Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare

This book is a historical fiction. I decided the kids might like it since they all like Little House in the Big Woods. This story is about a boy named Matt. He traveled west with his father to build a home for his family. His father then leaves him for a few weeks when he travels back east to get his mother and little sister. Matt has to fend for himself and is doing fine until he has a run in with a swarm of angry bees. Indians nurse him back to health and he develops a friendship with the chief's grandson who teaches him the things he need to know to survive until the return of his family. In exchange Matt teaches him about reading. Matt becomes a man and though tempted to leave with the Indians when winter approaches he chooses to wait for his family.

The kids loved this book and didn't want it to be over. This part of history seems to really interest them. I've been asked if there is a Sign of the Beaver II :-) We loved learning about how things worked and about the difference between the ways of the 'white man' and the Indians.

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

While I have read the whole series the kids heard one entire book(The Lost Colony) and most parts of the rest of them.

Book one: Artemis Fowl
In this book you learn who Artemis is. He is a 12 year old who is taking care of his family's criminal activities because his father has gone missing. He is also using the money he gets as a way to fund rescue missions to search for his father. He finds out about The People, who are fairies, and fools the LEPrecon out of their gold by paying a drunken pixie to see her...fairy handbook. This makes him the only human alive who knows the fairy secrets or that they even exist. The real name of this book escapes me right now. This is a great book and Artemis is a really interesting character. It's different to see the main character in a children's book be the bad guy.

Book two: The Artic Incident
In this book Artemis teams up with the fairies during a goblin uprising. In exchange for Artemis' help the LEP help him rescue his father. This book shows the beginning of Artemis becoming the good guy.

Will continue in a few!

The White Giraffe by Laura St. John

Christopher is participating in Book Beat at our local library and this is one of the books he was assigned to read. We heard it on audio book. In this story a young girl named Martine loses her mother and father in a terrible house fire. She is then sent to live in Africa on an animal reserve with a grandmother she never knew existed. Initially her grandmother doesn't seem to care very much for her and she has a very difficult time adjusting. She finds out about the white giraffe and doesn't believe the stories at first but soon discovers the truth about the giraffe as well as her own destiny.

This was a really good book! We listened to it in two days, the kids didn't want to turn it off. It's full of action and fantasy. The book starts out very sad so that could be a problem for a sensitive child. The best age rage for this book is probably 8 and up. My 5 year old got nothing out of it but he did enjoy hearing about the animals. I loved that it didn't have any dull parts. There was enough stuff happening throughout to prevent the kids from getting bored and antsy. Chris has asked for a copy of this book and that says a lot! This one is worth the read.