BOOK REVIEW #4 A YEAR WITHOUT AUTUMN

A Year Without Autumn

By Liz Kessler

My Rating ★★★★★

A Year Without Autumn is written by the same author as North of Nowhere. Both books have a time travel theme but my mom and I think that North of Nowhere was a good story, but it left to many unanswered questions and was a bit too confusing. We think that A Year Without Autumn had a much better way of time traveling. I think you should read both books and see what you think. You can also see my review for North of Nowhere. (It's one post below this one.)

I loved this book. It's about a girl named Jenni and her best friend Autumn. They both go on vacation to Riverside Village with their family's. But when Jenni uses an old elevator to go see Autumn in her condo she finds out that it's not Autumn's condo any more. And when she finds Autumn she finds out that she's traveled one year into the future and a terrible accident has happened to Autumn's little brother Mikey. Jenni realizes she needs to change the future by somehow fixing the past. It was a great book and it had a unique twist at the end which made the time travel part an even better idea. 

                             ~SHAWNEE

BOOK REVIEW #3 NORTH OF NOWHERE

North of Nowhere
By Liz Kessler

My Rating ★★★★☆

Disclaimer: North of Nowhere was kind of hard to understand so it was kind of hard to write this review.

I liked it, I didn't give it 5 stars because it was a bit confusing at the end. It's about a girl named Mia whose Grandfather has vanished and nobody in Porthaven knows why. When Mia and her Mother go there to help her grandmother out, Mia discovers that the sleepy seaside village hides a mystery. And Mia's new friend Dee seems so far out of reach when her letters claim she is stuck at home due to violent storms when all Mia sees are sunny skies. Can Mia figure things out and find her Grandfather before time and the tide forever wash away his future...... and hers? Well you'll have to read it to find out.

Post Scriptum; This author wrote another book that I liked better. It's called A Year Without Autumn and I did a review of this one too. It also has a time travel theme but I think it made more sense.

 ~SHAWNEE

ART JOURNAL PAGE #2 PARIS IS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA (and my room)

My 2nd art journal page is called Paris is Always a Good Idea. I made it on 8-26-16 and I got the idea from YouTube:

 These are the supplies I used:

First I stuck down Tim Holtz tissue paper with gel medium. Next I painted the pages orange and I used a darker gelato called Iced Coffee around the edges of the page. Then I printed an Eiffel Tower and a passport, a ticket, and a Paris stamp off the computer. Then I used gel medium and stuck them on the page. Next I used Tim Holtz wildflower stencil and some black paint on the bottom of the pages. Then I used Whipped Spackle and Tim Holtz Bubble stencil here and there on the page. Then I stamped the quote ''Paris is Always a Good Idea''.  Last, on the top right page I wrote Travel, Capture, and Discover. 
Take a closer look (you can click the pictures to see the dimension better):

I really like Paris things.  My room is Paris themed.  My mom got a really nice Paris bedding set at Walmart.com that I love.  
This is what it looks like:

(the curtain is actually a fabric shower curtain)

I hope you like my art journal page......I have more to show you soon!

~ SHAWNEE

BOOK REVIEW #2 THE WILD ROBOT

The Wild Robot
By Peter Brown

My Rating: ★★★★★ 

I really liked this book. It's about a robot names Roz (her real name is Rozzum Unit 7134). She washed up an island and the animals don't like her. But after awhile they become friends with her. This took awhile......she observed them, learned their language, and tried to help them.

Roz adopts a gosling that she names Bright Bill. 

A beaver named Mr. Beaver builds Roz and Bright Bill a home they call The Nest. When winter comes, and Bright Bill heads south with the other geese, Roz turns herself off. When she wakes up it's the middle of winter and she sees that a lot of animals are struggling, so she builds lodges around the island and shows them how to make fire. 

Finally spring comes and if you want to know what happens next (there's a lot of things that happen), then I guess you'll have to read the book. I think boys and girls, maybe ages 8 - 13, will like this book.  THE END.

~ SHAWNEE

MY FAIRY I KNITTED

One day (after about 6 months of needle knitting) me and my mom went to a Knitting Extravaganza.  It was all day long and we had to listen to speakers talk about how wool is made and other stuff. But then we got to go shopping and the very first booth we went to we saw a knitted fairy sitting on the table. It was so cooool!! We picked it up and examined it carefully. We saw that there were only TWO books on how to make these knitted fairy's, and one lady already took one of the books but we got the last one!! It's called Knitted Fairies to Cherish and Charm by Fiona McDonald.  It has 10 knitted fairies in it.
(here it is):

When we got home I got started right away 
but it took me 3 tries because I didn't have the right size knitting needles.  I didn't think it mattered, but apparently it did because the first time it turned out too small and the second time it turned out too big. I was determined to not give up, and the third time it turned out perfect!! Once I finally got it right it took me two weeks to make the fairy.
Here is the first two tries and the finished fairy (this fairy is called The Rainbow Dream Fairy):

The hardest part was probably the needle sculpting of the face.  I think it turned out pretty good.  If you like knitting, I think you'll like this book.  It takes a lot of time to make, but it's so awesome when you're done.  I hope to make more of the fairies when I have time.  I liked the book so much that we got several other books by Fiona McDonald.  One of them is Babes in the Wool:

  Instead of fairies they are girls, and they are a lot bigger.  The body, without the legs, is almost the same height of the entire fairy.  I've started knitting the girl named Willow.  It's taking me A LOT of time.  I'll do another blog post about her once I'm finished.  

          ~SHAWNEE

BOOK REVIEW #1 THE GREEN EMBER

The Green Ember

by S.D. Smith

My Rating: ★★★★★

(5 out of 5 stars.......that's pretty good!)

I love to read.

I have a lot of books and I do a lot of reading. I read books for fun and for the BookShark Reading with History program I am doing for school (I do school at home through a homebased public school program). By the way, most of the BookShark books are really good too (not necessarily aaall of them though).

Ok, now getting back to The Green Ember,

I read The Green Ember for fun (not for history). 

WARNING:

THIS IS THE GREATEST BOOK EVER!!!!!!!

TAKE EXTREME CAUTION WHEN READING THIS BOOK, IF YOU HAVE HEART PROBLEMS......YOU MAY GO INTO CARDIAC ARREST BY THE SHEER AWESOMENESS OF THIS BOOK.

Welllllll that might be a little overly dramatic, buut

this book IS action packed, full of adventure, and you never know what's going to happen next!!

I loved it! It's about two rabbits named Picket and Heather and they are brother and sister.

Their family gets taken by wolves but they get saved by their uncle Wilfred and Cousin Smalls.

Then they get sent down the river to Cloud Mountain where they learn things about their family and king Jupiter. They also meet their new friend Emma. 

One of my favorite quotes from this book is "My place beside you. My blood for yours. 

Till the Green Ember rises, or the end of the world."

And what is the Green Ember you ask? Well you're gonna have to read it to find out!

(p.s. a LOT more stuff happens!!)

This book is the best book I have ever read (my mom said "so far" but I said, "No, nothing is ever going to top this book"). It's is my most prized possession (aside from my gigantic bear, my sewing machine, and my keyboard).

I recommend this book for people 10 to 100 (or for people who love great books).

This isn't just a book for kids (FYI there is a little violence, such as some sword fighting and some mean wolves).

 Even adults have enjoyed this book. The lady in charge of the school program I'm in recommended it to me, and she's in her 40's and she really liked it and...... I think you would too. (p.s. There are two more books in the Green Ember series that I can't wait to read!).

     ~SHAWNEE

HOW I LEARNED TO KNIT

Remember theeeeeeese......
My mom calls it every mothers nightmare!!

Remember when the Rainbow Loom was popular?

It's that loom that you put little colored rubber bands on and you make bracelets. What does this have to do with how I learned to knit you ask?

Well I'll tell you. Sit back and relax with your hot chocolate because it's time for a story!!!!

Once upon a time my mom got me a Rainbow Loom, a bunch of little rubber bands to go with it, and a case to put it all in.

(Here it is):

I would make bracelets every day.  I must of made about a 100. One time I even made a unicorn!! 

And then one day when I was looking for new bracelet ideas on my favorite website loomlove.com I stumbled upon a video about how to knit baby hats on a round loom. I had never heard of or seen a round loom before and I thought it looked really fun. So my mom did some research and liked it, so she bought me a round loom set and some yarn at Michaels.

I couldn't wait for the package to arrive.

And then one day it finally came!!! And I was sooooooo exited and I opened the box and got to work on my first hat.

(Here is my hat and looms):

So after a few months of knitting on my round loom my mom signed me up for a community ed class called Beginning Knitting.  It was with needles!!!

I didn't want to go. Why do I need to learn how to needle knit? Needle knitting looks hard. I'm not gonna like it. All these things I said to myself, but it didn't change the fact that I had to go (my mom wouldn't take no for an answer!).

And I'm glad I did go!!!!

When we got there I noticed I was the only kid there. It was just me, my mom (my mom wasn't learning how to knit because she had a broken arm), three other ladies and my knitting teacher.

We had to knit a scarf.  My teacher Amy taught me how to cast on, knit, and purl (on night 1)

and I started needle knitting my first scarf!

It was surprisingly easy and a lot of fun!!

After we went home and Amy gave us all a pattern (or a recipe as my mom calls it) on how to knit a beginners scarf.  I remember that it took me many hours that week to knit that scarf.  I would knit and knit and knit and then measure it, and it never seemed to grow!  But I didn't give up.  I followed the pattern and by the time we had to go to the next class (about a week later) I had already finished knitting the scarf (it was still on the needles). All I had to still learn was how to cast off and add fringe. I had even added little flowers here and there with my flower loom (mostly to cover up a lot of drop stitches lol).  By the end of the second class I had completely finished the first thing I had ever needle knitted.

(here is the scarf I knitted and the pattern):

Most kids learn how to knit by their grandmas or other family members, but nobody in my family knew how to knit (they still don't).  All I had was two lessons with Amy who taught me the basics and youtube.  Other than that, I was self taught.

Ture story.
THE END.

(That was a pretty good story huh?)

~SHAWNEE