Author: Lisa Mandina

Book Review 49:  thank you, Lucky Stars by Beverly Donofrio

Book Review 49: thank you, Lu..

Posted November 4, 2009 by Lisa Mandina in / 0 Comments

This was a pretty good book about girls and their friendships. I have to admit at first the whole, Lucky Stars, being capitalized and said constantly was kind of annoying. But I got used to it. I also at first had trouble because the girls were so young to me, 5th grade, and totally behaved […]

Book Review 48:  Keeping Score by Linda Sue Park

Book Review 48: Keeping Score..

Posted November 2, 2009 by Lisa Mandina in / 0 Comments

This was a major tear jerker. And to think the fact that it was a sports themed book made me not want to read it. And again, as I commented on another book from the Truman list I believe, some of the “accents” were a bit annoying. This is about a family from Brooklyn. The […]

Book Review 47:  Stolen Children by Peg Kehret

Book Review 47: Stolen Childr..

Posted October 31, 2009 by Lisa Mandina in / 0 Comments

Peg Kehret’s books seem to always be on the Mark Twain list like every year, kind of like Mary Downing Hahn’s books do. While they’ve not been my favorites in the past, and I alwasy feel they tend to have some similar trends in them, I decided this was a really good book. The main […]

Book Review 46:  School Spirit by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel

Book Review 46: School Spirit..

Posted October 31, 2009 by Lisa Mandina in / 0 Comments

This is also part of what I assume to be a newer series, this one called Suddenly Supernatural. My assumption is that the series will follow a 7th grader named Kat as she comes to realize she can see and talk to ghosts just like her mother. And her friend named Jac, who is a […]

Book Review 45:  Safe at Home by Mike Lupica

Book Review 45: Safe at Home ..

Posted October 29, 2009 by Lisa Mandina in / 0 Comments

This is one in a sports series called Mike Lupica’s Comeback Kids. I read “The Big Field” by Mike Lupica for the Truman list just a short time ago. My main criticism of that was how technical the baseball talk was. In this one, it wasn’t quite as technical, and maybe that’s why it was […]

Book Review 44:  Margret and Flynn by Kathleen Duey

Book Review 44: Margret and F..

Posted October 29, 2009 by Lisa Mandina in / 0 Comments

This is part of the Hoofbeats series, which I think we had one of as a possibility for last year’s Mark Twain, but didn’t make it. It takes place in 1875. The main character is of course Margret, and she and her sister Libby are orphans. They are living with Mrs. Frederickson, an elderly widow […]

Book Review 43: The Truth Abo..

Posted October 28, 2009 by Lisa Mandina in / 0 Comments

Long title on this book. Cute book. I was wondering why in the world there would be two “horse” stories on the list. Yeah, I know girls love horses and most dream of having their own pony as they grow up, I did. But what I loved about this book is that it didn’t make […]

Book Review 42: Waggit’..

Posted October 25, 2009 by Lisa Mandina in / 0 Comments

As I said in my last blog, I’m not a huge fan of books from the animal point of view. But all in all, I overcame that and enjoyed this book. At first, the dog, Waggit is left in the park by his owner, and is adopted by a “gang” of dogs, led by Tazar. […]

Book Review 41: The Bronze Pe..

Posted October 24, 2009 by Lisa Mandina in / 0 Comments

Another book about a little girl who wants to be a writer. I wonder if this was just a theme by the people on the committee, or if there were just a lot of books along this theme published at the same time. I enjoyed that aspect of it. I wish I had my own […]

Book Review 40: Mary Ingalls ..

Posted October 21, 2009 by Lisa Mandina in / 0 Comments

Reading Little House on the Prairie books takes me back to younger days. Not as young as you might think though. I didn’t read the books when I was a little girl. To me, the tv show is what I think of. In high school, I remember being home during the summer with my brother […]