Random House is offering the full text of Beautiful Children, Robert Bock’s debut novel, for free online until midnight.  You can visit beautifulchildren.net/read to e-mail or print the text.

To celebrate her new series sister-to-sister, Virginia Smith is giving away a five hundred dollar shopping spree!  Click here to learn details.

Likewise, to celebrate her Awaken My Heart book, Diann Mills has a contest going for a free stay at a Bed-and-Breakfast of your choice.

Oprah Winfrey’s latest book club pick is the fastest selling one yet!  What in the world?  It’s called A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose by Eckhart Tolle.  Then I remembered that A Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren used to be a big seller, too.  I think people are hungry for purpose!

We’ll be announcing a month long contest tomorrow here at the nook, and so come by and see what it’s all about!  Have a great weekend everyone!

I heard mega buzz around this book and what can I say? I’m weak! I just had to read it! I was not disappointed.

Cori decides to go on a missions trip the summer before she goes to university in order to sort out her feelings in regards to her boyfriend. Once she arrives, she finds the work physically exhausting, but she bonds with her teammates. Tragedy strikes, however, and soon Cori and her team find themselves fending for their lives in the jungles of Indonesia.

This book is great on two levels. First of all, it’s a page turner. You simply have to know what happens next so you find yourself turning page after page to follow the adventure. Secondly, it explores some pretty complex issues. It succeeds in taking you outside of yourself and encourages you to think about what is important in life all the while entertaining you. I mean, there’s even a little romance.  While this book is written from the perspective of a teenager, it’s not a YA book. 

I give this book ten out of ten stars and hope you’ll pick it up today!  All author royalties from this book go to International Justice Mission and Opportunity International.

An important part of your child’s reading development is connecting them with the greater world of readers out there. This can be accomplished in different ways.

1) Attend story hour! Libraries almost always have story hour and I can remember just how much fun that was when I was a kid. In fact, I have very specific memories of sitting in the story room and getting swept away about all sorts of adventures. Another place to check are the local bookstores.

2) Start a book club for kids! Kids Reads has some great tips to get you started and also provides some guides for different books.

3) Visit the library and the bookstore.

4) Leave books out for your kids so they can look at the pictures and talk about the stories when they have their friends over.

5) Subscribe to a magazine for children.

You will demonstrate the importance of reading in the world by making sure your children see the natural and delightful way reading is a part of our lives! Try these out and recommend some more ideas in comments!

(this post has been submitted to Rocks in My Dryer’s Works for Me Wednesday)

Now granted, this is a bit of an old-fashioned book.  In fact, the copy I have is the 60th anniversary edition.  But I loved it almost because of, not in spite of, it’s homey, old-fashioned atmosphere and story lines.

 The Moffats are a family that consist of 4 children, one mother, and one cat (the father having died when the littlest Moffat was a baby).   When we meet them, Slyvie is 15, Joey is 12, Jane is 9 and Rufus is 5.  Their mother is a seamstress who sews dresses for the ladies of the town to provide for her family.  The book is full of the adventures of the children individually and together.  Eleanor Estes does a great job of relating the incidents and happenings of their lives as a child would see and feel them - the horror and anxiety of their home that they’d lived in for years being put for sale, trying to run away on the first day of school, and joining together as siblings to play pranks on an annoying neighborhood kid.  It is a happy book, sprinkled with humor.  The joy of this book is that it is about everyday events that turn into adventures for the Moffat children.   One Moffat gets stuck in a bread box all afternoon and one Moffat ends up driving a horse and buggy clear to another town while the original driver sleeps on in the buggy!  (Were they ever late for Sunday School that morning!) 

Will they get to stay in their dearly loved yellow house?  Will Rufus ever make it to kindergarten?  Is there really a ghost in the attic?  Be sure to read The Moffats and find out! 

We’re getting to Black History late this year, but I read my favorite book Friday. That book is “The Ruby Bridges Story” by Robert Coles. The story takes place in Mississippi during the turbulent early 1960’s. Ruby, along with three other black girls were court ordered to be the first African-American children in all-white schools. Ruby was in the first grade. Ruby’s family was strongly Christian, which helps explains her character and values. The story goes on to explain what the climate was like as she was led up the stairs of the school with federal marshals for protection. She wound up being the only student in the school because the other parents pulled their children out. Ruby is a wonderful example of love, courage, and the desire and drive to learn. I highly recommend this book. I am also showing my children the movie which goes into more depth. As I looked over my class, which could represent little bits of the whole world, I realized how far we have come. They have a hard time grasping that people could ever be so cruel. That’s a good thing!

It seems that it is fairly popular to tell additional tales of classic and well loved characters. There have been many versions of The Phantom of the Opera for example, as well as Scarlett the sequel to Gone With the Wind and many other such books. It’s a bit like glorified fan fiction!

But I was somewhat surprised to see a book that tells the tale of Anne before she arrives at Green Gables! After all, the Anne series had several installments and seemed fully fleshed out.

I haven’t read it yet, but I hope to read it sometime in the future. It seems that this book was approved by the heirs of L.M. Montgomery and is probably perfectly delightful.

So I guess we can expect that one hundred years or so from now we will be getting additional tales about the characters in the world of Harry Potter!

Are there any retellings or modern sequels of classic tales that you like? Do you ever write fan fiction?

The story begins as Maria Merryweather, orphaned at the age of 13, travels to the home of her Uncle Benjamin where she will now be living. She has never before visited and never before met Sir Benjamin, but she travels with two trusty companions who will also be staying on with her. As in all wonderful fairy tales the home turns out to be a castle, the horse is a beautiful unicorn, and the dog is a . . . but wait, you will have to read and find out for yourself!

I read this book aloud to my two oldest girls at the end of last year. It is recommended for ages 9 - 12 (though I loved it!), but my girls (then aged 4 and 6) really enjoyed the story. We laughed, held our breath in suspense, and just smiled at the pure loveliness of the tale. Elizabeth Goudge is a master at descriptions; the language is beautiful. The town in which they live is called Silverydew and everything is perfectly lovely. But yet there is something wrong. It is up to Maria to discover what it is (”an old man whispered . . . ‘Be you the one, my dear?’ And an old woman whispered: ‘Keep a stout heart, dearie, for maybe ’twill be you.’ “). In the meantime, Maria has wonderful adventures, falls in love, and learns about character.

I recommend this book as a read-aloud book. It is a story to be shared. My girls and I loved it - in fact, after we read it together my oldest daughter went on to read it a couple more times on her own. We have our favorite parts and it is fun to refer back to them together. I can’t wait to read more Elizabeth Goudge books!

If you enjoy sappy, happy-ending reading you will LOVE the Baxter series. I have now finished my third book in the third series about a close-knit family. The book, titled “Someday” does not disappoint. There is enough drama, romance, and drama to keep you interested for the easy-read , 323 page novel.

All our favorites return to Bloomington. Each sister, brother, in-law, and good friend has a story line - although some more involved than others. I’ve learned a lot about actors and the paparazzi from these books.

Karen Kingsbury does a good job making you engage with her characters. You will cry along with all the drama and feel good as well.

Karen wrote this book in the midst of her father dying. When you read it, please don’t forget to read the beginning - before the story begins. Read her dedication pages.

Kingsbury’s books are for all ages. I keep telling my daughters I have outgrown them, but when a new one comes out I immediately order it. They are addicting, especially the Baxter books. Happy reading - don’t miss these!

I’m the matriarch of this trio. I think I passed my love of reading and books onto all three of my children, which delights me to no end! It is fun being able to share that part of our lives which each other and with anyone else who will listen!

My love of reading led me into going to college as a non-traditional (wife and mother of three) student in order to teach little people to love books (and math, and science, and social studies, and writing!). So far, I’ve had a fair amount of success with the book part - with both first and second graders in both Missouri and California.

I love dogs, I love the color RED, I love chocolate, and I love children - they crack me up! I love teaching, I love good movies and television, but most of all, I love reading!

I’ve been happily married for a LONG TIME (35 years in April). I’m also a long-distance granny - and have tried to pass my love of books to those kids, too!

Well, I’m the youngest of the bunch, the cool, hip single one. Ahem.

In any case, I have always loved to read and I love the way story both communicates truth and entertains. I love everything from a dreamy romance to a powerful epic. My all time favorite novel is Jane Eyre, but there are several books in my permanent collection.

To top it off, I spend my working hours helping others improve their reading and English language skills. It’s my joy to do, but truthfully at times, also my burden. I love travel, being challenged in my thought life, trying new food, and writing. And I love Jesus Christ.

I hope you’ll pull up a chair and join us for awhile in the Friendly Book Nook!