Archer's quest

Archer's quest by Linda Sue Park

From the back cover -Twelve-year-old Kevin, a Korean American math whiz, is shocked beyond belief when a young man carrying a bow and arrows crash-lands in his bedroom. And that's jsut the beginning. The man, called Skillful Archer, claims to be a legendary ruler from ancient Korea. While Kevin tries to explain contemporary life to the man he nicknames Archie, Archie teaches Kevin how to focus his thoughts in an attempt to help the young ruler return to his kingdom. There's not a moment to lose as Kevin uses Korean history and folktales, math, and the Chinese zodiac to help his friend travel back through time. If Archie can't get home before the Year of Tiger ends, history will be forever changed.

I enjoyed this time-travel story, and how Kevin presented realistic questions about how and why the crazy event happened and mostly how to get the Archer back in time before his parents get home. I also liked the part of the book where Kevin gets the Archer to be less serious by saying "in the outhouse" after reading the fortunes from their fortune cookies. The Archer imparts practical knowledge and also gives Kevin reasons to see himself in a new light.

"to contribute to a great mission. The most ordinary among us have it within ourselves to be extraordinary, should we so choose."

Read On.

How to ditch your fairy by Justine Larbalestier

How to ditch your fairy by Justine Larbalestier

From the back cover--
If you lived in a world where everyone had a personal fairy, what kind would you want?

• A clothes-shopping fairy (the perfect outfit will always be on sale!)
• A loose-change fairy (pretty self-explanatory.)
• A never-getting-caught fairy (you can get away with anything...)

Unfortunately for Charlie, she's stuck with a parking fairy - if she's in the car, the driver will find the perfect parking spot. Tired of being treated like a personal parking pass, Charlie devises a plan to ditch her fairy for a more useful model. At first, teaming up with her archenemy (who has an all-the-boys-like-you fairy) seems like a good idea. But Charlie soon learns there are consequences for messing with fairies - and she will have to resort to extraordinary measures to set things right again.

So my review, this was a fun, clever, good book , but it could have been a great book if the author would have tied up a few of the loose ends. This alternate world of Avalon was okay, I liked the made-up slang (but would have liked the glossary at the beginning of the book - rather than the end). I liked the fact that Stefan was from the outside and that he questioned why Avalon was so great, why sports were soo important, and the fact that Charlie started to look around and see her world a bit differently. I liked thinking about the different fairies that everyone might have (I think I have a good-nights-sleep fairy or a don't-worry-too-much fairy), but I didn't like how convenient it was after Charlie finally got rid of her fairy that she could just dream up a new one.
And your left hanging about Charlie and Stefan in the end.
Like I say - this is a fun book but it kind of just scratches the surface of being a great book with a rave review.

What's your fairy?
Read On.

The Cheat

The Cheat by Amy Goldman Koss

The summary:

Cheating on a geography midterm is only the beginning. It seemed simple enough - they were given the answers from last year's test and they used them. But they got caught, and what was done without much thought leads to greater and greater consequences. Now they are facing punishment at school, tension at home and no one is sure how or when it will end.

This book is told through the voices of six, eighth graders who are involved in the scenario of what would you do if you were given the answers to a mid-term exam and the emotional roller coaster the follows them, when they're caught.Was there a snitch? What will this mean outside of school?

I've got mixed feelings on this one, I felt that only half of the narrators seemed believable , one I even questioned what importance she had at all on the story. I liked the premise of the story and think it leaves room for some excellent discussion. I did like how Katie saw everything as multiple choice, and I enjoyed Sarah's poetry and sarcastic attempts at the essay on cheating she has to write.

Here's one of the poems:

'Tis a lie to pretend that I read the text.

'Tis a lie as well for which I'm hexed.

For I do NOT know the sea from land,

I'd still be lost with map in hand.

For I did not cram

For this exam.

You bet I regret not doing the work,

And now I feel like a total jerk.

But that's not punishment enough!

It must be meaner! Must be rough!

Unless I rat, I'll have to roast.

Tattle or I'm freaking toast!

But though you burn me as a witch,

You gots to know: I ain't no snitch!

This is a quick read with only 176 pages.

The Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas

I took some time this afternoon to finish reading and create a book trailer for this title that is part of the Scholastic Book Fair preview box. I thought it would be a fun way to promote the book fair.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Ghost in the machine

Ghost in the machine by Patrick Carmen

Wow, this follow up book to Skeleton Creek was an equal as far as the trilling suspense ride created in the first book.

What's unique about this two book series is that Carman has combined a traditional style text and a world of video entries (that involve secret passwords) . The two forms of storytelling are told from the perspectives of Ryan (you follow his journal entries) and his best friend Sarah (Sarah and Ryan have been instructed by their parents to stay away from each other - because Ryan broke his leg while they were checking out the creepy, mysterious dredge). Sarah's side of the story is told through videos she emails Ryan in hopes that together they can find out what the people of the small town of Skeleton Creek are trying to hide.

Idon't want to give much more than this away, I just want to say that I couldn't put it down and had my laptop at the ready for the next password. Perfect for mystery loving kids.

I just learned that they've defined this new style of book/video as a "vook."

Don't miss out on this or Skeleton Creek.

check out the trailer.

Diary of a wimpy kid: Book 4

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

Adventures in Cartooning

Adventures in cartooning: how to turn your doodles into comics by James Sturm, Andrew Arnold, and Alexis Frederick-Frost

If your like me and your drawing ability doesn't go much further than stickmen, don't give up. There's hope for us, we can still tell a great story, full of adventure, fun, silly stuff - with a few helpful hints from this book simple drawings can be turned into a colourful exciting cartoon. Loved it!!

from the cover -- Cartooning is what happens when you send your drawings on an adventure. On this adventure, you'll meet an impatient knight, a cowardly horse, and a magical elf. Our heroes are off to rescue a princess and slay a dragon... and they're learning to make comics along the way. Simple lessons in cartooning are woven into a rip-roaring story. The only thing more fun than reading this comic will be making your own.
Read On.

New titles by Gordon Korman

Zoo break by Gordon Korman

Griffin Bing knows about breaking into places. And he's determined to help his friend Savannah find her missing monkey, even if it is on a floating zoo. Griffin the man with a plan, organizes the biggest zoobreak this zoo has ever seen. There's only one problem: after you break a bunch of animals out of a zoo, where do you put them?

This is the follow up book to Swindle. And I thought I'd include this interview with Gordon Korman about how he got his start in writing and he also talks about Swindle which will be a good reminder why this is such a fun book to read.

New titles by Gordon Korman

Gordon Korman has been a long time favourite of mine, and when referring students to a great read I often find myself back at his shelf, asking have you read this yet? He's written a terrific blend of humor, sports, action/adventure, suspense and sometimes all of those at once. So I'm not surprized that his latest new release POP will have me heading to the shelf to give it rave review.

Pop by Gordon Korman

Say you move to a new town during the summer, you dream of making the football team at the new school you'll be going to - there's kind of one complication, last year the team was undefeated and they're not too excited about having some no-name join them. This is the case for Marcus Jordan. So Marcus begins solo training sessions in the park - what starts out as throwing the ball through an empty picture frame hung from a tree has him eventually being slammed to the ground by a middle-aged guy he's never met before. This middle-aged guy winds up being a former NFL'er Charlie Popovich. Marcus and Charlie begin practicing together, it seems that there stuff to be learned from the old guy - but why is Charlie always calling him Mac, why is he never on time for their practices and what will Marcus do when he learns that Charlie is the father of Troy Popovich the current QB for the high school team?

Very well written, great characters, loved the football action and the ending caught me off guard much like Marcus and that first tackle.

Impossible

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?

More cool non fiction

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.

Read On.

Cool non-fiction

Papier-Mache Monsters by Dan Reeder

The monsters this guy makes are incredible, and better yet he makes it look easy, fun and wildly messy. Right on. I'm already in love with this book. I wish I had more time - so I could get messy and monstery.

here's the write-up:

Celebrated monster-making master Dan Reeder is at it again - helping others let out their inner monsters! All that is needed is a few simple ingredients and a wild imagination. Reeder guarentees success if the tried-and-tested, goof-proof how-to steps in this humourous read are followed. But there's more, he's also giving away all his secrets for creating ghoulish monster elements such as jaws, claws, horns and scales, webbing, tenacles, eyeballs, fingers, toes, gnarly hands and feet and drool- yes perfect drool.

Check this out --

Read On.

Tony Hawk: Professional Skateboarder

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

Rat life

Rat Life by Tedd Arnold

From the back cover:
The dead body found in the Chemanga River has nothing to do with Todd. Sure, a murder is big news, but what would really interest him? A paying job. Then he meets Rat. Just a little older than Todd, Rat has already seen a lot of the world. And when he offers Todd a gig at the drive-in theatre, Todd takes it. After all, it means a paycheck and free movies. But hanging out with Rat leads to a host of strange experiences and perplexing questions. More and more, that corpse from the river is on Todd's mind; and no matter how he shifts the pieces around, Rat is always part of the puzzle.

This was the winner of the 2007 Edgar Award for best young adult mystery.
I have to say that I got taken up with this story. I really enjoyed the creative writing side of Todd's character, I think it showed humor and gave a believability to his age and background. Although the real suspenseful part of the story didn't get going until half way through the book, I felt that drawing out these characters of Todd and Rat and their unlikely friendship gave the book something deeper to delve into. I think it's a winner for me too.

Read On.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Hi, I know I just recently wrote about Percy Jackson and the Olympians - now here's the movie trailer for the first book in the series: The Lightning Thief.


But really read the book first!!!!

Knights of the Hill Country

Knights of the Hill Country by Tim Tharp

From the back cover-

Welcome to Kennisaw - where Friday-night High school football ranks next to God and country and sometimes even comes in first. This year, the Kennisaw knights are going for thier fifth straight undefeated season, and if they succeed, they'll be legends.

But the knights' legacy is a heavy weight to carry for linebacker Hampton Green, on the field, he's so in control you'd think he could stop time. His life off the field is a different story: His father walked out years ago, and now his Mom has a new boyfriend every week. He's drawn to a girl at school who is exactly the type a star athlete isn't susposed to get involved with. Meanwhile, his cocky teammate and best friend, Blaine, is struggling to hold on to a star status that's slipping away. And he's demanding Hampton's loyalty even as Hampton senses he's losing control.

This is the unforgettable story of a boy who must summon the strenght to choose what kind of man he wants to become.

Football in the United States has a very glorified position in high school sports, and I'm sure many of you have watched the likes of Friday Night Lights etc. so you'll have that understanding of how football rules life at some highschools. This book captures that very essence and more as a young man discovers that he is more than just on label "football".

It's interesting how I heard about this book, a librarian wanted to get the word out about reading and great books to a larger audience at her school, so she started travelling to away games with the football team. As they rode the bus, she would read aloud from Knights of Hill Country. The guys on the team enjoyed the book and also commented that they felt that being read to helped calm their nerves on the way to game. Now that's taking it to the next level!

Read On

Last Shot by John Feinstein

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.

New graphic novels

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.

New graphic novels

Breaking Up by Aimee Friedman and art by Christine Norrie

Loved it, read it in one sitting. Art work is fabulous and the story hits the mark everytime.

Here's the summary:

There's a fine line between a friend and an enemy. One minute there's all this trust, and laughter, and love. And the next minute... there's hurt. And cruelty. And betrayal. - Meet Chloe Sacks: thoughtful, artistic, and a junior at Georgia O'Keeffe School for the Arts, nicknamed "Fashion High" for its trendy student body. Along with her best friends, Ericka, Isabel and MacKenzie, she's looking forward to a year of romance, parties and adventure. And it is an eventful year... but not in the way she expected. Falling in love turns out to be a complete disaster. And friendship - well, friendship is the hardest thing of all to keep.

Moral of the story - friendships can be hard, challenging and growing out of them is really alot like breaking up - the hurt is bittersweet. There's tons to explore with this one and the artwork captures many metaphores that would be fun to create a whole book project around.

Read On.