FULL DISCLOSURE by Dee Henderson It is truly a treat to be able to write about this book. You don't come across very many brilliantly planned out and executed writings like Dee Henderson's Full Disclosure in today's literary world. To fully appreciate the depth of this book, you will want to complete the O'Malley series and the Uncommon Heroes series. Is it necessary? No, but it adds additional layering to the story. Full Disclosure follows the story of Paul Falcon, the FBI's top murder cop. As it goes with law enforcement officers, he is working multiple cases, the top two as follows: bringing in a sniper-for-hire killer that has accumulated a mass amount of hits and a strange case from the past involving the kidnapping of a high ranking government official by a serial killer. You know, "just another day at the office" type stuff. Enter Ann Silver. Ann Silver is the Midwest Homicide Investigator (MHI). Her cases take her everywhere and she has connections and clearance that reach the highest levels. She is intensely secretive. She's not interested in flaunting herself or her abilities. She presents herself as a helping hand on cases and shys away from the limelight. Twists and turns lay all over this book. Sounds great right, but what makes that amazing? What makes this book amazing is the question we must ask ourselves when we finish the book. Is it possible that Ann Silver is Dee Henderson? There's enough clues in the book that makes a reader think so. Just start with the title. My daughter and I have long speculated that for Dee Henderson to write the types of books that she does she has to either (a) be well versed herself in multiple levels of the criminal justice world by being involved in it directly or (b) know someone that is that can direct her writing. We lean towards option A. Oh, by the way, want to know how secretive Dee Henderson is? Try goggling her. See how much you learn about her! Did I mention this book is Christian fiction? Get ready for strong elements of faith and marriage. So refreshing!! It doesn't take long for one to realize why this is a TOP PICK! HEADS UP - You are dealing with multiple intense cases. There is death, but it is not gory.

BORED by Felicita Sala How many of us recognize the pose this child is in on the front cover? A picture of utter boredom! Isn't it wonderful?  I love seeing bored kids, because get out of the way, something fun is about to be created or happening! Felicita Sala brings us this wonderful picture book about Rita who thinks she is completely bored. No one cares. Rita is going to have to figure it out, and once those creative juices start flowing, man do they start going! Before long, Rita's imagination is in full swing, and the ride is a fun one to go along with her on which is why I added it to my TOP PICKS! I am finding out that I am a Felicita Sala fan! I really loved her picture book What's Cooking at 10 Garden Street. Bored was quickly added to my pile after I flipped through it, and I purchased another title of hers I hadn't read before. I'm also going to throw in here that I love her colorful, chunky artwork. It just pulsates "kids" all over the place! Keep watching, because I'll be continuing to add her books to our personal library!

ANNE by Kathleen Gros Anne is a modern graphic novel retelling of Anne of Green Gables. If you don't want to see Anne and Diana turn into more than best friends and share a kiss at the end, you'll want to skip this one.

ANNE OF GREEN GABLES by L.M. Montgomery Anne of Green Gables is a heart touching classic about an orphan girl trying to find a home that has touched the heart of millions of readers worldwide including mine which is why it's a TOP PICK! Why? Why do so many people gravitate to this highly imaginative and precocious girl? Because we all understand the desire to want to have a place to call home, to belong somewhere and be valued by someone. Anne Shirley is a bright, imaginative red-headed little girl. She can talk the leg off a donkey and she loses herself in her thoughts and dreams when she should be paying attention to the task at hand. Through a providential set of circumstances she ends up with an elderly brother and sister who think they have no use for a little girl in their life. What they end up discovering is that Anne brings to their lives an element of love and laughter that they never knew they were missing. They in turn give her shelter and food, but it grows into so much more than that. By the end of the book one of the best questions you can ask is "who needed whom the most" and let the discussions begin! *If you love Anne of Green Gables there are 7 more wonderful books in the series *The movie adaptations Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea starring Megan Follows are wonderful representations of the original books. The Continuing Story does not follow the books. It is an entertaining movie but takes a turn from the original series

THE RISE OF NEPTUNE by Scott Reintgen The Rise of Neptune is a hybrid genre. It's a mix of sci-fi and fantasy. (The first book in the series, The Last Dragon on Mars, included a little bit of dystopian thrown in, but we've moved away from that a bit. ) I'm not going to digress too much into the set up of this series, but for discussion's sake, I'll just say that each planet and each moon has a dragon ruling/attached to it. For that planet to become inhabitable by humans, the dragon must sacrifice itself. Only, then, can the planet's conditions/environment change to a conducive state to support human life. The first book deals with Mars and the upheaval that happened there. The second book focuses on the success of Mars that is now about to be attacked by one of Neptune's Moon Dragon's, Triton. Neptune (the dragon) is dead.. As a result, Triton, Neptune's rebellious moon (Did you know that truly, Triton, is Neptune's largest moon, and it orbits in the opposite direction of the planet's orbit?) takes over, controlling the humans and the other moons and prepares to attack Mars who is now peacefully settled and forming alliances with Earth. What happens is a high action read with twists and turns that keep the reader guessing to the end! I'm not typically a sci-fi lover, but this series does have me a bit hooked. However, there are a couple things to be aware of - HEADS UP- This book does give a nod to some Eastern Mysticism. There is mention of yoga and meditation a time or two, and certain dragons have dragoons which are their human riders. Dragons and dragoons are able to communicate with each other through telepathy. Also this book gives a nod to mythology. The planets and moons are named after Greek and Roman gods. The dragons bear resemblance to their planet/ moon and also to their mythological name.

CORNBREAD AND POPPY AT THE CARNIVAL by Matthew Cordell I really like the first book in this series, Cornbread and Poppy, so I picked up the second one. It started off really cute! The carnival is in town, so Cornbread and Poppy go off to check it out. Poppy loves the rides that make Cornbread sick to his stomach, and Cornbread loves the ferris wheel that has Poppy panicking over the height! A story showing two friends having a good time together and knowing what they like and don't like.Where it all went south for me is when they start arguing over a peanut they find. It turns into a yelling and screaming match. (The book uses the words "yelled" and "screamed.") The illustrations show each of them on the ground kicking and throwing a tantrum like a toddler. Needless to say, for me, the book dropped a few notches on my "like meter" at that point. I think it would be perfectly acceptable for these two to have a disagreement in life. They're friends. They might even raise their voice. But scream at each other? Flop on the ground like toddlers? These two are too old for that, and my kids wouldn't have needed to see that behavior as an option in handling difficult situations. No thank you! They do come back and decide to share the peanut. They hug each other, but there is no verbal, "I'm sorry." I'm not impressed.

THE BACKYARD BIRD CHRONICLES by Amy Tan I recently finished Amy Tan's Backyard Bird Chronicles. For all my nature journalers and bird lovers, this is going to be right up your alley. Tan is a backyard bird watcher. She spends hours daily observing which birds come to her feeders eating what types of food. She notices behaviors and details jotting everything down in her journal. She pays attention to color variations and differences between the birds adding beautifully sketched illustrations to her pages of notes. The compilation is a masterpiece. Real life fills the entries: the joy of watching, relationships made, the sadness of illness, periodically a loss, the occasional run to the bird sanctuary in an attempt to save a bird, etc. This book was fun for me to read over the past couple of weeks while I feed my own backyard birds (over a hundred acres of mainly wooded backyard). This is part of my winter routine that helps to bring spots of bright color into days of white and gray. The woods become alive with movement as the birds fly in from the backwoods to the feeders. They chatter and call to each other, hopping and flittering joyously from one feeder to the next, tasting a buffet of different suets and seeds. I get Tan's obsession. I'm a bit obsessed myself! HEADS UP- This is a lengthy book (about 282 pages). There are approx. 5 uses of profanity, predominately sh*t in place of poop. No f-bombs.

OTTO AND THE STORY TREE by Vivien Mildenberger Everyone needs purpose in life. Everyone needs connection. OTTO is no different. OTTO is a grumpy old stork. He would somewhat remind you of Dicken's Scrooge in his mannerisms. The thing is he's let everything in his life go because as he says, "what's the point? One day he notices a little seed on the floor. For some reason, OTTO begins to tell the little seed about all the amazing things he's done and seen in his many years. The little seed begins to grow, and Otto lets it be. The sprout grows bigger and bigger until it is an enormous tree growing out of the roof of his house. The touching part of the book is the connection the tree helps to provide for Otto. Unbeknownst to him at first, little animals were settling into the branches of the tree to hear his stories. As he wraps up his story one night, a small voice comes down from a branch begging him not to stop, and so he continues. OTTO has found his purpose, and his connection. This book is touchingly sweet. There are multiple ways to view this story. 1. The blessing of our elders and the benefit of them speaking into our lives with their knowledge, wisdom, and memories. 2. Realizing that no matter our age, everyone needs purpose and connection in life. It's how we are wired. It's important that we help that happen for our kids, teens, and ourselves in a variety of ways. A simple picture book has me evaluating things we have been a part of and asking myself about the value of their purpose and connection. You never know where a book will take you! Also, I love the illustrations in this book. The grays, blacks, and dark blues at the start of the story evolve into pages with peach tones, light blue, and green punctuations. I love the swirly texture created by a variety of media that gives the text a deeper level of meaning.

THE LAST DRAGON ON MARS by Scott R.eintgen Take a cup of sci-fi and add a splash of fantasy. Sprinkle in a pinch of Greek mythology and top off with a trace of dystopian flair. Mix it all together and pour into a rectangular pan to set. Check back in an indefinite amount of time. If you followed your recipe correctly, The Last Dragon on Mars is what you will see.  Every planet, every moon, every star is inhabited by a dragon. These dragons are borderline "god-like presences" on their planet, star, or moon. Earth was inhabited by the dragon,Gaia,(bring in our Greek Mythology - Gaia is considered the mother of earth - of all life) who gave up her life sacrificially to make Earth a habitable place for humans. When the room began to run out on Earth, humans looked to expand to Mars. But Ares, the Dragon of Mars, had no desire to give up his life to make it livable. A war ensued, and Ares was killed. As he died, he cursed Mars causing the living conditions to degrade with each passing year. Enter in present day and Lunar Jones. Lunar Jones is a 13-year-old living in a relocation center (orphanage). Survival is dependent on salvaging and selling valuable goods left over from the Mars war left buried in the sand. When a salvage hunt turns into a race for life and death, Lunar stumbles on a secret hidden in Mars' underground depths that could mean the saving of the planet for the human race. HEADS UP- This book is squeaky clean in language and relationship areas. However, it does allude to some Eastern Mysticism. There is reference to meditation to create internal peace and a oneness between the planets and their dragons creating life.

THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING by J.R.R. Tolkien The Fellowship of the Ring is a story of burden, responsibility, courage, friendship, and the ongoing fight between good and evil. Themes worth reading, pondering and discussing fill the pages. Every one of us, at some point, carries a burden in life like Frodo - something that we bear until its finality, its destruction. Quests like this require trusted sojourners around us - protectors, leaders, wise council and loyal friendship. If a reader looks close enough, they may be able to find themselves within the characters. Are they carrying a burden like Frodo? Are they a loyal and trusted friend like Sam? Are they a protector like Aragorn? Life can feel like its full of mountains, Orcs, Saurons and Ringwraiths, but it also consists of Rivendells, Lothloriens, Galadriels and Elronds - places of rest, refreshment and wisdom gathering. Recently, I read through The Fellowship of the Ring with a group of high schoolers. As always there were those that loved the quest and the elements of fantasy that surround it and those that weren't crazy about Tolkien's wordy manner. (I encouraged them to focus on the main thread of the book and divorce from their mind the extra explanations on everything that caused them to sometimes get muddled in the mire themselves.). However, the self application that can occur when viewing our lives through the story causes us to think on a higher level. One that helps us see that no matter where we are, there is hope of getting through. HEADS UP- There are moments of magic in the book.

MANDY by Julie Andrews Edwards Often when we think of Julie Andrews we think of her roles in movies such as The Sound of Music and Princess Diaries. However, she has authored a few books as well. This particular one is a bit of a cross between The Secret Garden and Gone Away Lake. Mandy is a 10-year-old orphan girl that desperately wants a place of her own. One day she breaks the rules and climbs over the orchard wall and begins to explore the wooded area next door. Imagine her surprise when she stumbles upon an abandoned cabin. Even though it doesn't belong to her and she's breaking the rules, she begins to tidy the place up, plant a little garden, and make it her own. Secrets like this are impossible to keep secret forever though, and thankfully for Mandy, her secret is revealed in the nick of time. HEADS UP- Mandy does lie to keep the cottage a secret. She takes things from the orphanage to furnish her little cottage with. One curse word is used - d*****. One G** is used as well.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY, CURIOUS GEORGE by N. Di Angelo in the style of H.A. and Margret Rey I know it's the day before Valentine's Day, but that means there's just enough time left to slide one more book in for the holiday! One of you great members mentioned that this book was being enjoyed in your home! Well, just like I mentioned with Little Critter, my kids grew up on Curious George. How could I pass that up? And just like with The Little Critter Valentine's book, when my daughter opened the shipping box and saw Curious George, out it came and upstairs to bed it went with her to read before she fell asleep. Illustrated in the similar H.A. and Margret Rey style and full of fold out flaps, this book is a fun nod to the original Curious George. I will say that while George does get into some scrapes due to his curiosity, it is a bit tamer than the original monkey who painted on the wall of an apartment, called the fire department, swallowed a puzzle piece, and more. Still, it's great fun and a good addition to our Valentine's book collection!