"Emory's Gift" by W. Bruce Cameron

Emory's Gift by W. Bruce Cameron is a real good story about a young boy named Charlie Hall. His mom died and he lives with his dad. He is also dealing with Junior High, which is not being good to him at all! Then his whole life changes when he befriends a grizzly bear. I enjoyed this book a lot. I identified with Charlie and think you will like it too! (Gerard's review)

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

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"War Horse" by Michael Morpurgo (UPDATED)

War Horse by Michael Morpurgo is a double wow book for me! Joey, the war horse, tells about his adventures during World War 1 and the special bond he has with a young boy named Albert. At only 160 pages or so, it goes very fast. I loved it! I look forward to seeing the movie which is coming out on Christmas.
(Gerard's review)

Karen read this one too:
War Horse is a touching book that kept my interest all through.  Although it is a children's book, I enjoyed it but must admit I got teary-eyed reading it.  Parts were very sad but I loved the ending!  Joey, the horse, tells his story about living on a farm with a boy named Albert and then being sold to the army because Albert's dad needed money to save his farm.  The horse goes through a lot but Albert never gives up looking for him. 

The MOVIE:
We went to see the movie the day after Christmas and it is as good as the book!  It's really fantastic and we both cried, it was so moving.  You see the horrors of war but yet also the sacrifice for others, love, determination and some funny scenes too!  Great book, great movie!  We highly recommend it.  For more detail, see War Horse at Plugged in Online.

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.

"Growing Up Colt" by Colt and Brad McCoy

I am a Cleveland Browns fan so when I heard our Quarterback is a Christian and wrote a book about his life, I wanted to read it. I was surprised to find that his dad wrote some of it as well. This was an interesting read because Colt and his dad share very personal experiences from Colt's childhood and also how his training growing up helped him to become the leader and the role model that he is today. Brad, his dad, shared four main principles of parenting while balancing discipline and love:


 1. Prepare the kid for the path, not the path for the kid.
2. Prepare your children to do their best.
3. Prepare your children to be leaders.
4. Prepare your children for open and closed doors.

I also thought the lessons Colt said he learned were very good, such as always finish what you start, treat everyone with respect, listen to advice from those more experienced than you and relax because "the hay is in the barn."  He used this phrase in his first NFL start as a Cleveland Brown and the guys asked him what it meant.  It means they practiced and put in the work, so now they can relax and go out and play.  (He grew up on a farm in Texas.)

It was nice to read about someone who walks with God and didn't make a lot of bad choices that messed up their life. I think the book balances his childhood training, football games, and his walk with the Lord well. I enjoyed learning so much about Colt through this book. He's definitely a leader with character and I am happy he is our Quarterback! I recommend it to parents, all Browns fans and anyone who is interested in football.

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.

Manny Picks The Winner of our Audio Book Giveaway

Congratulations to our blogging buddies at Beaded Tail who won our audio book giveaway for IRON HOUSE by John Hart.  To enter the giveaway, all you had to do was comment on any of our blogs between Aug. 20 and Aug. 30.  I actually did an elimination round first by rolling dice to choose 16 finalists.  I counted the comments back starting with Aug. 20 and wrote down the commenter's name on a piece of paper according to the roll of the dice.  Obviously, the more you commented, the better your chances.  After I got through all 90 some comments, I threw them on the floor and let my cat, Manny pick one.  As you can see in the video, he was very contemplative but clearly had his paw on just one of them.  Both Gerard and I liked Iron House by John Hart very much and hope the gang at Beaded Tail enjoys the audio book!

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.

Tuesday Teaser: "Ready Player One" and "Growing Up Colt"

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should  Be Reading. Anyone can play along, so I thought  I  would play for fun! Just do the following

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on  that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away!   You don’t  want  to  ruin the  book for others!)
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can  add the book to their TBR  Lists  if they  like your teaser.   

Gerard's:

Then I made a silent vow not to go outside again until I had completed my quest. I would abandon the real world altogether until I found the egg.

From page 166 of Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.

Karen's:

A few days later, after the dust had settled, I actually thanked Dad for making me ride that steer. I also told him how scared I was to ride that night, and then we talked about how you sometimes have to do things even whey you're scared.

Taken from page 74 of Growing Up Colt--A Father, a Son, a Life in Football by Colt and Brad McCoy.  (For those you don't know, Colt McCoy is the Cleveland Browns Quarterback so that's why I'm reading this one--I'm a Browns fan!)

CHECK OUT OUR GIVEAWAY:
This is the last day to enter our giveaway for the audio book, 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.