Brigid’s Cloak by Bryce Milligan

by Carol2 Comments
Brigid's Cloak by Bryce Milligan, illustrated by Helen Cann (Suggested reading level: According to Amazon, ages 9-12. I think it should be closer to ages 6-9.) This story based on an ancient tale about on of Ireland's most beloved saints. On the day she is born Brigid receives a brilliant blue cloak from a mysterious Druid. Years later, the young girl still wears the now tattered cloak while she tends sheep.Then one night in December, when she is ten, after saying a prayer of thans at the end of the day, Brigid is transported to Bethlehem in time to help Mary and Joseph find the stable and make it comfortable. After she returns home, she is asked what happened. Brigid pulled the old blue cloth from her shoulders only to find it changed. It was a deep rich blue again, blue like the easter sky at twilight, and on it were dozens of tiny glowing start. "I was in Bethlehem...," she began I had never...
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What’s Cooking, Jamela? by Niki Daly

by Carol1 Comment
What's Cooking, Jamela? by Niki Daly (Suggested reading level: Ages 4-8) Usually, when I think of Christmas stories, I think of re-tellings of the first Christmas.  Or I think of snow and pine trees, cold weather and hot chocolate. Basically, I tend to read Christmas stories that are similar to my Christmases. What's Cooking, Jamela? however, takes place in modern South Africa—no snow for sure, but lots of love. Jamela's mama and grandmother make plans for Christmas, including buying a chicken to fatten up for dinner.  Jamela feeds the chicken, who she names Christmas, water and corn everyday. It even eats food from her hand. As Christmas gets closer, Jamela and the other kids put on a nativity play at school, complete with traditional clothing and instruments. On the day before Christmas, before the chicken can be killed, Jamela tries to help it escape, but it ends up running through town, causing havoc. "Christmas in not a chicken," cried Jamela. "Christmas is my friend....
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T is for Trash

by Carol1 Comment
Vicki of Reading At The Beach hosts A-Z Wednesday. Today's letter is T. I read this one in fall of 2008. It has to be one of the most unusual stories I've read. It's beautifully written and I loved the characters. I guess it's a mix between romance and fantasy at heart, all about sex and nature and choices people make that others just can't understand. Awesome book! Trash Sex Magic by Jennifer Stevenson Sex is a force of nature. A woman stood behind him—no, no mere woman: a bombshell, a vamp, a va-va-voom—a gypsy queen, a menace from Venus. Raedawn Somershoe lives in a trailer on the banks of the Fox River. She likes men and men like her. It runs in the family: her mother, Gelia, can seduce a man just by walking across a road. When they set their sights on a man, something magical happens. Alexander Caebeau drives a bucketloader for a construction company. He’s lonely, homesick, tired of cutting down...
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The Longest Night by Marion Dane Bauer

by Carol4 Comments
The Longest Night by Marion Dane Bauer, illustrated by Ted Lewin (Suggest reading level: Ages 4-8) Yesterday was the winter solstice, the first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, which is why Amber (9) and I took a break from the book we're in the middle of to read The Longest Night. In the forest, the night is cold, dark and seems like it will never end. Several animals think they are stong enough or smart enough to wake the sun, but it turns out that a small, humble bird heralds the dawn. "The night is long and long," says a chickadee. "The sun is gone and gone. If not crow or moose or fox, then who? Who can bring back the sun?" "You," says the wind. "Only you." This is a beautifully written book, clear enough for younger children to understand, but the phrasing is poetic and conveys the mood wonderfully. You can feel how worried the creatures are, how they each think they are the ones...
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