"Land of Decoration" by Grace McCleen

The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen is a wonderful story!  You will meet 10-yr.-old Judith McPherson who lives with her dad.  Judith makes up a "Land of Decoration," a promise land where things go as she wants them to.  As more and more bad things happen to her and her dad, she takes matters into her own hands and performs "miracles."

I enjoyed this book very much!  You will love Judith and I could identify with her being bullied.  I finished it in just two days.  I recommend it.
(Gerard's review)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

We are donating 50 cents for each legitimate comment we receive on all our blogs during April to Paralyzed Veterans of America.

"Thirteen Reasons Why" by Jay Asher

In Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, Hannah Baker has a plan to kill herself. Why? you ask. That is what the people who receive tapes from her in a shoe box want to know. Clay is one of the people who receives these tapes explaining why she did it.

I never ran across this angle in any book I ever read. It is interesting and very thought provoking. I liked it although I can see why some people may not.

(Gerard's review:  My rating: 4 of 5 stars)


Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

"Dear Bully--70 Authors Tell Their Stories"

Dear Bully contains 70 stories about bullying, edited by Megan Kelley Hall and Carrie Jones.  I'd say 96 percent of the stories are very, very good.  If you were bullied like I was in school, I'm sure you will identify with many of them. This book is heartbreaking because these people were bullied for no good reason.  Having been bullied, especially for long stretches, is something you never forget.  Dear Bully also tells of people who did nothing to stop it and now regret their decision.  This should be a must read for teens and adults too--bullying goes on in he work place as well.
(Gerard's review)

Want to read about my experience?  Here's the link to a post I wrote about it:  The Fat Stutterer

Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

Other books about bullying that we liked and recommend:
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (science fiction)
Please Stop Laughing At Us by Jodee Blanco (non-fiction)
Sonshine Girls: Summer Secret by Renee Morris (Christian teen fiction)
Please Stop Laughing At Me by Jodee Blanco (non-fiction)
Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen (fiction)

You can help our charity of the month just by leaving a comment on any of our blogs! We will donate 50 cents per comment at the end of the month. The charity for this month is at the top of our blog.

"Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes" by Chris Crutcher

WOW!  What a great Book this is!  Loved it!  This book is about a very special friendship between a boy and a girl who are "misfits" at a high school but much more than that.  It deals with freedom of speech, suicide and abortion too.  I got into Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes right away and really cared about the characters.  This is a good YA novel but all ages would get something out of it.  I give it a double wow!
(Gerard's review)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

You can help our charity of the month just by leaving a comment on any of our blogs! We will donate 50 cents per comment at the end of the month. The charity for this month is at the top of our blog.

"Save Me" by Lisa Scottoline (UPDATED)

This book starts out good but goes downhill fast at about page 200 or so.  The lead character turns into Nancy Drew.  The story line goes from good to bad and then the main plot is absolutely ridiculous!  Save yourself the trouble, don’t bother reading this one!

(Gerard's review)

Save Me by Lisa Scottoline is a contemporary novel about the strong bond between mothers and daughters.  It looks at the issues of bullying, community, volunteering and ethics.  It is the story of a mom that I think any mother would find interesting and enjoy.  Rose rescues several children from a fire at the school while volunteering as a lunch mom, including her own daughter, is proclaimed to be a mom hero and then later is portrayed as a villain when one girl she thought was safe goes back in and ends up in a coma.  When Rose’s attorneys advise her to sue the school, she fires them and begins her own investigation to find out what really happened that day.  What she finds out was quite a shock! 

I liked Save Me because it made me want to keep reading to see what was going to happen.  Hunting for her daughter in the fire and then being in another fire trying to save the mother who was so mean to her was gripping.  My favorite line of the book is “Every mom is an action hero.”  Although the story is a bit farfetched, it certainly is a good read.  I recommend this to any mother. 
(Karen's review)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? You can help our charity of the month just by leaving a comment on any of our blogs! We will donate 50 cents per comment at the end of the month. The charity for this month is at the top of our blog.

"Thin Rich Pretty" by Beth Harbison

Thin rich Pretty by Beth Harbison is a book I read to participate in Katherines Corner Book Club this month. I thought it was a fun read, humorous, entertaining, with believable characters. The message is to be yourself. It's about how three girls met at a camp when they were 13 and how the problems they struggled with such as Holly being too fat, Nicola thinking she was ugly and Lexi, the lonely rich girl carried with them into adulthood. It deals with bullying, friendship, and restitution. I thought it was a cute story and finished it in two days. I recommend it to women, don't think men would care for it.

Have you read this one? What did you think of it?  

Check out our audio book giveaway for IRON HOUSE by John Hart!

You can help our charity of the month just by leaving a comment on any of our blogs! We will donate 50 cents per comment at the end of the month. The charity for this month is at the top of our blog.

"Crossing lines" by Paul Volponi is Thought Provoking

"Crossing Lines" by Paul Volponi is about accepting people for who they are and taking a stand against your friends if they are hurting someone. Alan, president of the fashion club, wore lipstick and dresses to school. No wonder the other boys teased him! The girls, however, helped dress him up and gave him perfume. Adonis found himself embarrassed that his sister hung around with Alan and even had him come over to his house. Adonis was on the football team and his teammates were his friends. Adonis struggled with who he really was. Should he go along with his friends who teased Alan even though it was wrong or accept Alan for who is is and impress the girl he liked who was in the fashion club with his sister and Alan?

Live and let live is pretty much the message in this book. This is a thought-provoking teen book. I did not like Alan. I liked Adonis and thought he handled things fairly well. I recommend this for teens.  "How do you decide when to stand by and when to take a stand?"

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? You can help our charity of the month just by leaving a comment on any of our blogs! We will donate 50 cents per comment at the end of the month. The charity for this month is at the top of our blog.

"Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card

I know I'm way late to read Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card since it came out years ago.  That being said, I thought this book was just AWESOME!  For sure my book of the month for April and will rank very high in my books of the year list!

The premise of this book is the government has tabbed Ender to be the next big commander.  He is taken away from his family and sent to "Battle School."  His brother, Peter, and his sister, Valentine, also play interesting roles in this book. 

If you loved Hunger Games and The Maze Runner series, you will love this book too!
(Gerard's Review)

Karen's Review:
I liked Ender's Game very much too.  I'm glad Gerard encouraged me to read it!  Ender is just six years old when the government rejected his older brother and sister and took him instead to train to be the commander to fight against the buggers out in space and save the world.  Ender is very smart and very endearing.  He doesn't want to kill anyone but excels in the battle games.  I liked how even though Ender was an "underdog" he was very clever and came out on top when others made things tough for him.  The only thing I did not like about it was the ending.

If you like stories about mind games, leadership, friendship, bullying, military strategy/training or science fiction, you would love this book!  Anyone with battle experience I think would identify with Enger.  We both highly recommend this one--it's awesome!

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? You can help our charity of the month just by leaving a comment on any of our blogs! We will donate 50 cents per comment at the end of the month. The charity for this month is at the top of our blog.

Please Stop Laughing At Us: One Survivor's Extraordinary Quest to Prevent School Bullying

Jodee Blanco is a remarkable woman.  I hated to see Please Stop Laughing At Us:  One Survivor's Extraordinary Quest to Prevent School Bullying end. It was like talking to my new best friend. Finally, somebody got it right telling the story of being bullied. I admire Jodee. The work she is doing is so important! I just LOVED this book and hope you write another.

Be sure to read the emails and letters at the end of this book. They are sad, but good to know people now have someone to turn to--Jodee!

(Gerard's Review 7/1/10)

This is her second book about how she recovered from all the bullying she endured all through school and as an adult, went to talk at schools around the country to help other kids who were being bullied and help the bullies to stop. She also addressed parents and teachers.

Her advice included telling the bullied kids to stand up for themselves in a nonviolent way, find friends outside of school even if it means going outside of their school district. Parents should not just send kid for counseling but go with them. Parents need to support their kids and let the kids talk about their problems. Try to come up with an action together that will help the situation. She emphasized over and over that the advice to just ignore the bullies and they'll stop doesn't work for kids.  That is adult logic, but in reality, kids just tease all the more.

This book has a great message and offers practical help to both the bullied kids and their parents and teachers. It tells how the kids who used to pick on her in school are now her friends and she even married the most popular guy in school that all the girls liked which gives much hope to those going through the same thing. Great book!  I'd recommend every teacher read it and anyone who has been the recipient of being bullied.

(Karen's review 7/23/08)

Please Stop Laughing At Me: One Woman's Inspirational Story by Jodee Blanco

If you were picked on in high school and grade school like I was, this book brings back all the painful memories that you NEVER EVER forget! I'm so sorry you had to go through all this, Jodee. I was right there with you! So glad you wrote your book. I wish I had. 

God bless you, Jodee. Hope you enjoy great success in your life. Can't wait to read the sequel. Jodee is right. Teachers do nothing. Parents do nothing. You are on your own! I finished this book in just two days.

(GERARD'S REVIEW 6/15/08)

Please Stop Laughing At Me:  One Woman's Inspirational Story by Jodee Blanco is an autobiography of Jodee's struggles all through school. She tries to stand up for what is right and gets shunned and ostracized. She keeps wanting to "fit in" but doesn't know how without being untrue to herself. Near the end she finally gets some real friends. She takes a lot of abuse from kids who once were her friends, but deals as best she can looking forward to her future at college. I think teens would especially like this book.
(KAREN'S REVIEW 6/20/08)

"Touching Spirit Bear" by Ben Mikaelsen

Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen is about an angry kid with an alcoholic father named Cole who is abused and beats up a kid named Peter. Cole has to live on an Alaskan island by himself as part of Circle Justice. He changes with some wise help along with this experience on the island. I got into Touching Spirit Bear from the beginning! It's a page turner with a somewhat predictable ending, but a good read!" (GERARD'S REVIEW 8/7/08)

K

Touching Spirit Bear is an excellent story about Cole, an angry abused boy, who was mad at the world and his personal journey of dealing with his anger and becoming a better person through Circle Justice or Restoration Justice.  He beat up Peter to the point of causing him permanent harm and never took any responsibility for his actions until he faced death and began questioning his life.  This is a story about helping others and how the Circle Justice system works which Native Americans practiced for years. 

The idea is to restore the criminal to become a good citizen and not just punish them.  Instead of jail or a detention center, Cole was banished to live for a year on an island in Alaska alone.  At the end of the year, the Circle Justice group, made up of all those involved, would meet again and determine if he should go to jail or not.  Cole had a traumatic experience while on the island and after just three days was hospitalized after being mauled by a spirit bear.  After his rehabilitation he went back.  Peter tried committing suicide twice and Cole learned much while on the island, including how many mistakes he made and wanted to make things right if he could. 

I really liked Touching Spirit Bear a lot and had trouble putting it down.  I was anxious to see what would happen next.  There is no boring part in it.  There are many themes running through this book such as abuse, justice, survival, anger, forgiveness, healing.

(KAREN'S REVIEW 8/1/08)