Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

You are looking at the cover for the third and final book in the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. Scholastic made this announcement Feb. 11th. Read what others have to say on the Scholastic blog, On Our Minds. The book will be on store shelves Aug. 24th. I have preordered copies for BHS so they'll be here waiting for you when we return to school in September.

What are your predictions? Will Katniss successfully start a revolution? Will District 9 rule Panem? Will the ultimate hero be the mockingjay? Has the mockingjay been gathering information that it will communicate to Katniss? What are you wondering?

Review by Mrs. Boehm

Hunger: A Gone Novel by Michael Grant

I started to read Hunger: A Gone Novel by Michael Grant and realized that I was reading the sequel, so make sure you read Gone first.

The book begins three months after the events in Gone and as the title suggests, food is running out. Sam has been elected Mayor and things aren’t going so well. Tensions between the “muties” and “normals” begin to rise with the prospect of war. Lana “the healer” has moved far away from the town to escape the constant bombardment of requests to heal minor injuries such as scrapes and paper cuts, however, she is still plagued by her memories of her encounter with “the Darkness”. Cain, also weakened by his encounter with “the Darkness”, is suffering from the bombardment nighttime fits of “hungry in the dark”. As “the Darkness” grows stronger, it’s control drives people to do unthinkable acts of insanity that help it to it’s ultimate goal of everlasting darkness there by allowing it to do as it pleases.

If you liked Gone you’ll love Hunger and since both books are incredibly long, it will keep you busy for the third installment, Lies, coming in May 2010.

Review by student Noah K.

Types of Books We've Read To Date

Chartle is a web-based tool for creating simple & interactive charts. I wanted to try it. How do you like this pie chart of the books we've read to date? How would you use it? Besides this pie chart, you can create many others - bar, line, Venn, scatter, tables, maps, and more. Take Chartle for a test drive!




By Mrs. Boehm

Gone by Michael Grant

Well for starters, I ended up reading a quarter of the way into the sequel before realizing that it was the sequel. As I do with all books before reading them, I read the inside cover for a short synopsis to help me decide whether I wanted to read it or not. This one seemed interesting to me so I decided I would try it. As it turns out, Gone, by Michael Grant, is about a town called Perdido Beach that out of nowhere has all of its adults and kids over the age of fourteen disappear. This is in fact where the book actually starts, right after the main character Sam Temple and his class watch their teacher disappear. Sam, his friends Quinn, Astrid, and Edilio, and Astrid’s younger, autistic brother “Little Pete” form a group and work to survive in a world ruled by bullies and without any type of help that adults can offer such as fire departments, police, and government. If things weren’t bad enough, the whole community is surrounded by a giant bubble called the FAYZ (Fallout Ally Youth Zone). Eventually people begin to develop supernatural abilities such as the ability to shoot fire from their hands. Matters get worse when a large group of rich kids lead by Cain, his psychopathic right hand man Drake, and seductive left hand Diana move in to take over.
The book is really engaging and there are a lot of plot twisters that you may or may not expect as well as a few minor “power” struggles all leading up to… Well you’ll just have to find out.

Review by student Noah K.

My Swordhand is Singing by Marcus Sedgwick

I always look at the cover of the book to help me decide if it's worth reading. I had many thoughts going through my head as I looked at this book: what a strange title, what a strange cover illustration and what strange reviews written on the back cover of this book. But one review caught my attention -- "A finely written, bone-chilling gothic tale." - said Publishing News about My Swordhand is Singing by Marcus Sedgwick. I like a good mystery but I have never read a horror gothic tale and wanted to find out what this book was about.

The story takes place in Eastern Europe during the early seventeenth century in a small secluded village in the forest. I was halfway into the book and nothing horrific or scary was taking place. I was ready to give up and read something more to my liking. Then things started happening -- people were dying, animals were being attacked, and the villagers believed in old tales and songs of the past. People were acting very strange! The pace of the story picked up and I was able to finally finish the book.

I was completely surprised by the ending and was even more surprised by the "Author's Note" about his book. I had no idea that what I was reading was actually about......... Sorry, I can't tell you - maybe you should read this book to see if you are as surprised by the ending as I was.

Reviewed by Mrs. Finney

Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have by Allen Zadoff

I was so hoping to read a good book over the Christmas vacation. All those days off stretched before me and I imagined time to relax, be lazy, and just find time for reading. With a stack of books in my arms, I left my public library with so many choices. Not so fast!

The first two I tried were way too graphic. I like a good mystery but these were beyond being the simple "who dunnit" mysteries. I had to stop reading them because the images I created in my mind were just too gory.

Let me try a young adult fiction. How bad can that be? I usually find the authors of YA lit to be quite good with stories that keep me intrigued. So I opened Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have by Allen Zadoff. I knew this was going to be a story of a high school boy with very low self esteem - he was fat and bullied for it. What I didn't expect was a predictable story. You know what I mean - boy eats too much and feels depressed - boy gets bullied at school yet has a few friends who stand up for him - boy inadvertently connects with the captain of the football team - boy soon is a star player - boy discovers he was tricked into joining the team - boy stands up for himself and quits but not before the big game which he pulls off the big win - boy goes back to his original friends realizing the true meaning of life, family, and friendship.

Maybe I just wasn't looking for that kind of predictable story. Afterall, I did finish reading it and did not give up. What was I looking for? Maybe just a simple story that didn't task my brain. It was vacation.

Reviewed by Mrs. Boehm

The Hunger Games, Book 3 by Suzanne Collins

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.

Reviewed by Mrs. Boehm