The Fifth Avenue Story Society

The Fifth Avenue Story Society by Rachel Hauck is a decent summer read.  Set in New York City, the story has five prominent characters-Lexa, Jett, Chuck, Ed, and Coral.  Each receives an invitation to the story society at a small library, though no one knows for sure where the invitations came from.  The characters end up meeting each week and become important to one another.

I liked the book because it was not predictable.  There were enough surprises to make me keep reading, and it didn't seem like the standard formula for a love story.  The characters were very human and likable, too.  It's a good book to read for a book club.  

Searching for Minnesota's Native Wildflowers

Searching for Minnesota's Native Wildflowers is written by Phyllis Root with photography by Kelly Povo.  I know some of Root's books for children, so when I saw this book by her about Minnesota's wildflowers, I checked it out from the library.

This book has the information you need if you are going to go looking for native wildflowers in Minnesota or if you want to be able to identify the ones that you see.  I now know what a rough blazing star looks like thanks to the great photos in the book.  (There is a field of them outside of town).

The main part of the book is organized by habitat and season, while the end has a color guide to wildflowers if you want to identify a certain flower.

I recommend anyone living in Minnesota take a look at this book...you could learn more about different flowers here, and you may enjoy learning about different places worth visiting.  It is a great book  for science teachers, a nature center's resource library or anyone who appreciates nature.