Family Ties by Gary Paulsen

Family Ties is one of five books in this series written by my favorite author, Gary Paulsen.  The other books in this series written by Gary Paulsen were:  Vote, Crush, Flat Broke, and Liar, Liar.  All five books have Kevin Spencer as the main character and he is about middle school age.  He lives in a family of five - a mom, a dad, a brother, and a sister.  He is the youngest of the three children and plays the part of the glue that keeps the family together.  Each book is about a specific family/friend adventure.  Keven is hopelessly in love with a girl by the name of Tina.

In Gary Paulsen's book Family Ties, Kevin has been struck with the idea of reconnecting his dad with his brother Will.  Will and dad had a falling out in the past and has not been restored.  Kevin emails his Uncle Will and he agrees to come over to the house.  Will brings his new wife and the adventure begins.  Kevin recommends that his Uncle and new Aunt get remarried and Kevin begins the planning.  It turns out that their Aunt who lives above the garage has considered getting married also.  Kevin goes into high gear to organize the two weddings.  There are new characters introduced into the Spencer family and bring about some interesting, and funny, dynamics.  In the end, Uncle Will and his wife have to take their dog to the veterinarian because it was going to have puppies.  Kevin's Aunt who lives above the garage gets married and the Spencer family is there as the witness.

MY TWO CENTS WORTH:
If you like Gary Paulsen and his many youthful books you will enjoy this book.  In fact, I would recommend the series because the build upon one another.  Each book brings you into the life of Kevin and his desire to solve family problems.  You are left chuckling and laughing out loud because of some of the situations Kevin gets himself in.  I have read all five of the books in the series and enjoyed each one.

AR Quiz: 90%

Books I Hope to Read in January/February of 2018

I typically have two to four books in the hopper (in the process of reading). These four books always fall in one of the following five categories: children's literature, personal (self-help type books), religious, professional development, and other. Although this journey can be a bit cumbersome, I enjoy reading and the adventure that follows.  It is my hope that I can keep this going like I did year's back.  My life has begun to settle and my doctorate program has concluded.  Now I can read for fun, enjoyment, and self-fulfillment.  The reason I want to blog the books I read is so that I hold myself accountable as well as create a log of the books that I have read.  Then I can go back to the log entries and job my memory about the book I once read.

January/February books are:

*  Six Kids and a Stuffed Cat by Gary Paulsen
*  Family Ties by Gary Paulsen
*  Field Trip by Gary Paulsen
*  Wonder by R. J. Palacio
*  More Than a Bucket List by Toni Birdsong
*  What if God Wrote Your Bucket List? by Jay Payleitner
*  Magic Tree House - Christmas in Camelot by Mary Pope Osborne
*  Magic Tree House - China:  Land of the Emperor's Great Wall by Mary Pope Osborne

*  The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
*  The End by Mark Hitchcock

All of these books were either recommended by a friend, picked because I have a goal of reading the whole series, goal of reading every book by a specific author, selected due to an Amazon search, mentioned in a book I am currently reading, or a specific genre I am currently interested in.

Finally Back - January 2018

I have taken a break from writing my blog for a variety of reasons:  life got busy,  life got complicated, life became interesting, and life became worth while.  Since 2009, I have given it my best shot at running an elementary school, I became divorced, I was given a new school to run, I remarried an amazing woman, my daughter still talks to me, I get to see my daughter and her family on a regular basis, my son has abandoned me, I have earned my doctorate degree, I have renewed my relationship  with the almighty God, and I am giving it my best in life as a husband, father, step-father, son, dad, and friend.  The books I chose to read have a direct connection to my personal and professional life.  As I write in this blog about the book I will always give a brief summary and then my two-cents.  I need to sit down and write a list of books I want to read over the next two  months.  These books should be personal, professional, spiritual, educational, and children's literacy.  Here's to the  new journey.  I look forward to it.