Friday Follow-January 29, 2010

Well, it is time for Friday Follow!




Welcome to the Friday Follow celebration hosted by One 2 Try, Hearts Make Families and Midday Escapades! We invite you to join us every Friday to get more blog followers and to follow other interesting blogs. It is all about sharing and having fun.

Here is how you can join our celebration:
--Link up your blog name and URL using the MckLinky below.
Only need to add on one blog to be seen on all the blog hops.

--Follow the Friday Follow hostesses listed in the first 3 slots. We will follow you back.

--Follow as many blogs as you'd like.

--Comment on the blogs telling them you're from Friday Follow.

--Follow back when you get a new follower through Friday Follow.

--Have Fun!

On The Long Trail Home

by Elisabeth J. Stewart
Scholastic ISBN # 0-590-54324-5
written + copyrighted in 1994
106 pages
From the book cover:

Meli hasn't seen her older brother, Tahlikwa, since the day when the soldiers drove them away from their home. For months, now, in the long stockade and during the tiring journey, she has wondered whether Tahlikwa is alive. So when she sees him one morning, she doesn't hesitate.
Ignoring the soldiers and their guns, she runs toward her brother. Together they escape the forced march of the Cherokee people and head for the mountains. But Tahlikwa is badly wounded. He can hardly walk. With the soldiers hot on their trail, it is up to Meli to bring her and her brother safely home.

This book is about a real life girl. The author's great grandmother is Meli. She fictionalized the story, but it is based on real events.
This is about one girls escape from the Trail Of Tears, a truly horrific episode in American history. Many Cherokee were forced to leave their homes, and removed to Oklahoma.
Meli has watched her mother and little sister, Ayoli Usti, die. She doesn't know if her older brother, Tahlikwa, her younger brother, Awi Usti, or her father are even still alive. The only one of her family who is left with her is her Grandmother. So when she sees her older brother is in another wagon, what she does is courageous. She runs toward him.
I like this book, even though it brought me near to tears to think that America could do this to her own people. I am 1/4 Native American, though my family was from Upstate New York. I knew in an offhand way about the Trail Of Tears. I knew that it was a tragedy which should never have happened.
This story, however, brought it all home to me in a way that I did not expect/ Meli was a real person, and her family was real.
Of course, I can not tell you all that happens, because what fun would you have in reading it yourself, than?
This is, however, not a totally sad book. Some of the tears I was nearly moved to were happy ones.
I recommend this book to anyone who would like to read about strong girls. This book is at the reading level of about 9-12. Girls of that age would definitely be enthusiastic about this book.
Have you ever read a book about a true life event? One that brought home the reality that this really happened? That it is not just some dusty facts in a history book? If you have ever read anything like that, please let me know. I am always looking for my next good read.

Team Over of Team Under? Comment to win from Cottonelle.

If you go to Cottonelle Poll Here you can vote on whether you are an over the roll type of person or an under the roll type of person. I am definitely one for the over the roll team. I like to see my Toilet paper. Which are you?

By commenting about whether you are team over or team under here on my post, you will be entered to win 1 of 10 Cottonelle gift baskets which will be randomly chosen from among all the comments on January 29, 2010.

So come on and vote- which will be the winning team? Be sure and comment here.

I am entering a contest for a month's worth of Cottonelle toilet paper as a member of the Mom Bloggers Club. We were not compensated in any other way for this review.

Winner! of 250 Custom Greeting Cards from Uprinting!

The winner has been picked! And Annette D is the winner. I have sent an email to her, and she 72 hours to get in touch with me so I can send in her name and information to the sponsor. Way to go Annette D!
Results - Research Randomizer: "Research Randomizer Results
1 Set of 1 Non-unique Numbers Per Set
Range: From 1 to 43 -- Unsorted

Job Status:

Set #1:
13"

Annette D said...
I follow on twitter annedoggett


Thank you to everyone who entered this giveaway! I hope to see you again soon. By the way, if anyone knows how to make a screen shot, I would be forever in your debt.

Win- 250 Custom Greeting Cards from Uprinting!- ends 10/11

Uprinting is offering one of my readers 250 Custom Greeting Cards! You can check them out here- Custom Greeting Cards .

This is just the most awesome time to win your own personalized Greeting Cards, just in time for Christmas. That cute family picture you took- wouldn't it make the perfect Christmas Card?

Check out the different Greeting Cards you can print at Greeting Card Printing .

One great detail about this giveaway is that the Customized Greeting Cards are totally free! Uprinting is even paying for shipping. How's that for a nice company?

Now- as for how to enter:

1.) Leave a comment letting me know how you would use these. Do you have a favorite picture you would like to use? This is the Mandatory Entry. It must be completed before any extra credits will be accepted.

2.) Become a follower of my blog.

3.) Follow me on Twitter-(2 entries for that one)

4.) Tweet about this giveaway, leaving a comment with your tweet.

5.) Fave me on Technorati.

6.) Leave a comment on any of my posts, and let me know here.

7.) Blog about this giveaway linking back to my post and to Uprinting! (5 entries).

Make sure you leave a separate comment for each entry. This giveaway is open to US residents. On 10/11/2010, at 23:59 I will close the contest and run the randomizer to pick a winner. Please remember to either leave you email address in your comment or to have it visible in your profile. If you are the winner, I want to be able to get in touch with you. On 10/12/2010, I will also post the winner here. I will leave the winner 72 hours to get back in touch with me, so I can send the information on to the Sponsor, Uprinting.

If the winner does not get back in touch with me, I will need to draw a different winner. Good luck to everyone!

Bloodhound- By Tamora Pierce

This is what the book Jacket says:
Beka Cooper is no longer a puppy.
She's a Dog now-a full-fledged member of the Provost's Guard, which keeps the peace in Corus's streets. Beka's natural skills of observation and tenacity are augmented by her unusual magical talents, which allow her to gather information both from the pigeons and from the eddies of dirt and dust that swirl on street corners. But even her magic isn't very useful when unrest comes to Tortall's capital in the form of counterfeit coins, which turn up in shops all over the city. Merchants raise prices to cover their losses, and with winter coming on, hikes in food and fuel costs could spell disaster-most of all for the city's poor.
The Dog's discover that gamblers are bringing the counterfeits from Port Caynn-and that the Port Caynn Dogs don't seem to be doing anything about it. Beka and her mentor, Clary Goodwin, are chosen to go undercover in Port Caynn and find out what they can. And wherever Beka goes, so do some of her animals. Departing from Corus with her are the scent hound Achoo, who has been newly assigned to Beka, and the pigeon Slapper, who carries the voices of the dead.
In Port Caynn, Beka and Goodwin delve deep into the gambling world. There Beka meets a charming bank courier, who may be involved in the counterfeiting ring. Things come to a head just as Goodwin returns home to report to Corus. It won't be enough for Beka to be her usual "terrier" self. She'll have to learn to from Achoo to sniff out the criminals-to be a bloodhound.

I have been reading Tamora Pierce since the 1980's. I loved the Lady Knight series, than I went on to love the Wolf Speaker series. After that I read the Protector of the Small series. I loved them all, and still reread them from time to time. So a couple of years ago, when Terrier came out, I devoured it. I have read it more than one time, and was excited to read that a new one was to come out the following year.
So I anxiously waited for the next one, Bloodhound. And I waited, and waited. I kept looking every time I went into the bookstore. Finally I gave up looking. I figured she just lost interest in the book. Luckily, it is not so. Just this past week, I walked into the Mr. Paperbacks at the Airport Mall in Bangor, and Oh Boy, Oh Boy, there it was- sitting in the new hardcover section. I didn't even wait for it to come out in paperback. I snatched it up right than and there.
I read it that very night,and might I say, I was not disappointed. It was very well worth the wait.
Beka Cooper is back, as well as Clary Goodwin, Tuntstall, Pounce, and Slapper. Beka has a new animal friend, Achoo, whom you may remember from 'Terrier'. I loved this book, and can only hope that Tamora Pierce continues this series further on. Even if she doesn't, I will continue to be a big fan of her books.