Heading into Summer

Summer vacation is finally here and I am so excited to be able to have time to read more amazing books!  I did a lot of reading this week because I came home so exhausted from packing up my classroom every day that I didn't really feel like doing anything else.

    I will start with my reviews of a couple graphic novels I read.  These books are quick to read and will be great additions to my class library.  I witnessed the power of the graphic novel this year when the only time I had no trouble at silent reading was when I had a new GN to give one of the boys in my class.  I will be pushing this genre next year and am really excited about the idea of helping students see the inferences they have to make when reading these books.

The first GN to talk about is Nightschool: The Weirn Books Vol. 1 by Svetlana Chmakova.  This graphic novel was reminiscent of Manga for me.  I don't think it is classified as such but there were many Manga like faces drawn that conveyed certain emotions of the characters.  This is a book about vampires, witches, and other supernatural forces.  There is a school that serves as the Nightschool campus and the woman that is the director of this school is a new employee there.  There seems to be all sorts of evil and danger lurking about which I am sure the reader finds out more about in the next book.  This is an intriguing first book in a series and I will be interested in finding out more about the story in subsequent books.  I would recommend it to students that are more into fantasy because I don't see it necessarily appealing to all audiences.

The second GN that I read this week was Sidekicks by Dan Santat. This is a fun story about a superhero who is searching for a new Sidekick.  In the past he has used his pets as sidekicks but this time he wants to find someone else because he does not want to put his pets in danger.  The pets have something to say about this and go out to train so that they can audition for the part.  Meanwhile, there is a new superhero on the scene and mayhem is about to break out.  I love superhero stories and this one was a fun one.  I would recommend this for kids from 4th grade-adult.

On to the other books for this week.  The only strictly young adult book I read this week was Fallen by Lauren Kate.  I have had this book in my to read pile for a couple months since I found it at HPB one day.  I enjoyed this book, but I felt that the action was dragged out.  It might just be because I have read so many of these paranormal romance books, but I felt a little tired of the whole "does he like me or not?" back and forth that was going on.  I did think the setting of a boarding school for court-ordered youth was an interesting twist.  This book reminded me of Hush, Hush because of the rough treatment of the main character by her love interest and Evermore because of the story of generations of the same doomed love story.  If I had read this book first maybe I would have liked it more, but I couldn't muster the same enthusiasm for this one as I have for others in the past.  I am going to read the other books in this series because I am intrigued and I do like the characters.  I would recommend this book to everyone who enjoyed the other paranormal romance books.  I don't think anyone will be disappointed by this one.

The other three books I am reviewing here were books I read because of the blogs I have started following thanks to Twitter and Teachers Write.  I am participating in an online writing camp this summer and I have been very inspired by book recommendations and writing that is occurring there.

The first book is one I looked up because the author is one of the people who founded our writing camp, which actually has over 1,000 participants at this point.  Gae Polisner is very active in commenting on Facebook and providing feedback to everyone who posts.  I really enjoy reading her comments and answers to questions.  I requested her book The Pull of Gravity from my library and devoured it almost in one sitting.  Her characters jump off the page and come to life in this story.  When Nick's neighbor and best friend the Scoot asks him to take a book back to his father, he finds himself compelled to comply with the request.  It doesn't help that his new friend Jaycee seems to be plotting along with the Scoot to get Nick to help out.  Scooter has a very rare condition and is dying and this is a request that Nick cannot refuse.  Nick and Jaycee end up on an adventure to remember at a time in his life in which his family seems to be crumbling before his eyes.  I very much enjoyed this story.  I found myself making connections to the book Freak the Mighty.  Both Scooter and Freak had a condition that seemed to be similar, if not the same condition.  I enjoyed the references to Of Mice and Men throughout the book and now find myself inspired to read this classic and a little embarrassed that I haven't read it yet.  I would highly recommend this book to all students and I will be seeking out a copy to add to my class library this year.

Since this post is getting extremely long, I will reserve my reviews of the following books for the next post.  These are the other books that I would highly recommend reading and please come back tomorrow for their reviews.

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

Wonder by RJ Palacio

It's Monday! What are you Reading?

     Last week I picked up the book El Asedio by Arturo Perez-Reverte and made a whole-hearted attempt to get into the book.  My mind was elsewhere and the dense Spanish filled with technical terms just wasn't sinking in.  I decided to abandon that book for now and try again when I have less other business to attend to.  I did read Eona last week.  That was a great book and series that I will recommend to my 8th graders next year.  I also read This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen which went much faster for me than I thought it would.  This weekend I read If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period by Gennifer Choldenko.  I have read Al Capone Does my Shirts multiple times...the last time as a read aloud that my class really enjoyed.  I really like Choldenko's style.  She is able to write about things that are really difficult things for any kid to handle and she does it with humor.  I like the really short chapters in this book and I can definitely see using it as a read aloud.  I also read The Robe of Skulls by Vivian French.    It was a cute story and would make a quick read for a student who enjoyed Tim Burton's movies, but I am not a huge fan.  Finally, I read two graphic novels that I have for my class library.  Bad Island is a weird story but I enjoyed it and Nightschool was also entertaining.  I am sure I will be able to find just the right students to recommend these books to next year.

    This week I have not completely decided what's on deck.  I have a bunch of books on hold at the library ready to pick up so I am sure my reading will include those books.  I am currently reading Fallen by Lauren Kate and The Story of Humankind since I decided to do the Newbery challenge.  I also might pick up Cutting for Stone which has been on my to read shelf since last summer.  Thursday is the first day of my #bookaday challenge and I can't wait to be done for the school year.

Summer...Here I come!

      I am so excited to be wrapping up this school year.  I have found solace in my reading throughout this year and I cannot wait to start my #bookaday challenge later this week.  Having finished my report cards last week, and having little to do for planning because of all the 8th grade graduation details, I found myself with more time to read than I thought I would have.  There are quite a few titles to review this week.

    The first book I finished was Eona by Alison Goodman.  This book is a sequel to the book Eon in which the reader is introduced to a world in which there are 12 dragons of power and each year an apprentice is chosen for the ascendant dragon.  In the first book it comes out that Eon was actually a girl posing as a boy and she has been chosen by the female mirror dragon to be a dragoneye (dragon warrior).  Since this dragon had been missing for a long time there was not a dragoneye in place already so Eona did not become an apprentice, but was given the status of dragoneye right away.  At the end of the first book there has been great devastation and Eona has escaped.
     I was excited to read this sequel but unsure what to expect since a colleague told me she liked the first book better.  I have to say that I disagree about this.  I really enjoyed this book and felt that there was much more internal conflict to this plot. The second book picks up the story right where the first one left off.  Eona is traveling with members of the resistance and they are hoping to rendezvous with other resistance fighters and find the prince who is rumored to be alive.   Along the way, Eona is trying to find out more about her ancestors and the book that connects her to her dragon in some mysterious way.  Since she is the only dragoneye warrior that they have, the resistance is relying on her powers, but she is having a hard time because she has not been trained to use the power.  Enter a love triangle and we have a book that is intriguing and surprising right up until the very last page.  I could not figure out how the numerous conflicts in this book would be resolved and I had doubts that the author would be able to tie up the story in such a way that it would not be outrageous.  I was wrong to doubt her.  I loved the way this book ended.  I would definitely recommend this book as a great example of a strong female character.

     Since I have been more active on Twitter, I have been quite entertained by Sarah Dessen's tweets that seem to narrate her daily life.  I had read one of her books a while ago and was not that impressed and frankly didn't see what people liked about her books.  However, not one to judge to harshly by one example, I decided to pick up This Lullaby from my to read shelf and give her another shot to impress me.  It worked!  I really enjoyed this story and whipped through it.  Remy is such a believable 18 year old.  Remy has just graduated high school and is starting the summer before college.  She has recently reformed her bad girl ways and is looking to have a fun summer before moving across the country in the fall.  Her mother is getting married for the fourth time and Remy has become a cynic when it comes to love.  This book follows Remy and her friends through their summer full of romance and big news.  I understand now why so many people enjoy Sarah Dessen's books and am looking forward to reading more from her.  On a side note, it was fun to read about Remy's mother who is a writer and the weird writing habits that she has.  I wonder if Dessen has any of those same habits.  I would recommend this book to anybody who enjoys a good love story.  

    

     I have made it a point to read more graphic novels and to acquire more for my class library.  This is one that I got because one of my 8th graders wanted to do his author study about this author.  He had enjoyed Ghostopolis so much that he begged to be able to do the author study about Doug TenNapel so I went out and found this other graphic novel by him.  Bad Island is a fun story about a family vacation that becomes disastrous when the family boat crashes on a mysterious island.  There are weird plants and creatures on the island and the family has to work together to solve the mystery so that they can find their way off the island.  I really enjoyed this story and would definitely recommend it to my students.  I will look forward to finding more books by this author in the future.  

     More to come over the summer about the fabulous books I am reading.  I have decided to join the Newbery challenge so I will be sneaking some of those books into my to read pile throughout the summer.  Happy reading!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

    I am still in school so I am a little slower in finishing books than I will be this summer.  I cannot wait to do the bookaday challenge and have a bookshelf full of books to read.  (Of course, I will also make trips to the library and Half Price Books which makes the shelf fill up again...but that cannot be helped)  

   This week I finished The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler, An Abundance of Katherines by John Green, Insurgent by Veronica Roth, and The Road to Paris by Nikki Grimes.  

   I have decided to start El Asedio by Arturo Perez Reverte now, before the challenge starts, because it is a thick book.  Since it is Spanish it will take me longer to finish it and that could slow down my progress this summer.  I will also start Eona this week.  I was ecstatic when I saw this book at HPB last weekend because that means I can read it that much sooner.  I really enjoyed Eon and I hope this book has more of the same.  

Inspiration from Twitter

     I recently decided to start exploring more with my Twitter account.   When I came home from the Key West Literary Seminar (a fabulous literary event) in January, I was very interested in the fact that some of these authors of speculative fiction were referring to their social media accounts during their talks.  I don't know why I had never thought about following authors before but this was my "a-ha" moment and I started looking for authors to follow.  Pretty soon I ended up with an account full of authors, both of the fiction books my students and I enjoy, and of professional resources for teachers.  I have now stumbled across blogs of teachers and librarians who are so like me it is scary.  I love reading about other teachers who read as voraciously as I do and enjoy discussing good books with their students and with other teachers.  I have recently been adding books to my "to read" list at an alarming pace. (Especially since I already have an entire bookshelf with to read books at home).   Two of the three books discussed here are books that I have been inspired to read because of Twitter.  I loved the other books I read by these same authors and now am enthralled with the every day posting of each of them.  My summer book a day list will also be full of Sarah Dessen books.  I love the way she narrates her days through tweets.

Jay Asher is one of the authors that I have enjoyed following on Twitter.  I was entertained with his posts about what he was eating and drinking during his recent trip to Wisconsin.  I absolutely loved Thirteen Reasons Why because I believe it is important for every teen to understand the way their actions have ripples throughout many lives.  My copy of that book is quite beat up because it makes the rounds through the class each year as my students discover the power in that story.  The Future of Us will not disappoint those students that were eagerly awaiting another book by Jay Asher.  I love the way Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler mixed science fiction and teen romance in this book.  At the beginning of the book, Emma has just received a new computer as a gift from her father.  The book is set in the late 90's so this is a big deal.  Her neighbor Josh comes over to give her a CD-ROM with 100 free hours of AOL so that she can connect to the internet.  Emma and Josh used to be best friends but things have been awkward between them lately because of some things that happened a few months ago.  When Emma connects to the internet a blue and white screen comes up and when she enters her e-mail and password she is taken to a weird site called Facebook.  The screen that is there is her own profile from the future.  What comes next is a funny and heartwarming account of how Josh and Emma deal with being able to glimpse their futures and how every decision they make can have an effect on the future.  The authors really catch the angst of these teenage characters and the book brought me back to that stage in which everyone is trying to figure out their relationships and how to navigate high school.  I would recommend this book to everyone.  I chuckled many times throughout the book at the attempts of these teenagers in the past to figure out what Netflix, iPads, and many more things could be.

     After reading Divergent not too long ago, I was very excited to start the second book.  Divergent ended with battles and the characters heading for temporary safety and this is where Insurgent picks up.  This book is all about Tris trying to discover why the Erudite attacked the other factions.  Tris is dealing with the grief of losing both her parents in the attacks, and the guilt of having killed one of her best friends when she was faced with no alternative.  Her choices throughout this book start to distance her from Four and we see some conflict arising in their relationship.  This book was full of action and adventure.  I enjoyed the complexity of the characters and the underlying theme that there is no one who is all good or all bad.  Each character has to face that and to decide who to trust in this time of strife.  I cannot wait until the next book is released in Fall 2013.  This is the downside of reading newer series...there is a lot of time spent waiting for the new book.  

     The other author I have enjoyed seeing on Twitter is John Green.  I enjoyed reading Looking for Alaska a few years ago and have spent a lot of time recommending it for my teen students.  Watching the reactions to his most recent book release made me curious to read his other books.  I loved An Abundance of Katherines.  The protagonist, Colin, was a child prodigy and his struggling with his recent break-up.  He feels like a wash-up and does not think that he matters in the world and this bothers him.  His best friend Hassan decides that he needs to take Colin on a road trip and they take off across the country.  I enjoyed reading about this characters quirky way of dealing with life.  It was fun to read all of the trivia in the footnotes.  This book is also a book about relationships and fitting in.  I would recommend this book to teens and adults who are like me...a little nerdy.

Memorial Day Weekend

     Hooray for long weekends and time to relax and read.  I was inspired this weekend to read some graphic novels because I noticed this year how some of my most reluctant readers in class really were interested in the ones I have for the classroom.  The title talk on Twitter this weekend was focused on graphic novels as well and I now have even more ideas for titles to look for.  

 In this graphic novel the protagonist feels different from others and her parents are concerned about her.  As the story unfolds we find out that she has some interesting powers and there is some science fiction involved in her story.  Can she escape the men following her and survive another day?  Read and find out in this graphic novel.  There is quite a bit of violence and a hint of mature content, but I would recommend this book for teens and adults alike.  It was a quick and entertaining read.

     I love the Artemis Fowl series and was not sure I liked the idea of it being made into a graphic novel a few years back.  It took me  a long time to pick this book up and give it a chance.  If you are a fan of the books, you will not be disappointed.  I like the way that this book was adapted and I could see this being a great way to get someone reading the series.  The book obviously has more character development but this is a great way to get people interested in knowing more about the characters.

     I had not heard of this book before, but the cover art on the graphic novel really caught my eye.  This graphic novel was excellent and I really enjoyed the story.  I am definitely going to seek out the novel now.  In this graphic novel the protagonist Kieren is a half-blood werewolf.  He has a good friend that he ends up hurting by mistake and lives in fear of accidentally hurting her again.  Some crimes start to happen in the city and the cops start to question Kieren based on circumstantial evidence.    He also has to deal with the fact that he will be leaving soon to live with the wolf pack and learn about their ways, but how do you tell your best friend/love that you are leaving?  I was really intrigued by this story and can't wait to read the series.

    It has been awhile since I read an installment of the House of Night series.  I really liked the first few books in the series, but after awhile I started to be a bit annoyed with some of the decisions that Zoey was making.  I also have had a hard time suspending my disbelief in the last few books and entering the story.  This book started out the same for me.  I found myself wondering why I had decided to come back to this series and what I really liked about it.  At about chapter 5 that changed for me.  I don't know what exactly changed...maybe it is Stevie Ray's dilemma...but the book grabbed me.  I ended up staying up until the wee hours to finish the book because I was so intrigued with what was happening.  This is not something I do often anymore.  I would recommend this series to my students for sure and for any adults that really like young adult novels.  For some adults the plot and the thinking of the characters will be too sophomoric and they will not enjoy the books.  If you are a fan of Zoey Redbird, this book is worth your time...I just hope that good and Nyx will win the battle against Neferet sometime soon.  

     The last book I read this weekend was Reckless by Cornelia Funke.  I have to admit, I am a huge fan of Cornelia Funke.  I think the Inkheart trilogy is one of my absolute favorite series and I love the way that she brings a reader into an imaginary world that feels so enchanted but real at the same time.  When I saw this book at the Scholastic warehouse sale I was intrigued not just by the cover art but by the fact that this was another book by Funke.  In this book Jacob Reckless has been going through the mirror in his father's study for years and retreating more and more into the realm beyond.  He starts out looking for his father who has disappeared and ends up spending more and more time in the mirror world and less time with his brother Will and his mom.  Until one day when Will follows him into the other realm and gets attacked.  Now there is a sickness taking over Will's body and Jacob must figure out how to stop it.  Cornelia Funke weaves together elements from fairy tales and creates this world in which treasure hunters seek the glass slipper and gumdrops from enchanted witch houses.  I was fascinated with this imaginary world and could not put this book down.  Lucky for me, it is also written at an easier reading level so the pages flew by.  I would recommend this book to any reader who knows what it might be like to do anything to help save a sibling or any person you love.  

      Lastly, I just wanted to mention the fact that I will be participating in the book a day challenge this summer and posting my updates on Goodreads and Twitter.  I counted 76 days of summer and will be trying to reach that number of books this summer as well. (Good thing I have a big list of graphic novels to add to my to read pile) My book a day challenge begins on June 14th, 2012 and ends August 30th, 2012.  Wish me luck!!!  

Dystopian Spring

With the release of The Hunger Games movie, it has become even more noticeable that one of the trends in YA fiction seems to be toward dystopian novels.  There is something about the way the protagonists struggle that is somewhat disturbing but ultimately most of these books bring out universal themes.  

     One of the most disturbing series I have recently read about a dystopia is the Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness.  The books take place on a planet that has been settled by humans in the future.  What the humans did not know is that on this planet men will begin to think out loud, literally.  What resulted from this is a little bit of chaos in the sounds of all men thinking.  At the beginning of the first book we meet Todd, who has been brought up in a town in which there are no women.  His whole life Todd has been told that the same sickness that made men think out loud worked in a different way for women and killed them off.  The sickness was a biological weapon used by the native species, the Spackle during the great war that the settlers had when they first landed here.  Todd is looking forward to his thirteenth birthday when he will become a man.  Then one day while walking through the swamp, Todd hears a hole in the noise and is perplexed by this phenomenon.  When he and his dog Manchee arrive home, his caretakers react in a very strange way and send him running.  Todd runs from the town without knowing exactly why he is running or what he will find.  His adventures include discovering that many of the things he was told are not true and ultimately the books are about a war brought on by the crazy people in power.  The books make the reader think about the consequences of yielding power and how it can corrupt men and women.  There is also a wonderful message about the power of love to help a person take action.  This series is not for the feint of heart.  I cried multiple times in the series and felt horrified by the disturbing characters.  Ultimately, I felt the message of love's redemption to be uplifting.  I would definitely recommend these books to fans of The Hunger Games.  Judging from how disturbed I felt, I would say that these books are not for younger children, but more suitable for teens and adults.  (On a side note, I love it that the animals in these books also have noise...the ability to think out loud.  The thoughts that the author imagines the dog and the horses having make the reader love the animals that much more).

Another book that I read in the last few weeks is the book Cinder by Marissa Meyer.  This book really caught my eye with the cover art.  I am a sucker for a good fractured fairy tale and was intrigued by the premise of this book.  Cinder is a cyborg which relegates her to very second-class status.  In this futuristic world, medicine has evolved to be able to help people who otherwise would have died by replacing their systems with computer systems.  Cinder has obviously had a serious injury from which she became what she is but does not recall anything that happened to her before the age of 11.  At this time a kind scientist brought her home to raise as his own.  Shortly after bringing her home, this scientist died of the plague that had been spreading in the world.  His wife, who is devastated by the loss, blames Cinder for his death.  In this way, she has the requisite evil stepmother and two step-sisters. Cinder finds that she is very capable at repairing androids because of her likeness to them.  She works very hard and tries to keep her status as a cyborg a secret from most people she meets.  At the beginning of the book, the terrible plague that has been spreading quickly has already claimed the life of the queen and the king is very ill.  The prince shows up at Cinder's booth one day with an android that has ceased functioning.  He has heard that Cinder is the best mechanic in the realm and seeks her out.  As she works to fix this robot, she suffers personal loss and is shipped to a research facility.  She continues to try to hide her status as a cyborg from the prince who is also dealing with a threat from the queen of Luna who wants to marry into the royal family.  This is definitely a Cinderella story that makes the reader want the best for the protagonists.  Unfortunately, this book was written as the first in a series of books and many of the points that I was most curious about were not resolved in this book.  I have to say I was disappointed at the end of the book that so much was left unresolved.  I will be impatiently waiting for the next book to come out in the Fall of 2012.

I have really enjoyed the Dead Is series as quick reads that are entertaining.  I was happy to see another addition to this series.  At first I was confused because I didn't recognize the protagonist, but this quickly gets explained and this protagonist is also fun to read about.  Nightshade is a very fictional place but I have come to appreciate the town throughout the series.  I was glad to see some of the same characters included in this book.  These are great beach reads and make for good, easy reading.  Recommended for all those readers out there who are able to suspend disbelief and enjoy supernatural stories.    

The forensic mystery series by Alane Ferguson mixes murder mystery and young adult to make the perfect fit for me.  This series features Cameryn, the coroner's daughter who wants to be a medical examiner.  This book is the 4th book in the series.  In this book the crazy ex-boyfriend comes back to town and leaves stalker-like messages for Cameryn in many different places.  There is a serial murderer to catch and Cameryn gets to help in the lab.  The other three books in the series were excellent quick reads as was this one.  This is one of the most likeable protagonists I have read about in a while.  This book and the rest of the series are best for teens and adults.  

     In the book Eon, Alison Goodman has created a realm in which there are dragons that hold power over the world.  Each of the dragons has dominion over part of the spirit of men.  Each dragon has a human who is linked to it and is the warrior for that dragon.  Every year there is one boy selected to become an apprentice and learn how to wield the dragon's power.  In this story Eona is a girl who is posing as Eon, the boy, to have the opportunity to be chosen as the dragon's apprentice.  She will become part of the solution for a kingdom that is increasingly under the influence of one of the dragon warriors.  Every young woman should read this book and understand the message about the importance of recognizing the power that women have.  I can't wait to read the next book to see how things have turned out for this kingdom.