the curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon

The first time I picked up this book I tried reading it several times but could just not do it. After talking with a book friend about the premise of the book I thought I would give it another go. The idea of the book is that it is written by an autistic boy...who literally writes exactly as he thinks and speaks. Once I understood that, the book made so much more sense. I found it funny at times, sad at times and overall entertaining. I read it in 2 days because it is an easy read. It really makes you realize how a child with Autism may think, speak, act and feel and how to successfully communicate with them. It also made me reflect as an educator how I may better communicate with some of my own students. Good, easy read.

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Wow....what a great read. While perusing the book section at Costco on a lazy Sunday afternoon I picked up this book. When I read the first sentence of the book, "I was sitting in a taxi wondering if I has overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a dumpster", I knew this would be an interesting book...in fact I think I read the whole first chapter while standing in Costco. This is a memoir of the author, Jeannette Walls's life. She lived with her very loving family. Her dad was an alcoholic and her mom just coped. Sometimes she coped well and others not so well. I could not imagine a life of such poverty in America. This is a story of a family that picked up and moved whenever money got tight...which is every few months most of the time. It was heartwarming to see how they stuck together throughout adversity and how the children in the Walls family overcame adversity to become very successful adults. It made me grateful for my wonderful life and childhood. If you ever think you may be hard done by...read this book. It will set you straight...and make you thankful. I think it may be one of the best books I have read in a while.

Summer Sisters By Judy Blume

I know....we all thought that Judy Blume was a children's author....and she is...but she has written some adult books too. This was a great book, an easy read and a vacation book for me. I read it on the beach in Tofino in a couple of days. It is not a new book....in fact as I was reading I remembered that I had read it a long time ago and loved it then...but did not remember what happened. I enjoyed just as much or more the second time around. This book is about growing up, friendship and first loves. It is a book that my book club choose for this year so here I am blogging about it. I recommend it if you are looking for a light, easy read...with a little bit of smut...I am going to lend it to my closest girlfriend...it kind of reminds me of growing up together.

Plan bee By Susan Brackney

I just started reading this book about bees. It is very interesting and even though I am only 50 pages in...I have already learnt some very interesting things about bees. Did you know that bees can leave the hive up to 10 to 15 times a day to collect pollen? and they may visit up to 100 flowers each time they leave... and they travel as far a 10 miles away from the hive. Bees are so efficient with their set up in the hive...if a queen is ill or not cutting it they will kill her and raise a new queen to take her place. Once a bee stings it sends out pheromone signals to other bees in the area to attack...so if you get stung...go inside. The book is toted as "everything you ever wanted to know about the hardest working creatures on the planet" and has the descriptor "now disappearing in alarming numbers, honeybees are the unsung heroes of the food chain, essential for the pollination of apples, oranges, almonds, blueberries, and more than ninety other crops" on the author's site. The author is also a beekeeper herself...can wait to finish it.