Dear Mr. Henshaw

Not my favorite book group book, but it was set in California and I found myself telling the kids about this or that detail from my life that the book would bring to memory.  Divorce, low income, family disappointments, I guess it's good for kids to understand these parts of life, just not my cup of tea. But it does encourage them to write, although I don't think I've seen much of an improvement in that in our household.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

This was a sweet book. It took me a while to get into it, but sticking it out was worth it. I loved that it was about relationships, both romantic and family. It made me have an interest into studying some more about WWII from the perspective of the Japanese Americans. Also, I craved Chinese/Japanese food the whole time while I was reading it. Funny side note.