TK, 8 year old Book Critic

Well the Grandbabes had to go home for a few weeks while I house sit once again.  I am at the big house today but will be moving over to the garden house mid afternoon for the next two weeks.  Thank goodness JDL is home even though she is working two jobs now.  She can still care for our pets and will be taking over my bedroom.  I do not think our dogs can possible sleep without someone in that bed!

As I was telling you yesterday my Granddaughter TK is doing wonderful reading chapter books.  She finished two this week while she was visiting.  Her other Grandmother gave her a Kindle for her birthday.  It is fantastic to have so many books at her finger tips.  But as cool as a Kindle can be, holding a book still is a time honored tradition.  I wonder if we will lose the printed word?

After she had read each book, TK told me the highlights of what was good about the book.   Her first one was EEP! by Joke van Leewen.  Yes these are two more of the box of books.  This one is from Gecko Press.  This was first published in New Zealand  but was copyrighted in Amsterdam.  TK loved that they made this edition with flaps on the covers that could be used as bookmarks.  It was the first time she had seen a book made this way.  Now the book starts off with Warren, an avid bird watcher.  One day Warren sees something strange lying under a bush. He doesn't know whether it is a bird in the form of a girl, or a girl in the form of a bird. He takes the creature home. His wife Tina wants to keep it and raise it as her own child. But it has wings!  They are taken on an adventure that is fun yet helps a child understand that family is often what we make of it.  I love this because I take so many different people into my home on a regular basis.  And in doing so I have to be prepared for when they are ready to go away too.  Just as Beedy (the young bird girl) also does in the end.

The second book TK read was Escape From Mercy Hall by Garth Edwards and is published by Inside Pocket.  This is the first book of the Thorn Gate Trilogy with the next book to be released this fall.  Now TK is 8 years old and Escape from Mercy Hall looked like it might be just a lil scary.  So I asked her to tell me if any of the book made her uncomfortable to let me know.  Silly me!  She knows books are just stories and this one was a great new world for TK.  Milly is the main character and is a orphan at Mercy Hall.  Milly escapes from the orphanage with her friends George and Samuel.  They are looking for her lost older brother, Tom. But they find a strange land of Muttons (flesh-eating sheep), and forbidden changelings. Finding Drago, a talking dog, staked out so they save him. Then they learn of Rainbow Cave and the Robes who control the cave. The children travel through the Rainbow Cave and arrive at the Dome, an enormous electro-magnetic power generator, worked by slaves kidnapped from their own world. It is now up to them to make sure they are not slaves there too!

When TK comes back in July she will be reading How to Make a Golem and Terrify People.  Now does that not sound like an adventure too?  I can't wait for them to return.  But for now I am going to enjoy two weeks of relaxing, reading and watching sunsets over the lake.  Yes, Nonnies need to have those breaks to keep going!  Have a great Sunday everyone.  I am off to make myself a pot of coffee and go read in the hot tub!