Sunday, June 6, 2010

48-Hour Reading Challenge: Update 5#

Hi! Kate here again. Unfortunately, we've run out of pie, but luckily, we have brownies.

Here's the latest update.

My update:
Hours of reading: 9.5
Books finished: 2
Books in progress: 2

Paulina's (Mom's) update:
Hours of reading: 14.5
Hours of listening to audiobooks: 2.5
Books finished: 3
Books in progress: 2

Paulina's list of finished books:
- Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant
- Say What? The Weird and Mysterious Journey of the English Language by Gena K. Gorrell
- Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston

Kate's list of finished books:
- The Kane Chronicles: The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
- No Small Thing by Natale Ghent

Mom has started another book called Everything Asian. She continues to listen to Wolf Hall on her iPod.

I have started on the sequel to No Small Thing by Natale Ghent, All the Way Home. We had our Mother-Daughter book club earlier this morning, so I wasn't able to read much. I'll give more details later. I'm also reading an Abby Hayes book in french for school.

No Small Thing is a moving book about Nat, Cid and Queenie- three siblings. Their father had left them and their mother four years ago, and their mother was struggling to pay for hydro, electricity, food, etc. One day, they find an ad in the newspaper offering them a free horse, and they jump to the chance. Luckily, their mom lets them keep it, but, a few months later, the barn catches on fire.

I thought the year the book was set in, 1977, was an unusual choice for a kid's book. Parents of kids reading this book would have likely been kids then, and my dad already tells me enough "Back in the old days...." stories.

However, the book turned out to be better than I expected. It was not one of those My Little Pony books for younger kids. It even had a bit of romance. It also surprised me that the kids stole a lot, but I guess when your mom can't even pay hydro, you might feel tempted. This book overall was great. I recommend this book for ages 10+.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Kate:

    Sorry, I'm just reading this blog now. My parents-in-law gave Keita "No Small Thing" a few years ago, and I read it to both my girls. It wasn't the sort of book any of us would have normally picked up, but we all enjoyed it. Keita just re-read it again on her own, and cried at the end. I was thinking of suggesting this for our mother-daughter book club, but now I'm not so sure since you've read it already. What do you think?

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