What R U Reading?

Would You by Marthe Jocelyn

2011-10-17T13:49:00.002-04:00

Would You by Marthe Jocelyn is a book about a girl and her sister. This isnt your typical family bonding story. Natalie's sister has been ran over by a car and is in a state of comotose. The family later finds out that there is no brain function going on at all and Claire is technically dead. It is the families decision whether or not to pull the plugs or let their daughter remain in the state she is.

~stephanie

Fact of Life #31

2011-09-27T09:58:00.000-04:00

Fact of Life #31 by Denise Vega is about a sixteen year old girl who is living in the shadow of her mother. Her mother is a busy-body and is constantly on call for other people but neglects to even recognize her daughter is there. Kat feels betrayed when she finds out her mother is being more of a mother to one of her classmates who is pregnant then she is for her. And to top it all off, the guy she falls for, doesn't want anyone to know they're together.

~Stephanie

The Day I Killed James by Catherine Ryan Hyde

2011-09-26T13:48:00.000-04:00

The Day I Killed James by Catherine Ryan Hyde is an emotional book about a girl who feels guilty because a friend of hers committed suicide. This book shows the struggles of moving past one's own emotional barrier and escaping her remorse.

~Stephanie

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

2011-09-12T14:06:00.000-04:00

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen is a book about a girl named Mclean moving to a new place with a new persona. It's about her struggles to emotionally unattach herself from people in order to leave less heartache behind when she has to up and leave again. But what Mclean doesn't know is that sometimes being distant from people who really genuinely care is hard.

~Stephanie

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

2011-02-15T09:19:00.000-05:00

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Drama-based Samantha lives life on the edge. She constantly takes risks, thinking her life is going to go forever untouched. She is surprised by the fact she dies, but more surprised by the fact she keeps reliving the day over again. As she does everything in her power to save herself and to change the outcome she realizes that there are more important things than her own life.

~stephanie

Dear John, by Nicholas Sparks

2011-01-20T10:10:00.000-05:00

Dear John, By Nicholas Sparks is a love story between John and Savannah. Savannah is a super Christian who is thrilled by life. John Tyree is a super macho Army dude who takes his job very seriously. When the choice comes down to it, he chooses to reenlist when 9/11 strikes. He expected Savannah to be there when he returned but is sad to find she had written a letter to him and that she had fallen in love with another man. After his father passes away he tries to visit her to find that all had changed.

~stephanie

The Breakup Bible by Melissa Kantor

2010-11-04T10:18:00.002-04:00

The Break Bible By Melissa Kantor is about Jennifer who thinks that the world revolves around her super perfect boyfriend Max. Next thing you know Max goes to Brain Camp and discovers that the last thing he wants to deal with is his girlfriend who could care less about her life and where it's going. He breaks her heart and then she has to learn to cope so she falls on this little pink book her grandma gave her called The Break Up Bible.

~stephanie

Just Listen by Sarah Dessen

2010-10-26T09:58:00.002-04:00

I have a new blogger! Thank you Stephanie. (One of my best library patrons.)

Just Listen by Sarah Dessen is a great book about Anabel Greene-who has a secret she keeps hidden. She keeps this secret despite the fact she has lost everyone due to the lie that they believed happened. The secret isolates Anabel from the rest of the world and she finds a friend in the least likely person, Owen. He teaches her about life without anger and without caring. A life about music. This novel shows new beginnings and that there are always bumps in the road.

~stephanie

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patricia Ness

2010-09-15T08:39:00.001-04:00

Chased by a madman preacher and possibly the rest of his townsfolk as well, young Todd Hewitt flees his settlement on a planet where war with the natives has killed all the women and infected the men with a germ that broadcasts their thoughts aloud for all to hear. This cacophonous thought-cloud is known as Noise and is rendered with startling effectiveness on the page. The first of many secrets is revealed when Todd discovers an unsettling hole in the Noise, and quickly realizes that he lives in a much different world than the one he thought he did. This is the first book in the Chaos Walking series.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

2008-10-22T13:12:00.002-04:00

This book is Suzanne Collin's debut novel in YA fiction-Mrs. Keuhn

The Hunger Games written by Suzanne Collins is an amazing story. It really gets your adrenaline pumping. I found myself feeling like I was right there with the characters in the giant arena, with death around every corner. This was a book I simply could not put down. It is full of action and has some detailed situations that just make you cringe. This book illustrates how an abuse of power can lead to total chaos, and absolute madness. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes a twisted, heart wrenching, adrenaline filled reading.

~Alicia

The Reminder by Rune Michaels

2008-09-26T08:35:00.002-04:00

Alicia comes through with another great book! Mrs. Keuhn

The Reminder, written by Rune Michaels, is a quick weekend read. The main character is a young girl, Daze, whose age I cannot determine. The cover of the book has the outline of a girl that makes me want to believe Daze is in her young teens. But as I followed her emotions throughout the story I found myself seeing her as a younger more frightened and fragile girl instead. In this story, Daze suffers the loss of her mother. Her father often watches home movies with Daze, so they can remember her voice, face, and laugh. Daze tries to get her little brother Ryan to remember their mom, with pictures, home movies, and plenty of stories. However she gets easily frustrated with him because he was simply too young to remember her. The story truly gets exciting when Daze first hears her mother's voice while at her father's office. From this point the book flies by. The Reminder is a pleasant and easy read. Great for those weekend stays at home. ~Alicia

Generation Dead by Alicia

2008-09-18T09:13:00.001-04:00

One of my seniors will be submitting book reviews this school year. This is her first. Enjoy!

I recently read Generation Dead, by Dan Waters. If I wasn’t in my P.I.G. class when I finished this book I would have cried. It is an amazing story. In a way it really shows how cruel teenage society is these days. When someone is different and doesn’t quite “fit in” they are excluded from everything and forced to fend for themselves. In Generation Dead, Phoebe, one of the main characters, befriends one of the dead kids, and causes a chain reaction of friendship, and chaos. This book has humor, love and controversy; I had a hard time putting it down.

Alicia

Local book events

2008-03-06T11:32:00.001-05:00

http://www.librarything.com/local

If you would like to know what local book events your community is holding or add some yourself you might want to think about becoming a member. Here's a blurb from their website:

LibraryThing LocalBecome a LibraryThing member to do more with LibraryThing Local:
Add your favorite bookstores and libraries
Keep track of interesting events
Connecting with friends, and more.

Free Oprah book download

2008-02-14T10:21:00.001-05:00

The download version of Suze Ormond's book *Women and Money*http://www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200802/tows_past_20080213.jhtmlDownload your free copy of Suze Orman's book in English before 8/7c theevening of February 14.It's about 300 pages.This offer was made on Oprah's show on 2/12/08

New Christopher Paolini book

2008-01-22T13:28:00.000-05:00

The next book in the Eragon series will be called Brisingr. The release date is September 20th.

Click on the egg to see it hatch into a dragon!

Extras

2007-10-05T17:44:00.000-04:00

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.

The Secret Life of Bees

2007-05-09T09:26:00.000-04:00

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.

Maus

2007-04-27T20:36:00.000-04:00

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!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

2007-03-05T11:50:00.000-05:00

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....

Saint Iggy

2007-02-26T13:23:00.000-05:00

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???

Out of the Dust

2007-02-05T10:13:00.000-05:00

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.

Flavor of the Week

2007-01-28T13:07:00.000-05:00

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!

Speak

2007-01-12T11:25:00.000-05:00

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?

Eragon

2007-01-08T12:49:00.000-05:00

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

Welcome

2006-12-11T14:04:00.000-05:00

Hello!

Welcome to the Corning Painted Post book blog! The moderators of this discussion are Mrs. Fenn & Mrs. Keuhn. We are the librarians at Corning West & Corning East High Schools. We are interested in hearing about what you are reading. We will post book recommendations as well.