Where has December gone?

Yikes! It’s the 18th and I haven’t posted any of my book a day reads this month! So, forgive me for this catch up post with lots of random books 🙂 I’m limping along with lots of kids books, but I will make it. What are you reading to finish up the year? For me it’s the shorter the better right now!

The Road Trip
The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary. 414 pages, pub. 2021

This story takes place on a road trip gone awry. Told from his and her perspectives and then and now time periods, this was a story that entertained. The last third of the book had a few revelations that moved the story in different directions all the while satisfying this romantic’s heart in the end.

I thought the audio was excellent.

The Haunted House Next Door (Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol, #1)
Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol: The Haunted House Next Door by Andres Miedoso. 128 pages, pub. 2017

Gage read me the first in the Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol series on Thursday. We’d read a later one in the series and liked it and Gage’s writing tutor gave him the first four for his birthday. The books are written by Andres, Desmond’s anxious friend. Desmond loves ghost hunting and Andres loves having a new best friend in his new town. A fun series with great illustrations for the older elementary set.

Albert Einstein Was a Dope?
Albert Einstein Was A Dope by Dan Gutman. 112 pages, pub. 2021

This is a new series by Dan Gutman about famous figures. I read the Muhammad Ali one earlier this year. Gage and I both loved this one. He loves random and interesting trivia and this fits the bill. It was told with humor that kept him entertained all the way through. And we both learned what happened to Einstein’s brain and eyeballs after his death. Gross! 

The People Awards
The People Awards by Lily Murray. 80 pages, pub. 2018

We’ve been reading The People’s Award book to start our school day for about two months. It says right on the cover ‘Celebrate Equality with 50 People Who Changed the World’ and I appreciated the mix of people from around the world, both familiar and unknown to me. Each award winner ranging from Confucius to Pele had a fun two page spread. It also had a quote from each one which was a good reason for Gage to practice his cursive.

Notes on Teaching: A Short Guide to an Essential Skill
Notes on Teaching by Shellee Hendricks. 176 pages, pub. 2011

Notes on Teaching: A Short Guide to an Essential Skill was a quick read. It took me back to my college days and my English Education classes. Even as a homeschooling mom it still touched on many things that have already made a difference in our day and will continue to do so. It’s always nice to have a pep talk and a reminder of what’s important.

Alaskan Holiday
Alaskan Holiday by Debbie Macomber. 256 pages, pub. 2018

Have you ever been listening to a book and the narration is just so bad that you wonder if it’s a problem with the narrator or the book? Such was the case with this short winter romance. There were two narrators but one came up with voices for some of the characters that were so off-putting I think it must have been intentional.

A young woman goes to Alaska to work for the summer, receives a marriage proposal, goes back to Washington for a great job anyway only to discover dream job is a bust. Will there be a happy ending?

If considering, pick up the book and skip the ear buds.

The Seven Sisters (The Seven Sisters, #1)
The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley (book 1 of the Seven Sisters series). 460 pages, pub. 2014

I listened to The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley thanks to a recommendation from my friend Amy and what a good recommendation it was! This is the first in a series of eight books about six adopted sisters who are given hints about their births after their father has died. In this first book the oldest, Maia, travels from Lake Geneva to Rio de Janeiro in hopes of finding her roots. What she finds is a long lost love affair and ties to the famous Christ the Redeemer statue.

Perfect for historical fiction and romance fans. I look forward to learning more about the other sisters and the mystery that binds them. Great audio.

Well Matched (Well Met, #3)
Well Matched by Jen Deluca. 336 pages, pub. 2021

I read/listened to Well Matched, part of a series that’s set in the small town of Willow Creek. I haven’t read the first two but would consider this a stand alone. Single-mother April is about to become an empty nester and gym teacher Mitch is looking for a fake date to a family gathering. I loved easy going Mitch and outspoken and homebody April. Having it set around the local Renaissance Fair was fun and having family and friends invested in their relationship solidified the story. A cute read for this time of year.

Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents
Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents by Pete Souza. 240 pages, pub. 2018

Pete Souza was the official White House photographer for both Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama and was self admittedly bitter after the 2016 election. He started his own IG account and began to react to Trump’s tweets with photos of Obama to directly respond. Throwing shade was a term he learned for what he was doing and these posts, with Trump’s tweets from the first two years are what make up this book. I wanted to like it more and there were serious comparisons and more humorous ones, but after 4+ years of hate (tweets) and snark I just couldn’t generate any excitement for it. But, hey, it was free!

Royal Holiday (The Wedding Date, #4)
Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory. 320 pages, pub. 2020

The Royal Holiday introduced me to a new author AND a middle age romance! It was nice to have a heroine in her 50s and I enjoyed the American going across the pond to fall in love with an advisor to the queen. Can they make it work past her holiday? Keep calm and believe.

The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown
The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown. 137 pages, pub. 2010

The Gifts of Imperfection is about living a wholehearted life. Wholehearted living is based on the process of continually cultivating courage, compassion, and connection in our lives. There are 10 main guideposts, including authenticity, resilient spirit, and intuition that she addresses. This book is based on her research and I loved how she shared it, but it was still just a bit too self-helpy for me to love. I did take away a lot of positive energy and am happy I read it.

Facts vs. Opinions vs. Robots
Facts vs. Opinions vs. Robots by Michael Rex. 32 pages, pub. 2020

Facts vs. Opinions vs. Robots by Michael Rex should be required reading for adults and children, but really it’s a quick, fun book for kids. The definitions were spot on. Just because someone says something you agree with doesn’t make it a fact. It also addressed the need to wait for more information before making firm opinions.

53218576. sx318
Plants on the Move by Emilie Vast. 56 pages, pub. 2021

Plants on the Move is detailed and visually pleasing. It breaks down the many different ways that seeds from plants and trees reproduce and what trees or flowers do each one. Must have for your young plant lovers.

Twenty-One Steps: Guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Twenty-One Steps by Jeff Gottesfeld. 32 pages, pub. 2021

Twenty-One Steps: Guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a beautifully illustrated book told in first person by the first unknown soldier buried at Arlington National Cemetery 100 years ago.

The Journey That Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H.A. Rey
The Journey That Saved Curious George by Louise Borden. 80 pages, pub. 2005

A well put together kids biography of the creators of Curious George, who may have started with a much more French name than George. Margret and Hans were both from Germany, but didn’t meet and marry until they were both in Brazil where they became Brazilian citizens. They moved back to Paris just in time for the Germans invading the city with the couple barely escaping on homemade bicycles with drawings of a curious monkey in the bike basket.

They managed to escape and make their way to New York, hence my New Yorker magazine cover. The story the pictures and the whimsical drawings make this one I’m happy to have on my shelf to share with Gage.

A Day for Rememberin': The First Memorial Day
A Day For Rememberin’ by Leah Henderson. 40 pages, pub. 2020

A Day for Rememberin’: Inspired by the True Events of the First Memorial Day is a beautifully illustrated book about the freed men, women, and children in Charleston who paid homage to the dead Union soldiers who gave their lives so that slaves would be slaves no more.

Tigers & Tea With Toppy
Tigers & Tea With Poppy by Barbara Kerley. 48 pages, pub. 2018

Tigers & Tea with Poppy is about the inspiring life of wildlife artist Charles R. Knight.

I also read these kids books and one for a book tour

Trees by Carme Lemniscates
Animals by Kathy ThornboroughMy Religion, Your Religion by Lisa BullardWe Are Better Together by Ann BonwillThe Science Behind Batman's Uniform by Agnieszka BiskupHow Has Covid-19 Changed Our World? by Kara L. LaughlinFauci by Anthony Fauci(review here)
https://stacybuckeye.com/2021/12/19/
stacybuckeye.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2022-33
94357
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:2XGAVJ6ZAZAXH6UVGXCVMIYNQ5JTYJA6
<urn:uuid:b2296d47-a2a5-4db4-99b3-1f0b6f4260b1>
2022-08-17T19:57:11Z
192.0.78.25
text/html
sha1:QPR2EXAT6OZBEQFEYXMADKIZU7T4MZJP
<urn:uuid:bd5c0c66-318a-48e5-84d0-0179beddeddb>
https://stacybuckeye.com/2021/12/19/
response
<urn:uuid:cfa714c2-7efd-44f9-b578-c51281a47a5b>
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2022-33
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for August 2022
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-67-67-169
software: Apache Nutch 1.18 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 1.4-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: https://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/