Extras by Scott Westerfield. Book 4 in Scott's series that included Pretties, Uglies, and Specials.
This book will be published this month. It is the future of Earth where all people are judged by their face rank (kind of a YouTube society). A girl named Aya Fuse will kick up her face rank by exposing whoever is riding the Mag-Lev at night. Things go quickly down hill from there as she discovers aliens who are out to destroy the planet and meets Youngblood whose face rank is #1.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
The Secret Life of Bees
Summer is just around the corner and if you are looking for a good summer read, might I suggest The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd? It is the story of a motherless 14 girl named Lily. The setting is just after the signing of the Civil Rights Act. When Lily and Rosaline (her housekeeper) go into town so Rosaline can register to vote all goes to pieces. Rosaline is arrested and Lily must break her out of jail so she won't be killed. The two leave on a quest to find out more about Lily's mother which leads them to Tiberon, SC and the answers to life's many questions.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Maus
We just finished Maus by Art Spiegelman for our teacher book club. You can borrow this book from the library (or maybe from a teacher who is finished). The story goes like this:
{Winner of the Pulitzer Prize.} This book introduces readers to Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe, and his son, a cartoonist trying to come to terms with his father, his father's terrifying story, and history itself. Its form, the cartoon (the Nazis are cats, the Jews mice, the Poles are pigs, the Americans are dogs, the Swedes are reindeer, the French are frogs), succeeds perfectly in shocking us out of any lingering sense of familiarity with the events described, approaching, as it does, the unspeakable through the diminutive. The two volumes tie together two powerful stories: Vladek's harrowing tale of survival against all odds, delineating the paradox of daily life in the death camps, and the author's account of his tortured relationship with his aging father.
The second part is called Maus II and goes on to describe the concentration camps and the atrocities committed.
These are both graphic novels and so are in a comic book form. If you are interested, stop by the library and check them out!
{Winner of the Pulitzer Prize.} This book introduces readers to Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe, and his son, a cartoonist trying to come to terms with his father, his father's terrifying story, and history itself. Its form, the cartoon (the Nazis are cats, the Jews mice, the Poles are pigs, the Americans are dogs, the Swedes are reindeer, the French are frogs), succeeds perfectly in shocking us out of any lingering sense of familiarity with the events described, approaching, as it does, the unspeakable through the diminutive. The two volumes tie together two powerful stories: Vladek's harrowing tale of survival against all odds, delineating the paradox of daily life in the death camps, and the author's account of his tortured relationship with his aging father.
The second part is called Maus II and goes on to describe the concentration camps and the atrocities committed.
These are both graphic novels and so are in a comic book form. If you are interested, stop by the library and check them out!
Monday, March 5, 2007
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Ok-it seems a little early to have a review on this. It isn't due out in stores until July 21, 2007. I have preordered a copy for myself and for the library.
How many of you have ordered this book?
Who do you think will die?
Will Snape be friend or foe???
What is your opinion of this being the end of the series?
Curious minds want to know....
How many of you have ordered this book?
Who do you think will die?
Will Snape be friend or foe???
What is your opinion of this being the end of the series?
Curious minds want to know....
Monday, February 26, 2007
Saint Iggy
Saint Iggy by K. L. Going
Iggy Corso needs a plan. He's been kicked out of school permanently and is scheduled for a hearing with the school superintendent. His parents won't be there; his mom's off "visiting someone," run off more likely, and his dad is always drunk or stoned. He can't reach his social worker since his phone's been cut off. Iggy's principal told him he was basically a good kid who needed "to do something to contribute to the world."
Iggy's makeshift plan is:1)make a plan 2) get out of the projects 3) do something with my life 4) change everyone's mind about me 5) get back into school
So Iggy visits his only friend, Montell, a college dropout who is into pot and renunciation. He spends the week before Christmas trying to find enlightenment and following Montell around trying to protect him from destroying himself with drugs and drug dealers. You'll love Iggy and you won't be able to put the book down.
Are any of you list makers???
Iggy Corso needs a plan. He's been kicked out of school permanently and is scheduled for a hearing with the school superintendent. His parents won't be there; his mom's off "visiting someone," run off more likely, and his dad is always drunk or stoned. He can't reach his social worker since his phone's been cut off. Iggy's principal told him he was basically a good kid who needed "to do something to contribute to the world."
Iggy's makeshift plan is:1)make a plan 2) get out of the projects 3) do something with my life 4) change everyone's mind about me 5) get back into school
So Iggy visits his only friend, Montell, a college dropout who is into pot and renunciation. He spends the week before Christmas trying to find enlightenment and following Montell around trying to protect him from destroying himself with drugs and drug dealers. You'll love Iggy and you won't be able to put the book down.
Are any of you list makers???
Monday, February 5, 2007
Out of the Dust
This novel is written in free verse. This format gives a sparity to the text, which makes it a fairly quick read, but the novel has great depth and a strong sense of time and place. Its setting is Oklahoma during the thirties and so we know immediately that the title dust, at least some of it, is from the Dust Bowl.
It's 1934 and life is already tough and it's about to get worse. Billie Jo, her mother and father are struggling on through hard financial times on the farm. Her father doesn't say much but we know he loves his family and that he is a man who feels a strong connection to the soil. Her mother comes from a more refined background. Billie Jo says she's "made herself over to fit my father". Her mother plays the piano beautifully and, when she plays those elegant pieces, Billie Jo's father stands in the doorway and watches her with something in his eyes Billie Jo seldom sees. Billie Jo plays, too. Her music makes her mother wince but she's making a name for herself with the kids at school intrigued by her wild and exuberant music. Billie Jo fully intends to ride that music out of the dust.
Billie Jo's mother is pregnant and they're all looking forward to the baby's arrival. Before the baby arrives, however, the dust does. The fierce dust storms and their aftermath drive many of their neighbors off. They're heading to California where things are bound to be better. Billie Jo's father will hear none of that. He has lived through hard times before and he says they're staying.
The climax is the tragedy. Her father leaves a pail of kerosene by the stove and her mother, thinking it to be water, throws it on the stove. The flames send her mother out the door screaming for her father and Billie Jo grabs the pail and throws the remaining kerosene out the front door just as her mother is rushing back inside. Immediately the flames engulf her mother killing her and the baby. They also burn and scar Billie Jo's hands so that playing the piano becomes impossible.
Billie Jo's already remote father becomes unreachable after the death of his wife and baby. Billy Jo fears that they're both turning into the dust that has covered everything. After trying to carry on without support, she runs away only to discover that her future lies back home.
It's 1934 and life is already tough and it's about to get worse. Billie Jo, her mother and father are struggling on through hard financial times on the farm. Her father doesn't say much but we know he loves his family and that he is a man who feels a strong connection to the soil. Her mother comes from a more refined background. Billie Jo says she's "made herself over to fit my father". Her mother plays the piano beautifully and, when she plays those elegant pieces, Billie Jo's father stands in the doorway and watches her with something in his eyes Billie Jo seldom sees. Billie Jo plays, too. Her music makes her mother wince but she's making a name for herself with the kids at school intrigued by her wild and exuberant music. Billie Jo fully intends to ride that music out of the dust.
Billie Jo's mother is pregnant and they're all looking forward to the baby's arrival. Before the baby arrives, however, the dust does. The fierce dust storms and their aftermath drive many of their neighbors off. They're heading to California where things are bound to be better. Billie Jo's father will hear none of that. He has lived through hard times before and he says they're staying.
The climax is the tragedy. Her father leaves a pail of kerosene by the stove and her mother, thinking it to be water, throws it on the stove. The flames send her mother out the door screaming for her father and Billie Jo grabs the pail and throws the remaining kerosene out the front door just as her mother is rushing back inside. Immediately the flames engulf her mother killing her and the baby. They also burn and scar Billie Jo's hands so that playing the piano becomes impossible.
Billie Jo's already remote father becomes unreachable after the death of his wife and baby. Billy Jo fears that they're both turning into the dust that has covered everything. After trying to carry on without support, she runs away only to discover that her future lies back home.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Flavor of the Week
Flavor of the Week
Flavor of the Week by Tucker Shaw is a present-day adaption of Edmund Rostand's play, Cyrano de Bergerac. In the original play, the main character, Cyrano, has a large nose and writes poems for a girl he admires but signs them as his best friend.
Flavor of the Week is slightly different. Cyril is an overweight boy who loves to cook. In fact, he hopes to get into the American Institute of Culinary Arts and then become a famous chef; that is if he can pass the strict audition. But few people know of his cooking skills. Not even his best friend and crush, Rose, knows his talent in the kitchen. One day, his old best friend Nick moves back to town. Nick has a crush on Rose and wins her over by telling her he made Cyril's famous kitchen sink cookies. That is the jumping off point. Now Nick has Cyril cooking entire meals to call his own in order to impress Rose. It's quite a pickle!
Will Cyril get into the AICA? Will Nick continue to pretend he can cook? Will Rose realize who really has feelings for her?
Feel free to check this book out!
Flavor of the Week by Tucker Shaw is a present-day adaption of Edmund Rostand's play, Cyrano de Bergerac. In the original play, the main character, Cyrano, has a large nose and writes poems for a girl he admires but signs them as his best friend.
Flavor of the Week is slightly different. Cyril is an overweight boy who loves to cook. In fact, he hopes to get into the American Institute of Culinary Arts and then become a famous chef; that is if he can pass the strict audition. But few people know of his cooking skills. Not even his best friend and crush, Rose, knows his talent in the kitchen. One day, his old best friend Nick moves back to town. Nick has a crush on Rose and wins her over by telling her he made Cyril's famous kitchen sink cookies. That is the jumping off point. Now Nick has Cyril cooking entire meals to call his own in order to impress Rose. It's quite a pickle!
Will Cyril get into the AICA? Will Nick continue to pretend he can cook? Will Rose realize who really has feelings for her?
Feel free to check this book out!
Friday, January 12, 2007
Speak
We have just finished reading and discussing Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson in our Teacher Book Club. Have any of you gotten the chance to read it? Here is a description:
Melinda Sordino can classify every incoming and returning student at Merryweather High according to the clique to which he/she belongs. The only problem is that she doesn't belong to any of them -- not the jocks, punks, nerds, Marthas, bandgeeks -- not a single one. She used to, but not any more. Not after what she did.
What she did was call the cops to bust up a party at the end of summer. Not out of spite or stupidity, though that's what everyone thinks. They don't know the real reason, and most of them really don't want to know. Even if they did, Melinda couldn't tell them. Even if she wanted to.
What did you think of this book?
Melinda Sordino can classify every incoming and returning student at Merryweather High according to the clique to which he/she belongs. The only problem is that she doesn't belong to any of them -- not the jocks, punks, nerds, Marthas, bandgeeks -- not a single one. She used to, but not any more. Not after what she did.
What she did was call the cops to bust up a party at the end of summer. Not out of spite or stupidity, though that's what everyone thinks. They don't know the real reason, and most of them really don't want to know. Even if they did, Melinda couldn't tell them. Even if she wanted to.
What did you think of this book?
Monday, January 8, 2007
Eragon
I read Eragon last summer and thought it was okay. Some of the plot twist were very obvious but it was what you expect from a new and inexperience author. If you haven't read it before, here is a review of it from the School Library Journal:
"Eragon, a young farm boy, finds a marvelous blue stone in a mystical mountain place. Before he can trade it for food to get his family through the hard winter, it hatches a beautiful sapphire-blue dragon, a race thought to be extinct. Eragon bonds with the dragon, and when his family is killed by the marauding Ra'zac, he discovers that he is the last of the Dragon Riders, fated to play a decisive part in the coming war between the human but hidden Varden, dwarves, elves, the diabolical Shades and their neanderthal Urgalls, all pitted against and allied with each other and the evil King Galbatorix. Eragon and his dragon Saphira set out to find their role, growing in magic power and understanding of the complex political situation as they endure perilous travels and sudden battles, dire wounds, capture and escape." --Patty Campbell
How did you think it compared to the movie? Was there anything you especially liked or hated?
Mrs. Keuhn
"Eragon, a young farm boy, finds a marvelous blue stone in a mystical mountain place. Before he can trade it for food to get his family through the hard winter, it hatches a beautiful sapphire-blue dragon, a race thought to be extinct. Eragon bonds with the dragon, and when his family is killed by the marauding Ra'zac, he discovers that he is the last of the Dragon Riders, fated to play a decisive part in the coming war between the human but hidden Varden, dwarves, elves, the diabolical Shades and their neanderthal Urgalls, all pitted against and allied with each other and the evil King Galbatorix. Eragon and his dragon Saphira set out to find their role, growing in magic power and understanding of the complex political situation as they endure perilous travels and sudden battles, dire wounds, capture and escape." --Patty Campbell
How did you think it compared to the movie? Was there anything you especially liked or hated?
Mrs. Keuhn
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)