The Lightning Thief – (The Book)

I wanted to go to the movie on President’s Day so I read the book last weekend.  It was a very good story and the only reason I haven’t read it already is that it is always checked out.  I don’t always read the popular books since they seem to be checked out without my promotion.  This book also was chosen last year as the winner of the Division II Minnesota Book choice award by middle school kids in Minnesota.  Anyway, I am glad I read the book before I went to the movie and recently.  They changed quite a few details and plot lines so it was nice to be able to notice it.  They book is about a 6th grade boy who discovers that he is the son of the Greek god Poseidon who had met his mortal mother and he was the result of the union.  The action starts when he discovers he is a demigod and he in then accused of stealing the lightening bolt from Zeus.  Apparently, when you become of age, the enemies and monsters came come and bother you and now it is Percy Jackson’s time.  The book really pulls in the Greek stories but I think explains most of it enough so you don’t have to have too much background knowledge in order to enjoy the book.  It is full of action which I know kids really appreciate. Good book for upper elementary as well.

Rochester Reads

This is the selection for the adult read for Rochester Reads program this winter.  Masha Hamilton will be coming to Rochester to speak on the 22nd of February and I always look forward to meeting an author.

Although this is a fiction story, the premise of sending caravans of camels bearing library books to nomadic villages in Kenya.  A librarian from New York adventures to Africa to help with the endeavor. She is looking for adventure and experiences while doing something worthwhile.  The book involves several points of view including many from the village featured in the book.  Most villagers are not convinced that reading will benefit them.  The teacher, a young girl, and an independent grandmother are fans of the bookmobile.  Because the library from Kenya, who is the base for the bookmobile, doesn’t have lots of books they set up a very severe fine if books are not returned or damaged. The entire village will be boycotted and another village will be visited instead.  Of course the villagers are very upset when someone doesn’t return his two books. Some are just upset because it may bring bad luck to their village.  The American librarian visits the village for a series of six days and as she is there begins to understand the people of the village and how they operate.

I enjoyed the book because it let me see a new culture.  Sometimes the book dragged because the point of view changed so much and I felt that I didn’t get to see the character developed as I would have wished.  Of course the subject matter of the bookmobile was interesting to me since I am a librarian.

Sophie Trace Trilogy

The Real Enemy by Kathy Herman
Brill is starting a new job in Sophie Trace, Tennessee as the chief of police.   Hoping for less stress, she immediately encounters 7 disappearances/kidnappings in the town and gang like messages.  The community is convinced that is part of an Indian legend and that the red shadows are responsible.  Meanwhile, Brill is dealing with the aftermath of her husband’s infidelity while they lived in Memphis.  I was very intrigued by the disappearances and it kept me reading.  Brill was also very disconnected from her husband until almost the last few pages. I found her sudden change very unbelievable. Overall I enjoyed this first book.

The Last Word by Kathy Herman
Brill’s past comes back to haunt her.  A former prisoner is out and determined to kill her and others who put him away.  Thus begins the suspense and more than one person in the police department is attacked.  Meanwhile, Brill’s daugher comes home from college and surprises the family with her secretive pregnancy. Vanessa’s boyfriend has disappeared and she is faced with some tough decisions.  Brill hires a detective to find Vanessa’s boyfriend is is eventually told to back off.  I found this second book to be interesting and an enjoya

Sugary Connections!

The House On Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper
Helene grew up in the 60′s and 70′s in Liberia, Africa.  This country was the place that many freed slaves from America came to to start a new life.  Helene’s family could be traced back to these families and she led a very élite lifestyle as a result.  In her teens, a coup overthrew the government and her family fled to the United States.  Helene became fascinated with journalism and eventually got a job with the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post.  She traveled the world and also became a US citizen.  But she needed to go back to Liberia and see what happened to her foster-sister and the world she knew as a child.  She connects with her past as a result of this trip.  This memoir of Helene’s childhood is interwoven with the history of Liberia.  It is at times complicated and horrific.  It is a fascinating story and helped me to understand the nature of civil war and coups in African countries.  Recommended Reading! 

The Cupcake Queen by Heather Hepler
This is a good young adult novel for the 5th grade and up set. Although set in the high school, it is quite innocent and tame especially when discussing boys and dating.  I think lots of 5th grade girls are looking for this kind of story, yet often not quite ready for a mature romance. Or perhaps they think they are but their parents aren’t!   Penny and her  mother move from the city to a small town where her mother grew up and now opens up a cupcake bakery.  Penny has trouble fitting in at school and finds herself the target of a group of mean girls who pull endless pranks on her.  Meanwhile, Penny is using her creative side to create cupcakes for her mother’s store while she hides out from the social scene.  She finds a friendship in a wonderfully quirky character named Tally and they begin to figure out life together.  An impending divorce is also part of the drama as well as a mysterious cute boy who just may find Penny interesting.  This book may not win awards but it is a sweet read.

Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen
I recently bought a brand new copy of this 1957 Newbery Award winning classic for the Washington library and it looked so inviting that I had to read it .  I have to admit that I usually read the new books and have not read a lot of the older books.  This book was a delight and so this is a lesson that I  have to keep reading the older copyrights too. 

 Marley who is 10 years old and her older brother and parents are arriving at Maple Hill in the early spring in Pennsylvania to live in their grandparents farm. The house had been empty for the past 20 years but Lee, the mother, has fond memories of spending time here. As they arrive,  they get stuck and have to be pulled up the hill. It is sugar maple season and their nearest neighbors are working in the nearby maple woods.  The father in the family, Dale, has come home from the war (Korean?) where he had been a prisoner and endured some difficult days.  Since being home he has been depressed, angry, and tired. They are hoping time in the country will be a healer.  The book completes an entire year as the family learns that friendship of neighbors, the beauty of nature, and a time of slowing down is a miraculous healer. The process of harvesting maple sugar is interesting and central to much of the story. The kids also learn a lot about the signs of the seasons as they learn from their neighbor and naturalist Mr. Chris. This book would be historical fiction at this point but when it was written it was contemporary.  The words queer and gay are often descriptions used in the writing yet seem so strange to our modern eyes.  This book captures life in a different time yet invites us to step back and find it for ourselves. Highly Recommend!

Recent Reads

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1. White Picket Fences by Susan Meissner – Christian Fiction /Family Dram –  Teenager Tally is left by her father in Arizona with her grandmother while he travels to Europe to find a treasure.  While he is gone, her grandmother dies and she is put into temporary custody with her Aunt and Uncle’s family because they have not a way of reaching him.  Family drama surfaces about a fire and death from their older son’s early childhood, also a marriage in trouble, and school research on the Holocaust. Good story and enjoyable read. Most of Susan’s books are very different from each other. She is not a formula writer.

2.  U is for Undertow by Susan Grafton – Mystery Series – Woman PI – I haven’t read a Kinsey Milhone book for a while.  Kinsey seemed a bit depressed.  Well, she has perked up and seems to be enjoying her life again.  This was a pretty good mystery. I don’t like the details of the criminals lives…especially their evil sides…so I have been more picky about mysteries.  There was a bit more detail than I care….but not as dark as other books. This is a mystery about a missing/kidnapped girl from the 60’s.  So interesting how Kinsey figures out the crime without technology/phones/internet – but the library reference area.   (set in the late 80’s)

3.  Knucklehead by Jon Scieszka – autobiography for kids by children’s author – Jon writes about growing up in the 60’s in this book. He writes in a kid style which reminded me of The Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  A bit of the gross out, crazy humor that makes Wimpy Kid so popular.  Jon has 5 brothers and write about their childhood and the crazy things they did as boys.  Would recommend it to boys.  Short chapters and a quick read.

4.  They Never Came Back by Caroline B. Cooney – Young Adult Mystery – Murielle’s parents run away and out of the country to escape embezzlement charges. Murielle was ten at the time and it was arranged for her aunt to bring her to the airport..but she turned around and didn’t do it.  Murielle’s parents never came back for her and she became lost in the foster care system.  Things change five years later when she is recognized by her cousin. Another page turner by Cooney and given enough twists so that it wasn’t predictable.  I enjoyed it very much.

All of the Above – Out of Order

All of the Above by Shelley Pearsall

This is a story based on a true story of a group of  middle school urban kids who decide to start a math club and create a giant tetrahedron to break the Guinness World Records. Of course, they really aren’t so gung ho…but are flunking math, or need a place to go after school. The story is told  from different points of view from a least seven characters…some adults and some kids. I believe the teacher is the only “white” character in the book. It is easy to read and amazingly easy to keep track of the characters. The writing is simple, spare, yet a few illustrations and some recipes are thrown into the mix. I really liked the book .

I just finished Every Soul a Star and I am going to review Out of Order next….so funny….alll three of them are written with different point of views in alternating chapters. Kinda strange I read them all in a row.

Out of Order by Betty Hicks

This is a story of a family who blends together through a second marriage….a mother and her two elementary children and a father and his teenagers. (the other parents are out of the picture for the most part) When they become a family, they discover that their personalities start to change in the mix…and later refers to the study of personality based on birth order. Anyway, they have some trouble adjusting….but come together as they organize a Rock Paper Scissors tournament to earn money to send soccer balls to children in Iraq. Again the chapters are told  in alternating voices by the kids in the family. Since the characters are elementary age and middle school/high school, I think this would be good for upper elementary and middle school. I enjoyed the book and couldn’t put it down. (Still in my pajamas at 10:00 on Saturday)

Every Soul a Star

Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass

Ally, Bree, and Jack meet at Moon Shadow, an isolated campground, to watch a total eclipse of the sun; but soon they begin to learn a great deal about themselves, each other, and the universe. I loved this book! The novel is told from three different points of view as they experience changes in their lives. A lot of information is given about astronomy and star-gazing as a hobby and it may pique more interest in the subject matter for readers. This is the third book I have read by Mass and I think she may have a bit of difficulty with her endings because they take a while to tie up. I think this one would be a good middle school book but I would purchase for elementary as well.

January 1, 2010 Recommendations

Found by Haddix

A great time travel – Science Fiction – Suspense story.  A plane filled with 36 babies lands at an airport and no one noticed it coming or leaving for that fact. No adults on board. 13 years later the babies from the plane (all were adopted out and everything was hushed) are being gathered together. The masterminds from the future are bringing them back…several of the main characters have figured some of this out and do not want to go back to their previous lives…(15th century) but they are sent back anyway. Then the story ends…what a cliffhanger. You have to read the next book in the series to find out what happens. I hate series books that have cliff hangers since you have to wait for the sequels!  I recommend this series!

Trap by John Smelcer

What an intense read! I had to stop and check the ending because I just couldn’t take the suspense. The setting is in Alaska and an elderly man is checking his traps and accidently steps into one of his traps and is caught and unable to escape. He is left stranded. His grandson is in the alternating chapters and begins to worry about his grandfather. Eventually his grandmother asks him to find him. The book is beautifully written and a real gem. I would have classified it as a high school and adult read and I am not sure about middle school readers. It reminded me of To Build a Fire by Jack London.

Saturday Night Dirt by Will Weaver

Will Weaver grew up in the area of Minnesota where I am from and so it was fun to read this book and relate so easily to the area he writes about. The setting is near Bemidji at a racetrack on a Saturday in the summer. All the area racetracks are rained out but it seems as if the Headwaters Racetrack will be able have races. The story brings in many characters and how they fit into a short time period of preparing and racing in just hours. The book has both female and male characters and is perfect for middle school. It is also appropriate for upper elementary–the language is clean. I do not know anything about racing and even though I didn’t understand all of the car lingo…the story kept me fascinated. Since we didn’t get to know the characters deeply, afterall it was a short time frame and pretty short book, I still connected with them. It reminded me of reading a series of related short stories. Thumbs up for this book.

Someone Named Eva by Joan Wolf

This is an amazing story.  Joan Wolf researched this part of the Holocaust history in the  Czech Republic.  A small town in Czechoslovakia was invaded by the Nazi’s and most of the people were killed or sent to concentration camps. Some of the young girls who look Aryan (Scandinavian with blonde hair) were sent to a school to be recreated into a perfect German girl.  The little girl in this story becomes Eva and is eventually adopted by a family in which the father runs one of the concentration camps.  Eva finds she can hardly remember who old life, her name, or even her language. She is eventually rescued and the end of the war and reunited with her only living family member – her mother. The author leaves us with some good notes about the historical significance of this story. I think it is a very good addition to Holocaust fiction for children.  I would recommend this for 5th grade and up.

Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith

The setting for this story is WWII in Louisiana.  Ida Mae is 18 years old at the start of the book and is cleaning houses for a living.  She is black and finds that many doors are closed for her.  Her late father passed on the love of flying to her and she is determined to fly but is turned down at flight school because she is black.  She is very light skinned and can pass for white and so she decides to apply for WASP (Women’s Airforce Service Pilots) for the war effort.  This deceit continues to haunt her throughout her adventure as she goes to Texas for flight school.  The book felt like an old fashioned Sue Barton/Cherry Ames story where student nurses work and live together.  The girls that Ida Mae meet become her lifelong friends.  Lots of information about planes and what life was like for the WASP.  This story is based on some real people and events.  I just loved this book.  The story takes Ida Mae through war, death, injury, racism, and marriage.  I rate it 5 out of 5!

Bad Girls Don’t Die by Katie Alender

A ghost lives in the big spooky looking house that  high school junior Alexis lives in along with her younger sister and parents.  The ghost, through a doll, takes possession of the little sister and tries to murder all the girls who were children of the girls who she is really angry at.  I found this book to be very scary and would not recommend this ghost story to any upper elementary students.  It had a “Twilight” flavor to it and I think would appeal to that reader.