Remembering Raquel by Vivian Vande Velde
Fourteen-year-old Raquel Falcone is, as one of her classmates puts it, the kind of kid who has the tendency to be invisible. That is until the night she's hit by a car and killed while walking home from the movies. In brief, moving chapters, we hear about Raquel from her classmates, her best friend, her family - and the woman who was driving the car that struck her. The loss of this seemingly invisible girl deeply affects her entire community, proving just how interconnected and similar we all really are.
Left me feeling very thoughtful.
The Dark Pond by Joseph Bruchac
from the back cover:
As soon as he arrived at the North Mountain School, Armie sensed something strange about the dark pond in the forest. An eerie presence haunts his dreams and keeps drawing him back to the pond - something dangerous that lurks in its depths.
Armie turns to the tales of his Shawnee ancestors for help-but if he's right about what lives in the still, black waters of the dark pond, he may need more than his wits to survive...
Much like Skeleton Man - Bruchac creates a story based around Native American mythology and then gives us a thrilling good suspense ride. If you've enjoyed some of his other stories you'll probably like this one too. I did.
Read On
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney
Once again, I was laughing out loud at Greg and his friends as they spend most of their summer trying to avoid having anything to do with work, grownups and their families. I can't help myself - I love this character, I think he has something we all can relate with (I mostly relate with getting shoved off the high diving board by my brother).
Have fun reading this one. I just want to add that Jeff Kinney has made a terrific living from drawing simple cartoons and that his books and my previous post about Adventures in Cartooning are a match made in cartoon heaven.
From the back cover: It's summer vacation - the weather's great, and all the kids are having fun outside. So where's Greg Heffley? Inside his house, playing video games with the shades drawn. Greg, a self-confessed "indoor person" is living out his ultimate summer fantasy: no responsibilities and no rules. But Greg's mom has a different vision for an ideal summer... one packed with outdoor activities and "family togetherness." Whose vision will win out? Or will a new additon to the Heffley family change everything?
Read On
Impossible by Nancy Werlin
Well, for those of you that have been waiting for the next great read, comparable to Twilight - wait no longer.
Impossible was delicious. Weaving threads of a folksong, along with a mysterious curse linked to an impossible world / fairytale, and a modern day romance to make a beautiful, intricate, unforgettable story. I got totally caught up in the story.
Here's the write up-
Inspired by the ballad "Scarborough Fair," this riveting novel combines suspense, fantasy, and romance for an intensely page-turning and masterfully original tale. Lucy Scarborough is seventeen when she discovers that the women of her family have been cursed through the generations, forced to attempt three seemingly impossible tasks or fall into madness upon their child's birth. Unless she can complete these tasks, Lucy will go mad, just like her mother and all the Scarborough women before her. But Lucy is the first girl who won't be alone when she attempts the list. She has her fiercely protective foster parents and her childhood friend Zach beside her. As they struggle to make sense of the puzzle in the ballad and play by the dangerously important rules, time is slipping away and Lucy's fate hangs in a balance. Do they have love and strength enough to overcome an age-old evil?
Photojojo : insanely great photo project and DIY ideas by Amit Gupta and Kelly Jensen
I love seeing all the photography projects that the students at Lakie produce, but what to do with those photos - Hmmmm?
Well this book has plenty of ideas of what to do to show off those photos of yours. Cool ideas to display photos, cool ideas to enhance your photography. have some fun, take a look but don't hog the book.
Tony Hawk: Professional Skateboarder by Tony Hawk and Sean Mortimer
There are many things I love about this book - but I'll start with the intro.
It wasn't always cool to be a skateboarder. Today, if you wear skate shoes and baggy pants, you look like most of the youth population. It's the "in" look. People of every age all over the world play skateboarding video games and know the name of complex skate tricks. If you turn on the TV there's a good chance you'll see skateboarding in a commercial or a contest. But back in the late 70's, when I started, skating was on it's way out. By the time I was obsessed with skateboarding, it was a geeky fad that only weirdos and nerds continued to do - at least that's what my schoolmates told me. I was used to hearing their taunts though. I was twelve and I was the only skater in my school....
Filled with dynamic photos from Tony's life, including embarrassing hairstyles of the past, this autobiography gives readers an inside look at how driven Tony Hawk was as a young competitor. I like how each new chapter heading is on a band-aid. Great read ! for those non-fiction / skate fans.
Read On
Last Shot : a final four mystery by John Feinstein
Just finished this one this morning and as some of you know I'm not a huge basketball fan but this one worked for me (although it didn't grab me for about the first 50 pages) after that I was in.
For basketball fiend Steven Thomas, it's like a dream come true. He wom a writing contest and now here he is in New Orleans, wearing a press pass around his neck, covering the biggest weekend in college sports.
But the dream takes an ugly twist when Steven and his fellow winner, Susan Carol, are nosing around the Superdome and overhear a coach telling MSU's star point guard he'd better lose the final game... or else. Blackmail? As fans, they are repulsed. As reporters, they are riveted.
Of course this is a story no one wants them to pursue. The more questions they ask about who might want MSU to lose and why, the fewer real answers they get. Now they have two days - just forty-eight hours - before the tip-off of the final game to uncover the truth. And it's a truth that will cut deeper into the heart of college athletics than they could ever have imagined.
March madness doesn't nearly describe the half of it.
Cat Burglar Black by Richard Sala
Raised in an orphanage where the abusive matron trained all the children as thieves and pickpockets, the teenaged K. has just been invited to a mysterious boarding school, run by an aunt she never knew she had.
But there's something strange about Bellsong Academy ... the headmistress, the faculty and even the students all seem to be in on a secret. Soon K. is on the adventure of a lifetime - complete with buried treasure, hidden clues and an ancient secret society of master thieves.
This all ages graphic novel had an old school mystery feel to it, I enjoyed the bright water color art work and feel it will have immediate appeal with many Lakie readers. The author has left the ending wide open for a sequel, so we'll wait and see if there is something to follow this one.
Read On.
Defiance by Valerie Hobbs
Defiance. Defiance is defined as 1. challenge 2.disposition to resist or contend. The main characters of this book have chosen to defie obstacles that are around them. Toby has decided that he is finished with cancer, with hospitals, chemo and being sick - even though the lump on his side tells him otherwise. Pearl has decided she is done with just about everyone, especially her kids and her poetry. So when these two defiant characters are brought together over an ailing cow, their unlikely friendship begins. They have much to learn from each other and how defiance also contains a smidgen of surrender.
I enjoyed how cleverly the author made you interested in the poems that Pearl introduces to Toby, and how she-Pearl lets Toby discover the imagery and magic that poetry brings to the world.
Heartwarming and over too soon.
Read On
Joseph Bruchac is one of my many favourite authors and once again I enjoyed one of his books. This time travelling back in history to about 1493, set after the founding of the Iroqois Confederacy and before the arrival of European settlers. I enjoyed how many native american teachings were interwoven into this book, and I think it would make a great story to be read aloud or done as a novel study for Grade six because it has a terrific tie in with the Social Studies curriculum and explains the traditions and layout of the longhouse in a way that can be visualized.
Summary- When Ohkwa'ri overhears a group of older boys planning a raid on a neighbouring village, he immediately tells his Mohawk elders. Has he done the right thing? but he has also made enemies. Grabber and his friends will do anything they can to hurt him, especially during the village-wide game of Tekwarrathon (lacrosse). Ohkwa'ri believes in the path of peace, but can peaceful ways work against Grabber's wrath?
T - Minus: the race to the moon by Jim Ottaviani
This graphic novel presents a fictionalized account the race between the Soviet Union (Russia) and the United States. Over the course of almost ten years the Russians and Americans staged various battles in being the first to put a man on the moon. The Russians were leading this race for almost three quarters of it, with being the first to have space crafts put into the Earth's orbit, orbitting the Earth for the longest period of time, first to orbit the moon and the first to have a living creature from Earth go into orbit (Laika the dog). And then it was the Americans turn, after several failed attempts , they finally were getting men into orbit and of course were the first to put a man on the moon in June of 1969.
This book provided a very interesting time line to all of these varying firsts into space, and creates the tension that the engineers and scientist in both countries felt about how that race was to be won and at what expense. I learned a lot more about the space race than I could have imagined, and have a much greater respect for astronauts that continue to make milestones in space travel and at the international space station doing important research.
Read On
Aliens Are Coming by Meghan McCarthy
The true account of the 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast.
It was an ordinary night in October of 1938 until a news bulletin interrupted dance music on CBS radio - aliens were invading the United States. Meghan McCarthy's hilarious The Aliens Are Coming tells the true story of the Halloween prank that duped much of the country into believing the martians had invaded. The book uses excerpts from the actual War of the Worlds broadcast and includes information about the importance of radios in the 1930's (before the time of television and computers) as well as facts about Orson Wells and H.G. Wells, author of the novel on which the broadcast was based.
This one is fun as well as informative. It could make a terrific book project.
Read On
Killer Pizza by Greg Taylor
This was one of my summer reads but I'm just remembering to blog about it now. This was a fun book that had me at times sitting at the edge of my seat and other times cracking up out loud.
Here's the summary: Pizza you'll die for. Toby McGill dreams of becoming a world-famous chef but up until now his only experience was watching the FoodNetwork. When Toby lands a summer job at Killer Pizza, where pies like The Monstrosity and The Frankensausage are on the menu, things seem perfect. His co-workers, Annabel and Strobe, are cool, and Toby loves being part of the team. But none of them are really prepared for what's really going on at Killer Pizza: It's a front for a monster-hunting organization! Learning to cook pizza is one thing , but killing hideous, terrifying monsters ? That's a whole other story. Still if Toby quits, will the monsters take over his town?
Much like the Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp - Toby kinda falls into the role of defender of good. There is plenty of action, crossbows, explosions, car chases, deadly talons and fangs, as well as a recipe for Killer Pizza - which makes this monster chasing adventure truely worthly in my opinion.
Read On
The Crossroads by Chris Grabenstein
Zack, his dad and new stepmother have just moved back to his fathers hometown in Connecticut, not knowing that their new house has a dark history. Fifty years ago, a crazed killer caused an accident at the near by crossroads that took forty innocent lives. He died when his car hit a tree in a fiery crash, and his malevolent spirit has inhabited the tree ever since. During a huge storm, lightning hits the tree, releasing the spirit, who decides his evil spree isn't over yet, and Zach is directly in his sights.
This one is the winner of the Agatha Award for YA / childrens mystery. And it's no wonder, with its short chapters, friendly and definately unfriendly ghosts, the creepiest tree in history and a plot that wouldn't quit - this one had me hooked.
Here's the booktrailer (unfortunately it doesn't quite grasp how scary and trilling the book is.)
The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo
What a wonderful, magical book.
It lets you believe that absolutely anything is possible, that magic is strong, that people are good and elephants can appear and disappear when needed. Filled with hope, this story follows a young orphan, Peter, who spends the one florin that is meant for he and his benefactors supper of two day old bread and very small fish, on a visit to the fortuneteller. Where he is told that his sister lives and to find her he must follow the elephant. And so begins the tale of unlikely happenings, unlikely heroes and a group of unlikely conspirators.
Here's some brilliant writing done once again by Kate DiCamillo -
"That is surely the truth, at least for now. But perhaps you have not noticed: the truth is forever changing." (the fortuneteller)
"It is important that you say what you mean to say. Time is too short. You must speak words that matter."
"What if?", Why not?, Could it be?"
"What are we to make of a world where stars shine bright in the midst of so much darkness and gloom?"
"Magic is always impossible," said the magician. "It begins with the impossible and ends with the impossible and is impossible in between. That is why it is magic."
The illustrations are in black and white and softly surreal, perfect for the dark, wintery city and the glimmers of magic.
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
I know many of you have already read this book, but for some unknown reason it had not made it onto my bedside pile of books till now. And now I'm kicking myself that I hadn't read it sooner cause it was awesome!!
Percy Jackson our protagonist, starts out as an unlikely hero, he's the kid that can sit still in class, ADHD and dyslexia are code words when grownups talk about him. This and the fact that he has been kicked-out of just about every school he's ever set foot in make him seem like he's the kid that trouble just follows for some unknown reason. Once we learn that Percy is a half-blood (born of a mortal mother and a Greek God father) we see why Percy has been plagued with trouble. The Gods aren't too pleased with him. And worse than that Zeus's mast lightning bolt has been stolen and Percy is the prime suspect.
There is only one way Percy can clear his name - that's by finding out who really stole the lightning bolt , the trouble is he only has 10 days to do it. With him on his quest are Annabeth another half-blood and his best friend Grover (a satyr). There are plenty of monsters and Gods that will make this the hardest adventure of Percy life.
I thought this was a great action/adventure book, I wish it would have been around when I was a kid cause I was totally into Greek mythology. If your looking for your next fast-paced, exciting read this should definately be one of your choices.
Read On
The Red Blazer Girls by Michael D. Beil
It all began with The Scream. And ended with ... well, if we told you that it wouldn't be a mystery. But in between The Scream and The Very Surprising Ending, three friends find themselves on a scavenger hunt set up for a girl they've never met, in search of a legendary ring reputed to grant wishes. Are these sleuths in school uniforms modern-day equivalents of Nancy, Harriet and Scooby? Not really, they're just three nice girls who decide to help out a weird lady, end up hiding under tables, tackling word puzzles and geometry equations, and searching moldy storage rooms for "the stuff that dreams are made of." Oh, and there's a boy, who complicates things. As boys often do.
Intrigued? The Red Blazer Girls offers a fun, twisty adventure for those who love mystery, math( c'mon, admit it) and a modest measure of mayhem. (from the back cover).
If you enjoy, Nancy Drew, The Calder Game, The Wright Three, Chasing Vermeer - this will probably be a great option for your next read. A puzzling mystery ~ a mystery with puzzles, enjoy doing both with this book.
Read On.
The Shadows of Ghadames by Joelle Stolz
At the end of the 19th century, in the Libyan city of Ghadames, Malika watches her merchant father depart on one of his caravan expeditions. Malika too yearns to travel to distant cities and she longs to learn to read like her younger brother. But nearly twelve years old and soon to be of marriageable age, Malika - like all Muslim women - must be content with a more secluded, more limited life. Then one night a stranger enters her home ... someone who disrupts the order of things, and who affects Malika in unexpected ways.
This was an interesting look at the complex culture of the families of the city of Ghadames, with it's narrow alleyways, rooftops that are inhabited only by females, mysterious customs and rites of passage.
This book reminded me of my travels in Morocco and of my time spent on the tiny island of Lamu off the coast of Kenya (both places predominately Muslim), and my parents stories of their time spent in Turkey, Iran and Lebanon. It made me dream of far off places and mint tea poured from high above the glass.
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Another great read, Yeah! I'm on a roll lately with book after book that I love.
This book even started with a quote that would resonate throughout - "The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious." Albert Einstein ~ A mix of realistic fiction, mystery and science fiction doesn't always combine to make a great book but I assure you this book ends up being pure yumminess. I enjoyed the chapter headings which are based on the $20,000 pyramid game. This one will be one to add to your TBR shelf - for sure.
From the back cover:
By sixth grade, Miranda and her best friend Sal, know how to navigate their New York City neighborhood. They know where it's safe to go, like the local grocery store, and they know who to avoid. Like the crazy guy on the corner.
But thing start to unravel. Sal gets punched by a new kid for what seems like no reason, and he shuts Miranda out of his life. The apartment ky that Miranda's mom keeps hidden for emergencies is stolen. And then a mysterious note arrives, scrawled on a tiny slip of paper:
I am coming to save your friend's life, and my own. I ask two favors. First, you must write me a letter.
The notes keep coming, and Miranda slowly realizes that whoever is leaving them knows things no one should know. Each message brings her closer to believing that only she can prevent a tragic death. Until the final note makes her think she's too late.
Read On
A Map of the Known World by Lisa Ann Sandell
Loved it!! Read it in one sitting! Have a ton of sticky notes pasted to pages that need to be reread and enjoy yet again. This book reminded me of how teens are often searching for some kind of escape - from old friends, from the small town that is suffocating, from being labeled a certain kind of person, from the pressures placed on them from parents, families, histories, teachers. I know I was definately one of those teens, longing for the day when I would strike out on my own, discover that far off place and escape into the person I wanted to be. This book captured all of that.
Here's the summary.
Cora Bradley dreams of escape. Ever since her reckless older brother, Nate, died in a car crash, Cora has felt trapped in her small town. Her parents are increasingly overprotective, and even her best friend, Rachel, has begun to slip away.
So Cora seeks solace in art, drawing elaborate maps and envisioning herself in exotic locales. Then Cora's mapes lead her someplace unexpected: to Damian, the handsome, brooding boy who was in the car with Nate the night he died. Cora forms a tentative bond with Damian - himself an artist - who reveals to her the truth about who her brother really was. As Cora begins to piece together the fragments of her life, she finds herself falling for Damian. But will she have the courage to follow the chart of her heart?
Here's some of the quotes I flagged.
"They say no land is left to be discovered, no continent is left unexplored. But the whole world is out there, waiting, just waiting for me."
"Kids stream by me, swiftly dodging and moving past in circling eddies, like a river will wash around a tall rock of log."
"Cliques seem to gather their members, the way a magnet will draw filings of iron."
"I will map the world that I know better than anything. The world, the places I've shared with Nate. And I will finish his last, unfinished piece with this map of the known world. I'll draw the places we used to go and the kids we used to be. Then I will mount this map on the pedestal Nate built."
"We sat around the table, five of us, my grandparents, parents and me, caught in a silence as thick as an oil spill and twice as deadly
I know this will be one that I will rave about for a while.
Read On.
The Compound by S.A. Bodeen
This has to be my choice for the best book of July (there has been 12 to choose from - some of them adult books which don't usually make it to the blog.)
Eli was nine, when his world was suddenly changed by the closing of the silver door, that kept he and his family safe from the fall out of the nuclear war. His father wealthy techno billionaire has planned well for such an event - except it didn't do much good for Eddie (Eli's twin) or gram, who didn't make it to the shelter in time. Now seven years after that silver door closed, things in the compound are starting to go wrong, food supply is running short, tension with his parents and sisters is raging. Eli who has distanced himself from everyone and everything finds himself discovering a connection to the outside world that raises questions about the very world he knows and the people he thought he could trust. Secrets, sabatoge, abound in this mysterious world underground called the compound, will Eli have what it takes to escape the silver door? What world is left beyond it?
You'll have to read on to find out.
Once again a dystopian future book has grabbed my attention, and I have to admit that I also checked out the audio version of this too (which was really well done.) I was telling my nephews about it and they were all ears begging me to give away the ending. If there is one book I'm raving about this July it's The Compound.
Finding Lubchenko by Michael Simmons
Here's the opening paragraph-
"So this is basically a story about a murder. It's a story about a murder and the fact that the cops said my dad did it. All implausible, but still a lot of trouble for my father. But I'll get to that. The story actually begins with a smaller crime. It was really just a way for me to earn a little money. And when I tell you what I was doing, you probably won't even think it was that wrong. Not really a crime. I was actually only stealing from myself, if you really think about it, although there are probably a few people who would disagree with me on this."
Evan, our main character and narrator of the story relays how his super rich but tightwad dad has been framed for murder. Evan works at his dads biotech firm for minimum wage (his dad wouldn't have it any other way) so with the help of his best friend Rueben they have been "liberating" office equipment and we're not talking staplers and hole-punches, we're talking laptops, printers, and scanners - the boys then sell the stuff on ebay to supplement Evan's non-existant allowance and wage. One minor glitch - when Evan dad is framed for a murder that has taken place in their office tower, Evan holds the key piece of evidence that could free his dad, but that would also mean coming clean on his supplimentary income scheme.
Evan decides there is only one option that will work for them, find out who is framing his dad themselves, even though this puts them up against some pretty nasty guys. And this means finding Lubchenko.
Loved it, thought it was a fun read, enjoyed the sarcastic, smart-alec, voice of Evan, the crazy schemes he comes up with and how his friends can't resist even against their better judgement being a part of them.
If you haven't seen Ferris Buehler's day off, go out and rent it, cause Ferris and Evan are made of the same stuff.
