THANKS to Mrs. Cole for the CNN link about the upcoming Hunger Games movie.
Read the article and opinion of the movie, and the book(s), here. Oh, and check out the characters and see if they fit your mind's pictures of Katniss and Gale.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Almost Summer Break
Another debut novel! Memento Nora by Angie Smibert, a contributing author to Odyssey ( a science fiction magazine for the YA crowd) is another novel about a dystopian society. OK, that sounded a bit like a whine. . .it isn't. Is this the nail-biting, suspense, action packed adventure of The Hunger Games? No, but it does have the very controlling society that speaks to how we as members of society are subtly manipulated and controlled. TFC is the Therapeutic Forgetting Clinic where citizens can go to forget their troubles or nightmares. Nora and her mother are at TFC after a bomb attack where Nora and her mother are eye-witnesses. It is Nora's first visit to TFC and all she has to do is swallow the little white pill. But then she sees a guy with the word Memento written on his cast and he quickly shows her the pill on his tongue. Now, she is faced with a choice. What will she choose? Find out what happens to Nora and the guy, Micah.
PS The sequel is being written.
Check out the website!
PS The sequel is being written.
Check out the website!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Gearing up for Summer!
Memorial Day weekend provided a three day weekend which gave me some time to relax, enjoy the family, and read. So I did.
Day One: Marie Lamba's first book What I meant. . . is the story of fifteen year old Sangeet Jumnal. Sangeet is a good daughter, a good student, a good friend, and a good sister. Her aunt (who she refers to as "evil") seems to be causing her parents to think she is bulimic, her school work to suffer, her friend thinks she is annoying, and her sister thinks she is a thief. Life is not going well at all. And, the boy she thinks she loves is a bit aloof. Find out what happens with Sangeet and her trials. It is funny, sad, and heart warming.
Day Two: Another first novel - How Lamar's Bad Prank Won a Bubba-Sized Trophy by Crystal Allen is another novel that is funny, sad, and heart warming. Lamar has asthma and loves to bowl. His nickname for himself is "King of Strikers" because he is really, really good. His older brother, Xavier, is a basketball star; everyone is sure he will be pro when he's finished with high school. Typical older brother, X, as he is referred to, puts down Lamar every opportunity he gets. So there is sibling rivalry, friend/girlfriend issues, peer pressure, and self-respect all tied into this one book.
Day Three: "You are indestructible." Three words, innocently written on a cast. Jacob was whispered those three words by his foster parent right before they hit the tree head on. They should have both been killed, and now Jacob is indestructible. However, when the words allow the person to really be indestructible, what happens? Does the Grim Reaper just say, "Oh, that's OK. Later, dude." Or does the Grim Reaper wait and wreak havoc just a bit later? Good mystery, with decisions of good and evil, and life and death on practically every page of Thirteen Days to Midnight.
Day Four: (I took a personal day.) True (. . . sort of) is Katherine Hannigan's first novel since Ida B. This is a captivating look at the ways friendships and truths are discovered. Delly Pattison has been told she is trouble since she was six and left the chickens out of the cage at the county fair. Delly also makes up words (which surprisingly make a lot of sense) like surpresent -a present that is a surprise. She is sure she is going to receive a surpresent the day the Boyds come to town. And, Ferris Boyd is like no one Delly has ever met. This is is another novel that is funny, sad, and heart warming.
Day One: Marie Lamba's first book What I meant. . . is the story of fifteen year old Sangeet Jumnal. Sangeet is a good daughter, a good student, a good friend, and a good sister. Her aunt (who she refers to as "evil") seems to be causing her parents to think she is bulimic, her school work to suffer, her friend thinks she is annoying, and her sister thinks she is a thief. Life is not going well at all. And, the boy she thinks she loves is a bit aloof. Find out what happens with Sangeet and her trials. It is funny, sad, and heart warming.
Day Two: Another first novel - How Lamar's Bad Prank Won a Bubba-Sized Trophy by Crystal Allen is another novel that is funny, sad, and heart warming. Lamar has asthma and loves to bowl. His nickname for himself is "King of Strikers" because he is really, really good. His older brother, Xavier, is a basketball star; everyone is sure he will be pro when he's finished with high school. Typical older brother, X, as he is referred to, puts down Lamar every opportunity he gets. So there is sibling rivalry, friend/girlfriend issues, peer pressure, and self-respect all tied into this one book.
Day Three: "You are indestructible." Three words, innocently written on a cast. Jacob was whispered those three words by his foster parent right before they hit the tree head on. They should have both been killed, and now Jacob is indestructible. However, when the words allow the person to really be indestructible, what happens? Does the Grim Reaper just say, "Oh, that's OK. Later, dude." Or does the Grim Reaper wait and wreak havoc just a bit later? Good mystery, with decisions of good and evil, and life and death on practically every page of Thirteen Days to Midnight.
Day Four: (I took a personal day.) True (. . . sort of) is Katherine Hannigan's first novel since Ida B. This is a captivating look at the ways friendships and truths are discovered. Delly Pattison has been told she is trouble since she was six and left the chickens out of the cage at the county fair. Delly also makes up words (which surprisingly make a lot of sense) like surpresent -a present that is a surprise. She is sure she is going to receive a surpresent the day the Boyds come to town. And, Ferris Boyd is like no one Delly has ever met. This is is another novel that is funny, sad, and heart warming.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Action-Adventure
The Doomsday Box: A Shadow Project Adventure by Herbie Brennan is a Junior Library Guild selection. Somehow the books from JLG either become award winners or are just really good reads. The jury is out on whether this will be an award winner, but my verdict is in - it is a good read!
Four teenage spies - Opal, Danny, Michael, and Fuchsia - are members of the Shadow Project. These teens have supernatural abilities which are desperately needed to stop an undercover agent, Cobra. Agent Cobra has time-traveled to the Middle Ages and returned with a small box containing vials. When the box is opened, a deadly plague is unleashed in the world today that could lead to millions of people dying. The Shadow Project members are needed to go back in time, meet up with Agent Cobra, and stop him from unleashing this horror on the world. And, so they are headed to Moscow. . . in 1962.
If you like Alex Rider, you will enjoy this. If you like spies, you will enjoy this. You can even learn a bit of history in this book too.
Four teenage spies - Opal, Danny, Michael, and Fuchsia - are members of the Shadow Project. These teens have supernatural abilities which are desperately needed to stop an undercover agent, Cobra. Agent Cobra has time-traveled to the Middle Ages and returned with a small box containing vials. When the box is opened, a deadly plague is unleashed in the world today that could lead to millions of people dying. The Shadow Project members are needed to go back in time, meet up with Agent Cobra, and stop him from unleashing this horror on the world. And, so they are headed to Moscow. . . in 1962.
If you like Alex Rider, you will enjoy this. If you like spies, you will enjoy this. You can even learn a bit of history in this book too.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Another Good One
It seems lately so many of the books I've been reading are fantasy or futuristic rather depressing science fiction, like Incarceron or The Maze Runner/The Scorch Trials. Although those novel really do pull you in and stimulate "What if. . .?" thinking. Then, a new Wendelin Van Draanen book arrived. Being in the middle of three rather ho-hum books, I started it during lunch the other day. This book is not a depressing futuristic science fiction; it is just the opposite.
The Running Dream is the story of Jessica Carlisle. She defines herself by her running. She loves it. She breathes it. She lives it. Hours after breaking the record for the 400 meter race, a runaway truck plows into their bus and causes a horrific tragedy. One track member is dead, and Jessica has lost her leg. How will Jessica deal with this? How will her friends handle her disability? Will she be able to walk again? Is it possible to even think of running again?
To discover the answers to those questions, read The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen.
Van Draanen is a runner herself and with her husband has founded Exercise the Right to Read. The campaign is designed to get kids reading and running and help school libraries. You can also check out her website.
The Running Dream is the story of Jessica Carlisle. She defines herself by her running. She loves it. She breathes it. She lives it. Hours after breaking the record for the 400 meter race, a runaway truck plows into their bus and causes a horrific tragedy. One track member is dead, and Jessica has lost her leg. How will Jessica deal with this? How will her friends handle her disability? Will she be able to walk again? Is it possible to even think of running again?
To discover the answers to those questions, read The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen.
Van Draanen is a runner herself and with her husband has founded Exercise the Right to Read. The campaign is designed to get kids reading and running and help school libraries. You can also check out her website.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Katniss is Cast
It is official. Jennifer Lawrence has been cast as Katniss Everdeen. Suzanne Collins said, "Jennifer's just an incredible actress. So powerful, vulnerable, beautiful, unforgiving and brave. I never thought we'd find somebody this perfect for the role. And I can't wait for everyone to see her play it."(Source: MTV.)
Now, if they can only get Jack Nicholson to play Haymitch
Now, if they can only get Jack Nicholson to play Haymitch
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