The Storyteller

By Jodi Picoult

Sage Singer is a baker by trade. She spends her nights baking at a local café in a quaint New England town and hiding from the loneliness and pain of losing both of her parents. She attends a weekly grief counseling group where she strikes up an unlikely friendship with an aging widower, Josef Weber, a former high-school German teacher and pillar of their community.

As Sage and Josef's friendship develops, Josef requests a favor from Sage that changes her life. The request has her delving into her grandmother's past and stirring up memories. Her grandmother, Minka, is a polish immigrant and holocaust survivor that would prefer to leave her past behind her.

This book is a reminder of the atrocities that are perpetrated in war and how those who are left behind have emotional scars that may fade but never completely go away.

My Animals and Other Family

by Clare Balding

Clare Balding grew up in a family where the animals were just as much a part of the family as the kids and the parents. They were her protectors, her friends and her heros from the time she was born and throughout her life. Her Father, a champion horse trainer, her mother and grandmother had very little time for her and her brother and so they were left to their own devices. She spent her childhood roaming the hills of their estate in the Hampshire Downs, getting into mischief and riding her ponies.

The book was a little slow and went into quite a bit of detail about horse racing that didn't mean too much to me. If you love animals, you will love this book.

Mila 2.0

by Debra Driza

Sixteen year old Mila just moved to a small town in Minnesota. She lost her father in a fire, her relationship with her mother is strained and she's trying to adjust and make friends in her new school. And if that isn't enough, she just found out that the life she is living is a lie.


As Mila tries to discover who (or what) she really is, she finds herself in danger and being pursued by two different groups of people. As she begins to uncover the truth, she finds that the one person she thinks she can trust, her mother, knows more than she is willing to tell.

The author does a great job in getting you involved in the story and keeps you wondering what is going to happen next.

The Pitcher

Nine year old Ricky has no idea he can pitch until he goes to a carnival with his mom and wins a prize for his mom. He has a lot of speed, but no control. Maria, his mom, can't afford to put him in pitching camps or lessons so she is trying to coach him herself by scouring the internet for pitching techniques and reading "how-to" books.

As Ricky draws closer to that critical cut-off date for tryouts for the high school team, they become desperate and try  to recruit their reclusive, alcoholic neighbor who once pitched in the World Series.

This book is about more than baseball. It's about fighting for a dream and a mother's love for her son. There is a little bit of cursing in this book, but if you can get past the language, it's a great read.

When Will The Heaven Begin?

When Will the Heaven Begin? This is Ben Breedlove's Story

Ben Breedlove was born with a heart condition, HCM (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy), that put hime in and out of hospitals all of his life. It also meant that his heart could stop at any moment. When he was only four, he had a life threatening seizure. As he was being wheeled down a dark hallway of the hospital with his mom walking beside the stretcher, he was staring at the bright white light above him and was given comfort and peace. He later says of the experience "I know God wanted me to be calm during the situation and have a sense of peace, and not worry about anything that was going on during those moments.  Now that I look back at it, I get chills just thinking about it, because I know an angel was looking over me, literally."

Before his untimely death at the age of 18, he makes a video about his heart condition and his near death experiences and visions of heaven. He did not fear death, he actually welcomed it.

It is a touching story written by his sister, Ally Breedlove.