EXILES by Cary Groner

California cardiologist Peter Scanlon takes his teenaged daughter with him when he accepts a position at a clinic in Nepal.  At first horrified by the local conditions, they eventually begin to adapt.  When Peter is sent to a remote clinic near the Chinese border, they become caught up in civil war.  A fast-paced story that combines an exotic setting, family drama, and adventure.

028.9 Ozma, Alice: THE READING PROMISE

 

Here is evidence of the value of reading to a child:  the author, at age nine, and her father agreed that he would read aloud to her for 100 nights.  What they came to call “The Streak” eventually ended only when Alice moved into her college dormitory.  A touching, often funny, story about the power of literature and family love.  

THE INVERTED FOREST by John Dalton

 

Camp counselors expecting to work with children are surprised when the first campers are developmentally disabled adults.  One counselor is called upon to prevent a crime, with shocking results that extend into the future.  A character-driven novel, beautifully written.

BIO WHITE: Sims, Michael: THE STORY OF CHARLOTTE’S WEB: E.B. White’s Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic

 

Born in 1899, the introspective White was more comfortable with animals than with people.  When he and his wife bought a farm in Maine, he became interested in orb spiders, and a classic was born.  A wonderful read  for all who love Charlotte, Wilbur, and Zuckerman’s barn.

BIG WHEAT by Richard Thompson

The subtitle of this mystery is “A Tale of Bindlestiffs and Blood”.  A young man leaves home in post-World War I North Dakota, gets mixed up in a murder, and is soon being chased by both criminals and lawmen.  The mystery is fine, but the characters, the descriptions of the lonely wheatfields, and the tension between old and new (the threshing machine is modernizing the harvest) add depth to the story.