tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38901555575142614822024-03-05T04:40:42.407-08:00Flippin' Pages at WSPLThe YA book blog for the West Springfield Public Library.Jessica Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215868952894725865noreply@blogger.comBlogger344125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890155557514261482.post-23746858469664549982016-04-13T09:08:00.000-07:002016-04-13T09:08:45.757-07:00<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name">
Online Book Club - 1984 - Week One Discussion
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Welcome back, Readers!<br />
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I'm Mare Alos, your new Young Adult Librarian, and after a few months' hiatus we're joining the West Springfield High School Library's Book Club and reading George Orwell's <i>1984</i> and Victoria Aveyard's <i>Red Queen</i>. I'm currently listening to the audio version of <i>Red Queen</i> in my car and reading <i>1984</i> on my couch.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA54xPrGYdZjqppD-6ksEoZh7MxwOETHLPeZjEJJMmCKglU5Lh2y1y-iGUGBxpvcHndTBQhlkHYDIozvL8k04ALKrB17VTYnJGoqvAy75oFUXqmS4SIZUkVFlRKGtksq-qhbYt2XCjEac/s1600/1984.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA54xPrGYdZjqppD-6ksEoZh7MxwOETHLPeZjEJJMmCKglU5Lh2y1y-iGUGBxpvcHndTBQhlkHYDIozvL8k04ALKrB17VTYnJGoqvAy75oFUXqmS4SIZUkVFlRKGtksq-qhbYt2XCjEac/s400/1984.jpg" /></a>Here are a few discussion questions for <i>1984</i>, courtesy of Ms. Rowe:<br />
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April 6th - Read pages 1-27 and the appendix, starting at page 246.<br />
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1. What is a totalitarian regime? How does such a regime attain, maintain, and increase power? What is its main concern? How does it compare with other political structures?--Democracy, for example.<br />
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2. What role does technology play in this book? In what ways does the Party employ technology? In what ways does technology make the overall themes of this book possible?<br />
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3. Which is worse: mind control or physical control? In what sense are they one and the same?<br />
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4. Think about Newspeak. Does language shape thought? Action? Is language necessary for either thought or action? Without language, does reality exist? Does perception?<br />
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Discussion questions for <i>Red Queen</i> are forthcoming...so stay tuned and keep reading!<br />
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Marehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15070293998847831570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890155557514261482.post-49909363264224721992015-12-28T08:11:00.000-08:002015-12-28T08:11:00.064-08:00Online Book Club - Conversion - Final Discussion!! Good morning readers!<br /><br />We hope that your holidays went well...whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or anything else. As long as you got to spend some quiet time enjoying friends, family, and the extremely unseasonable weather we were having, that's all that counts, right??<br /><br />You should also have had time to finish our Online Book Club read. We truly hope that you all enjoyed <span style="color: #7f6000;"><b>Conversion</b></span>.<div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000;"><i>It’s senior year at St. Joan’s Academy, and school is a pressure cooker. College applications, the battle for valedictorian, deciphering boys’ texts: Through it all, Colleen Rowley and her friends are expected to keep it together. Until they can’t.<br /><br />First it’s the school’s queen bee, Clara Rutherford, who suddenly falls into uncontrollable tics in the middle of class. Her mystery illness quickly spreads to her closest clique of friends, then more students and symptoms follow: seizures, hair loss, violent coughing fits. St. Joan’s buzzes with rumor; rumor blossoms into full-blown panic.<br /><br />Soon the media descends on Danvers, Massachusetts, as everyone scrambles to find something, or someone, to blame. Pollution? Stress? Or are the girls faking? Only Colleen—who’s been reading The Crucible for extra credit—comes to realize what nobody else has: Danvers was once Salem Village, where another group of girls suffered from a similarly bizarre epidemic three centuries ago...</i></span><br /><br />In the final chapters, Colleen tries to alert the Massachusetts Board of Health that she believes that Emma is responsible for creating the Mystery Illness in her grief and anger over the dissolution of her relationship with Tad (Mr. Mitchell). When no one believes her, it is diagnosed as Conversion Disorder and life seems to move on... Colleen knows better, though, and Emma's mother seems to trust her to keep their family's dark secret. Colleen also learns from Ms. Slater that like Ann Putnam and the girls from the seventeen hundreds, she assumed that the girls at St. Joan's were faking and that she'd been pushing Colleen to reveal that to the school officials. The book closes with Ann Putnam's confession to the village of Salem about her part in the false accusations of witchcraft that led to so many deaths.<br /><br /><b><span style="color: #7f6000;">What were your final thoughts on the book? <br />Did you enjoy it overall? <br />Were there any points where you felt the characters or plot fell down from what you'd hoped? Did anything truly surprise you?</span></b>Jessica Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215868952894725865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890155557514261482.post-1241120693199915222015-12-18T11:38:00.003-08:002015-12-18T11:38:53.800-08:00Online Book Club - Conversion - Week Five DiscussionHello Readers!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Can you believe we're almost done with Conversion? </div>
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We hope you've all been having fun reading along with us. </div>
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<br /><i><span style="color: #7f6000;">It’s senior year at St. Joan’s Academy, and school is a pressure cooker. College applications, the battle for valedictorian, deciphering boys’ texts: Through it all, Colleen Rowley and her friends are expected to keep it together. Until they can’t.<br /><br />First it’s the school’s queen bee, Clara Rutherford, who suddenly falls into uncontrollable tics in the middle of class. Her mystery illness quickly spreads to her closest clique of friends, then more students and symptoms follow: seizures, hair loss, violent coughing fits. St. Joan’s buzzes with rumor; rumor blossoms into full-blown panic.<br /><br />Soon the media descends on Danvers, Massachusetts, as everyone scrambles to find something, or someone, to blame. Pollution? Stress? Or are the girls faking? Only Colleen—who’s been reading The Crucible for extra credit—comes to realize what nobody else has: Danvers was once Salem Village, where another group of girls suffered from a similarly bizarre epidemic three centuries ago...</span></i><br /><br />In pages 262 - 321, we learn that in the seventeen hundreds, Tittibe is now being forced to name other witches in order to protect the local Reverend and his flock. Ann and her friends have become swept up in the drama, and though she feels horribly guilty, Ann cannot make herself speak the truth. Meanwhile, in 2012, Colleen has discovered Ann's true identity and the fact that Arthur Miller basically wrote her out of <i>The Crucible. </i>The Massachusetts Board of Health and a gaggle of scientists come to Danvers to try to determine the cause of the Mystery Illness, but Colleen makes a terrible discovery about Mr. Mitchell and her friend Emma and how it all might be connected. <br /><br /><b><u>Here are some questions where we'd love to hear your thoughts</u></b>:<br />1. What did you think of Katherine Howe's description of Bethany Witherspoon? Did you draw a connection to anyone in the real world?<br />2. What did you think when Ann realizes "<i>We're beginning to understand that our game has been wrestled awway from us. That in a way we cannot fully understand, it's nothing to do with us at all</i>"?<br />3. What do you think about how Emma seems to be connected to the Mystery Illness?<br /><br />Please, give us any thoughts that you have about the pages we've read so far, <b>BUT...NO SPOILERS </b>please!! If you read ahead, make sure not to give away any clues to things that may come ahead.Jessica Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215868952894725865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890155557514261482.post-17193022729601499622015-12-11T13:57:00.002-08:002015-12-11T13:57:29.064-08:00Online Book Club - Conversion - Week Four DiscussionGood Morning!<br /><br />We hope you all enjoyed reading the fourth section of Conversion by Katherine Howe.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
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<br /><i><span style="color: #7f6000;">It’s senior year at St. Joan’s Academy, and school is a pressure cooker. College applications, the battle for valedictorian, deciphering boys’ texts: Through it all, Colleen Rowley and her friends are expected to keep it together. Until they can’t.<br /><br />First it’s the school’s queen bee, Clara Rutherford, who suddenly falls into uncontrollable tics in the middle of class. Her mystery illness quickly spreads to her closest clique of friends, then more students and symptoms follow: seizures, hair loss, violent coughing fits. St. Joan’s buzzes with rumor; rumor blossoms into full-blown panic.<br /><br />Soon the media descends on Danvers, Massachusetts, as everyone scrambles to find something, or someone, to blame. Pollution? Stress? Or are the girls faking? Only Colleen—who’s been reading The Crucible for extra credit—comes to realize what nobody else has: Danvers was once Salem Village, where another group of girls suffered from a similarly bizarre epidemic three centuries ago...</span></i><br /><br />In pages 190 - 259, we learn that Ann and her friends become swept up in the drama and importance of their "affliction," accusing the slave Tittabe and several others in the village of hurting them through witchcraft. Meanwhile in Danvers, in 2012, Colleen's friends discover more and more girls are becoming afflicted with the Mysterious Illness. No one girl has similar symptoms...<br /><br /><u><b>Here are some questions where we'd love to hear your thoughts</b></u>:<br />1. What did you think of Tittabe's confession upon the stand?<br />2. Are you, like Colleen, convinced that Emma had something to do with Mr. Mitchell's leaving St. Joan's?<br />3. What did you think of Anjali's symptoms?<br /><br />Please, give us any thoughts that you have about the pages we've read so far, <b>BUT...NO SPOILERS</b> please!! If you read ahead, make sure not to give away any clues to things that may come ahead.Jessica Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215868952894725865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890155557514261482.post-46458607312146544652015-12-05T06:01:00.000-08:002015-12-11T06:43:53.030-08:00Online Book Club - Conversion - Week Three Discussion!Good Morning!<br />
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We hope you all enjoyed reading the third section of <b>Conversion</b> by Katherine Howe. We're just about halfway done now!<br />
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<i><span style="color: #7f6000;">It’s senior year at St. Joan’s Academy, and school is a pressure cooker. College applications, the battle for valedictorian, deciphering boys’ texts: Through it all, Colleen Rowley and her friends are expected to keep it together. Until they can’t.<br /><br />First it’s the school’s queen bee, Clara Rutherford, who suddenly falls into uncontrollable tics in the middle of class. Her mystery illness quickly spreads to her closest clique of friends, then more students and symptoms follow: seizures, hair loss, violent coughing fits. St. Joan’s buzzes with rumor; rumor blossoms into full-blown panic.<br /><br />Soon the media descends on Danvers, Massachusetts, as everyone scrambles to find something, or someone, to blame. Pollution? Stress? Or are the girls faking? Only Colleen—who’s been reading The Crucible for extra credit—comes to realize what nobody else has: Danvers was once Salem Village, where another group of girls suffered from a similarly bizarre epidemic three centuries ago...</span></i><br />
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In pages 125 - 189, we see the mystery illness of St. Joan's hit mass media aND she learns the number of affected girls keeps growing. Colleen's mystery texter keeps contacting her. She discovers her teacher is not returning to school, but has no idea why. In the 1700s, we learn that Ann has become part of the scheme Abigail devised...<br />
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<b><u>Here are some questions where we'd love to hear your thoughts</u></b>:<br />
1. Why do you think that the school nurse and others are convinced that Colleen is somehow involved with the mystery illness?<br />
2. Why do you think Ann went along with Abby's scheme to scam the village elders?<br />
3. What do you think has happened to cause Mr. Mitchell to leave the school?<br />
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Please, give us any thoughts that you have about the pages we've read so far, <b>BUT...NO SPOILERS</b> please!! If you read ahead, make sure not to give away any clues to things that may come ahead. </div>
Jessica Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215868952894725865noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890155557514261482.post-22837910594132586542015-11-27T09:15:00.001-08:002015-11-27T09:15:44.591-08:00Online Book Club - Conversion - Week Two Discussion! Good Morning!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
We hope you all enjoyed reading the second section of <span style="color: #7f6000;"><b>Conversion</b></span> by Katherine Howe.</div>
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<br /><br /><i><span style="color: #7f6000;">It’s senior year at St. Joan’s Academy, and school is a pressure cooker. College applications, the battle for valedictorian, deciphering boys’ texts: Through it all, Colleen Rowley and her friends are expected to keep it together. Until they can’t.<br /><br />First it’s the school’s queen bee, Clara Rutherford, who suddenly falls into uncontrollable tics in the middle of class. Her mystery illness quickly spreads to her closest clique of friends, then more students and symptoms follow: seizures, hair loss, violent coughing fits. St. Joan’s buzzes with rumor; rumor blossoms into full-blown panic.<br /><br />Soon the media descends on Danvers, Massachusetts, as everyone scrambles to find something, or someone, to blame. Pollution? Stress? Or are the girls faking? Only Colleen—who’s been reading The Crucible for extra credit—comes to realize what nobody else has: Danvers was once Salem Village, where another group of girls suffered from a similarly bizarre epidemic three centuries ago...</span></i><br /><br />In pages 63 - 124, we learn that more girls in Colleen's school have fallen mysteriously ill and that the school seems to be keeping secrets about whether or not they truly understand what is going on. Colleen has also begun receiving strange text messages from someone who will not reveal themselves. In the seventeen hundreds, Ann has begun telling her story to the Reverend, revealing that Betty and Abby were faking their illness...<br /><br /><b><u>Here are some questions where we'd love to hear your thoughts</u></b>:<br />1. What type of illness do you think the girls have in Colleen's school?<br />2. Who do you think is the person secretly messaging Colleen? What is the connection to <i>The Crucible</i>?<br />3. What do you think has caused Ann to suddenly start confessing to the Reverend?<br /><br />Please, give us any thoughts that you have about the pages we've read so far, <b>BUT...NO SPOILERS </b>please!! If you read ahead, make sure not to give away any clues to things that may come ahead. <br /><div>
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Jessica Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215868952894725865noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890155557514261482.post-58715180075679648752015-11-20T08:21:00.000-08:002015-11-20T08:21:14.159-08:00Online Book Club - Conversion - Week One Discussion!Good Morning!<br /><br />We hope you all enjoyed reading the first section of <b><u><span style="color: #7f6000;">Conversion</span></u></b> by Katherine Howe.<div>
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<i><br /><span style="color: #7f6000;">It’s senior year at St. Joan’s Academy, and school is a pressure cooker. College applications, the battle for valedictorian, deciphering boys’ texts: Through it all, Colleen Rowley and her friends are expected to keep it together. Until they can’t.<br /> <br />First it’s the school’s queen bee, Clara Rutherford, who suddenly falls into uncontrollable tics in the middle of class. Her mystery illness quickly spreads to her closest clique of friends, then more students and symptoms follow: seizures, hair loss, violent coughing fits. St. Joan’s buzzes with rumor; rumor blossoms into full-blown panic.<br /> <br />Soon the media descends on Danvers, Massachusetts, as everyone scrambles to find something, or someone, to blame. Pollution? Stress? Or are the girls faking? Only Colleen—who’s been reading The Crucible for extra credit—comes to realize what nobody else has: Danvers was once Salem Village, where another group of girls suffered from a similarly bizarre epidemic three centuries ago...</span></i><br /><div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Copse; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;">In pages XI - 61, we jump between two different time periods, the seventeen hundreds and 2012. In Salem, a young woman named Ann wants to confess her sins and in Danvers, a high school senior named Colleen finds herself in a school plagued by something strange that is making her classmates sick. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Copse; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Copse; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;" /><b style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Copse; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;"><u>Here are some questions where we'd love to hear your thoughts</u>:</b><br style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Copse; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Copse; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;">1. This book has a connection to the Salem Witch Trials - what do you already know about that time?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Copse; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Copse; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;">2. What do you think about the type of school that Colleen and her friends attend? Would you like to go to that type of high school?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Copse; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Copse; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;">3. How do you think that Ann and Colleen might be connected?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Copse; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Copse; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Copse; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;">Please, give us any thoughts that you have about the pages we've read so far, </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Copse; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;">BUT...NO SPOILERS</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Copse; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;"> please!! If you read ahead, make sure not to give away any clues to things that may come ahead. </span></div>
Jessica Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215868952894725865noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890155557514261482.post-85539918243851102502015-11-19T16:13:00.003-08:002015-11-19T16:13:40.427-08:00Stay Connected With Us While We’re Closed!<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Copse; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px; text-align: center;">
<span lang="en-US" style="font-family: 'britannic bold'; font-size: 24pt; line-height: 38.08px;">Stay </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #0000c0; font-family: 'britannic bold'; font-size: 24pt; line-height: 38.08px;">Connected</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: 'britannic bold'; font-size: 24pt; line-height: 38.08px;"> With Us While We’re Closed!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US" style="font-family: 'britannic bold'; font-size: 36pt; line-height: 45.12px;">Join One of<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US" style="color: #0000c0; font-family: 'britannic bold'; font-size: 38pt; line-height: 47.6267px;">WSPL</span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #0000c0; font-family: 'britannic bold'; font-size: 36pt; line-height: 45.12px;">’s ONLINE BOOKCLUBS!</span></div>
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<span lang="en-US" style="font-family: 'britannic bold'; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 25.0667px;">How Do WSPL’s Online Book Clubs Work?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US" style="font-family: 'britannic bold'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 20.0533px;">We’ve picked two books, one for adults and one for older teens, that we’ll all read together and discuss online. Simply read the pages suggested each week and then join us for the online discussion of that section. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US" style="color: #0000c0; font-family: 'britannic bold'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 20.0533px;">Week One: Oct. 19—24<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US" style="color: #0000c0; font-family: 'britannic bold'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 20.0533px;">Week Two: Oct. 26—31<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US" style="color: #0000c0; font-family: 'britannic bold'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 20.0533px;">Week Three: Nov. 2—7<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US" style="color: #0000c0; font-family: 'britannic bold'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 20.0533px;">Week Four: Nov. 9—14<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US" style="color: #0000c0; font-family: 'britannic bold'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 20.0533px;">Week Five: Nov. 16—21<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US" style="color: #0000c0; font-family: 'britannic bold'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 20.0533px;">Week Six: Nov. 23—28<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US" style="font-family: 'britannic bold'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 20.0533px;">On the last day of each week, we will post a link from the Library’s Website and Facebook page to our online blogs where the discussions will take place. You can discuss the events of the book so far, your favorite characters, and even try to figure out what might happen next… </span></div>
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<span lang="en-US" style="font-family: 'britannic bold'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 20.0533px;">BUT </span><span lang="en-US" style="color: #0000c0; font-family: 'britannic bold'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 20.0533px;">NO SPOILERS PLEASE</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: 'britannic bold'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 20.0533px;">! </span></div>
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<span lang="en-US" style="font-family: 'britannic bold'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 20.0533px;">If you read ahead, don’t give away what happens!!</span></div>
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<span lang="en-US" style="font-family: 'britannic bold'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 20.0533px;">Questions begin tomorrow, November 20th... Talk to you soon!</span></div>
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Rhoda Crowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16851946205616693477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890155557514261482.post-69539691348087322382015-08-20T06:36:00.000-07:002015-08-20T06:36:53.813-07:00Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">SUMMARY FROM PUBLISHER: (Simon and Schuster) Danger is hard to resist in this sexy thriller from Becca Fitzpatrick, the <i>New York Times </i>bestselling author of the Hush, Hush saga.<br /><br />Britt
Pheiffer has trained to backpack the Teton Range, but she isn't prepared when her ex-boyfriend, who still haunts her every thought,
wants to join her. Before Britt can explore her feelings for Calvin, an
unexpected blizzard forces her to seek shelter in a remote cabin,
accepting the hospitality of its two very handsome occupants but these
men are fugitives, and they take her hostage.<br /><br />Britt is forced to
guide the men off the mountain, and knows she must stay alive long
enough for Calvin to find her. The task is made even more complicated
when Britt finds chilling evidence of a series of murders that have
taken place there ¦and in uncovering this, she may become the
killer's next target.<br /><br />But nothing is as it seems, and everyone
is keeping secrets, including Mason, one of her kidnappers. His kindness
is confusing Britt. Is he an enemy? Or an ally?<br /><br /><i>Black Ice</i> is <i>New York Times </i>bestselling
author Becca Fitzpatrick's riveting romantic thriller set against the
treacherous backdrop of the mountains of Wyoming. Falling in love
should never be this dangerous</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">REVIEW: First I must say that I enjoyed Becca Fitzpatrick's Hush Hush series. I recommend it to many of the teens coming into the library looking for a paranormal romance. When I saw she had written a realistic fiction thriller steeped in mystery and intrigue I knew I just had to read it..... </span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I loved the first chapter! The story begins with the drugging, abduction and murder of a young woman, Lauren Huntsman, by a mysterious man she meets at a bar. Okay so this is a great set-up to a mystery. We know we will need to look at characters in the story for clues to who is the murder. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Unfortunately after that first chapter, the rest of the story falls apart. The characters were shallow and two dimensional and many of the situations that occur in the story are implausible. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">SPOILER ALERT***</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For example, </span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. Britt and Korbie decide to go to Korbie's family chateau on the Teton mountains for Spring Break when they are caught in an unexpected snowstorm leaving them stranded on the mountainside road. This snowstorm is still raging throughout the book. Britt mentions that she had checked the weather before the trip. But a storm that large doesn't "just appear". </span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. The two girls decide, in the middle of the snowstorm to abandon the jeep and all their hiking equipment to look for a safe place to go during the storm. What person with an ounce of brains does that?! </span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. They find a cabin with two men inside who we quickly find out are running from the law. Britt convinces them that she has been hiking the Teton's for year and can get them off the mountain and away from police. They decide to take her in the snowstorm instead of Korbie. Yet later one of the wanted men, Mason, also known as Ace also known as Jude proves to be a trained wilderness survivalist (then why did they need Britt in the first place) but insists they run when confronted with an aggressive bear. Britt keeps telling him she sure she saw that they aren't supposed to run when she was searching the internet.... wow! really!!! </span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I also had an issue with the characters themselves. </span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Britt Pheiffer's (the main character) friendship with her "best friend" Korbie is toxic. For example, Korbie actually keeps a tally of the ways she is better than Britt in her journal (yes, Britt looked) Britt also had a secret relationship with Korbie's brother.So secret he didn't even tell anyone and didn't allow Britt to tell anyone either. That's certainly not a healthy relationship. </span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Britt changes her mind over who she's in love with, Korbie's brother Calvin or the mysterious Mason/Ace/Jude, so often I thought I was going to have whiplash. The women are airheads and men are deviants. None of </span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">characters had likable</span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> personalities.; I found myself not caring what happens to any of them.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are many who loved this story and gave it rave reviews. Those who love the catty relationships and LOTS of drama will love "Black Ice". Those who enjoy series like the Pretty Little Liars or Clique Series will probably enjoy this story. Honestly, this one was just not for me! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">FULL DISCLOSURE: Audio-CD from the West Springfield Public Library. </span>Rhoda Crowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16851946205616693477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890155557514261482.post-79565841001543259212015-08-14T09:29:00.000-07:002015-08-14T09:31:26.370-07:00Half Bad by Sally Green<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Half Bad by Sally Green</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="novmorelessifiednode">PUBLISHER SUMMARY: Coming of age in a modern England
where good and bad witches live among humans, the son of a powerful black witch
father and a dead white witch mother struggles to escape a violent
incarceration and claim three magical gifts in order to survive. A first novel</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="novmorelessifiednode"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Book #2 - "Half Wild" published March 24, 2015</span></span></div>
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<span class="novmorelessifiednode"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">REVIEW: This book wasn’t half bad!! Ok, sorry for
the cheesy response but its true, I thought it was pretty good story. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 200%;">There are parts that seemed to fall into the “kinda
close to other famous plotlines” category. For example, “Half Bad’s” setting occurs
in present time England but, similar to Harry Potter, there is another subculture
of white witches and black witches. Nathan’s parentage comes from a white witch
mother (who is dead) but the most infamous of black witches for a father (who is absent). Nathan’s life has
never been easy because of his father’s notoriety; there’s the fact that he is
the spitting image of his father, and then there is the prophecy… </span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 200%;"> </span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 200%;"> </span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 200%;">in it
Nathan is destined to kill his father. Nathan, although he has never met his father, has no desire to kill his father or anyone for that matter. </span></span></div>
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<span class="novmorelessifiednode"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 200%;">Almost all of this book is taken up with Nathan’s
journey from “whet” or young witch-to-be up to his seventeenth birthday when he
will be given three gifts and drink the blood of an ancestor to gain his “Gift”
and a witch designation. Let's just say that it is a hard journey with most against him and only a few in his corner. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="novmorelessifiednode"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span class="novmorelessifiednode"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the negative side: the characters weren’t as well developed as I’d like and one book seemed to be completely about the “set-up” for the real action in book two: “Half Wild” </span></span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m willing to overlook both of those issues though. </span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 200%;">I liked Nathan’s attitude and thought process
through the story. I could relate to his struggle to be accepted and his need
to not be judged by the actions of his father; he just wanted to be free to
live his life.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"> This was an interesting and engaging story that will appeal to all those upper
middle school to high school students looking for the next, “magic” series.</span></span></div>
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<br />Rhoda Crowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16851946205616693477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890155557514261482.post-58892051293803374682015-08-10T11:45:00.001-07:002015-08-10T11:51:16.313-07:00The Six by Mark Alpert<br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY:
Adam, crippled by muscular dystrophy, and five other terminally ill teenagers
sacrifice their bodies and upload their minds into weaponized robots to battle
a dangerously advanced artificial intelligence program bent on destroying humanity.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">REVIEW: Two questions…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1. If you were
terminally ill but were given the chance to live forever as a robot – would you
take it? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2. What if we
developed a super computer programed to learn from their mistakes who decided
humans were expendable?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Both of these premises
come together in Mark Alpert’s thrilling novel, “The Six”. Adam and five other
teenagers are given the opportunity to cheat death by having their brain
functions transferred into an android. The kids and their families have a
massive decision to make. Will they lose their personality? What part of us truly
makes us human? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Adam’s father is also
the computer expert who had developed the super computer who learns from its
mistakes. Ahh, if only us human’s would too… The computer deducts that humans; infallible
and emotional creatures that we are, can shut it down permanently. The computer’s
self-preservation tells it that it needs to eliminate us as a potential risk.
Thus we become its prime target. The government, who has funded both products, sees
the teens as an unknown equation for the computer. Perhaps they are the only
way to save humanity from the super-computer we’ve created.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I was intrigued by
both plot scenarios and how the author was able to meld them into a
thought-provoking, high-action story. The reader is kept on the edge of their
seats as the teenagers struggle to adapt to their new forms and their mission.
The teens acted like teens, sometimes rebellious, sometimes cooperative, and
never predictable. The computer scenario reminded me of an updated version of
the 1980’s hit movie called “WarGames”. I can tell that the author, Mark Alpert,
who is the editor for “Scientific American” has done his homework! This is a
great book I could easily recommend to anyone from middle school to adult. The
story had a satisfying conclusion but left the door open for future adventures.
I can’t wait to see if there are sequels! </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">FULL DISCLOSURE: copy obtained through Sourcebook publishing. </span></div>
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Rhoda Crowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16851946205616693477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890155557514261482.post-77748129328545788542015-08-10T08:01:00.000-07:002015-08-10T08:02:09.216-07:00Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51rcQNqzRkL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51rcQNqzRkL.jpg" height="320" width="221" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Echo</u> by Pam Munoz Ryan</span></div>
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PUBLISHER SUMMARY:</div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Lost in the Black Forest, Otto meets three mysterious sisters and
finds himself entwined in a prophecy, a promise, and a harmonica--and decades
later three children, Friedrich in Germany, Mike in Pennsylvania, and Ivy in
California find themselves caught up in the same thread of destiny in the
darkest days of the twentieth century, struggling to keep their families
intact, and tied together by the music of the same harmonica.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">REVIEW:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Author Pam Munoz Ryan’s masterfully crafts a
tale which is an enchanting combination of historical fiction mixed with
folklore and a sprinkle of magic. The majority of the story is set against the
backdrop of the 1940's when the fear and anxiety of World War II was on
everyone's mind. But the common thread for each of the characters is a special
harmonica, mysteriously crafted and marked with an “M” which seems to empower
the owner with the strength to overcome the social inequalities and injustices
they face. At first, I was frustrated at because the author leaves each of the stories of Friedrich, Mike and Ivy unfinished. A musical analogy would be listening to a song but having the last sentence cut off. However, each story ties together well in the concluding chapters. All around
a wonderful and satisfying story emphasizing the power of music and family in overcoming obstacles. Well done!! </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Full disclosure: Book obtained through the West Springfield Public Library Collection. </span></span></div>
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Rhoda Crowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16851946205616693477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890155557514261482.post-33453026593843806002015-04-14T07:49:00.001-07:002015-04-14T07:50:46.855-07:00The Bookcon Survey is now available!<b>Hi All,</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>As mentioned at the last High School Book Talk, Jackie and I will be attending Bookcon in New York in May. There we will have a huge group of publishers, authors and personalities to see. Guests include:</b><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;"><b>John Green; Paper Towns and the Fault in Our Stars</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;"><b>Marie Lu; Legend Series</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;"><b>Marissa Meyer: The Lunar Chronicles</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;"><b>Rainbow Rowell: Eleanor and Park, Fangirl</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;"><b>Jeff Smith: Bone series</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;"><b>Jenny Han: The Summer I Turned Pretty series, To All the Boys I've Loved Before</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;"><b>Ellen Hopkins: Crank, Burned, Tricks</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;"><b>Leigh Bardugo: The Grisha Trilogy</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;"><b>Meg Cabot: The Princess Diaries</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;"><b>Sarah Dessen: Saint Anything, etc.</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;"><b>Tom Angelberger: The Origami Yoda series</b></span></div>
<b><br /></b>
<b>and the list goes on....</b><br />
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<b>THERE ARE TOO MANY TO CHOOSE FROM!!! </b></div>
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<b>So, as promised, I've made a survey to get your input! Who should we see? Please help us decide!</b></div>
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<em style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 18.6666660308838px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><strong><a href="https://rhodacrowell.typeform.com/to/RXS9EJ" style="color: #0077bb; text-decoration: none;">https://rhodacrowell.typeform.com/to/RXS9EJ</a> </strong></em></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>We'll post the results by Friday, May 22nd.</b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Thank you!!!!!!</b></div>
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<br />Rhoda Crowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16851946205616693477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890155557514261482.post-71606396017070857702015-03-23T17:58:00.001-07:002015-03-23T18:02:13.490-07:00The Countdown Begins to BookCon 2015!!One of the biggest events for us "bookish" people is to attend BEA, or Book Expo of America.<br />
<br />
This event extravaganza is the #1 book and author convention in the United States and has been held at the Javitz Convention Center in New York City for the past few years. Participants get to meet authors, learn about new books and talk with publishers. Unfortunately this year it's held during the week and schedule conflicts were preventing me from attending. BUT.... Jessica, informed me that weekend the Javitz center will hold Bookcon!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyexry5AfGUfbMvIalL0qiMSc0zPLhOYmLcB9lUqrkvHZzu0cnDyzxsSbACEsbku7fDKKPyIYd0yVpSuY9b5-cR4R9J8KsN_mSRyRQcWVogXhLWgWLgUeGXl4SiwyF24vwMP0r9CmKWnFS/s1600/BookCon_logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyexry5AfGUfbMvIalL0qiMSc0zPLhOYmLcB9lUqrkvHZzu0cnDyzxsSbACEsbku7fDKKPyIYd0yVpSuY9b5-cR4R9J8KsN_mSRyRQcWVogXhLWgWLgUeGXl4SiwyF24vwMP0r9CmKWnFS/s1600/BookCon_logo.jpg" /></a></div>
Bookcon also links authors and publishers with the book buying public. So.... after checking the calendar and talking my booknut friend and fellow WSPL staff member, Jackie, we're on board for attending Bookcon 2015!!<br />
So who, in the literary world, is going to be there? No other than some of the best!! Like Marie Lu, Meg Cabot, Jacqueline Woodson, James Patterson, Rainbow Rowell, Gayle Foreman, Ellen Hopkins... and the list goes on and on! Sooo excited!! <a href="http://www.thebookcon.com/guests/">Check the website for the full list of guests! </a><br />
So Jackie and I are counting down the days with you until Bookcon 2015! We are going to try to highlight some of the authors attending this event!<br />
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Happy Reading!<br />
Rhoda<br />
<br />Rhoda Crowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16851946205616693477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890155557514261482.post-20729141664076198082015-03-04T11:51:00.002-08:002015-03-04T11:52:32.229-08:00Blackbird by Anna Carey<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.8000001907349px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><br /></span>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.8000001907349px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Publishers Summary - </span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.8000001907349px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">A girl wakes up on the train tracks, a subway car barreling down on her. With only minutes to react, she hunches down and the train speeds over her. She doesn’t remember her name, where she is, or how she got there. She has a tattoo on the inside of her right wrist of a blackbird inside a box, letters and numbers printed just below: FNV02198. There is only one thing she knows for sure: people are trying to kill her. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.8000001907349px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.8000001907349px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.8000001907349px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">On the run for her life, she tries to untangle who she is and what happened to the girl she used to be. Nothing and no one are what they appear to be. But the truth is more disturbing than she ever imagined. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.8000001907349px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><b>Review - (4 Stars)</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">The summary of this book was my biggest draw for choosing this title. I'm a sucker for a good mystery and this sure had all the ear marks for piquing my interest. In fact I read the book in one day.... it was that suspenseful! So why did I only give it four stars instead of five? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">I liked how a</span>uthor, Anna Carey chose to lure us into the story by using the second person point of view; put us in the center of </span></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunny's action. There was plenty of action throughout the story as well as a crazy amount of </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">twists and turns. Nothing is as it seems. The more Sunny finds out the more questions there are. </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The one area that REALLY annoyed me though is the ending. Let's just say I spent as couple minutes looking through the last few pages to try to understand why it ended so abruptly. I actually thought I had missed something in the story line and kept flipping through the last few pages multiple times to make sure... that is sooo annoying. I felt like Wile E. Coyote when the Roadrunner tricks him into running off the cliff....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://cdn.thefiscaltimes.com/cdn/farfuture/2VMkqp7C2qirJiC2DYHJ9UBYb0dfsEEaGKFq4filf0k/mtime:1378217442/sites/default/files/articles/10152012_WileECoyote1_article.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn.thefiscaltimes.com/cdn/farfuture/2VMkqp7C2qirJiC2DYHJ9UBYb0dfsEEaGKFq4filf0k/mtime:1378217442/sites/default/files/articles/10152012_WileECoyote1_article.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;">Perhaps it was the author's way of giving us a suspenseful end that makes us excited to read the next book. Personally, I just found it annoying. Kind of like singing a song and stopping three notes </span></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">before the end. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;">So, would I recommend the novel? Yes, it was exciting, non-stop suspenseful novel with plenty of plot-twists and deceptions to keep the reader guessing. <b>But</b> I will be warning them about the ending too. </span></span></div>
Rhoda Crowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16851946205616693477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890155557514261482.post-24064865024161066982014-08-21T06:56:00.001-07:002014-08-21T06:57:31.988-07:00The Lonely by Ainslie Hogarth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A darkly humorous and imaginative story</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">After she discovers The Terrible Thing, Easter Deetz goes looking for her sister, Julia, but ends up pinned under a giant boulder with her legs crushed into tomato paste. Bored, disappointed, and thoroughly dismembered, Easter slowly bleeds to death in The Woods with only sinister squirrels to keep her company. As The Something Coming draws closer, memories of Easter's family surface like hallucinations: a mumbling father who lives alone in the basement; a terrifying grandmother who sits in her enclosed porch all day; an overly loving mother who plays dead in the bathtub on Sunday nights.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As the story of her life unspools, Easter realizes she's being stalked, making it very difficult for her to bleed to death in peace. Will The Something Coming save her? Or will it do her in entirely?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">--Publisher’s summary</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rhoda’s review; I… I… I’m not sure how to describe this book. Perhaps, “odd” and “disturbing” best describes my initial reaction. It took most of the book for me to understand what, I believe, the author was trying to convey. I guess we could have probably guessed that Easter and her family have severe psychological issues by the bizarre summary (It’s what lead me to read the book in the first place) Author, Ainslie Hogarth, gives us a fascinating glimpse into Easter’s idea of reality. Readers of the book "To Kill a Mockingbird" may remember a quote from the character, Scout, who said, "Atticus said you never really knew a man until you stood in his shoes and walked around in them." “The Lonely” left me, if accurately portrayed, with a better understanding of the world Easter lives in. I can’t say I found the book humorous or entertaining but I did find it intriguing. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: blue;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Full Disclosure; ebook received through Netgalley.com</span></span>Rhoda Crowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16851946205616693477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890155557514261482.post-5842868171064420762014-08-20T16:12:00.000-07:002014-08-20T16:12:26.649-07:00Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-0444ad77-f545-ebbd-9d08-4de19ee7ce54" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> For all the teen contemporary realistic fiction fans out there... this is a fascinating book! </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Lauren is given an assignment at the beginning of the school year to write a letter to someone who has passed away. Of course the events that recently occurred in her life, the sudden death of her older sister, make this task all the more poignant. Lauren writes the assignment but doesn’t turn it in. Instead she continues on a yearlong journey of writing as a way of dealing with the traumatic events in her life. She writes to a number of famous people who died before their time such as Kurt Cobain, Heath Ledger, Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin and Amelia Earhart.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This is a wonderfully written, yet horribly tragic story about loss… Author, Ava Dellaira has either experienced the loss of a sibling or done excellent research. Young survivors often feel profound loss when an older sibling is suddenly not there to provide a path; feeling abandoned by the grieving parents, they often flounder to find a sense of purpose in life. In addition, “Love Letters to the Dead” includes the divorce of Lauren and May’s parents. This seems to be the catalyst for May’s destructive behavior. The girls are left feeling frustrated, guilty and abandoned; could they have kept the parents together? Were they the reason their parent’s broke up? Lauren idolizes her sister but May, with no one to go to, turns to alcohol and men to escape the desperately need to feel loved. Now Lauren is repeating the actions of May as her life begins to spiral out of control. Lauren holds the secret to what really happened to May the night she died which is slowly revealed at the end of the story.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The book was wonderfully written and will be an excellent addition to a young adult library collection. The journal format will appeal to teens as will the interesting biographical information about the famous musicians and actors within the letters Lauren writes. My only negative is that the plot felt like a checklist of every traumatizing event that can occur in a teen’s life. There was so much added, in fact, that I felt it took away from the realism of the story. That being said, the sequence of events may be like watching a car accident; we don’t want to look but are shocked into doing it. If you’ve loved, “<i><u>The Perks of Being a Wallflower</u></i>” by Stephen Chbosky, you’ll love "<u><i>Love Letters to the Dead</i></u>"!</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>Rhoda Crowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16851946205616693477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890155557514261482.post-3304187400583000882014-06-07T09:35:00.000-07:002014-06-07T09:36:08.333-07:00Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://treerootandtwig.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/dairy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://treerootandtwig.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/dairy.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">Dairy Queen</span> by Catherine Gilbert Murdock</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Darlene
Joyce “DJ” Schwenk is a cow. </span></b><span style="font-size: 16pt;">At least that’s what Brian Nelson,
quarterback from the rival high school football team, just called her. It’s not
because of her looks… although she is built like rest of the Schwenk kids; big
and strong. It’s not because she’s lazy… just the opposite, she been running
the Schwenk dairy farm by herself since her father had to have hip surgery. And
it’s not because she’s dumb; although she’s nearly flunking out of English
because of all the work, she certainly knows about dairy farming and, of
course, football. Everybody in Red Bend, Wisconsin basically breathes football.
Her father even names the cows after football players. And of course growing up
with two older brothers, Bill and Wes, who are practically football legends for
Red Bend </span><span style="font-size: 21px;">doesn't</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> hurt either. No, Brian just called DJ a cow because she does
what she’s told and </span><span style="font-size: 21px;">doesn't</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> speak up for herself. </span><span style="font-size: 21px;">OK</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">, Brian’s got her on that
one. No one in the Schwenk family speaks up for themselves. Heck, younger
brother Curtis hardly speaks at all. Her older brothers, Bill and Wes, haven’t
called since they took off to college after the fight with their dad; that was
seven months ago. DJ hardly sees her mom since she became teacher and acting
principal of Red Bend High school. As Brian says, “When you don’t talk, there’s
a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said.” DJ has given up playing sports
to run the farm and she’s exhausted plus she’s just been asked to be the
personal trainer for whiny, spoiled, rich Hawley football quarterback Brian
Nelson for the summer. But does she say anything about it? Nope. She just does
what she’s told, just like the cows. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">DJ soon finds out that she likes training
for football with Brian, she likes talking with Brian… she likes talking (and
she likes Brian too). DJ finds her voice and figures out what will may her
happy; playing football for the Red Bend High School football team! What will
the football team </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">say
about that? </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">What
will her family say? </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">What
</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">will
Brian </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">say?
She’s certainly </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">not
acting like a cow now! Read </span><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic;">Dairy Queen</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">; </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">an </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">amazing, </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">empowering and utterly enjoyable story </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">about
finding your passions and learning to find your voice. </span></span></div>
<br />Rhoda Crowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16851946205616693477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890155557514261482.post-12262665124152105462014-05-31T10:59:00.001-07:002014-06-07T09:48:54.756-07:00Crossover by Kwame Alexander<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1390427593l/18263725.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1390427593l/18263725.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The typical young adult
novel today has a tendency to begin with one or more parents being absent, or
on drugs or dead. It is an understandable albeit annoying literary concept. The
author wants to have the teen in the position of responsibility. Having a parent
in the picture reverts the authority to the adult instead of the teen. Just
like vampires and zombies books, the missing adult has become an overused
concept. So when I read, The Crossover by Kwame Alexander, I was pleasantly
surprised to find a coming of age young adult novel that begins with both
parents who are present, supportive and play a significant role in their
children’s lives.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The story revolves
around twelve year old twin basketball sensations, Josh and Jordan Bell. These
boys learned the game from their father, former professional basketball player,
Chuck “Da Man” Bell. Josh, the narrator, focuses squarely on the game of
basketball. However his twin brother, Jordan aka “JB” Bell, has shifted his attention
away from his brother, finding the new girl in school a lot more interesting.
Thus the conflict begins. Josh is confused and jealous by JB’s attention to the
girl he nicknames “Miss Sweet Tea”. These inner conflicts lead Josh to
impulsively lash out at JB on the court; a move that gets him kicked off the
team, not by the coach but by his mother, Dr. Bell, who also happens to be their
school’s assistant principal. Add to that turmoil the underlying issue of their
father’s health. The boys find out that their father left professional
basketball because he refused to go the doctor to have an operation. Although
Mr. Bell shows symptoms like fainting spells and nose bleeds throughout the
story he refuses to take his health issues seriously. Could this be a precursor
to a parental demise? Of course you are going to have to read the story to find
out! </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Teens and tweens are
going to love <i>The Crossover</i> because
it’s about teenage boys playing basketball, championship playoffs and girl
drama. The cover, showing a silhouetted basketball player in black and orange
balancing a basketball on his finger against a simple white background, will
draw teenagers into opening the book. The first page begins with a rap verse
showing text in various sizes and fonts including words running laterally down
the page to mimic the boys’ action on the basketball court. Each development in
the story occurs on the page in verse form, sometimes as a rhythmic rap, other
times in short phrases; the various styles of verse echoing the action and
energy of the story. Between the subject, the play-by-play action and in-verse
format, kids are going to grab this one off the shelves!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">For adults the draw is author,
Kwame Alexander’s, theme of “family” masterfully woven throughout the novel. He
focuses his entire story on only the four family members plus the increased
presence of the girlfriend; illustrating the shift in the dynamics of the
family. The parents provide support for the boys through insightful family
“basketball rules; life lessons for the home as well as the basketball court. This
novel also breaks through many cultural stereotypes. Their mother, Dr. Bell, is
a working woman and a loving mother. Their father’s role is to “coach the
house”; providing guidance and support for the family from home. When the boys
make mistakes, the parents give them realistic consequences. The family fights,
but not about drugs or guns or cheating. They fight about finances, health
issues and sibling rivalry. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The publishing company
chose to recommend “Crossover” to readers in grades 4 to 7. However, I feel
this amazing book will also attract older teens as well as adults. So let’s
buck the trend of the absent or dysfunctional parent! <i>The
Crossover</i> demonstrates how positive role models can be successfully added
to a young adult novel to enhance, not hinder, a teen’s independent choices. It’s
a trend that could ignite a positive movement in young adult literature. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Rhoda Crowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16851946205616693477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890155557514261482.post-74001828981183041602014-05-24T14:56:00.000-07:002014-05-24T14:59:32.455-07:00Darius and Twig by Walter Dean Myers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81guCsQFV-L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81guCsQFV-L.jpg" height="320" width="222" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Summary courtesy of Amazon.com</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>New York Times</em> bestselling author and Printz Award winner Walter Dean Myers once again connects with teenagers everywhere in <em>Darius & Twig</em>, a novel about friendship and needing to live one's own dream. This touching and raw teen novel from the author of <em>Monster</em>, <em>Kick</em>, <em>We Are America</em>, <em>Bad Boy</em>, and many other celebrated literary works for children and teens is a Coretta Scott King Honor Book.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Darius and Twig are an unlikely pair: Darius is a writer whose only escape is his alter ego, a peregrine falcon named Fury, and Twig is a middle-distance runner striving for athletic success. But they are drawn together in the struggle to overcome the obstacles that life in Harlem throws at them. The two friends must face down bullies, an abusive uncle, and the idea that they'll be stuck in the same place forever.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">145<sup>th</sup> Street Harlem… No protection from the gangs,
violence, and thugs outside the front steps or absent fathers, depressed mothers
and abusive uncles behind closed doors. Unsupportive
teachers and counselors at school who have lost faith in motivating their
students. No guidance, no faith, no hope…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But two best friends, Darius and Twig, are there to support
each other; to find vision and purpose; to find the best in each other. Darius is a young aspiring writer who has a
chance at a college scholarship if he could just revise the story he turned
into the college magazine, The <i>Delta
Review</i>. Twig is an exceptional middle length runner who sees his for chance
for college if he stands out at his high school track meets. Both have dreams
of coveted scholarships and the chance to be move beyond the low expectations of
the people around them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">This is a story of True
friendship! <o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Like Darius’s alter ego, his imaginary
</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Peregrine</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"> falcon; </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Fury</span>… </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">these boys are going to fly!!!</span></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Walter Dean
Myers, who grew up in Harlem, is celebrated for an expressive, genuine writing
style that depicts the essence of the inner city. </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Darius and Twig</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> is no exception; care is taken to emphasize the
hope for the characters without losing their urban dialect. Characters in the
story like Midnight and Tall Boy or Twig’s Uncle paint a harsh picture of their
worlds. This relatively short yet gripping novel; only 201 pages will attract
reluctant readers. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The language used is
strong and the situations are violent. For this reason I would recommend the
book to readers in grades 8 and up. I would also recommend listening to this
book on audioCD. Brandon Gill does a superb job giving distinct voices to the various
characters. I feel it gave me a better appreciation for the novel than if I had
just read the book. </span></span></span></div>
<br />Rhoda Crowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16851946205616693477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890155557514261482.post-61068230100715179262014-05-23T21:23:00.003-07:002014-05-23T21:23:37.724-07:00Boxers and Saints By Jean Luen Yang<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">China,1898. Bands of foreign missionaries and soldiers roam the countryside, bullying and robbing Chinese peasants.<br />Little Bao has had enough. Harnessing the powers of ancient Chinese gods, he recruits an army of Boxers - commoners trained in kung fu who fight to free China from "foreign devils."<br />Against all odds, this grass-roots rebellion is violently successful. But nothing is simple. Little Bao is fighting for the glory of China, but at what cost? So many are dying, including thousands of "secondary devils" - Chinese citizens who have converted to Christianity.<br /><i>----</i><i>Boxers & Saints </i>is an innovative new graphic novel in two volumes - the parallel stories of two young people caught up on opposite sides of a violent rift. <i>American Born Chinese </i>author Gene Luen Yang brings his clear-eyed storytelling and trademark magical realism to the complexities of the Boxer Rebellion and lays bare the foundations of extremism, rebellion, and faith.<br />----</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Discover the other side of the Boxer Rebellion in <i>Saints - </i>the companion volume to <i>Boxers.</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Summary courtesy of Amazon.com</span><br />
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Review: </span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Boxers” by Gene Luen Yang follows the life of a Chinese boy
in the retelling of one of the bloodiest times in Chinese history known as the
Boxer rebellion. The story begins with
Little Bao as a young boy, anxiously awaiting Spring and the arrival of the Little
Bao’s passion; operas. Each of the operas tells of the legends of Chinese Gods
like Sun-Wu Kong; the monkey god and Guan Yu; the God of War. Little
Bao’s lives with his two brave brothers, and his honorable father in a farming village.
Life is not easy; all the villagers are aware that their crops are at the mercy
of flooding rains but work as a community when times are tough. Soon a much more
dangerous threat comes to the villager’s way of life. “Round-eyed <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Foreigners” and their Chinese
converts, preaching about their “One God” arrive in the village.</span> </span>These impudent foreign devils take what they
want, push their foreign religion and take control the Ch’ing Government. Little
Bao’s father attempt to appeal to the magistrate ends when he is beaten senseless
by soldiers. This cannot continue!! They feel they must do something! They must
fight back! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Passions arise! Little Bao, his brothers and friends join the
legendary Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fist, a band of Chinese
Nationals who are fighting to bring justice and control of China back to its
people. The decree is noble; resist corruption, honor your parents, give
compassion to the weak, and protect each other. Before battle each of this group elicits the
spirit of their Gods with the belief that they will make them invulnerable in
battle. Bao, now leader of his group, is guided by the spirit of Ch’in
Shih-Huang, the First Divine sovereign, the Son of Heaven. Their noble goal is
to eradicate the foreigners and “secondary devils” from the land and unite
China again; but at what cost? War rarely remains noble and is always bloody. Bao
begins to question his decisions as the conflict turns more and more violent.
How will this rebellion end? Who will win? Read “Boxers” by Gene Luen Yang and
find out. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">"Saints" shows the rebellion through the eyes of Four-girl. Four-girl is the </span><span style="line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">unwelcome, unwanted</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">fourth daughter born on the fourth month of the forth day; four is a homonym of "death" Finding no friendship or love in her family, Four-girl finds friendship and a name, Virbiana, in the christian missionaries who have settled in the nearby village. But now is not a good time to be a Christian in China, Bands of </span><span style="line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">vigilantes are scouring the countryside hunting down Christians and their </span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> Chinese converts. When confronted by the rebels, Virbiana will have to decide where her loyalties lie, and whether they are worth dying for. </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Author, Gene Luen Yang meant for this graphic novel to be read
as a two book set along with the Christian viewpoint told in the novel
entitled, “Saints”. Yang captures the
passions of both sides of the Boxer rebellion showing that no one truly wins in
war. In fact, Virbaina and Boa lives are personally entwined in the two novels. The picture below shows Bao's first encounter with Virbaina when they were children. Before this graphic novel I had never heard of the Boxer Rebellion. I
found myself researching for information on the rebellion in the library’s
encyclopedias. Yang successfully mixes bits of humor with fanatical passions to
bring us an amazing epic adventure. The drawings thoughtfully portray Bao’s humbler
existence in muted pastels for most of the novel. However, when the story
introduces the Chinese Gods and battle scenes the color transforms to more
vivid colors. Although the drawings are simple, Yang reveals the battle scenes
in bloody detail. For this reason I would recommend “Boxers” to students in
grades 8 and up. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would recommend reading the companion book, Saints to understand the Rebellion from the Christian and their Chinese convert point of
view. I would also suggest Gene Luen Yang’s Prinz award winner, American Born
Chinese. </span><span style="color: purple;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br />Rhoda Crowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16851946205616693477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890155557514261482.post-67697548916963074802014-05-02T12:03:00.000-07:002014-05-24T15:00:31.590-07:00Counting by 7's by Holly Goldberg Sloan<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Summary (courtesy of Amazon.com) Willow Chance is a twelve-year-old genius, obsessed with nature and diagnosing medical conditions, who finds it comforting to count by 7s. It has never been easy for her to connect with anyone other than her adoptive parents, but that hasn't kept her from leading a quietly happy life . . . until now.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Suddenly Willow's world is tragically changed when her parents both die in a car crash, leaving her alone in a baffling world. The triumph of this book is that it is </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">not</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> a tragedy. This extraordinarily odd, but extraordinarily endearing, girl manages to push through her grief. Her journey to find a fascinatingly diverse and fully believable surrogate family is a joy and a revelation to read.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><i><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5; white-space: pre-wrap;">Review: Wow! As I began reading about WIllow, my first thoughts were, “She’s such a special gifted girl with caring supporting adoptive parents who supports her passions. She </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: pre-wrap;">couldn't</span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5; white-space: pre-wrap;"> have asked for a better life” Then…. POW! we are confronted with the worse tragedy a child could encounter; the sudden death of both of her parents. Personally I thought many of the situations that occurred in the story were not realistic. The Social Services officers would not automatically allow a non-relative have custody of someone. Also the chain of events were too predictable, too prepared, especially the conclusion. However, I still loved the compassionate empowering feeling of the story. I enjoyed the way the author weaved the uniquely individual characters lives toward each other. Each of the secondary characters are imperfect, raw, tainted by life and damaged in their own way. The tragedy of Willow’s loss drives each of them into action to not only help Willow but also to help themselves. </span></i></span></span></div>
Rhoda Crowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16851946205616693477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890155557514261482.post-66978146707697206632014-05-02T09:00:00.000-07:002014-05-02T10:32:19.427-07:00All things Laini Taylor!! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><i>Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky. </i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;">In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.</span></span></i><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;">And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.</span></span></i><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;">Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.</span></span></i><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;">When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?</span></span></i><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.5; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Review – This book series has been on my “To Read” list for quite a while! Once I did, I couldn’t help but be swept away by author, Laini Taylor’s, beautiful imagery and masterful storyteller dialog. The first in the series,”Daughter of Smoke and Bone” grabbed me from the first words, “Once upon a time, an angel and devil fell in love. It did not end well”. Karou with her flaming blue hair is artistic and confident, attends art school in Prague. Everyone is impressed by her creative drawings of mysterious horrific beasts. They are so masterfully drawn that you’d think they were real… which of course, they are. Karou is not as she appears, she’s been raised by beasts called “chimaerae”. Her task is travel through portals scouring the Earth in search of human and animal teeth for her guardian, Brimstone, though in the beginning she’s not sure why. Mysterious black handprints begin to appear above the portal doors and Karou finds herself face to face with a Cherubim, hauntingly beautiful yet deadly to her people. Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone blurs the lines between what is perceived as good and evil, righteousness and oppression, love and obsession. The Trilogy offers the reader a complex plot with multiple twists. A masterfully written mix of realistic fiction and fantasy. I would highly recommend the book series to young adult fantasy enthusiasts. </i></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Art student and monster's apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is--and </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">what </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it.</span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Daughter of Smoke & Bone</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Karou must decide how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices,</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Days of Blood & Starlight</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life. While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">hope</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream?</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Review: The Days of Blood and Starlight is the second in the “Daughter of Smoke and Bone Series”. Author Laini Taylor continues her award winning series revolving around Karou, Akiva and a host of other compelling characters. This time I borrowed the audiobook from the library to listen to on my commute. OMG!!! Narrator </span><span style="background-color: white; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Khristine Hvam is phenomenal! Ms. Hvam breathes lives into the characters Laini Taylor creates. I would highly recommend listening to this series or, in fact, anything other audiobook which features Khristine Hvam as the narrator. Now that I've experienced Karou and Akiva’s story on through Khristine’s voice, I have to continue to the last of the series, Dreams of Gods and Monsters, in audiobook format. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: normal; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>What’s next?? Of course…. the last in this series, Dreams of Gods and Monsters, preferably on Audiotape!!! </i></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Laini Taylor author visit at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA. </span></i></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Rhoda Crowell, Jackie Hart, Laini Taylor and Deanne Goudreau</i></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0b5394; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A couple of friends who are also fellow Laine Taylor enthusiasts, Jackie Hart and Deanna Goudreau, traveled with me to Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley Massachusetts for an author visit hosted by the Odyssey Bookshop on Thursday, April 24th. What a great experience to listen to Laini Taylor, ask questions about her experiences as an author or how she developed the characters and plot of the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy. </span></span></i></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-c8fcfc21-bda5-7eee-a3bb-c7b2ec36188e"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>The Odyssey Bookshop also had fun activities like glitter tattoos and costumes for “selfie” pictures. All in all it was a fun experience and a thrill to meet Laini Taylor! </i></span></span></div>
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Rhoda Crowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16851946205616693477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890155557514261482.post-42408338951361248342014-01-18T18:40:00.000-08:002014-01-18T18:41:44.424-08:00All These Things I've Done (Birthright Series #1) by Gabrielle Zevin<br />
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<strong>All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle (Birthright Series #1) by Gabrielle Zevin</strong><br />
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Summary: <br />
In a dystopian future where chocolate and caffeine are contraband, teenage cellphone use is illegal, and water and paper are carefully rationed, sixteen-year-old Anya Balanchine finds herself thrust unwillingly into the spotlight as heir apparent to an important New York City crime family. <br />
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<em><span style="color: blue;">Review: A dystopic novel about crime families fighting for control of the illegal chocolate and caffeine trade? I had to check this one out!! Anya has had to grow up quickly. Both her parents were murdered in separate mob hits. Although she's only 16, she primarily cares for her dying grandmother, disabled brother and younger sister. She's keeps her precarious situation away from the attention of Family Services by following the wise business advise of her late father. Anya Ballanchine's character has both a confident, practical understanding of the "family" and the vulnerability of a teen. Although some of the characters are a bit shallow and cliché, especially the Ballanchine crime family members and Anya Ballanchine, chocolate mafia princess', growing relationship with the city's District Attorney's son. I found the overall story.... fun! Perhaps it's because I listened to the book via an audio CD. Narrator Ilyana Kadushin's calm, practical voice perfectly captured Anya's character. Book 2, '"Because It's in My Blood", is already in my car's CD player. </span></em>Rhoda Crowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16851946205616693477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890155557514261482.post-35646368053952544342014-01-11T18:36:00.000-08:002014-01-11T18:36:45.906-08:00<br />
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Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina</h2>
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One morning before school, some girl tells Piddy Sanchez that Yaqui Delgado hates her and wants to kick her ass. Piddy doesn’t even know who Yaqui is, never mind what she’s done to piss her off. Word is that Yaqui thinks Piddy is stuck-up, shakes her stuff when she walks, and isn’t Latin enough with her white skin, good grades, and no accent. And Yaqui isn’t kidding around, so Piddy better watch her back. At first Piddy is more concerned with trying to find out more about the father she’s never met and how to balance honors courses with her weekend job at the neighborhood hair salon. But as the harassment escalates, avoiding Yaqui and her gang starts to take over Piddy’s life. Is there any way for Piddy to survive without closing herself off or running away? In an all-too-realistic novel, Meg Medina portrays a sympathetic heroine who is forced to decide who she really is.<br />
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<em><span style="color: blue;">Moving to a new apartment and enrolling in a new school is the last thing Piedad "Piddy" Sanchez wants to do. She's leaving her neighbors, her friends and the school where she was a strong, well-liked student to start a new life in Queens, New York. Little did she realize that from the first day of school her expectations would change from trying to fit in to trying to survive. She receives a note from someone she hasn't even met, Yaqui Delgado, who wants to kick her ass. From that moment we see Piddy's personality start to change to protect herself from her tormentors as she is repeatedly threatened then videotaped getting savagely attacked. </span></em><br />
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<em><span style="color: blue;">Author, Meg Medina, writes a poignant story of the emotional trauma and isolation that occurs in extreme bullying situations. With her inner strength and the support of her family and friends she finds the courage to face her bully on her own terms. I can definitely see young adults relating to Piddy's story and would highly recommend this book to upper middle school to high school students.</span></em>Rhoda Crowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16851946205616693477noreply@blogger.com0