For those of us who have been completely taken in by The Hunger Games series by author Suzanne Collins, our wait will be over August 24, 2010! YES! Amazon.com is posting that as the release date. I have not read anything on the author's website or the publisher Scholastic's website. I'm just very happy to know that Amazon knows! Let the countdown begin.
2061 Odyssey Three by Arthur C. Clarke picks up where 2001 A Space Odyssey and 2010 Odyssey Two left off. Arthur C. Clarke continues to explore humanity’s desire to explore and understand the universe around them. The story is divided between two different spaceships. One of the spaceships is called Universe, which attempts to land and explore Halley’s Comet as it crosses through our solar system. The other spaceship, called Galaxy, crash lands on Europa, which revolves around Lucifer, a sun that once used to be the planet Jupiter (the transition of Jupiter to a second sun is the plot for 2010 Odyssey Two). Humankind has been warned by an alien race not to land on Europa. In order to help the crashed ship Galaxy, Universe is dispatched to help. What will happen to the crew of the Galaxy crash landing on an unfriendly and unexplored planet and will spaceship Universe arrive in time to save the crew of the Galaxy? These questions are second to how we, as humans, have a desire to learn and survive despite obstacles that are beyond our control.
Now that I've finished reading Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson, I have accomplished my goal. I set a personal goal to read the three books that won Ms. Anderson the 2009 Margaret A. Edwards Award for her lasting contribution to teen writing. The other winning titles were Catalyst and Speak. Fever 1793 is the only one that is a historical fiction.
I couldn't resist blogging about a story that takes place in a graveyard on this Halloween day. A stalking killer, a murdered family, ghosts, darkness, a full moon, ghouls, and gravestones all await you if you choose to open to the first page of Nail Gaiman's Newbery Medal winning The Graveyard Book tonight.
Funny, this is a funny story. It's also very easy to read because it's so funny and personalized, much like a diary.
This “new” book looks like it came from my mother’s 50 year old library in her 100 year old Victorian house. It’s not a pretty book by today’s standards; it looks old, faded and brown. When I start leafing through the pages, I see wonderful drawings on every page but there is not any text. The Arrival by Shaun Tan is a graphic novel and tells the story of a man immigrating to a new world and what he experiences in a strange new land while missing his family that he left behind.
I picked this mystery book to read solely on the front cover. The photograph was of a dog lying next to a lady who looked like she was sleeping. Being an animal lover and an avid reader of mystery books, I couldn't resist taking it home to read. I soon found out that the lady wasn't sleeping, she was dead and the dog was the only witness to her death.
Don't get too comfortable thinking that Katniss and Peeta will have life easy now that the Hunger Games are over. No, no, no. Not when the author is Suzanne Collins. In The Hunger Games sequel, Catching Fire, Ms. Collins takes her readers on another emotional roller coaster. Afterall, this year is the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Hunger Games so these games will be a Quarter Quell - a unique, never-before played version of the game. Those in the Capitol who plan the Quarter Quell have a surprise in mind. Remember, Katniss and Peeta defied the Capitol establishment; they are not happy about that.
Even if you are not into historical fiction, this book is a must read. It takes you back to July 1942 in Paris when all the Jews were rounded up by the French Police and taken to various concentration camps. A 10 year old Jewish girl, Sarah, locks her 4 year old brother in their secret hiding space and promises to come back for him before she is taken away with her parents. It is a journey of a little girl who just wanted a normal life and couldn't understand why she was being taken away by French Policemen that were her parents' friends. Sixty years later, an American journalist is given a writing assignment to investigate the roundup. She discovers various things about Sarah and what she went through. Sarah's Key is an easy read and it just draws you in. It is one of those books, you just can't put down. Surely, even if you are not a reader, you will be captured by Tatiana de Rosnay's compelling way to tell a story.
Here is an author that is worthy of your time. Laurie Halse Anderson is Writer Lady - notice the URL of her website. Speak is her first published work (from 1999) and it won numerous awards. Can you imagine having your first book win national awards? Amazing! As a matter-of-fact, in the 10 years since its publication, all of the other books she's written are award winning at the national and state level. If you haven't delved into one, now is the time. She not only writes for teens but she has written award winning books for young children and tweens. This year she won the Margaret A. Edwards Award for three of her books for teens - “Catalyst”; “Fever 1793”; and “Speak”. Our BHS media center owns each of these so stop by and pick one up.
Just this very moment I finished reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Now I have a problem. It's going to be 15 days before book 2 is released and that's a long, long time to wait. Do you want to know why? Let me tell you a little bit about this story. Or was it real? Oh, I sure hope not.
You might enjoy this book if you are a romantic with an interest in wartime love stories. You might enjoy this book if you are a history buff, particularly the German occupations during World War II. You might enjoy this book if you can appreciate fine writing and the craft of letter correspondence. You most certainly will want to read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer if those attributes define you as a reader.
Breathe My Name by R. A. Nelson. We first meet Shine as she plays in Fireless with her sisters Tan, Ninny and their Momma. Momma is teaching them about spiders and fear. Momma's eyes - they can be scary too. Baby sister Suddle is fast asleep. Eleven years later Shine realizes her Momma as a spider lurking during the night. We soon learn that Shine is actually Frances, an 18 year old girl with a very troubled past and frequent nightmares. You will be drawn into the suspence of this story as well as the tenderness with her boyfriend, Nix, and loving adoptive parents. Frances must reach back into her past in order to move forward with her life. You see, she is the only surviving child of a tragedy - Momma had smothered her three younger sisters in a fit of madness! This book was difficult to put down. The chapters alternate between Shine's story and Frances' reality. You'll wonder what ever happened that tragic day and where Momma and Daddy are now.
When you open The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, you are embarking on a Five Star reading experience! The setting is Nazi Germany during the Second World War. You history scholars out there know immediately the atrocities that could be included and Mr. Zusak does not hold back. His descriptions of the lines of Jewish people being marched through the center of town--weary, hungry, and thirsty--send chills through your bones. Would you like to know which character in the book is telling you the story? Death. Yes, death is the narrator.
The whole book is filled with great short stories. I always loved reading books with short stories basically because the story keeps changing.
I opened this book on a Saturday morning and could NOT put it down! The descriptive language and flow of the story hooked me instantly.
Sometimes I choose a book based on the awards that it states on the cover that it has received and as luck would have it, this novel has such a list. Luckily, it has lived up to its stated potential - a great read!
Memoirs are my favorite read these days. A memoir is a bit of an autobiography with a large dose of personal experience. They are always true stories. The memoirs I have read have been written in an "I'm your friend" voice always drawing me in to the author's life - or at least a segment of his/her life. I like them because they reveal the grittiness of life, the difficulties, the problems people endure. The Soloist by Steve Lopez meets all of those criteria.
Sixteen year old Sally is involved in a car accident in which she is the only survivor. This accident sets into motion a chain of events and secrets that eventually haunt her own daughter, Odella.
I could tell you that Whirligig by Paul Fleischman is the story of a teen boy who kills a girl because he is driving drunk, and that would be true. You'd wonder about the curious title and its connection to the boy. You'd notice that it's a short book, only 133 pages, and might be enticed to read it as you could finish it in a day or two. I will tell you - this book is a must read!
15 year olds Carmen, Lena, Bridget and Tibby have been life-long friends, and it's the first summer they are all going in separate directions. Through one pair of "mystical" blue jeans they stay connected for the months they are separated (they make up rules to go with the pants!)
This story is fiction based on something that actually happened, but with a twist. In the second half of the 1800’s a Cheyenne Indian Chief recognized that the eventual fate of his people was doomed. Because the Cheyenne society was matrilineal (all children born belong to their mother’s tribe) he made a request of the American government. He requested that the U.S. government make them a gift of one thousand white women as brides for the warriors of his tribe. By this request he thought that children of these women and his warriors would be assimilated into the white man’s world, and the legacy of his people would live on. In reality the U.S. government said no. In this story the U.S. government said yes.
The following quote is from the author on the jacket of the book:
Jon Scieszka is a very funny, irreverent writer. His well-loved books have made children laugh for several years. You may remember the Time Warp Trio series, The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs from your younger days. He is such a prolific author and is always thinking about you and hoping you'll fall in love with reading just as he did.
Recently, Jon published Knucklehead : Tall Tales & Mostly True Stories About Growing Up Scieszka. You guessed it, this is another very funny, irreverent book. He has five brothers, Jon is the second oldest and they grew up in Flint, Michigan. I recently saw Jon at the 2008 National Book Festival in Washington, D. C. where he read from this book. He had the audience in stitches! Imagine growing up with all those brothers, no sisters, and the fun or trouble you could have. That was his life.
In this photo that I took of Jon at the 2008 National Book Festival, you can see that he is wearing a red, white, and blue ribbon with a medal around his neck. That weekend he had been presented with the very first National Ambassador for Young People's Literature by the Library of Congress! Congratulations Jon! Keep writing those wonderfully funny books we love to read.
Ten year old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend, Ellen Rosen, live in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is 1943 and the Nazis have occupied Copenhagen. Life as they once knew it has changed for all Danish people - there are armed soldiers everywhere, food shortages, lack of clothing and electricity, and restrictions on all aspects of daily life. When the Nazis start rounding up all Jews, Annemarie knows that she must try to help Ellen, who is Jewish. Annemarie and her mother work to smuggle Ellen out of Denmark. This is a story of tremendous courage in the face of terror, all told from a child’s point of view. I am drawn to stories about the Holocaust - they always make me realize what a far-reaching effect that had on people throughout the world right up to the present time.
This memoir follows the author, a Vietnamese refugee, as her family struggles to establish a new life in Grand Rapids, Michigan following the fall of Saigon in 1975. We learn how difficult it was for Nguyen to be accepted by American children yet keep the traditions of her Buddhist family. Interestingly, the author cleverly uses the various foods she eats to highlight the cultural differences. All the food talk was a bit bothersome for me to read. American, Mexican, and Vietnamese food are all included. I didn't expect to read a cookbook when I chose this title. I'm drawn to memoirs so I can learn about families and cultures but this emphasis on the food, some of it things I would never want to taste, was annoying. You'll have to judge for yourself, afterall, this book has won a PEN literary award in 2005.
Bobby is a restless 16 year old boy living in New York City - his days are full of fun and pranks with his buddies. When Bobby learns that his girlfriend, Nia, is pregnant his world is truly rocked. Bobby and Nia have caring parents who are full of good, practical advice about the soon-to-be-born baby. When an unexpected turn of events takes place Bobby decides to raise the baby, a daughter, whom he names Feather. Bobby’s love for Feather grows with each passing day, but he soon realizes the sacrifices and changes he must make in order to be a good father. The book alternates chapters between “Now” and “Then.” “Now” is after Feather’s birth, “then” is during Nia’s pregnancy. The story is told in the first person by Bobby - from the perspective of a teenage father. You can truly feel how conflicted and tired Bobby is as he struggles to do the right thing.
