Reading Challenge - May

This month, I ended up rereading several books that I read as a child.  I am also very close to finishing the reading challenge.  Only three more books to go!

A book based entirely on its cover -  Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

I've seen this book lurking around the "popular" section of Overdrive so I decided to read it.  The cover looked interesting.  It was a bit more on the adult side compared with all the children's novels I've been reading.

A book set somewhere you always wanted to visit - Born with Teeth by Kate Mulgrew

This book is Kate Mulgrew's memoirs (best known as Captain Janeway on Voyager).  A great deal of the book is set in Ireland, which is somewhere I've always wanted to visit since I'm a quarter Irish myself.  It was a very interesting read about a very interesting woman.

A book you were supposed to read in school but didn't - The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff

There weren't really any books in this category because I read everything I was supposed to read in grade school and high school even if I didn't like it.  The only book that possibly fits in this category is The Lantern Bearers which I was supposed to read for children's lit in college.  I tried to read it again and only made it halfway through.  It's supposed to be this great book but I just can't get into it.  Sad.

A book that you own but have never read - The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare

I bought this book way before I was married (pretty sure I got it on clearance) but only now got around to reading it.  It is set at the time of Jesus and involves the Zealots.

A book that was originally written in a different language - Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgrin

This book was originally written in Swedish.  I read it as a child but somehow don't like it so much as an adult.

Others:
Kira Kira  By Cynthia Kadohata - A Newbery winning book about a Japanese American family who work in a poultry factory.  I think it's a bit slow in the plot for my taste.
The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson - A short story about a hobo who finds an evicted family living under "his" bridge in Paris.
Joey Pigza Loses Control by Jack Gantos - The second Joey Pigza book where Joey spends the summer with his father who takes away his medication and figures he can fight ADHD cold turkey with will power (idiot!).
Men of Athens by Olivia Coolidge - A boring, historical fiction/nonfiction attempt at the history of Athens.
Tales from Silver Lands by Charles J. Finger - A set of short stories from South America and didn't impress me.
Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt - The story of a girl who is sent to live with her school teacher aunt after her mother dies.  I actually liked it.
Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton and Me by Pattie Boyd - The story of a woman who inspired several love songs.
Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith - A Civil War novel about the experiences of a Kansas boy in the war.
Penny From Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm - An account of Penny's summer.  The conflict in the middle is just awful.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - I read this in high school but decided to re-read it and decided that I like and understand it much better as an adult.
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh - Another re-read of a book from my childhood. Harriet spies on her neighbors and records everything in her notebook but has issues when her nanny leaves and her friends read her notebook.
The Cricket in Time's Square by George Selden - An animal fantasy about a cricket who lives in a newsstand in New York and plays concerts.  I'm pretty sure this is also a re-read as I think I read it in grade school as an independent read.