Teaser Tuesdays

This is my first Teaser Tuesday. What Fun!
This is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.

• Grab your current read.
• Open to a random page.
• Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page.
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Be careful that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author, too, so that other participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser for today:
"I knelt on the floor, and with a fairly easy push and pull, the floorboard popped up enough for me to get my fingers under it and pull it up. It would have been the perfect hiding spot but for one thing. There was already something there."
Page 20-21 of Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

Well, OK, that was three sentences, actually.....

Happy Tuesday!
Beth :)

Turtle in Paradise

Title: Turtle in Paradise Author: Jennifer L. Holm Publisher: Random House Pages: 177

I borrowed this book from my school library.

Summary (from the verso):
In 1935, when her mother gets a job housekeeping for a woman who does not like children, eleven-year-old turtle is sent to stay with relatives she has never met in far away Key West, Florida.

I must say from the beginning that I really enjoyed this book and have found myself repeatedly recommending it to my students. Turtle is a delightful girl with a realistic (and refreshing) outlook on life.  Sure, she has had her share of hard knocks, but she is clever and witty enough to survive and make the best of things.  She repeatedly outsmarts older kids and adults alike. The Depression- Era Key West setting makes a great background for this hilarious and heartwarming story. The ending was not what I expected, but it was exactly what Turtle needed. A great read.

Rad this story if:
*you love children's fiction
*you love historical fiction
*you love stories that take place in an island setting
*you love stories with a strong female protagonist



The Cottage at Glass Beach

Title: The Cottage at Glass Beach Author: Heather Barbieri Publisher:HarperCollins Pages:302

I borrowed this book from my local library.

From the inside cover:
Married to the youngest attorney general in Massachusetts State history,Nora Cunningham is a picture-perfect political wife and doting mother. But her carefully constructed life falls to pieces when she, along with the rest of the world, learns of the infidelity of her husband, Malcom.
Humiliated bu the press, Nora packs up her daughters- Annie, seven; and Ella, twelve- and takes refuge on Burke's Island, a craggy spit of land off the coast of Maine.  Settled by Irish immigrants, the island is a place where superstition and magic are carried on the ocean winds, and wishes and dreams wash ashore with the changing tides.
Nora spent her first five years on the island but has not been back to the remote community for decades- not since that long-ago summer when her mother disappeared at sea.  One night while sitting alone on Glass Beach below the cottage where she spent her childhood, Nora succumbs to grief, her tears flowing into the ocean.  Days later she finds an enigmatic fisherman named Owen Kavanagh shipwrecked on the rocks nearby.  Is he, as her aunt's friend Polly suggests, a selkie- a mythical being of island legend- summoned by her heartbreak, or simply someone who, like Nora, is trying to find his way in the wake of his own personal struggles?


 From the cover blurb, I was a little hesitant.  I was afraid it would be another romance set on a beach.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that this was not the case.  It was part coming home novel, part mystery, with a little bit of the supernatural thrown in.  The mystery unveils itself a little at a time, and keeps you guessing up to the very last page.  I must say that I found Ela to be a bit irritating, and  unlikable.  As mother of a daughter, I feel guilty saying this, but it is true.  She seems totally unreachable.  I found myself thinking, "Well send her to her dad!! Get her some counseling! Just get her out of this story!"  Sorry, Ela, but you're a selfish brat. Some of her actions were justifiable, but seriously, the child needed counseling.  I can understand her being upset about her parents' separation, but she took it too far. The fact that both parents were so caught up in themselves that they couldn't see the child was mentally unstable was, sadly believable in this day and age. Lastly, I do feel there were a few unresolved issues in the end.  I still had questions.  I won't spoil it for anyone. Let's just say I'd have liked an epilogue. All in all, it was a good read.  Plenty of twists and turns. Not boring at all.

Read this book if....
*you love mysteries
*you love stories with a beach/ island setting
*you love stories about survival after divorce / separation
*you love stories with a supernatural element



TBR Pile 2013 January Wrap Up

It's January Wrap Up Time for the 2013 TBR Pile Challenge!  (If you haven't joined, there is still time. You have until December!)   Check out the TBR 2013 Challenge linky on this page.

My books for January (so far) are :

• Sea Change by: Karen White
• Ghost on Black Mountain by: Ann Hite
• Last Queen of the Gypsies by:William Cobb
• Raney by: Clyde Edgerton
• The Cottage at Glass Beach by: Heather Barbieri
• Turtle in Paradise by: Jennifer L. Holm

I'll add more if I finish more by the end of the month.
Join up and have fun!

Beth :o)

Because You Are My Own

Title: Because You Are My Own Author: Lauren Buongiovanni Hunt Illustrator: Judith Mogul Publisher: Gingersnap Publishing Pages: 31

This book was a gift from a friend.

From the back cover:
Mama, if I were a baby penguin shivering in the snow, would you keep me warm by your belly until my down turned to feathers?

Kids ask some silly questions- but sometimes what they're really asking isn't silly at all. Inspired by questions from the author's son who was adopted from Korea, this simple story speaks volumes about a mother's love.

I love this book. It made me cry. I am an adoptive mom and also an adoptee.  I have lived both sides.  However, even birth moms, grand moms, and aunts can relate to this story. It is absolutely beautiful! With repetitive text, the baby asks the mommy question after question and she assures him, I will always know you "because you are my own". It speaks to that place inside of every mom (grand mom, aunt...)- that place inside us that loves that baby and owns that baby - that place in the heart that belongs to that baby alone. This story is a beautiful illustration of the fact that a mothers love for a baby grows within the heart, not the tummy.

Read this book if...
*there is a special child in your life
*you are and adoptive parent, grandparent, etc.

Sea Change by Karen White

Title: Sea Change Author: Karen White Publisher: New American Library Pages:392

From the back cover:

For as long as she can remember, Ava Whalen has struggled with a sense of not belonging, and now, at thirty-four, she still feels stymied by her family. Then she meets child psychologist Michael Frazier and thinks her days of loneliness are behind her. After a whirlwind romance, they impulsively elope and Ava moves to Matthew's ancestral home on St. Simon's Isl;and off the coast of Georgia.

But after the initial excitement, Ava is surprised to discover that true happiness still eludes her.  There is much she doesn't know about Matthew including the mysterious circumstances surrounding his first wife's death.  And her new home seems to hold as many mysteries and secrets as her new husband.  Feeling adrift, Ava throws herself into uncovering Matthew's family history and that of the island, not realizing that she has a connection of her own to this place- or that her obsession with the past could very well destroy her future.

Although I'm usually not big on books that pull heavily on romance for the story line, I have been a Karen White fan since I first began reading the Tradd Street series.  I also loved The Color of Light. Some of her books are a little romance-heavy for me but she weaves a good story.  This one I liked in that it relied less on romance and more on the story itself.  I like the setting White chose for the story and her descriptions of St. Simon's island are wonderful. She creates a great sense of place. At first I couldn't put this book down, but as it got toward the end I found myself getting less excited.  I couldn't understand why Matthew was so secretive about his former wife.  He hadn't even bothered to tell Ava about her before they married.  (Agreed, it was a whirlwind romance, but wouldn't a former marriage come up at some point?) I felt like it got a little wordy and I was also left not completely believing the ending of the Pamela/ Georgina/ Geoffrey storyline.  I guess the ending was a little unsatisfying.  All in all, this was a pretty good read, although not my favorite by Karen White.  I still look forward to her next book, and I would still recommend this one to any one who loves a good southern mystery.

Read this book if...
*you love southern fiction
*you love mysteries

*you love books with an island setting

Chicken Cheeks

Title: Chicken Cheeks Author: Michael Ian Black Illustrator: Kevin Hawkes  Publisher:  Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers Pages: 40



I purchased this book for my school library.

From the inside cover: (I love this!)
This story has a beginning, a middle, and a whole lot of ends.

A fellow Media Specialist first introduced me to this book.  Having 22 years experience in Early Childhood Education, I knew it would be a hit. Let's face it, potty humor is big in the rug rat race.  Little guys love to talk about rear ends, and this book is full of them- animal hineys, that is.  A bear is trying to discover a way to reach some honey waaaaay up in the top of a tree.  He enlists the help of some animal pals and, as they pile up, so does the humor.  From Polar Bear derriere to Duck-billed platypus gluteus maximus, this book keeps kids laughing.  I've read it to all ages, and they all love it!  It can be used in the classroom and library in several ways, from creative writing  (Can you think of more names for animal behinds?) to teaching cooperation. The illustrations are absolutely adorable. I purchased two copies of this for my school library, because I knew one would not be enough.  They stay in circulation. I highly recommend this book for the little people in your world.  If you can read through it without smiling even once, you might need to see a doctor. Your sense of fun is missing.

Read this book if...
*you want to make a child laugh
*you want to make yourself smile