Patricia McCormick: Sold

Unbelievable. Written by the author of Cut, this is a series of vignettes from the perspective of a Nepalese girl who is sold at 13 and forced to work in a brothel. McCormick actually traveled to India and saw these brothels and spoke to some of the young women who were lucky to escape/be freed as she researched for this text--which makes it all the more heart-wrenching and emotional.
A really amazing and moving read--the imagery and details McCormick uses allow a topic foreign to most readers a more intimate relationship with those who delve into this text.
I bought it today & finished it today!

Stephenie Meyer : Twilight (Book One)

Ok, so the students have been insisting I read this. I bought it on FRIDAY, and just finished it. Haven't done much else (though I have alternated with reading Stephen King's On Writing too), and now that I am done I am quite irritated that I only have $2 and can't order the second book New Moon so I can read it.
Pretty quick read for a 497 page monster.
A modern, teen-age fairy tale of sorts--if you consider a story with great characters, vampires, and teen angst a fairy tale! :) The ending was sappy and I would have been fine with a different one, but I was pleased overall I spent the time with it.

Jonathan Stroud: The Golem's Eye (The Bartimaeus Triliogy Book 2)

Just as good as the first in the trilogy! Bartimaeus is hilarious, and we actually get Kitty's perspective for alternating chapters. Something big is brewing, and I am looking forward to reading the third!

Janet Fitch--White Oleander

Where do I start? 446 pages of the most negative text I have ever read—including the YA novels I am so fond of!!

But I don’t want to start with the bad. I am positive that my negative is purely personal, and that the positive and amazing qualities of the text far outweigh anything I have to say.

The language was amazing. Lyrical, thick, metaphorically charged. I haven’t read anything like it before—maybe weetzie bat comes close, but that was a blink of a text while this one took endless amounts of mulling over, thinking, processing, soaking up the words—time…

Fitch must have taken an eternity to come up with such a wide array of metaphors, similes and poetry. Not a page goes by without one it seems. It distracted me initially, but then as I got deeper entrenched, it was as if the language became mine as I was immersed in it…only to be forced back into reality when I had to put it down (life, it gets in the way sometimes).

I read for several reasons. Sometimes pleasure reading is the motive—and I can pick up Harry Potter and lose myself for a while. Sometimes I need more information—research on essay revision to help students with their writing, textbooks, my journals—the English Journal/ALAN, etc. Sometimes I read to keep myself engaged with young adults today—I hope that by my wide-array of knowledge of YA texts, I can help reluctant readers find some text they could enjoy. Sometimes I read off a suggestion—White Oleander was just that—Ms. Nelson has her AP students read it (as an option), and I wanted to read what they have to read, so I did. All through my reading, if a student who had Ms. Nelson last year saw me reading it, or saw it on her shelves would rant and rave about how awesome a book it was.

So I read.

It is a fast-paced text once you get used to the thick wordiness and endless horrific encounters the protagonist endures. If you resign yourself to the notion in no way is this text awesome because of the story, then you will be totally satisfied and amazed by this book.

If you can look past the negative portrayal of women throughout the text, you will love this book. Keep in mind, not every image of women is completely negative. But, if you were to do a character study of every single woman in the text, you'd be hard pressed to find one that you would want your sister, mother, daughter, self to be.

If you want to read a book unlike any other, one in which the author has more artful craft with her words than I have in my little toe, this is the book for you.

Really, I am glad I read this book. I feel like I have been allowed into a secret world of word-appreciation and supreme usage!

:) At least give a shot!

BabyMouse--Beach Babe & Rock Star--Jennifer & Matthew Holm

I needed some lighter reading this weekend for a moment, and finally read the most recent two BabyMouse Graphic Novels. Both of them were entertaining and fun to read, Beach Babe had a good lesson (sister/little brother related), and Rock Star is a good version of "practice makes perfect." While many readers won't enjoy a graphic novel about a spunky imaginative mouse, those who are open to it and take a chance with one will find the heroine to be extremely fun to read. *Book 5 comes out this December--I am pumped!!*

**Note**
While I have been absent for QUITE some time, it wasn't for lack of reading!!!
I am nearly done with The Golem's Eye (book two in the Bartimaeus series) and have started on Harry Potter 6 finally...So, I have my "hands" in several texts right now! :)

Jonathan Stroud: The Amulet of Samarkand (The Bartimaeus Trilogy Book One)

I wasn't expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did. Professor Reid said he loved this book, loved the djinn and wasn't a fan of the boy. I totally didn't expect to feel the same--but I did.

Bartimaeus is hilarious, and the way in which Stroud uses his voice to break the monotonous/average tale really changes the dynamics of the story.

You have to root for the irritating boy, but only because of the link he shares with his summoned slave--who you really enjoy hearing from.

Action-packed, suspenseful, and entertaining to say the least--I can't wait to delve into the second book!!!

Philip Pullman:The Amber Spyglass

I have been avoiding finishing the series. I knew the inevitable sense of loss and sadness that would follow the completion of the series--and I was right.

I wasn't expecting to love Lyra's story as much as I did, nor was I expecting the twists and the ending. I am really glad I knocked out the trio, but am inwardly sad and hoping that Mr. Pulman is working on a fourth--because I'd LOVE to see a few more. It was left quite open, and the potential is there.

One can hope.

I dread the coming of the movie--any deep meaning/intention will be lost in the Hollywood--ization. And the beauty and imaginativeness will be lost to so many.

Lyra's journey is one for all ages. Action-packed with several amazing, quirky, powerful characters; exciting plot twists, and a conclusion that you won't see coming.

Definitely worth the read.

Philip Pullman: The Subtle Knife

DAMN.

I am going to be super pissed if who I think is dead is dead.

I will write the full entry as soon as I can. REALLY AWESOME series though.

Kim Antieau: Mercy, Unbound

Angels don't eat--they aren't human.

Seventeen year old Mercy is becoming an angel. She can feel her wings growing--they itch her shoulderblades.

Mercy can't/won't/doesn't eat and her parents decide to send her to an eating disorders institution to help Mercy face her illness.

Mercy and her family aren't like most of the YA characters depicting adolescent worlds. Mercy is highly intelligent, her mother is an extreme activist (environmental lawyer) and does not hide her feminist perspectives from her daughter, and Mercy is a wealth of knowledge and perspective uncommonly fresh and unique.

As I got towards the end I thought it was wrapped up rather too neatly, but then Antieau weaved a totally different storyline into the conclusion, I was just amazed as to how sucked in I was.

I am glad I stuck with it, and even though the book does have some moments of hard-to-believe. The manner in which Mercy finds a way to confront her eating disorder is really original and well-worth the read.

Philip Pullman: The Golden Compass

WOW.
Ok, for those of you who have only begun--KEEP GOING!!!
I was really unsure I would enjoy this book initially, but finally after about the fifth chapter I was totally hooked.

Action-packed, interesting, imaginative, and a great heroine make up an extremely creative story. Lyra's world is similar to ours, but every human has an animal daemon (almost like a soul that chats with, comforts, and protects its human). Children's daemons change form (mainly to emulate their human's emotion/climate), but when children reach adulthood, the daemon permanently chooses an animal form.

The "controversial" part of the text doesn't really hit until the end of the novel, and I see how some religious sects might take offense, but it really is a masterfully crafted text. The end is also slightly violent and graphic, but not overly done.

Lyra is destined to do things for her world, but what they are have yet to be realized.

I also like this version of the text's cover more than the trade paperbacks I have--they aren't as fun-looking, and look much more like "grown-up" books.

Cynthia Rylant: God Went To Beauty School

Ok, I got this on a whim--inexpensive, short...you never know when a short text may be called for.

I read the first poem and a little worry crossed my mind--what kind of religious book did I pick up??

Well, it is a great novella (all in verse) that spins a unique tale of God (however the reader sees that figure) and what he/she might be like.

I read it in the bathtub, the language is manageable, and it isn't very controversial--unless you are against different perspectives on deities. I am glad I have this for my shelves. It was fun to read, and it is always nice to think that a possibility exists that maybe some Omniscient thing never really wanted death/pain for the world, and there might just be a really good sense of humor and lonely being out there.

My FAVORITE:
God Got A Desk Job
Just to see what it
would be like.
Made his back hurt.
God's always had a
bad back anyway--
the weight of the world
and all that.
He thought His job was tough,
'til He sat at a desk all day.
It was torture.
He could feel the Light
inside Him grow
dimmer and dimmer
and He thought that
if He had to pick
up that phone
one more time,
He'd just start the
whole Armageddon thing
people keep talking about.
(Not His idea, not His plan,
but in a pinch, He's
sure He can come up
with something.)
The only thing that got
Him through to the
end of the day was
Snickers bars.
He ate thirty-seven.
Plus thinking about the Eagle Nebula
in the constellation Serpens.
That helped.
(Cynthia Rylant: God Went to Beauty School pgs. 39-40)

Adele Geras: Ithaka

Really a good read. For those who love stories about Ancient Greece, this is a different perspective of Odysseus & Penelope told through the eyes of a servant-girl who waits on Penelope--Klymene.

*I'll get my book talk up here as soon as I can.

Edith Pattou: East

An enormous white polar bear, a loving and protective brother and father, a troll queen, and an adventurous, brave, spirited and head-strong young woman—combine together in a fast-paced fun adventure/quest in East. The main character’s enthusiastic passion to find her destiny and the changing voices narrating the story’s chapters will keep you captivated for the long haul!

Laurie Halse Anderson: Speak

What happened to Melinda that would cause her to chew her lips bloody and is the root of her not speaking? Find out as a very strong young woman overcomes a devastating and traumatic event through a heart-wrenching self-journey in solitude.

John Green: looking for alaska

By far one of my favorite books ever.

Pudge loves Alaska--crazy, moody, intelligent, beautiful Alaska. Pudge loves her even more than he loves the fact that he now has friends in boarding school he chose to go to a few states away from home.

In a whirlwind year, Pudge learns more about himself then he ever imagined--through pranks and unrequited love and his very first date.

John Green's book really is well-crafted (duh..it did win the Printz award)

Pete Hautman: invisible

If you are looking for an unreliable narrator--this is the text for you. Though, is the narrator really unreliable?

I was actually creeped out and disturbed by this book--something I wasn't really expecting. One of my classmates said that this was "Shin's story" (Shin from godless--who I always wanted to know what happened--what his dealio back-story was) but it totally was not.

The cover is actually exceptional and dead-on with the inherent importance of the struggle of the main character.

Well-written, much darker than godless, and you really never get the impression that you "get" the story--whose truth is truth?

Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm: Babymouse: Queen of the World!

-GRAPHIC NOVEL-

Babymouse reminds me of Ramona Quimby, but in a mouse form.

Ned Vizzini: It's Kind of a Funny Story

Craig is your smarter-than-average, pretty regular, fifteen-year old guy. He studies really hard to get into his dream high school, is infatuated with his best friend’s girlfriend, has a little sister who adores him, and a great mom and dad who love him and are very proud of him.

Craig also voluntarily admitted himself into a psychiatric ward of a hospital where he remained for five days to find a way to live with his clinical depression in the real world. This is Craig’s story of the events that led to the stay in the mental ward offering a candid insight into the battle with a formidable disorder.

Marsha Qualey: Just Like That

Hanna never anticipated that a quiet walk that cold winter night after breaking up with her boyfriend would change everything she knew. Just like that her world turned upside down and even her closest friendships weren’t what they seemed. Hanna embarks on a personal quest to fill voids she wasn’t even aware she had until that fateful night, and she becomes cognizant of the importance of every little moment she has.




**Amazing characters, good story...best for late high schoolers**

Pete Hautman: godless

Bored with his mundane summer life in his small town, Jason Bock questions his religion and the principles that drive blind, uneducated following. He creates a religion centered around the town’s water tower, and recruits his best friend in his endeavor. Soon Jason’s “followers” are more invested than he ever anticipated, and things begin to spin out of control, especially for his best friend Shin who becomes more and more unstable as the story progresses. A glimpse into a small-town’s reaction to an outside-the-box thinking intelligent teen who was merely looking to use his imagination to pass his summer more quickly, and things get completely out of control.

Franscesca Lia Block: weetzie bat

Weetzie isn’t like any character written—or is she a mixture of every single character encountered in life? Weetzie and the people who surround her will sweep readers into her world, dazzle, confuse, and move readers beyond words. A lyrical masterpiece starring one of the most unique heroines you will ever encounter, weetzie bat is a brief escape readers will welcome into their lives!

Karen Cushman: Catherine Called Birdy

Independent, headstrong, stubborn, witty, intelligent young Catherine invites readers to share a year of her life through her writings in a diary that her brother has requested she write in. Life in 13th century England for a teenage girl on the brink of puberty is much more challenging and daunting than the experiences of the modern adolescents. Between incessant embroidering, behaving as a “proper” noblewoman, sharing her bedroom with a crowd of celebrating visitors, and making herself as undesirable as possible to potential future husbands, Catherine has her young hands full. Will she be able to avoid marriage to disgustingly old Shaggy Beard, or will she have to succumb to her father (“the beast”) and his wishes? You won’t be able to put the book down until you find out!

Carol Plum-Ucci: The Body of Christopher Creed

If you were to disappear, would anyone care?

Christopher Creed didn’t fit in. He was bullied and excluded and in no way part of the “in” crowd. Creed’s mother, overbearing and clueless to his unhappiness, turns the town upside-down and inside out after her son disappears leaving behind an ambiguous farewell note which sets Torey Adams on a mission to discover what exactly happened to Christopher Creed.

Torey, in his quest for the “truth,” discovers that those around him aren’t interested in anything that goes against their warped perception of reality. In fact, he discovers all of the lies people tell themselves in order to survive, no matter the consequences. If a reader enjoys mystery and/or suspense, this text needs to find him/her as soon as possible.

Pearl Fuyo Gaskins: What Are You? Voices of mixed-race young people

Unfamiliar with people who come from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities? Do you think you know all there is to know about biracial/multicultural people? In a series of vignettes Gaskins has assembled a variety of voices who all share their experiences concerning growing up multiracial. Valuable resources students, teachers, and families can take advantage of have been compiled in a useful section, and the stories chosen cover a wide variety of issues—from dating to negative encounters about their heritage—this text is a down-to-earth collection useful for anyone interested in people.

Art Spieglaman: The Complete Maus

Ann Brashares: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Four young women linked through friendship since birth embarks on the first summer apart from each other. From Greece to Mexico, South Carolina to D.C.(their hometown), each young woman must mature and find a piece of herself with the help of a pair of magic jeans that just happen to mold to fit each young woman’s spirit and body. A text that will make you laugh out loud, shed many tears, and find a piece of yourself in each young woman—the ride is definitely worth the emotional investment.

Helen Frost: keesha's house

For someone who doesn’t have a safe place to go home to, Keesha’s house is his/her sanctuary. Be it an unplanned pregnancy, the ramifications of coming out to homophobic parents, escape from a potentially sexually abusive stepfather, or difficulty in dealing with the foster care system—all problems can be left outside Keesha’s blue door and behind it a sense of safety, security, and accomplishment can be found. A text written in verse, each poem is someone’s voice that pulls the reader into the world of underprivileged and strong-willed young people who are forced to grow up much faster than anyone should have to.

Robert Cormier: The Chocolate War

When freshman Jerry Renault refuses to partake in the annual chocolate sale at his private school, the entire student body is thrown for a loop and the entire student body begins to question their world. If you are looking for a story that is chock-full of peer-pressure, exclusive cliques, hazing, and corruption, this is definitely a good choice for you!

S.E. Hinton: The Outsiders

In a war between “the haves” versus the “have-nots” Ponyboy learns the true meaning of friendship, the strength and importance in family bonds, and loyalty. In a fast-paced narrative, the reader is flung into Ponyboy’s world, encountering his highs and lows, and one night that will change life forever in the world that surrounds him and his family. While the allegiance of family and friends run deep, cliques and social status will forever remain, and Ponyboy’s journey throughout the text gives readers insight in a world to which they themselves are familiar with.

Thanks to my Cooperating Teacher!!

I am "borrowing" her idea (as all teachers tend to do), and creating this place for my reading ventures. This will be available to my students and my friends and the random blogging world.

ENJOY!!!!!!