The adoration of Jenna Fox

The adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson

Loved it, loved it, loved it! Not quite science fiction but more like futuristic fiction (I think, I've just created a new genre). I book talked this one with grade eight classes last year, but this book also has a great book trailer so I've included the link here. (I know, when did they start making book trailers?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnk1zPw_PHc

Read on

Rave reviews for Little Brother

Little brother by Cory Doctorow is recieving all kinds of rave reviews, like this one by Spider Robinson from the Globe and Mail (Aug. 9, 2008).

"If you only read one science fiction novel this year, let it be this one. If you've never read SF in your life, now is the time to correct that virginity. If you have a family member or friend between 6 and 25 who likes to read, this is the book to give him or her this year. Readers from 26 to 80 will also have a wonderful time - but it's the young ones who need to read this book, and the rest of us need them to do it.... Little brother is a most satisfactory coming of age story, a political awakening story, a sweet but hip love story handled by an expert. It gives me renewed hope for the future of science fiction and of the world"

From the book jacket:

Marcus, a.k.a “w1n5t0n,” is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works–and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school’s intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems.But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days.When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself.

I'm not going to gush to the same degree as the Globe and Mail's reviewer did, but I was thoroughly entertained by this book. I felt compelled by the character of Marcus, I got lost a little in the technical computer language that ran through the book (but I think any tech savy teen would know exactly what it all meant), and I definately loved the premise of this alternative take on George Orwell's 1984. And I'm happy to say that Cory Doctorow is a Canadian. We need more writers like him - that captivate, challenge and inspire teen readers.

Read on

More summer reading

Being back a school for a week now has been terrific, once I got things back in order that is. As I was shelving books, I realized that I have tons that I want to review here on the blog, as well as books that I'm currently reading. So here's what I read this weekend, followed by some more of what I read this summer.


What my mother doesn't know by Sonya Sones. This is a girlie book, a fast read because it's told in the form of a series of poems (also known as a novel in verse), and covers the topic of Sophie's old boyfriend, new boyfriend and falling for an unexpected potential other new boyfriend? What I really liked about the book was how the titles of the poems chronicle the passage of time through Sophie's year. These were a few of my fav's - Art Class, I hate her, and But we're just friends. Overall I enjoyed the book, I think Sonya Sones totally nails the teenage girl voice in her writing.



The bronze pen by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. Twelve-year-old Audrey Abbott dreams of becoming a writer, but with her father's failing health and the family's shaky finances, it seems there is no room for what her overworked mother would surely call a childish fantasy. So Audrey keeps her writing a secret. That is, until she meets a mysterious old woman who seems able to read her mind. Audrey is surprised at how readily she reveals her secret to the woman.
One day the old woman gives Audrey a peculiar bronze pen and tells her to "use it wisely and to good purpose." It turns out to be just perfect for writing her stories with. But as Audrey writes, odd things start happening. Did Beowulf, her dog, just speak to her? And what is that bumping under her bed at night? It seems that whatever she writes with the pen comes true. However, things don't always happen in the way that she wants or expects. In fact, it's quite difficult to predict what writing with the pen will do. Could the pen be more of a curse than a gift? Or will Audrey be able to rewrite the future in the way that she wishes---and save her father's life? Perfect for grades four to six.




Suck it up by Brain Meehl. Well this was my vampire book of the summer. Morning McCobb is a very unlikely vampire and he's been chosen to represent the IV League (International Vampire League) as their poster boy for the major coming out event. Why Morning? well he's young, geeky, and not a threat to humans because he's never even had blood from human or animal, Morning exists on Blood Lite a soy substitute. PR rep Penny Dreadful has been hired as Morning's handler and as well as pumping up the media on the day when the two worlds come together (that of the vampires and ours). There's one hitch with all of this and that's the fact that Penny has a teenage daughter and Morning is starting to like her more than a little. Will his true vampire colors show through?
There's great word play (dare I say -tongue and cheek) in this book, I really liked some aspects of this one and would recomend it for grades seven and eight.


Read on

Last weekends books

Back in town after a great weekend at the cabin. Got two more books from my summer reading pile read. I think the pile is down to only one or two now, and I start back to work in just two days, can I do it??? So the books I read were the following:

Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George - Okay, so this ordinarily isn't my kind of book, I'm much more of a realistic fiction kind of person, and I really thought the cover to be suitable for kids grades 4-6 - but I gave it a go and found that I did enjoy it. Here's the write up from the back cover -"When Creel's aunt sacrifices her to a dragon, Creel refuses to wait for a knight to rescue her. After bargaining for her escape and winning a pair of blue slippers from the dragon's hoard, Creel sets out to find her own fortune in the king's city. Along the route, she meets and befriends another dragon, who helps her find her way. But when she arrives in the city, strange things start to happen and Creel realizes that her mysterious slippers are more than just a pair of shoes.

A bit of fantasy, mixed in with fairy tale, with a feisty, independent main character made this a fast fun read totally appropriate for most middle school readers, especially those who like books by Gail Carson Levine or Shannon Hale.

The Sky Inside by Clare B. Dunkle
What would it be like to live in a community sheltered by a dome? Where every house matched, where the season changed by what decorations were hung in the windows, where things like birds are distant memories of your grandparents, where everything including babies arrives via packet cars, where most jobs are done by robots. Would you question this world? Would you wonder what was outside if you were always told that nothing can exist outside the dome? Martin begins to ask these kinds of questions when a mysterious stranger visits the dome to take away the wonderbabies, which include his little sister Cassie.
Can Martin escape and survive outside the dome?, more importantly can he and Chip (his amazing robot dog) find Cassie?

I think what found most likeable about Martin's character was how much of a typical teenage boy his is. Does he love his little sister? well yes, but most of the time he just tolerates her constant questions and interruptions. How Martin feels about school is just hilarious with its accuracy of the painful boredom he feels when there - (not that I'm saying school is boring, it's just that I found myself remembering feelings similiar to these " The mere sight of the place was enough to sap his energy and ruin his mood. Maybe it was the vomit green color of the walls, or maybe it was all those identical desks in rows. No amount of interesting decoration ever made up for the rigid lines of desks." I'm sure he liked his library though ;-)
I hope this review will peak your interest and you'll come in and ask to see
The Sky Inside.
Read on

Brain science in one quick short lesson

Phineas Gage: A gruesome but true story about Brain Science by John Fleischman. I didn't think I could learn so much about the brain and the introduction brain science in such a concise and short book, but then I didn't anticipate such a compelling story as that of Phineas Gage.

Phineas worked as a railroad foreman in 1848, he had a good rapport with the men he worked with and the tools of his trade included a 3 foot long steel tamping rod and gun powder for blasting rock. His life changed the day that 3 foot steel rod blasted under his cheek bone and right up through the top of his head. Miraculously Phineas lived for another eleven years, the most noticeable effects on him were changes in his personality.

I found many parts of this story of interest, from where medical science was at during the late 1800's, to the many functions our brains are always working at, and how brain injuries effect a persons character. Fascinating read, lots of pictures help the text along and a valuable glossary for further interest.

Summer reading part 2

Well as you can tell, I'm kinda liking this idea of blogging and I've been doing a fair amount of summer reading so here's part two (or otherwise known as what I read yesterday). So from one of the reading lists from the PNLA conference (I want that one book: Teen lit to reel them in) was the graphic novel Aya by Marguerite Abouet. As the book jacket says "It's a book about what goes on in the minds of teenage girls" with these teenage girls living in the shanty town called Yopugon within the larger city of Abidjan in the country of Ivory Coast. There's dancing, boys, lots of flirting and of course some of the turmoil of growing up (grade 8+)I enjoyed both the story and thought the drawings depicted the characters and setting with a lot of humor and accuracy.

Black Duck by Janet Taylor Lisle - wowed me, I couldn't put it down, I just couldn't stop - I had stuff to do, but it just kept luring me back to read the next chapter and then the next. This is the story of Ruben and Jeddie best friends and how rum running during the prohibition years changed their friendship, their community, and their lives. It all starts with the day they find a dead body.

I can't wait to tell more about this one in a book talk.

Ms. Fisch

Summer reading

I've just returned from the PNLA conference in Post Falls, Idaho and decided to get on with what I told myself I was going to do all summer and that was to start this blog. So here goes, the conference was great, even though I think I might have been the only middle school librarian there. I still came away with lots of ideas and things to incorporate throughout the year (time being the key factor). I give myself a pat on the back for getting this far - creating a blog and reviewing my summer reads will be the starting place.



So today I finished The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart. It took me awhile to get into to this one, I don't know, it could be the fact that this was my road trip book and I had plenty of distractions along the way that prevented me from having some comfy chair steady reading or it could be that I didn't find the story to really get going till Frankie develops her first order of the Basset Hounds Halloween plan that then I was hooked and wanted to continue to see what kind of pranks Frankie had yet to pull. Once the ball got rolling, I loved the detail in which Frankie disguised herself as being one of the Loyal Order of Basset Hounds and the creative instructions to the club as to their next covert operation.



If you liked The Year of Secret Assignments you're sure to enjoy this one.



Read on!

Ms. Fisch