Kates's Book Worm Blog

Well, summer has finally arrived. The hot weather is moving in, finally. We have had a rainy May and June here in Invermere, so it is nice to see and feel some sunshine. It's supposed to get up to the high 30's here, whitch will be really beautiful weather. Like I have said I have been having a super summer so far this year. I have been going downtown and buying things myself. I love to be outsdoors so I have been trying to get out as much as I can. Another goal I have this summer is to read a lot. You might remember when I wrote my Newyears resoulution blog, one of my resoulutions was to read some more. I love to read but I wouldn't call myself a heavy reader. When school is in I keep busy during the day with school and only read at night. In the summer though, I try to read a bit in the day time. I have a Kindle now. A kindle is an electronic device that you can read books on. It was given to me by my friend Kathy McCauley, the lady that helps me with electronic stuff, from SET B.C. I love holding books. I love the feel of them. I didn't think I could tranfer over from books to a Kindle but I have gotten used to it and now am quite enjoying it. My friend Patti and I try to read a lot together during our summer program. I like reading outloud and it is good pratise for my speech so I read aloud to her. For the longest time, I couldn't read in my head. I had to read aloud to understand the story better. I read in my head all the time now though and find it relaxing. To help me get piped up for some reading this summer, I thought today I'd write a blog on my top ten favorite books. When I first started this blog, I wrote an entry about my favorite movies. I figured I should show people I am into books too because books are important. They teach us lessons and make our mind make up our own movies. I have head from my teachers that the more you read, the more you know. Books enhabce your understanding of life and your vocabulary as well. I have really enjoyed preety much all the books I have read. There have only been a few that I didnt get into. Today, I'll write about the ones that really stick out in my mind. Here are some great books that have won me over with there stories. Here are some books that I will remember for a long time. In a way, you could say here is Kate's best seller list! 1. Little By Little- Jean Little: This was a book given to me by Kathy McCauley. It's like an autobiography of Jean Little as a child. She was born with a an eyesight impairment. This book tells about her life and her struggles being blind. She wants to be an author when she grows up so it's like the story of her writing her own book. This story has a great sense of humour. I would find myself laughing outloud as I read it. It's funny how Jean talks about things that have to do with her disabulity. There are not many books out there about people with disabilities, so for me its nice to read about them and see that there are authors out there with disabillities. It inspires me to become an author even more. It it also nice that our perspective is put out there foor people to see what its like for us. I would reccomend this book to anyone who has a good sense of humor and who likes a good story that teaches them about life from a diffrent perspective. Little by Little is the story of one girl's determination to find her place in this world. It's an inspiring tale for all! 2. To Kill a Mockingbird- Harper Lee- I read this book as a novel study at school in grade ten. We had to write an essay about it whitch was hard because it's such a complex story and the essay was timed too. We only had two hours to write it. I survived though! It's probably one that most of you have read. It is a classic. It is the story of how African Amaricans were treated in the 1930's I think It's also about the Finch family, a six year old girl Scout, her older bouther Jem and their father Atticus. Atticus is a good man who teaches his children good life morals. He is a lawyer who stands up for an African Amarican. It was a dangerous thing to do back then but Atticus does it and wins everybody over. This is a complex story with a lot of meanings in it. It's about loyalty and true courage. It s hard to get to the meat of this book but I think that this is just one of the books that everyone has to read once in their lifetime. It has a lot to teach. I don't understand rascism. How could oeople judge someone based on the colour of their skin. I appreciate the olden days but some things that got into those peoples heads were just dumb. We are better now but racism hasn't completely vanished. It's still here a little. Everyone should be treated with respect and as 1st class citizens. Some of the things African Amaricans had to go through in those days were appalling. That should never happen. Diversity is a good thing. It is what makes our world go 'round. The more we learn about diffrent cultures, races ,disabiilties, the better off we'll all be! 3. Stolen Lives- Malika Oufkir and Michelle Fitoussi- I read this book this year as a novel study in school. We had to take notes on it and write an essay about it. We had the choice of two and I chose this one. This book is a biography written about a girl, Malika , who lives quite a luxious life in Morroco. She later gets ripped away from her family by the king of Morrocco and lives with him and his daughter in a palace. Later though, when her father is suspected of murder, the family had to go into hiding. It is the story of how someones life can go from extreme wealth to extreme poverty. This book facinated me and taught me a lot. Malika Oufkir is a remarkable person wbecause of all g she went through and how she turned out to be a great peson and having the courage too tell someone her story and have it writtten into a book. This is an Oprah's list book. Now it's on mine too! I recommend this book to anyone who likes biographies, history and suspense. Its a story that will blow you away! 4. The Outsiders- S.E Hinton- A lot of these books I've read in school as you can probably tell. I read at home too but I have really enjoyed the books I have read in school. I read the Outsaiders in grade eight. We got to watch the movie too, after, whitch is quite good as well. It's never as good as the book though. The story is about a gang of boys that are known as "Greasers". They live on the rough side of town. Its about the hard times they all go through, family situations,and how society views them. Through all thatthey go through, they stick together as a brotherhood and help eachother through thick and thin. I usually am not intresterested in gang stories, but this book taught me a lot about life and how a person could look rough on the outside but really be soft on the inside. I would recommend this book to teenagers. It is about true friendship and loyalty. A suspense story and a friendship story all at one. The perfect combination. 5. The Kings Daughter- Barbara Kyle- I read this book on a three week vacationto Hawaii. Good thing I had a lot of time to read because it was a big book! It's about the war between Britain and France when Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary were in power. One family on one side gets in danger with a family on the othe side. It's a book about the times in the 1800s, but is writen by an author from the modern days, so the lauguage was easy to understand, whitch one of the reasons I liked it so much. I love history so it suited me. I recommend this book to all history lovers. You learn a lot about what it was like between the English and the French. It's a good learning book to open up your knowledge about the world around you and the history of it. 6. My Hope Butch- Dave Cassidy- I actually know the author of this book. he is a local here in invermere who wrote a book. It's quite inspiring that a man from a small town wrote a book. Dave is another writing inspiration for me. His book is about his experience with a Golden Labrador named Butch. It's the typical story of how a dog can go from being a trouble maker to your best friend. Butch goes through a lot of medical procedures as well so it's also the story of his journey with them as the furry medical wonder. I like relationship between dogs and people. I think there cute and I like how dogs can be really loyal towards the people that look after them. I recommend this book to all animal lovers. If your looking for an inspirational story about hope and a true furry companion, this would be the one! 7. Sarahs Key- Tatiana Rosemary- I also read this book this year in school. It is a story about a Reporter who is told to do an article about the concentration camp in France for the anniversary of the memoril of it. She finds a story about a Jewish girl Sarah who's family was deported to a concentration camp. The story goes back and for from what the reporter finds out, to back in time with what awful things Sarah had to go through. I like reading books that talk about a diffrennt characters point of view every chapter. You have to be that kind of reader to enjoy this book though. You go from the reporter to sarah and back again. This story is the most moving war story I've ever read. It was terrofying but I really appreciated the story. It looks into the french side of things whitch is intresting too. I could tell you my feelings about situations like this for hours. When I was youger and just learned about war I was worried about it all the time. I couldnt wrap my head around how people could do things like that to others. It's just wrong, wrong,wrong! Lets leave it at that. I recomend this book to history nuts, especially those who are intrested in World War Two. Books like these help us to realize how horrible things were back then and to help to prevent it from ever happening again! 8. Number The Stars- Louios Lowry- My 5th grade teacher read this to us in school. It was my first real war story that I was read too. It's not so scary, as the girl Marie and her jewish friend lived in Denmark wher the situation wasn't as bad. it was scary for me back then though. Marie's family has to take their jewish best friends in to hiding. It kind of shows what the home situations were like during World War Two. I recomend this book to all teachers trying to teach grade four of five students about the war for them to get an understanding of what things were sort of like back then. I think I'll will always remember that story. I quite appreciated it as a young kid. 9. Little Women- Louisa May Alcott- Another Classic! I'm sure a lot of you have read this one. It's a story of little girls growing up into young women, family, sisterhood and true love. I read this when I was in grade 5, independently. Its a simple old fashioned story about the bond of sisters and growing up. I love stories about the olden days. I've watched the movie too! I'd recomend this book to teenagers who are into olden days stuff. It's a cassic story of true friendship. 10. The Help- Kathryn Stockett- I just finished readinng this yesterday. It's another book about the discrimination againgst African Amaricans in the 50's. It's about African Amarican maids that go work for white people, nannying and cleaning and housekeeping This young white girl wants to be a repporter and wants to write on what is is like for them to work in a white persons house,raising white children whoile they don't even get to raise their own children. She gets all sorts of ladies together and talks to them. It's amazing, their stories and things that were said about them and what people did to them. It's a story that makes you think. It was funny at times but mostly serious. It is a good story for showing what it was really like for African Amaricans back then. It gooes back and forth from chartacter to character again. Its good story about friendship and how you should treat people. I think it will go down in history as a book that will be cherished for a long time. So, there are some book ideas for you. I know when I really like a book because I get a little sad when I finish it. I hope you get to read some of these books I've mentioned and if you have any suggestions of good books, let me know! I gotta make that summer list longer and longer each year. Thanks!