I wish I had known about this earlier because I would have tried to read all the books, but the School Library Journal has created a Battle of the Kids' Books, which pits 16 of the most popular YA books from 2008 against each other à la March Madness. Four matches in the first round have already taken place, with one major upset, (it figures the only book on the list I've actually read gets knocked out in the first round) but there are plenty more rounds to go. Check out SLJ's blog about the competition here.
Up next is The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks vs. We Are the Ship. It's an awesome competition regardless of the fact I haven't read any of the remaining books. I'm thoroughly enjoying the comments from the author-judges as to why they've picked the books they did, as well as the remarks from the competition commentator. Their comments are thoughtful and fun, and I'm looking forward to following the rest of the competition!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Ta-Da!
A couple posts ago, I wrote about a book I was looking for: Dear Enemy. Well friends, after searching (not that hard) for several months, I finally found it! A couple months ago, after our most recent flood, my mom and Jess went through some of the basement rooms and cleared stuff out. In that process, they put several boxes of books into a big plastic tub, which now serves as my pseudo nightstand for the time being. Saturday, I went looking for a cookbook in there and discovered my copy of Dear Enemy--huzzah!
If only I was in the mood to read it now ...
If only I was in the mood to read it now ...
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Celebrate
Here's two dates to add to your calendar:March 20th is the 40th anniversary of the publication of Eric Carle's classic, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. His later book, The Grouchy Ladybug is my favorite Carle book, but this one's pretty good too. Pick up a copy and get ready to enjoy!
According to readergirlz, April 16th is Support Teen Literature Day. I'm a big believer in YA lit, so I'll help spread the word (because so many people read this blog lol!) The purpose of Support Teen Literature Day is to "raise awareness among the general public that young adult literature is a vibrant, growing genre with much to offer today’s teens." I absolutely agree! There are some YA books that I still go back and re-read because they're so awesome and still appeal to me now that I'm adult. So get out there and read some YA lit!
To help you out, here's the 2008 Teens' Top Ten list. I can't vouch for all of them, but I know
that Laurie Halse Anderson, at least, can be one fabulous author.
- Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
- Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
- Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports by James Patterson
- City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
- The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray
- Extras by Scott Westerfeld
- Before I Die by Jenny Downham
- Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson
Happy Reading!
Monday, March 16, 2009
Quick Book Update
I don't want another year to go by without posting here, so I'm adding a quick updated about what I've been reading lately. I started Master & Commander (the first book in the series) about a month ago. I'm a couple chapters in, but haven't read much further than that. I like the book for the most part, but struggle to get past the early 19th Century sailor's slang--slang that is recreated through a late 20th Century author. We'll see how it goes.
I'm ashamed to admit, but the other night I couldn't sleep and had a craving to read a really crappy, I-don't-have-to-use-one-braincell-to-read-this kind of book, so I pulled out a Barbara Michaels book and read the whole thing in one sitting. She's entertaining, but really, I can shut my brain off when I read her stuff, which is sometimes exactly what I need.
What else? Oh yes. I've been wanting to read Dear Enemy lately, but can't find my copy of the book anywhere. I've searched high and low in my house, but no luck yet. If you've never read the book I highly recommend it. Also, I recommend the book that comes before it: Daddy-Long-Legs. These are two, semi-connected YA books written by Jean Webster; both are enjoyable, but Dear Enemy is my favorite. Now if only I could figure out where I put it last ...
I'm ashamed to admit, but the other night I couldn't sleep and had a craving to read a really crappy, I-don't-have-to-use-one-braincell-to-read-this kind of book, so I pulled out a Barbara Michaels book and read the whole thing in one sitting. She's entertaining, but really, I can shut my brain off when I read her stuff, which is sometimes exactly what I need.
What else? Oh yes. I've been wanting to read Dear Enemy lately, but can't find my copy of the book anywhere. I've searched high and low in my house, but no luck yet. If you've never read the book I highly recommend it. Also, I recommend the book that comes before it: Daddy-Long-Legs. These are two, semi-connected YA books written by Jean Webster; both are enjoyable, but Dear Enemy is my favorite. Now if only I could figure out where I put it last ...
Saturday, January 24, 2009
"The Folk Keeper" by Franny Billingsley
Wow, I haven't posted on this blog in almost a year and a half! Mostly that's because I haven't been doing a whole lot of reading, or thinking about what I read. That's very, very sad. But lately that's started to change. I read the whole Twilight series over the Christmas/New Years holidays, in a weird obsessive compulsive act that's very hard for me to explain. I didn't like the books, but still found myself having to read them. Really, the only way you'll understand it is if you get inside my head, which (thank the Lord) isn't going to happen.
Today I am filled with the desire to completely immerse and lose myself in reading, which really, really hasn't happened in a long time. The best way I can describe the feeling is that I'm homesick for a good book. So I re-read a book that I haven't looked at for years: The Folk Keeper.
From the Cover: She doesn't really know who she is or what she wants ... Corinna is a Folk Keeper. Her job is to keep the mysterious Folk who live beneath the ground at bay. But Corinna has a secret that even she doesn't fully comprehend, until she agrees to serve as Folk Keeper at Marblehaugh Park, a wealthy family's seaside manor. There her hidden powers burst into full force, and Corinna's life changes forever....
Despite the overuse of ellipses on the back cover, this book is well worth the read. It's a weird little book that can be hard to get through, but I love anyway. Corinna has a direct voice that is a little difficult to immerse yourself in at first, but trust me, she gets better. Her descriptions of the sea are beautiful, and her developing self-assurance and developing relationships are touching. The Folk are sufficiently chilling, and the evil villain of the story has some humanity in him, but the climax loses no tension or excitement for it.
The book is a very quick read (I read the whole thing in only a few hours) and is told as Corinna writes down her thoughts in her Folk Keeper's Record. She describes not only the Folk and all their "mischief," but she also describes herself: warts, embarrassments, and all. She writes: "But I must tell the truth here ... If I lied in this Folk Record, I wouldn't be able to trust it ..." A powerful statement about being honest with one's self, because Corinna is really writing to herself and for herself.
All in all, a great little book, and a great way to get back into reading for the pure love of reading.
Today I am filled with the desire to completely immerse and lose myself in reading, which really, really hasn't happened in a long time. The best way I can describe the feeling is that I'm homesick for a good book. So I re-read a book that I haven't looked at for years: The Folk Keeper.
From the Cover: She doesn't really know who she is or what she wants ... Corinna is a Folk Keeper. Her job is to keep the mysterious Folk who live beneath the ground at bay. But Corinna has a secret that even she doesn't fully comprehend, until she agrees to serve as Folk Keeper at Marblehaugh Park, a wealthy family's seaside manor. There her hidden powers burst into full force, and Corinna's life changes forever....
Despite the overuse of ellipses on the back cover, this book is well worth the read. It's a weird little book that can be hard to get through, but I love anyway. Corinna has a direct voice that is a little difficult to immerse yourself in at first, but trust me, she gets better. Her descriptions of the sea are beautiful, and her developing self-assurance and developing relationships are touching. The Folk are sufficiently chilling, and the evil villain of the story has some humanity in him, but the climax loses no tension or excitement for it.
The book is a very quick read (I read the whole thing in only a few hours) and is told as Corinna writes down her thoughts in her Folk Keeper's Record. She describes not only the Folk and all their "mischief," but she also describes herself: warts, embarrassments, and all. She writes: "But I must tell the truth here ... If I lied in this Folk Record, I wouldn't be able to trust it ..." A powerful statement about being honest with one's self, because Corinna is really writing to herself and for herself.
All in all, a great little book, and a great way to get back into reading for the pure love of reading.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
"Squashed" by Joan Bauer
From the cover: Ellie Morgan's life would be almost perfect if she could just get her potentially prizewinning pumpkin, Max, to put on about two hundred more pounds, and if she could lose twenty herself. Then Max would be the shoo-in champion of the Rock River Pumpkin Weigh-In. Minus twenty pounds, Ellie would have the courage to approach Wes, the new boy in town. But unpredictable weather is threatening Max, pumpkin thieves are running rampant, and Sweet Corn Coquette contestants are eyeing Wes. Is Ellie tough enough to go for it all?
This was a book that I picked up at the library book sale a few years ago just because it sounded slightly interesting and was only 50 cents. I'm so glad I got it, because I LOVE this book. It's sweet, funny, and will make you want to start growing giant pumpkins! The conversations between Ellie and her grandmother about growing things are particularly poignant, as is the sometimes tense relationship Ellie has with her father.
Ellie has a unique, and sometimes slightly eccentric, voice as she narrates her own story. Here's a great line from the book: "The Iowa sun crashed down like God was recharging the earth and flowed into my pumpkin who was stretching to reach his full agricultural potential." What a fabulous sentence! This is a tender book that you must read. I laugh and cry, then laugh and cry some more every time I read it.
This was a book that I picked up at the library book sale a few years ago just because it sounded slightly interesting and was only 50 cents. I'm so glad I got it, because I LOVE this book. It's sweet, funny, and will make you want to start growing giant pumpkins! The conversations between Ellie and her grandmother about growing things are particularly poignant, as is the sometimes tense relationship Ellie has with her father.
Ellie has a unique, and sometimes slightly eccentric, voice as she narrates her own story. Here's a great line from the book: "The Iowa sun crashed down like God was recharging the earth and flowed into my pumpkin who was stretching to reach his full agricultural potential." What a fabulous sentence! This is a tender book that you must read. I laugh and cry, then laugh and cry some more every time I read it.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Children's Books
I haven't posted here in a long, long time, but the other day I was reading about an awareness campaign that First Book has been doing called, "What Book Got You Hooked?" (You can read the answers of a number of celebrities and authors here*.) The whole thing got me thinking about the books I read as a child, and how I became addicted to reading, so I thought I'd share some of those early books and why I love them.
Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic
When I was in elementary school these were two of the books that were always on hold in the library. I devoured them whenever I could get my hands on them, and my friends and I would laugh and laugh at the poems. These poems made poetry accessible to me, in fact they were my first real introduction to poetry. But they also filled me with a sense of wonder, and made the most mundane of things (like a peanut butter-and jelly-sandwich or the garbage) suddenly seem magical. I read the poems now and I love the sadness, the sweetness, the humor, and the limitless possibilities that fill the poems.
Here's one of my favorites:
Hug o' War
I will not play at tug o' war.
I'd rather play at hug o' war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.
The Nancy Drew Series by Carolyn Keene
I guess I would have to say that if there was any book or series of books that hooked me completely on reading, it would have to be Nancy Drew. I followed the adventures of Nancy Drew obsessively. I mean, we're talking hard-core obsession here. I think I must have read every Nancy Drew book in both my school and public libraries! I thought I had found heaven when I found my aunt's collection of original Nancy Drew books from when she was a kid! These were the books that made me (for the first time ever) stay up late reading with a flashlight under the covers! (Not a habit my parents appreciated.) I look back at them now, and I kind of wonder what I saw in them, but back then I thought Nancy was so cool with her light blue Mustang convertible, and that her dad (with his touch of gray at the temples) was so sophisticated.
I hated Ned Nickerson, though. I mean, he was a nice enough boyfriend at first, but he just never got Nancy and her need to solve mysteries. He was often quite patronizing (I picked up on that before I even knew what the word meant!) and was always telling her to give up solving mysteries. No, I think Nancy should have dumped Ned (OK, well, she did once, but then they got back together by the end of the next book) and she should have ended up with Frank Hardy. I loved the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys cross-overs, and the hint of romance between Frank and Nancy. He was so much cooler than Ned Nickerson, and he got the thrill of solving mysteries.
The Dark is Rising Series by Susan Cooper
If Nancy Drew got me started reading, then The Dark is Rising series got me to think about what I was reading. I guess this is why I wonder now what I saw in Nancy--they were fun books, but there wasn't much depth. I will be forever grateful to my 4th grade teachers for introducing me to this series by reading aloud to us the first book, Over Sea, Under Stone, and then I will be forever grateful to whatever librarian it was at my public library who purchased the whole series. These are books that I still read today, and still find new things to love about them. The series focuses on questions of good and evil, but not just black and white evil. Through the characters this series asks the questions, "How far should we be willing to go for a good cause?" and "Who gets to decide what price should be paid to defeat evil?"
Plus, these books are just plain old fun! I love the adventures the kids go on, and the elements of magic and celtic folklore that abound throughout the series. I love too that Will Stanton, the main character, has such a big loving family, and meets lots of other wonderful people along the way--even if they don't have a direct impact on his quests. He's a powerful boy on a mission to save the world from all the powers of darkness, but in the end he is just a boy, and he needs these people in his life to connect him to the world he is trying to save. I love, love, love these books!!
There are so many other books that have influenced me and made me a fiction addict, but I'll save them for another time--that's what this blog is for, after all! I'm just glad that my parents, teachers, and librarians all supported me in my reading habits, and provided me with opportunities to discover whole new worlds--and to discover myself--through reading.
*ETA This link no longer exists, which is really sad, because it was some good reading. Hopefully they do something like this again; I'll keep my eyes open for it.
Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic
When I was in elementary school these were two of the books that were always on hold in the library. I devoured them whenever I could get my hands on them, and my friends and I would laugh and laugh at the poems. These poems made poetry accessible to me, in fact they were my first real introduction to poetry. But they also filled me with a sense of wonder, and made the most mundane of things (like a peanut butter-and jelly-sandwich or the garbage) suddenly seem magical. I read the poems now and I love the sadness, the sweetness, the humor, and the limitless possibilities that fill the poems.
Here's one of my favorites:
Hug o' War
I will not play at tug o' war.
I'd rather play at hug o' war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.
The Nancy Drew Series by Carolyn Keene
I guess I would have to say that if there was any book or series of books that hooked me completely on reading, it would have to be Nancy Drew. I followed the adventures of Nancy Drew obsessively. I mean, we're talking hard-core obsession here. I think I must have read every Nancy Drew book in both my school and public libraries! I thought I had found heaven when I found my aunt's collection of original Nancy Drew books from when she was a kid! These were the books that made me (for the first time ever) stay up late reading with a flashlight under the covers! (Not a habit my parents appreciated.) I look back at them now, and I kind of wonder what I saw in them, but back then I thought Nancy was so cool with her light blue Mustang convertible, and that her dad (with his touch of gray at the temples) was so sophisticated.
I hated Ned Nickerson, though. I mean, he was a nice enough boyfriend at first, but he just never got Nancy and her need to solve mysteries. He was often quite patronizing (I picked up on that before I even knew what the word meant!) and was always telling her to give up solving mysteries. No, I think Nancy should have dumped Ned (OK, well, she did once, but then they got back together by the end of the next book) and she should have ended up with Frank Hardy. I loved the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys cross-overs, and the hint of romance between Frank and Nancy. He was so much cooler than Ned Nickerson, and he got the thrill of solving mysteries.
The Dark is Rising Series by Susan Cooper
If Nancy Drew got me started reading, then The Dark is Rising series got me to think about what I was reading. I guess this is why I wonder now what I saw in Nancy--they were fun books, but there wasn't much depth. I will be forever grateful to my 4th grade teachers for introducing me to this series by reading aloud to us the first book, Over Sea, Under Stone, and then I will be forever grateful to whatever librarian it was at my public library who purchased the whole series. These are books that I still read today, and still find new things to love about them. The series focuses on questions of good and evil, but not just black and white evil. Through the characters this series asks the questions, "How far should we be willing to go for a good cause?" and "Who gets to decide what price should be paid to defeat evil?"
Plus, these books are just plain old fun! I love the adventures the kids go on, and the elements of magic and celtic folklore that abound throughout the series. I love too that Will Stanton, the main character, has such a big loving family, and meets lots of other wonderful people along the way--even if they don't have a direct impact on his quests. He's a powerful boy on a mission to save the world from all the powers of darkness, but in the end he is just a boy, and he needs these people in his life to connect him to the world he is trying to save. I love, love, love these books!!
There are so many other books that have influenced me and made me a fiction addict, but I'll save them for another time--that's what this blog is for, after all! I'm just glad that my parents, teachers, and librarians all supported me in my reading habits, and provided me with opportunities to discover whole new worlds--and to discover myself--through reading.
*ETA This link no longer exists, which is really sad, because it was some good reading. Hopefully they do something like this again; I'll keep my eyes open for it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
