Author Archives: EHL
Moo – Sharon Creech
A family decides to leave the big city for life in rural Maine. Reena and Luke are quickly indoctrinated on the ways of country life when their parents volunteer them to assist an elderly resident, Mrs. Falala. She promptly assigns … Continue reading
Three Sisters, Three Queens – Philippa Gregory
Princess Margaret is so full of her importance. She is so much more grown up than her 5-year-old sister, Mary. She is so unwilling to befriend the bride of her beloved brother, Arthur, as only a girl can be who … Continue reading
I Will Send Rain – Rae Meadows
One year in the life of a small farming family in the Oklahoma Panhandle during the beginning of the Dust Bowl is the focus of this short novel. Amidst the descriptions of dust storms, grit and desolation, the reader is … Continue reading
The Story of Egypt: The Civilization that Shaped the World – Joann Fletcher
This is a long book, it has to be. It spans 4,000 years. It’s not just names and dates, but filled with real people, like the royal manicurists Niankhnum and Khnumhotep, whose house was decorated with vignettes of their lives, … Continue reading
The Thing About Leftovers – C. C. Payne
Fizzy is a young girl going through a lot of changes in her life. Her parents have divorced, her father remarried, and now her mother has a new beau in her life. Fizzy isn’t particularly enamored with either of these step-parents, … Continue reading
Learning to Swear in America – Katie Kennedy
Russian boy genius Yuri Strelnikov is a 17-year-old with a PhD in Physics. The Americans recruit him when it is discovered that an asteroid is blazing toward Earth on a collision course with California, exactly where NASA has assembled the … Continue reading
1941: The America That Went to War – William M. Christie
This is the story of the end of an era. The last year before America lost its innocence, the year before everything changed. It is told, month by month, with an event that occurred in that month as the theme. … Continue reading
The Doomed City – Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky (Translated by Andrew Bromfield)
In the 1970s the Strugatsky brothers’ science-fiction novels were wildly popular in the USSR. This novel was their favorite, but was so politically risky that it was kept secret and only published in the late 1980s, sixteen years after … Continue reading
The Leaving – Tara Altebrando
Six kindergarteners don’t return home from school. They are missing for eleven years. Then one night, five are returned. Blindfolded, they are dropped off in a playground in town with a map to their home in their pocket with no … Continue reading
When Friendship Followed Me Home – Paul Griffin
Ben was in the foster care system since he was an infant. When he was around 10, he was adopted by his speech therapist. It was a wonderful fit for both of them. However, she was elderly and had health … Continue reading
Just One Damned Thing After Another: The Chronicles of St. Mary’s Book One – Jodi Taylor
“History is just one damned thing after another” Arnold Toynbee Well, this was fun! The eccentric Brits at St. Mary’s Institute of Historical Research are very secretly traveling back in time to better understand historical events, but it’s not such … Continue reading
Beyond the Woods: Fairy Tales Retold – edited by Paula Guran
These fairy tales are definitely not for children. They would be shocked to learn the real story of Cinderella, and The Three Bears, and yes, Goldilocks was a little snit. And don’t get me started on the rewrite of “The … Continue reading
Barkskins – Annie Proulx
I hate to use clichés, but there is no other way to put it. This is a sweeping novel, an epic covering two families and three hundred years. It all begins in the 17th century, with Rene Sel and Charles … Continue reading
Fastpitch: The Untold History of Softball and the Women Who Made the Game -Erica Westly
762 wins, 88 losses, 162 no hitters, 45 perfect games, and 7,000 strikeouts – Bertha Tickey was a very special softball player. Most of her records still stand. And she taught Lana Turner to swing a bat for a movie … Continue reading
Amy Snow – Tracy Rees
Amy’s life began on a cold day in January, 1831. If eight-year-old Aurelia had not slipped out when no one was watching it might have ended that day. The sky was a bright blue, the snow deep and white, and … Continue reading
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