Getting Started...

Once upon a time I thought it would be a good idea to start a blog to record what I read.  Maybe this is a good idea for a blog, maybe it is not.  At least it will give me a chance to reflect on what I read, and maybe some of you will enjoy something I have picked up.  Most of what I read "for fun" is upper-elementary level fiction, mostly fantasy at that.  Yes, I am a fan of Eragon, Harry Potter, and Percy Jackson.  I do, occasionally delve into young adult books (The Hunger Games books were fantastic!), and even read "grown up" books from time to time.  As this is a website for the elementary school libraries, I will only be recording entries here for elementary student appropriate books.  I will do my best to include the reading interest level of the books toward the beginning of each entry so that students are able to decide what they would like to read.

Well, the best way to start is to just jump right in, right?  

I am currently reading the third book in Brandon Mull's Fablehaven series.  I read the first two books a couple of years ago, and then got distracted by other books that came along.  Now I am back to finish this one, which is written at about the 4th or 5th grade reading level.  (Note:  This is a series you should probably read in order because the action and story builds from one book to the next.

For anyone not familiar with the Fablehaven books, the children, Kendra and Seth, discover that their grandparents are caretakers of an amazing fairytale preserve.  Basically, they are protectors of magical, fantastical creatures that most of us only know from stories.  The summers that Kendra and Seth spend with their grandparents bring adventures with satyrs, fairies, golems, nymphs, and trolls, as well as danger from a Society that wants to control the power of the darker creatures on the preserves.  In this third book, Grip of the Shadow Plague, the preserve is in trouble when creatures of light start to go dark and nothing is as it should be.  Kendra becomes a Knight of the Dawn and goes on a dangerous mission to find a powerful artifact, and while she is gone, crazy things start to happen on the preserve.  The family doesn't know who or what to trust as they try to save themselves and their charges from the clutches of the disease turning creatures into shadows.

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