When we went to St. Augustine Florida we visited a fort called Castillo de San Marcos. The fort was built between 1672 and 1695 by the Spanish. Florida became part of the USA in 1821. The fort is now a place to visit and learn about. We got to see a cannon fired! Did you know that the fort is made of coquina. Coquina is a mixture of shells and sand that has hardened. The fort is a really cool place!

–From left, Ava, Leo, Lily, Vivienne, and Michael pose in front of St Augustine’s Historic Castillo de San Marcos. The kids were impressed by the Coquina shell battlements, Spanish built walls worn by the hands of centuries, open sea air turret cannon firing, and the remarkable ingenuity of a tidal surge self cleaning outhouse. (Photo credit, Adriana Powell)

When we go on trips or when we’re home I like to read! Here is a list the top 12 books I like. 10-13

1. The Sammy Keyes series by Wendelin Van Draanen
2. The Spy School series by Stuart Gibbs
3. 11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass
4. The Ascendance series by Jennifer A. Nielsen
5. The Explorer Academy series by Trudi Trueit
6. The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan
7. Mark of the Thief series by Jennifer A. Nielsen
8. The Great Greene Heist by Varian Johnson

 

Are you looking for a good book to read? Have you read Explorer Academy? It is a five book series. Explorer Academy is a book about a boy named Cruz who lost his Mom and is trying to keep his Mom’s formula out of the wrong hands. He is also invited to an academy where they travel all over the world on missions. This book has adventure, mystery and excitement! Explorer Academy is a great book series for boys and girls! I Love how there is always a puzzle to solve! I love this book and I hope you do too!

I like this book because the story tells a lot about friendship and kindness. This story takes place in 1944 right before World War II ends. Lily is the main character. Lily’s father goes overseas to fight in the war. Then Lily meets a boy named Albert a refugee from Hungry. They become friends. Albert’s Grandmother sends Albert on a ship headed for America. His Grandmother saves his life!

This story you won’t want to stop reading! I would tell you more, but there are a lot of twists in the story and I don’t want to give anything away!

Starting Your On Book Club

This year I joined a book club. Every month we read a book then meet and eat a dinner based on the book, we do a crafted and play a game. Why we eat dinner we have discussion and read questions about the book that the host has put tougher. So when we read the book Stella By Starlight we got to try out a typewrite, for dinner we ate hush puppies, kilt lettuce, sweet potatoes, pinto beans, cheesy grits, string beans, onions, biscuits and apple brown betty (which is a southern dessert). We also made bracelets. It was a lot of fun! Here is a list of the books I read for the book club.

1. The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
2. Merci Suárez Changes Gears by Meg Medina
3. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
4. The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street by Karina Yan Glaser
5. Pie by Sarah Weeks
6. Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper
7. Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
8. Bronze and Sunflower by Cao Wenxuan
9. Wonder by R.J. Palacio
10. Same Sun Here by Neela Vaswani and Silas House

Do you like to cook or bake? Here is a recipe for pancakes.

Mix together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and sugar. In a separate bowl mix milk, yogurt and egg. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Mix well, but don’t over mix.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle. Brown on both sides and serve.

Enjoy!

This year I discovered a new author! Jennifer A. Nielsen has wrote many books all of them really great. But my favorite book series of hers is The Ascendance series.

Civil war is coming to Carthya in The False Prince the first book in the Ascendance series. It’s about a boy, Sage. He has a life he never wanted. Sage lives in an orphanage run by an old lady and he has to steal food and coins to stay alive. One day, a nobleman, Bevin Conner, comes to the orphanage looking for Sage. Conner takes Sage and three other orphaned boys to his estate. Conner tells them that he has a plan to stop civil war from coming to Carthya. He wants to make one of the four boys into the long-lost prince of Carthya and bring the puppet prince to the throne. Of course that means the other boys, who are not picked, will be killed. But Sage has secrets that could change everything, if he’s not careful. And as more and more is uncovered, Sage has to find a way to stay alive and find out the truth.

Here’s a list of Jennifer A. Nielsens books

1. Ascendance Series (5 books)
2. The Traitor’s Game Series (3 books)
3. Mark of the Thief Series (3 books)
4. The Scourge
5. Words on Fire
6. Resistance
7. A Night Divided
8. Rescue
9. Lines of Courage (Coming in 2022)