and then I read...

Two more vacations and several books later, I'm back in New Jersey. The school year is approaching and there are still a lot of things I want to read. Just before I left for Minnesota to do some volunteer work at a bear sanctuary there, I took a ride up to the little Riverside Public Library because they were the only library in our county system with a copy of Lance Armstrong's War that wasn't checked out. I was enjoying watching the Tour de France on TV at the time, and this book was about last year's tour-- which was quite a bit more exciting than this year's. (Can't wait till next year, with Lance no longer riding, anything can happen!). I finished the book in Minnesota and then it was back to those Battle of the Books books.

I read Stormbreaker in the car on the long ride to Maine. It was an exciting spy adventure story featuring a 14 year old boy as the unlikely spy who saves Great Britain from computers which would have pretty much wiped out the school-age population of the country. Yeah, it was a little far-fetched, but kids will like it, and I did too.

I also read The Clique by Lisi Harrison which had the most unlikeable bunch of characters I've encountered in a long time. It's about a clique (surprise, huh?) of rich, teenage girls and the nasty way they treat those outside of their special little group. Except for the spending habits (3 of the girls chipped in to buy their friend a birthday present that cost almost $800), it's unfortunately probably pretty typical teen behavior. I didn't care too much for the book, but that doesn't mean our Battle of the Books participants won't like it!

A Boy at War was a quick read set during the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor-- a sad and realistic story. On the way home from Maine, I read Stones in Water in the car. This was also a war story about an Italian boy and his friends who were captured and taken to a work camp where they were forced to build airstrips for the Germans. It was hard to write my Battle of the Books questions because I just wanted to keep reading. This was a story of courage, friendship and hope-- and it was very good.