A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck

A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck - 160 pages

Joey and Mary Alice are sent for one week each summer to stay with their Grandma Dowdel in a small southern Illinois town.  You would think that nothing would ever happen in such a small town, but there's the corpse that won't rest peacefully, the revenge on a some teenage pranksters, a ride in a airplane, and much more.  Each of their seven visits is an adventure.

 I listened to this on audio and really enjoyed it.  I'm not a huge historical fiction fan, but this one kept the action moving with humorous stories.  I thought the narration of the story was good.  One little quibble is that there were weird pauses in the narration that didn't always make sense. 

The Children of Green Knowe by L.M. Boston

The Children of Green Knowe by L.M. Boston - 183 pages

Tolly travels to spend the Christmas holidays with his great-grandmother at Green Knowe.  There he hears stories of long ago ancestors, eventually meeting their ghosts.

This audio annoyed me.  The narrator did a good job.  The problem was the book itself.  The character of Tolly seemed older when I was first listening and then seemed to get younger and younger as the story continued.  I actually had to look up his age and found out he was supposed to be 7 years old -- too old for some of his actions and too young for others.  It's also supposed to be a touching story of connecting with the ghosts of children from the past.  However, it almost seemed more to me that he was imagining and pretend playing that he met ghosts.  His grandmother seemed to be playing along with the ghosts with a "wink and a nod" the whole time.  The only reason I kept listening was that the next audio I wanted to listen to had not yet come up on hold for me yet.  If it had, I probably would have quit as soon as it had.

Murder of a Sweet Old Lady by Denise Swanson

Murder of a Sweet Old Lady by Denise Swanson - 257 pages
A Scumble River Mystery

Skye is shocked to visit her grandmother one day after school only to find her dead.  She is immediately convinced something was off with the death and convinces the police and local coroner to investigate.  Turns out various family members all had lots of reasons to kill.
I am finding these mysteries very readable.  They are quick and fun.  They also don't give away the murderer too early in the book.

MSCHMITT--- Road Work Ahead by Anastasia Suen 28

 MSCHMITT--- Road Work Ahead by Anastasia Suen 28

The kids are off to a visit grandma and as they drive along they encounter all kinds of different construction vehicles and when they finally get to grandma's they find her waiting with warm cookies!

Elemental by Antony John

Elemental by Antony John - 326 pages

Thom has been ostracized his entire life as the only person in the colony that does not have an element (a gift controlling a type of element - water, wind, etc).  Now he has been sent off to the hurricane shelter in the face of a terrible storm with the other children of the colony.  When they emerge they find all the adults taken by pirates.  Now the children must figure out how to survive and rescue their families.
I picked up this book as I've heard the author Antony John speak twice in the past month.  He made his books sound absolutely fascinating.  I'm glad I chose to read it.  This book is a strange mix of dystopian, fantasy, romance and adventure all mixed up with the mystery of Roanoke colony.  I'm definitely looking forward to reading the next two books in the series.