From Becca's Shelves... Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke & The Bookish.  This week's topic is Ten Finished Series I Have YET To Finish, which means that I have plenty of series to choose from! Yay, my very first EASY Top Ten Tuesday post! Haha, for real, I have the BIGGEST book buying problem, so I have tons of series on hand that I have yet to read the last book. My TBR is pretty much

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Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. This week, the theme is “Top Ten Books That Would Be On Your Syllabus If You Taught X 101” and we’re happy to be participating!     I would like to make about a million of these (social justice & YA! LGBTQI literature!) but eventually settled on this topic, which is basically … novels from the Western literary canon and YA books that I think it’d be cool to teach with them and vice versa. Some of these are adaptations of canonical lit, others are loosely inspired by it, and others are just paired together because I want them to be. The sort of guiding question that I had in mind for these pairings – because there are approximately a million adaptations in the world! – was how do these novels explore what it means to be human? (With secondary... Read more »

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From Becca's Shelves... Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke & The Bookish.  This week's topic is Top Ten Books That Would Be On My Syllabus If I Taught Fantasy 101. I figured this would be the perfect 101 for me to do, since I recently became obsessed with any and everything fantasy related. Below you will find my most beloved fantasy series (in no particular order, because that's way too

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From Becca's shelves... Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke & The Bookish.  This week's topic is Top Ten Of Your Auto-Buy Authors (no matter the genre or what it's about... you'll buy it from these authors!). So basically all of the following authors? Yeah, I'd totally buy their grocery lists. That's how big of a fan I am of them all.  Richelle Mead- I was late to the Richelle Mead

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Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. This week, the theme is “Top Ten Authors I’ve Read the Most Books From” and we’re happy to be participating!   1. Courtney Milan It is possible that I write about Courtney Milan far too often in my Top Ten Tuesdays! But like, it’s because I think she’s the shit, and conveniently for this week, she’s also written a ton of books. And I’ve read them all because, again, her books are awesome. If you’re not a romance reader and aren’t familiar with her books, you should read them because they feature banter (who doesn’t like banter!), super kickass protagonists (biologists! suffragettes! chess prodigies!), and good conversations around consent. They are  excellent. And hey, she started a New Adult series this year, starting with Trade Me. Woo! 2. Tessa Dare Fair warning, I hope you enjoy romance, because... Read more »

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From Becca's Shelves... Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke & The Bookish.  This week's topic is Ten Fairytale Retellings I've Read/Want to Read (or fairytales I want to be retold or fairytales I love). Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer - I actually can't remember if I read this one this year or last (I'm getting old, okay?), but I remember really being blown away by what happens in Belzhar!

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Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. This week, the theme is “Top Ten Characters Who Are Fellow Book Nerds” and we’re happy to be participating!     For this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, Jamie explains that “book nerds” can include a variety of things – people who work at bookstores! people who are aspiring writers! – so I’m also working with this broader definition for my list today. 1. Jane Eyre from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë: One of my all-time favorite novels! As you might remember, the book opens with Jane trying to read Bewick’s History of British Birds stealthily in the windowseat and getting caught at it by her awful cousin John Reed. 2. Catherine Morland from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: Catherine’s love for Gothic novels – particularly Ann Radcliffe’s – causes her to suspect that Northanger Abbey holds deep dark secrets at every turn.... Read more »

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

This week's top ten topic is books that celebrate diversity.  I don't think my choices could be called  books that celebrate diversity, but they certainly put a spotlight on the way World War II impacted diverse people in different way.   I chosen 11 books that had a real impact on me as a reader when I read them.

1- Mare's War by Tanita Davis

This is one of the first books I read when I began this blog and I liked it so much I bought a copy for my niece.  Mare and her granddaughters are taking a trip to a family reunion during summer vacation.  The girls are bored and unhappy, wanting to stay home with their friends instead.  As they drive along, Mare begins to tell them about her time in the Women's Army Corp or WACS in WWII.  Because Davis wove in so many historical facts about Mare's, the 6888th Central Postal Battalion, the readers learns a lot about what like was like for the women in this African American, all-female unit, the only one to serve overseas. (YA)


2- Climbing the Stairs by Padma Venkatraman

When I reviewed this book, I wrote that I knew almost nothing about the role India played in WWII.  In 1941, Vidya, 15, wants nothing more than to join Gandhi's Freedom Fighters.  Seeing a Freedom Fighters demonstration, Veda rushes to join it, but it results in her father being beaten by a British policeman, leaving him brain damages. Vidya keeps the details of what happened to herself, until her brother announces he is going to join the voluntary British India Army.  How could he fight for and defend the people who destroyed her beloved father's lie.  There is a lot of information in Vidya's story about Indian traditions and religion.  (YA)


3- The Grand Mosque of Paris: A Story of How Muslims Rescured Jews during the Holocaust by Karen Gray Ruelle

The Grand Mosque had been given to the Islamic community in Paris in gratitude to the Muslims who fought in WWI.  In 1940, after France was invaded by the Nazis and began rounding up Jews for deportation, the members of the Grand Mosque, many of whom were in the French Resistance already, realized they had the means to help the French Jews and began sneaking them in the mosque until they had what they needed to escape.   (Picture Book for older Readers)


4- When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park

Although Korea had been occupied by the Japanese since 1910, once World War II began, things began to get even harder for the Korean people.  In this story about the Kim family, the reader learns through the alternating narration of Sun-hee, 10, and her older brother, Tai-yul, 13, how much of their culture was sacrificed including their Korean names and forcing them to accept Japanese culture and language.  Outwardly, the family accepts the Japanese demands, but at home the hold tightly to their Korean culture.  As they begin to lose the war, the Japanese take it out on the Korean people, but despite everything, small acts of defiance abound as the Koreans desperately hold on to their real identity. (MG)


5- Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society by Adeline Yen Mah 

This speculative fiction novel about an unwanted daughter, Ye Xian, who is thrown out of her home by her father when she is disrespectful to her stepmother.  Ye Xian is taken in by Grandma Wu, and soon becomes an expert at kung fu and part of the Secret Dragon Society that helps the oppressed.  China has been under Japanese occupation since 1937 and now, in 1942, they have a different kind of mission.  Ye Xian and the other members of the society must try to save 5 downed American fliers before the Japanese find them.  This part of the story is actually based in reality, as is the cruel way the Chinese people were treated by the Japanese occupiers.  Though fantasy, there's lots of Chinese culture and tradition to be learned about.  (MG)

6- No Surrender Soldier by Christine Kohler

The main character in this novel is a 15 year old Charmorro boy, Kiko, living in Guam in 1972 and an elderly Japanese soldier, Seto, who has been living in hiding since WWII and doesn't know the war is over.  This is an odd coming of age story for both Kiki and Seto, who was only a young man when he went into hiding from the Americans on Guam.  There is quite a bit of information about Charmorro customs and traditions, and is it very interesting to see how Seto lived in his underground cave, concealing his presence for so many years. (YA)




7- Blue by Joyce Moyer Hostetter

Until the vaccine was discovered, there were outbreaks of polio all the time.  During WWII, even the President suffered with it.  In September1944, with her father in Europe fighting, Ann Fay Honeycutt, 13, is also diagnosed with polio. The novel follows her treatment and her friendship with an African American girl she meets in the hospital.  Catawba County, NC was particularly hard hit by polio and Ann Fay's story nicely documents what was done about it.  Since there are so few cases of polio these days, it is interesting to read about how clothes and favorite toys were burned, swimming wasn't allowed, and how a makeshift hospital was constructed to handle all the cases there.  (MG)



8- Code Talkers: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War II by Joseph Bruchac

This is a historical fiction novel that tells about how the Navajo language and the Navajos who spoke it were used to send unbreakable coded messages during WWII and helped with the war.  But more than that, it is the story of what life was life for Native Americans within their family and when they were sent to an "Indian School" to be educated and where practicing their native culture and traditions could result in severe punishments.  This is the kind of novel that can make your blood boil when you read about how Native Americans were treated.   And even though they became real American heroes, it wasn't until 2000 that what they contributed to the war was acknowledged. (MG?YA)



9- Eyes of the Emperor by Graham Salisbury

This is one of the most disturbing books I've read.  Eddy Okubo, a Japanese American living in Hawaii, is only 16, but lies about his age and joins the army,  Seven weeks later, Pearl Harbor is attacked and from then on Eddy and the other Japanese American soldiers are treated like grunts.  When a Swiss emigre convinces President Roosevelt that he can train dogs to sniff out the Japanese, Eddy and 24 other soldiers of Japanese descent, are sent to Cat Island, MS where they serve as "hate bait" in the dogs training sessions.  This is, sadly, based in reality.  This is an interesting look at the kind of xenophobia that resulted after Pearl Harbor. (YA)



9a- Dash by Kirby Larson

When it was decided that Japanese Americans were to be put into internment camps for the duration of the war, they all lost everything they had worked for - homes, businesses, cars, cherished mementos from family in Japan.  For Mitsi, 11, it meant losing her best friends and her dog.  Later, at the internment camp, families are forced to live in dusty, smelly horse stalls, and later to dusty barracks in the middle of nowhere.   It's hard to believe now that this country could treat its citizens and its legal immigrants in such an appalling manner (well, actually, and I'm ashamed to say this, but maybe it isn't, after all). (MG)






10- T4 by Anne Clare LaZotte

This novel-in-free-verse is about a deaf girl, Paula Becker, who is 13 and living in Nazi Germany when the Nazis pass a law that allows them the euthanize disabled people, including children, to help create a master race that is free of any disability and also eliminate the cost of caring for them.  T4 is the name give to the program.  In desperation, Paula is taken to a safe haven where she learns sign language, but when the Nazis come to search the house, Paula must be taken to another safe haven.  T4 killings stopped in 1941 but Paula's life and other's with disabilities weren't safe until the end of the war. (MG)


It was interesting to go back and see what books I've read that I applied the keyword Diversity to.  One thing I noticed is that I have no reviews of LGTBQ books.  Any recommendations, besides Postcards from No Man's Land by Aidan Chambers?  I would appreciate any suggestions.

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From Becca's mailbox... Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke & The Bookish.  This week's topic is Last Ten Books That Came Into Your Possession. I'm prettttty sure these are the last ten, but not 100% positive, because I haven't been keeping track lately. Oh wellsies. Dissonance by Erica O'Rourke - For review. I'm so excited for this one (and Resonance), because I really wanted to

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From Becs Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke & The Bookish.  This week's topic is Top Ten Hyped Books I've Never Read, which actually wasn't too hard for me, because I honestly have so many books in my TBR (er...on my TBR SHELVES) that I just had to glance at them as I was writing. I don't know if these books are hyped a lot. It feels like they are. I consider hyped to be...what it

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Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. This week, the theme is “Top Ten Books of 2015 (So Far)” and we’re happy to be participating!       Golden Son by Pierce Brown The second installment in this sci-fi series upped the ante from its predecessor smartly moving the majority of the action from Mars into space. The first book is all world building and war games in a future-dystopia. Golden Son is war and space, political intrigue and betrayals, and perhaps a smidgen of romance. And if you like wham!bam! endings that’s likely to leave you with your jaw somewhere past the floor then this is definitely a book for you. The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon Another 2015 second in a series that dramatically improved upon the first. Whereas the The Bone Season was a sort of jailbreak story, The Mime Order is a murder... Read more »

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Becca Speaks... Oh, hey, look. It's my very first Top Ten Tuesday post!  Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke & The Bookish.  This week's topic is Top Ten Books I've Read So Far in 2015, and you wouldn't believe how terribly difficult it was to narrow my choices down to TEN (cough, I mean, eleven, because I'm a rule-breaker). The following books are listed in no particular order,

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Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. This week, the theme is “Top Ten Books on My TBR for Summer 2015″ and we’re happy to be participating!     What I’m Going to Read This Summer (In Addition to Research, I Promise) 1. The Paying Guests – Sarah Waters This has been on my TBR list forever, basically, but it’s FINALLY happening, you guys. Why do I want to read this? Um, Wendy loved it, I love Sarah Waters’s other books, and I hear there are ladies being gay together. Also, some of my friends have had mixed feelings about it, so if I read it, I can finally talk about it with them. And that is all I ever need from life. Thankfully, the queer book club I belong to just chose this for July’s meeting, so I will actually read that book that I’ve... Read more »

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  Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. This week, we’re happy to be talking about books we’d most like to see as movies / TV shows.   I’m going to try really hard not to cheat and choose things that have already been made into TV shows or movies, but I make no promises! I will also say that all of this is obviously influenced by the kind of TV and movies I like to watch: I like sci-fi and fantasy, I like story-lines that are focused on ladies, and I like LGBTQ characters and content. So! 1. Throne of Glass – Sarah J. Maas Maybe this is not a super unexpected choice, but man, these books would make for great movies. When was the last time you saw a high fantasy film about a kickass teenage assassin? Wouldn’t you like to do that?... Read more »

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  Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. This week was a “choose your own topic” week so, me being me, I chose Top Ten Girl Power Fantasies.         Graceling by Kristin Cashore Katsa’s grace is killing and in many ways she personifies the “Strong Female Character” trope. But the presence of romance is nearly always a must in my fantasy books and I love Katsa’s journey because she learns that having love and having independence are not mutually exclusive. You can be a traditional bad ass and also be invested in the traditionally feminine. Plus, I sure would love to have her with me in a zombie apocalypse. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine The first fantasy novel I read and I adored it! This also remains one of my favorite works of feminist fiction to this day (and what a great intro... Read more »

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Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. This week, the theme is “Ten Authors I REALLY Want to Meet” and we’re happy to be participating. A favor before we begin! For the purposes of this post, assume that “meet” means something like … “I see them and listen to them talk about things.” Because I was rendered speechless by, for example, meeting Sarah J. Maas last year, I don’t necessarily have a lot of faith in my ability to meet my most favorite authors and not freak out. So let’s try to imagine these as scenarios where I am dignified and never, ever lose my cool. Thank you.          1. Naomi Novik Naomi Novik is at the tippity-top of my list right now because I just finished Uprooted at Kim’s suggestion a few days ago (because Kim is the best) and, you all, I... Read more »

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Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. This week, the theme is “Ten Books I’ll Probably Never Read” and we’re happy to be participating. This is our first outing!       The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien  So maybe I’m cheating a little bit because I have attempted to read these books before. I made it to the second book in high school before I gave up in frustration of the endless, endless amount of boring detail. All they do is travel! Does anything ever actually happen??? I read The Hobbit in 8th grade and I hated that too. To be fair, when I first attempted to read these I was just a baby fantasy fan, having recently devoured Harry Potter. Maybe now that I’m an old pro with fantasy I’d find it different. Every time I look at the... Read more »

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Being the second day in the month, that means it's time for another question from Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the Broke and the Bookish.

Today's question is: Top Ten Books I Can't Believe I Haven't/Want To Read From X Genre

Well, seeing as my "to be read" pile is thousands of books long, and I will probably never ever finish them all before I die, I wasn't sure how I wanted to spin this one at first.  But then I remembered the ALA awards for children's an YA lit came out this week (the Printz, Morris, Newbery, Caldecott, etc.).  So in honor of that, I decided to look up past winners/honorable mentions from the past few years and list the top ten books I can't believe I haven't read yet from those awards.  These are books that I have intended to read before knowing they won awards, not because they were winners. 

So here they are in no particular order:

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale (Newbery Honor, 2006) - With as much as I absolutely love Shannon Hale, I have no idea why I haven't picked this one up yet.  I know pretty much I would love it, and I even own Book 2 as well, but I have never read either of them yet.

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly (Printz Honor, 2004) - I've read one other book by Jennifer Donnelly and didn't really like it at all, which is why it's slightly surprising that the premise of this one has always appealed to me so much.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (Morris Finalist, 2010) - Lots of hype about these books.  Still have never picked them up, even though they do sound interesting to me.

A Curse Dark As Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce (Morris Winner, 2009) - This one is a fairy tale retelling I've had on my to-read list for ages.  I blame my ever expanding bookshelves for hiding it away from me in the back as the reason I've never read it.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson (Morris Finalist, 2012) - This book interested me from the very moment that I heard about it.  I think I haven't picked it up yet because I haven't gotten my hands on the third one yet, and I have this weird thing about not starting a series until I have several of the books in case there are cliffhangers.

Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson (Newbery Honor, 2007) - I've gone back and forth on this book for many years now.  I keep checking it out from the library and never actually getting around to reading it before I have to return it.

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman (Morris Winner, 2013) - Another book I've wanted to read since before it came out and I read what it was about.  Usually the books I like never get shortlisted for awards, so I was surprised that it won both this and the Cybils award in 2013 for its category. 

Belle Epoque by Elizabeth Ross (Morris Finalist, 2014) - One of the only books from this year's awards that I feel a need to read right away. 

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (Newbery Winner, 2009) - This is the one book I'm a bit torn about on this list, because I have actually read a bit of it for when I was on the Fantasy/Sc-Fi committee for the Cybils in 2009.  I actually didn't like it that much, but it's gotten so much hype I figured maybe I need to give it a second chance.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore (Morris Finalist, 2009) - This one I'm not entirely sure if it belongs on this list either.  Mostly because I have read about 1/3 of it right before Christmas, and I LOVED it, I just haven't had the time to finish it yet (and I have temporarily lost my copy...).  But since I haven't read it in its entirety yet, I figured it deserved a place on the list. 


With the list being done, I think there is one interesting trend that popped up while I was going through these books.  I really haven't read most of the winners, and I'm not planning on reading a lot of them.  That's because I find that most of the time the bestseller, popular, and "literary" books that win awards don't really appeal to me.  Some exceptions come to mind (I found Harry Potter worth the hype, for instance) but these are the titles that really stood out to me because I was interested in many of these books before knowing they were on the lists. 

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Hello blog readers!

I know I’ve been a bit absent lately. Still struggling to find internet access. But my goal is to work myself towards more active participation over here. Thanks to all of you who’ve stuck through these ups and downs with me over the last few months. And welcome to any new readers too. :)

Anyway, moving on to today’s post. In addition to getting back to regular posts, I just discovered this way cool weekly event called Top Ten Tuesdays hosted over at The Broke and Bookish. They post a book related question each Tuesday, and participants have the chance to come up with a list of 10 books that answer that question.

Sounds like fun. So although I don’t know how often I’ll participate, I thought it would be fun to do so today anyway. Today’s question is: Ten Books I'd Love to Read With My Book Club/If I Had A Book Club.

Interesting question for me, since for the first time ever in my life, I actually am a member of a book club. I found out in November that a group of ladies from my church do participate in a monthly book club and they invited me to join. Of course, that being said, most of the books we’ve read so far totally aren’t my thing. But since we take turns choosing books, this is actually something that I’ve thought about (for when my turn comes around).

When choosing a book for book club, I think it’s better to choose something that you’ve already read, since that way there’s no surprises content-wise that you can’t warn people about before they start the book. As a result, I’ve approached this question narrowing it down to books I’ve already read.

So here’s 10 books I’d like to read with my book club (in no particular order):

Austenland: A Novel by Shannon Hale - Normally I don’t like adult contemporary romance, but I picked this one up because it’s Shannon Hale and Jane Austen mixed together, what could go wrong? And I loved it. This is a book that everyone who I’ve ever passed it onto has liked. And the movie isn’t bad either, even though it doesn’t follow the book exactly.

The Host by Stephenie Meyer - Okay, I know full well I’m going to catch flack for this one because Stephenie Meyer has kind of become a cliché name due to the Twilight books. And yes, I enjoyed the Twilight books. Never a big fan of them, but they were fun to read the one time. However, I really liked her book The Host (her adult book) a lot more. But most of the people I talk to won’t give it a try because of how they feel about Twilight etc. So I wish more people would try this one so I could discuss it with them.

We Bought a Zoo - Also a cute movie. Although the movie is pretty much nothing like the book. The actual book is a non-fiction memoir about the opening of Dartmouth Zoological Park in England. It’s a little slow to start because there is a lot of background information to slog through before you get to the specific anecdotes about owning/refurbishing a zoo, which is why those I’ve shared it with have had a hard time with it in the past. But I love re-reading this one, because the stories are quite funny if you can get through the background information, and it’s wonderful to think that they all actually happened to someone somewhere. Definitely an escape book for me.

Agatha H. and the Airship City by Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio - This one is a little weird, because I actually read the graphic novel version of it first. But knowing it might be hard to entice people to read graphic novels if they’re not used to it, there’s also a book version which pretty much follows the comic word for word. If you like steampunk, this is a great series for you. And a good introduction to the idea of steampunk if you’re not familiar with it already. I love the characters and the mystery of the whole plot of this series.

So here’s where I get into trouble. My book club is made up of adults, and although we have read one YA book since I’ve joined (Graceling by Kristin Cashore, which was excellent, by the way, and I don’t know why it took me so long to read it) but most of the books I read are YA ones. So the above four are my “adult” choices. But if I could, I would share these YA/Kid titles with my book club too.

Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede - This one lands firmly in the “kid” category, but it has been one of my favorite books since childhood. Who wouldn’t want to share one of their favorites with others? No brainier for this list.

The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde - Fforde normal writes adult novels, so although this book is marketed as YA (probably because the main character is 16) I think it’s very translatable to adult readers. I love the inventiveness of the world created in this one, as well as the spunky main character, and I enjoyed the sequel a lot too. Hopefully I will be able to get my hands on the third one soon.

A World Without Heroes (Beyonders) by Brandon Mull - I love pretty much everything Brandon Mull does, but I think the Beyonders series grapples with more larger and complex issues than his Candy Shop War and Fablehaven series do. I’ve always been disappointed that this one is billed as middle grade level, as I really think it would appeal more to YA readers because of its complexity, and I think most teens won’t give it a chance because it’s usually shelved in the kids section. I think this one could spark lots of great discussion with a book club.

Heist Society by Ally Carter - Again, I love pretty much everything Ally Carter does, but Heist Society has a special place in my heart among her books. I don’t know why this particular one resonated with me so much, but it is another one of those books that everyone I recommend it to loves. I even got my brother to read it (and its two sequels) and he doesn’t read “girl books”. So that’s a success story right there.

A Long Way From Chicago by Richard Peck - I think this one is considered a “modern children’s classic”. I picked it up because it was required reading for my YA lit class in college. Even though it’s a relatively short children’s book, the merit of this one is definitely high. It’s a great collection of connected short stories about growing up during the years of the Great Depression. Seriously, if you haven’t read this one yet, you should.

Holes by Louis Sachar - If you haven’t read Holes yet, you need to. End of story. Yes, it’s a kid’s book, but it’s great anyway. Like Harry Potter. I’m serious, go read if you haven’t. Now.

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

Picking the top ten books I've read in 2014 was no easy task, so I've decided to list the top ten books I've read here on The Children's War and list the top ten books I've read on my other blog Randomly Reading.

(I liked these books all equally well, so the list isn't from favorite to least favorite)

1- Dash by Kirby Larson
Mitsi and her family lose everything when they are forced to live in an internment camp, including her beloved dog Dash.  Luckily, a kind neighbor agrees to care for Dash.

11- The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny and the Fight for Civil Rights by Steve Sheinkin
Another favorite nonfiction book, I learned so much about this almost completely unheard of event that happened in WWII, perhaps because it involved African American sailors.  This is really one of the best books I've read this year.

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. Every week they post a new topic/top ten list and invite everyone to share their own answers. Here is my TOP TEN TUESDAY:

Top 10 Books I’d Give to Readers Who Have Never Read Chick-Lit!

 

Watermelon by Marian Keyes

Marian Keyes can do no wrong. In my opinion all of her books are absolutely delightful and worth a read. But if you are looking for a starting off point, Watermelon was her first and it introduces readers to the Walsh family. This is a book I could certainly re-read (always a good sign)!

For Better, for Worse by Carole Matthews

Once upon a time Kelly Ripa started a book club. It was short lived but it was so much fun to watch her have authors sit at a round table and discuss their work. She only picked “Chick Lit” titles and the conversations were so fun. I wish they did more of this type of programming on television today. Carole Matthews was one of Kelly’s first picks and ever since then I have always picked up her latest book. She is quite prolific and so much fun to read.

Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

Oh my god. I love these books. The movie doesn’t do them justice. And word has it that there is a NEW Shopaholic book scheduled for the fall. I. Can’t. Wait!

Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner

I’m not sure how Jennifer Weiner would feel being put in the “chick lit” label. She has been very outspoken about women not receiving the same respect as their male counterparts and I really hope this doesn’t bother her. But honestly, I can’t make a favorite chick lit list and NOT include Jennifer Weiner. I will say that her writing is deep and authentic and her characters are flawed and wonderful. Chick lit, women’s fiction, literary fiction, fiction. Who cares how you label it as long as you read it and enjoy!

Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding

Obviously this title goes without saying. What would a chick lit list be without our beloved Bridget? Fielding recently revisited Bridget in MAD ABOUT THE BOY. She did not disappoint. Many people were shocked by the current situation for Bridget, but the story rang true and I think Fielding did a fantastic job.

See Jane Date by Melissa Senate

Harlequin had a book subscription service years ago (sort of like a book-of-the-month club) called Red Dress Ink. You could get a new chick lit title delivered to your door each month. It was so wonderful and every title was fantastic. I believe See Jane Date was the inaugural title so it holds a warm place in my heart.

Jemima J by Jane Green

I love Jane Green. I love everything she writes. She’s brilliant and funny and smart. I just finished her latest, Tempting Fate, and she has yet to disappoint. Jemima J was her first and it has such a lovable heroine and a great story.

The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank

This one topped bestseller lists across the country when it was released in 1998. Again, I think this was one of the earlier titles in the chick lit genre and really helped kickstart the public’s interest in the lives of single, spunky women.

Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin

Emily Giffin’s books are delightful. They are fun to read and light and yet they always ask difficult questions. She puts her characters in compromising positions and you can’t turn the pages fast enough to find out how they are going to fix whatever mess they have gotten themselves into.

The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

An inside look at the magazine world (specifically, VOGUE) by a woman who was there. Last summer the sequel, REVENGE WEARS PRADA, was released.

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

This week's topic, Top Ten Books About Friendship, posed a real dilemma for me.  I've used the label Friendship 109 times so far, and I know there were other times I could have used it, but to choose the top ten friendship books?  No easy task, because they are all top draw.   Here, then,  are the 10 books about friendships that I have reviewed and that had the most impact on me:

1- Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein- this is the best story of a friendship that I have ever read.  Wein follows the friendship between two young women, a young spy, Julie, and a ferry pilot, Maddie, by letting each character tell their own story.  This is one of the most poignantly written friendships I've ever read.


2- Traitor by Gudrun Pausewang - a dangerous friendship forms between a 16 year old German girl and a Russian POW hiding in her family's barn even though they don't speak each others language.  If caught, both would be immediately killed by the Nazis.


3- The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico - this is the story of the friendship that develops between a deformed recluse and the young girl who overcomes her fear of him when she finds an injured Canadian goose, bringing it to him and believing he can help it.  This beautifully written story still brings tears to my eyes whenever I think about it.


4- The Cay by Theodore Taylor - a friendship ultimately forms between a young white boy, Phillip, and Timothy, the black man who, despite saving his life after their boat is torpedoed, considers him to be inferior as he had been taught while living on the island of Curacao.  


5- Mister Orange by Truus Matti - though he is never mentioned by name, this is a fictional tale of the friendship between modernist artist Piet Mondrian, who has just escaped from Nazi occupied Holland, and Linus, the boy who delivers his oranges.  I wrote: "In a way, however, it is a nice example of how even a short lived friendship can impact our lives, in this case from September 1943 to February 1944."


6- Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool - I loved the friendship that develops between Jack and "that strangest of boys" Early at boarding school.  They are bound together by their individual traumas and so they go on a quest together to try and heal their wounds.


7- The Dolphin Crossing by Jill Paton Walsh - two teen boys from different classes are brought together by the war and form an unusual friendship.  Events polarize the friendship but they are united again by their desire to help bring back soldiers stranded at Dunkirk, ferrying them to saftey in a small boat.



8- Warriors in the Crossfire by Nancy Bo Flood - Joseph, son of a Saipan chief, and his Japanese cousin Kanto have always been best friends, but now the war has come between them.  They must try put aside their differences to save Kanto's family from certain death ordered by the Japanese occupiers of Saipan.


9- Johnny and the Bomb by Terry Pratchett - I loved the friendship between Johnny, Yo-less, Bigmac, and Wobbler, three modern day boys who time travel back to the 1941 and the night of the Blackberry Blitz.  This is friendship as only Pratchett can write it - funny, serious, dangerous, slapstick.


10- Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein - I started with an Elizabeth Wein book and I am ending with one.  When ferry pilot Rose Justice finds herself in Ravensbrück Concentration Camp, she meets a group of young Polish woman called the Rabbits, so-called because of the medical expiments performed on them by Nazi doctors.  The life-saving, life-affirming friendship that forms between Rose and the Rabbits in the midst of unutterable horrors is not to be missed.  Wein is a master at writing about female friendships.


What are your top ten books about friendship?

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

This week's topic, Top Ten Unique Books I've Read, came just as I was going over all my blog posts and creating a master index of them, before I begin breaking them down into categories.  I realized that over the time I have blogged, I have read a number of unique books for The Children's War, some reviewed, some not, and the last book has nothing to do with WWII, but it is Unique, with a capital U.


1- Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs - the fantasy novel is told, in part, through the use of old, carefully chosen, unusual photographs and it totally works.

2- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - the story of a young girl in Nazi Germany, told from the point of view of Death.

3- Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein - this is the story of a friendship in WWII, the first part of the story is told from the point of view of Julie, a spy being held prisoner by the Nazis, the second half is told from the point of view of Maddie, a ferry pilot who goes in search of Julie. This is the book I chose to hand out on World Book Night.


And last, a book I am reading right now, that has nothing to do with WWII…but it does have something to do with WWIII


10- The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean Telt by hisself by David Almond - Billy has been kept hidden away in a back room since he was born at the start of "day of endless war & at the moment of disaster."  Now 13, he has come out into a post-apocalyptic world, uneducated but possessing healing power, the question is whether he is an angel or a monster.  This is unique because the entire book, told from Billy's point of view, is completely written phonetically.

What are the Top Ten Most Unique Books you have read?

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So many spring releases to choose from, so little time. Here are ten children's books I'm dying to get my hands on. Check out other people's lists on The Broke and the Bookish blog.

Doll Bones by Holly Black
This middle grade novel sounds creepy and fun--right up my alley. Pub date: May 2013

Bink & Gollie: Best Friends Forever by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee
BFF Bink and Gollie are always up to something in this amusing beginning reader series. Pub date: April 2013

Dodsworth in Tokyo by Tim Egan
Loved Dodsworth and his duck's tours of Rome and London so I'm betting Tokyo will be a blast. Pub date: April 2013

Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner
This dystopic novel from the U.K. has garnered a lot of buzz. I snagged a copy from my library and I'm all set to read. Pub date: February 2013

Penny and Her Marble by Kevin Henkes
The latest from a great beginning reader series by a master craftsman. Pub date: March 2013

Definitely No Ducks by Meg McKinlay
I was charmed by McKinlay's first chapter book about a girl and her pet duck. I'm glad to see they're back and quacking. Pub date: March 2013

Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made by Stephan Pastis
Timmy is an eleven-year-old detective and his partner is a polar bear in this comic middle-grade novel. What more do you need? Pub date: February 2013

Clementine and the Spring Trip by Sara Pennypacker
Ah, Clementine. I missed you. Pub date: March 2013

Pug and Other Animal Poems by Valerie Worth
Poetry and pugs! Woo-hoo! Pub date: March 2013

That is NOT a Good Idea! by Mo Willems
An interactive picture book by the one and only Mo Willems. Can't wait. Pub date: April 2013

Addendum

I don't just read children's books, of course. Two adult books for I'm super psyched to read are: Life After Life by Kate Atkinson and The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout.

Now what's on your Spring TBR list?

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This week's topic over at The Broke and the Bookish is authors you'd put on auto-buy. I divided my list into two, one dedicated to children's book authors and the other to writers who pen for adults.

Authors Who Write for Children
1. Jack Gantos
Everything I've read of his I've loved. Gantos has a unique voice that captures children the way they really are, not how adults want them to be.
2. Kevin Henkes
From picture books to easy readers to middle grade fiction, Henkes does it all and does it well.
3. Polly Horvath
Horvath's characters are quirky, but in a believable way. And she's laugh-aloud funny.
4. Sara Pennypacker
Her Clementine books are some of the best early chapter books around.
5. Mo Willems
The mighty Mo. 'Nuff said.

Authors Who Write for Adults
1. Kate Atkinson
She's got a new novel on the horizon and it's already on my pre-order list.
2. Alison Bechdel
Bechdel can't write--and illustrate--them fast enough for me. My all-time favorite graphic novelist.
3. Amy Bloom
A master of the short story, Bloom writes about people you won't soon forget.
4. Ruth Rendell
Even though I've sometimes been disappointed by her work, I still read every Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine novel that comes out. When she's at her best, no other suspense writer can touch her.
5. David Sedaris
Who could pass up a David Sedaris collection? Not me.

So that's my list. What authors make your cut?

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