Mindful of Him
By: Hollis Hughes
Publisher: WinePress Publishing
ISBN: 978-1414120713
Pub Date: November 9, 2011
Pages: 276

Set during the 1950's, Rob McLain has had to deal with much heartache. His father succumbed to cancer followed by his mother's sudden death. Years later, he marries the perfect woman and life seems to be great, but after the death of their first born child they separate.

Feeling that his life is spiritually empty, Rob drops out of school, quits his job, and leaves the life that he has known. He decides to go on a six-month canoe trip on the Canoba River. There are many challenges down the river for Rob that will question his faith in God. He meets several unique characters, such as Ed McNeal and Ted Moore, which will set him on a course of self-discovery as he bonds with these new friends.

North by Northwest was originally released to theaters in the summer of 1959 by MGM and was directed by mastermind Alfred Hitchcock, one year before Psycho was released.

Roger O. Thornhill, an advertising executive, is mistaken for George Kaplan and is kidnapped by two men who take him to a house in Long Island to be interrogated by a man claiming to be Lester Townsend, when he is actually a foreign spy Phillip Vandamm. Roger keeps telling him that he has the wrong person, but Vandamm doesn't believe him and order his men to get rid of Roger. They force him to drink bourbon and put him behind the wheel of a car. Then the men chase after him, hoping that Roger will crash the car, but to their surprise, he gets away.

Hi. My name is Nathan Rockledge. I’m ten and a half (well really I’m ten and three quarters, but who’s counting?) I’m going into fifth grade this fall. When I grow up, I really want to be a comic book artist. I think I’m pretty good at it, and I love making up stories. I’ve actually done a few already. Maybe one day I’ll show them to you.

 Sometimes I get in trouble because I’m supposed to be doing something else, but I just can’t help myself. Once I get started drawing, I just get lost in what I’m doing. I usually draw myself doing awesome stuff as Nate Rocks. He’s me, only cooler.

I especially have to be careful in school. There is this one girl named Lisa Crane, and she is so annoying. Her mom and my mom are best friends. One day I got in trouble for drawing in school when we were supposed to be taking a spelling test. Do you know what Lisa did? She went right home and told her mom, who of course called my mom. Seriously – who does that?

Abby says my drawings are dumb, but I think they are cool. Oh yeah – Abby’s my older sister. Sometimes she’s okay... I guess. Most of the time I just try to stay out of her way. She’s always in some kind of a mood – Mom says it’s just a phase, but so far this phase has been lasting as long as I can remember. Older sisters can definitely be a pain sometimes. I was hoping to be able to spend the summer without her around, but as it turns out Mom & Dad decided to send us both to the same overnight camp! I mean can you believe that? Of all the thousands - maybe millions – of camps, you’d think they could have sent her somewhere different.

Book Description from Amazon.com:

Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she's a disgrace; to design mavens, she's a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom.

Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette's intensifying allergy to Seattle--and people in general--has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic.

To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence--creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's role in an absurd world.

North and South
By: Elizabeth Gaskell
Publisher: Dover Publications
ISBN: 9780486479521
Pub Date: June 13, 2012
Pages: 464
Buy Link: Barnes & Nobles

If you are looking for a good read and you enjoy the novels of Jane Austen, then look no further than Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South. Written around the same time as Austen’s works, this novel delves deeper into class conflicts, the unions, the hard work of laborers, and even the hero’s inner psyche. The supporting characters are stronger than most of Austen’s and you really grow to care about their struggles.

The main idea of the novel is that a pastor’s daughter, Margaret Hale, is transported along with her ailing mother and now jobless father from her quiet and comfortable home in the south of England to the crowded, dirty, and chaotic north. She must find her spot in this new society, and befriends a mill worker and his dying daughter. Her father starts tutoring a mill master, a man named Thornton, how quickly becomes smitten with the beautiful and headstrong Margaret. She rejects him, however, because she has seen the ordeal that the mill workers are put through.

Picking up after the events of the Darkwoods, the wraith mice Princess Zuryzel has a lot of responsibility as she leads an army against the Darkwoods Foxes, who outnumber and out power them. Zuryzel is growing up to be an independent adult mouse who must journey to unseen places to find out whom really started the war.

Her invisibility may not be able to help her as she stumbles into a world of betrayal that leads her to the Stone Tribe city of Pasadagavra. Secrets are revealed as she is confronted with a deadly pirate, who may or may not be responsible for the war. To make matter worse, the mice and their squirrel allies may not be able to defend the city from the Foxes.

Zuryzel travels across the seas and mysterious lands as she goes on a quest that will test her strength and her faith. A battle with the Darkwoods Foxes is unstoppable and the Stone Tribe City may fall in this exciting sequel.

Final Thoughts

Ravens Pass: Curses for Sale
By: Steve Brezenoff
Publisher: Stone Arch Books
ISBN: 978-1434242099
Pub Date: August 1, 2012
Pages: 96

To avoid the traffic, Jace Thomas's dad takes the exit to Ravens Pass, where they come upon a garage sale, and Jace's dad can never say no to a good bargain. His dad buys several LP records, a few coffee mugs and a rabbit's foot. His littler sister buys a couple of dolls, and Jace buys a battery operated red sports car for only five dollars. Yes, Jace is a few years too old for it, but just like his father, he couldn't pass up a bargain.

Jace squeezes himself into the car and drives to his best-friend Sam's house. He lets Sam take the car for a spin, but then a mysterious accident occurs. Or was it something else? As this toy car can drive by itself.

White Raven: The Sword of Northern Ancestors
Written By Irina Lopatina
Publisher: Light Messages Publishing
ISBN: 978-1611530247
Pub. Date: July 30, 2012
Pages: 378

In this fantasy adventure set in the magical land of Areya, a prince, known as some as the White Raven, named Vraigo spends most his days in the forest with the druids and other magical creatures instead of defending his kingdom. Some may think of him as weak, but to him not fighting is his choice to make. Eventually, demons from a parallel world invade his home in which the kingdom's army will be defeated unless Areys uses a magical sword known as Urart against the demons. But there is one little problem, the Urart has been stolen!

To save his kingdom, Vraigo must journey to the 21st Century to retrieve the sword, but there are many dangers that lay before him.