Nancy Drew Mystery Stories The Secret Of The Old Clock Review #2

Product Details
Reading level: Ages 9-12

Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap; Back-to-back Ed edition (September 2, 1987)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 044809570X
ISBN-13: 978-0448095707

From the inside cover:

Nancy, unaided , has thrilling adventures seeking a lost will.



My Review:

This story sets out as any other story we learn about the background of Nancy and then in then by the third chapter the mystery begins. This mystery is about the whearabouts of a second will left by Josiah. The Tophans seem to think that the money from Mr. Crowly belongs to them since they took care of him for years before his death. Ms. Drew quickly finds out that he has other friends that and the he possibly had a second will from the old lady Abby Rowen he one of her rants. Being the curious girl she is Nancy decided to find out the truth. Along the way she finds about two sisters who were told by Josiah that they would be inheriting money from him when he dies.So the adventure begins and with tons of excitement for your little girl and the young at heart.

I really liked this story and it was quite a page-turner. I almost could not put it down but life got in the way. I used to enjoy Nancy Drew mysteries as a kid but I never read the original ones. I think I read the files series. This book grabs your attention from the very first page. I hope to introduce Nancy Drew to my daughter when she is older.

I rate this a 5/5

FCC Disclosure: I am an Amazon Associate and I borrowed this from my local library.

Review for Elizabeth and Mary Cousins, Rivals Queens by Jane Dunn

Product Details
Audio CD
Publisher: Random House Audio; Abridged edition (January 6, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 073930982X
ISBN-13: 978-0739309827

Synopsis from Barnes and Noble.com
The political and religious conflicts between Queen Elizabeth I and the doomed Mary, Queen of Scots, have for centuries captured our imagination and inspired memorable dramas played out on stage, screen, and in opera. But few books have brought to life more vividly than Jane Dunn’s Elizabeth and Mary the exquisite texture of two women’s rivalry, spurred on by the ambitions and machinations of the forceful men who surrounded them. The drama has terrific resonance even now as women continue to struggle in their bid for executive power.Against the backdrop of sixteenth-century England, Scotland, and France, Dunn paints portraits of a pair of protagonists whose formidable strengths were placed in relentless opposition. Protestant Elizabeth, the bastard daughter of Anne Boleyn, whose legitimacy had to be vouchsafed by legal means, glowed with executive ability and a visionary energy as bright as her red hair. Mary, the Catholic successor whom England’s rivals wished to see on the throne, was charming, feminine, and deeply persuasive. That two such women, queens in their own right, should have been contemporaries and neighbours sets in motion a joint biography of rare spark and page-turning power.


My Review:

I listened to the abridged version of this book. It did not feel like I was missing a lot. It gave me the meat and potatoes of the story.

The narrator's voice was very suitable for this genre. So it was very interesting. The narrator seem really into what she was saying. The CD were about an hour long each. So you are roughly listening to 8 hours of material.

The author seemed well -researched in her topic. Her writing style seemed more like a novelist than a boring dry historian. It will definitely keep your attention.

I would recommend it to any who has the love of Tudor England and of course the infamous Mary Stuart.

I rate this a 4/5

Review of Happy Hustle High Vol 3-5

Product Details
Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC; 1 edition (September 8, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1591169143
ISBN-13: 978-1591169147

Product Description from Amazon.com

Hanabi Oozora's always acted like a boy, but she's never actually wanted to date one, until she meets Yasuaki Garaku. Hanabi wants to discover the origin of hunky Student Council V.P. Yasuaki's dislike of women, but lately, he has been anything but forthcoming. Her solution - the ancient art of hypnosis! Through her prestigious powers of prestidigitation (and with the help of a five-yen coin), Hanabi successfully lulls Yasuaki into a deep slumber, but will this voyage into his murky, male subconscious yield proof-positive that Yasuaki's aversion is unfounded, or further drive a wedge between the dashing V.P. and all of womankind?




Product Details
Paperback: 200 pages
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC; 1 edition (December 13, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1421500833
ISBN-13: 978-1421500836


Product Description from Amazon.com

Just when Hanabi thinks that she and the dreamy Yasuaki have reached the pinnacle of romantic bliss, the cruel hand of fate throws her a wicked curveball - her childhood friend Takeru (now a marvelous specimen of teenage studliness) is back in town and wants to reminisce about the good old days. Takeru's designs on Hanabi seem more than friendly, especially when he asks her to choose between Yasuaki and himself. Who'll get kissed? Who'll get punched? Who'll get kissed and punched?! Later, Hanabi finds herself in trouble with the school administration (for, like, the gazillionth time), and now must ace her finals and become the best student in her class...or else face the horrifically hair-raising consequences!




Product Details
Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC; 1 edition (March 14, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1421503239
ISBN-13: 978-1421503233

Product Description from Amazon.com

What happens when an all-girls' high school reigning tomboy finds out her school is about to be filled with boys!?
Hanabi Oozora is a rambunctious 16-year-old tomboy who comes to the rescue of her less assertive friends-sometimes in exchange for food. So what does she do when, all of a sudden, her all-girls' school is about to be integrated with an all-boys' school?!
She meets and falls in love-naturally-with one of the three most popular and handsome boys in the Student Council, Yasuaki Garaku! Unfortunately, Yasuaki doesn't care for girls...and when the girls' Student Council clashes head-on with the boys' Student Council, Hanabi steps in to become a member-hoping she'll change Yasuaki's mind!

My Review:

Hanabi is a girl who is in love with Yasuki Garaku, but poeple around them are coming between their love. One is her childhood friend Takeru Sonon the second is her father who comes in to town for a visit. Hanabi's character gradually develops throughout the rest of the story we learn about her childhood when she went from a crybaby to a strong and fierce teenager who will not take crap from anyone.

This is the ending books of the series and I loved it. The books in the series were page turners and I could not wait to see what happened in the end. The characters were well-developed and interesting. The storyline was fast-paced and never dull. This series had gotten me to love manga and I feel it is a great introduction to this wonderful genre.

I would recommend this for a older teenager who is a newcomer or already a fanatic because it is relatively short series.

I rate this 4.5/5

Two Mini Reviews of the Picture books I read to my daughter

This week I read two books to my daughter that she picked out from the library. My daughter had cute picks this week. She is only 3 yrs old and this is what she picked:





Product Details
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Library Binding: 24 pages
Publisher: Picture Window Books (August 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1404802274
ISBN-13: 978-1404802278

My Review:

This is a cute little book with rhymes to keep the child's attention. While my three-year-old did not get the riddles, she enjoyed the pictures and it kept her attention. The pictures are very colorful which is appropriate for her. She loved naming the animals that came up.

Rating 4/5

The second book is:



Product Details
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Paperback: 32 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing (September 1, 1999)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0689829825
ISBN-13: 978-0689829826

My Review:

This is another cute book. The author really get inside the mind of a school-age child. As we all know kids have huge imaginations and the kid is this book is no exception. He thinks that all the faculty at the school live there and work their but he soon discovers his teacher out about in the community. He is puzzled and thinks she is leading a double life that no one knows about but him. The illustrations are very colorful and they held my daughters attention. She loved the exaggerated picture of the teacher especially the picture where the little boy says the teacher has eyes in the back of her head.

My rating is 5/5 great book for your kids and very appropriate for this season.

Review of Obama's Blackberry by Kasper Hauser

Book DescriptionWhen Obama stated that if elected, he would keep his Blackberry, debate echoed through Washington and among the ranks of the Secret Service. What would it be like to have a president who could Twitter, send text messages, and navigate the web with ease? What would it be like to receive a text message from inside the Oval Office and, most importantly, what would it say?
Now, for the first time, We The People are privy to our new leader's epistolary back-and-forths on his wily hand-held device. We're about to discover that his emails (and the replies, from his wife and daughters, Biden, Palen, Rush, Hannity, the new first puppy, and even Bush) are so tuned in to the language of electronic correspondence they come hilariously close to the brink of legibility.
This giftable, imagined glimpse into Obama's beloved Blackberry traverses the mundane and momentous contours of the Commander in Chief's life, from security briefings to spam, basketball practice to domestic bliss, and the panic of oops-I-hit-reply-all, to, of course, the trauma of dealing with the First Mother In Law.

My Review:

Obama's Blackberry is a collection humoruos texts that you may find on the blackberry of Obama. Some fo the texts comre form former Presidents, TV personalities and world leaders. This si a ficiton account but it does reflect the personalities of the famous people who would possibly text our current President.The funniest texts come from former Presidents Clinton and Lincoln.

I would reccomend this to someone whoe would enjoy political humor because you may need to learn the personalities of some of these people to truly enjoy the humor.

I rate this 4/5

Review of Read and Share Toddler Bible

Product Description
This new addition to the Read and ShareTM brand contains 40 stories plus a 60 minute DVD including bonus features just for toddlers.
The Read and Share Toddler Bible is a delightful way to introduce little ones ages one to four to God's Word. Gwen Ellis's engaging retelling of Bible stories along with Steve Smallman's colorful art communicate God's Word clearly to small tots with short attention spans. Stories from both the Old and New Testaments include all-time favorites ranging from Creation, Noah, Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, David, to Jesus' birth, miracles, death, and resurrection.
Bonus DVD includes stories and bonus features from the popular Read and ShareTM DVD Bible series. Each story is three minutes long to keep toddlers attention span engaged.



My Review:
Read and Share Toddler Bible is a children's book that introduces your toddler to the wonderful stores of the Bible. This is geared toward Children ages 2-4

I found this book very interesting and my three year old daughter loved the stories. In fact, we read seeral of the stories in one day. The DVD that came with did not hold her attention much. It lacked the action thati s required to keep and active toddler entranced.

My eight year old enjoyed reading it to himself and enjoyed following in the book while the DVD was on. He was little disappointed when the DVD stopped abruptly.

I would recommend this to parents of small children who are interested in teaching their children the different storiesand lessons of the Bible.

I rate this book 4/5.

Review of The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy

This is the story of Michael Henchard , a man who in a drunken stupor sell his wife and daughter to a fisherman. Eighteen years later she comes backk and finds that he is a the Mayor of a town called Casterbridge. When she returens life begins to change for Michael. Why did she return? How does it affect him? You will have to read to find out.


This is an excellent novel and I look forward to read more by Mr. Hardy(I have already read Tess of D'Ubervilles). Mayor of Casterbridge is a great introduction to Hardy because it less dark than Tess of D'Urbervilles. His character development is very good he digs deep into the psyche of Mr. Henchard. I could easily say this is one of my favorite books.

Review of Homer's Odyssey by Gwen Cooper

This is the story of Homer a small blind cat who came to live with the author. She tells the story of how she found him and how he taught her about life and love.

Imagine being blind then imagine how it feels for an animal. Your senses are heightened to accomodate for your disability. For cat who senses are already heightened imagine it was hypersensitive. This cat has never seen what it was like to see. He had to learn about the world in the dark. He had to learn through voices on whether the person likes you are not.


Ms. Cooper is a very likeable narrator she mixes humor with sadness and everything in between. You will find yourself falling in love with Homer and all her cats. Even people who do not like animals will fall for Homer after reading this book.

This book is very well written and straight from the heart. I would recommend this to any animal lover because it is truly and inspring story and its amazing what a little blind cat can teach you.

Review for Of Bees and Mist by Erick Setiawan

From the back cover of the ARC:

Erick Setiawan's debut in an engrossing fable that chronicles three generations of women under one family tree- their galvanic love and passion, their shifting alliances, their cultural beliefs, their complex domestic politics- and places them in a mythical town where spirits and spells, witchcraft and demons, and ghosts and clairvoyance are everyday reality.

Meridia grows up in a loveless home until she falls in love and , at age sixteen ,marries Daniel- a caring and naive young man. Soon, they have a child of their own, and Meridia can finally escape to live with her husband's family-unaware that they harbor dark secrets of their own. There isa grave hidden in the garden, there are two sisters groomed from birth to despise each other, and there is Eva-The formidable matriach and the wickedest monster-in-law imaginable-- whose grievances swarm the air in an army of bees. As Meridia struggles to keep her young family together, she discovers long-kept secrets about her own past as well as the shocking truths about her new family.
My Review:

All I can say about this book is wow. This book sucked me in from the beginning. The characters were well-developed and real. I could relate to just about all of them. You saw behind their motives and you learned why they did the things they did. This book was far from predictable I was shocked to the end. For a debut author Mr. Setiawan wrote a very good novel. I have been advertising it to everyone. I even offered to let my husband who is a non- reader to read it. I am not usually a supernatural type person but this was not all this story was about it was about family and pain. It was the interweaving of relationships of two families. Its about women and men. I can't say enough about this book. You have to go read it. This will be my favorite of the year. Nothing I have read since has held my attention as much as this one. I look forward to more from this author.

I give it a 5/5

Review for A Doll's House

Summary from Amazon.com: Norwegian-born Henrik Ibsen’s classic play about the struggle between independence and security still resonates with readers and audience members today. Often hailed as an early feminist work, the story of Nora and Torvald rises above simple gender issues to ask the bigger question: "To what extent have we sacrificed our selves for the sake of social customs and to protect what we think is love?" Nora’s struggle and ultimate realizations about her life invite all of us to examine our own lives and find the many ways we have made ourselves dolls and playthings in the hands of forces we believe to be beyond our control.

Review:
I would have to say this is one of my favorite plays by Mr. Ibsen. I saw it as a movie about two years ago. I thought I would read the play when an online group of mine called Banned Books decided to read it for this month's read. One of the questions was why was it banned at the time. Well when reading the play the wife leaving her husband and finding herself was considered scandalous in the Victorian Era. Here is an example: I have been performing tricks for you, Torvald. That's how I've survived. You wanted it like that. You and Papa have done me a great wrong. It's because of you I've made nothing of my life(Nora, Act 3)


Nora was a well developed character who felt trapped all her life under the thumb of men. She was told how to act and how to talk. Finally, she realized she was tired of it. She wanted to do something for herself.

If you ever wanted to know read about the start of woman's liberation start this is the play for you and also see my review on The Awakening by Katie Chopin. Both are very good.

I rate this a 5/5

Review of SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson

From the inside cover:
Melinda Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't know hate her from a distance. It's no use explaining to her parents; they've never known what her life is really like. The safest place for Melinda to be is alone, inside her own head. But even that's not safe. Because there's something she's trying not to think about, something about the night of the party that, if she admitted it and let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise to smithereens. And then she would have no choice. Melinda would have to speak the truth.

My Review:
This book is written in a diary like format without the dates. Each chapter has a different theme. Ms. Anderson's novel was also one of the saddest novels I read this year. You get to see inside the head of the Melinda. You know how she feels and how she copes with what has happened to her to cause all the chain of events at that one party that summer. Before that she was preparing for high school like every teenager but one even made her selectively mute. This book was hard to read yet you could not put it down. Her feelings were real and they were raw. It is also a good introduction to this author. I look forward to reading to read her current bestseller Wintergirls.

Overall I give this book a 5/5. I loved it.

Review of the Middle Ages edited by Antonia Fraser

From the Inside Cover:
On 14 October 1066 two armies met at Hastings. Beautifully illustrated and accessibly written. The Middle Ages begins at the most famous date in English History and covers the three centureis during which England arguably began its transformation into a modern state: during these years the Curia Regis was formed, which paved the way for parliamentary assembly, and the principle of strong hereditary monarchy was established.
Yet, this short volume covers not only the politics of the time, an age of contested succession, but in vivid biographies convey the personalities of the medieval kings: from the brutal, unattractive William I to the 'mythical' Richard the Lionheart and the mighty Edward I. Their fascinating lives are played out against some of the central events of English history: the Domesday Book, the Crusades, Magna Carta, the Hundred Years' War and the Black Death.

My Review:
This book was a fairly short read. It gave little biographies of each of the Kings during this period and some of the major events that occurred in their reign. I think this book was well written and well researched. I think it will be a great introductory book for someone who wants to learn a little more of the middle ages but does not want a huge book. Its great for a high school or college student who is studying this period in time. This is a part of a series of 6 books on the the different Monarchs of England from William the Conqueror to Elizabeth II. This particular volume ends with Richard II.

Review of ANA'S STORY by Jenna Bush

From the inside cover:
She's seventeen
She's been abused
And She is HIV-positive.
She is Ana, and this is her story. It begins the day she is born infected with HIV,transmitted from her young mother, Now she barely remembers her mama, who died when Ana was only three. From then on, Ana's childhood becomes a blur of faint memories and secrets---secrets about her illness and about the abuse she endures.
Ana's journey is a long one. Shuffled from home to home, she rarely finds safety or love. And then she meets a boy. Berto is one of the only people Ana trusts with all her secrets. That trust puts Ana on apathe to breaking the silence that has harmed her and leads her to new beginnings, new sorrows, and new hope.

My Review:
This was one of the saddest books I have read in a long time yet it ended up sort of positive. One thing I did not like is that it ended up abruptly and I wanted to know more on what has happened to Ana. You find yourself wanting to protect her. The stuff she had to go through was horrid. I am glad that she did not let that deter her and made her a stronger person. Ms. Bush did a fairly good job in documenting this true story while on a mission with UNICEF.

I rate this book a 3.5/5 for the abrupt ending.

Review of Queen Isabella by Alison Weir

From the Back cover:
In this vibrant biography, acclaimed author Alison Weir reexamines the life of Isabella of England, one of history's most notorious and charismatic queens. Isabella arrived in London in 1308, the spirited twelve-year-old daughter of King Philip IV of France. Her marriage to the heir to England's throne was designed to heal old political wounds between the two countries, and in the years that followed she became an important figure, a determined and clever woman whose influence would come to last centuries. Many myths and legends have been woven around Isabella's story, but in this first full biography in more than 150 years, Weir gives a groundbreaking new perspective.

My Review:

Alison Weir's goal is to get the reader to develop sympathy for Isabella of France. She states the reason why she did what she did. Her claims for the reason Isabella did what she did was 1. She was neglected wife who husband picked men over her, 2. Her husbands male companions were trying to harm her and 3. Her husband was a weak man who was easily persuaded. When she brought over from France she had high hopes for her marriage even though she was very young she soon realized that her dreams will never be realized. She also goes on to state that she is not responsible for the demise of Edward II of England. She state possible theories for why this is so. That being said this is not one of my favorites by her I liked her Children of Henry VIII the best so far.

Review The Awakening by Kate Chopin

From the back cover:
Her most famous work, certainly roused many. This novel tells of a Louisiana wife who discovers the strength of her own sexuality and tries to wrench it from the hands of a patriarchal society. And just as Edna Pontellier is ostracized fro trying to master her own sexual fate, so was Chopin shunned after writing this book, her reputation and career destroyed. Today, however, The Awakening is considered a masterpiece, and along with her short stories, it has set a standard for younger generations of women, who have learned to value their individuality and independence.

My Review:

I really liked this short story by Katie Chopin. I kind of understand why Edna feels the way she does. Here she is keeping up appearances for her husband that she does not love but feeling empty inside. Why I don't agree that she should have left her children behind when she decided to claim her independence. I understood her need to find herself, what she is about and what she can accomplish. I read this for a book club called Banned Books. I understood why it was banned back in the Victorian Era. Women were not allowed to have opinion on anything. They were expected to very agreeable to their husbands and turn the other cheek when he did something that would disappoint her. The were like little puppets. Katie Chopin was criticized for this work so much so that she never wrote another novel again.

Overall I rate this 4.5/5

Review of I Don't Want to Be Crazy

From the Back Cover:
This is a true story of growing up, breaking down, and coming to grips with a psychological disorder. When Samantha Schutz first left home for college she was excited by the possibilities- freedom from parent, freedom from a boyfriend who was reckless with her affections, freedom from the person she was supposed to be, At first, she reveled in the independence-but as pressures increased she began to suffer anxiety attacks that would leave her mentally shaken and physically incapacitated. Thus began a hard road of discovery and coping, powerfully rendered in their poetry memoir.

Review:
I picked this book out because I to suffer from an anxiety and I want to read a memoir about it. This book was a quick read. It help you get deep into her inner thoughts. This book is written in a poetic style. The prose was good I like a few passages in the novel that I will share with you.

We go around the Thanksgiving table
saying what we are thankful for.
I don't want it to be my turn.
I don't want to say something generic
like, I am thankful to have my family together,
when we're not all here
What I want to say is,
I am thankful for Rebecca's support
for Klonopin,
for Jean.

You can sense the anxiety in this passage. Samantha was taken on and off meds to control her anxiety. It can sometimes be paralyze to her where she can not function without them. I really liked this story and I would recommend it to anyone suffering from anxiety.

Review of Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell

Summary from the Back of the Book:
Set in Manchester in the 1840z- period of industrial unrest and extreme deprivation-Mary Barton depicts the effects of economic and physical hardship upon the city's working-class community. Paralleling the novel's treatment of the relationship between masters and men, the suffering of the poor, and the workmen's angry response, is the story of Mary herself: a factory-worker's daughter who attracts the attentions of the mill-owner's son, she becomes caught up in the violence of class conflict when a brutal murder forces her to confront her true feelings and allegiances.

Review:
The beginning started out slow. It was mostly about society and politics of the period for the first 100 pages. The last 200 pages were filled with excitement that kept you at the edge of your seat. I am glad I stayed past the first 100 pages because I ended up liking the book after all. The character were interesting and did wonder what was happening to them. The prose was great and it help you get inside the mind of the characters. Also included in my copy are two lectures on Lancashire dialect. Which at times in the book was hard to understand. While I did not read the lectures I may go back and read them at a later time. This is not my first work by Ms.Gaskell it certainly won't be my last. My advice is after the first 100 pages you will get to the meat and potatos of the the story.

My overall rating is: 4/5

Review of Glinda of Oz by Frank Baum

Summary and Review:

This is the last book in the Oz series but I am reading this series out of order.

Even though it entitled Glinda of Oz, Glinda is not a major character in the story. The two main characters in the story are Dorothy and Ozma and how they travel to the lands of the Skeezers and Flatheads. Along the way the have some mishaps and challenges. When they eventually get to the land of the Flatheads they find that they are going to war with the Skeezers. The all fighting over fish in the pond. Not just any fish but the 3 Adepts who were turned into fish by the leader of the Skeezers. Well Ozma tries to stop them and she and Dorothy end up in the middle and are eventually trapped in the land of the Skeezers. Will they get out? Well you will have to read to find out.

This book as well as most of Frank Baum's books are filled with lessons for children. This novel is not different. This book includes bullying, lying and cruelty. I think any child would love this book its full of fantasy and not to scary for the little ones. This book is very engaging and you are immediately immersed in the beautiful language of the book. This book is a rather quick read even though I recieved it daily via Daily Lit. I finished it in about 2wks reading 4 entries a day.

I would recommend this to any family who wants an escape to the land of OZ.