The Big Book of How to Say It by Rosalie Maggio

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Every house should have this, it is a huge resource. Even in this age of emails and twitters, you still have to be able to write a note, a letter, a complaint, advice and references. This book tells you how. Whether you are at school and as student council secretary have to write letters, or you are working and have to deal with customers or suppliers, if you are a teacher and have to write a reference - this book tells you how.



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Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Samuel knew the forest, he loved it; he was at home in it. His skill at hunting meant that he was responsible for providing meat for nearly the whole Pennsylvania frontier settlement where he and his parents lived. That day he was hunting, deep in the forest, when it happened.

Smoke across the tops of the trees.

It couldn't be a forest fire. It hadn't been dry enough. Could it be coming from the settlement? No, he rejected the idea. For that would mean only one thing, an attack. Samuel turned and started running. He caught the smell of blood before he could see the settlement.

There had been an attack on his settlement, an attack on his home, and he hadn't been there to help. All the cabins had been burnt to the ground. Most of the settlers were dead, killed by tomahawks and arrows, and many had been scalped. It was clear from their tracks that the Indians had been lead by men on horses – soldiers, Red Coats.

But Samuel didn’t find his parents' bodies. For some reason, they had been taken captive.

Samuel swore he would get them back, but how much can a 13-year-old do?





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The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Do you ever look at the missing children pictured on your milk cartons or in the newspapers? Janie did – and she saw herself.
Janie Johnson is a normal fifteen year old, red-headed girl. She is an only child and comes from an ideal family with a respected mom and dad. She is learning to drive, has a best friend, and she even has a crush. Janie and her friends always look at the missing people on the back of their milk cartons at lunch for entertainment, but one day it was Janie's picture. Was this a joke; was it really her? She knows her face and is shocked by the picture, only, the name is not hers. Jennie Spring, three years old, is what the milk carton said. Could it be true, did her parents really kidnap her? Was her family out there still wondering what happened to their little girl? Maybe she’s not an only child; were there other awkward looking red-heads like her? Is this why her parents don't have any baby pictures of her up on the walls? What’s real and what’s not?




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