The Book Search

 How lucky I am to get to read some of these amazing new books that are just coming out?  Wait till you read these!   The first one is a novel in verse and it's historical fiction.  It's called "A Year without Home"  and it's written by V. T. Bidania and according to the author's notes, is a story about her family's experience as they traveled from their home in Laos, to a refugee camp in Thailand, to a second refugee camp in Thailand and then to the US.  The story is told by Gao Sheng, who is the oldest child in her family and as a girl, she is not considered as important as her brother, Yia.  She is expected to be hard working, dutiful, and well behaved and she tries hard to fill that role.  Her home in Laos contains most of her immediate family-her grandmother, her aunts and uncles, her parents and siblings and they have most everything they need.  Her father is an officer in the Laotian military and when the Laotian government falls to th...

 Did you ever hit kind of a low spot while you're reading?  Uninspiring books?  Books you don't care if you finish?  Characters that don't seem like anyone you know?  Well, let me tell you, these books will shake you out of that slump and FAST.  Wait till you hear... The first one is called Once Upon a Camel by Kathi Appelt.  She's written a number of children's books that you've probably loved like Once Upon a Fox or The True Blue Scouts of the Sugar Man Swamp.  This new one, Once Upon a Camel?  SO AWESOME.  Let me tell you why.  It's told by Zayda, a camel (?!!!) and you have to pay attention a bit as you read, because the book hops around in time.  It starts in Texas in 1910 (Camels???  In Texas???  In 1910???  I KNOW!!!).  It turns out there is a terrible sand storm coming towards Zayda.  She has good friends, the kestrels that are trying to warn her about the impending storm but the kestrel pair ar...