Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith (audio)

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

When Abraham Lincoln was nine years old, his mother died from an ailment called the "milk sickness." Only later did he learn that his mother's deadly affliction was actually the work of a local vampire, seeking to collect on Abe's father's unfortunate debts.

When the truth became known to the young Abraham Lincoln, he wrote in his journal: henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become learned in all things—a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose."

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for reuniting the North with the South and abolishing slavery from our country, no one has ever understood his valiant fight for what it really was. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.

Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time—all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War, and uncovering the massive role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.

My thoughts:
I loved this book!  I wasn't sure going into it if I would enjoy it or not, but I really did.  I love how the author took real facts and then told Lincoln's life story with a twist.  I am hoping that the non-vampire facts were true, I don't know all the dates and people who were a part of his life, but I have to say this might be a way to get reluctant readers or students who are having trouble memorizing dates and names to learn them in an innovative way!

At the start we meet the reluctant biographer and find out how he came to have journals and records about Abraham Lincoln.  Who gave them to him and for what purpose he was allowed to read and review these items.  From there we get the story of Abe's life and how vampires made their mark on both his life personally and on the country as a whole.  How slavery was perpetuated as a way to keep an easy food supply for vampires and how embedded they were in all forms of government and politics.

Abe comes to life as a hunter.  Some real details such as how be became a lawyer, got involved in politics, married and had children are there to hold the new construct together so the vampire element can be added in.  After finishing the book I commented to my husband that we should rent the movie.  I'd like to see how they developed it all for the screen.  Movies never really seem to live up to my expectations, but I plan to rent it anyway.

I enjoyed the audio for this book.  Sometimes the reader that is chosen doesn't complement the story, but this time I think they really got it right!  I am still struggling through a different audio book because I don't enjoy the woman who is providing the narration, but that was not the case this time at all!

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9781455510177
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Publication date: 4/3/2012
• Edition description: Media Tie-In Edition
• Pages: 384

Meet the Author

More by this Author

• Unholy Night
• How to Survive a Horror Movie: All the Skills to Dodge the Kills

 

Seth Grahame-Smith is the New York Times bestselling author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. In addition to adapting the screenplay for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Seth also wrote Tim Burton's latest film, Dark Shadows. He lives in Los Angeles.

My Extraordinary Ordinary Life by Sissy Spacek with Maryanne Vollers

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

In her delightful and moving memoir, Sissy Spacek writes about her idyllic, barefoot childhood in a small East Texas town, with the clarity and wisdom that comes from never losing sight of her roots. Descended from industrious Czech immigrants and threadbare southern gentility, she grew up a tomboy, tagging along with two older brothers and absorbing grace and grit from her remarkable parents, who taught her that she could do anything. She also learned fearlessness in the wake of a family tragedy, the grief propelling her "like rocket fuel" to follow her dreams of becoming a performer.

With a keen sense of humor and a big-hearted voice, she describes how she arrived in New York City one star-struck summer as a seventeen-year-old carrying a suitcase and two guitars; and how she built a career that has spanned four decades with films such as Carrie, Coal Miner’s Daughter, 3 Women, and The Help. She details working with some of the great directors of our time, including Terrence Malick, Robert Altman, David Lynch, and Brian De Palma—who thought of her as a no-talent set decorator until he cast her as the lead in Carrie. She also reveals why, at the height of her fame, she and her family moved away from Los Angeles to a farm in rural Virginia.

Whether she’s describing the terrors and joys of raising two talented, independent daughters, taking readers behind the scenes on Oscar night, or meditating on the thrill of watching a pair of otters frolicking in her pond, Sissy Spacek’s memoir is poignant and laugh-out-loud funny, plainspoken and utterly honest. My Extraordinary Ordinary Life is about what matters most: the exquisite worth of ordinary things, the simple pleasures of home and family, and the honest job of being right with the world. "If I get hit by a truck tomorrow," she writes, "I want to know I’ve returned my neighbor’s cake pan."

My thoughts:
I listened to this audio book over the course of a couple days.  It was a very gentle read and focused a lot more on family than on the movie aspect of Spacek's life.  She spent long periods reminiscing about growing up in a small town in Texas with two brothers, of walking barefoot in the grass and exploring the courthouse, and of the tragedy that befell her family when she was young.  She is honest about how her dreams of being a musician didn't quite work out the way she thought they would and about being a new actor and having to earn her way into parts.  You can hear the love she has for her husband and daughters in her voice and in how proud she is of what they have all accomplished.  I think having Spacek do her own reading really added to the book because it felt like you were sitting down in a room with her and having her tell you her all about herself.  It feels like an intimate conversation at a party. One of the reviews I saw online complained that the book was too slow a read, but I think part of the slowness is deliberate to bring about the feelings of a time gone by when people were not as obsessed with moving fast and doing so much at the same time.  A time before cell phones and texting and computers everywhere.  I enjoyed the book especially in its audio format.

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9781401324360
• Publisher: Hyperion
• Publication date: 5/1/2012
• Pages: 288

Home Front by Kristin Hannah (audio)

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

In her bestselling novels Kristin Hannah has plumbed the depths of friendship, the loyalty of sisters, and the secrets mothers keep. Now, in her most emotionally powerful story yet, she explores the intimate landscape of a troubled marriage with this provocative and timely portrait of a husband and wife, in love and at war.

All marriages have a breaking point. All families have wounds. All wars have a cost. . . .

Like many couples, Michael and Jolene Zarkades have to face the pressures of everyday life---children, careers, bills, chores---even as their twelve-year marriage is falling apart. Then an unexpected deployment sends Jolene deep into harm’s way and leaves defense attorney Michael at home, unaccustomed to being a single parent to their two girls. As a mother, it agonizes Jolene to leave her family, but as a solider she has always understood the true meaning of duty. In her letters home, she paints a rose-colored version of her life on the front lines, shielding her family from the truth. But war will change Jolene in ways that none of them could have foreseen. When tragedy strikes, Michael must face his darkest fear and fight a battle of his own---for everything that matters to his family.

At once a profoundly honest look at modern marriage and a dramatic exploration of the toll war takes on an ordinary American family, Home Front is a story of love, loss, heroism, honor, and ultimately, hope.

My thoughts:
This is the first Kristin Hannah book I have read.  I've seen ads in magazines and read reviews on blogs and in print, but somehow have never picked up one of her books before.  This is the book I listened to last week on my iPod and I enjoyed it.  Many times when we think about soldiers going off to war, what comes to mind is the picture of a male soldier, but that is not always the case.  Jolene and Michael have come to a point in their marriage where they are not really connecting with each other anymore.  Michael has been having trouble dealing with his father's death and has been burying himself in his work and blaming Jolene for his own dissatisfaction with life.  Jolene has been trying hard to stay positive after a very unhappy childhood of her own.  Then she gets the news that she is being deployed to Iraq.  As a helicopter pilot in the Army Reserves she knew this was a possibility, but having to leave her children behind is something that tears her apart.  At a time when she could use all the support she can get, she does not feel that she has it from her husband and put on a front about how things aren't that bad.

Hannah did a very thorough job with her research for this book.  At the end of the audio book was an interview between the narrator and the author and she states how she was surprised by how little she really knew about what being deployed was like, what being a military family is like and how much so many of us do not know about the men and women that risk their lives to defend the country.  A big part of this book for me was seeing how Jolene's deployment affected not just her, but her children and her husband.  How her second family in the guard stepped up when she needed them and the lack of understanding of how being deployed affects solider mentally even after they come home.  As a backdrop to Jolene and her family, Michael is defending a soldier who came back from Iraq and sought help from the VA, but didn't get it and ended up in jail for killing his wife.  Working with this soldier and the psychiatrist who works with him on the case opens his eyes to what his wife is not telling him about her deployment.

People weather all sorts of ups and down in life and in marriages, in relationships and on their own, but what makes us who we are is the relationships we have with ourselves, our families, our friends and our community, with the community being as large or as small as you make it.  How are we treating soldiers who come back from overseas, are they being offered the help they need to transition back into their lives here, is the government doing all it can for these people and do the rest of us even notice the scarifies they are making?

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9780312577209
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Publication date: 1/31/2012
• Pages: 400

Meet the Author

More by this Author

• Night Road
• Home Again
• Firefly Lane
• True Colors

Kristin Hannah is the New York Times bestselling author of novels including Night Road, Firefly Lane, True Colors and Winter Garden. She was born in Southern California and moved to Western Washington when she was eight. A former lawyer, Hannah started writing when she was pregnant and on bed rest for five months. Writing soon became an obsession, and she has been at it ever since. She is the mother of one son and lives with her husband in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii.

The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin (audio)

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

"Anyone suffering Downton Abbey withdrawal symptoms (who isn't?) will find an instant tonic in Daisy Goodwin’s The American Heiress. The story of Cora Cash, an American heiress in the 1890s who bags an English duke, this is a deliciously evocative first novel that lingers in the mind." --Allison Pearson, New York Times bestselling author of I Don’t Know How She Does It and I Think I Love YouBe careful what you wish for. Traveling abroad with her mother at the turn of the twentieth century to seek a titled husband, beautiful, vivacious Cora Cash, whose family mansion in Newport dwarfs the Vanderbilts’, suddenly finds herself Duchess of Wareham, married to Ivo, the most eligible bachelor in England. Nothing is quite as it seems, however: Ivo is withdrawn and secretive, and the English social scene is full of traps and betrayals. Money, Cora soon learns, cannot buy everything, as she must decide what is truly worth the price in her life and her marriage.

Witty, moving, and brilliantly entertaining, Cora’s story marks the debut of a glorious storyteller who brings a fresh new spirit to the world of Edith Wharton and Henry James.

"For daughters of the new American billionaires of the 19th century, it was the ultimate deal: marriage to a cash-strapped British Aristocrat in return for a title and social status. But money didn’t always buy them happiness." --Daisy Goodwin in The Daily Mail

The American Heiress was originally sold and distributed in the UK as My Last Duchess.

My thoughts:
I listened to this audio book last week.  I wasn't sure about the narrator at first, she made some of the characters, particularly Cora's mother, hard to like with their disdainful tone, but I think these characters would have been hard to like even reading them from the page.

Cora is a beautiful 19 year old who has plenty of money in her own right.  Her mother is determined to see her marry well and hopes to find her a title in Europe.  At first things are not going as planned, but a true accident sets things in motion that end, or in another sense begins, with her marriage to the Duke of Wareham.  Being a Duchess is harder than it seems, and it can be hard for Cora to know who to trust and who is waiting for her next faux pas. 

I've never seen Downton Abbey, but it did remind me of a movie I saw some years ago in regards to how the servants were treated and what they were expected to do and not do.  Cora brings along her own maid when she moves to England.  Her maid faces some of the same issues with fitting in and knowing what is expected of her by the rest of the household.

I wasn't sure if I was going to like Cora at first.  She seemed a bit spoiled and self centered, but as she grew and learned and faced society as the new Duchess of Wareham I found myself liking her more and more.

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9780312658663
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Publication date: 3/27/2012
• Pages: 496

Meet the Author

DAISY GOODWIN, a Harkness scholar who attended Columbia University’s film school after earning a degree in history at Cambridge University, is a leading television producer in the U.K. Her poetry anthologies, including 101 Poems That Could Save Your Life, have introduced many new readers to the pleasures of poetry, and she was Chair of the judging panel of the 2010 Orange Prize for Fiction. She and her husband, an ABC TV executive, have two daughters and live in London. The American Heiress is her first novel.

Douglas Adams The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy : Douglas Adams Live in Concert

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

On a hot night in August 1995 Douglas Adams gave a barnstorming performance to an invited audience at the Almeida Theatre in London. This compact disc is a record of that remarkable event. Douglas gives dramatic solo performances of episodes and passages from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, and Life, the Universe and Everything. Including: How to Fly! Arthur and the Irrational Sofa and much, much...more.

My thoughts:

So far I have only read/listened to the first book in the series. I accidentally checked this digital audio book out first because I didn't read the description closely enough. Unfortunately, once you check a digital book out it can't be returned early which is a bit of a pain. I am hoping the library works out that bug sometime soon.

Anyway, I listened to book one and then listened to this one. It was interesting to listen to the author reading his words and listening to the inflection and excitement he put into them. For someone who is a real fan I bet this would be more meaningful. I am still trying to decide how I feel about the first book; I didn't hate it but didn't love it the way so many readers seem to. There was a part about reincarnation, which may or may not have come from one of the later books, but it is a soul who has met his demise in each of his forms due to something Arthur Dent has done. That bit I enjoyed.

It was a neat way to experience a book/ piece of literature. I had not realized that Douglas Adams was no longer alive, it seems as though he did not have a very long life.

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9781607473077
• Publisher: Phoenix Books, Inc.
• Publication date: 1/25/2010
• Format: MP3
• Edition description: Unabridged

Meet the Author

Douglas Adams (1952-2001) was the much-loved author of the Hitchhiker's Guides, all of which have sold more than 15 million copies worldwide.

Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

Percy is confused. When he awoke after his long sleep, he didn’t know much more than his name. His brain-fuzz is lingering, even after the wolf Lupa told him he is a demigod and trained him to fight. Somehow Percy managed to make it to the camp for half-bloods, despite the fact that he had to continually kill monsters that, annoyingly, would not stay dead. But the camp doesn't ring any bells with him.

Hazel is supposed to be dead. When she lived before, she didn’t do a very good job of it. When the Voice took over her mother and commanded Hazel to use her “gift” for an evil purpose, Hazel couldn’t say no. Now, because of her mistake, the future of the world is at risk.

Frank is a klutz. His grandmother claims he is descended from ancient heroes and can be anything he wants to be, but he doesn’t see it. He doesn’t even know who his father is. He keeps hoping Apollo will claim him, because the only thing he is good at is archery—although not good enough to help the Fifth Cohort win at war games. His big and bulky physique makes him feel like a clumsy ox, especially in front of Hazel, his closest friend at camp. He trusts her completely—enough, even, to share the secret he holds close to his heart.

Beginning at the “other” camp for half-bloods and extending as far north as the land beyond the gods, this breathtaking second installment in the Heroes of Olympus series introduces new demigods, revives fearsome monsters, and features other remarkable creatures, all of whom are destined to play a part in the most important quest of all: the Prophecy of Seven.

My thoughts:
I am enjoying this new series.  I like that it is taking the characters from the Percy Jackson series and adding in new elements to keep it fun and exciting.  It  has kept the books from getting stale or feeling like the characters are doing the same thing again.

In book one Jason woke up with no real memory of who he is and where he was before being on a  class field trip.  Anabeth comes and take him, along with Piper and Leo, back to Camp Half Blood.  This time it is Percy who wakes up and find his way to Camp Jupiter, the camp for the Roman Demigods.  He is continually thrown by things being not as he thinks they should be.  Fawns as lazy beggars and Centaurs fighting for the enemy.  All campers, regardless of parentage rooming and fighting together in cohorts.  The problem is he can't remember why these things don't seem right.

Jason, Hazel and Frank go on a quest to Alaska to look for the Golden Eagle that was lost decades ago in a different quest.  But since death is being held captive, no one they kill stays dead, monsters and demigod alike, which makes it especially hard to get away from anyone or anything.  Along the way they meet Iris, Amazon's who work for Amazon.com in a plot to take over the world, giants, monsters and ghosts.  The three have to learn to trust each other with their pasts so they can move forward and work as a unit.

The flashbacks are well done and the narrator does a great job with the voices.  I think he is the same one who did the other five Percy Jackson audio books as well.  Book three does not come out until fall, but all of my children can't wait to see what happens on the next quest in the Prophesy of Seven.

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9781423140597
• Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
• Publication date: 10/4/2011
• Pages: 544
• Sales rank: 183
• Age range: 9 - 11 Years

Empire Falls by Richard Russo

Overview from Barnes and Noble: 

Richard Russo—from his first novel, Mohawk, to his most recent, Straight Man—has demonstrated a peerless affinity for the human tragicomedy, and with this stunning new novel he extends even further his claims on the small-town, blue-collar heart of the country.

Dexter County, Maine, and specifically the town of Empire Falls, has seen better days, and for decades, in fact, only a succession from bad to worse. One by one, its logging and textile enterprises have gone belly-up, and the once vast holdings of the Whiting clan (presided over by the last scion’s widow) now mostly amount to decrepit real estate. The working classes, meanwhile, continue to eke out whatever meager promise isn’t already boarded up.

Miles Roby gazes over this ruined kingdom from the Empire Grill, an opportunity of his youth that has become the albatross of his daily and future life. Called back from college and set to work by family obligations—his mother ailing, his father a loose cannon—Miles never left home again. Even so, his own obligations are manifold: a pending divorce; a troubled younger brother; and, not least, a peculiar partnership in the failing grill with none other than Mrs. Whiting. All of these, though, are offset by his daughter, Tick, whom he guides gently and proudly through the tribulations of adolescence.

A decent man encircled by history and dreams, by echoing churches and abandoned mills, by the comforts and feuds provided by lifelong friends and neighbors, Miles is also a patient, knowing guide to the rich, hardscrabble nature of Empire Falls: fathers and sons and daughters, living and dead, rich and poor alike. Shot through with the mysteries of generations and the shattering visitations of the nation at large, it is a social novel of panoramic ambition, yet at the same time achingly personal. In the end, Empire Falls reveals our worst and best instincts, both our most appalling nightmares and our simplest hopes, with all the vision, grace and humanity of truly epic storytelling.

Winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

My thoughts:
This book has been sitting on my shelf for years.  Not a great recommendation, I know, but somehow it kept getting passed over for a different book.  Last week when I was browsing the digital audio books at the library I found this one and decided to give it a try.  I listened to it while running and doing housework and found it enjoyable.

Miles Roby is central to this novel.  In moving back and forth in what happened in the past to what is going on in the present, the reader gets a real sense of this town.  How the once thriving Empire Falls has lost so much since the days when the logging operation was up and running and they mills were producing enough dye to change the color of the water in the river.  Miles was a semester away from finishing college when he was called home by Mrs. Whiting, his mother's employer, to spend some time with his mother before she died.  Somehow he never left the town again, his part time job at the Empire Grill turned into his life and he married and had a daughter.  Most recently, his wife has decided to leave him for another man, his daughter is caught in the middle, and his brother is now sober after a drunk driving incident that left him unable to use one of his arms.

Miles continues to dream about Martha's Vineyard, where he and his mother spent a summer vacation years ago when he was nine.  He has been going there with friends for years each summer and it still represents an escape from reality for him.

The characters in this small town are shown in a real light.  They all have their secrets and flaws, but most of them are trying to do the best they can with what they have.  Their current lives are shaped to a large extent by their past.  The model of marriage they saw at home.  Can happiness be bought by being thin?  By having a lot of money?  By being idolized by the town for one thing or another?  How much does the the Catholic sense of guilt play into what it's members do in penance for their sins against others?  It shows that everyone's fate is wrapped up with everyone else's. we are never truly alone even when we feel alone and it can be hard to do the right thing or know what the right thing to do it is.

When I was looking this up on Barnes and Noble I was surprised to see that it was also a movie.  I am going to have to look and see if the library has it or if it is On Demand, as I would like to see how it was adapted for the screen.

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9780375726408
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Publication date: 4/12/2002
• Edition description: Reprint
• Pages: 496

Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo by Obert Skye

Overview from Barnes and Noble:
WELCOME TO FOO

Fourteen-year-old Leven Thumps (a.k.a. "Lev") lives a wretched life in Burnt Culvert, Oklahoma. But his life is about to change and his destiny be fulfilled as he learns about a secret gateway that bridges two worlds — the real world and Foo, a place created at the at the beginning of time in the folds of the mind that makes it possible for mankind to dream and hope, aspire and imagine. But Foo is in chaos, and three transplants from that dreamworld have been sent to retrieve Lev, who alone has the power to save Foo.

Enter Clover, a wisecracking, foot-high sidekick; Winter, a girl with a special power of her own; and Geth, the rightful heir to Foo. Their mission: to convince Lev that he has the power to save Foo. Can this unique band of travelers help Lev overcome his doubt? Will Lev find the gateway in time? Or will Sabine and his dark shadows find the gateway first and destroy mankind?

My thoughts:
This was our audio book last month in the car.  I found it a couple years ago for a dollar at Waldenbooks, before that went out of business.  I put it on the shelf to save for when we needed a book to listen to.  No one wants to ever be without a book do they?  I plan for this awful possibility so much that we could be snowed in for months and I would never run out of new books to read.

But back to the book, I had my doubts about it because it seemed like if was reduced to a dollar it must not have been very good.  It turns out it is the first book in a children's fantasy series.  Foo is a world connected to ours, where all dreams happen, sometimes people are sucked into Foo from places where sidewalks don't quite meet up.  Currently in Foo there is a being who wants to rule both Foo and our world and the only ones who can save it are two teenagers, as well as two beings from Foo who have come here to guide them.

There is a lot of adventure and a few somewhat scary scenes.  Suspense is well done and the worlds seem real.  I am on the fence about continuing the series.  I wasn't a big fan of the readers voice, not that I can narrow down what it was about his reading, but something about it made me less likely to want to listen if that makes sense.  If I find the next book at the library we'll keep going, but I don't see myself buying more of them.  They reminded me a bit of the Gregor the Overlander series by Suzanne Collins and maybe even a touch of Harry Potter or Spiderwick Chronicles.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781416928065
Publisher: Aladdin
Publication date: 7/11/2006
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 400
Age range: 9 - 12 Years

The Day of the Iguana (Hank Zipzer #3) by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver

Summary of The Day of the Iguana #3
Inspired by the true life experiences of Henry Winkler, whose undiagnosed dyslexia made him a classic childhood underachiever, the Hank Zipzer series is about the high-spirited and funny adventures of a boy with learning differences.


It's science project time in Ms. Adolf's class. This is good news and bad news for Hank-he loves science, but he hates the report part. So Hank turns to TV to take his mind off things. But when the program directory scrolls by too quickly for Hank to know what's on, he decides to take apart the cable box to try to slow down the crawl. Great! Now Hank has found the perfect science project! But what he wasn't counting on was his sister's pet iguana laying eighteen eggs in the disassembled cable box. How is Hank going to get out of this one?

My thoughts:
This was an audio book we listened to a few weeks ago.  When I borrowed it from the library I had no idea that it was part of a series that had so many books, it just looked like something my children would enjoy.  There are 17 books in the series and they all look like they would be fun to read.

In this one Hank is trying to do an experiment with the family cable box, but his sister's iguana has other plans.  Hank just can't seem to get anything right and has a falling out with his best friend for failing to tape the right channel for a program he promised they could watch.  I think so many times in children's books if the characters work hard enough it works out, but this was more realistic, because even though he was working hard things still weren't working out.  Eventually  of course they do, but it was nice to see a struggle to put things right and needed to come up with a new idea and a new plan when the first one or two or three didn't work. 

There was enough humor in this book to have my children laugh out loud and it was nice that Henry Winkler is the one reading the audio version.

Details:ISBN 9780448432120

160 pages
15 Sep 2003
Grosset & Dunlap
5.15 x 7.67in
8 - 12 years

The Problem with the Puddles by Kate Feiffer

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

What if your parents agreed to disagree?

Eight and a half years ago, when their beautiful baby girl was born, Mr. and Mrs. Puddle couldn't agree on what to name her. So Mrs. Puddle calls her daughter Emily and Mr. Puddle calls her Ferdinanda. And everyone else? They call her Baby.

Having parents who agree to disagree does mean twice as many presents on your birthday, but it can complicate your life! There was the time Baby's parents couldn't agree on what kind of dog to get — so they got two, both named Sally. One summer day, when rushing back to the city from their country house, the Puddles leave the Sallys behind. Will the Puddles agree to go back? What will become of the Sallys?

Kate Feiffer's debut novel is by turns funny, heartwarming, and wholly satisfying. Tricia Tusa's pleasing artwork makes the Puddles' world complete.

Let the Puddle family into your heart. You will be glad you did.

My thoughts:
This story was a bit too disjointed for me, my children all thought it was funny and liked it, but when putting in the third and final disk in the car cd player my husband's comment was, "I won't be sorry when this story is done."  Unfortunately I agree with him.

The Puddles are disorganized and, as the parents can never agree on anything, there is a lot of debate about everything from where each person will sit in the car to what to do in every situation, it started to feel endless.  The Puddle family leaves their island vacation home to return to the city, an hours long trip, but they forget to out their two dogs in the car.  They can't decide if they are going back or getting them later and the dogs get their own chapters on their quest to get to the city to be with the Puddles.  Plus, where ever the Puddles go it always rains. 

They meet some interesting people and it all circles back to completing the story, but it feels like you are a dog going in circles chasing your tail for awhile.  I was not at all sad when we pulled up to the house today and heard the words "The End".  So, I guess it appeals to children who are the intended audience, but isn't as enjoyable for adults.  I just wanted it to get to the point, yes it all tied together in the end, but for so much of the story it jsut seemed to be going on about nothing.
Details
•Pub. Date: June 2011
•Publisher: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
•Format: Paperback , 208pp
•Age Range: 8 to 12
•ISBN-13: 9781442421011
•ISBN: 1442421010