Local author (from Collingswood!!) Matthew Quick is coming to the Haddonfield Public Library on June 3rd for a reading and book signing. Be the first to read his new book, SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR, and win a copy before the event! Click on this link and sign up to win a copy.
Sorta Like a Rock Star
Catching Fire – Giveaway Contest!
**This is NOT a review, it’s promoting a contest and my own predictions on what I think will happen!!**
No, I haven’t gotten my hands on a copy of this yet, but there is a blog that is giving away ONE copy of the book! The link to the entry can be found below: http://www.linussblanket.com/2009/06/giveaway-catching-fire-by-suzanne-collins-arc/
All of you who have read this (or have just finished it in class with me!) should be able to post a response to what YOU think will happen in the next book (or what you want to happen!)
Behind on My Blog…
So I’m behind on my blog, but NOT behind on my reading. I have many books to update, but life has been getting in the way.
Here’s what to come:
Madapple – Christina Meldrum
Found – Mary Peterson Haddix
The Missing Girl – Norma Fox Mazer
Graceling – Kristin Cashore
Impossible – Nancy Werlin
My Most Excellent Year: A novel of love, Mary Poppins, and Fenway Park by Steve Kluger
Currently Reading – Chains: Seeds of America
How NOT to be Popular
© 2008, Delacorte Press
Sugar Magnolia Dempsey (Maggie – for short) is a child of two free-spirited hippies who have moved from place to place Maggie’s entire life. Although Maggie has inherited some of her parents’ appreciation for living an organic, natural lifestyle, she doesn’t understand why that includes uprooting her life everytime she starts to fit in. Her parents’ latest move take Maggie from her home in Portland, Oregon and move her into Austin, Texas. Leaving behind her best friend, and even worse, her boyfriend, her first true love. The thought of starting over only to have to leave again is too painful for Maggie to deal with, so she decides at her new school she will do anything possible to keep from making any friends. She dresses in outrageous clothing from her father’s thrift store, she sits alone at lunch, she verbally accosts the popular girls, and despite all her efforts, people still want to befriend her, or at least get to know her better. After all her efforts to not be popular, suddenly Maggie is the most talked about girl at school. The students love her for being “real,” even though Maggie feels anything but real. She is even nominated for Homecoming Queen. Maggie doesn’t want any of this attention, nor does she want to date the young Republican type boy who is showing an awful lot of interest in her, but the more she pushes these people away, the more it hurts. If she was trying to avoid the hurt by not making any friends at all, why does she feel so much emotion when she hasn’t even left yet? And what happens if this is the place Maggie’s parents decide to settle in for good, will there be anyone left by the end who will want to be Maggie’s friend?
A funny, charming story, Maggie is the kind of character who everyone can love (and it’s clear why she has always been popular). A must-read for any kid who has every had any doubts about what it truly means to fit in, and wonders if popularity is the solution to any of life’s problems.
Appropriate for ages 12+
The Hunger Games
© 2008, Scholastic Press
In the future, North America is in ruins. The government has broken down and has been replaced with the Capitol. At one time there were 13 districts… until the rebellion and now 12 districts exist only to cater to the needs of the Capitol. The 13th district’s memory is to serve as reminder that no one shall rebel and rise up against the way things are again. Another reminder is The Hunger Games. Every year, each district is forced to choose 2 tributes to represent their district – a boy and a girl between the ages of 12 and 18. Everyone in the age range must enter, every single year. Some of the poor even choose to barter an extra entry for a meager ration of food. In some districts it’s an honor and they train their youth to be tributes, to volunteer to take the place of those who are chosen. In other districts, it’s a death sentence and no one would dare volunteer to go in their place. The object of the game is simple – Live. The last tribute alive is the victor and will be showered with food and fortune, special housing and fame. The country will watch as one teenager from their home district kills off the other or gets killed themselves, as the entire game is broadcast across the country. Alliances are formed, but eventually they must be broken. Only one can survive. This is life and death in the most primal sense.
16 year old Katniss has been the provider for her younger sister and mother since her father died 5 years prior in a coal mining explosion (District 12 is the coal mining district – and the country’s poorest district). Through the years, her hunting skills have developed and Katniss keeps her family in good shape. She lives to protect the one person she truly loves, her little sister. On the day of the reaping (the ceremony in each district that selects the tributes for the Hunger Games), against all odds, the girl who is selected is Katniss’s 12 year old sister, Prim. Katniss immediately volunteers to take her place as a tribute, considering this a life sacrifice, but she would never be able to live with herself sending her sister off to be killed in the games. It is the only option. The boy’s name who is drawn turns out to be a boy who saved Katniss’s family when they were near starvation after her father died. She feels that he is the one person she owes her life to, and now he is someone she will have kill if she ever wants to return home to her family again.
An amazing story of love, friendship, and ultimately, survival. The characters are rich and likeable. The games are horrifying and brutal. And the questions it raises in the minds of the reader will stay long after the book is over.
It is part of a trilogy – the second book in the series will be released 9/09
Appropriate for ages 12+
Artichoke’s Heart
© 2008, Dutton Juvenile
“Mother spent $700 on a treadmill ‘from Santa’ that I will never use.”
Rosemary Goode receives for Christmas: one $700 treadmill, two diet books, three tickets to the Healing the Fat Girl Within conference, and a collection of Emily Dickinson poems. As a girl who has always been fat, with a mother and aunt who have always been skinny, Rosemary has been harassed by her size 0 Aunt Mary about losing weight for as long as she can remember, and longs for her mother to just once take her side instead of her Aunt’s. The more Rosemary is pushed to lose weight, the more she eats. And eats. And eats. Until after Christmas break, her weight balloons to an all-time high of 203 pounds. Her only pair of pants that fit? Her sweat pants, and even they are tight! After an older overweight woman at her mother’s well-known beauty salon claims she looked just like Rosemary, Rosemary finally has her moment of realization and decides to lose weight, once and for all. Driven by a new crush at school – the football star who is himself “enormously strapping,” Rosemary gives up her “other men – Mr. Hershey, Mr. Reese’s, Mr. M&M.” But just as she is starting to make progress (both with her weight and with her crush), her mother is diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease, a type of cancer. For the first time, Rosemary doesn’t turn to food as her comfort and her crutch, she decides to see her new diet through – no matter what it takes.
Despite the sheer terror of diet, exercise, and romance, Rosemary starts to focus on the things she wants (even though she doesn’t feel that she is deserving of them – at least not yet). A happy family, a perky best friend, an enormous strapping jock boy to call her very own. This is all Rosemary wants – well that and to be thin. Without telling her mother or her aunt, Rosemary starts drinking Pounds-Away instead of eating her regular meals. She uses her treadmill for more than just drying her undergarments in her room. She even befriends one of the most popular girls at school during a impromptu outside walk. But as the pounds start to drop off, Rosemary must come to terms with more than just weight loss. If thin is the answer – how come there are still so many questions?
A fast paced, one sitting read – Artichoke’s Heart tells the story of family, friendship, and first love while figuring out who you are underneath the fat.
A good book for girl’s of any shape or size – appropriate for ages 13+
Currently Reading – You Know Where to Find Me by Rachel Cohn
In School Read Alouds: Hunger Games by Suzzane Collins (1st); The Missing, Book 1:Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix (5th)
the dead & the gone
© 2008, Harcourt Publishers
A companion novel to Life As We Knew it (see previous review), this story follows the life of Alex Morales from the night the meteor hits the moon. Alex is a junior at a prestigous high school in New York City who dreams of making it big when he goes to college. Hardwork and school have been Alex’s life for so long, but now New York City is facing a crisis. As a coastal city, they have been hit hard by the changing tides due to the moon’s new orbit and Manhatten is slowly turning in a wasteland. Alex’s parents have disappeared, and he’s left to take care of his two younger sisters. As days turn to weeks and even months, Alex realizes he’s the head of the household and must grow up faster than he intended. Facing the severity of the situation, Alex is forced to barter goods stolen from his apartment building (no one really lives there anymore – so is it still stealing if no one is there to claim it?), “body shopping”, and risk his integrity and his family’s just for food so he and his sisters can survive. Few of the boys at his prestigious high school have returned to continue their education, many of them have been transported out of the city on the convoy buses designated to save Manhattan’s elite. Alex’s friend Chris gave him a card that may help him and his sisters escape the treachery that is overpowering the city, but will he get the chance to use it before it’s too late??
The third book in the exciting series, This World We Live In, brings Miranda from Life As We Knew It and Alex together (and many other characters whose whereabouts have been unknown/presumed dead) in what hopefully will be another gripping tale of survival in this new apocolyptic world (publish date – TBD).
Appropriate for ages 12+
Currently Reading: You Know Where to Find Me by Rachel Cohn, © 2008, Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing
Life As We Knew It
© 2006, Harcourt Publishers
16 year old Miranda wants to go to prom, swim on the swim team, and keep posted on her favorite figure skater’s journey to the olympics. However, all that changes when a meteor hits the moon, knocking it off it’s orbit. In a day, life as Miranda knew it has changed. Her town, the country, the world is in chaos and no one knows if life will ever return to normal. Natural disasters are wrecking entire cities and countries, oil refineries are destroyed, travel is halted, and school is canceled – indefinitely. Miranda and her family do whatever it takes to survive. Told through journal entries from Miranda’s perspective, this story is a terrifying and exciting tale of what life could be like if we suddenly lost all that we have become accustom to.
Appropriate for ages 12+
Currently Reading – The Dead & the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer, © 2008 Harcourt Publishers
Welcome!
Hey kids,
Welcome to Ms. B’s blog of really good books. I’ve started this blog for my students and other book lovers who are looking for something great to read. Occassionally, I’ll have guest bloggers (students) or I’ll have some posts of things other than just books, but are related to great books.
Here’s how it all works – Once I have finished reading a book that I really enjoy, I’ll post a review to the blog. The blog title will be the title of the book. Each entry will include a brief summary of the book, book cover (if I can find one), appropriate grade level, and read alikes (books that are similar in style/content) if I can find any. I will also post the title of the book that I am currently reading – in case anyone wants to read ahead!
Facts about Ms. B:
I’m a 6th grade teacher in New Jersey with my Master’s in Library and Information Science (which is a fancy term for my degree that will allow me to become a librarian, one day). I love reading (duh!), and writing. I also love photography, and making scrapbooks, and other crafty type projects. My constant companion is a slobbery dog named Dante, who likes it when I read aloud to him (who doesn’t??).
Read more about Ms. B and how I came to be where I am today
**Disclaimer** – The book reviews I post on this site are intended to make suggestions for my students who are looking for something new and good to read. I am not a professional book reviewer, I just read a lot of books – and am tired of answering the same question “What books in here are GOOD?” So here they are… GOOD books, really!
Currently Reading – Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer, Harcourt Books, 2006.
Really Good Books 