Adventures With Andy & Susie: A Stormy Weekend by Donna Hall

What a pretty little picture book!  With the soft and intentional strokes of a brush, Donna Hall invites children, and adults alike, into an imaginative world.  Adventures With Andy & Susie: A Stormy Weekend is a tale that is not bound by time. 

Andy returns home from a school, far away, and resumes his adventures with his dear black and white cat, Susie.  Together they do the usual things: help Dad with farm chores, pick flowers for Mom, eat a homegrown lunch, and visit a friend from the neighborhood.  Yet, there is also the unusual!  Susie, the cat, wears a curious pair of spectacles, a bus sails through the air, a rabbit wears clothing, Katie is in a steam-powered wheel chair, and beekeepers wear tin hats!

There is a lot for readers to connect with and much more to explore and wonder at. 

While the pictures are bright and flowing, I found that I was distracted by the quotations marks in the text, used for emphasis and expression.  They were understandable, just distracting. 

Adventures with Any & Susie is a cozy book for lower to middle elementary age readers - perfect for snuggling under blankets or curling up in the lap of someone who is dearly loved.

Photo credit: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51PRToLaNDL._SY363_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

I received this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen

This review can also be read in the Canon City Daily Record.

Every once in a while, a reader needs to take a break from something cerebral or intentional, returning to a book that had been thoroughly enjoyed at one point. This cooler weather has brought on the desire to curl up with a good book that never disappoints. It can be hard to explain why we love a favored book. All I can do is tell you what the book is about so you can grab a copy of the magical fiction, The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen - see if this clean, gentle love story transports you, too.

Josey Cirrini is no longer the petulant, spoiled child the town of Bald Slope remembers her to be. Rather she has become quiet and demure, cowed and invalidated by her hard and widowed, Southern Belle mother. Josey's sole purpose in life is to cater to her mother's needs, driving her to luncheons and hair appointments, and helping her keep up the illusion of privileged independence. There are only a few things that bring joy to Josey each day - the handsome man who delivers the mail, travel magazines, and a closet filled to the brim with a secret stash of sweets.

Yet lemon drops and snow caps are not the only things in her closet. Della Lee Baker, a local waitress, suddenly takes up residence there beside the bottles of pop and licorice whips. And does not leave. Instead, the rough and blunt, bleach-blonde woman imparts assignments and food orders that force Josey Cirrini to leave her closet - her room - and venture into the world beyond. With the falling of leaves, and the changing of seasons, magic sets growth and healing into motion.

In this world outside her home, Josey discovers Chloe Finley, a young woman followed by insistent books. A lifelong blessing and curse, books appear, pushing themselves and their content on Chloe - at the exact moments she needs them. Her heart has been deeply broken, making space in her life to befriend the Cirrini daughter... and connect Josey with that mailman she has fallen in love with.

Doughnuts and candy bars are not the only secrets in the town of Bald Slope. And friendship is not the only magic. There's love to be rekindled after decades... the color red, once shunned, now to be worn... a murder to be solved... spirits to be acknowledged... hearts to be opened and healed... snowmen to be built... strength and confidence to be welcomed... and journeys to take beyond the doorways of closets, where candy hearts can no longer take the place of real love and acceptance.

Photo Credit: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51NyGtL2XqL._SX322_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

A Wolf Called Ring by A.W. Sibley

I asked one of the young adults in my home to review this book.  She is an avid reader in high school, and loves animals and their stories.

In my opinion, the book A Wolf Called Ring by Dr. A.W. Sibley was not well-written.  The paragraphs in this book are at average 5 – 10 sentences which makes it hard to read.  It gets me distracted when there are so many unnecessary pauses in the story.  I’m pretty sure that this is supposed to be an autobiography but it isn’t clearly stated.

The wolf’s story line is very detached and makes no sense sometimes.  There are many pieces of information he used for Ring’s part of the story that made no sense and weren’t factual.  It is hard to believe that he actually did some research on this book.  There are multiple places in the book where it mentions that anyone can know that his name is Ring just because of the ring around his neck.

The book wasn’t all bad, though.  The ending was partially a cliffhanger and it was a bit sad, which can be nice in a story.   The book had some good points but most of it wasn’t relevant to the story.  When Honey Gal comes into the story, the reader gets distracted from Ring as we move into the story of his horse.  It is hard to believe he remembers so much from when he was 6-9 years old.

To conclude this review, I will state that I believe the book cover was misleading.  The front cover art makes to boy look detached and apathetic.  All and all, I personally didn’t enjoy the book, but I am sure many others will.

photo credit: Amazon

I received this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald

This review can also be seen in the Canon City Daily Record. 


I am not a bird person. Never have been, and the day a parrot bit me, I knew I never would be. I avoid aviaries and I ignore chickadees and robins at bird-feeders. Yet, we have chickens. I am able to enjoy them - somewhat - if at a respectable distance.

One evening, I looked into my backyard and saw our new, young rooster moving oddly at the door to the chicken house. He was out in the yard, back into the coop, and then back out the door again. What was he doing?! And then my eyes fell on a hawk, sitting on a fence post at the edge of our property - utterly still. The rooster finally stopped moving in and out, deeming the yard safe. When the hawk suddenly changed his position, the chicken ran back into the hen house. After a few moments of complete stillness from the bird of prey, the domestic bird felt safe to try his luck outside. And once again, the hawk changed his position, just slightly, like a game of Red Light, Green Light... taunting the poor rooster!

Amused, I saw the hawk had a sense of humor, a sense of fun about his business. So I was only mildly shocked at myself when I picked up "H Is for Hawk" by Helen Macdonald. One of the Ten Best Books from the 2015 New York Times Book Review, I had heard delighted praise for this work - part grief memoir, part literary exploration, part natural poetry. Surprised, but pleased, I was hooked from the first page, and I found myself enjoying yet another bird. This one was named Mabel.

With beautiful sentences, and delicious phrases Macdonald introduces us to her love for goshawks, a raptor related to eagles and buzzards. She observes, "Looking for goshawks is like looking for grace: it comes, but not often and you don't get to say when or how." Amidst the tale of her purchase, training, and flying of the hawk, we are invited to travel through the bereavement that grips her upon the untimely death of her father. And woven with these tender intimacies, Macdonald shares with us the private despairs of fellow falconer, T.S. White, author of "The Once and Future King." She divulges how the stories he composed of King Arthur, Merlin, and Camelot mirrored his own griefs, and how he found a dichotomy of struggle and relief in goshawking, just as she does.

This textured narrative insists that while the heart breaks and seeks flight, healing is only found in the human world. And I found, here, another bird to admire.

Photo credit: 

Rain Reign by Ann Martin

This review can also be read in the Canon City Daily Record. 

Once in a while a book comes along that is simple and sweet, and yet devastating at its core. "Rain Reign," by Newberry author Ann M. Martin, is a book suggested to me at the beginning of summer. I was hesitant. I knew Ann Martin from her Babysitters Club series (I was a huge nine year old fan) but I wasn't sure I wanted to read anything in that vein right now. Yet I gave it a shot, especially since the book was short, with large bold type, and a decent amount of white space on the page. If anything, it would be a quick read.

I was pleasantly surprised. In this upper-elementary novel, I found the thoughtful coming of age story of twelve-year old Rose Howard, told by Rose herself, concerning the growing up that all must do regardless of gifts and strengths, struggles and restrictions.
Rose is on the Autism Spectrum. High functioning, she is skilled in math, and competent in many types of patterns. She is obsessed with homonyms, following rules and schedules, and prime numbers.

Unfortunately, no one seems to quite understand her condition. There is often confusion in concern for Rose. Teachers, peers, and even her father, seem to be confused and angry in their interactions with this astute young lady. The only one who seems to understand, or to be able to really help make sense of the seemingly senseless world around, is her Uncle Weldon.
Yet Rose's father tries. Wesley is a single dad, suffering from heartbreak and job loss. He loves his daughter, but cannot seem to offer what she needs. He leans on Weldon to provide kindness and compassion for his child. Despite his gruffness and frustration, he has tender feelings. One day he brings home a dog - a gift. Rose promptly names the dog Rain... a name with 2 homonyms (reign, rein). Rain becomes a friend.
One night, a devastating storm moves in from the coast - floods, loss of electricity, phone lines down. Schools close and there is little comforting structure to the days during the disaster. During the destructive storm, Wesley lets Rain out in the middle of the night, as usual, and she does not return. And in the sad moments and days that follow, Rose tells us how she is angry with her father, how much she misses her dog, and her fears. We follow her in a systematic search for the dog, further clashes with her father, and life's messy struggles.

"Rain Reign" is a concise read with deep and tender compassion. Don't let this one slip by this summer.

Photo Credit: Amazon