Project sweet life

Project Sweet Life by Brent Hartinger

Summer holidays are here. Yipee!! Days and days of sleeping in, hanging with friends, hours of doing not much of anything. Right. That's what the three main characters of Project sweet life thought too. That is until their fathers come up with the idea that all three should have summer jobs!! Yes you heard right - work, jobs, schedules, minimum wage, uuuuugggghhhh.

Dave, Curtis and Victor decide there is a way around the dreaded summer job - and they call it Project Sweet Life - really all they have to do is make roughly $7500.00 and they're off the hook. But project sweet life does require lying to everyone around them about their susposed summer jobs and then how to make the money. Their first project sees the trio selling all the cool stuff they've collected over the years in a massive garage sale just to see the cash flying out of thier hands as fast as it came into them. On to the next idea...

I thought this was an original, fun read. And if your avoiding getting a summer job, well, this book might give you a couple of good ideas.

From the back cover:
"Here's the nasty little secret about summer jobs, something the adults don't tell you: Once you take that first summer job, once you start working, you're then expected to keep working. For the rest of your life! Once you start, you can't stop, ever- not until you retire or you die.
Sure, I knew I'd have to take a job next summer. But now, I had two uninterrupted months of absolute freedom ahead of me - two summer months of living life completely on my own terms. I knew they were probably my last two months of freedom for the next fifty years."

For the slackers.
Read on.

Too Funny!!!

Buffy vs. Edward
This is too funny!

Maximun Ride Graphic Novel

Maximum Ride by James Patterson vol. 1

I love graphic novels, and I loved the original Maximum Ride, so I had high expectations for the graphic novel adaptation of the story, and well it totally held up. This book was brilliant! I read it one morning last week - that's another thing I love about graphic novels they're fast.

The art work was terrific, I liked how when Max or other members of her family are feeling young and vulnerable they are drawn in a kind of strawberry shortcake way.

Here's a summary of the story. Fourteen-year-old Maximum Ride better known as Max knows what it's like to soar above the world. She and the members of the 'flock' - Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman and Angel - are like ordinary kids, only they have wings and can fly! It may seem like a dream come true to some, but their lives can morph into a living nightmare at any time - like when Angel is kidnapped and taken back to the 'school' where she and the others were genetically engineered by sinister scientists. To rescue Angel, Max and the flock will have to brave the half-human half-wolf 'erasers'. Along the way Max discovers that her purpose is to save the world - but can she?

Favourite graphic novel of late.

Read On

Love, Aubrey

Love, Aubrey by Suzanne La Fleur

A tragic accident has left Aubrey's world turned upside down. Starting a new life all alone, Aubrey has everything she thinks she needs: spagetti-o's and Sammy her new pet fish. She cannot talk about what happend to her. Writing letters is the onlly thing that feels right to Aubrey, even if no one ever reads them.

With the aid of her loving grandmother and new friends, Aubrey learns that shes not alone, and gradually she finds the words to express the feelings that once seemed impossible to describe. The healing powers of friendship, love and memory help Aubrey take the first steps toward the future.

Readers will care for Aubrey from page one and will watch her grow until the very end, when she has to make one of the biggest decisions of her life. Love, Aubrey is a brave, honest, funny, and hopeful book that is not to be missed.

Beginner's guide to fly fishing

Beginner's guide to fly fishing by Jim Casada

I've been thinking about Mrs. Valgardson these days, and I know she loves fly fishing in fact I think she even had a fly fishing option once. So, here's a brand new fly fishing book in her honor.

I've tried fly fishing a couple of times - I was unsuccessful :-( but maybe I'll try some hints from the book for when I head to the Castle River this summer.

If your interested, it's been added to the library collection.

Read On.

How it happened in Peach Hill

How it Happened In Peach Hill by Marthe Jocelyn

This is what I've been reading the last couple of days. I have to say that I don't often read historical fiction, but sometimes I pick one up and have a good time reading it. That's the case with this one.

Here's the summary from School Library Journal -

During the 1920's - fifteen-year-old Annie travels from town to town in upstate New York with her mother, a self-proclaimed spiritual advisor. Annie is her mother's secret weapon: by posing as an idiot, she can eavesdropp on conversations around town and gather fodder for "Madame Caterina's" fortune telling sessions. The downside, of course, is that Annie is never able to let anyone learn just how intelligent and lonely she really is. When they move to Peach Hill, the teen longs to settle down, and it seems she might get her wish when, in a rebellious moment, she feigns a miraculous cure that allows her to drop her mentally disabled pose. Finally, she is able to attend school and get to know some of the townspeople on her own terms. But the mother is as tenacious as the daughter, and has no intention of losing Annie's services. Add to the mix a local schemer who is determined to use the duo's skills to his own advantage and a persistant truant officer who has her doubts about Madame Caterina, and the result is a rollicking coming-of-age story that ends with dreams realized in unexpected ways. Jocelyn's research is evident, and the old wives tales that she has chosen as titles for each chapter hint at how the plot will unfold. Readers will not soon forget this unconventional mother-daughter team.

Red Kayak

Red Kayak by Priscilla Cummings

I've known about this book for a couple of years, and finally I had time to read it and certainly wasn't disappointed.

Part mystery, part what would you do?, these are the themes at the heart of this book.

Brady and his friends aren't happy about the changes that are happening around their small town. Developers are coming in and building mansions for rich weekender families. Tragedy strikes the Di'Angelos family (who Brady occasionally babysits for) when their kayak overturns in the bay, and Brady's left wondering if what happened was more than an accident. As Brady uncovers more and more about what happened he has to start questioning what his role in the accident was and how he'll chose to deal with the outcomes.

To tell you much more would be a huge spoiler, so I'll leave it at that. Don't miss out on this one!

Lawn boy by Gary Paulsen

Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen

This is a perfect, short book for fans of Gary Paulsen. Maxing out at 88 pages, this is a story all about getting rich quick and who wouldn't like that. Recommended for 6th graders who dream of making money.

From the back cover:

One day I was twelve years old and broke. I set out to mow some lawns with Grandpa's old riding mower. One client was Arnold the stockbroker, who offered to teach me about: The beauty of capitalism, Supply and demand. Diversifying labor. Distributing the wealth. "It's groovy man," Arnold said.

The grass grew, and so did business. Arnold invested my money in many things. One of them was a prize-fighter. All of a sudden I was the sponsor of my very own fighter, Joey Pow. That's when my summer got really interesting.

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