Book's Read By Sandra

Story Time- MY Daddy And Me by Amy E. Sklansky

2009-07-05T17:18:00.002+09:30

This short story celebrates the love between father and child.

This is a real quick fast read.

Jarrad and Sophie really didn't think much to this book

The Night Buffalo by Guillermo Arriaga

2009-05-25T18:50:00.001+09:30

MY THOUGHTS: I couldn't put this book down. The pace of this book was fast and i found myself desperate to get to the end.The story revolves around three main characters Manuel and his bestfriend Gregorio. The third character is Tania who happens to be Gregorio's girlfriend. Manuel and Tania have been having an affair for two years. Things get complicated when Gregorio slowly decends into madness and takes his own life. The sad thing is that his death doesn't bring any closure for his guilty friends.

California Demon-The Secret Life of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom-by Julie Kenner

2009-05-22T20:22:00.005+09:30

I didn't know that this was the second book in a series but it didn't matter because I really enjoyed this book. MY THOUGHTS: Her name is Kate Connor and she is a Demon Hunter this book was well written, fast paced, and I didn't want to put it down. I like it so much that I will be looking out for the next one in the series.

Story Time- Fiona The Pig by Leigh Hobbs

2009-04-26T12:03:00.003+09:30

I have been reading this book to my daughter Sophie for the last four nights. She loves it. The story is about a pig called Fiona who loves ballet,the colour pink and who loves having a tea party with her dollies. Her mum and dad are upset that Fiona is this way and not a dirty messy pig like them.

SOPHIES THOUGHTS(aged 5)

I love Fiona the pig . I think her mum and dad are funny because they are so messy and fiona is nice and clean.

Published: 9 February 2004
Format: Hardback , 32 pages

ISBN-13: 9780670040971
ISBN-10: 0670040975
Imprint: Viking
Publisher: Penguin Aus.
Origin: Australia

The Servants by M.M. Smith

2009-04-26T11:59:00.002+09:30

MY Thoughts:

I enjoyed this book which was a quick read about a boy called Mark who feels mad about being taken away from his old life and put into a new one with a stepfather he doesn't like and a mother who seems to be sick all the time. To get away from the house Mark becomes friends with the old lady who lives in the basement. This lovely old lady invites Mark into another world full of surprises..

Dog Boy by Eva Hornung

2009-04-14T13:52:00.002+09:30

MY THOUGHTS:

Wow this book is a must read. Romochka is four years old and is left alone in a rundown apartment building. His mother is gone and his uncle has just left him. Romochka decides to wander out into the streets in search of some food. Romochka sees a stray dog on the street and starts to follow the stray to its lair. The stray dog allows Romochka to stay with her and her puppies. Author Eva Hornung takes us with Romochka into the world of his dog-family,which will leave you at times feeling sad, happy and mad.

What's a Ghoul to Do? (Ghost Hunter Mysteries, Book 1) by Victoria Laurie

2009-04-14T13:29:00.002+09:30

MY THOUGHTS:

I have never read a paranormal book before and im glad I chose this book! M.J is a medium and she and her best friend Gilley have set up a "Ghost Busting" business. I really enjoyed this book. I loved all the main characters but i did have a soft spot for Gilley. I can't wait to read the next M.J and Gilley adventure

His Other Lover by Lucy Dawson

2009-02-23T18:26:00.003+10:30

FROM THE BACK COVER:

Until, tripping over Pete's phone on the way to the loo one night, she reads a text message that sends her blood cold. Everything in it - its tone, the kisses at the end, Pete's evasions about the sender 'Liz' - is wrong, and suddenly the blinkers are off. It's time to get back in the game, and with everything to play for, Mia is about to discover a capacity for deceit she never knew she had. After all, when Happy Ever After is at stake, any weapon at your disposal is fair game - isn’t it?

MY THOUGHT'S:

Wow I read this book in one sitting. Once I started I couldn't stop. When Mia finds out that her partner Peter has been sending and receiving text messages from another woman she loses the plot. Instead of confronting Peter, Mia decides to find out just who this other woman is. What Happens next is a disturbing downward spiral into obsession and revenge. Author Lucy Dawson has done an excellent job of drawing you into each character making you feel sorry for all of them at different stages of the book.

Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Sphere (13 Mar 2008)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0751540528
ISBN-13: 978-0751540529

Story time- UGLY FISH by Kara Lareau

2009-02-11T20:13:00.006+10:30

Reading level: Ages 4-8

Hardcover: 40 pages
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books; 1 edition (June 1, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0152050825
ISBN-13: 978-0152050825
I read this book to the kids so many time they loved it.

FROM THE BACK COVER:
There's only room for one fish in this tank......

JARRAD'S THOUGHTS(age 6): I like the way the fish was mean.

SOPHIE'S THOUGHTS(age 4): I liked the different types of fish that com into the fish tank.

Loose Girl by Kerry Cohen

2009-02-08T15:53:00.002+10:30

FROM THE BACK COVER:
An incredibly honest and compulsively readable tale of a young woman's addiction to sex

'There is a new boy I like. I see him every other day when our classes let out at the same time. He has long, dark hair and unbelievably beautiful eyes. Almost immediately I can feel the energy between us, the promise of something to come.'

Kerry first noticed the power she had over the opposite sex at the age of eleven. By the time she was in her teens she was obsessed by boys, and soon she needed sex just to feel alive.

Sleeping with countless partners, Kerry's misguided search for love was getting out of hand. But would she ever find what she really needed?

MY THOUGHTS:
Loose Girl is a memoir about a young girl called Kerry who spends her youth looking for love and acceptance by sleeping with heaps of boys. Kerry Cohen takes the reader on a heartbreaking and sometimes painful journey into her addictive personality. While I thought her story was worth telling I just felt at the end it was pointless. Did she really learn anything about her behaviour and how will her children feel about their mum writing about her sex life. I was also dissapointed with the ending as I felt Kerry rushed to get this book finished.

The Necklace by Chery Jarvis

2009-01-23T08:25:00.006+10:30

Book Description
The true story of thirteen women who took a risk on an expensive diamond necklace and, in the process, changed not only themselves but a community.

Four years ago, in Ventura, California, Jonell McLain saw a diamond necklace in a local jewelry store display window. The necklace aroused desire first, then a provocative question: Why are personal luxuries so plentiful yet accessible to so few? What if we shared what we desired? Several weeks, dozens of phone calls, and a leap of faith later, Jonell bought the necklace with twelve other women, with the goal of sharing it.

Part charm, part metaphor, part mirror, the necklace weaves in and out of each woman’s life, reflecting her past, defining her present, making promises for her future. Lending sparkle in surprising and unexpected ways, the necklace comes to mean something dramatically different to each of the thirteen women.
With vastly dissimilar histories and lives, the women show us how they transcended their individual personalities and politics to join together in an uncommon journey. What started as a quirky social experiment became something far richer and deeper, as the women transformed a symbol of exclusivity into a symbol of inclusiveness. They discovered that sharing the necklace among themselves was only the beginning; The more they shared with others, the more profound this experience–and experiment–became.

Original, resonant, and beautifully told, this book is an inspiring story about a necklace that became greater than the sum of its links, and about thirteen ordinary women who understood the power of possibility, who touched the lives of a community, and who together created one extraordinary experience.

MY THOUGHTS:

This is a story of 13 women who all put in an equal amount of money an buy an expensive necklace. The women share the necklace between them each having it for a month at a time.They learn how to get along with each other, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and how much more they can do as a team versus individually.This was a fun and entertaining read which I read in one day.

Story Time- Down by the cool of the Pool by Tony Mitton

2009-01-19T08:36:00.004+10:30

Reading level: Ages 4-8

Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Orchard (May 1, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0439309158
ISBN-13: 978-0439309158

FROM THE BACK COVER:

Down by the pool in the cool of the day, Frog cried, "Wheeeee! Can you dance like me?"

JARRAD'S THOUGHTS (age 6) I liked this book.

SOPHIE'S THOUGHTS (age 4) I liked the story and had fun finding the dragonfly,snail
and catipelliar on each page.

Fat Boy Swim by Catherine Forde

2009-01-19T08:20:00.002+10:30

Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Egmont Books Ltd (7 Aug 2003)
Language English
ISBN-10: 1405202394
ISBN-13: 978-1405202398

MY THOUGHTS:
Jimmy is a teenage boy who is overweight has no friends and gets picked on all the time. The one thing Jimmy does to escape into his own world is to cook and dream of being a chef. Jimmy can't tell anyone about his secret world of cooking because he would get picked on even more.Jimmy also wants to learn how to swim so with all his determination he takes on the challange.
Author Cathrine Forde takes the reader through the thoughts and feelings of an overweight teenage boy. I really enjoyed this book and would recomend it for teenage boys and girls aged 13-16.

Here's The Story-Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True voice by Maureen McCormick

2009-01-13T09:48:00.004+10:30

FROM THE BACK COVER:

Marcia Brady, eldest daughter on television's The Brady Bunch, had it all---style, looks, boys, brains, and talent. No wonder her younger sister Jan was jealous! For countless adolescents across America who came of age in the early 1970s, Marcia was the ideal American teenager. Girls wanted to be her. Boys wanted to date her. But what viewers didn't know about the always-sunny, perfect Marcia was that offscreen, her real-life counterpart, Maureen McCormick, the young actress who portrayed her, was living a very different--and not-so-wonderful--life. Now, for the very first time, Maureen tells the shocking and inspirational true story of the beloved teen generations have invited into their living rooms---and the woman she became.

In Here's the Story, Maureen takes us behind the scenes of America's favorite television family, the Bradys. With poignancy and candor, she reveals the lifelong friendships, the hurtful jealousies, the offscreen romance, the loving support her television family provided during a life-or-death moment, and the inconsolable loss of a man who had been a second father. But The Brady Bunch was only the beginning. Haunted by the perfection of her television alter ego, Maureen landed on the dark side, caught up in a fast-paced, drug-fueled, star-studded Hollywood existence that ultimately led to the biggest battle of her life.

Moving from drug dens on Wonderland Avenue to wild parties at the Playboy mansion and exotic escapades on the beaches of Hawaii, this candid, hard-hitting memoir exposes a side of a beloved pop-culture icon the paparazzi missed. Yet it is also a story of remarkable success. After kicking her drug habit, Maureen battled depression, reconnected with her mother, whom she nursed through the end of her life, and then found herself in a pitched battle for her family in which she ultimately triumphed.

There is no question: Maureen McCormick is a survivor. After fifty years, she has finally learned what it means to love the person you are, insight that has brought her peace in a happy marriage and as a mother. Here's the Story is the empowering, engaging, shocking, and emotional tale of Maureen McCormick's courageous struggle over adversity and her lifelong battle to come to terms with the idea of perfection---and herself.

MY THOUGHTS:
I grew up with the Brady Bunch and loved the show so i couldn't wait to read Maureen McCormicks book. Maureen really opened up in this book telling the reader all about growing up and the trouble she had facing and fighting her demons and on top of all that her own family dramas. I highly recomend reading this book especially if your a Marcia Brady fan.

The Dangerous Days of Daniel X- by James Patterson

2009-01-08T13:18:00.005+10:30

FROM THE BACK COVER:

Daniel X works alone. Having watched from the shadows as the brutal murder of his own parents unfolded before him, he has been forced to make his own way in a dark and unforgiving world with a heavy task handed to him.

Daniel's father was an alien hunter, working his way through a fearsome 'wanted' list of aliens intent on seeking control and wreaking devastation. But as he planned his next target, his own time was running out. Following his parents' sudden deaths, Daniel faced an uncertain future: he knew little about his family nor where he came from but a few things were clear, he had inherited the list from his father and a unique ability to create anything that he needs including some very devoted friends to help him along the way.

His life has become dedicated to the mission. Every day has been transformed into a terrifying hunt, watching each step he takes for danger awaits around every corner and lurks within the shadows. His ultimate aim is to exact revenge against number 1 on his list: his parents' murderer. But first he must target the others: each more sinister and gruesome than the last.

MY THOUGHTS:

This was my first go at reading a science fiction book and I really did enjoy this story of Daniel X. A quick read that could be read in one session this book is full of Alien action. Daniel the main character in the book sort of reminded my of the the cartoon boy Ben 10. This book is for readers 12 and up but at 37 I enjoy it and im looking forward to the next book in this new series.

Story Time- When Sophie Gets Angry-Really Really Angry... by Molly Bang

2009-01-07T12:42:00.004+10:30

FROM THE BACK COVER:

When Sophie gets angry, she runs out and climbs her favourite tree. Different people handle anger in different ways.
What do you do when you get angry.

JARRADS THOUGHTS:(aged 6) Really excellent

SOPHIES THOUGHTS:(aged 4) I like it how Sophie got angry and ran off then came back.

Testimony - by Anita Shreve

2009-01-07T12:34:00.002+10:30

FROM THE BACK COVER:

At a New England boarding school, a sex scandal is about to break. Even more shocking than the sexual acts themselves is the fact that they were caught on videotape. A Pandora's box of revelations, the tape triggers a chorus of voice -- those of the men, women, teenagers, and parents involved in the scandal -- that details the ways in which lives can be derailed or destroyed in one foolish moment. A gripping emotional drama with the pace of a thriller, Anita Shreve's Testimony explores the dark impulses that sway the lives of seeming innocents, and the ways in which our best intentions can lead to our worst transgressions.

MY THOUGHTS:
I really didn't think much to this book. I found it hard to follow in some places as the story is written in chapter form going from one character to another. I also didn't like many of the characters.
Hopefully someone else will enjoy this more than I did.

Lost Girls and Love Hotels by Cathrine Hanrahan

2008-11-03T10:40:00.002+10:30

FROM THE BACK COVER:
Margaret is doing everything in her power to forget home, and Tokyo's exotic nightlife—teeming with drink, drugs, and three-hour love hotels—enables her to keep her demons at bay. Working as an English specialist at Air-Pro Stewardess Training Institute by day and losing herself in a sex- and drug-addled oblivion by night, Margaret represses memories of her painful childhood in Canada and her older brother Frank's descent into madness.

But Margaret's deliberate nihilism is thrown off balance as she becomes increasingly haunted by images of a Western girl missing in Tokyo. And when she meets Kazu, a mysterious gangster, their affair sparks a chain of events that could spell tragedy for Margaret, in a city where it's all too easy to disappear.

MY THOUGHTS:

Margaret is a young American woman who is living and working in Japan so she can try and forget about her life back home where here brother is a schizophrenic and her mum has found some kind of comfort in the same sex.
After work Margaret goes out and parties hard by drinking,doing drugs and spending time in the Love Hotel by doing this she represses her memories of a painful life.
Margaret does find a love interest who is some kind of mysterious gangster. I find him a bit lame and don't think much to his character at all.
Anyway reading this book wasn't a waste of time I just wouldn't rush out to but it.

Story Time- Animal Parade -Dora the Explorer

2008-11-02T17:04:00.003+10:30

FROM THE BACK COVER:

Dora and friends swing,hop,and march their way to the Animal Parade!

Jarrads Thoughts:(aged 5) I liked all the hopping and swinging.

Sophies Thoughts:(aged 4) I liked all of the story.

Story Time- Back soon by Diana Hendry

2008-10-27T18:47:00.004+10:30

FROM THE BACK COVER:
"Back Soon!" cries Herbert's mother as she goes out yet again without him.
Herbert decides to take action....
but with happy results.

Jarrad's thoughts (age 5)
I like it when Herbert kept saying back soon to his mum.

Sophie's thoughts(age 4)
I liked it when Herbert's mum got sad when he didn't come back then got happy again when he did come home.

Story Time - Maisy Makes Lemonade by Lucy Cousins

2008-10-26T16:30:00.002+10:30

Book description: MMMMM. In MAISY MAKES LEMONADE, it’s a hot day, and Maisy is having a nice cold drink. Eddie is hot, too, but it takes a lot of lemonade to satisfy this thirsty friend. Not to worry - Maisy goes out to the garden and, with a boost from Eddie, picks some fresh lemons. Together they stir in some water and sugar, and there! A pitcher of refreshing lemonade. Now she just needs to go get some cups - but what is that slurping noise? Good thing they made enough

Jarrad's Thoughts (5yrs old)
I like how Eddie drank all the lemonade.

Sophie's Thoughts (4yrs old)
I like how every one made the lemonade.