Friday, July 25, 2008
Let's Travel Abroad!
Oddly, both of these titles are the second in a series, so I will have to hunt down the first, but I did enjoy Sabine Durrant's Bon Voyage, Connie Pickles and Piper Banks' Geek Abroad. In the first, an English girl goes to France on a home stay visit and tries to track down her estranged grandparents. Pleasant and amusing. In Banks' offering, an American math whiz goes to London to visit her author mother, meets hot English boy, and then returns to the states. Best travel book EVER remains Maureen Johnson's 13 Little Blue Envelopes, and Rachel Hawthorne's trilogy-in-one-volume A Year Abroad has lots of travel details. These, along with the Students Across the Seven Seas books, have been very popular with my girls, so I will definitely purchase these.
R. L. Stine and other titles
Note: New R.L. Stine books are much nicer to read than yellowed, falling apart books. Not that this makes a real difference in circulation, but if you have very popular titles in your library, some might need to be replaced.
That said, the newest series, Fear Street Nights, is really quite horrible. Premise: High school seniors sneak out of their homes and run about Fear Street at night, takes artifacts from the ramshackle Fear mansion before it is torn down. Of course, these items are directly connected to Angelica Fear, about whom I last read in the Cheerleaders series. And here she is, back again, possessing teenagers so that she can kill those who stole from her in horrible ways, many involving cockroaches coming out of their mouths or blood spurting from their ears.
The teens manage to swill some beer, bully classmates, and engage in other unattractive and undesirable behaviours. After a while, I started to hope that the green gaseous cloud of Angelica Fear will just descend on the barkeep at the bar built on top of the mansion site. And really, with that sort of mortality rate, wouldn't people start to move away from the area? The titles are Moonlight Secrets, Midnight Game, and Darkest Dawn.
That said, I didn't mind The Rich Girl, which had a somewhat moral tone-- if you steal money that doesn't belong to you, the guilt might drive you mad before your friends gaslight you into believing you have killed one of them. Had its moments. There is a new copy available. The Perfect Date also was pretty good, and students who don't immediately understand that Rosha Nelson is really Sharon Noles will learn a little about anagrams at the end.
Denise Vega's Fact of Life #31 had way too much about midwifery and child birth for it to be all that interesting to middle schoolers, so I'll pass on that. L'Engle's posthumous publication of her 1940s novel, The Joys of Love also lacks appeal for this age. I would get that only for hard core L'Engle fans. Dobkin's Neptune's Children started out okay (freak plague kills all the adults, stranding a bunch of children in an amusement park), but I couldn't get into it. I'll recommend O.T.Nelson's The Girl Who Owned the City for students seeking postapocalyptic tales. Gloria Whelan's Parade of Shadows was a historical novel that addressed an odd time and place, and those move slowly in my library.
That said, the newest series, Fear Street Nights, is really quite horrible. Premise: High school seniors sneak out of their homes and run about Fear Street at night, takes artifacts from the ramshackle Fear mansion before it is torn down. Of course, these items are directly connected to Angelica Fear, about whom I last read in the Cheerleaders series. And here she is, back again, possessing teenagers so that she can kill those who stole from her in horrible ways, many involving cockroaches coming out of their mouths or blood spurting from their ears.
The teens manage to swill some beer, bully classmates, and engage in other unattractive and undesirable behaviours. After a while, I started to hope that the green gaseous cloud of Angelica Fear will just descend on the barkeep at the bar built on top of the mansion site. And really, with that sort of mortality rate, wouldn't people start to move away from the area? The titles are Moonlight Secrets, Midnight Game, and Darkest Dawn.
That said, I didn't mind The Rich Girl, which had a somewhat moral tone-- if you steal money that doesn't belong to you, the guilt might drive you mad before your friends gaslight you into believing you have killed one of them. Had its moments. There is a new copy available. The Perfect Date also was pretty good, and students who don't immediately understand that Rosha Nelson is really Sharon Noles will learn a little about anagrams at the end.
Denise Vega's Fact of Life #31 had way too much about midwifery and child birth for it to be all that interesting to middle schoolers, so I'll pass on that. L'Engle's posthumous publication of her 1940s novel, The Joys of Love also lacks appeal for this age. I would get that only for hard core L'Engle fans. Dobkin's Neptune's Children started out okay (freak plague kills all the adults, stranding a bunch of children in an amusement park), but I couldn't get into it. I'll recommend O.T.Nelson's The Girl Who Owned the City for students seeking postapocalyptic tales. Gloria Whelan's Parade of Shadows was a historical novel that addressed an odd time and place, and those move slowly in my library.
Monday, July 21, 2008
New titles from Rachel Vail and Caroline Meyer
I'll blame the heat and humidity on my opinion of these, since I will go ahead and buy them.
Vail's Lucky was a little too much like the Lisi Harrison Clique books for my taste. Girl lives in upscale community with all the amenities, and her friends are throwing a huge 8th grade graduation party. (For one, NEVER heard of such a thing, especially on the scale described. But this is Ohio.) Girl's mother loses job, and family has to cut back, including the party.
I usually can count on Vail to take a pink book and give it resonance, but I could not get into this one. Her big problem is a dress for the party? Hmmm. Did very much enjoy the fact that the mother was the high powered earner and the father was a school teacher. Still, didn't much like the main character.
Meyer's In Mozart's Shadow (Probably got that wrong-- high schooler has it in her room and I refuse to enter!) was interesting-- it follows the path of Mozart's sister, and covers her travails at not being given as many opportunities because she is a girl, and not quite as talented. The period costumes, mores, and prejudices are all well-portrayed, but the adventures of the Family Mozart all got to be a bit samey after a while. I'm sure this is an accurate portrayal, but some of the other Meyer titles are a little more exciting.
Have a Connie Pickles book to read now, and it looks quite fun. It's the sequel, but it's a British book. Don't know how I missed the first one.
Vail's Lucky was a little too much like the Lisi Harrison Clique books for my taste. Girl lives in upscale community with all the amenities, and her friends are throwing a huge 8th grade graduation party. (For one, NEVER heard of such a thing, especially on the scale described. But this is Ohio.) Girl's mother loses job, and family has to cut back, including the party.
I usually can count on Vail to take a pink book and give it resonance, but I could not get into this one. Her big problem is a dress for the party? Hmmm. Did very much enjoy the fact that the mother was the high powered earner and the father was a school teacher. Still, didn't much like the main character.
Meyer's In Mozart's Shadow (Probably got that wrong-- high schooler has it in her room and I refuse to enter!) was interesting-- it follows the path of Mozart's sister, and covers her travails at not being given as many opportunities because she is a girl, and not quite as talented. The period costumes, mores, and prejudices are all well-portrayed, but the adventures of the Family Mozart all got to be a bit samey after a while. I'm sure this is an accurate portrayal, but some of the other Meyer titles are a little more exciting.
Have a Connie Pickles book to read now, and it looks quite fun. It's the sequel, but it's a British book. Don't know how I missed the first one.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Sic Transit Rosemary Sutcliff (again?)
7/21/2008--Thanks to Charlotte, who commented on which of the Sutcliffe are better. When I get back to the library, I will have to check. I'm glad I wasn't alone in disliking Frontier Wolf!
Even though I was stranded in an orthopedist's office for an hour and a half with ONLY Sutcliff's Frontier Wolf between me and being so bored that would start making sculptures out of the cotton balls and tongue depressors, it was still excruciatingly hard to slog through. I read the whole thing with close concentration, and I still can't really tell you what it's about. Oh, sorta Roman Alexios does something bad and gets sent to a fort at the edges of the Empire dealing with various British natives while running the Frontier Wolves who are keeping the peace in the area. Peace is hard to keep. Various people keep stealing horses and shooting arrows at them, and then the Frontier Wolves have to slog through the mud. There are battles, and a lot of people get killed, and then they deal with some more tribes.
Is it any wonder that even though two copies of this book has been in the library since 1980, this one has only been checked out once? To a really heavy-duty reader on my recommendation? And he wasn't wild about it? In theory, these books should go out well, because they are about a time period the students enjoy, and about wars, but the details are so ponderous that the stories are tough going.
I'm going to start weeding them. I'll plow through them first, but unless something really strikes me as marvelous, they are moving on to better homes.
Mary Stewart's A Walk in Wolf Wood was somewhat similar, but with more magic thrown in, and somehow much better. From the same time (1980), this read more like a much older book because of the suspension of disbelief the reader is asked to take. John and Margaret are on a picnic with their parents when they see a man in medeival dress going through the forest. They follow him, only to end up back in time, and being the only people who can save the man from an evil sorcerer who has turned him into a werwolf and impersonated him back at the castle so he can kill the king.
This was charming instead of onerous. Fans of Dealing with Dragons and maybe Tamora Pierce would like this one. I will have to look up this author's Arthurian Saga, which I am surprised to say is not in my library!
Eleanora Tate's The Secret of Gumbo Grove was a fine mystery, but the very, very Southern quality of it irked me. Mystyer fans who don't mind that will enjoy the story of Raisin, who helps an elderly neighbor clean up an old cemetary and in doing so, finds out many scandals and stories of the past. When one of these stories might help save the cemetary from destruction, Raisin and her friends do some research and find out that sometimes people don't want the past to be known.
Obviously taking a breather from the Stine.
Even though I was stranded in an orthopedist's office for an hour and a half with ONLY Sutcliff's Frontier Wolf between me and being so bored that would start making sculptures out of the cotton balls and tongue depressors, it was still excruciatingly hard to slog through. I read the whole thing with close concentration, and I still can't really tell you what it's about. Oh, sorta Roman Alexios does something bad and gets sent to a fort at the edges of the Empire dealing with various British natives while running the Frontier Wolves who are keeping the peace in the area. Peace is hard to keep. Various people keep stealing horses and shooting arrows at them, and then the Frontier Wolves have to slog through the mud. There are battles, and a lot of people get killed, and then they deal with some more tribes.
Is it any wonder that even though two copies of this book has been in the library since 1980, this one has only been checked out once? To a really heavy-duty reader on my recommendation? And he wasn't wild about it? In theory, these books should go out well, because they are about a time period the students enjoy, and about wars, but the details are so ponderous that the stories are tough going.
I'm going to start weeding them. I'll plow through them first, but unless something really strikes me as marvelous, they are moving on to better homes.
Mary Stewart's A Walk in Wolf Wood was somewhat similar, but with more magic thrown in, and somehow much better. From the same time (1980), this read more like a much older book because of the suspension of disbelief the reader is asked to take. John and Margaret are on a picnic with their parents when they see a man in medeival dress going through the forest. They follow him, only to end up back in time, and being the only people who can save the man from an evil sorcerer who has turned him into a werwolf and impersonated him back at the castle so he can kill the king.
This was charming instead of onerous. Fans of Dealing with Dragons and maybe Tamora Pierce would like this one. I will have to look up this author's Arthurian Saga, which I am surprised to say is not in my library!
Eleanora Tate's The Secret of Gumbo Grove was a fine mystery, but the very, very Southern quality of it irked me. Mystyer fans who don't mind that will enjoy the story of Raisin, who helps an elderly neighbor clean up an old cemetary and in doing so, finds out many scandals and stories of the past. When one of these stories might help save the cemetary from destruction, Raisin and her friends do some research and find out that sometimes people don't want the past to be known.
Obviously taking a breather from the Stine.
Paula Yoo's Good Enough.
Good Enough was quite good! Patti is finishing up her senior year in high school, and her parents have put a lot of pressure on her. Get the concert master position in the All-State orchestra, do really well on the SAT, get into Harvardyaleprinceton, be charming at church, help around the house. Patti has done all of these things for years, and comes to realize that while this makes her parents happy, it isn't doing a whole lot for her.
She meets Ben, otherwise known as Hot Trumpet Guy. She is so enthralled that she muffs her orchestra audition and ends up as assistant concert master. Parents are not pleased. She becomes friends with Ben, and sneaks off to play music with him. Again, parents are not pleased. She eventually does better at the SAT and looks to have the college application thing in hand, but will following her parents' choices of Ivy League schools make her happy? She applies to Juilliard without their knowledge and starts to think about what it is that SHE wants to do with her life.
The descriptions of Patti's interactions with Ben are wonderful and painful at the same time. She can hardly breathe in his presence, and yet knows that while he is being nice to her, he's going to keep dating the cute cheerleader types. The whole relationship is realistically played; they become friends again after Patti tells Ben she likes him, but not for a long time, and not forever. He moves on through her life, and that is the way relationships often evolve.
A big part of this book is the fact that Patti and her parents are Korean. This is evidenced throughout the book (who knew that Koreans were so fond of Spam?), and yet wasn't the driving force behind the book. I wanted to be friends with Patti-- I think we would have gotten along. I was never as smart or as musically talented, but I had many of the same frustrations and delusions. I was glad that things worked out in the end, especially when I read the back flap and suspected that this is a somewhat autobiographical tale.
I can buy this and pass it off as Pink, even though I will be buying it because it's a dead on description of how high school can be, and because I was glad to live through it with Patti.
She meets Ben, otherwise known as Hot Trumpet Guy. She is so enthralled that she muffs her orchestra audition and ends up as assistant concert master. Parents are not pleased. She becomes friends with Ben, and sneaks off to play music with him. Again, parents are not pleased. She eventually does better at the SAT and looks to have the college application thing in hand, but will following her parents' choices of Ivy League schools make her happy? She applies to Juilliard without their knowledge and starts to think about what it is that SHE wants to do with her life.
The descriptions of Patti's interactions with Ben are wonderful and painful at the same time. She can hardly breathe in his presence, and yet knows that while he is being nice to her, he's going to keep dating the cute cheerleader types. The whole relationship is realistically played; they become friends again after Patti tells Ben she likes him, but not for a long time, and not forever. He moves on through her life, and that is the way relationships often evolve.
A big part of this book is the fact that Patti and her parents are Korean. This is evidenced throughout the book (who knew that Koreans were so fond of Spam?), and yet wasn't the driving force behind the book. I wanted to be friends with Patti-- I think we would have gotten along. I was never as smart or as musically talented, but I had many of the same frustrations and delusions. I was glad that things worked out in the end, especially when I read the back flap and suspected that this is a somewhat autobiographical tale.
I can buy this and pass it off as Pink, even though I will be buying it because it's a dead on description of how high school can be, and because I was glad to live through it with Patti.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Slow Internet, More Stine
Feel I should explain the poor quality of summer blogging. When I use the computer at home, I have incredibly slow internet (so High Schooler can't use MySpace-- it works quite well. She gets frustrated and gives up!), PLUS children who like to look over my shoulder. Stick with me, and things WILL improve in the fall.
Finished McNab's Meltdown (as well as the back of a cable knit sweater). I am looking forward to seeing if Danny gets books on his own, now that his grandfather, Fergus is out of the picture due to injuries. A great four book series.
Stine round up:
First Date: The stalker you suspect is never the stalker you should fear. Chelsea is shy and dateless until two boys appear in her life-- Sparks, who seems dangerous and impulsive, and Will, who is a nice boy from her school. When her life takes a frightening turn, Chelsea's instincts don't serve her well.
The Girlfriend: If your girlfriend goes out of town, don't date other girls, especially ones you find on the side of the road. Scotty makes this mistake and ends up with psychopathic girl who offs TWO pets. I find this a particularly disturbing facet of Stine's work, and of all the warped and bloody things in Stine's books, puts me off more than any of them. After all of the stalking and beating, things work out for Scotty when he comes clean to first girlfriend. There are local interests in this book-- Westerville is mentioned, and the school Scotty attends is in a neighboring town. (Stine is from Ohio and went to OSU.)
Killer's Kiss: Nice twist at the end, but in order to get to it, you had to read about Delia putting on her purple lipstick too many times. Delia and Karina compete for everything, especially Vincent. Bad things happen to everyone-- I really thought it was Delia's sister, so fooled me.
Next to read: Alfred Kropp, if I can find the copy in my son's messy room.
Finished McNab's Meltdown (as well as the back of a cable knit sweater). I am looking forward to seeing if Danny gets books on his own, now that his grandfather, Fergus is out of the picture due to injuries. A great four book series.
Stine round up:
First Date: The stalker you suspect is never the stalker you should fear. Chelsea is shy and dateless until two boys appear in her life-- Sparks, who seems dangerous and impulsive, and Will, who is a nice boy from her school. When her life takes a frightening turn, Chelsea's instincts don't serve her well.
The Girlfriend: If your girlfriend goes out of town, don't date other girls, especially ones you find on the side of the road. Scotty makes this mistake and ends up with psychopathic girl who offs TWO pets. I find this a particularly disturbing facet of Stine's work, and of all the warped and bloody things in Stine's books, puts me off more than any of them. After all of the stalking and beating, things work out for Scotty when he comes clean to first girlfriend. There are local interests in this book-- Westerville is mentioned, and the school Scotty attends is in a neighboring town. (Stine is from Ohio and went to OSU.)
Killer's Kiss: Nice twist at the end, but in order to get to it, you had to read about Delia putting on her purple lipstick too many times. Delia and Karina compete for everything, especially Vincent. Bad things happen to everyone-- I really thought it was Delia's sister, so fooled me.
Next to read: Alfred Kropp, if I can find the copy in my son's messy room.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Reviewer X
Hey, I'm all for shameless self-promotion. The unusually astute Review X has posted a blogger profile of me on her site. She does great reviews, too, usually of slightly older stuff than I cover. Check it out! She has contests, too!
http://reviewerx.blogspot.com/
http://reviewerx.blogspot.com/
Scheduling Reading Time
Having trouble getting your children to read over the summer? Finding that you aren't getting any reading done over break either? It has come to light in our household that a lack of schedule, although a wonderful thing, is making it difficult to get books read even though there is more time to do so. During the year, we are all pretty much quiet, curled up and reading by 7 or 8 p.m. Now, I have books scattered all over the house and get distracted by the nine baby quilts I want to get finished today, or the back of my cable knit sweater. Or I need to walk the dog or dust the baseboards. High Schooler has not started reading Winterdance or Spite Fences for honors English, so I am not going to blame R.L. Stine for my lack of reading. We will blame lack of scheduling, and put procedures in place to remedy this!
That said, McNab's Payback, Avenger and Meltdown are still going slowly. They are very, with lots of action and more importantly, lots of intricate detail about international espionage, but since the covers are all very similar and I have them all over the house, I keep picking up the same one I've just finished.
If you have a fan of spy novels, these are great. There are a few bad words, but the books are so good that I have been turning a blind eye to them. This is one of the few times I've done this.
At 8:00 p.m., I have an appointment with.... The Girlfriend, First Date and Killer's Kiss. What fun!
That said, McNab's Payback, Avenger and Meltdown are still going slowly. They are very, with lots of action and more importantly, lots of intricate detail about international espionage, but since the covers are all very similar and I have them all over the house, I keep picking up the same one I've just finished.
If you have a fan of spy novels, these are great. There are a few bad words, but the books are so good that I have been turning a blind eye to them. This is one of the few times I've done this.
At 8:00 p.m., I have an appointment with.... The Girlfriend, First Date and Killer's Kiss. What fun!
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Beneath My Mother's Feet
Amjed Qamar's first novel, set in Pakistan, is something that every malcontented 14-year-old U.S. girl needs to read. Not only is it an interesting depiction of daily life that is much different from the one we know, it is a wonderful example of the things that adolescents in the U.S. take for granted. Don't have a cell phone? Be grateful that you are allowed to go to school.
Nazia is not so lucky. Her father, a construction worker, is injured in an accident and becomes ill-inclined to work, even after he recovers. Her older brother, Bilal, does not contribute to the family income and breaks into the home to steal Nazia's dowry. Without the dowry, her arranged marriage to a cousin is called off. Her mother pulls her out of school so that she can help watch her brother and sister while the mother cleans houses. The family situation worsens, and soon the family is living in an unused outbuilding at one of the homes that they clean.
This is a great book to give to students who like problem novel. Like Iqbal, this story brings another part of the world to life. I hope to see more from this author, who works in a nearby school system. Since it is so hard to get young adult books from other parts of the world, this is the next best thing.
In the same vein, I had great hopes for Zenati's A Bottle in the Gaza Sea, about an Israeli girl who gets to know a Palestinian boy via e mail. It didn't hit me quite right-- Nye's Habibi gave a much clearer picture of that part of the world.
Also working through the rest of the Andy McNab books still. Started to knit and do quilts, which is cutting into my reading time a lot!
Nazia is not so lucky. Her father, a construction worker, is injured in an accident and becomes ill-inclined to work, even after he recovers. Her older brother, Bilal, does not contribute to the family income and breaks into the home to steal Nazia's dowry. Without the dowry, her arranged marriage to a cousin is called off. Her mother pulls her out of school so that she can help watch her brother and sister while the mother cleans houses. The family situation worsens, and soon the family is living in an unused outbuilding at one of the homes that they clean.
This is a great book to give to students who like problem novel. Like Iqbal, this story brings another part of the world to life. I hope to see more from this author, who works in a nearby school system. Since it is so hard to get young adult books from other parts of the world, this is the next best thing.
In the same vein, I had great hopes for Zenati's A Bottle in the Gaza Sea, about an Israeli girl who gets to know a Palestinian boy via e mail. It didn't hit me quite right-- Nye's Habibi gave a much clearer picture of that part of the world.
Also working through the rest of the Andy McNab books still. Started to knit and do quilts, which is cutting into my reading time a lot!
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Suddenly Supernatural by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
Well, reluctant ten year old refused to read this, but I thought it was great fun. The best part was the characters-- Kat, Jac and Kat's mother were all people I would like to meet. The evil school mates were over the top in the way that most 8th graders really are, but even they had a human side. Especially appreciated-- Kat's mother is a medium, and a bit of a "hippie", but instead of just assuming that all parents are hippies, Kimmel describes the mother most delightfully.
Since Kat has to deal with "dead people" showing up at her house, she hasn't made a lot of friends until cello-toting Jac shows up. Right about this time, though, Kat starts seeing dead people, too, including a flute player who shows up in her school library. There is a mystery that must be solved, and some personal problems to be worked out, but it was a great book. I am still hoping to get Ms. Reluctant to read it. The words are nicely spaced on the page, and the book is blissfully easy to read.
Unlike R.L. Stine's...
Beware: R.L. Stine Picks His Favorite Scary Stories. Stine is a much better writer than I am, but he is not a better writer than Ray Bradbury, and Stine's work suffers being placed next to Bradbury's. The stories by other authors are very good.
The Dare. Was three chapters in before I realized I'd read this already.
The Dead Girlfriend. A decent whodunit with lots of false clues, as well as lots of violence. Who really is responsible for the death of Jonathan's old girlfriend? And will his new girlfriend suffer the same fate?
The Face. Repressed memories of trauma are a big theme in Stine's work, and this time a girl keeps drawing a boy's face and doesn't know why. How did this boy die, and what part did she play in it? There are some twists. Remember, check ski slopes for razor wire before heading down.
Goodnight Kiss. Summer time, seaside Vampire romance. Lots of people meet bad ends. Why is it easier when people meet bad ends? They usually do something to contribute to it. I'm still disturbed every time a pet wanders onto the pages of a Stine book. They usually meet gruesome and worrisome ends. In this one, though, it's vampires romping about, flying as bats and biting people's velvety necks.
Halloween Party. If you are invited to a party at a haunted house, don't go wandering around on your own. Again, people fake their own deaths for laughs and then end up dead, a character is exacting revenge for 30-year-old wrongs, and in the end, the evil person gets it. This is like a slasher film put on paper. On the upside, no pets are harmed.
Hit and Run. Okay, really, do people running morgues really let their friends borrow corpses for practical jokes? I don't think so. If I have learned nothing else from Stine, it's that I shouldn't take a dead body and stage an accident to get back at my friends, then stalk them and try to murder them all. Seemed silly to me, but I can see why students might find it intriguing.
Dangerous Girls and A Taste of Night. I had great hopes for these, since they were published in hard back, but they were more bat flying, wooden stake to the heart vampire books. Somewhat intriguing that one twin wanted to be a vampire and the other didn't, that the mother was bitten and then killed herself after turning her best friend into one of the undead, and that the father was now a vampire hunter, but I have little patience for vampire books that don't have some element of originality to the vampire myth, and these didn't. Plus, I felt really bad for the little brother, who was exhibiting a lot of signs of deep disturbance due to all of the deaths around him, but it wasn't a big part of the plot to get him help.
It has actually been very helpful to read these, if only so that when a student checks one out, I have some idea of what is being ingested. I did have to take a break and am working on the Andy McNab series, since the 4th one, Meltdown, has just come out.
Since Kat has to deal with "dead people" showing up at her house, she hasn't made a lot of friends until cello-toting Jac shows up. Right about this time, though, Kat starts seeing dead people, too, including a flute player who shows up in her school library. There is a mystery that must be solved, and some personal problems to be worked out, but it was a great book. I am still hoping to get Ms. Reluctant to read it. The words are nicely spaced on the page, and the book is blissfully easy to read.
Unlike R.L. Stine's...
Beware: R.L. Stine Picks His Favorite Scary Stories. Stine is a much better writer than I am, but he is not a better writer than Ray Bradbury, and Stine's work suffers being placed next to Bradbury's. The stories by other authors are very good.
The Dare. Was three chapters in before I realized I'd read this already.
The Dead Girlfriend. A decent whodunit with lots of false clues, as well as lots of violence. Who really is responsible for the death of Jonathan's old girlfriend? And will his new girlfriend suffer the same fate?
The Face. Repressed memories of trauma are a big theme in Stine's work, and this time a girl keeps drawing a boy's face and doesn't know why. How did this boy die, and what part did she play in it? There are some twists. Remember, check ski slopes for razor wire before heading down.
Goodnight Kiss. Summer time, seaside Vampire romance. Lots of people meet bad ends. Why is it easier when people meet bad ends? They usually do something to contribute to it. I'm still disturbed every time a pet wanders onto the pages of a Stine book. They usually meet gruesome and worrisome ends. In this one, though, it's vampires romping about, flying as bats and biting people's velvety necks.
Halloween Party. If you are invited to a party at a haunted house, don't go wandering around on your own. Again, people fake their own deaths for laughs and then end up dead, a character is exacting revenge for 30-year-old wrongs, and in the end, the evil person gets it. This is like a slasher film put on paper. On the upside, no pets are harmed.
Hit and Run. Okay, really, do people running morgues really let their friends borrow corpses for practical jokes? I don't think so. If I have learned nothing else from Stine, it's that I shouldn't take a dead body and stage an accident to get back at my friends, then stalk them and try to murder them all. Seemed silly to me, but I can see why students might find it intriguing.
Dangerous Girls and A Taste of Night. I had great hopes for these, since they were published in hard back, but they were more bat flying, wooden stake to the heart vampire books. Somewhat intriguing that one twin wanted to be a vampire and the other didn't, that the mother was bitten and then killed herself after turning her best friend into one of the undead, and that the father was now a vampire hunter, but I have little patience for vampire books that don't have some element of originality to the vampire myth, and these didn't. Plus, I felt really bad for the little brother, who was exhibiting a lot of signs of deep disturbance due to all of the deaths around him, but it wasn't a big part of the plot to get him help.
It has actually been very helpful to read these, if only so that when a student checks one out, I have some idea of what is being ingested. I did have to take a break and am working on the Andy McNab series, since the 4th one, Meltdown, has just come out.
Friday, June 27, 2008
The Compound by S.A. Bodeen
I'm not quite sure how to categorize this oddly compelling book. Is it science fiction? A problem novel? Hmmm.Eli's wealthy father built a vast underground complex for his family to use to escape nuclear war. When they finally have to move into it, Eli's twin brother and grandmother are caught on the outside. Still, the five of them exist in the luxurious compound, working at the gym, learning to play instruments, doing lessons on computers. There have been some mistakes, and after 6 years the food is running a bit low, but with 9 more years until it is safe for them to leave, they make do.
Saying any more would ruin the great plot twist. The reviews call this a thriller. Okay. Considering the father's slow descent into a madness not caused by being locked up, I'll buy that. And I'll definitely be buying the book.
Won't be buying Julia Bell's Dirty Work, but only because a book about girls being sold into prostitution would not go over well in a middle school library. For high schools, this would be a good choice. Aside from the occasional f-bomb (maybe 2 or 3), it's an interesting story about an English girl who gets kidnapped and ends up on a seamy side of life she's never seen. This author's Massive, about eating disorders, was gripping and dark as well.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Not Buying It
Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping by Judith Levine was more interesting as a place to start a conversation with my children about our buying habits rather than as a book that might give me some useful hints. It was, in some ways, a ridiculous book. The author and her partner do have three cars as well as two residences, and they live in New York City, which immediately makes them suspect. There are a lot of political and literary references in the book, since the author makes her living freelancing articles on popular culture affecting imtimate lives.
Most of her experiment struck me as silly. She misses seeing first run movies. We always check things out from the library. She complains about the library. She misses eating out because they eat out all the time. She has three different kinds of salt in her cabinet. There ARE three different kinds of salt?
We're thinking about doing this experiment in our home. It's lead to interesting conversations. When asked what they would miss buying, my 14 year old said "Socks and underwear". The ten year old worried about school supplies. We agreed that those were necessary consumables. A lenghthy discussion was had about whether or not postage stamps were a thing or a service.
In a way, this book was great, because it started these conversations. However, since we are debating whether or not Aldi's granola bars are a luxury (they are), and how we can break it to Grandma and Grandpa that we will no longer go out to eat on birthdays (about the only time we do eat out), the scope of this didn't speak to me on my level.
Also read The Fattening of America: How the Economy Makes Us Fat by Eric Finkelstein, and thought it was well done and insightful. When I couldn't quite grasp the economic theory because children wanted my attention, I could fall back on his explanations of how it affected his Uncle Al, who was a humanizing example throughout.
I really have to go back to YA literature instead of reading "preaching to the choir" books on life style choices!
Most of her experiment struck me as silly. She misses seeing first run movies. We always check things out from the library. She complains about the library. She misses eating out because they eat out all the time. She has three different kinds of salt in her cabinet. There ARE three different kinds of salt?
We're thinking about doing this experiment in our home. It's lead to interesting conversations. When asked what they would miss buying, my 14 year old said "Socks and underwear". The ten year old worried about school supplies. We agreed that those were necessary consumables. A lenghthy discussion was had about whether or not postage stamps were a thing or a service.
In a way, this book was great, because it started these conversations. However, since we are debating whether or not Aldi's granola bars are a luxury (they are), and how we can break it to Grandma and Grandpa that we will no longer go out to eat on birthdays (about the only time we do eat out), the scope of this didn't speak to me on my level.
Also read The Fattening of America: How the Economy Makes Us Fat by Eric Finkelstein, and thought it was well done and insightful. When I couldn't quite grasp the economic theory because children wanted my attention, I could fall back on his explanations of how it affected his Uncle Al, who was a humanizing example throughout.
I really have to go back to YA literature instead of reading "preaching to the choir" books on life style choices!
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
More Stine, adult nonfiction
Stine's Curtains is not for the squeamish. Between the various bouts with fake and real blood (a dead swan in an upper bunk doesn't cause the camp to shut down while the perpetrator is found? Ew.), it's more of the same stuff as the other books but without redeeming qualities. Set in a drama camp, it has a psychopath on the loose, a girl with a scary past, multiple times when people look like they are dead but they're only "joking", and way too much blood. Sorry, after the swan I just wasn't interested.
Have found that when I go to the actual library instead of having the wonderful Westerville Public Library deliver books for me, I am not as focused on young adult literature. I read some adult "beach reads", but I pick up mostly nonfiction on popular culture, and memoirs. Read Be Happy or I'll Scream, even though it was sort of warmed over Bombeck (really, is it funny any longer when people can't keep their houses clean? And if the woman's husband is home with the children, why isn't he keeping it clean?). Skimmed through Why We Buy and The Way We Never Were, but they were both sort of dry. Miserly Moms was okay but I'm so miserly it didn't tell me anything new. Enjoyed Anytime Playdate, about television being marketed to preschoolers. It was interesting that all of that began being an issue when my Ms. 10-year-old was about three. None of my children watched much television, and I'm glad. I'm looking forward to picking up Not Buying It today.
For some reason, I tend to dislike adult fiction, and young adult nonfiction. I think most of the nonfiction for young adults is very dull, or well-done but on topics students don't care about. (Like Murphy's great fire book that I can't get anyone to read.) Hmmm. Food for thought. (Probably chock full of high fructose corn syrup like everything else!)
Have found that when I go to the actual library instead of having the wonderful Westerville Public Library deliver books for me, I am not as focused on young adult literature. I read some adult "beach reads", but I pick up mostly nonfiction on popular culture, and memoirs. Read Be Happy or I'll Scream, even though it was sort of warmed over Bombeck (really, is it funny any longer when people can't keep their houses clean? And if the woman's husband is home with the children, why isn't he keeping it clean?). Skimmed through Why We Buy and The Way We Never Were, but they were both sort of dry. Miserly Moms was okay but I'm so miserly it didn't tell me anything new. Enjoyed Anytime Playdate, about television being marketed to preschoolers. It was interesting that all of that began being an issue when my Ms. 10-year-old was about three. None of my children watched much television, and I'm glad. I'm looking forward to picking up Not Buying It today.
For some reason, I tend to dislike adult fiction, and young adult nonfiction. I think most of the nonfiction for young adults is very dull, or well-done but on topics students don't care about. (Like Murphy's great fire book that I can't get anyone to read.) Hmmm. Food for thought. (Probably chock full of high fructose corn syrup like everything else!)
Friday, June 20, 2008
Some NEW books
Made a mad dash into the public library and picked up a bunch after my Survival Spanish class. Here are two phrases that may be useful to librarians:
El libro es tarde. (The book is late.) La perdista? (Have you lost it?)
The best by far was Box Out by John McCoy, who wrote the fabulous Crackback. Liam makes the varsity basketball team, and is fairly happy about this until the coach insists on saying prayers during games and having the players come to a once a week prayer meeting. Liam's family goes to a Catholic church and prays before dinner, but it's still not the right thing for the coach to do, and when the coach lies to Liam and tells him it's okay for the coach to lead prayers, Liam quits the team and starts to practice with the girls' team to help them out. While the plot is driven by the prayer issue, the meat of the book is about basketball and the motivation for playing. Liam contacts an organization that writes to the school and tells them the coach has to stop praying or they'll take the school to court, but it all works out. I liked the fact that Liam was religious, but wasn't comfortable with the way the coach was handling things.
P.B. Kerr's One Small Step started out promisingly-- 13 year old is flying plane with father when they are hit by a goose and almost crash. I also liked the idea that the boy was approached to fly in a space mission because of his flying skills and his small size, but the book just moved too slowly and I lost interest.
Anne Cassidy's Looking for JJ had a riveting premise-- a girl kills a friend when she is ten, is incarcerated, and then ends up being released. While she is trying to set up a new life under an assumed identity, reporters start looking for her, and she relives the horrors that brought her to the point of murder. This is a book more for high school students. There's abuse and neglect, creepy boyfriends, and a lot of anger in this book that makes it too intense for middle school students' parents!
Hoped that Kevin Brooks' Black Rabbit Summer would fall on the side of Candy and Road of the Dead, but it went the way of Martyn Pig. Bleah. Maybe for high schools with a large number of Brooks fans, but it's liberally sprinkled with f-bombs, and just kind of ooky.
El libro es tarde. (The book is late.) La perdista? (Have you lost it?)
The best by far was Box Out by John McCoy, who wrote the fabulous Crackback. Liam makes the varsity basketball team, and is fairly happy about this until the coach insists on saying prayers during games and having the players come to a once a week prayer meeting. Liam's family goes to a Catholic church and prays before dinner, but it's still not the right thing for the coach to do, and when the coach lies to Liam and tells him it's okay for the coach to lead prayers, Liam quits the team and starts to practice with the girls' team to help them out. While the plot is driven by the prayer issue, the meat of the book is about basketball and the motivation for playing. Liam contacts an organization that writes to the school and tells them the coach has to stop praying or they'll take the school to court, but it all works out. I liked the fact that Liam was religious, but wasn't comfortable with the way the coach was handling things.
P.B. Kerr's One Small Step started out promisingly-- 13 year old is flying plane with father when they are hit by a goose and almost crash. I also liked the idea that the boy was approached to fly in a space mission because of his flying skills and his small size, but the book just moved too slowly and I lost interest.
Anne Cassidy's Looking for JJ had a riveting premise-- a girl kills a friend when she is ten, is incarcerated, and then ends up being released. While she is trying to set up a new life under an assumed identity, reporters start looking for her, and she relives the horrors that brought her to the point of murder. This is a book more for high school students. There's abuse and neglect, creepy boyfriends, and a lot of anger in this book that makes it too intense for middle school students' parents!
Hoped that Kevin Brooks' Black Rabbit Summer would fall on the side of Candy and Road of the Dead, but it went the way of Martyn Pig. Bleah. Maybe for high schools with a large number of Brooks fans, but it's liberally sprinkled with f-bombs, and just kind of ooky.
Reading, just not blogging. More Stine.
Blind Date was actually kind of complex, and more of a boy book. Boy accidentally injures teammate's arm in a football game, then is approached by hot girl to go out. She's a little mysterious, but this adds to the allure. Turns out, of course, that she's a pyschopathic nut job who thinks she is the sister of the girl who was killed when Kerry's brother was driving a car-- no, wait-- Kerry was really driving, and that's why he's blocked it from his mind. That is, until hot girl drugs him and ties him to a chair... hope I didn't ruin the plot for any of you.
Call Waiting also had some complexity, but it seemed a bit far fetched. Is girl framing boy, or boy really pyscho, or is someone really trying to kill her? I didn't care so much.
The Cheater was pretty good. Girl pays boy to take the SAT for her. He asks just for one date, but then of course wants money, etc. so that he doesn't tell her father. Is she desperate enough to murder him?
For sheer, cheesy fun, my top pick has got to be the Cheerleaders: The First Evil etc. Unfortunately, I don't have Cheerleaders: The Evil Returns, but I may try to check it out of the public library. Cheerleader is ejected from bus and lands on the grave of Sarah Fear (have to go back to The Fear Street Saga Begins for details) and is paralyzed, but then cheerleaders start having their minds controlled during pyramid building, and lots of cheerleaders get concussions. There's also a lot of scalding hot water as well as bubbling green slime, because the girl is really possessed by the evil spirit of Sarah Fear. Sarah likes to move around, and over three books, several cheerleaders get to play host. People die, which I never like, but the books are so over the top it is hard to take them seriously. My favorite line comes from The Second Evil: "'I've been attacked by an ancient evil force', she thought scornfully, 'and Mom thinks a bath will help.'" No wonder this is such a popular series.
Also picked up Lisi Harrison's The Clique. It's been in the book fairs, and girls have asked for it, but I'm not buying it. I'm not even sure I want to put the paperback in my collection, because none of the characters are likable at all. Even the "nice" girl who has to put up with the label conscious, obnoxious, snobby private school girls is not endearing. And these are supposedly 7th graders? Horrible. No good lessons or examples, and just incredibly mean spirited.
Finally read E.B.White's Stuart Little. Don't know how I missed it. Definitely shows its 1945 publication date, but is a charming tale of a mouse born into a New York City family. He has many adventures, but I can see the lack of a wrapped up ending giving modern students fits. "But the sky was bright, and he somehow felt he was headed in the right direction." is a wonderful last line, leaving the ending up to all sorts of imagination, but I just wanted to know if he found Margalo or not. Not as good as Trumpet of the Swan or Charlotte's Web, but for fans of Cleary's Ralph S. Mouse, this would be a good follow-up.
Call Waiting also had some complexity, but it seemed a bit far fetched. Is girl framing boy, or boy really pyscho, or is someone really trying to kill her? I didn't care so much.
The Cheater was pretty good. Girl pays boy to take the SAT for her. He asks just for one date, but then of course wants money, etc. so that he doesn't tell her father. Is she desperate enough to murder him?
For sheer, cheesy fun, my top pick has got to be the Cheerleaders: The First Evil etc. Unfortunately, I don't have Cheerleaders: The Evil Returns, but I may try to check it out of the public library. Cheerleader is ejected from bus and lands on the grave of Sarah Fear (have to go back to The Fear Street Saga Begins for details) and is paralyzed, but then cheerleaders start having their minds controlled during pyramid building, and lots of cheerleaders get concussions. There's also a lot of scalding hot water as well as bubbling green slime, because the girl is really possessed by the evil spirit of Sarah Fear. Sarah likes to move around, and over three books, several cheerleaders get to play host. People die, which I never like, but the books are so over the top it is hard to take them seriously. My favorite line comes from The Second Evil: "'I've been attacked by an ancient evil force', she thought scornfully, 'and Mom thinks a bath will help.'" No wonder this is such a popular series.
Also picked up Lisi Harrison's The Clique. It's been in the book fairs, and girls have asked for it, but I'm not buying it. I'm not even sure I want to put the paperback in my collection, because none of the characters are likable at all. Even the "nice" girl who has to put up with the label conscious, obnoxious, snobby private school girls is not endearing. And these are supposedly 7th graders? Horrible. No good lessons or examples, and just incredibly mean spirited.
Finally read E.B.White's Stuart Little. Don't know how I missed it. Definitely shows its 1945 publication date, but is a charming tale of a mouse born into a New York City family. He has many adventures, but I can see the lack of a wrapped up ending giving modern students fits. "But the sky was bright, and he somehow felt he was headed in the right direction." is a wonderful last line, leaving the ending up to all sorts of imagination, but I just wanted to know if he found Margalo or not. Not as good as Trumpet of the Swan or Charlotte's Web, but for fans of Cleary's Ralph S. Mouse, this would be a good follow-up.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
A title for parents
David Sheff's Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction is not an easy book to read, especially when I am in the middle of fighting with my 14 year old about how she intends to spend her summer, and I certainly can't answer Sheff's question: Has he done the right things in raising his son? Give me another 15 years, and perhaps I'll have a better answer.I wouldn't read this just for fun. It was fairly boring, with its endless details about the "happy" family life. Lots of this is delusional. Sheff thinks that his son Nic is a "good kid" even when he is caught smoking marijuana when he is 12. Trusting his son was the biggest mistake, and the reason that parents should read this book. I don't trust any of my children. Love them, yes; give them some freedom, yes; but I follow them about, check out their friends, and know as much about what they are doing as I can. Hope for the best, expect the worst and all that. I don't think that Sheff was at all prepared for the worst that came.
Aside from the liberal use of the f-bomb, this book would be okay for students to read, but I don't think they would be interested. Nic has also written a book, Tweak: Growing up on Methamphetamine, that sounds far more harrowing and graphic in its depiction of addiction and the poor behavior choices that go along with it.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
MotherReader, ABC TV, and more Stine
So excited! Was random winner in the MotherReader 48 Hour Reading Challenge! Get a book! Next year I will try to be much more organized about my approach. Many thanks, MotherReader!
Got an e mail from Sandra Solberg at Toasted Coconut Media about "Hot Tips from Cool Authors: How to Keep Kids Reading this Summer" --- a WABC-TV segment that aired on Sunday morning. Scott Westerfeld, one of the most consistently high quality, prolific young adult authors I've seen in a while. Of course, You Tube is blocked at my school, and slllooowww at home, but here's the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ8talx7vmE
My R.L. Stine for last night was:
Beach Party-- Karen is enjoying fun and romance on the beach until she realizes that someone is out to kill her. More involved than many of the other books-- took longer to read. Okay.
The Boyfriend-- Joanna cruelly dumps Dex, he fakes an accident, has a real one, Joanna has an accident, Dex comes back from the dead. Is he dead? Confusing and a little cheesy, but showcases why reluctant readers like Stine-- he discusses high school issues. The lower readers are tired of Junie B. Jones.
The Betrayal-- Sets up the whole Fear Street Saga. Probably good to have the whole series of this one. Conveniently numbered on spine. (The Betrayal, The Secret, The Burning)
The Best Friend-- Weird new girl moves in next door and starts to take over Becka's life, claiming they were best friends in 3rd grade. Honey sneaks into Becka's house, steals her clothes, starts to dress like her, and then things get scary! I had to laugh because I think every middle school girl has an experience with someone who wants to be a friend but is just too annoying for words.
And again, R.L. Stine is really heavily skewed towards girls, although boys don't seem to mind.
Got an e mail from Sandra Solberg at Toasted Coconut Media about "Hot Tips from Cool Authors: How to Keep Kids Reading this Summer" --- a WABC-TV segment that aired on Sunday morning. Scott Westerfeld, one of the most consistently high quality, prolific young adult authors I've seen in a while. Of course, You Tube is blocked at my school, and slllooowww at home, but here's the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ8talx7vmE
My R.L. Stine for last night was:
Beach Party-- Karen is enjoying fun and romance on the beach until she realizes that someone is out to kill her. More involved than many of the other books-- took longer to read. Okay.
The Boyfriend-- Joanna cruelly dumps Dex, he fakes an accident, has a real one, Joanna has an accident, Dex comes back from the dead. Is he dead? Confusing and a little cheesy, but showcases why reluctant readers like Stine-- he discusses high school issues. The lower readers are tired of Junie B. Jones.
The Betrayal-- Sets up the whole Fear Street Saga. Probably good to have the whole series of this one. Conveniently numbered on spine. (The Betrayal, The Secret, The Burning)
The Best Friend-- Weird new girl moves in next door and starts to take over Becka's life, claiming they were best friends in 3rd grade. Honey sneaks into Becka's house, steals her clothes, starts to dress like her, and then things get scary! I had to laugh because I think every middle school girl has an experience with someone who wants to be a friend but is just too annoying for words.
And again, R.L. Stine is really heavily skewed towards girls, although boys don't seem to mind.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Summer Stine-a-thon
Since most of my time recently has been spent limping about, dunning students for overdue books, telling teachers that I don't have any more DVD players and removing dust bunnies from overhead projectors, I'm not in a great mood. So! I'll work my way through the R. L. Stine books.One nice thing-- Stine is easy to read. Even with mysteries, I know that I will find out eventually what will happen. The vocabulary is not a challenge. Sentence structure is simple. This is hugely important for some of our readers, and the fact that they can finish an entire book in a few days gives them a feeling of accomplishment.
That said, Attack of the Mutant is The. Worst. Book. Ever. Get this-- it's not really even R.L. Stine. It's adapted by Melinda Metz, from the screenplay by Brown and Angel, based on a novel by Stine. What? Oh. It's t.v. book #12. This book is described thusly: "It's exactly what you see on TV-- complete with pages and pages of photos from the show! It's spook-tacular." I can't go on. Reading it represents ten minutes of my life I will never get back. (It's 64 pages.)
Another Goosebumps book, The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena, was a little better. Children's father is photographer who goes to Alaska to snap pictures of the creature. They eventually find it encased in ice, take it back to California, and then the creature escapes. Ok.
All-Night Party does involve a murder, and students out on a dark and desolate island where they have taken a friend for a surprise birthday party. This one I could actually recommend, and my copy is fairly new, with a nicely done Sammy Yuen cover. There are lots of clues, running about the woods, and a few twists. Fine effort.
Bad Dreams was okay as well. Girls move to Fear Street after death of father, antique bed gives girl bad dreams. There is also a lot of swim team stuff involved, which was a little odd, and (not to ruin the plot here) since the house was unoccupied for so long, how did the insane girl stay in the attic until the new family moved in? Not as good as The Secret Bedroom but better than Beach House.
Monday, June 09, 2008
48 Hour Reading Challenge
This yearly event hosted by Mother Reader (http://www.motherreader.com) coincided with my third weekend off my feet, so I did get some reading done:Kimmel, Elizabeth Cody. Spin the Bottle. Phoebe and her best friend Harper join the middle school drama club and discover the intricacies of social life at this difficult age. Diva girls, boys who render her incapable of speech, difficult parents-- it's all here, set against a production of Guys and Dolls. What makes this stand out is great turns of phrase. Must have for middle school libraries.
Lupica, Mike. The Big Field. Hutch is displaced as the team shortstop, and can't get out of his system that D-Will is usurping his position. Mollified a little by being elected team captain, and the fact that his team makes the play off, life is still hard because he is taking baseball too seriously, much like his father, who failed as a major league player. I'll buy, but the boys really won't care about the father's crises, and I can't agree with the bio that says that Lupica is "the sporting world's finest storyteller." No, no. That would go to Carl Deuker, hands down, or perhaps the late Thomas Dygard.
Don't be fooled by this cover-- Cabot's Airhead was a VERY interesting look at what would happen if a super smart, jeans and hoodie wearing feminist ended up in the body of a supermodel. Em Watts is killed by a falling tv at a megastore at the same moment that Nikki Howard suffers a fatal aneurysm, so Em's brain is transplanted into Nikki's body. While it's Em's thoughts and feelings that survive, it's Nikki's face that continues on, so she has to continue modeling and surviving in the world of high fashion, even though Em also insists on returning to high school to continue her AP studies. Again, a must have.
Yeah, okay. L. J. Smith's The Vampire Diaries was published in 1991, WELL before Twilight. I'll get these (Book I:The Awakening and The Struggle, Book II : The Fury and Dark Reunion) in prebind because they are clean, decently crafted, and will be popular. Elena is a pretty girl who meets hot new boy who happens to be a vampire; things get complicated when his brother shows up and fights over her. The brothers did this before, in medieval times, and it didn't end well then. Must be the bad boy taking control and loving the girl for all eternity that makes these so intriguing to teens.
Brian Meehl, on the other hand, did a creative spin on vampire lore by creating Morning McCobb and the International Vampire League in his cleverly titled Suck It Up. Even though most vampires are beautiful, there are some SangFU (Blood flubups) who are doomed to spend eternity as gawky teens. Orphan Morning is one, so he is recruited by the IVLeague (a good name on so many levels) to be a spokesman for the cause. He works with a PR agency to show the world that vampires are real, most are good (except for Loners who still prey on humans), and deserve to be treated more fairly. (Later: Accidentally ordered three copies of this: none have ever made it back to the shelf. A very worthy purchase.)
Scott, Kieran. Geek Magnet. KJ Miller doesn't have my sympathy-- I would have been more than happy to attract geeks in high school, but she is annoyed with the ones who cling to her because she likes hot sports boy, and he seems to have an interest in her. Set also during play practices (Grease), KJ befriends the star, who helps her find ways to scare off geeks and attract the other boy, but in the end, geekyish boy wins out. Interesting subplot-- alcoholic father who refuses to get treatment. This raises the book out of truly pink and gives it some depth. Like Jingle Boy, another good offering by Scott. (AKA Kate Brian.)Those were the books I liked. I will pass on the following:
DeLa Cruz. The Ashleys. Very disappointed. Loved Blue Bloods, and thought it was well-written, clever, and worth having. This was a piece of annoying, name-dropping fluff. Bleah.
Pixley. Freak. Okay, literature like this does not help students who are different and who make themselves targets of bullying. No one else would want to read so much dysfunction. No.
Thompson. Fourth World. Fantasy that involves an annoying, autistic stepbrother and this much rail travel is just not what my fantasy fans are looking for. Read her Switchers instead.
Smith, Jennifer. The Comeback Season. Why so many baseball books involve girls, I don't know. It's sad her dad died, but I can't see to whom I would recommend this book.
Taylor. Mariah Mundi: The Midas Box. Another Victorian-ish horror-y book with quirky characters and evil villains. Eh. I have all the Joan Aiken books, which are better.
Total:2,870 pages, not counting finishing up Binchy's Evening Class. No idea how long I spent.
Friday, June 06, 2008
Hulme and Wexler's The Seems: The Glitch in Sleep
Ambivalent about this one. There is going to be a massive series, I'm sure, and it's an incredibly convoluted fantasy that will appeal to my hard-core fantasy fans. I am going to field test this on some students today. Miss Reluctant Reader, who got two pages in, thought it was "stupid". She thinks everything is. She did like the shiny cover.Becker Drane's life is boring, so he applies to be a "fixer". To his surprise, he gets hired and starts going between his life in the regular world (where his devious language arts teacher has assigned I Am The Cheese) and dealing with the details that keep the world running-- rain, sunsets, and eventually, a problem with everyone's sleep. Many gadgets are involved. The book has several appendices and a glossary but surprisingly, no maps.
This requires lots of thought, and has a lot of details. It gave me a headache, but so did Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, which many of the boys adore. I need to ascertain whether this book makes this subgroup happy, or annoyed. Will report later on the field research.
There is a web site, but it's not as cool as the H.I.V.E. one:
http://www.theseems.com/
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