Melinda Clark's Picks

I am the Manager of Viewpoint Books and have been with the store for 21 years.  I love to read science fiction, fantasy, and mystery books.  I also enjoy reading young adult and middle reader books so that I can help parents and kids find books they'll love to read.  I believe that anyone can become a person that enjoys books as soon as that find the right book that captures their imagination.

By Taste of Home Magazine
$17.95
ISBN-13: 9780898217278
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Reader's Digest Association, 09/01/2009

Tast of Home: Cookies Just in time for your christmas baking fun.  There are lots and of new and old recipes and everyone has beautiful full color picture!


By Gooseberry Patch
$29.95
ISBN-13: 9780848733094
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Oxmoor House, 09/01/2009

Goose Berry Patch: All Through the Seasons, Recipes and Crafts is filled with fun ideas and recipes to make Christmas special.


Leviathan (Hardcover)

By Scott Westerfeld, Keith Thompson
$19.99
ISBN-13: 9781416971733
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Simon Pulse, 10/01/2009

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld is a very interesting alternate history book for Young Adult readers.  It's an action packed look at WWI.  In this alternate history Darwin also discover DNA and how to manipulatet the strands to make new creatures designed for specific functions.  This pits Darwinists (people that use darwins creatures)against the Clankers (people that use mechanized machines) Some Historical characters and events are maintained.  Like all good Science Fiction you look at many of todays moral questions. 


Catching Fire (Hardcover)

By Suzanne Collins
$17.99
ISBN-13: 9780439023498
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Scholastic Press, 09/01/2009

Catching Fire by the Suzanne Collins is the sequel to Hunger Games.  Wow!  My family loved this book!  We had arguments over who would get to read it first.  We of course loved Hunger Games and were looking forward to the release of this book.  We were not disappointed.  It is action packed from beginning to end with plenty of moral question to keep you thinking.  Read it as a family and get ready for some great discussions.


The Hunger Games (Hardcover)

By Suzanne Collins
$17.99
ISBN-13: 9780439023481
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Scholastic Press, 10/01/2008

My whole family loved this book intended for young adults.  It's a hard book to describe because it is an action adventure, science fiction, suspense, philosophy, romance, and coming of age story ...all at once.  The book is being made into a movie and I can't wait.  Catching Fire is the sequel that is due out in Sept.


Pingo (Hardcover)

By Brandon Mull, Brandon Dorman
$17.95
ISBN-13: 9781606411094
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Shadow Mountain, 08/01/2009

Pingo by Brandon Mull is an adorable gift book for kids of all ages.  Parents and grandparents will love reading this book to kids.  It's a book for the kid in all of us.  I think people will love giving this book at retirement parties! 


Twilight (Paperback)

By Stephenie Meyer
$10.99
ISBN-13: 9780316015844
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 09/01/2006

OK Ladies! Suspend your skepticism of vampire books and romance books long enough to try Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.  The series transcends the usual clichés.  Read the first and you’ll be back for the rest.


Can You Keep a Secret? (Mass Market Paperback)

By Sophie Kinsella
$7.99
ISBN-13: 9780440241904
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Dell, 12/01/2005

This is one of my favorite fun, light, beach read type of book.  It is laugh out loud funny.


Moloka'i (Paperback)

By Alan Brennert
$13.95
ISBN-13: 9780312304355
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: St. Martin's Griffin, 10/01/2004

Our book group read Moloka'i. It is a historical fiction about the leper colony on Moloka'i island.  It is a fascinating look at there lives.  They only get snippets of the changes in history because they were so isolated. Even more amazing is that while the specifics are fiction the place was real with similar people that had to live here.


The Book Thief (Paperback)

By Markus Zusak
$11.99
ISBN-13: 9780375842207
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 09/01/2007

The Book Thief is a completely unique story.  "Death" is the narrator of this spellbinding tale that takes place in Nazi Germany.  It is a gut wrenching account of a girl who is a foster child with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge.  It is an unforgettable story about the ability of words to feed the soul, or as in the case of Hitler, to wound the world.  Don't be turned off with Death as a narrator, you will come to find death gentle and even kind at times.


Uglies (Paperback)

By Scott Westerfeld, Rodrigo Corral
$8.99
ISBN-13: 9780689865381
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Simon Pulse, 03/01/2005

The Uglies series is a bit like 1984 meets Brave New World but for today's youth.  I consider this some of the best science fiction I've read in a long while.  


By Maggie O'Farrell
$14.00
ISBN-13: 9780156033671
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Mariner Books, 06/01/2008

The author takes a moving look at what makes people "normal" or not.  How normal is different from century to century and location.  The story also looks at women's rights over the years and how in times gone by people could be committed for little or no reason.  The characters are compelling and you will love them and hate them, but mostly you will care for them all.


By Karen Kingsbury
$14.99
ISBN-13: 9781414300559
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Tyndale House Publishers, 08/01/2004

This is a beautiful kid's book to share with your family.  It celebrates all those last things they do like the last time they crawl in bed with you; if you'd known you would have cherished it more.  I slid it into my son's drawer in his dorm room.  Get the kleenex ready to read this one.