Read 100 books -- 10 I OWN

The White Robin by Miss Read
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Despite my love of Miss Read's prose and her delightful line-drawing illustrations I feel let down with this little volume in which a teacher and class 'discover' and observe, even protect the comings and goings of an albino robin through the course of a year.

At peril of 'spoilers' I will restrain more description, other than to say that overall I didn't perceive a change in any of the characters.

I had picked this up at a library book sale years ago and finally read it.   However, this one I found not to be a keeper.  I returned it to another library book sale.

Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

What fun!
A Castle that takes charge. Really.
Royal siblings (delightfully named).
A tragic change in the course of events.
A malicious plot.
Who to trust? Who not to trust? What to do?
Teamwork, courage, ingenuity.
It's all here! And so cleverly executed.

I bought this at a library event -- the author was the speaker and she told her "road to getting published" story.  My copy is autographed and is a "keeper".

Contact Lost by Leif Hamre
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A routine helicopter mission over the ice fields of Greenland goes dangerously off course. Even worse, there are now two extra lives at stake, in addition to the pilot's and the mechanic's.

Written before the YA genre found its footing, this story would still appeal to this group. I gave it to my husband to read the minute I put it down. It would be a great read-aloud for even upper elementary and middle school / jr. high age listeners. It would be nice if this were re-printed.

For some reason I thought this book which I'd plucked from a library book sale table years ago had a Christmas theme. So all these years I've packed it away with Christmas, unread. This year I decided to actually READ some of these books. Even though it turns out to not have anything to do with Christmas I'm glad to have read it.

I no longer own it, as I gave it to a family at my church who was visiting from Norway.

The Good Shepherd by Gunnar Gunnarsson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Every year for 27 years Benedikt has spent the week of Advent in the wilds of Iceland seeking out stray sheep with his trusty dog and bell-wether ram. This particular journey takes place the year that half his life has been devoted to this little service he renders, unbidden, to these lost sheep. He is delayed in his purpose by a man who has carelessly postponed his own sheep gathering til this time, knowing that Benedikt would come to his aid. Other obstacles present themselves and there are times that the outcome of this journey is on tenter-hooks.

This book has been packed away with my Christmas things year after year, unread. Finally this year it rose to the top and I find it is not a holiday story so much as a tale of personal mission. Benedikt again and again is faced with the choice--"stay with my purpose" or "render assistance where it is needed", all the while knowing that the innocent creatures he seeks may forfeit their lives due to these delays. Then too, Benedikt wonders if there will be one to pick up the baton, as it were, when he must needs lay it by.

This is a short book but would be a good family read-aloud, especially at the time of year in which it takes place.

The author was nominated for the Nobel prize in literature during his years of writing.

I no longer own this book because I gave it to a family visiting from Norway.