Happy Halloween! Here are some of the scariest books of all time!

 

I read past my bedtime.

 

It's true. Books are better.

 

Pay It Forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde

This is the incredible story of how one boy changed the world. 

Trever is twelve when his new teacher, Reuben, assigns his class a project for extra credit. The project is to come up with an idea of how to change the world.

Trevor is intrigued by this project, as well as the new teacher. Most people feel slightly uncomfortable around Reuben due to a disfigurement of his face, but Trevor finds him kind and interesting.

Trevor's idea is "Pay It Forward". Instead of doing someone a favor and that person pays you back for it later, Trevor's plan is that one person does three favors for three strangers with the understanding that those three would then turn around and do three favors for three more people creating a giant kindness pyramid of paying these good deeds forward instead of back.

Trevor tries his plan on several people, including his own mother, but is unsure if people could be trusted to fulfill their promises. Will his plan work? What if a whole kindness movement has begun? What a better world we could all have!

An excellent novel. 

Everyday people, even (and maybe especially) the broken ones, can change the world for the better. 

I highly recommend.

Truth. Read.

 

The Langoliers by Stephen King

Originally, this book was part of King's short story collection called "Four Past Midnight", but at 300 or so pages and a great storyline with an interesting plot, this has become a "novella" of it's own.

A red eye flight from LA to Boston full of 200+ passengers. Shortly after take off, nine people are awaked by the sound of screaming. Ten people are left on the plane. Everyone else had simply vanished. Not only disappeared into thin air, but left behind personal and important items like wallets, purses, glasses, coins, watches. But not only those type of items, but also items that seem to have come from INSIDE of the passengers like implants, pacemakers, pins. 

Where did everyone go? HOW did everyone go?

Like most Stephen King novels, this one is full of fabulous characters.

1. Luckily for them all, one passenger (Brian Engel) is a pilot who had just landed in LA, but at the sudden news of his ex wife's death, he had turned around and boarded the next plane, this time as a passenger.

2. Dinah is a young blind girl on her way to get eye surgery in the hopes of gaining her sight.

3. Laurel Stevenson is a grade school teacher with a sweet nature that automatically takes on the caretaker position of Dinah.

4. The mysterious Nick Hopewell with skills that cause everyone to wonder just what his profession actually is.

5. Don Gaffney, an older, dependable fellow on his was to visit family.

6. Albert Kaussner, a teen violin prodigy who has an old west alter ego he calls "the fasted Hebrew west of the Mississippi".

7. Bob Jenkins is an older gentlemen, a mystery author who is very handy in trying to explain and solve the very real mystery they all find themselves in.

8. Bethany is a teenage girl who is on her way to rehab at her parents request.

9. Rudy Warwick is a nice enough fellow who sleeps through most of the first half of the story while the others are discovering what has happened and wondering HOW it happened. When he wakes, he joins the group and is notable always hunger.

10. And finally, Craig Toomey. Toomey is an angry man raised by an angry man. On his way to an important meeting and a psychotic break, Toomey losses control when the plain needs to re-route due to the disappearance of hundreds of passengers. He sits in his seat, sullen and silent, ripping paper into tiny pieces and plotting his revenge.

So we have nine wonderful characters, a plane mysteriously emptied midflight, an angry psycho passenger, thousands of tiny monstrous creatures similar to balls of sharp chainsaw like teeth who, according to young Toomey, eat children who don't behave, but might actually be the what eats away the past, yesterday, to make room for the future.

The (book) art of Jonathan Wolstenholme.

 

The Monster At The End Of This Book by Jon Stone

I haven't done a children's book in awhile, and they are important too, so todays book is "The Monster At The End Of This Book: Starring Lovable, Furry Old Grover". Full of vivid, colorful and playful illustrations by Michael Smollin, this one is a favorite of many!

Grover freaks out when he discovers the title of this book and spends each page trying to discourage the reader from turning the page... you don't want to get to the end and find a monster!!  He tries to convince the reader that he has tied the pages together so they can't be turned and that he built a brick wall so the page can't be turned, and nailing the pages down... anything to keep the reader from getting to the end and finding a scary monster!

I'll tell you that there IS a monster... but there is still a fun surprise that will delight little ones.

In 2007 The National Education Association listed this book as one of  it's "Teachers Top 100 Books for Children" .

In 2012 it was #10 in the "Top100 Picture Book" in an article published by School Library Journal.

Books. Books. Books. The cure for reality.

 

We Are All Welcome Here by Elizabeth Berg

Mississippi, Summer, 1964. 

Paige Dunn, a beautiful, intelligent and artistic woman,  lives in a small depilated house with her 14 year old daughter, Diana.  Both are trying to live a somewhat normal life even though Paige is paralyzed from the neck down after contracting Polio while pregnant with Diana. Paige has a devoted African American caregiver woman named Piecie who comes daily to help keep Paige alive and comfortable with a small bit of dignity, but much of the caregiving falls to Diana as the money they receive for her Paige's disability doesn't cover all of their expenses. 

The characters and the relationships between them all is what struck me most in this book. These three women who all care for each other deeply, while also still disagreeing often, but mainly the devotion of Paige for Diana and the loving care of Piecie for Paige. Along with other townspeople and friends, there are many interesting relationships that include Diana and her best friend who like to write and perform plays for the community, Piecie and her husband who is drawn to the fight for civil rights, Paige and her many male admirers, even Elvis makes an appearance in this lovely novel.

When the civil rights movement begins to spread in their town and a nosey social worker causes chaos in their lives, everything will change and they will all need to pull together to help one another.

This was my first novel from this author, but won't be the last. The interesting thing about this novel is that the author was approached by a woman who told her about a family member who had contracted polio while pregnant and gave birth in an iron lung and while pressured to give her baby up for adoption due to her paralysis, she was determined to keep her daughter and try to live as normal a life as possible. So while there many changes and the story was fictionalized, it is really inspiring to note that it was based on an actual true story.

I found this to be a charming, warm novel that I certainly recommend.

Cool people read books.

                                                                             Einstein.

Stephen King.

                                                                         Jimmy Hendrix.

                                                                         Queen Elizabeth

                                                                             Obama

                                                                     Marilyn Monroe

                                                                         David Bowie

                                                                           Johnny Depp

                                                                          Betty White

                                                                         Dolly Parton

                                                                               Elvis

Jim Carrey

                                                                          Judy Garland

                                                                                                                                                       

   Julia Roberts

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes

This is one of the best books that I've read this year.

1937. Baileyville, Kentucky is a small, rural, conservative, depression era coal mining community that has recently decided to implement a pack horse librarian program (based on the real program that first lady Eleanor Roosevelt began and ran in the 1930's and 40's) which allowed anyone who was interested to have books delivered to their homes.

Margery O'Hare is an independent, strong woman known to break the rules of convention but is still respected and named head of the program in her community. She hires Alice, an Englishwoman who recently moved to town after her marriage to a local man. Alice appears to be a petite, wealthy lady who might not be suited for such rugged work as riding horses through mountains in all kinds of weather with moonshiners and dangerous animals, but she proves to be plenty capable and she and Margery become fast friends.

Together with the other librarians, Izzy, Beth and Sophia (all of whom have their own interesting stories), they manage forge a unique bond and sisterhood and help educate their neighbors and deliver the magic of books to many in their secluded community, while also fighting for the safety of the mine workers and overcoming racism and what is sometimes a hostile reaction from the citizens to anything new or different.

This is a wonderful love story, a romantic love story, a love story of friendship, family, and mostly, the love of books and reading.

I highly recommend this wonderful novel!

Books are always better!

 

A Pony for the Winter by Helen Kay

This story was a favorite of mine when I was young. Written in 1959 and illustrated beautifully by Ingred Fetz, this is the story of a young girl named Deborah..

Deborah wants to buy a horse, but they are too expensive. When a neighbor boards several ponies that work for a theme park giving pony rides for the winter, Deborah is able to enlist the help of her siblings and the permission from her parents to board one little black pony named Molly for the winter until they return to work in the pony corral in the spring..

The story highlights all the joys of having a pony and also all the work and responsibility required to take care of a pony.. Deborah goes through many highs and lows in this endeavor, and comes to the realization that sometimes things that require hard work are still worth working for.

Banned Books Week - September 27 – October 3, 2020

   Today I am celebrating some of my favorite banned books!

What are some of yours?