Rhonda over at Whatever! Congratulations Rhonda! I’ve emailed you to let you know you are the winner and to get your address!

The Mom Blogs tipped me off to this cool place called Wuzzles and Puzzles, that my kids are going to enjoy! Go check it out!

Synopsis:

Snake and Lizard find out there is more to friendship than deciding whether to eat raw eggs or bugs for lunch. And when “LIZARD AND SNAKE–HELPER AND HELPER” go into business, they learn even more about friendship.

Caroline and I just finished reading this book tonight. We took turns reading to each other and we both really enjoyed it. It’s a short bookk at 62 pages and a relatively easy read for a nine year old.

The relationship between snake and lizard is very entertaining. Our favorite chapter was “Money.” In this chapter, Snake finds a dime in the dessert. Shortly after, Snake and Lizard decide to go into business together. They decide to set up a cactus juice stand and a corn cake stand. When no one comes to buy their goodies, they decide to buy from each other using the dime. Snake uses the dime to buy some cactus juice from Lizard. Not long after this, Lizard decides he’s hungry and uses the dime to buy some corn cakes from snake. The pair continue to “buy” from each other until all of their juice and cakes are gone. In the end, the only money they have to show for their work is the same dime they started with. Very funny!

We really enjoyed the book and would love to pass it along. If you’d like a chance to win our copy, leave a comment and I’ll draw a winner on January 30.

My oldest daughter and I will be participating in this challenge. She has read a couple of the books on the list so she will replace those with choices from our alternates list. This will be a great way to spark book discussion and I’m looking forward to the challenge.

1. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
2. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
3. The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis
4. The Ocean of Truth: The Story of Sir Isaac Newton by Joyce McPherson
5. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
6. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeliene L’Engle
7. Valiant for Truth: The Story of John Bunyan by Anne Arnott
8. The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom
9. Prison Letters by Corrie ten Boom
10. Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson (*Dd completed 1-16-08)
11. Maximum Ride: School’s Out Forever by James Patterson (Dd completed 1-12-08)
12. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

Alternates:

• The Diary of Anne Frank
• The Hobbitt by J.R.R. Tolkien (Dd completed 1-18-08)
• Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis

This challenge is being hosted by Thoughts of Joy.

I thought the Young Readers Challenge would be great to tackle with my 9 year old daughter. She reads well but doesn’t view reading as “fun”. I hope that will change as she matures and I hope doing this challenge with her will help her along in that area. Here are the list of titles we will read together:

1. Sarah Plain and Tall *Completed 2-1-08*
2. Elsie Dinsmore
3. Elsie’s Holidays at Roselands
4. Bridge to Terabithia
5. Charlotte’s Web
6. The Incredible Journey
7. Missing May
8. The Door in the Wall
9. Snake and Lizard *Completed 1-21-08*
10. Redwall
11. Farmer Boy
12. Unicorns of Balinor

Alternates:

• The Scripture Sleuth 2
• The Case of the Ticklish Tooth
• A Year Down Yonder
• Morning Girl
• Misty of Chincoteague
• Mr. Ape