Thirteen Children's Books, Cybils Nominations, Optimistic October, a Beautiful Church, and More Antiquing

I finished two books last week, both of which inspired Masterpiece shows. The Durrell book was a reread, but I'd never even heard of the Poldark books before I saw the show. Both were five star reads for me. I rarely go ahead with books in a series, but I'm planning to read book two of each next. Here are the full reviews, if you want to know more:

Poldark: Ross Poldark by Winston Graham

My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell

 

I also read a lot of children's books and YA books in the last couple of weeks:

The Revenge of Magic: The Last Dragon by James Riley.   Fort Fitzgerald lost his father during an attack on Washington, DC. His nightmares about his father give him hope that his father is still alive, and ...more 

Fly by Mark Teague.   A baby bird. A mama bird. It's time for Baby to take wing, and Mama is more than ready to be off to sunnier skies. But Baby would prefer to envision...more

Animal Skins by Mary Holland.   What do you know about the coverings of animals? What purposes do they serve? This may be a small children's picture book, but it's a great introduction...more

The Forest in the Trees by Connie McLennan.   Who knew? High up in the redwoods, there are forests in the trees. There are entire ecosystems located hundreds of feet in the air, with ferns, lichen...more

Skulls by Blair Thornburgh illustrated by Scott Campbell.   What are skulls? What are they used for? This children's picture book shares everything true kids might like to know about skulls. Lines like "Skulls ...more

Sulwe by Lupita Nyong'o.   A magnificent celebration of the beauty of dark skin is told through the story of little Sulwe, a girl whose skin color is darker than anyone else in...more

Eiffel's Tower for Young People by Jill Jonnes.   "On a January afternoon in 1888, Annie Oakley was toasting muffins and making tea in her apartment in New York City when a reporter visited." Annie Oakley?...more

The Wicked King by Holly Black.  Jude continues in her role to guide the king and strike to better his interests, all the while keeping her young brother behind the scenes until he is ...more

The Summer of '69 by Todd Strasser.  Lucas Baker spends the summer of '69 in limbo. His college applications have been rejected and he is a prime candidate for the draft. His girlfriend...more

The Time Garden by Edward Eager.   As a young child, Edward Eager was my favorite author. There was a lovely shelf of Edward Eager books in my school library, and I couldn’t wait each...more

Music for Mister Moon by Philip C. Stead   Harriet Henry only wants to play her cello for herself. When she throws her teacup to shoo away an owl and accidentally knocks the moon from the sky, ...more

The Hippo at the End of the Hall by Helen Cooper.  Ben receives an invitation to the Gee Museum delivered by bees. He goes. There he finds a dilapidated museum, and he meets talking animals and he learns...more

Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve.  I was not looking forward to this book. Somehow I had the idea it would be a story driven by plot and technology. I was wrong...more

I have less than a hundred and fifty pages to go in this 784 page book. I can't turn the pages fast enough.

I continued posting about our recent trip out west with Hiking in Utah: The Narrows, Zion National Park.

I also posted a very fun list in 1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10!: Book Titles with Numbers in Them. 

It's the start of the real work of the Cybils crew. In the first day, I approved 48 nominations for Fiction Picture Books/Board Books. I wonder how many nominations we will receive this year. Our category always gets over 200 nominations. That's a lot of reading. I hope you will nominate your favorite children's and YA books published from Oct. 16, 2018 to October 15, 2019 for the Cybils. To nominate, go here.

Download the latest Action for Happiness calendar, Optimistic October, here.

New favorite quote...

I headed out to Central Texas antiquing last weekend for a girls' trip, and I've left Thursday for another weekend antiquing with my sister. Last weekend we stayed at a friend's cabin in the country and this weekend we are staying at my brother-in-law's grandmother's old country house. We went to St. Mary's in Fayetteville. It was beautiful on the outside, but nothing prepared me for the inside...it was magnificent.

What was your week like?

Did you read any good books? Tell us about them.

What other bookish things did you do? What else is going on in your life?

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