Home again, home again, skippity skip!

Love being home after being away. Upon entering my beloved home though I noticed a pet smell that has permeated our home from this new puppy we love! Hmmm-any solutions?? Light more candles, you say-I can do that.

I had a huge stack of mail waiting for me, including several packages! Love packages! One was my new calling cards from Laura Beth @ Happy Girl Greetings!!! Yeahhhh-birthday gift to myself! They are lovely and make me think of Beatrix Potter for some reason, even though there are no small woodland creatures on the card. What they do have on it is my pertinent school and blog information as well as a beautiful antique engraving of two girls-well, ta da- easier to show the card then try to explain it!!!! Isn't it lovely??

Back to my packages: two more packages contained books:
1. Umbrella Summer
2. Jantzen's Gift (free, but not an ARC)
3. A script book for my husband even though addressed to me-yes, I was a little let down!

The third package was a birthday greeting from my step-mother, even though she already bought me a dress and sandals. Love her too! Maybe more than my new business cards.

Now to my reading. I finished two more books in Ely after I finished Hungry by Michael Grant.
I read an easy one first: Nory Ryan's Song by Patricia Reilly Giff. She is a great author who has quite a variety of books. My book club partner at school and I decided to feature Giff in one of student clubs this year. This is the second time I've read this book and I liked it even more this time. Nory's story covers the time in Ireland's history leading up to the potato famine. I loved how her family tried to stick together and how horrible it is to watch the community crumble around them as food becomes more and more scarce. The language is wonderful and the story is a fast read-perfect combination for a fifth-grade book club offering. I still have eleven by Giff to read as well. If you have not read any Patricia Reilly Giff, give her a try.
Click here for a list of other PRG titles.

The second book I finished was purely for fun. I've been reading post after post from other bloggers about Sarah Dessen's books. I knew I had purchased some of her books for my step-daughter, Kaylee so I asked her if I could (pretty please) borrow them back from her book shelf for awhile. I started with Someone like me and I loved it! What great characters and unique twisting story line Dessen created.
The book describes the friendship between Halley and Scarlett, best friends since forever. Now they are teens and life for them is about boys. We come into the story after Scarlett has dated Michael, a sweet rambling young man. The romance ends when Michael is killed on his motorcycle and Halley is summoned home from some leadership camp she didn't want to be at anyway. In every conversation these two characters have you are made of aware of their close connection, which makes it really endearing. I loved the likeable scumbag character, Macon; the boy Halley begins to date. The interactions between Halley, Macon and Scarlett are well-written as well as minor typical high school characters like Ginny Tabor. We've all known our own version of Ginny, know-it-all, always-causing-trouble, busy-body .
This book made me think of the few fabulous women I've been "best" friends with over the years as well as some of my endearing but troubled young boyfriends. Read this book as the book tag says "anyone who's had a best friend-or a first love-will understand" and I did on both accounts. Sarah Dessen has a great website/blog!