Death Cloud

Death Cloud by Andrew Lane

Think you know Sherlock Holmes?... think again.

It's the summer of 1868, and Sherlock Holmes is fourteen. On break from boarding school, he is staying with elderly relative in the country and expecting a tedious vacation. Instead, he finds himself in the midst of a shocking murder mystery. Two local men have died from symptioms resembling the plague. Soon it is clear they have not died from natural causes.
Heedless of danger, Holmes throws himself into an investigation of what and who really killed them. With encouragement from his American-born tutor and the help of two new friends, he uncovers a diabolical plot. So begins his first battle of wits against a brilliantly sinister villain of exquistely malign intent.

Here's a sample --
"A cloud of smoke began to rise from the object just as Sherlock recognized it for what it was: a man's body, lying twisted on the ground. The smoke wafted away, driven by the breeze, but there was no sign of fire. For a moment Sherlock thought the man was tying there smoking a pipe, his face wrapped for some reason in a red-spotted white handkerchief, but as he got closer he realized that the red blotches were neither markings on a toadstool nor spots on a white handkerchief. They were bloody boils on the face of a corpse."

Now that will either turn your stomach or have you turning pages. For me, I was turning pages.

Booktrailer.

Chomp

Chomp by Carl Hiaasen

(reviewed from netgalley copy)
What if you took a Bear Grylls wanna-be and threw him into a crazy cast of characters, gave him an enormous budget to create an over-the-top surviorman style show and set the first production in the Florida Everglades. Well, you'll end up with a story like Chomp. Your imagination can create all sorts of scenarios, I'm sure, but can they compete with master of the quirky characters' that Carl Hiassen creates?
In keeping with his familiar style Hiassen gives us a great environmental caper filled with quirky characters both human and animal, and it will make you question how much to believe really happens on some of those 'survive in the wild' type of shows and how much is staged.

Here's the book trailer.

Curveball

Curveball: the year I lost my grip by Jordan Sonnenblick

Jordan Sonnenblick has to be one of my favourite authors, he writes with both heart and humor. His books are great read alouds that have real feeling, that we all can relate to (whether we've been in that circumstance or not, some things are just part of the human condition - we have parents, we have siblings, we have friends, we go to school.) Although curveball is written about a slightly older teen, I think middle school students will still enjoy the character of Peter Friedman - pitcher (used to be), photographer (wanna be) his best friend AJ (ace pitcher) and new friend Angelika (wanna be girlfriend).

Here's the summary from the book jacket.

Sometimes, the greatest comebacks take place far away from the ball field.

Meet Peter Friedman, high school freshman. Talented photographer. Former baseball star. When a freakish injury ends his baseball career, Peter has some major things to figure out. Is there life after sports? Why has his grandfather suddenly given him thousands of dollars worth of camera equipment. And is it his imagination, or is the super-hot star of the girls swim team flirting with him, right in front of the amazing new girl in his photography class?

In his new novel Jordan Sonnenblick performs his usual miraculous feat: exploring deep themes of friendship, romance, family and tragedy, while still managing to be hilariously funny.

Here's an interview with Jordan Sonnenblick - I love the part  "what will you do when life throws you a curveball?"

Cool Daddy Rat

Cool Daddy Rat by Kristyn Crow ; illustrated by Mike Lester

Today's poetry post is influenced by music- specifically jazz. Mrs. Hudson's grade 7's are discovering that today's music has it's roots and foundations buried in jazz and the hipster's slang dictionary. How fun!

Summary:
Ace has the coolest daddy ever. Every night he goes out to play jazz and scat all around the city. but one night Cool Daddy Rat hears something strange: "peeky, squeaky, who dat?"
It's Ace, hiding in the bass case! Lucky Ace gets to tag along and the pair zig and zag from gig to gig all over the city, filling the streets with sweet beats. But stowing away isn't the only surprise Ace has up his sleeve.

Get ready to snap, tap, and scat along with this cool , jazzy read-aloud.

Chris Raschka

Chris Raschka -- illustrator, poet, storyteller.
We have several of his books here in the library. A couple of them are my favourites to loan out to teachers during April because he delivers such good examples of various forms of poetry ( A Kick In the Head and A Foot in the Mouth), but I think concrete poetry must be one of his favourites. And I love his description of it -"yoga of words."

Check out Chris at work.

April is Poetry Month

April is Poetry Month and to help kick it off I thought I should begin with creating some of my own poetry. I started off trying to create a simple shape poem. Or try creating a diamante poem.

dribble,

dribble,

pass, bounce, jump

airtime

hope

rim, rim

please bounce in.

I hope you can guess what I'm writing about and what shape in might be in? try the link and try creating some of your own shape poetry.

Critical thinking

With the recent phenomena of the Kony 2012 campaign, students at Lakie have been asked to consider how information travels, with the touch of a button, thousands can be reached with all kinds of messages, sometimes slick and professionally done (Kony 2012), othertimes raw and unedited (footage of protests from Syria). Should we believe everything that moves through social media (twitter and facebook)?  Do we need to dig deeper? Consider different perspectives?
Students should be considering the criteria of evaluation -- the C.R.A.P. test
Currency
Reliability
Autenticity
Purpose

The Guardian recently created a great piece to demonstrate the speed at which information travels (true or not ) - put on your thinking caps.
Have a look.

Rot & Ruin

Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

Summary from book jacket:
In the zombie-infested world Benny has grown up in, teenagers must work once they turn fifteen- or they'll lose their food rations. Benny isn't interested in taking on the family business, but he reluctantly agrees to train as a zombie killer with his boring big brother, Tom. He expects a dull job, whacking zombies for cash. What he discovers is a vocation that will teach him what it really means to be human.
As his worldview is challenged again and again by the lessons he learns from Tom, Benny is forced to confront another horrifying reality: Sometimes the most terrible monsters are human.

This book came into my hands via strong recommendations from a couple of students (Kaelan etc.). As some of you already know, I'm a big scaredy pants and have only read one or two zombie books (are zombies the new vampires?) but those couple I have read have definately kept me entertained (probably more than any vampire book!) so I guess I'll be needing to try Rot & Ruin out. The reviews I've been seeing support what I've been hearing so I think I have another one to add TBR stack.

Here's an interview with Joanthan Maberry.

Five Ancestors

Tiger by Jeff Stone -- Book One in the Five Ancestors Series

Holy kung-fu fighting tigers! This was fun, exciting, action-packed. Usually when I review a series, I only read one or two - but with this series I can easily see myself wanting to read every single one of them. (that doesn't happen often - not even Harry Potter grabbed me for the whole series).

Series Summary:

Before he dies, the grandmaster of Cangzhen Temple instructs his five youngest pupils -- each a master of a different fighting style-- to search out the secrets of their pasts. Only then, he tells them, will they be able to avenge their fallen brothers and retrieve the temples stolen scrolls.

Book Summary:

Twelve-year-old Fu and his temple brothers Malao, Hok, Seh, and Long don't know who their parents were. Raised from infancy by their grandmaster, they think of the temple as their home and their fellow warrior monks as "temple brothers" - as their family. Then one terrible night, the temple is destroyed. Fu and his brothers are the only survivors. Charged by thier Grandmaster to uncover the secrets of thier past, the five flee into the countryside and go their separate ways. Book one follows Fu as he struggles to find out more and prove himself in the process.

Here's an intro / interview with the author Jeff Stone

Hunger Games

Please take part in the poll - movie vs. book.

Last Friday, I joined about 220 grade eight students, who were part of the premier opening morning for the movie The Hunger Games. (it almost didn't happen, with the sudden icy roads closing Whoop-Up Drive and Highway 3 temporarily.) But happily they made it and excitement raged.

I can't wait for today when we get a chance to be the film critics and review what we disliked and liked. Who we loved, and how they could have done things differently.
Thank you so much to Mr. Newman for arranging this for us - it was a terrific way to complete a novel study. And thanks to the grade eight team for including me.
I hope this inspires many more readers to get caught up in a captivating book - whether it's the Hunger Games or something else. I think this proves that Young Adult books have depth, capture readers and bring them into a thrilling place, can make money and aren't just for Young Adults.

Horray!!!! Suzanne Collins. We congratulate you for this success and hope their will be many more to follow.