Bark, George is a story of a dog whose mother is concerned because he making different animal noises instead of barking. His mother takes him to the vet who finds animals inside of him. Students could practice sequencing by placing the animals in the correct order of how they happened in the book or could do a character study on George the dog. This book is a level 14 on the DRA leveling system.

Charlotte's Web is a classic story that has many activities that can go along with it. One activity could be a character study of each character in the book or you could have students choose one character to do a character study on. This book is a level 4.4 on the accelerated reading leveling system.

Amazing Grace is a story about a girl that learns that she can be anything she wants to be, despite what other people may think. An activity that goes along with this book is for teachers to assign roles to their students and allow them to act out the story. Students could also create a character study about each character in the book. This book is a level 680L on the lexile leveling system.

The landlady had become so accustomed to my late habits that my place had not been laid nor my coffee prepared. With the unreasonable petulance of mankind I rang the bell and gave a curt intimation that I was ready.

This is amazing. Not only does Watson poke at himself in this very honest, and very aware, way, but there is so much that went right over my teen self. Like the fact that he was spending without care, being very lazy, slept a lot, and "suffered from nerves". He was PTSD'd to all hell. And without right out saying it, future him knows that he wasn't OK, and maybe also that the way Holmes induced his curiosity might have given him the jolt to snap out of the spiral-down.

There is a reason that this debut novel has been on hold for many, many months and why it continues to be difficult to get in a hurry. Gail Honeyman has managed to create a character so unique and delightful that I found myself instantly enamored of her. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is the story of a woman who the reader learns from the outset is completely aloof to the social mores of society and is pretty content to remain so...until she sees the man of her dreams. It seems fairly obvious to the reader that this 'relationship' is doomed to fail. (Like my romance with Brian Littrell when I was in middle school.) However, having this foreknowledge does not detract from the story because the love story is between the reader and Eleanor and Eleanor with herself. She is a fragile woman who has built up a rather thick wall between herself and the entire world...and she's had plenty of time to reinforce that wall. Her past is nothing if not murky and it doesn't get cleared up until almost the very end of the novel. (And it's a doozy, ya'll.) It's exceedingly difficult for me not to spill some essential facts while writing up this review because they're the things that make this a truly gripping piece of realistic fiction. Eleanor is a character that seems to live and breathe beyond the page. Her bucking of social 'norms' coupled with her frankly hilarious inner dialogue about what is and isn't 'polite' had me laughing out loud on several occasions and made me feel so connected to her. I truly rooted for her and became emotionally invested as if I was reading an autobiography or memoir instead of a work of fiction. (Gail, you've made it into my list of top 20 authors of all time. I'm excited to see what you come up with next!) 10/10 highly recommend

A/N: The author discusses child abuse, disfigurement, bullying (from all ages), and mental illness. If these are triggering to you in any way, shape, or form then you should steer clear. Everyone else, I think Gail handled these topics very well (having dealt with 2 of the 4 personally) and I see no reason why you should give this book a pass. Eleanor will grab you by the heartstrings and refuse to let go.

What I'm Currently Reading: The Outsider by Stephen King