Packing for our trip

We're leaving tomorrow for a week's vacation, and I just thought I'd make a short post about what we're bringing to read!

Audiobooks:

- Hattie Big Sky, by Kirby Larson - my 10 year old daughter is in the middle of listening to this. It's about a sixteen year old girl in Iowa whose an orphan and one day she receives a letter saying she has inherited a homestead in rural Montana. She decides to take the train and try to make a home in this new place. I asked my daughter what she thought helped Hattie get through the really hard times, and my daughter said that it was her friends.

- Flush, by Carl Hiaasen - downloaded for free from Overdrive Media through the San Francisco Public Library -

- Bonjour Butterfly (a Fancy Nancy book), by Jane O'Connor - for my 5 year old - also through Overdrive Media

- Under the Jolly Roger, by L.A. Meyer - from Audible.com - my 10 year old has devoured the first two in the Bloody Jack series - and so this is a treat for her.

My books to read:

- Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba, by Margarita Engle - I really enjoyed Engle's 2009 Newbery Honor book The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Independence. This new book is also a novel in verse, and I'm definitely looking forward to it.

- Sisters of the Sword, by Maya Snow. There's a new exhibit at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum about Samurai. This sounds like an interesting historical fiction, about two girls who dream of being samurai in 13th century Japan. Booklist calls it the first in a "rousing new series."

- The Young Samurai: The Way of the Warrior, by Chris Bradford. Another book that I'm checking out for the Samurai connection, this seems to be a very action-packed story about a young English boy who is the sole survivor on a merchant ship that is attacked by Ninja warriors.

My 8 year old has recently gotten hooked by the Harry Potter series. She's just finished book 1, and is excited about the second book. It was so cute - she waited to finish the last chapter so that her dad could read it aloud with her tonight.

My 5 year old daughter has been enjoying the Mercy Watson series, so we'll pack a few of those, along with several picture books like 10 Minutes Til Bedtime.

I'll try to check in a few times when we're away - let us know what you're enjoying for your summer reading!