Hmmmm

Collection For Local Families

Collection for Local Families

Part of being part of a community is stepping up and helping out your fellow neighbors. Just like small businesses, everyone has a story. Maybe good fortune, having the right contacts, being in the right place at the right time or maybe just pure luck. Others, may have been in your shoes, but because of bad luck, circumstances, or just because "stuff happens" now find themselves struggling

I have put together a gofundme request, if you are in a situation to help, great, if you can't help, that's OK as well. 

The money collected will be to purchase a Secret Santa gift of food for the holidays. It's not going to be for toys or gifts, there are other ways that families can request assistance.

Once we reach the funding limit of $300, we will purchasing and delivering the food anonymously to the family.

If you have kids that would like to help with the food shopping or delivery, let me know, we would like to get them involved as well

Feel free to give $1 or $10 or $100, there is no minimum.

gofundme.com/hm7tsk

Just remember, you might be in this situation someday and would love to have the help.

This campaign is being sponsored by Ken Kennedy and Edgewater Books!

Escape From Mr. Limoncello's Library

Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library
By Chris Grabenstein

Since the last book review was not-so-good, I have to follow it up with a better one. Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein is fantastic!!! Thoroughly enjoyed reading this one!! It is a nominee for the MD Black-Eyed Susan award for grades 4-6 and I think it has a great chance at winning. It's fun. It's comical. It's just a good read.

It about a huge board game mogul who builds a state-of-the-arts library in his home town. Through an essay contest, a group of students are awarded a sleepover in the library before it's open to the public. When the kids wake up the next morning, they are given an ultimatum...they can choose to leave or stay and play a game and win the grand prize. The gist of the game is to find an escape route (that's not the front entrance) out of the library in 24 hours. All the clues they need are in the library.

The clues were extremely clever and I got a chance to freshen up on my Dewey decimal skills. The characters are not unlike anyone you would find at any school or in any neighborhood which made the story believable. The high-techness was way cool too! I would LOVE to have a library like that here! I give Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library two thumbs up! If I had a third thumb, then that would not only be weird, but it would be up as well. Ya gotta read it!!

The Shock of the Fall

The Shock of the Fall
By Nathan Filer

This was my November new book read and for the first time in reading advanced copies...I wasn't thrilled. In fact, I still haven't finished this book.

The Shock of the Fall was originally published in November 2013 under the title Where the Moon Isn't and it didn't fair too well. The publisher gave it a new name and cover and republished it hoping that it would do better. I totally respect trying to give a book a second chance especially when you think it may do better, but in this case...well, who knows. Maybe I didn't get it. The structure of the book is rather choppy. There are really no defined chapters and it's just a bunch of pieces stacked together. This makes it's very hard to read. The idea behind the book is rather sketchy as well. So far what I've gotten out of it is that the main character's brother, Simon, suddenly passed away during a family vacation. The book does say that Simon had a disorder and went to a special school, but I never really got what his disorder was. Either I missed it or it wasn't really stated, but I really don't know how he died either. In any case, it really messed up the main character, Matthew, as well as his family. The book seems to be about dealing with this sudden loss. Upon arriving home from the family vacation, they have to deal with the reminders of Simon.  Matthew, is taken out of school and seems to be crazy protected by his mother who he states is "mad" (like in the crazy sense and not the angry sense). In some parts of the book, Matthew is talking about nurses and I'm thinking he spends some time in a mental ward, but that's not really stated either.

I'm incredibly apologetic, but I can't give you much more than this. Honestly, I couldn't really recommend this book. I thought the title was as intriguing as the cover, but it was a bit disappointing. I'll keep trying to get through it and if I change my mind, I'll let ya know.

Who Doesn't!!!

Fill Your Mind!