Biggest Reader Update: Stephanie

Check out what Stephanie's been reading for the challenge...

The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong
This is the second book in the series, Darkest Powers. It leaves off where Chloe has been caught again by Dr. Davidoff and is to planning to escape. Chloe is called a necromancer, she can summon the dead and Dr. Davidoff and his staff are trying to imprison her and two others who have supernatural powers and deprogram them. Two of Chloe’s friends have escaped and the doctor is in the process of finding them as well, eventually Chloe escapes with Tori and they meet up with Derek and Simon the other two that had escaped previously, and hide from Dr. Davidoff. Chloe comes to find out more about her past and the four of them are on the run
trying to find a trusted family friend who can help them. They find him and continue on their journey to find themselves and their past. This book is great, there are so many close calls to them getting caught. You get caught up in the adventure of them being one step ahead of the bad guys. It ends with you wanting to know what happens next so you know there will be another one. I like how they are getting to know how to use their supernatural powers and I have a feeling they will need to use them in the future. This book had
adventure, suspense, fantasy, and mystery. It’s a very good series and I am looking forward to the next one.

Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy by Jenny Nimmo
Charlie Bone is on another adventure, but this time it involves a blue boa, an invisible boy, a sorcerer, and so much more. Charlie has to figure out how to stop the blue boa from squeezing anyone else and making them invisible, as well as trying to get the sorcerer back into his painting before he causes any more havoc, and figure out how to make the invisible boy, visible again. With the help of his friends, they do all of these things and use their endowments for good. There is always something going on at Bloor’s Academy and Charlie is on the case. These books just keep getting better and better. I like how you get involved with getting to know the characters and I just can’t put this series down, I have to know what happens next. If you enjoyed Harry Potter, you would definitely enjoy the Charlie Bone: Children of the Red King series.

Charlie Bone and the Castle of Mirrors by Jenny Nimmo
Charlie Bone has started another semester at Bloor’s Academy and this time there is a phantom horse who turns out to the Red King’s wife, Bernice who watches out for Charlie and his friends. There is also the adoption of Billy Raven who is adopted by the De Grey’s who turn out to be some bad people who make Billy take an oath and if he doesn’t keep it he gets punished. Charlie and his friends end up saving him with the help of the Flames, three cats who have very special powers and save him from the oaths. Olivia comes to find out that she too is endowed with the gift of making illusions and everyone is keeping her endowment a secret so the Bloors can’t get wind of it. Charlie and Billy end up finding the Castle of Mirrors because Charlie thinks his father is being held there and comes to find out it is not his father, but someone else, and save him. Charlie is highly disappointed that is not his father, but is not giving up hope on finding his father who he believes is still alive. This was another great Charlie Bone book and with each one you learn more about each character. I like how Charlie and his friends use their endowments for good rather than evil. It is amazing to me how he, his mom, his good grandma, and his uncle can stand to live with his mean Grandma Bone who is endowed also, but uses her powers for evil along with her sisters. I like how Charlie keeps the hope in believing that his father is still alive and is determined to find him. It’s also neat to see how each of the families of those that are endowed for good support and believe in their endowments. Each book is just as good as the last one before it and I hope you enjoy them as much as I am.

Lucy Maud Montgomery: A Writer’s Life by Elizabeth MacLeod
This is a biography about Lucy Maud Montgomery who wrote the Anne of Green Gables series. She preferred to go by Maud instead of Lucy. Her mother died when she was two and grew up with her grandparents for most of her life. She loved to write and was
determined to become a writer which was hard in those days during the 1800’s. She lived on Prince Edward Island. Maud ended up going to college and became a teacher, she also worked at a newspaper office called the Daily Echo and edited the stories that went into the newspaper, and also wrote short stories to earn money. In May of 1905 she began to write Anne of Green Gables and in October of 1905 she was ready for it to be published, but all five publishers rejected it so she put it in a hatbox and forgot about it. Then months later she found it again and tried again by sending it to an American publisher by the name of L. C. Page & Company and they accepted it. On June 20, 1908 her book was finally here. Then after that she had more published. Maud didn’t marry until after her grandmother died and she married a minister and had two children. Maud died on April 24, 1942, but we know her through her books, that she was a gifted writer, and fulfilled her life long dream of becoming a writer. This book was very informational and had a lot of great pictures. I definitely learned a lot more about Lucy Maud Montgomery than I knew before.