Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen

Crazy Good: The True Story of Dan Patch by Charles Leerhsen

I give this book 5 stars!  This story takes place in the late 1800s, early 1900s.  You will fall in love with the horse like all of America did!  He was adored wherever he went and broke many records.  I wish I could have seen this horse.  I hope to see a movie based on this book.  It would be a good one!

--Gerard Zemek

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

This lives up to the hype!  I give it 5 stars.

I read a lot about this book before reading it.  USA TODAY called it the must read book of '08.  Somtimes a book does not live up to that hype (see "Kite Runner" and "We Need To Talk About Kevin").  This book does.  Edgar Sawtelle is born mute into a family that trains dogs.  The best part of this book to me was his interaction with the dogs.  The ending is so good you will want more!  Read this book!

--Gerard Zemek

Donovan's Daughter by Lori Wick

This is a Christian romance set in the 1800s which is the last in the Californians series by Lori Wick.  I hadn't read the previous books but this one is good enough to stand on its own.  Marcail's dream was to be a school teacher in her own classroom.  She moved to Willits on her own to accept her first teaching position. One grandmother of a bratty boy in her class that sat on the school board and ran the town became the "thorn in her side." 

When Marcail's reputation was at stake, Alex, the town doctor who was falling in love with her came to her aid.  All through the book is a Christian theme of sharing the gospel with the people in this town and her relationship with Alex developing into a real marriage.

As usual in Christian fiction, everything turns out perfect in the end.  I enjoyed this book which showed dependence on God throughout and that communication is key in developing trust in a relationship.  It is a light, quick read that has the predictable happy ending.

Please Stop Laughing at Us by Jodee blanco

This is her second book about how she recovered from all the bullying she endured all through school and as an adult, went to talk at schools around the country to help other kids who were being bullied and help the bullies to stop. She also addressed parents and teachers.

Her advice included telling the bullied kids to stand up for themselves in a nonviolent way, find friends outside of school even if it means going outside of their school district. Parents should not just send kid for counseling but go with them. Parents need to support their kids and let the kids talk about their problems. Try to come up with an action together that will help the situation. She emphasized over and over that the advice to just ignore the bullies and they'll stop doesn't work for kids.  That is adult logic, but in reality, kids just tease all the more.

This book has a great message and offers practical help to both the bullied kids and their parents and teachers. It tells how the kids who used to pick on her in school are now her friends and she even married the most popular guy in school that all the girls liked which gives much hope to those going through the same thing. Great book!  I'd recommend every teacher read it and anyone who has been the recipient of being bullied.

(Gerard loved this book since he is an adult survivor of being bullied all through school like she was.  Scroll down a little farther to read his reivew on this book.)

There Are No Children Here by Alex Kotlowitz

"A World Not Seen By Many"  4 stars

"There Are No Children Here" is an extraordinary book about living in the projects of chicago.  This book is dated since this project got knocked down years ago, but it does not make the story any less relevant.  It's about two boys, Lafeyette and Pharoah, and their families living day to day just trying to survive.  You get into this story quick and stay there.  It's a good read.  I recommend it.

by Gerard Zemek

Losing It by

Losing It And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time by Valerie Bertinelli

I passed this book up a couple times because I thought it was just a woman's book. I finally thought I would just give it a chance and am sure glad I did! Valerie really puts it all out there and holds nothing back. I was surprised at some of the things I found out and am sure you will be too. It's a good, fast read. Men and women will enjoy this book!

--Gerard Zemek

(read earlier this month, post re-created July 10, 2008)

Please Stop Laughing At Us by Jodee Blanco

Please Stop Laughing At Us:  One Survivor's Extraordinay Quest to Prevent School Bullying

GERARD'S REVIEW:  A Remarkable Woman

I hated to see this book end. It was like talking to my new best friend. Finally, somebody got it right telling the story of being bullied. I admire Jodee. The work she is doing is so important! I just LOVED this book and hope you write another.

Be sure to read the emails and letters at the end of this book. They are sad, but good to know people now have someone to turn to--Jodee!

(Gerard read July 1, 2008, post re-created July 10, 2008)

Hiss & Tell by Pam Johnson-Bennett

Hiss and Tell:  True Stories from the Files of a Cat Behaviorist

Insights To Explaining Cat Behavior

This book was extremely interesting to me because I love cats and it explained some of the puzzling behaviors that can arise. I found it fascinating that this woman was able to actually think like a cat to figure out what was causing the strange behaviors. It is both humorous and educational. I recommend it highly to any cat owner.

(read July 1, 2008, post recreated 7/10/08)

Playing With The Enemy by Gary W. Moore

Playing With the Enemy:  A Baseball Prodigy, World War II and The Long Journey Home by Gary W. Moore

I loved this book!! It's a true story of Gene Moore who was a super baseball player and a super person. It shows how he cared about other people. Hard to put this one down. Can't wait to see the movie. A must read for anyone who enjoys a good book, this is it!!

(read in June 2008, post re-created July 10, 2008)

Hats & Eyglasses: A Family Love Affair With Gambling

A true story about a woman who enjoyed watching her parents play cards. Then she played and was good at it. Then discovered online poker and other card games. Fun read. Goes fast, good characters. No deep thought process needed with this one.

--Gerard Zemek

(read June 2008, post re-created 7/10/08)

Mistaken Identity

KAREN'S REVIEW:

Mistaken Identity by Don & Susie Van Ryn and Newell, Colleen & Whitney Cerak:

Both were strong Christian families who relied on God to get them through and saw him provide for their needs.

Although I felt sadness for what the families went through, I was uplifted and encouraged in my own faith by all the scripture and their great Christian example. I'd say the moral of this is to go and make a positive ID yourself when you find out a family member was killed. Whitney's parents both just took the word of the coroner instead of checking out the body for themselves. I still don't really understand how Laura's parents didn't realize that it wasn't their daughter in that hospital bed all that time. Eventually, other visitors had doubts and when Whitney could communicate, she told them her name was Whitney.

GERARD'S REVIEW:

WOW, what a book! I could go on and on about this book, but the main thing is both families' unwavering faith in the Lord. You will feel a wide range of emtions. Quick read, you get into it right away. I thank both families for sharing this story and their love of the Lord. Continued blessings from our Lord to all. Please read this awesome book, it will stay with you.

(Read in June 2008, post re-created 7/10/08)

Totally Fun Things You Can Do With Your Cat

This is a wonderful book for any cat owner. It's ideal for children to learn positive ways of playing with their cat. Large print and easy reading adds to the fun of this book! It gives many ideas of fun things to do with your cat and some tips for better communication. It mentions that trust is very important so we shouldn't do anything to scare the cat, even though it may be fun. Additionally, there are tid-bits of interesting information about cats. It contains instructions for making some cat items instead of spending a lot of money on purchasing them from the store, for example a cat porch by a window and scratching post.

(Read April of 2008) post recreated 7/10/08

Oh NO!

I lost this section while trying to create a new one on July 10.  I fortunately was able to re-create it without too much trouble because I had reviews posted elsewhere as well.  Whew! 

If you see a picture of the book but no post about it, please check our archives.

We Both Like Reading

We both like reading and will post reviews of books as we read them.  This page, unfortunately, had to be re-created on July 10 because I inadvertently deleted it when trying to add a new section.  OOPS!  Anyhow, for all our book reviews, check out our shelves on Shelfairi at http://www.shelfari.com/kzemek and http://www.shelfari.com/gzemek