![]() ![]() ![]() I read this one out loud to my 8 1/2-year-old and 6-year-old sons (my 11-year-old daughter would even wander in and listen occasionally). It was long for me, honestly. Took me almost the entire summer to read it because no one was ever clambering for it. They were always engaged when I pulled it out before bed, and the story is very interesting with a lot of exciting and scary moments, but for whatever reason we were always OK to take a break. When Kendra and Seth go to stay with their grandparents for the summer, they have absolutely no idea that they are in for the adventure of their lives. What looks to be just a lovely piece of property up in the mountains is actually a preserve for magical creatures - the good, the mischievous and the downright bad. In order to keep Kendra and Seth safe, some strict rules are put in place, and when the rules get broken, well, let’s just say things don’t go well and soon lives are at stake. Will this brother and sister have what it takes to save Fablehaven? ![]()
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![]() And behind those good actions, Isaiah indicates, are good attitudes – compassion and humility. People feed the hungry, free the oppressed, undo heavy burdens. We have to move forward, somehow. To try to understand what might promote that, I turned to the world’s most-read book, the Bible. This phrase in Isaiah 58 piqued my interest: “repairer of the breach.”Here, the repairer isn’t a carpenter or mason but a caring community. That’s what researchers working with Saint Louis University are doing to learn about those enslaved by Jesuits at the school.Yet no amount of looking back can recompense historical harms. ![]() We can’t go back and undo the horrors of the middle passage or the sundering of families at slave auctions.What restoration is possible centuries later?A first step can be looking back and taking an honest accounting of the past. ![]() That’s where the hard work happens to restore, renew, make whole. ![]() But the shorter word it comes from – repair – strikes me as even bigger.As a noun, reparations suggests that a decision has been reached about concrete actions to redress past wrongs. As a verb, repair is a process. ![]() ![]() ![]() The poignant story moves between romance, tragedy, and adventure, while the strong and determined character of Claire is appealing with its mixture of youthful hope and mature calculation as she strives to find a new home for her remaining family. ![]() Well-researched and beautifully written, Kositsky’s story of a young girl’s trial by fire and water presents a compelling portrait of a tragic chapter in our country’s history. Separated from her mother and youngest brother on the deportation boats, Claire tries to hold together the remnants of her family as she and her remaining brother and sister endure a shipwreck and appalling conditions on the boats, always hoping to finally return to their beloved Acadia. Claire’s father and older brother have been deported to France, a country they have never known her village of Grand Pré has been set ablaze and Claire is torn between her hatred and fear of the brutal English soldiers and her love for a young French-speaking soldier who is appalled by what he is being ordered to do. Claire Richard, her Acadian heroine, is a 15-year-old girl who has to grow up fast when her community is destroyed by English soldiers who are seizing the Acadians’ land and forcing them out of their homes. Lynne Kositsky’s depiction of the Acadian expulsion is a stirring tale of fear, loss, and stubborn survival. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() It keeps the same action as always, but it seemed unnecessary. I had been awaiting this final book in the Dorothy Must Die series for such a long time, but this book ended up being a bit disappointing. As the line between Good and Wicked blurs even further, I have to find a way to get rid of Dorothy once and for all-without turning into a monster myself.ĭorothy once said there’s no place like home. With my magical shoes and a shrinking group of allies, I have one final chance to fulfill my mission, and save not only what’s left of Oz, but Kansas, too. And-surprise-he has a gingham-clad bride. Now the Road of Yellow Brick is leading me away from Oz to the dark world of Ev, where I have a new, powerful enemy to deal with: the Nome King. When a tornado whisked me away to the magical land of Oz, I was given a mission: Dorothy must die.īut it turns out girls from Kansas are harder to kill than we look. You might remember me as the other girl from Kansas. And now that the rightful ruler, Ozma, has been restored to the throne… ![]() ![]() I watched as the Emerald Palace crumbled to the ground, burying Dorothy, the Girl Who Rode the Cyclone, under the rubble. ![]() ![]() ![]() "I think," said I, following as far as I could the methods of my companion, "that Dr. ![]() Let me hear you reconstruct the man by an examination of it." "But, tell me, Watson, what do you make of our visitor's stick? Since we have been so unfortunate as to miss him and have no notion of his errand, this accidental souvenir becomes of importance. "I have, at least, a well-polished, silver-plated coffee-pot in front of me," said he. "How did you know what I was doing? I believe you have eyes in the back of your head." Holmes was sitting with his back to me, and I had given him no sign of my occupation. ![]() "To James Mortimer, M.R.C.S., from his friends of the C.C.H.," was engraved upon it, with the date "1884." It was just such a stick as the old-fashioned family practitioner used to carry-dignified, solid, and reassuring. It was a fine, thick piece of wood, bulbous-headed, of the sort which is known as a "Penang lawyer." Just under the head was a broad silver band nearly an inch across. I stood upon the hearth-rug and picked up the stick which our visitor had left behind him the night before. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the breakfast table. ![]() ![]() Here is my problem with these characters: I don‘t like any of them. Similarly to scenes in previous chapters I found it hard to interpret what is happening. I am not a big fan of the action sequence in the beginning of this chapter. My comment regarding the fight scene: wut? What is going on? I was underwhelmed by this chapter.Ī furious start and towards the end of this chapter another Moebius flash. Have we met the Silicone Life in the previous volumes? I am starting to wonder if Kyrii is a pod-person, because he barely speaks or does anything. Cibo does interesting things with her body. This reminds me of that horror movie, where they are in a maze of cubes with changing gravity, directions and various horrors behind every door.Ĭonfusing fight scenes and I find it difficult to understand the action sequences. And I am not really sure what happens there at the end or what Kyrii does exactly. ![]() I didn’t remember Cibo changing this way in the last volume (uploading her consciousness into Sanakan). Here are my chapter comment, written down as I read them. ![]() ![]() ![]() In Part Three, Jonathan hears his final lesson from his teacher: “keep working on love.” He also learns that he needs to forgive in order to truly be free, and that, in order to progress, he needs to become a teacher. Here, he learns that a seagull is “an unlimited idea of freedom, an idea of the Great Gull.” He also learns the value of being true to yourself. In the second part, Jonathan Livingston Seagull reaches a society where all of the gulls enjoy flying. There, he meets two radiant seagulls, one of which is named Chiang, who tell him that there is more they can teach him. ![]() ![]() After they do, he flies higher and higher until he can go no further. He is punished for his nonconformity when the flock banishes him. He is much more interested in learning everything he can about flight. The book was first published with three sections in which the narrator, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, is bored living the seagull life, so focused on fitting in and the daily squabbles over food. ![]() ![]() Introducing Young ReadersĮven as a girl she was breaking boundaries-she was only the second female employee ever to work at the museum! As well as introducing young readers to cutting-edge scientific research and discoveries, this book also shows that there really are no limits to what you can do if you put your mind to it.Īlong with the challenge of running an animal collection while all the male staff were off fighting World War I, Joan also fought against sexism and prejudice – proving that anything is possible if you stay focused on your dreams. As a child she developed a deep fascination with reptiles and amphibians, which eventually led her to become Curator of Reptiles at the Natural History Museum in London. Joan Procter’s life was full of incredible accomplishments. ![]() Written for readers aged 8 to 12, this is an excellent introduction to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) for children. ![]() Joan Procter, Dragon Doctor: The Woman Who Loved Reptiles by Patricia Valdez is a nonfiction book that tells the inspiring story of Joan Procter – a pioneering female scientist who shattered barriers to become a major force in her field. ![]() ![]() There was a part I found to be overexplained close to the end. Many questioned his career choice but for what? Why do they care if he wants to be an investigator rather than doing paper work? They should be happy they have someone like him working out in the fields. I was fascinated by John Puller’s genius mind. John Puller needs to pay attention to detail, it only makes sense for the book to have an entire paragraph full of observations on his surroundings. The way that the environment is described is very detailed. He teams up with the local homicide detective Samantha Cole and together they unveil the dark secrets of Drake. However, there is more to the case than what Puller expected. ![]() A colonel and his family have been brutally murdered. ![]() ![]() John Puller is a top army investigator, in the CID, who is sent to Drake, West Virginia on an “unusual case”. ![]() ![]() ![]() Cheese family entertainment center on Hilltop Drive. She aims to open the establishment in September in a 2,700-square-foot space in the Hilltop Landing Center near the Chuck E. News roundup: Redding’s airport gets a new name We're trying to give our disabled people something to do and our youngsters something to do," she said.Įarlier this week, Nerbonne was in New York, picking out the specialized equipment needed in order to avoid lengthy delays if she ordered them from manufacturers in China. ![]() ![]() "If someone who's quadriplegic turns their head, the chair's going to turn also - in the 3D experience. Nerbonne said some virtual systems will be handicap-accessible, enabling people to do something they might not be able to "accomplish in the real world." New high school?: How Redding School of the Arts plans to open new high school in August Obviously in the real world, you're sitting in a chair." Someone immersed in one of the games could go downhill mountain biking, she said, and "when you look around, you're looking over the hillside and when you look behind you, you're looking at the path you've already gone down. ![]() |