Studyplans

Lara lives in Czarist Russia and the story mainly takes place in 1914.  Lara is the kennel stewards daughter on Count Vorontsov's estate.  She helps her father breed and train borzoi dogs worthy of the czar.  Lara also has visions of what will take place in the future regarding the dogs. When a litter of pups is born, Lara begs her father to let her save the runt of the litter's life.  She takes care of Zar and he grows up strong. All is going according to her plan until her brother is born. Although she loves the baby, since he is a boy he will become the next in line to be kennel steward. With the help of her friend Alexander, a royal, she saves her father's life and earns his respect.  He also tells her the kennel stewards' secret.  This book keeps the readers' interest and is a quick book to read.  It would be a book that would add to a student's study of Czarist Russia.

Jax Opus is a twelve-year-old boy who lives in New York City and has an exceptional ability to hypnotize people. This ability leads him to save his parents from whom he inherited his power, his best friend Tommy, New York State, and ultimately the United States of America.  Jax is recruited to go The Sentia Institute where he meets Dr. Elias Mako who is the founder and director of the institute.  Jax learns a great deal about controlling his powers from Dr. Mako and meets others of his age at the institute as well. At first, Jax thinks that Dr. Mako is working for good but, with the help of Axel Braintree and his friends, Jax discovers that Dr. Mako has evil intentions.  This book is a quick read and the ending gets the reader ready for the next book in the series.  

This book is one of the Her Majesty Investigates series.  It begins with a map of the area around Sandringham House and would be a good choice of a book to read when traveling in Great Britain.  This murder mystery fictional book features the Queen of England and other royals but it told from the housemaid Jane Bee's point of view.  It explains a little of the history of Great Britain although its main purpose is to entertain.