• I’m sad that this series is done.  Start to finish, I absolutely loved it.  I even held onto this book for a day before I started reading it–how silly is that?  But part of me didn’t want to start it, because I didn’t want it to be done.
• This final book felt more rushed to me than the previous two.  Collins did a lot of filling in the gaps, especially in the first half of the book.  While it was all necessary information, the book had fewer action sequences, less suspense and more history.
• Collins still managed to surprise me at the end.
• I think Katniss ended up with the wrong guy.
• I love Katniss’ character–she’s strong, she’s smart, she thinks through her actions, she accepts the consequences for her actions, she loves her family, she fights for what’s important.
• And overall?  One of my favorite series ever.

Moving to the 1870’s and Idaho Territory.  In Jenny of the Tetons, Carrie is orphaned by an Indian attack as her family makes its way to Oregon.  With no where else to go, Carrie makes her home with Beaver Dick, a trapper and his Shoshoni wife, Jenny.  Beaver Dick and Jenny are based on real people, and each chapter begins with an excerpt from Beaver Dick’s journal.

Private Peaceful is the battlefield reflections of a 16 year old private in the British army.  The tension builds with each chapter as a crucial night comes to an end.  An excellent choice for middle school boys.

And finally, we have Newbery Honor winning Penny from Heaven.  11 year old Penny lives with her mother and her mother’s parents.  While her life with her mother’s family is quiet and controlled, it is her dead father’s family that provides noise and excitement.  During one eventful summer, Penny discovers the secrets behind her father’s death, and brings both sides of her family together.

There are many books that I have re-read many times.  My Personal Classics list contains quite a few of them.  But Breaking Dawn?  150 times?  Seriously?  Now I’ve never read the book, but I have read the first one in the series–Twilight.  I found Edward to be slightly abusive and Bella to be whiny and weak.  Nothing I’ve heard or read since then leads me to believe that anything has changed for these two characters.  In fact, Wired.com had a tongue-in-cheek article entitled Top 20 Unfortunate Lessons Girls Learn From Twilight. I know that the article was intended to be funny, but it pretty accurately summed up my feelings about the series.

If you have a book that is worthy of being re-read 150 times, I’d love to hear about it, unless it’s a Twilight book, in which case I don’t want to know.  It hurts me too much to think of more reading time wasted on Edward and Bella.

I’m also impressed with Melissa Anderson as a person.  Here is a child star who went on to have a successful career and then put it all on hold for the sake of her own children.  She stepped out of the limelight so she could put her family first.  You just don’t see that very often.

Did you know that during the great dust storms, the skies would rain mud?

Did you know that babies, children and even adults died from lung diseases brought on by dust?

Did you know that the dust storms blew dirt from the plains all the way to Washington DC and out into the Atlantic?

Did you know that the dust storms could have been prevented?

I would have loved to have read this book in an economics class, or as part of a mission trip.  Reading it in isolation left me with too many questions and too few answers.  I did come away with a few favorite quotes:

“…strengthened resolve to find more solutions that started with the poor as customers…” pp276-277

“There is a powerful role both for the market and for philanthropy to play in creating this future.  Philanthropy alone lacks the feedback mechanisms of markets, which are the best listening devices we have; and yet markets alone too easily leave the most vulnerable behind.” p277

“The world will not change with inspiration alone;rather, it requires systems, accountability, and clear measures of what works and what doesn’t.”  p 277

Although I love Novogratz’ ideas on a big scale, I was left wondering what I, as an ordinary person, without thousands of dollars to invest, can do to help in any meaningful way.  What do the ordinary folks do?  Novogratz offers a brief piece of advice (“thinking and acting like a true global citizen” p.284), but I feel that there is much more that can be written at the practical level for individuals.  That being said, if you work with disadvantaged populations of any type, this is a book that you and your organization should read.

While the setting is similar to that of Counting on Grace, the subject of child labor isn’t as much in the forefront.  Boling instead focuses on a more universal theme of “the grass is always greener,” and effectively uses an American family in 1905 to tell her story.  This would be an excellent book to spark a discussion about putting yourself in someone else’s place.

I almost set this book aside, but I’m so glad I didn’t. I have to admit that during the middle section, I did some skimming. The conversation between characters seemed to drag on, and I felt like the book wasn’t really moving forward. But I stuck with it, all the way to the end, which completely took me by surprise, and had me re-thinking the book in a whole new light.

This is definitely a good addition to any dystopic reading collection. Also, it would be a good read for an intro philosophy class, as it contains many illusions to Plato, and covers basic debates about what it means to be human, be conscious and have a soul.

I’ve been trying to summarize the plot without giving anything away, and can’t.  So I’m not going to even try.  This is a fantastic book, hard to put down, and the suspense builds with each chapter.  Go read this book.