Legends of Rock

Legends of Rock by Marjorie Galen and Gordon Matthews

In Legends of Rock, climb into a jukebox time machine to examine the artists and bands that created a new sound and experience. From ground breaking performers such as Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley, all the way up to contemporary acts like Wilco and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Legends of Rock gives readers a front row seat for the stories behind the superstars. Spanning six decades and featuring some 100 of rock's most influential acts. Each artist's unique story is illustrated with captivating photography, along with behind-the-scenes nuggets, greatest-hits lists, and select discographies. Whether you're punk, a folkie, or just a fan of all things rock and roll, Legends of Rock has something for everyone.

Hard hitting, edgie, fun and packed with info - this is how I'd describe it. I think we'll be needing more than one copy.

Here's a list of the artist's and bands in the book:

AC/DC, Aerosmith, The Allman Brothers Band, The Band, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Beck, Chuck Berry, Black Sabbath, Blondie, David Bowie, James Brown, The Byrds, Captain Beefheart, Eric Clapton, The Clash, Alice Cooper, Elvis Costello, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Crosby Stills and Nash, The Cure, Bo Diddley, Donovan, The Doors, Bob Dylan, The Eagles, The Faces, Aretha Franklin, Grateful Dead, Guns n' Roses, Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Holly, Jefferson Airplane, Elton John, Janis Joplin, Carole King, The Kinks, Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, The Lovin Spoonful, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Mamas and the Papas, Bob Marley, John Mellencamp, Metallica, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, New York Dolls, Nine Inch Nails, nirvana, Parliment-Funkadelic, Gram Parsons, Pearl Jam, Tom Petty, Pink Floyd, The Pixies, The Police, Iggy Pop, Elvis Presley, The Pretenders, Prince, Queen, Radiohead, The Ramones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, R.E.M., The Replacements, Johnathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, The Rolling Stones, The Ronettes, Roxy Music, Santana, The Sex Pistols, The Shangri-Las, Simon and Garfunkel, Sly and the Family Stone, Patti Smith, The Smiths, Bruce Springsteen, Steely Dan, Steve Miller Band, T.rex, Talking Heads, Television, Traffic, Ike and Tina Turner, U2, Van Halen, The Velvet Underground, Tom Waits, The White Stripes, The Who, Wilco, Stevie Wonder, Neil Young, Frank Zappa, ZZ Top.

In the Small

In The Small by Michael Hague

A mysterious blue light flashes, bathing the Earth and reaching the depths of the oceans. Afterwards, birds go on chirping, and the world goes on spinning. But in those few seconds, the balance of life is forever changed...

Now fewer than six inches tall, mankind must fight for its place in the food chain, and Mother Nature begins to exact her revenge. Desperate to survive, a teenage brother and sister take the lead in the quest to discover the secret that could redeem this strange new world. But despite their courageous efforts, a dark force grows.

Great dystopian future premiss, not gimmicky like Honey I Shrunk the Kids, and although I would have liked a bit more in the details department, I think our readers will enjoy this one. The artwork is dark and atmospheric.

The Search

The Search by Eric Heuvel / Ruud van der Rol / Lies Schippers

Here's the summary for this amazing graphic novel.

After leaving Germany when life there became unbearable and dangerous for Jewish people. Esther thought she'd found a new home in Amsterdam. But the Germany occupied the Netherlands, and one day Esther, separated from her parents, was forced to flee the city, managing to elude a Nazi roundup of Jews. Easter survived the Holocaust by going into hiding in the countryside, but she never saw her parents again. She knows that they died in a concentration camp and has always wondered about the last few months of their lives. With her grandson Daniel's help, she tracks down an old friend living in Israel and finally learns the shocking story.

I enjoyed how the story moved back and forth through time periods (present day with her grandson and the past with her family during the war.) The story also dealt with questions t hat young readers might have - like why did the germans follow Hitler? did all Germans feel the same way about the Jewish people? Why didn't other countries get involved? and why didn't the Jewish people fight back?

The art work reminded me of Tin Tin, and captures the story well.

Read On

The Sorceress

The Sorceress (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flammel #3) by Michael Scott

Nicholas Flammel's heart almost broke as he watched his beloved Paris crumble before him. The city was destroyed by Dee and Machievelli , but Flammel played his own role in the destruction. Sophie and Josh Newman show every sign of being the twins of prophecy, and Flammel had to protect them and the pages from the Dark Elders.

But Nicholas grows weaker with each passing day. Perenell is still trapped in Alcatraz, and now that Scatty has gone missing, the group is without protection. Except for Clarent - the twin sword to Excalibur. But Clarent's power is unthinkable, it's evil making it nearly impossible to use without its darkness seeping into the soul of whoever wields it.

If he hopes to defeat Dee, Nicholas must find an Elder who can teach Josh and Sophie the third elemental magic - Water Magic. The problem? The only one who can do that is Gilgamesh, and he is quite quite insane.

Here's a promo from the author about The Immortal Nicholas Flammel series.

How to survive middle school

How to survive middle school (without getting your head flushed) and deal with an ex-best-friend, um, girls, and a heartbreaking hamster by Donna Gephart

David Greenberg dreams of becoming a TV superstar along the lines of Jon Stewart. But in real life, he's just another kid terrified of starting his first year at Harmon Junior High. Things aren't looking any better when David gets duped by his best friend into breaking the dress code on the first day of school. But while he and his buddy are fighting, David is lucky enough to make a new friend, Sophie.

Luckily for David, Sophie loves TV too, and shares his love of putting together skits to goof on middle school life. When she posts one of their skits to Youtube, they become an overnight sensation. But how will David cope with being an internet star and a real life schmoe? Will this lead to his actually becoming popular in real life? And more importantly - might it convince Sophie to kiss him?

Here's the book trailer.

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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