#8 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne
Three men are the sole survivors of a mission to find out what sea monster is sinking ships around the globe. Instead of a monster, they find the world's most advanced submarine and its captain, a man who calls himself "Nemo" (Latin for "No One"). They become his unwilling crew for about a year, all the while alternatively learning about the marine world in ways they never could have imagined and plotting their escape.
Okay, so this was very, very abridged (Illustrated Classics edition) that we read to the girls (in preparation for a Rick Riordan book that ties into it). Still, it made for a fun and exciting read, and the girls were totally into it.
#9 Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
A girl finds a stray dog in the new town she's just moved to. The dog helps her make friends.
I want to start off by saying that I love dogs. I really do. But this book was just flat out boring. And the ending was horrible - basically just ended in the middle of a scene. It really could have used an epilogue giving us an overview of how things went on from the summer described in the book. My kids loved it and demanded that I read this one. And then they wanted to watch the movie, which was an embarrassment to filmmaking. I've seen more thrilling/less boring Hallmark movies.
