Hidden by Helen Frost (3.9/3.0)

I just finished my first of the 2013-2014 Georgia Children's Book Award Nominees. Hidden by Helen Frost was a very interesting book. It was told from the point of view of two girls. One of them tells her story in free verse poetry and the other is also written in a unique style. I didn't realize until the end when I read the author's notes that Darra's story was written that way to include another hidden story. In this book, Darra's father steals Wren's family's minivan and has no idea that Wren is hiding in the backseat. Wren is scared of what Darra's dad might do if he finds her, so she stays hidden in the garage for two days until she manages to seek out. Fast forward several years and the girls meet at a summer camp and eventually become friends.  I enjoyed this book and will be suggesting it to many of the girls. The nontraditional formatting always appeals to them, and I'll have to be sure to mention the hidden story!

September Recap!

Wow! I don't know where September went. I stunk it up at blogging last month. Let me update you on what's happening in the media center: We had our BMS Book Fair last week and sold almost $5,000. We get to keep 60% of that to buy books! I'll be ordering those soon. We also just got in a HUGE book order from Follett, so we have tons of new books. We ordered a lot in the 2.0-2.9 range, but we also got the newest books in several series for older readers.

As for what I've been reading- well, it's not a lot. I just finished Girl in the Arena (5.9/12.0) by Lise Haines. It was not my favorite. It is set in current day, but American culture is very different. Beginning with an underground movement in the 60's, Gladiator style fighting has grown in popularity and is now a televised event worldwide. Not all matches are a fight to the death, but many are. When Lyn's stepfather is killed in the arena and his opponent picks up her dowry bracelet, Glad rules require that she marry him or risk loosing her family's house. She decides to fight him instead. To me it was a little boring because her stepfather's fight was at the very beginning and her fight at the very end. Not much happened in the middle. This book is really a commentary on our society and how easily people are influenced but both news and social media.

I also read 13 Little Blue Envelopes (5.0/9.0) by Maureen Johnson and Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life (4.5/4.0) by James Patterson. Both of these are on the new Nook set. I enjoyed them very much. They were cute, easy to read books. 13 Envelopes is definitely a girlie book while I think everyone would like Middle School.

Divergent by Veronica Roth (4.8/16.0)

Divergent is one of the books that I loaded on the new nooks. I think it is going to be the first book in a series, but it was a good stand alone book too. I really enjoyed reading it. It is set in a futuristic world were when children turn 16 they must decide which faction to join. There faction will determine their jobs, where they live, and how they live. Tris, the main character decides to leave her family and join the Dauntless faction. Right away she realizes something is not right. She stumbles across a plot between the Dauntless and Erudite factions to overthrow the government. She must stop them to save her family, who are government leaders.

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore (4.4/14)

I know that a bunch of the students have seen this movie, and I want to see it too,but I am trying to talk them into reading the book! This book was an interesting and easy read. It keep my attention with enough action but not too much of the far-fetched alien stuff. John is a 15 yr old alien from the planet Lorien. He and 8 other children escaped when another alien population invaded their planet. He and his guardian, Henri, must move around to keep John hidden from the aliens who are trying to track him. Obviously this will be a series, so there is no real ending in this book. I can't wait for the next one.

Dates, Mates, and Inflatable Bras by Cathy Hopkins (3.9/4.0)

I loved this book! It was hilarious. I enjoy British "chick-lit" anyway, but this is the first young adult version I have read. I laughed out loud several times. In doing a little research about this title, I learned that it is a series called "Dates, Mates, and ..." The series is just typical middle school girl drama. It's real life stuff though, not like the Clique series. For example, in this book, a new girl moves into the school and Lucy, the main character, feels like she is stealing her best friend away. There are a lot of laughs along the way, but eventually the girls work it out. A good, positive story.

Currently reading: Red Blazer Girls: The Vanishing Violin
I am having to take a break from all the serious books and read some funny/girlie books. This is the second book in the series and I an totally enjoying it. The things Sophie, the main character, says and thinks are cracking me up. This is another positive story where girls are smart and are concerned about more important things than clothes!

Hero by Mike Lupica (4.6/8.0)

I didn't like this book at first because I felt like the interactions between the characters were cheesy because middle schoolers don't really speak the way he portrays them. I ended up liking it a little better by then end. It still wasn't one of my favorites, but fans of Mike Lupica will like it. Also, I think that students who like books like the Percy Jackson series will like it. It's not about mythology, but it does have that superhero vibe.

Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson (5.4/10.0)

I loved the sequel to Chains. This one was told from a few months after Chains leaves off, but it is told from Curzon's point of view. He and Isabelle are separated and he enlists again as a soldier in the Patriot army. His old owner Bellingham eventually finds him again and forces him back into slavery where he learns that Bellingham has also acquired Isabelle.

Can't wait until the third installment comes out!

Currently reading: Heroes by Mike Lupica (4.6/8.0) This is his first attempt at non-sports related writing. This one is not one of my favorites so far, which is wierd because I enjoyed some of his other books. I feel like maybe Lupica knows how kids talk in a game, but not in real life. The dialog doesn't sound real to me.

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson (5.2/11.0)

I finished Chains over the weekend and I really enjoyed it. I love historical fiction and this was certainly a good one. Set during the Revolutionary War, it is about a slave named Isabel. She and her sister are sold to a loyalist family that lives in Manhattan. At first Isabel is used as a spy for the revolutionary forces. She overhears a plot to kill George Washington and turns in a list of conspirators names, including the name of her owner. She thinks they will protect her, but they turn her back over to her owners wife, who beats her and has an "I" branded on her face. Through her we learn what life was like during the beginning stages of the war. If you like historical fiction I think you would love this book.

Currently reading: Forge, the sequel to Chains

Storm Runners by Roland Smith (not yet AR)

I love pretty much anything by Roland Smith and this was no exception. I didn't realize it until the end when I was left hanging, but this is the first book in a new series. In this story, Chase Masters and his father travel across the country from one disaster to another. His father owns a construction company that specializes in clean-up and repair after disaster. The travel to Florida in anticipation of a huge hurricane. His dad is normally pretty good at predicting storms, so he leaves Chase with family friends on a farm about 50 miles north of where he thinks it will make landfall. This farm is a little on the unusual side, instead of cows and pigs, it has lions and elephants. It's the winter home to a traveling circus. When the storm does make landfall, it's not when or where anyone predicted. It hits right where Chase is as he is traveling home from school on a school bus. I'm not going to give away any more, but the cover should clue you in that it's a pretty exciting story!

The Magic Thief: Found (4.9/7.0) by Sarah Prineas

Just finished the third installment of The Magic Thief series. Many are reading books one and two, so I don't want to tell too much about this one because it might ruin those. I will tell you that while on the search for his locus magicalicus Conn discovers where the magic comes from and why it is alive. Will he be able to prove it to the magisters before it's too late?
Overall, it's a good book that seemed to wrap up the series nicely. A must-read if you have started the series.

The Magic Thief: Lost (4.6/8.0) by Sarah Prineas

Finished it last night. I can't wait to get my hands on the third book. I like the way these are written, because although the majority of the story is told from Conn's perspective, we get glimpses of the other characters when we get to read their letters and journals.
This book picks up where the 1st left off. Conn believes magic is a living being, but he is unable to talk to it because of the loss of his locus magicalicus. After Shadows begin attacking the people of Wellmet, Conn causes a series of explosions in which the magic communicates with him. He learns that the magic is worried. It wants him to go to Desh and figure out what or who is controlling these Shadows.
I think all readers at this age group would enjoy this series. Fans of magic and fantasy will find it particularly exciting.

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.

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!