Good Reads - November

Between Sundays by Karen Kingsbury

This was last month's book club pick.  This is the story of a little boy whose mother dies and he ends up in foster care.  A friend of his mother takes him in and raises him.  The boy is convinced that a football player is his dad, but nobody believes him.  At that same time that his story is going on, the story of the football player and his struggle to find himself is going on.  It's a christian fiction book, so no big surprises or crazy plot lines.  You pretty much know from that start who will end up together and how it will end.  Not my favorite book, but not an awful read.  I guess it's nice to have a happy ending every now and then.

Because half of our book club has had or is in the process of dealing with our state's foster care system, the discussion of this book was pretty good.  We have all had vastly different experiences so I thought it was really informative to talk about it all.

At Home In Dogwood Mudhole by Franklin Sanders
Volume One: Nothing That Eats

This was a review for the TOS Crew.  It's is written in the first person, sort of like a journal.  It gives the history of a family and talks a lot about war reenactment, which is a big part of their family life.  The family decides to go to a more simple way of life.  This was the first in a series so it didn't get too much into the story.  I did not love this book, but found the war facts interesting especially since it focused so much on the South.

The Scent of Rain and Lightening by Nancy Pickard

So after 2 books that really didn't capture my interest, I wasn't too excited to start our November book club pick.  But after the other girls told me how good it was, I decided to start and I LOVED this one!  It tells the story of a girl whose dad was murdered and mother disappeared when she was 3.  The book starts off in the past then jumps ahead to when she is a young adult.  The man everyone was convinced killed them is released from prison 23 years after the murder due to an unfair trial.  The whole book has you trying to figure out who actually killed them.  At the end of the book it goes back to the night of the murder and you find out who did it.

We've compared who we all thought did it and every one of us got it wrong.  I can't wait to discuss this one next week at our meeting.

Josie's Read Alouds

Gooney Bird and the Room Mother by Lois Lowry

We read the first book in this series last month and this one was just as cute.  Gooney Bird is such a lovable character.  A quirky second grader who loves to be the center of attention.  In this story, the class is putting on a Thanksgiving play and they need a room mother to bring in cupcakes.  Trouble is, nobody wants to be the room mom (can't imagine why!).  Gooney Bird finds the class a room mom, but won't tell anyone who it is.  This book is pretty short (only 10 chapters) and a really cute story.