Book Review Discussion: Donner Dinner Party by Nathan Hale

Book: Donner Dinner Party by Nathan Hale
Genre: MG Graphic Novel
Rating:★★★★★
For: The Readathon (and supporting local authors!)
From: Bought at the library author extravaganza 

Short Synopsis: Told with wonderfully fun pictures, this is the "hazardous tale" of the tragedy of the Donner Party who traveled to California in 1846. This particular tale is told through the eyes of Nathan Hale the Revolutionary soldier who was executed by the British. However, in this book, just before they hang him, he tells them this story and his both the British guy and the executioner are enthralled.

My Response: I've read many other books about this story and loved this one every bit as much as those others! It covered all the details and all the gruesome facts in a nice "fun" and entertaining way. There were many moments of comic relief and many moments of thought provoking pondering. The maps and pictures and explanations are wonderful.

Bottom Line: I loved it! Awesome story and a great presentation.

Let's Talk About: Have you ever read anything about this story? Do you know what really happened? Do you know all the reasons why it happened? If not, you really should read this book. It's fascinating! Also, do you ever find a subject or a story that you just can't get enough of? This is one for me for sure.

Other Reviews:

His pictures are beautifully rendered and appealing, even when they show horrible experiences. At the book's end, he devotes two pages to show all of the members involved in this trip and what their fates were From KidsReads

Stock this book in your bookshelves, teachers and parents, and watch kids scramble to learn about history. From Mom Read It

The biggest assets of the book are the inclusion of humor as well as the sheer amount of research that Nathan Hale included; cited sources are listed in the bibliography. From School Library Journal

I'm not sure what Hale's next tale will be, but reading Donner Dinner Party made me hungry (no pun intended) to read about Lewis & Clark and I hope the story of these two explorers is told by Hale & the gang some day soon! From Books 4 Your Kids

Signing Up for Stuff!

My blogging friends, Jenni and Kami, are doing this read along and though I'm not totally sure I'm ready for a re-read of this book, I thought I might try, or at least skim around and join in on discussions or whatever. Anyway, here's the schedule:

Fellowship of the Ring (Book 1): May 1 to May 15
Fellowship of the Ring (Book 2): May 16 to May 31
The Two Towers (Book 3): June 1 to June 15
The Two Towers (Book 4): June 16 to June 30
The Return of the King (Book 5): July 1 to July 15
The Return of the King (Book 6): July 16 to July 31

I will be doing much catching up as I need to read a couple of other things first and get the Wedding#2 done, but then we'll see how this goes!

If you want to participate, click on one of their blog links up above!

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And once Wedding#2 is done, I can READ READ READ! So might as well participate in Bout of Books, right? I hope this week after the wedding will be calm and peaceful! And I can get all squared away on what needs reading!

Here are the details for the this amazing week long readathon. For more info, check out the official website at Bout of Books.

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 12th and runs through Sunday, May 18th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 10 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

So... what stuff are you signing up to do this month? Don't forget Armchair BEA is happening too! 

Book Review Discussion: The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe

Book: The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe
Genre: NF Memoir
Rating:★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
For: Book Club
From: The Library

Short Synopsis: This is the story of how the author started reading books with his mom in a two person book club during the last couple years of her life so they would have something to discuss while sitting for hours during cancer treatment. In between the discussions of books, he talks a lot about all the things his mom accomplished during her life, so it's actually more a tribute to his mom than it is a book discussion book.

My Response: Really a fun book to read. Actually, it took me awhile to get into it but the last half flew by. It is hard to read about the realities of cancer, but it was awesome to see this family's devotion to their mom and the way they made the last few years really mean something. The book discussions were fun too and totally makes me want to add a few to my list. I think at book club we decided for sure to add Crossing to Safety to our read some day list.

Bottom Line: Great book club book. We had lots of discussion. There were many favorite quotes and passages that everyone flipped to and read during our meeting. It's a great homage to books and moms!

Let's Talk About: While I haven't thought about an "end of your life" book club, I've often wanted to do a family book club, a sisters/mom books club, or a mother/daughter book club. However, I've only managed the "normal" neighborhood book club up to this point. Have any of you been successful with "specialty" book clubs and how does it work for you?

Other Reviews:

The story of Mary Anne’s illness and how she and her family handled everything really hit home for me, though, and I ended up being more interested in her story than I was about their book club. From Between the Covers
I could literally have filled a post or two on all the wonderful quotes about the joys of reading and bookshops, debates about certain titles, cosy books and confronting and even the debate over e-reader vs. real paper books in your hands – as the book has all of these and more – From Savidge Reads

It's inspiring, but not in a saccharine way. I loved it and have already picked up a few of the books that Will read with his mother. From Avid Reader's Musings

A beautiful book about the relationship between a mother and her son and their bonding over books. From A Bit Bookish

Armchair BEA Coming Soon!

Hey everyone! Can you believe it's almost time for another Armchair BEA week? Yes, this will take place the end of May specifically May 26 through 31. If you are new to the book blogging scene, this is the week many bookish people gather in New York for BEA but some (many!) of us can't make it to that event, so some awesome bloggers (Danielle, Florinda and Tif) years ago created our very own online event so we can enjoy some fun too!

The agenda for the week has already been posted, so you can go check that out and start planning your posts. There'll be Twitter parties and prizes and all sorts of things going on, so be sure to join up and plan to have some bookish fun that week!

British Isles Friday: Digestives...Yum!

This last time when we were in England, we had more opportunity to shop at the local grocery stores. While there, we happened upon a package of cookies that looked really good, so we bought them. We ended up loving them. Wow. They were different and somehow better than a normal packaged cookie. And unlike anything we have here in the US.

Come to find out, later, these cookies are kind of a thing in England. They are called Digestives and they are so so good! There's all sorts of flavors and combinations. And guess what, I've found a local store here (run by a lady from England) that orders stuff from England to sell here, including lots of Digestives. Yay!

Have a British tale to tell? Link on up over at Joy's Book Blog every Friday!

April 2014 Reading Recap

Wow. I read more in April than I thought I did. Probably because of those two short ones from the readathon that I tacked there on the end! But, yeah. Not bad. Not bad at all.

This is what I read:

The Distance Between Us by Kasie West: Caymen sees Xander one day when he comes into her doll shop and decides right away that he is too rich for her taste.

Noggin by John Corey Whaley: Instead of dying from cancer, Travis decides to try a body transplant procedure. His head is frozen until a donor is found. And guess what, it works!

 Evertrue by Brodi Ashton: Nikki and Jack work with Cole, of all people, to try and destroy the Everneath.

House of Ivy and Sorrow by Natalie Whipple: Jo is part of a family of witches, and one day their lives and world is threatened by creatures she had no idea existed, creatures that suck the energy from her and her sister witches.

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe: Will reads all sorts of books with his mom who is dying from cancer.

Sleep No More by  Aprilynne Pike: Charlotte is an Oracle and can predict the future, but what she learns she either must fight against or ignore, that is until her classmates start being murdered.

Donner Dinner Party by Nathan Hale: A graphic novel depiction of the fascinating historical tale about the Donner Party who got stuck over the winter in the Sierra Nevada mountains back in 1846.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney: Greg's exploits continue, this part of his diary takes place during Christmas break.

P.S. I also read 300 pages of Words of Radiance!

Favorites: The Distance Between Us for sure, followed closely by Noggin.

Plans for May:

• Read more Words of Radiance, maybe finish?
• Read Wintergirls for book club
• Read We Were Liars for review
• Re-read The Fellowship of the Ring for a read along
• Read some lighthearted, frivolous things!

A to Z Blogging Challenge Wrap Up

Well. Whew. It's been... interesting. But... I DID IT! The A to Z Blogging Challenge! Yes, every day I blogged a different letter. Only missed one day, but caught up the very next day. And made the day I missed fit into the line up anyway. I don't know. It was fun. It was hard. It was a pain. And I think I may have actually lost readers instead of gained them! But, still. It was all good!

I think if I were to do it again, I might do a themed thing. We'll see.

Here's a wrap up list of all my A to Z posts:

A: April Fools Day Auto Awesome
B: Oh Balony!
C: Celebrity Crushes
D: Dauntless from Divergent
E: England, I Love You
F: On Being a Fan
G: Geocaching
H: Hans Zimmer
I: We Scream For....
J: John and Josh
K: K-I-S-S-I-N-G
L: Let's Laugh
M: Monsters!
N: Nano-ing
O: Overkill?
P: Palaces
Q: How about a little Queen?
R: I Love to Read!
S: Skipping
T: and Talking
U: Utah
V: Villages
W: War Horse Review
X: Xanadu
Y: YYZ by Rush
Z: ZUSAK!

So... there's some you missed I know, and now you want to go back and check them out right? Most of them are pretty silly and fun, so if you're in the mood, go for it!

Thanks for hanging in there and having blog posting fun with me! Now, on to regularly scheduled programming!