The Roar by Emma Clayton

The Roar by Emma Clayton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I listened to most of this book and read some so that I could get it finished. I really enjoyed listening to it. The reader was great and hearing the words really helped build the suspense and made me feel so much more involved in the story. Playaways are so great. I wish our library had them.


This was a very exciting and suspenseful book. The characters were likeable and believable and even the parents came across as rational and normal people. I had a slight problem at the end where the book became pretty transparently didactic and preachy but it was very minor compared to my overall enjoyment of the book.


This book would be really popular with kids who like video games and anyone who liked "Hugner Games" and other dystopian novels. I have heard that a sequel is coming out and I'm really looking forward to that.



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Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

I just finished this book and really liked it. Long before my librarian days I was a welder at a shipyard in Texas. That helped me connect to this book but I think that most people will be caught up in this intense story.

In the United States of the future some states have ceased to exist. Residing where Louisiana used to be is a watery grave filled with the rusting carcasses of wrecked and useless oil tankers. This is where 17 year old Nailer exists. I can’t say “lives” because no one here actually has much of a life. Nailer and his friends survive by scavenging copper wire from the old ships. Nailer is useful because he is still small enough to fit into tiny crawlspaces and ducts. Once he becomes too big for this job, he’ll be out of luck. All of the people working these jobs are looking for their “Lucky Strike”—their one chance to find something really valuable and sell it before someone bigger or stronger steals it.

One day when Nailer and his friend, Pima, are out exploring they discover a clipper ship that has been wrecked in a storm. They decide to board the ship and see what goodies they can find before others beat them to it. Just as they expected, they find jewelry, silver and all sorts of other valuables that they can carry away and sell. What they don’t expect to find is a young girl, barely breathing, but still alive. Their first instinct is to kill her and take her jewelry—just one of her rings would support them for a lifetime.

But Nita, the survivor, has other plans. She convinces them to help her and when she gets back to her wealthy father, he’ll reward them handsomely. Unfortunately for Nailer and Pima, there are a few essential details that Nita leaves out.

This is a rapid fire novel filled with adventure, human/animal hybrids and even a little romance. A great book for teen boys.

Things That Make Me Conflicted

It strikes me that book award panels often cause a crisis of conscience for librarians. On one hand, as an intellectual person who appreciates word craft and good literature and feels a certain responsibility to have award winning books in my library, I am dedicated to purchasing the books that are chosen by the various panels.

On the other hand, my miniscule budget and desire to spend this money on books that I know will be popular makes me think twice about letting my limited resources go for something that I know will just sit on the shelf. It's not that these titles are bad, (in fact, many of them are quite good) just that they are not what the kids want to read.

"When You Reach Me" is just such a book. It is quirky, well written and enjoyable if you are an adult, but I just can't see kids relating to it. Although Miranda is a likeable character, she is just too precocious and weird. Also, I can't see teens or tweens relating to this time period. Who has even heard of the Ten Thousand Dollar Pyramid? The ending sort of saves the book but I'm wondering how many kids will understand what all has happened. I didn't really get it at first and had to reread to understand. Maybe I'm just dim.

So, there's my quandary. Do I buy this book because it's important to have good quality literature for teens? After all, if I only want to spend money on things that will circ I should get rid of my whole collection and just buy "Twilight" and all of the other books with a vampire storyline.

But,like "The Higher Power of Lucky" I can see this book staring at me from the shelves, uncirced and untouched, driving my pragmatic and miserly conscience crazy. Like booktalking a novel that I don't really think kids will enjoy, "When You Reach Me" really is one of those things that makes me conflicted!

Books for the College Bound

If you're like most high school students these days you either don't like to read or don't have time to read. But if your Xbox breaks or you get sick of watching Simon purse his lips on American Idol, you might like to peruse this list of books for college bound.

These are the books that are required by high school English teachers from all over the country. Some of these are for AP classes but many of them are read (and believe it or not, enjoyed) by regular old teens like you. The list may appear daunting, but there are lots of fun items on there. "Part-time Indian" and "Spanking Shakespeare" are both laugh out loud reads that won't even seem like homework.

This could be a great way to find common ground with other teenagers from around the country. You could be reading the same book as some hot guy from California. Imagine the "Facebook" pages you could start!

There are some pretty highbrow things on this list also, but a little intellectual endeavor never hurt anyone. Y0u never know when something you have to read for school can give you insight or help you come up with a topic for your college essay. At the very least it may someday make you seem intelligent and well read at a cocktail party or job interview. Who knows?

High School or a Minefield???

Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
High school has been easy for Regina and the rest of her gang, the "Fearsome Fivesome." In fact, their job is to have fun and make life miserable for everyone else. But when Regina gets caught in the wrong place at a school party, she goes from being a queen bee to a sqaushed bug. Now she gets to see how it feels to be terrorized, teased and victimized by the people she used to call her friends. Are high school girls really this mean and conniving? Some girls are...

This was a quick read but also pretty painful. I just find it hard to believe that high school is really this much of a minefield. Anna, the main (mean) character is almost a caricature of all of the evil girls we've seen in teen movies. This isn't to say I didn't like the book. It was engrossing and kept me interested but it didn't seem believable.

I also find it hard to fathom that school administrators are so clueless. Can kids really be terrorizing other students right under their noses? And what about Regina's parents, she came home daily with new bruises, both physical and emotional, and they never noticed a thing. In fact I don't think her father even interacted with her in the book.

Spoiler alert....
What I did like was the fact that Regina didn't immediately renounce her evil ways and become nice all of the sudden. For awhile it seemed like she was determined to be even meaner than she was before. I thought that this was a big plus for the book. It would have been easy to have Regina break down, feel guilty and instantly become friends with the same kids she used to terrorize.

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Starved for the Sequel?????

Good news for those who are ready for another serving of "The Hunger Games" series by Suzanne Collins. Scholastic publishing company has announced that "Mockingjay," the third and final installment in this series, will be released August 24, 2010. Sort of unfortunate timing if you ask me, but this series is so engrossing that it just may have teens wishing away their summer so that they can hurry up and get this book.

I'm know I'm one of those who can't wait to once again "fear the reaper!" Although Collins isn't dishing anything about the plot of this book, we can be sure that there will be plenty of adventure, treachery and love triangle action. Let the games begin!

If you haven't already become hooked on "The Hunger Games" maybe this booktrailer by Justin Breaux of Saint Amant High School will help whet your appetite.

Girl in the Arena

Girl in the Arena by Lise Haines


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Lyn hates everything about the "Glad" life, especially the fact that all 7 of her fathers have been killed while fighting. In the last battle, Tommy, her favorite of all the men her Mom has married, is killed by Uber. Before the fight Lyn had given Tommy her dowry bracelet for good luck. But it wasn't good luck at all; in fact it couldn't be worse. When Uber grabs the bracelet and puts it on his arm Lyn is obligated by the rules of the Gladiators to marry him. Now Lyn is blasted into the spotlight with paparazzi following her night and day to see what she will do. Should she marry Uber and become a "Glad" wife in order to save her family or is there another way out?

This book sounds contrived and hokey but I enjoyed reading it. It had many similarities to "Hunger Games" but was fresh enough to stand on it's own. Lyn is a really strong female character and Uber is also unique. He's not an ogre or a loser and is a pretty likable character. Lyn's Mom is pretty useless which can be annoying, but I found this to be a quick and fun story. I cared enough about the characters to hope that there is a sequel.



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Oh Poo and Merde! I've just read the final installment of the Georgia Nicolson diaries, "Are Those My Basoomas I See Before Me?" I am so full of sadnosity. I hate to think that this is the last book. I always looked forward to reading about Georgia and the Ace Gang.

When we last saw Georgia in "Stop in the Name of Pants," Masimo "the lurvve god" had stropped off to strop central with the Mega hump because he had seen Georgia dancing with Dave the Laugh. Once again Georgia was left in the cakeshop of love. This final book has Georgia trying to display maturiosity and win back Masimo. But what about Dave the Laugh? He is still her fun and crazy mate and he thinks she's a sex kitty. And then there's Robbie, the original sex-god; he can't really like wet Lindsay can he?

If you are a fan of this series, you will love this book. Of course Georgia's crazy family is all there in their complete madnosity as well as Angus and all of the favorites from Stalag 14.

I guess I can't blame Louise Rennison for wanting to move on, you can only remake so many Billy Shakespeare plays and write so many beard jokes, but I will certainly miss Georgia and her self absorbed ways. I am like a depressed person on depressed pills.

Check Them Grammar Errors

We could all use some practice in the grammar area. No matter how correctly we think we speak, often questions arise about the use of a particular word or phrase. The beauty of the internet, besides being able to find and prescreen great restaurants anywhere in the world, is the free access to some great websites that provide a fun (sort of) way to get in some grammar practice in between Facebook stalking.

Here are two places that provide some painless grammar quizes and help you decide whether to use lay, lie or laid. (maybe)

http://roadtogrammar.com/

http://www.chompchomp.com/menu.htm


P.S. If you can't identify the grammar error in this posting, you really need to hit these sites hard.