Too Tall Alice

by Carol2 Comments
Too Tall Alice by Barbara Worton From the dustjacket: Alice is tall. Not T-Rex or Empire State Building tall. Just four inches taller than the other girls in her class, and Alice is worried. FOUR INCHES! That's a lot of inches taller than everyone else. Her mom says it's okay to be tall, and her dad says it's okay to be tall. IT'S OKAY FOR THEM TO SAY THAT. THEY'RE NORMAL! Alice wishes, really wishes, she was just like everyone else. Then, her dream takes her to the place where the tall girls live, and she sees, really sees, herself for the first time. My thoughts: I love the message in the story. Alice learns to accept herself for who she is and that she is special. She learns that being "too _" isn't so bad, after all. It's a great message for all girls, not just the too short, too tall, too __ ones. The story is definitely designed to raise girls' self-esteem. The part I didn't...
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A Killer Collection

by Carol2 Comments
A Killer Collection by J. B. Stanley Description: Introducing amateur sleuth Molly Appleby, a sharp-witted writer for Collector's Weekly magazine. She has a keen knowledge of antiques, and a special fondness for collectibles. And when a fellow collector is murdered, Molly quickly develops an uncanny understanding of the criminal mind. My thoughts: The part of this book that I loved was the information on Southern pottery. It is fascinating how an potter can take a lump of clay and turn into a piece of art, whether it be beautiful or, in the case of the face jugs, ugly. I wish the photos in back had been in color, but the descriptions of the pieces throughout the book were well done. Also, the collectors who visited the kiln openings and auctions were certainly an interesting breed. The mystery and the main character, however, weren't outstanding for me. The story was okay, but not enjoyable enough for me to continue on with the series. I can't even put...
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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

by Carol7 Comments
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson From the dustjacket: A spellbinding amalgam of murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue. It's about the disappearance forty years ago of Harriet Vanger, a young scion of one of the wealthiest families in Sweden...and about her octogenarian uncle, determined to know the truth about what he believes was her murder. It's about Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently at the wrong end of a libel case, hired to get to the bottom of Harriet's disappearance . . . and about Lisbath Salander, a twent-four-year-old pierced and tattooed genius hacker possessed of the hard-earned wisdom of someone twice her age - and a terrifying capacity for ruthlessness to go with it - who assists Blomkvist with the investigation. This unlikely team discovers a vein of nearly unfathomable iniquity running through the Vanger family, astonishing corruption in the highest echelons of Swedish industrialism - and an unexpected connection between themselves. My thoughts: This book did start slowly,...
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The Italian Lover Giveaway

by Carol16 Comments
The Italian Lover by Robert Hellenga From the back: Margot Harrington is an American woman living in Italy whose memoir, The Sixteen Pleasures, about her discovery of a priceless masterwork of Renaissance erotica - and the misguided love affair it inspired - is finally, after twenty-five years, being made into a movie. Margot, with the help of her lover, Woody, has written a script that she thinks will validate her life. Of course, her script is not used, but never mind - happy endings are best for movies. At the former convent in Florence where the movie - based on the memoir but now called The Italian Lover - is being shot, Margot enters into a drama she never imagined, where her ideas of home, love, art , and aging collide with the imperatives of commerce and the essential unknowability of other cultures and other people. The giveaway: Thanks to the Hachette Book Group, I am able to give away five copies of The Italian...
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The Boxcar Children Halloween Special

by Carol3 Comments
The Boxcar Children Halloween Special created by Gerturde Chandler Warner From the back: #31 The Mystery of the Singing Ghost The Boxcar Children are helping to fix up the house that their cousins have bought. But the house seems to be haunted by a ghost who sings! Will an old diary explain the house's secrets? #88 The Mystery of the Mummy's Curse Strange things have been happening at the Greenfeld Musem ever since an Egyptian mummy arrived for a special exhibit. Could an ancient curse be to blame for all the bad luck? #91 The Mystery at Skeleton Point The mansion the Aldens are visiting is not only spooky and deserted, it's filled with bones! Rumor has it that a skeleton comes alive at night. Is the legend of the Walking Skeleton for real? My thoughts: These were my favorites of the Boxcar Children series so far. There is actually a semi-spooky mystery in each of the stories, complete with suspects, clues and red herrings. Amber enjoyed them too...
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