Marian Sampol Martorell Sampol Martorell itibaren Berchha, Madhya Pradesh, Hindistan itibaren Berchha, Madhya Pradesh, Hindistan

I learned that I like books that cover a span of time greater than a few days. This one was a bit much, as it went over more than 15 years and kept making skips of three. There was no big conflict/climax except the part with Thomas and Redburke, but the end was still done well with Morgan, her mom, and Merlin. I did not understand all the "fate" things, but I suspect Morgan's unpredictability was expected. It was good to read her muses of later, when she would interupt a little of the story with her thoughts as an immortal being. It set the pace and foreshadowed ominously. My favorite part of the whole thing was when Cerunnos told Morgan to embrace her reflection in the pool!

Recommended to me by the lovely and talented Mary Brown at Corinth. A girl who has the ability to see fairies is sent to spend the summer with her grandmother, and gets involved in a situation involving changelings and the faerie world. I really liked this one, but it's best for an older juvenile (10+) because it's a very dark story, and the concept of changelings (children kidnapped by fairies, sometimes exchanged for fairy children) is a scary one for a younger child.

This is the best “running away from home” story. Not one that sways children to not run away, but a story of a boy who has imagination and ingenuity. Sam is a boy who is unhappy living in the city. He runs away from home to the woods in the Catskill Mountains. He makes himself a home in a hollowed out tree. He lives off the land with a little help from a hawk he trains and a few friends he makes in the nearby town. He realizes after a year alone on his mountain that he needs human companionship be happy. This is truly a story for the nature lover! I would love to use this book as a read aloud. It would be a good start to a unit on the Catskills or nature concervation. It would also be good in an author study. You could look at different areas of wilderness throughout the U.S. using George's books as a guide.