"A Blizzard Year" -Gretel Ehrlich

This is a story about a ranching family. It begins in February and goes through the year telling what gets done on an annual basis and what is especially different or difficult this year. It's a simple enough tale told from the point-of-view of the daughter.

Although it's a modern setting (for 1999), it still reads like a tale of yesteryear.

Read Also:

Little House on the Prarie by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Even Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery has a similar vibe.

"Red Wagon" -Renata Liwska

Lucy the fox has a new wagon and her mom wants her to go to the market for her. That's no fun! But lucy goes, and with her other forest friends, they play pretend all the way to and from the market.

Read Also:

Dr. Seuss' And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street.

Nicholas Oldham's Making the Moose Out of Life.

"The Physics of Star Trek" -Lawrence M. Krauss

I never took a physics class in high school or college. But I'm not totally unaware of things like "every action has an opposite and equal reaction." So I took up this book and while I am rereading many passages because I don't quite get them the first time through, it's making a lot of sense...and poking a lot of holes in Star Trek!

Read Also:

Serenity Found is a compilation of essays about Joss Whedon's "Firefly." Very interesting!

"Thanksgiving Mice!" -Bethany Roberts

In honor of the season...

The mice put on a play of the first Thanksgiving and then feast afterwards with all the woodland creatures.

Read Also:

Thea Feldman's Harry Cat and Tucker Mouse: Tucker's Beetle Band is a reader book similar to A Cricket in Times Square by George Seldon.

Emily Bearn's Tumtum & Nutmeg series are about 2 mice and their lives, cover a couple of holidays.

"Beating the Lunch Box Blues" -J.M. Hirsch

I'm always looking for easier ways to do lunch. This book advocates cook extra for dinner and turn it into 2 lunches. And Jane has the "cook extra" down pat.

Read Also:

Nick Fauchald's series of cookbooks, among them Walk-Around Tacos and other likeable lunches.

"Hot Rod Hamster" -Cynthia Lord

Hamster needs a hot rod to join in the race and "burn rubber". With some help from the junkyard dog and his rats, they build him a car to win!

Told in verse, some interactive moments, and the cutest hamster, this is a fun story of a hamster's dream to win the big race.

Read Also:

Geronimo Stilton is a great series of a mouse and all his adventures.

Cynthia Rylant's Little Whistle.

"Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library" -Chris Grabenstein

Stuck in a library over night. The goal is to get out. The prize is fame.

Kyle loves board games. When the new library is finished being built, he along with 11 other 12-year olds are chosen to experience the library first. It turns out to be one giant game as each kid tries to solve the puzzle and "escape".

I really enjoy books that have puzzles and riddles in them. I'm not very good at them but the creativity boggles my mind.

Read Also:

Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms by Lissa Evans is about a boy and his friends puzzle solving as they follow the clues to some old-fashioned magician's equipment.

The Mysterious Benedict Society series by Trenton Lee Stewart is about 4 friends traveling around the world solving puzzles and saving the world from an evil mastermind.

Ellen Raskin's The Westing Game.