Cool Generator!

Check out this easy to use cartoon creator from ToonDoo! Try it.

Catching Fire Book Trailer

Lions, Cyclops, and Goats..oh my!

After hearing rave reviews of this series - picture Mrs. Owens doing cartwheels - I had to read this one. It has everything a great read needs - a hero, villains (plenty of them in here), adventure, suspense, humor,and action ...oh and throw in a sword fight or two too. I finished this one last weekend and am now half way through the second one.

Don't miss this rollicking modern day mythology laden adventure!

In the series:

• The Lightning Thief
• The Sea of Monsters
• The Titan's Curse
• The Battle of the Labyrinth
• The Last Olympian

Update: I have finished The Sea of Monsters - another exciting fantastic adventure filled with Mythology references. Now, on to the next one!
Update #2: Finished The Titan's Curse but I can't proceed because I only brought two home...sigh
Update #3: I have finished the series. It is quite good, a bit repetitive with the series recap information in each book. You know why authors do this - someone hasn't read the series inorder, they need to recap and fill in all the blanks - just skip over that since you really don't have to retain any of this. BUT, if you like this, try more detailed stories, like Edith Hamilton, Olivia Coolidge, or even Homer's writings.

If you liked Harry Potter, try this series. They are similar, but this series has more humor.

8th Grade Book Talks

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
  

Readers in the Library! Will you be next?

Another Spirited Adventure

I've looked at this title for at least a year and never took the time to read it. Then, last month the third title in the series arrived - Starclimber - and it looked so intriguing, I just had to read it. Well, you know how that goes. You just cannot possibly read the last book in the series first. How would you do that? Read them backwards to get to the first one last? That didn't work in the logical area of my brain. So, I began at the beginning.

Matt is a cabin boy aboard the airship Aurora, which sails passengers across the seas. He loves being in the air, feeling much more at home than on the ground. His captain is an honorable man, his crew mates are supportive and helpful, and he has a good friend in Baz. The adventure begins when Matt notices a seemingly unmanned balloon headed toward the airship. When the Aurora hooks up with the balloon, the pilot is unconcious, near death, but shares with Matt that he has seen beautiful, winged creatures flying. However, the old man dies before Matt has a chance to discover exactly what creatures he was referring to. It is now a year later, and the rest of the story starts. Matt has never forgotten the balloonist's words of the beautiful creatures, and only when he meets the balloonist's granddaughter, does he begin to believe the creatures could be real.

This book is filled with interesting characters, dangerous situations, and swashbuckling adventures in the skies. Now, on to the sequels...

Sequels: Skybreaker (2) and Starclimber (3)

UPDATE: I finished the sequels mentioned above and they are great reads too. It seems that fantasies are becoming my favorites...never thought I'd write that.

Kenneth Oppel has also written the Silverwing Trilogy.