Goddess Boot Camp (4.7/9.0)

I finished the sequel to Oh My Gods over the weekend. I love this series. It is super cute and totally relatable to teenage girls. Well, not the being a goddess part, but everything else! In the last book Phoebe learned she was a descendant of the goddess Nike and had superpowers. In this book, Phoebe's powers are going haywire and she must learn to control them. Her stepfather enrolls her in Goddess Boot Camp, which as it turns out is run by her stepsister Stella and Adara, her boyfriend's ex! She was looking forward to just relaxing this summer, but that's certainly not going to happen!

Currently reading: Lost, the sequel to The Magic Thief. Interesting so far. Book club is currently reading The Magic Thief, so I am trying to hurry because I know a lot of you will want it.

Oh My Gods

Finished it last night. Loved it! It was kind of a cross between The Clique series and The Lightning Thief.  Pheobe, a high school senior, is forced to move to a small Greek island when her mother remarries. Upon arriving at the island, she learns that it's purpose is to house a school for descendants of the Greek gods. Typical teenage girl drama with a little supernatural powers thrown in. This is the first book in the series and I can't wait to read the second.

Two new adventure titles

Hide & Seek (4.5/9.0) by Katy Grant- Students who enjoy Will Hobbs' books will definitely enjoy this one. Chase, a 14 year old boy who lives in the White Mountains of Arizona, sets out on his bike to find a geocache. A geocache is basically a box of items that someone has hidden. "Players" list the coordinates in a website and others use that information to find it. Once you find the geocache you log your find in a journal inside and trade something you have brought with something in the geocache. It's a neat concept for people who enjoy outdoor sports like biking and hiking. Chase locates the geocache 5 miles off the paved road hidden in a tree trunk, but something is wrong. The contents of the box has been left scattered around the area and he finds a strange note in the log book. "WE NEED FOOD". Chase decides to keep a check on the box and find out who left the message. But what he finds surprises him...

Jump (4.6/9.0) by Elisa Carbone- Since this was written by the author of Blood on the River, a historical-fiction book I really enjoyed, I thought I would really like this one. It was only so-so in my opinion. P.K. and Critter (seriously, those are the names) are high school students with serious problems. P.K. thinks her parents don't understand her and she is about to be shipped to a boarding school for her senior year. Critter is an escapee from a mental hospital. He was placed there by his parents after he tried to commit suicide. Both are huge mountain climbing fans, so they run away together to climb mountains. The outdoors mountain climbing parts of the story are actually very good and adventure packed and are certainly enough to make the book worth reading without all the other drama. I'm not sure why the author felt the need to add the suicide/mental health issues because they really don't advance the story. Seems to me like it is a ploy to get nominated for some awards. This is clearly the type of thing critics love. I wager it will be on the GA PEACH award list in the near future. This is totally the kind of book they go for. Nothing in it was overtly offensive, and Critter actually says attempting suicide was a bad move and tries to convince someone else not to, so I will keep it in the mc, but I will label it for 7th and 8th only. (I'm pretty sure that has got to be a run-on sentence. Sorry Hoppy! I did use "comma + conjunction" to link the independent clause with all those subordinate clauses.)

Currently reading: Oh My Gods by Tera Lynn Childs- I'm only about 100 pages in, but my first impression is that it is a very cute book! The female version of the Lightning Thief.

See you tomorrow! Hope you enjoyed the week off!

Snow Days!

I have been a lazy bum for the past two days. Seriously, I don't think I can watch another rerun of House Hunters! I will go crazy. I am reading all day tomorrow. I promise. I have plenty to keep my busy. The stack of books beside my nightstand keeps growing when it should be shrinking. I guess we got too many good books in the order last week. It's a nice problem to have.
Amidst all the reruns, I did manage to finish two books:
Double Eagle (5.1/8.0) by Sneed B. Collard III was the first one I finished and I thought it was very interesting. It is based on the concept that once the Confederacy took control of the US mint in New Orleans they printed their own double eagle gold pieces. Of course there is no historical basis for this, but it is the stuff of southern myths. It very much made me think of the movie Sahara with Matthew McConaughey since they were searching for this mythical gold in the movie. It is a book that I think middle school aged students would enjoy. It is targeted at boys, but it is a good enjoy story that I think girls will enjoy it too. I would suggest this for older students because of some language used in it. They main characters are 14-15 yr old boys, so H-E-double hockey sticks comes up occasionally.
Buffalo Gal (4.8/6.0) by Bill Wallace was the second. I saw this on my old bookcase when I went home for Christmas and I remembered liking it. It is a quick read about Amanda, a girl in the early 1900's, who travels to Oklahoma/Texas because her mother has decided to help save the remaining buffalo. They travel through Texas on horseback to find and round-up of a small herd of buffalo to move them to a ranch in Oklahoma where they will be safe from poachers, etc. Along they way they must face snakes, storms, and the harsh Texas wilderness. A cute story that 5th/6th grade girls will love. When we get back, I'll cover it and put it out on the new books shelf.

Speak

I started reading this last night and absolutely could not stop until I was finished. It was such a fantastic book, but I don't want to give away too much about the book since so many will be reading it soon.. Definitely not for younger readers, but a powerful book for all high school aged girls. I am so excited about using this book at the 8th grade girls lock-in. (Plans are being finalized- See Mrs. Dogru or Mrs. Coats). We will read the book ahead of time and then have discussion groups, dinner, and watch the movie. It stars Kristen Stewart, yes, the one from Twilight!

The new books have all be cataloged and are ready for check-out. I'm going to take a stack home over the weekend in case it snows Monday and we get to stay home. (Don't worry Mrs. Hopkins. If we have power I will be online with you proofing yearbook pages! Won't that be fun to do at a distance...)

NOOK UPDATE: Got the email today that the order has been placed! Yeah! I can't wait.

I have been a blog slacker!

In all fairness to myself, I did write a review on Academy 7 (mentioned in the previous blog) and then I forgot to hit post before I shut my computer down for the day. The blog tab just kind of gets lost amid all the other tabs I have open. Oh well, let me recap the review for you: It was a good book. I actually think girls or boys would enjoy reading it because of the futuristic setting.

I didn't really read any young adult fiction over the break because I got a Nook for Christmas! I am so excited! I read the new John Grisham book and Pride and Prejudice, which I have always wanted to read. That being said, I don't have any new ya book reviews for you right now. I did get a big shipment of new fiction in today, so I have many to add to my "to read" list. I will hopefully get them processed and into circulation next week.

NOOK UPDATE: No word yet on when we will be getting the Nooks for the Media Center. They are still on backorder. I can't wait and neither can the students. They come in asking about them all the time!

The next book on my to-read list is Speak (4.5/7.0) by Laurie Halse Anderson. Mrs. Dogru and I got the OK to host the 8th grade girls lock-in in March, so we will be reading Speak and then watching the movie, discussing, and eating pizza at the lock-in.

Teenage Romance Novels

Almost all middle school girls have a weakness for a good love story, and I am trying to find some new authors to include in our collection. However, over the past few weeks I have learned that there is a fine line between teenage romance and adult romance novels, often the authors of these novels will write for both audiences, and the publishers do not warn you which category they fall into!

For example, The Season, by Sarah MacLean (AR 6.2/13.0) is a great love story intertwined with an exciting murder mystery. It is interesting and fast paced and totally age appropriate.  The main character, a 17 year old girl, hates the balls , ball gown fittings, and dinner parties of London society. She and her friends long for more adventure. When the Earl of Blackmoor mysteriously dies, Alex is determined to help is son, the handsome, yet distant, Gavin solve the crime. We have all read enough books and seen enough movies to know where this is going... Totally predictable, but thoroughly entertaining, and most importantly, age appropriate! Sarah MacLean's other books- so not age appropriate. I have one. I was embarrassed reading it. (I had to finish. I am not someone who can just stop mid-book. I'm sure many of you have heard my rant on The Graveyard Book by Nail Gaimen.) Needless to say this book will not be in the library.

Anything by Meg Cabot is probably fast-paced, witty, and highly entertaining. However, some of her books, even those classified as young adult, often border on unsuitable for most teenagers. She does have many good books. For example, the Airhead series is good for 7th and up. The first few in The Princess Diaries series are also good. The ones later in the series, as Princess Mia turns into a young woman,  are definitely for older readers. She also has several adult books written in email/text message format that are very funny. The Boy Next Door and Every Boy's Got One are both clean content wise for 7th and up, but they do have some language in them.

Last night I just finished To Catch a Pirate by Jade Parker (AR 4.7/6.0). I have to admit that even though it was a suggested book from the book reviews, the title scared me a little. It sounded a little bit like a **ROMANCE** novel, not just a romance novel. I was terrified of another Sarah MacLean incident (see above!) Surprisingly , it was actually a very appropriate book.  Annalisa leaves London with her father who is commissioned from the King to set up a port and town on a small island in the Caribbean.  On the way the ship is attacked by Crimson Kelley and his pirates and the money for to start the town stolen. Her father is imprisoned under suspicion of plotting with the pirates to steal the money. Annalisa sets sail to capture the pirates and clear her father's name. Along the way she meets a pirate that has recently been marooned from Crimson's ship. He agrees to help her track him down. Again, you can totally see where this is going, but overall, it was a good story.

Last night I started Academy 7 by Anne Osterlund. She is the author of Aurelia (AR 5.8/9.0). It's a book we haven't had very long, but all the girls who have read it have really liked it.  Aurelia is next in line for the throne, but someone is trying to murder her.  Robert, the son of the King's royal spy, tries to solve the mystery.  These teenage romances are all so easy to figure out, but they are worth the read. Back to Academy 7. I'm only about 10 pages in, but this book seems to be the exact opposite of Aurelia. It is set in a futuristic society. We'll see if it proves to be as good as the other.

Belle of the Brawl

I just finished Belle of the Brawl (Alpha's #3) by Lisi Harrison (AR 6.2/7.0). It was a little bit on the slow side at first, but it did get better. Fans of the series will definitely still enjoy it. You can tell that the series is winding down. Charlie is on a mission to win back Darwin, while still trying to keep her classwork first. Allie finally figures out her strength and starts to feel like a true alpha. By the end of the book, the Alpha Academy is down to the final 33 girls. In fact, not all of the Jackie O. house is safe... Book 4, scheduled to come out later this year, will be the last!

What I read over Thanksgiving Break

I didn't get a chance to read that much over the break. I'm a little disappointed because I have a huge stack of books at home that I was sure I would have time to read. Oh well! Here's an overview of the ones I did get to read:
Into the Gauntlet: 39 Clues #10- by Margaret Peterson Haddix-  This was the last book in the series and it didn't disappoint. I was full of action and adventure just like the others. I won't spoil it for you, but the ending was a little bit far-fetched for me. You can definitely tell that they are setting up for another series.  AR: 4.6/9.0
Athena the Brain- by Holub, Joan- This is the first book in the new Goddess Girl series. It was easy to read and would be a great book for girls who are interested in the Lightning Thief series, especially for those who find them a little difficult to read independently. AR: 4.5/3.0
Princess of the Midnight Ball- by George, Jessica Day- This book is for lovers of princess stories with a twist of magic! I really enjoyed this book even though I tend to shy away from books with too much "magic". I was a good fast paced story that had both action and romance. I probably won't be suggesting this to any guys, but I think the girls will love it! AR 5.6/10.0

Currently reading: Belle of the Brawl: Alphas #3- by Lisi Harrison- I enjoyed the first two Alpha's books, but I am not really liking this one as much. I'm about half way through and am hoping it gets better.

On another note- I just ordered a Nook for myself and am going to "test the waters" before looking into ordering some for the school. If anyone has any ideas or information to share I'd love to hear from you!

Write reviews for books!

BMS students can use the check-out system to write reviews for books and make recommendations to friends. To begin, log on to the middle school site at destiny.bremencs.com using your lunch ID as your username and password.