This world we live in

This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer

I have loved this dystopian series of books - told in diary format following the heroic, mundane lives of a family surviving a global catastrophy. It makes you think "what would I do?" would anything I've watched on Surviorman help? Anyways I'm about half way through (and just getting to the good part Miranda and Alex are about to meet) and I felt like I should already be blogging about this great book.

Here's the summary from the book jacket:

It's been a year since a meteor collided with the moon, catastrophically altering the earth's climate. For Miranda Evans, life as she knew it no longer exists. Her friends and neighbours are dead, the landscape is frozen, and food is increasingly scarce.

Miranda and her two brothers spend their days scavenging for food and household items, while their mother stays at home and desperately tries to hold on to the ordinary activities of their previous life. But they all know that nothing is truly normal in this surreal new world they live in.

The struggle to survive intensifies when Miranda's father and stepmother arrive with a baby and three strangers in tow. One of the newcomers is Alex Morales, and as Miranda's complicated feelings for him turn to love, his plans for his future thwart their relationship. Then a devastating tornado hits the town of Howell, and Miranda makes a decision that will change their lives forever.

The first book is Life As We Knew It - the second is The Dead and the Gone

Trackers by Patrick Carman

Trackers by Patrick Carman

I am once again wowed by Patrick Carman and where he is taking his readers, mystery adventure high-tech suspence captured in a vook that has readers - reading as fast as they can so that they can watch the next video clip to help piece together the puzzle. He's the author of Skeleton Creek and Ghost in the Machine. I think is will be another huge hit at our library and I can't wait to tell you more about it.

If you liked the Alex Rider series or The Cherub series or Little Brother or Skeleton Creek - I think you will become an instant fan of Trackers.

Here's the summary.

In the 21st century landscape of bits and bytes, everyone leaves a digital footprint... even the most advanced cyber criminals. And that's where the Trackers come in. Four tech-savy kids armed with high-tech video cameras and esoteric coding skills, the Trackers can find almost anyone, anywhere. Told through a collage of video, text and websites, Tracker #1 follows Adam, Finn, Lewis and Emily as they become entangled in a high tech, high-stakes game of cat and mouse with Shantorian the world's most dangerous hacker. At least that's who they think they're after...

As the four dig deeper into the shadowy world of online crime, they soon learn that things aren't always as they seem.

Here's a teaser from the author and the book trailer.

More from the future of reading

With the recent release of Apples' ipad here in Canada, I thought I'd once again show some features that the future of reading is looking to incorporate. This is made by Penguin publishing company.



So once again we see that the future of reading looks interactive with the reading device, it will have a social aspect that can let you converse with other readers and will help explain words you don't know and how to pronounce them, that and other tons of cool things.

Read On.

Short attention span

I haven't been posting much this last little while because I've had a million things buzzing around in my head, stuff about school and projects to finish up in June, projects to start next September, stuff at home, projects over the summer. Ideas, ideas and more ideas. So with all this going on I haven't really even been reading much - I'll start something but can't seem to finish it.
So with this in mind, I decieded that maybe the best thing would be to be reading graphic novels - they're quick, enjoyable and I need to be reviewing some for increasing our collection for next year.
Here's what I've been looking at.

Star Wars : Vector Vol. 1

Prince of Persia / John Mechner

100 Girls / Adam Gallardo

There's a hair in my dirt / Gary Larson

I have to say I liked them all but I'll give you the summary from Gary Larson's.

" Dirt for breakfast, dirt for lunch and dirt for dinner! Dirt, Dirt, dirt! --- and look now there's even a hair in my dirt! The final insult. I can't stand it any longer. I Hate Being a Worm!" it isn't easy being an earthworm, and when one little guy gets mad at a hair in his dinner, Father worm decides to tell him a story. What follows is an ecological fable that combines environmental lessons with the kind of off-the-wall humor that could only come from one man - Gary Larson.

Father worm tells the story of a beautiful but stupid maiden who frolics through the forest enjoying the beauty of nature , but completely fails to understand it. The young earthworm learns that nature is not a cute and cuddley theme park designed for the entertainment of stupid humans, but a complex, fragile and somewhat violent system where every creature plays a vital role - including the lowly earthworm.

Fans of the Farside this should be your next book report.

Read On

Mrs. Dudas 6B

Created by Mrs. Dudas's 6B class reflecting on their year at the library.
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Bronte Sisters Power Club

This is hilarious.

Libraries of the future

This is one of the most expensive and cool things I've seen for libraries in the future (actually some libraries already have them - I haven't seen any in Canada but I know of some libraries in the States that have them.)

It's called a listening pod. Standing outside of it you hear nothing - sit inside it, you can rock right out!

Read On or Rock On doesn't matter at this library.

The Sisters Grimm

The Sisters Grimm
Book 7
The Everafter War by Michael Buckley

Picking up after the dramatic cliff-hanger that ended Book 6, Sabrina and Daphne's prayers are finally answered when their parents awake from their sleeping spell. But their happy reunion is short-lived, as they are caught in the middle of a war between The Scarlet Hand and Prince Charming's Everafter Army. As the family works to help the Prince's ragtag group of rebels and protect their friends, Sabrina comes face-to-face with the family's deadliest enemy - the mysterious master - who reveals a secret so shocking it will rock the entire family to its core.

This has been such a fun series, I hate for it to end (lucky for me, I know there still one more book being written.)
Here's author Michael Buckley introducing the series.

39 Clues - Book 8

The Emperor's Code - Book 8 in the 39 Clues Series by Gordon Korman

I know for some of us, we can hardly wait for the arrival of each of these books, so I was pretty excited when this turned up last week in a box of new arrivals. I quickly read it as I knew I had many readers who were also chomping at the bit to get ahold of it.

Here's the summary- As the race to find the 39 clues builds to its explosive finish, Amy and Dan musts steal a clue guarded by thousands of the world's best soldiers. With their enemies closing in, the siblings are separated . Together, they almost had a chance, but alone.... Could the search for this clue spell the end for Amy and Dan?

Here's a teaser from author Gordon Korman.

This makes my day

Back in January I was introduced to this video, it continues to 'make my day' everytime I see it.

North of Beautiful

North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley

This was my weekend read, which I couldn't put down - the lawn will just have to wait.

Born with a port wine-stain birthmark covering her entire right cheek Terra Rose Cooper is ready to leave her stifling, small Washington town where everyone knows her for her face. With her critical, reproachful father and an obese mother who turns to food to deflect her father's verbal attacks, home life for Terra isn't so great either. Fueled by her artistic desires, she plans to escape to an East Coast College, thinking this is her true path. When her father intercepts her acceptance letter, Terra is pushed off-course, and she is forced to confront her deepest insecurities. After an ironically, fortuitous car accident, Terra meeets Jacob, a handsome but odd goth Chinese boy who was adopted from China as a toddler. Jacob immediately understands Terra's battle with feeling different. When Terra's older brother invites her and her mother to visit him in Shanghi, Jacob and his mother also join them on their journey, where they all not only confront the truth about themselves, but also realize their own true beauty.

This is a gorgeously written, compelling book featuring universal themes of true beauty, family bonds and personal strength and love.

Hunger Games

Think you'd make a good tribute in The Hunger Games? play a round in the tribute challenge and see if you can beat me or Mr. Newman, the first time I played I score 92% and the last time Mr. Newman played he scored 99%. I guess that means we'd both be dead. Give it your all, but play smart.

Here's the link.

http://scholastic.com/thehungergames/games/index.htm

And remember book 3 Mockingjay comes out September 24, 2010.

Fever Crumb

Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve

Fever Crumb has been adopted and raised by Dr. Crumb, a member of the Order of Engineers, where she erves as an apprentice. At a time when women are not seen as reasonable creatures, Fever is an anomaly, the only girl to serve in the Order. Soon, though, she must say good-bye to Dr. Crumb to assist archaeologist Kit Solent with a top secret project. The assignment involves a mysterious room that once belonged to Auric Godshawk, the last of the Scriven overlords, and Fever must help unlock it. The Scriven, not human, ruled the city some years ago but were hunted down and killed in a vitorious uprising by the people.
As Fever's work begins, she is plagued by memories that are not her own, and Kit seems to have a particular interest in finding out what they are. All Fever knows is what she's been told: She is an orphan. But whose memories does she hold? And why are there people chasing her, intent on eliminating her? Is Fever the key to unlocking the terrible secret of the past?

The book trailer looks interesting.

Books and Technology

Books and Technology
Here's more on the future of books and the mix with technology.



It's reading with all the bells and whistles. This e-book version of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll is very interactive, requiring the reader to turn the e-reader this way and that, to make the story and it's illustrations come alive. It won't be for everyone but maybe it will grab a few of you in the future.
Read On

42 Miles

42 Miles by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer

Loved it!!! Absolutely loved it!
Just 42 miles. That's how far it is from the downtown apartment where JoEllen lives with her mom to the old family farm where she spends weekends with her dad. But to her, these two homes are worlds apart. In the city, she's Ellen, who hangs out with her girlfriends, plays the sax, and loves old movies. In the country, she's Joey, who rides horses with her cousin, Hayden, goes fishing, and listens to bluegrass. Now - with her thirteenth birthday approaching - she needs to decide: Where do her loyalties lie? Who is the real JoEllen?
Linked free-verse poems combine with scrapbook-style illustrations to create the vivid portrait of a girl who it trying to find herself amid the pieces of her life.

This one is a short one at only 72 pages, and novels in verse always read fast, but there are thoughts to ponder long and hard here, about the combinations of flavors and ingredients inherited from family that in part make us who we are. Once again - loved it!

Read On.
Here's one of the poems from the book -done up for a book trailer.

Vook

On Friday I was at a workshop on library stuff - a one of the sessions was on ebooks / ereaders and all sorts of other fancy high-tech stuff.
This session was impressive because it reminded me that reading is changing - I know you think how is reading changing? Well here is a for instance: Vooks - here's a trailer about vooks


(part video part book or story) think of titles like Skeleton Creek and Ghost in the Machine, but there are others - try this link if your curious.
http://bit.ly/c5urYe

It's an interactive short story mystery. Requires reading and a computer.