Girl at War by Sara Novic

Girl at War by Sara Novic is a historical novel published in 2015. The author did extensive research on her topic by interviewing her friends and family who lived through the Croatian war. Their stories were the inspiration for her characters. This historical fiction is well told and it will make you cry. 

The main character is a young girl named Ana who tries to understand all the nuances of who is part of the right population and who is in the wrong. She has a very sick baby sister who will die if she doesn't get help from the USA. Ana's parents work desperately to keep their family together and alive. 

There is a scene in this book, where her father tells her how to stay alive, and it gutted me as a reader. I can't even imagine what the people of this area went through during this war. Ana becomes a child soldier and her journey and loss of innocence will make you want to strike out against war and all the damage it causes. Although Ana says, "there's no such thing as child soldier in Croatia . . .There is only a child with a gun."

The story is fast paced, and I can imagine it as a movie. I listened to the audio version and found it well done. The author will never listen the audio version as she is deaf. I look forward to reading more of her work as she is a an excellent writer. 

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.

Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

The Skinjacker Series by Neal Shusterman

Generally when I read a series, I can wait to read each book as I come across it because I have a huge to-be-read bookcase that contains almost 600 books, but I loved the Skinjacker series so much that I read them one after the other all in a week.

I had book one, Everlost and book two, Everwild, but I borrowed book three, Everfound from my neighbor, Michelle.

This series has a premise that I have not seen before. The series begins with Nick and Allie in two separate cars that collide. They do not survive the accident, but their souls while headed to the tunnel of light crash into each other and they get lost between life and death.

They must learn to navigate a world that wants to suck them down into its center. They must battle other souls that are stuck in Everlost. They meet Mary Hightower, a ghostly writer and self proclaimed queen of the lost kids. They also must face the deadly monster McGill.

After a good start, book two continues the story and Shusterman writes an excellent second book. His third book doesn't disappoint and is as good as the other two books. All the threads come together in the third book. All the players must find a way to stop the complete destruction of every living thing on earth. It is a fight to the finish with those alive on earth facing an enemy they cannot see. It is hard to tell who is good and who is bad, and as is common in all people, both good and bad reside inside all.

The characters are well rounded and despite being ghosts are well fleshed out. :) The ghosts are all children and teenagers, so their emotional development is often stuck at one age or another. They are trying to make sense of a world that no longer makes sense while trying to hang on to their memories in a world that makes it easy to forget. This is the best series I've read in a while and it will keep the reader turning pages late into the night.

Angie, I think Isaac would like this series.

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.

Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

Moo Bird by David Milgrim

Moo Bird by David Milgrim published in 2016 is a darling book about a little bird that moos instead of tweeting. He is kicked out of his nest because he is different. He tries to find his place in the world, but even the cow doesn't want him. This book has a surprise ending.

I like this book because early readers will be able to read it. There are only a few words on each page and they are set up like a comic book in word bubbles. This book also has humor, so it appeals to young readers. The illustrations are cute and simple, so there is not visual clutter. The colors are bright and everything is outlined in black, so it is easy on the eyes.

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.

Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

Black? White! Day? Night! A Book of Opposites by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

If you haven't already, add Laura Vaccaro Seeger to your list of authors that you must own their entire collection. I have been adding her books to my collection and my grandchildren and myself adore all of her books.

I recently purchased Black? White! Day? Night! A Book of Opposites, and three-year old Aria wanted it read over and over again. Each page has a cut out where you can see into the page below, and the smaller drawing becomes part of a larger drawing that turns into the opposite.

The pages on this book are pretty sturdy but they are not indestructible, so this book will last a good long time as little hands move the pages back and forth. This is a fold out book with fun pictures lined with heavy black outlines to appeal to even the littlest reader.

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.

Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

The Other Side Thrift Boutique

Caitie and I stopped by a new thrift store in our area to see if they had any books for the NICU babies, and the manager donated 42 books to our NICU. 

This is the thrift store called The Other Side Thrift Boutique:

They are located at 4290 South State Street in Murray, Utah. If you are local or in the area, please stop by.

 These are the books they donated:

What is even more important is the purpose of The Other Side Thrift Boutique. This store is part of The Other Side Academy. You can learn more about the amazing work they do here: The Other Side Academy Web Site.   I checked out their website and cried over the life saving stories that are shared there. I encourage you to check out their website and if you are local to stop by their store and check it out because they are making the world a better place. They also have a link on their website to their moving company that is highly rated. 

To summarize, this organization helps people who struggled in life. They help people who want to change their lives, maybe they have struggled with drug use, or homelessness, or spent time in the criminal justice system. The Other Side Academy is a two year program that saves lives and makes those saved lives worth living. They are a vocational training school and this store is used as part of their academy. Students learn to work hard, to work with others, to deal with frustrations, to be polite and respectful, and to live free from toxic behaviors that have kept them from success.

Students learn how to work in the retail and warehouse sectors and learn all aspects of the retail trade. This thrift store doesn't look like a normal thrift store. The store is clean and bright, things are well organized and set up more like a store at the mall than a thrift shop, and the furniture section looks like a furniture store. The staff is helpful and kind. We were greeted as soon as we stepped into the store.

Here are some pictures that I took the day I was there.

The store has many windows that let in a lot of natural light, and they even have outside displays that you can check out before you walk in the door.

 They have nice dressing rooms, so you can try on your finds. This is one of many shoe displays.

 There are tasteful displays throughout the store and prices are reasonable.

They have framed their goals and also have frames throughout they store showing each goal expanded. I love these goals.

 They have many beautiful pieces of furniture.

This is my happy place the book nook. It is well organized and the children's books are only a dollar. I believe the other books are $1 for paperbacks and $2 for hardbacks with some higher end books custom priced, so the prices are very good. We met the lady who organized the book nook, and she knew what she was doing as the books are sorted well. They even have chairs for you to sit and read. You can see more of the goal posters in this picture. 

I feel good about shopping and donating to this thrift shop because I know they are doing good things in our world. Thanks go to the Other Side Thrift Boutique for the books for the NICU and thank you for making our world a better place to live in. I love places like this that see the good in people and strive to help others. 

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.

Michelle also sent over some books. Thank you, Michelle. With all the support we've been getting lately, we may be able to reach every single baby that spends time in our NICU. Each baby gets five books to take home. 

Read to a child today even if that child is you.