Getting Away from Doom & Gloom

For the past two months or so - I guess caught up in The Hunger Games frenzy - most of the books I've been reading have been about dystopian societies or futuristic novels set in a fragmented United States.  Don't get me wrong, they were good and I recommend them all - Legend by Marie Lu, Numbers by Rachel Ward, Divergent by Veronica Roth, The Line and Away by Teri Hall, The Maze Runner series by James Dasher, and Blood Red Road by Moira Young - but I was depressing myself.  I needed to read something fun but meaningful, something light but not stupidly insulting, something that might make me think but not disheartened.  So, I read Jordan Sonnenblick's new one Curveball: The Year I Lost My Grip, good, but a bit like wanting a hot fudge sundae and only having a pop sickle. . . good, but just not quite satisfying.

Then, a new order came in! This innocuous little book - Wonder by R. J. Palacio  - was included. I was craving that book that would meet all my needs. You know how sometimes things are just so good you want to clap and jump and maybe even grab somebody by the front of their shirt and say, "You HAVE to read this!"?  This book did that for me. 

Here is the trailer.

ALA Awards Announced!

Guess what book received the Newbery Award for 2012?  Yes, my current "Oh my gosh, this book is great - Dead End in Norvelt". I'm telling you - don't miss this one.  I'll order more.

Another favorite of many of you - The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen- received the Schneider Family Book Award for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience.

Click here to see the complete list of this year's award winners.

Oh, so Good - Wendy Mass!

If you have not read anything by the author Wendy Mass - take the time and check one out. She is the author of Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall, Every Soul a Star, 11 Birthdays, A Mango Shaped Space, and Leap Day. I've read those that are red and have not regretted one minute of the time expended.

The book I have read most recently is Every Soul a Star which is written from the point of view of three very distinctly different teenagers. Ally, short for Alpha, lives with her parents and brother on a very isolated campground named Moon Shadow. The campground is so named because a total eclipse of the sun will be occurring and the campground is at the perfect spot. Ally is an admitted, and proud of it, astronomy fan. Bree's family is moving to the campground because her parents are scientists. To say that Bree is unhappy is putting it mildly. She is into malls, fashion, and her friends. Jack is helping his science teacher on the eclipse tour... so he doesn't have to go to summer school. The scientific talk is way out of his league and comfort level; so is being on a bus with a bunch of strangers to go to a campground. Now, bring these three teens together as they prepare to witness this amazing event and discover their place in the universe.

That is the plot. However, that is only part of the story. There is plenty of scientific information written in an easy to understand way. Information about stars, galaxies, telescopes, space junk, eclipses, planets, even the SETI organization should peak your interest.

Check out these outer space sites:

• Hubble
• NASA Solar Eclipse
• SETI