the first book you have to get your hands on the second one.

Just when Clary and Jace may have feelings for each other they find out they may be brother and sister. Clary's father whom she thought was dead is alive and evil. Everything normal in her world is falling apart. If you are into fantasy then you should read these books.

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

Reading Level: Young Adult
(4 out of 5)









Well this was it. The last book in the Twilight series that has taken the world by storm. I think it sold over a million books on it's first day out. Amazing! I'm a little jealous of Stephenie Meyer right now. She has created some wonderful fiction that I will enjoy reading over and over again. I can't say that about many other books that I have read. I was excited to read this book but at the same time a little sad. I knew that Bella and Edward's adventure was coming to a close. I just hope that Mrs. Meyer decides to continue writing stories that incorporate some of the other characters from the Twilight series. I would enjoy that.


Breaking Dawn blew me away. It was nothing like what I expected it to be. Every page I read continued to keep me on my toes and some of it thoroughly shocked me. I thought this last book would be about whether or not Bella went through with the wedding and the vampire change. I figured it would take the whole book. Boy was I wrong. If I was the betting type I would have lost big time. I think why I liked the book so much was because it was so different from what I imagined. If only I could been a fly on the wall when Mrs. Meyer wrote this so maybe I could understand why she took the book in the direction she did. If I ever get to meet her I'm going to thank her for not making the book predictable. I had no idea how it was going to end and I like that in a book. I'm not really going to give much detail about this last book because I don't want to spoil it for anyone. I stayed away from reviews and the Internet while reading this book because I didn't want any spoilers.


Let me know what you thought of this book. I would love to get your opinions.

Wake by Lisa McMann

Reading Level: Young Adult

(4 out of 5)

Wow I have been having a very busy summer and haven't posted in awhile. Rest assured that I have been reading like crazy but nothing has really urged me to make a post about it until now. Lisa McMann's first novel Wake was really good. I read it in about two hours. I really liked the way she wrote it. It is almost like reading a journal but in real time. Her character Janie has an unusual gift. She gets sucked into other people's dreams or nightmares. They range from the naked dreams, the falling dreams, and the really frightening where your blood pressure spikes kind of dreams. Janie is getting tired of it. If she is close to someone sleeping she gets sucked into the dream. If it is a particularly strong dream she has seizure like symptoms. Janie just wants to be normal.


With the help of Cabel and Miss Stubin Janie starts to control her gift and everything starts to look up. You will have to read it to find out the rest. The sequel to this book is called Fade and will be out next year.

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

Werewolves, Vampires, and Fae, OH MY!!! Moon Called by Patricia Briggs is the first book in her Mercy Thompson series. Mercedes Thompson, Mercy for short, is a walker. She can shape shift into a coyote. She also owns a car repair shop, her former boss is Fae, she has a vampire friend named Stefan, and her sexy next door neighbor Adam is a werewolf. What is a girl to do? Mercy doesn't want any trouble but trouble seems to find her. She gets caught in the middle of strange happenings among the werewolves and ends up having to haul her injured neighbor to Montana were she grew up because she doesn't know who she can trust within Adam's pack. Mercy grew up with werewolves and knows she can trust them. Back in Montana she hashes out some of her own family business and reconnects with another sexy werewolf Samuel. Samuel, Adam, and Mercy have to find Adams daughter Jesse, who's been kidnapped. This is a fun, intriguing read full of fantasy, danger, and a hint of romance.

You can find out about the series by going to the authors website: http://www.patriciabriggs.com/.

(4 out of 5)

Reading Level: Adult

Sharing Sam by Katherine Applegate

(4 out of 5)

Reading Level: Young Adult

I read this book several years ago. I thing I was in junior high at the time. My friend and I both read it and loved it. When I was checking some books in the other day I saw this one. I checked it out and re-read some of my favorite parts. This is a sweet story of two girls and a guy they both love. Sam is the new guy in town and both Allison and Isabella have eyes for him. Sam is into Allison. They start to date but then Isabella is diagnosed with a brain tumor. Isabella really likes Sam so Allison encourages Sam to take her out. Allison knows that Isabella doesn't have much time left and wants her to experience love. This really is one of the sweetest love triangle stories you will ever read and as a teenager it was one of my favorites.

Escape by Carolyn Jessop

(4 out of 5)

Reading Level: Adult

If I had to describe this book in one word I would say UNBELIEVABLE. Carolyn Jessop was born into a polygamist cult. Her family were members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), the radical sect of the Mormon Church that had settled in small communities along the Arizona-Utah border. Carolyn believed in her religion and she believed in polygamy. Her grandmother would tell her stories about how wonderful it was to have a husband with many wives. That she would be doing the will of God and of the church. The more wives a man had the more powerful he was and was in favor with God. Women only got to heaven with the permission of her husband. If she wansn't in harmony with him when she died she would experience a second death and live in a type of Hell. At eighteen Carolyn became the fourth wife to Merill Jessop a fifty-year-old man. Within the family Carolyn was as old as some of Merill's daughters and she was targeted by his favorite wife Barbara. The wives would jockey for attention, snitch on each other, and had the right to discipline each others children. If you complained to Merrill he would say you deserved it and that you were not in harmony with him. Withing fifteen years Carolyn had eight children and the new leader coming to power Warren Jeffs was preaching the apocalypse. His rules and laws became more and more dangerous and ridiculous. Carolyn knew she had to escape. Finally in April 2003 she had the opportunity to round up her children and escape with their lives.

I had the same feeling reading this book as I did when I read Dave Pelzer's books. Their stories are very different but they are both like train wrecks. You know you shouldn't look as it happens because it's painful to watch but you are riveted and can't look away. Her story is in many ways so sad it was hard to read at times but I just knew there had to be a light at the end of the tunnel. And there was a light. She escaped and had freedom for the first time in her thirty five years of living. It was definitely worth reading.

On the back cover of the books is a quote by the author John Krakauer, "Escape provides an astonishing look behind the tightly drawn curtains of the FLDS Church, one of the most secretive religious groups in the United States. The story of Carolyn Jessop tells is so weird and shocking that one hesitates to believe a sect like this, with 10,000 polygamous followers, could really exist in twenty-first-century America. But Jessop's courageous, heart-wrenching account is absolutely factual. This riveting book reminds us that truth can indeed be much, much stranger than fiction." Mr. Krakauer I couldn't agree with you more.