Harry the Dirty Dog

Harry The Dirty Dog

Author: Gene Zion

Illustrator: Margaret Bloy Graham

AudioCd Published by: HarperCollins Publishers

Ages: 3 to 8 years

Genre: Childrens Fiction

Harry is a white dog with black spots who loves everything...except baths.  So one day before bath time, Harry runs away.  He plays outside all day long, digging and sliding in everything from garden soil to pavement tar.  By the time he returns home, Harry is so dirty he looks like a Black dog with white spots.  His Family doesn't even recognize him!

"Another Funny-bone tickling charmer by Gene Zion and Margaret Bloy Graham that will make youngsters and their Parents giggle."

 -Kirkus Reviews

"Harry is sure to be loved; especially by those pre-school children to whome dirt is an ever-delightful thing."

-The New York Times

I picked up this Duo Set Audio CD/Book combo today at the library.  As an avid Audiobook-oholic I had never thought to check out the selection there was for young children.  I have to say, I'm impressed!  With 2 different tracks included on this CD it allows younger children to who are in the beginning stages of reading, knowledge of when the pages of the book need to be turned...also for older children this extra chime is not included.  With the musical background along with the fun narrator's voice makes a great duo and can make reading time even more fun.  For kids that don't necesarilly like to sit down to read...this can also be a great segway into getting them to sit down and accustomed to books and away from Video games and TV!

The Wrong Hostage

The Wrong Hostage
Author: Elizabeth Howell
Reader: Maria Tucci

When I'm at the library picking out books one of the first things I always try to look for with trying out out new authors is seeing the "New York Times Bestseller" note on the cover.  Reading the Dust Jacket of this book I was very excited to get started on this book...perhaps a little too excited.

I was disappointed with this one which is pretty rare that when I feel that I can't connect with any character in the book.  Grace Silva, the main character in the book is a Judge who is newly divorced from her billionaire husband.  They had a son together whom they shipped off to Mexico for boarding school which leads to him being held by Mexican officials who are owed money from the father who despite seeming as though he earned his money all legally we learn he has put his son in a situation where he could be killed by Mexican drug lords, what the drug lords don't know is that it really isn't his son....through DNA testing he found out a few years prior that this Grace had a fling before she got married and got pregnant and never knew who was the "for sure" father.  The only character I liked in this book was the son.....because as you read it you are empathetic to his situation...he isn't a big part of the book however, its more about trying to save him.

I would love to give this author another chance but it definately will not be near the top of my "To do" list

This Weeks Library Finds!!

Can't Wait to Read/Review all these Great Finds!!


NonFiction:

   















Fiction:

The Horse Whisperer

The Horse Whisperer

Author: Nicholas Evans

Read by: Frank Muller

This is the truly moving story about tragedy, healing, love, and loss.  The story starts out when Grace and her friend Judith are out on a morning ride with their beloved horses when a tragic accident happens leaving Grace to deal with the loss of her best friend and also one of her legs.  Grace finds it hard to move on post accident and can't bear facing her horse Pilgrim who was also both physically and emotionally scarred as well. 

At a loss of how to put the family back together and struggle a high demand job, Grace's mom Annie takes a leave from work and contacts Tom Booker a "Horse Whisperer", this is a last resort to save the horse that everyone keeps telling her should have been put down.  Annie repeatedly refuses to put Pilgrim down, because she deep down feels that if Pilgrim dies then the last glimmer of spirit remaining in her daughters soul will die as well. 

Grace, Annie, and Pilgrim travel across they country and find an inner peace and a much simpler way of living.  Annie learns that her high stress job as an editor of a fashion magazine suddenly does not matter.  Grace, determined to keep drowning in her own self pity learns that there still is much she is able to do and although she may never be able to ride Pilgrim again she relearns her love of horses and riding. 

Annie and Tom become closer and closer as Tom can bring the one thing Annie truly wants-Her daughter's old spirit back.  

This is a truly beautiful story, and although I am never a huge fan of affairs or cheating in books or movies for that matter, it is a very captivating story that you will not be able to put down.  Also unlike alot of Romance novels the story goes so deep that it wasn't very predictable.

Its a movie!!!!  Check that out after you read the book!!

Ransom

Ransom
Author: Danielle Steel

Read by: Ron McLarty

9 discs

Peter Morgan newly released from prison is seemingly a good guy that has made alot of bad choices.  Determined to start fresh Peter learns quickly how hard it is to make an honest living after being a convicted felon.  To avoid going on the streets he contacts a previous "friend" he knew before he went to prison who he also owes a substantial amount of money.  Hoping to get a job and repay his owed debt Peter finds himself in a situation of having to organize a kidnapping ring for this man who hopes to gain 100 million dollars ransom money from Fernanda Barnes, a newly widowed wife of a well known billionaire. 

This is Danielle Steel's 60th Novel and she seems to really switch things up with this book.  For anyone who reads alot of Danielle Steel books, they are typically more Romance themed....Ransom is oppisite that where it is more suspense/thriller.  The love interests in this book is set up kind've weird....the kidnapper in a sense "falls in love" with Fernanda although they technically never talk to one another.  Ted Lee, the police detective in charge of finding Fernanda's kidnapped son is "the" love interest, although he is caught up in a loveless marriage for about three quarters of the book.

I enjoyed this book.  I definately need my fix of Danielle Steel once in a while for the not too overly mushy Romance novel...but I was pleasantly suprised that this was a bit different and not the typical DS novel of wealthy family who meets tragedy and ends up happily ever after.  I like Danielle Steel, BUT her storylines do get a bit predictable.

Mrs. Miracle

Mrs. Miracle
Author: Debbie Macomber
Read by: Jennifer Van Dyck
6 discs - 7 hours 5 mins

With Christmas approaching and wild twin boys to raise all alone,  Seth Webster finds himself in desperate need of a miracle.  His home is in complete chaos, and he is repeatedly finding himself having to hire new nannys after they always quit in disgust. 
Just when he is at his wits end Mrs Merkle, whom the children start calling "Mrs. Miracle" shows up on his doorstep.  She appears to be the real life Mary Poppins but better!! She is sassy and her spirit is infectious and encourages Seth to approach Reba, a beautiful travel agen who's been hurt and betrayed and afraid to love again...Reba is also in need of  a "miracle".  Reba gets the chance to help out in a children's Christmas pageant and finally gets introduced to Seth and they find a little Christmas miracle of their own.

This is a very feel good book and a great Christmas story.  This book was also made into a Hallmark movie.  and there is a sequels to this book that I have also listened to and liked it even better than the original!

Trouble

Trouble
Author: Gary D. Schmidt

This is the Story of an upper class New England family who crosses paths with a family of Cambodian Immigrants struggling through violent prejudices.   The Sons in both families meet tragically in a car accident leaving Franklin in a coma and Chay facing the guilt and ridicule from townspeople who dont view it as an accident and want the immigrant boy to pay at all cost. 

Henry, Franklin's younger brother sets off to climb Mt. Katahdin in Maine with his friend and "Black Dog" --a trip that was supposed to be taken with his older brother prior to his death.  The boys and dog hitch hike there way only to get picked up by a familiar truck...Chay, the "killer" of Henry's brother who is running from his own demons.  Although coming from completely different worlds, Henry learns he and Chay have much in common and begins struggling with both liking this boy who killed his brother and hating him at the same time for how he ruined his family.  Excellent book!!


If you like this book you may like these I have read as well:

Happiness Sold Separately

Happiness Sold Separately
Author: Lolly Winston
Read by: Melinda Wade

Elinor Mackey has always done the right things in the right order---college, law, school, career, marriage--but now everything's going wrong.  After two painful years of trying, Elinor has learned that she can't have children.  All the doctors can tell her is that it's probably because of her age.  As she turns forty, she withdraws into an interior world of heartbreak.

Elinor's loving husband, Ted, a successful podiatrist, has always done the right thing, too.  Then he meets the wrong woman at the wrong time, and does the wrong thing.  Ted's lover, Gina--a beautiful and kindhearted nutritionist--always eats the right thing, but is unlucky in love and always falls for the wrong men.  Soon Ted has to fight to make everything right again. 

**Personal notes-Great narrator,  its a good easy read that illustrates even people who have seemingly perfect lives have problems-we all do- and we can all get through them. 

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

The Memory Keepers Daughter
Author: Kim Edwards
Read by Martha Plimpton
9 Discs - 11 hours

On a winter night in 1964, Dr. David Henry is forced by a blizzard to deliver his own twins.  His son, born first, is perfectly healthy. When his wife begins having contractions again to everyones suprise he delivers a baby girl, he sees immediately that she has Down's Syndrome.  Rationalizing it as a need to protect Norah, his wife, he makes a split-second decision that will alter all of their lives forever.  He asks his nurse to take the baby away to an institution and never to reveal the secret. 

But Caroline, the nurse, cannot leave the infant.  Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child herself.  So begins this beautifully told story that unfolds over a quarter of a century in which these two families, ignorant of each other, are yet bound by the fateful decision made that long-ago winter night. 

Personal Notes:--The reader in this book  is great! This story is definately one of my favorites I have listened to in a long time!  It was also made into a movie if you want to check that out also.

When The Wind Blows

When The Wind Blows
Author: James Patterson
Read by: Kimberly Schraf

This story you will probably either love or hate.  This is a story about a group of mistreated children who have been mutated to benefit a group of scientists.   Frannie O'Neill is a veternarian who stumbles across one of mutated children in the woods after the child escaped from the secret "school" they are locked in.  With no other options the girl has to trust Frannie to help her and her family/friends escape from this school.  Frannie soon learns that there are many people involved in this attempt to keep the half animal-half human children a secret,  and they kill anyone who has only even just seen the kids.  

Swimsuit

Swimsuit
Authors: James Patterson, Maxine Paetro
Read by: Christian Rummel
6 compact discs
Fiction

A breathtakingly beautiful supermodel disappears from a swimsuit photo shoot at the most glamorous hotel in Hawaii. Only hours after she goes missing, Kim McDaniels's parents receive a terrifying phone call. Fearing the worst, they board the first flight to Maui and begin the hunt for their daughter.

Ex-cop Ben Hawkins, now a reporter for the L.A. Times, gets the McDaniels assignment. The ineptitude of the local police force defies belief—Ben has to start his own investigation for Kim McDaniels to have a prayer. And for Ben to have the story of his life.

All the while, the killer sets the stage for his next production. His audience expects the best—and they won't be disappointed. Swimsuit is a heart-pounding story of fear and desire, transporting you to a place where beauty and murder collide and unspeakable horrors are hidden within paradise.

Review

"Patterson never, and I mean never, disappoints." (USA TODAY Larry King )

"James Patterson is king of the bestseller hill." (Publishers Weekly )

"Patterson has mastered the art of writing page-turning bestsellers." (Chicago Sun-Times )

"The Man Who Can't Miss." (Time Lev Grossman )

"When it comes to construction a harrowing plot, author James Patterson can turn a screw all right." (New York Daily News )

"America's #1 storyteller." (Forbes )

Reccomendations if you liked this Book:

More James Patterson audio books:
Search Amazon.com for James patterson audiobook

More Maxine Paetro audio books:
Search Amazon.com for maxine paetro audiobook

More Christian Rummel(narrator) audio books:
Search Amazon.com for christian rummel audiobook

Fire Sale

Fire Sale
Author: Sara Paretsky
Read by: Sandra Burr
General Fiction
15 hours -12 discs

V.I. Warshawski may have left her old South Chicago neighborhood, but she learns that she cannot escape it.  When V.I. takes over coaching duties of the girls' basketball team at her former high school, she faces an ill-equipped, ragtag group of gangbangers, fundamentalists, and teenage moms, who inevitably draw the detective into their family woes.

Through young Josie Dorrado, V.I. meets the girl's mother, who voices her worries about sabotage in the little flag manufacturing plant where she works.  The biggest employer on the South Side, discount-store behemoth By-Smart, pays even less, and Ms. Dorrado doesn't know how she'll support her four children if the flag plant shuts down.

The elder Dorrado's fears are realized when the plant explodes; V.I. is injured and the owner is killed.  As V.I.  beings to investigate, she finds herself confronting the Bysen family, who own the By-Smart company.  When Billy Bysen runs away with Josie Dorrado, V.I. is squeezed between the needs of two very different families.  As she tries to find the errant teenages, and to track down a particularly cruel murderer, her own life is almost forfeit in the swamps that lie under the city of Chicago.



Reccomendations if you like this book:

V.I. Warshawski is  a character in a Series of Sara Paretsky's Novels; if you check this one out you might like these others also.

Search Amazon.com for v.i. warshawski audio cd

More Sara Paretsky's Novels:

Search Amazon.com for sara paretsky audio book

More audio books with Sandra Burr (narrator):

Search Amazon.com for sandra burr audio book

Second Chance

Second Chance
Author: Jane Green
Read by: Rosalyn Landor
General Fiction
11 hours, 41 minutes - 10 Compact Discs

A group of friends sit around a half-cleared dinner table.  Now in their late thirties, most haen't seen on another for years.  Paul, a handsome freelance journalist, is happily married to a grogeous fashion entrepreneur, but they're struggling-unsucessfully so far-t have children.  Saffron lives in Los Angeles; she's had many roles but is hoping for that one big break as she navigates a secret love affair with one of the most famous men in the world.  Olivia, always the wallflower of the group, runs an animal shelter in London and finds herself single afer her longtime lover walked ot.  And the hostess, Holly, is married to the perfect man, has two perfect children, and lives in the perfect house... or does she? 

When their friend Tom is killed in a terrorist attack the group gathers to morun, and as they do they rediscover the power of friendship, the politics of change, and the true meaning of a mid-life crisis.  Engrossing, mesmerizing and deliciously appealing, Second Chance will strike a chord with anyone who is still trying to figure life out. 

The Pelican Brief

The Pelican Brief
By John Grisham
(2999-CD) 9 compact Discs
Read by Alexander Adams

Late one October night, Justice Abe Rosenberg, at 91 the Supreme Court's liberal legend, is gunned down in his Georgetown home. Two hours later Myron Jensen, the court's youngest and most conservative justice, is strangled.  The country is stunned.  The FBI has no clues.

But Darby Shaw, a brilliant young law student and Tulane University, thinks she has the answer, She prepares a meticulous though very speculative brief that builds a strong case against a surprise suspect --  a suspect with very powerful friends who want Darby and "the pelican brief" she wrote out of the way for good!

"Takes suspense past the legal limit." (The New York Times)