The Summer Reading Thing????

Yes, I have found another challenge. I don't even want to think about how many challenges that makes me a participant of. But I'm addicted. I can't help it. I see a Mr. Linky sign up page, and I feel compelled to join. It's just so much fun to be part of a community.

So who is hosting the Summer Reading Thing? Inksplasher. You can read the rules and see Mr. Linky for yourself here.
It lasts from June 22, 2007 to September 22, 2007. I'd be happy for some company if you want to join in as well.

I am going to do something a bit unprecedented in making my list:

On My Journey Now: Looking at African-American History through the Spirituals by Nikki Giovanni

These are the questions: How did the enslaved Africans live through the brutal period of the Middle Passage--that frightening time of capture, forced march to the African west coast, being put down in places like Cape Coast Castleor Goree Island (like so many cows or horses or any number of life forces human beings pen up)--and come to this newly invented nation sane? (1)

Take-Off: American All-Girl Bands During WW II by Tonya Bolden

What is swing? "This is indeed the $64 question of popular music," bopped Bill Treadwell in the opener of his 1946 not-so-big Big Book of Swing. "Finding a hen's tooth...or rolling a peanut up Pike's Peak with your nose--these are all child's play compared to getting a definition of the most debated word in jazz that will make everybody happy." (1)

Enter Three Witches: A Story of Macbeth by Caroline B. Cooney

In the courtyard, soldiers gathered for war, but in the kitchen they were talking of witches. The kitchen staff did not care about kings and their wars.

Going Nowhere Faster by Sean Beaudoin

My name's Stan, so right there I was more or less doomed from the beginning. You don't think so? Try this: Close your eyes. Clear your mind. Get to a comfortable place. What does the name Stan remind you of? Football star? Lead singer? Private detective? Nope. (2)

Hitler's Canary by Sandi Toksvig

The day the Germans invaded I was asleep on Henry V's throne. It was 1940. I was ten and I was asleep on the throne in the middle of the stage at the Royal Copenhagen theater. I suppose it made it all seem more dramatic. (7)

Converting Kate by Beckie Weinheimer

"Kate?" From where she stands on the back porch, Mom's voice is quieter than the early-morning sounds of chirping birds and scampering squirrels. Still, it pierces through me. Listen children small and tall. Obey your parents. Heed their call. the words of the Sunday School hymn march uninvited through my head. I wish I could just wash my mind, scrub it clean, of all the rules, all the scriptures, and start over. (1)

Salome by Beatrice Gormley

If I'd never hoped to live in a world of goodness and truth--if the priestess of Diana, then Leander, and then Joanna hadn't shown me glimpses of it--maybe I wouldn't have minded being shut out of it. Maybe the preacher's death wouldn't have trapped me in a dungeon, the dungeon of my own self. (1)

Red Moon at Sharpsburg by Rosemary Wells

It was my father who found Calvin Trimble's body lying against a stone wall on the Spreckle sisters' land. Pa knew just who it was crumpled up in the hawkweed, still breathing, and somewhere between heaven and earth. (1)

Girl of the Moment by Lizabeth Zindel

This book is my confession of the summer I chose to break all the rules and go after my dreams. Even when it led me inside the backstabbing world of teenage celebrity. I may get in trouble for everything I'm about to tell you, but I can't keep it a secret any longer. (1)

The Rising Star of Rusty Nail by Lesley M. M. Blume

"Franny, you throw like a girl," said Sandy with disgust as she expertly tied the end of a water-filled balloon into a knot. "I do not," scowled Franny. "I got Rodney the jail janitor right on the back of the head, and you haven't even hit a single person." (1)

The Society of Super Secret Heroes (SSSh): The Great Cape Rescue by Phyllis Shalant

It was a holiday for most people, but not all. The workers at the fast-food restaurants were still serving burgers and fries. Lifeguards were still guarding swimmers at the town pool. Many busy moms and dads were catching up on household chores. And superheroes were doing their best to save people before the first day of school tomorrow. (3)

Leepike Ridge by N. D. Wilson

In the history of the world there have been lots of onces and lots of times, and every time has had a once upon it. Most people will tell you that the once upon a time happened in a land far, far away, but it really depends on where you are. The once upon a time may have been just outside your back door. It may have been beneath your very feet. It might not have been in a land at all but deep in the sea's belly or bobbing around on its back. (1)

Why? The War Years by Tomie DePaola

Mom and Dad had a New Year's Eve party last night. Everyone had a good time even though we are at war. Mom let me stay up until midnight. We all stood around the radio waiting for the New Year to be announced. I remembered when our family had listened to the radio together just a few weeks before, when President Roosevelt said that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7. (1-2)

Crazy In Love by Dandi Daley Mackall

Okay, so I do hear voices in my head, but they're all mine. And before you go dialing Psychiatrists-R-Us, consider the fact that I'm going to need all the help I can get just to have a fingers-crossed, fighting chance of getting through today. (1)

Cassie Was Here by Caroline Hickey

"Alaskan husky, Beagle, Collie" I list. "Dachshund, English springer spaniel..." I get stuck on F. I can never think of an F for dogs or cities. For colors I always say fuchsia. I look at Joey. She's smiling triumphantly. I have five seconds to think of an F or she wins. "Fffff," I say. "Time's up," Joey announces. "Foxhound." (1)

Tasting the Sky by Ibtisam Barakat

I'm midway from Birzeit to Ramallah, at the Israeli army checkpoint at Surda. No one knows how long our bus will stay here. An army jeep is parked sideways to block the road. Soldiers in another jeep look on with their guns. They are ready to shoot. A barrier that punctures tires stands near the stop sign. I regret that I chose to sit up front. (3)

The Fabled Fourth Graders Of Aesop Elementary School by Candace Fleming

The soon-to-be fourth graders at Aesop Elementary School had a reputation for being--"Precocious," said their former first grade teacher, Ms. Bucky. She ground her teeth. "High-energy," added their second-grade teacher, Mrs. Chen. The muscle beneath her jaw twitched. "Robust," agreed their third-grade teacher, Mr. Frost. He patted his now all-white hair. "Humph!" snorted Bertha Bunz, the lunchroom monitor. "Those kids are just plain naughty." Because she wasn't a teacher, Mrs. Bunz felt free to speak the truth. (1)

Bad Tickets by Kathleen O'Dell

"Admit it, darling. We've got wicked gorgeous legs," Jane says. It's a rare and welcome sunny day. My new best friend, Jane, and I are sitting in the alley behind Rexall Drugs with our socks peeled off, trying to tan ourselves on our lunch break. My legs are freckled and milky and dented with elastic marks from my knee-highs. Jane's legs are in another league completely. (1)

At the Firefly Gate by Linda Newbery

It was the first night away from home. This was supposed to be home now, but it didn't feel like it. Henry stood looking out of his bedroom window into the dusk, at the fields, hedges and trees behind the cottage. (3)

Forged in the Fire by Ann Turnbull

Sweetheart: I write in haste, and in expectation of being with thee soon after midsummer. I have money enough saved now, and James Martell will shortly give me leave of several weeks so that I may return to Hemsbury and--if thou'rt willing--bring thee back as my wife. (1)

• • Enter Three Witches: A Story of Macbeth by Caroline B. Cooney
  • Going Nowhere Faster by Sean Beaudoin
  • Hitler's Canary by Sandi Toksvig
  • Converting Kate by Beckie Weinheimer
  • Salome by Beatrice Gormley
  • Red Moon at Sharpsburg by Rosemary Wells
  • Girl of the Moment by Lizabeth Zindel
  • The Rising Star of Rusty Nail by Lesley M. M. Blume
  • The Society of Super Secret Heroes (SSSh): The Great Cape Rescue by Phyllis Shalant
  • Leepike Ridge by N. D. Wilson
  • Why? The War Years by Tomie DePaola
  • Crazy In Love by Dandi Daley Mackall
  • Cassie Was Here by Caroline Hickey
  • Tasting the Sky by Ibtisam Barakat
  • The Fabled Fourth Graders Of Aesop Elementary School by Candace Fleming
  • Bad Tickets by Kathleen O'Dell
  • At the Firefly Gate by Linda Newbery
  • Forged in the Fire by Ann Turnbull
  • On My Journey Now by Nikki Giovanni
  • Take-Off by Tonya Bolden