What I’m reading – Page 8

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
My teasers:

Henry crossed his legs and shifted in the wooden rocker that was positioned so as to casually access a view into the long main room of the Schoonmaker greenhouse. He was wearing trousers with whisper-thin pinstripes and a cream shirt fastened at the wrist with cuff links that bore his initials. (p. 250)

~from Rumors by Anna Godbersen

How's your Reading Bubble?

Just read this wonderful post from Joyce @ Getting kids reading, which I found via Jen Robinson’s Booklights PBS site. I love the idea of a reading bubble and know I have one that I carry with me. This post reminded me of a conversation my husband and I had about “what’s it like being married to a bookish person, now bookish, blogging person?”
I posed this question to my husband on our recent road trip to St. Paul before I started reading The Luxe to him.
I have always been a reader and live by the motto that you should take a book with you wherever you go… because you never know when traffic might come to a stop, a line might stop moving etc. I read in the car every chance I get and thank my lucky stars that I’m not one of those unfortunate souls(sorry Kaylee) that get car sick while reading. In other words I love my reading bubble and do not like it to be poked.
Of course, when you are married you have to be nice to that other person. You have to listen to their stories and conversation (yes, you love that person and their stories but still!); it bursts your reading bubble frequently. Years ago when my father found out I was getting married he told Greg one of “his jobs would be to drive me places!” My Dad failed to mention that I would be reading every time we got in the car! My husband loves to converse and over time I’ve learned when I hear this audible sigh…it’s time to put the book mark in and have a two-sided conversation. I don’t think I got a straight answer to my posed question but it did open a great conversation and I did read to him, which then caused more great conversation about the book. My answer would be intellectually stimulating, of course!!

Catching Fire

I read it in just a few short days and I loved it. It truly amazes me when authors are so prolific w/ new ideas. I thought Suzanne Collins’ series, Gregor was fascinating. This whole created world underneath our world, accessed through a vent in a laundry room was cool and now, to have created this look into the future through The Hunger Games; well, I’m just bowled over with her creativity!
http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/1543302482

Enjoy the video and click here for Scholastic website where I found tons of cool videos featuring Suzanne Collins discussing life, books and the similarities between Gregor and Hunger Games series. What impresses me most is how real her characters become and how involved I feel. I worry when Katniss doesn’t eat enough. I feel involved with Peeta, Prim, and Gale and this time getting a closer look at past games and how they affected their parents generation was interesting. A peaceful person by nature, I struggle through the actual Hunger Game event, which causes me to cheer when Katniss truly listens to Haymitch’s message; who is the real enemy?? I’m excited for the next in the series but I’ve got a lot of other books to read in the meantime!

Who is Walter Anderson?

In my mailbox at school I had a large manila envelope from Random House,waiting for me the other day!! I was pretty excited to get something other than junk mail and when I opened it a beautiful book fell out. I deliver here the story line from Random House’s website.

The secret world of Walter Anderson (Sept. 8, 2009)

Synopsis:

Enter the fascinating world of reclusive nature-lover Walter Anderson — perhaps the most famous American artist you’ve never heard of.Residents along the Mississippi Gulf Coast thought Walter Anderson was odd, rowing across twelve miles of open water in a leaky skiff to reach Horn, an uninhabited island without running water or electricity. But this solitary artist didn’t much care what they thought as he spent weeks at a time on his personal paradise, sleeping under his boat, sometimes eating whatever washed ashore, sketching and painting the natural surroundings and the animals that became his friends. Here Walter created some of his most brilliant watercolors, work he kept hidden during his lifetime. In a beautifully crafted picture book biography, writer Hester Bass and Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator E. B. Lewis pay homage to an uncompromising American artist.

Of course, I took it home and read it to my quirky 6-year-old daughter. We’ve been reading chapter books this summer with an occasional picture book thrown in so she was excited to see this something-new book. We read our chapter of Felicity of American Girl fame and I thought my little sweet pea would be to, to sleepy to read a biographical picture book, because she was looking pretty droopy.

She perked right up at the very first page, her head bobbed up and asked “is this poetry?” wow, what a compliment…I hope when I write a book someday, she might say the same thing to me!! Mind you, it is not written in rhymming words but it is lyrical. She listened all the way through Walter’s story and even explored the end pages with examples of his art work. Perfect book, Lovely, really lovely illustrations from E.B. Lewis!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you to whomever-you-are- marketing genius who made the decision to send advanced copies to librarians!!! I love mine and will share it frequently!

Sequels

I just finished Hunger, sequel to Gone by Michael Grant. The second in this series came out recently, which was great, while I bide my time waiting for Catching Fire, sequel to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins as well as the sequel to Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson!

Tristan and I both read Gone and liked the idea of the story and the sequel is just as exciting.

The idea behind Gone:

Everyone over the age of 15 suddenly disappears (poof) and all the children are left to fend for themselves in Perdido Beach, CA. Children learn to live with the loss of their families as well as find a way to live day-to-day! This would be hard for my children. That basic element of good and evil, of course, comes into play. Some kids begin to step up and take charge. Sam, Astrid and Albert organize and most of kids begin to look to Sam for answers. Perdido Beach is also home to Coates, an elite prep school with its own leader, Caine. Adding Coates into the already difficult equation adds to the pure excitement.

In Hunger, good vs. evil continues to play out with Caine and Sam struggling with leadership of their own straggling “teams”. As the title suggests food is the main concern for both sides. The grocery store is down to a few meager cans and kids are choking down random jars and cans of food (you know, all the stuff kids would normally hate). Sam, Astrid and Albert know they need to organize kids into helpers, gather more food from fields and solve a few in-fighting going on amongst the town kids. There are a ton of plot conflicts back and forth-just when you think things are resting easy-BAM something else stirs it up! I love some of the characters…Sam, Astrid, Quinn! I can only hope the third book will continue their story well.

Vidalia in Paris by Sasha Watson

The cover and the first paragraph inside the front flap appealed to my sense of adventure, which reads:

“When Vidalia wins a scholarship to study art in Paris for the summer, she can’t believe her good fortune. Finally she’ll get some time away from her needy mother, and the small town where she feels like an outsider.”

I want to go to Paris! When I read the back author flap I found that the author had spent lots of time in Paris so I thought this might be a great way to “travel” there myself if even for a few hours. I liked the story and I liked Vidalia, who seemed independent at first. It was wonderful to read little snippets about cool locations in Paris. I want to go to Shakespeare and Company, the little American book store Vidalia’s mother directs her to visit. This is where Vidalia meets her first friend, Julien. Julien is a likable character and I wish more would have happened between him and Vidalia. Unfortunetely, she meets her bad guy character, Marco and well, let’s just say her independent nature goes out the window for awhile! In between Vidalia helps out an old friend and deals with her very needy mother. It’s wasn’t the great adventure I was hoping for but I do appreciate the work Sasha Watson put into her writing. I think she has what it takes and perhaps her next books will have more snap! Does anybody know if there really is a Shakespeare and Co. in Paris? I know there are in NY, but Paris? Has anybody been shopped there?
Compulsive Reader has a review.

Catching fire fever

Just a couple of book-related notes today. If you are still looking for a copy of Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, the much-anticipated sequel to The Hunger Games head over to Linus’ blanket for a chance at a give away!! Go ahead and leave a comment for your chance to win (even though I want to win the most!!!).

The other day as I was browsing Gennifer Choldenko’s website for my last post I was so happily surprised to find myself quoted on her author page. I had to show my son, my mother and my brother and call my husband and well, now all of you (my three readers, insert smiley face). Check it out here and scroll past the cool prison photo-op. Love it!!! Thank you Gennifer!!

Thank you also goes out to Shelf Elf for randomly picking me to win a copy of Also known as Harper by Ann Haywood Leal. ***great author website:)
I can’t wait to read this book, which is about a young poet growing up in poverty. The character names alone are interesting; Harper-named for the famous Harper Lee and her brother, Hemingway. Thank you to the rep at Henry Holt for sending it to me!

Take a look at this great review by Mrs Magoo!

Another week gone…

I finished Elvis and Olive by Stephanie Watson today-great cover illustration which perfectly matches the story inside. Elvis and Olive, aka Annie and Natalie, find themselves sharing a summer together with all the fun and trouble two young girls can find. They don’t like each other in the first few minutes of meeting on the first day of freedom. Annie, the risk-taker, shows Natalie a dead bird and then invites Natalie into her makeshift under-the-porch clubhouse.
Who knows why Natalie goes with her at this point-she is grossed out by the dead bird and Annie’s up-front behavior. She does go with her though and somehow their differences turn into a caring relationship. I thought both characters were so lovable and real. I love their spy names and all the neighborhood secrets they discover together. I thought the conflict that arose was especially poignant for 3rd-6th grade girls to read about it; Arguments happen then you get over them!! check out what others have said…Kidsreads, The Breakfast Platter, me (te he) previously and haiku written by Ms. Watson herself!
I noticed her interview on the haiku for two site that a sequel is on its way-we can continue to read about this little friendship.

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt

I finished The Underneath today!! I began this book as a read-aloud for my 6-year-old daughter because of the cute dog and kittens on the front cover. J and I, soon concluded it was not a good story for her.Gar Face’s character scared her, she did not like the Grandmother Moccasin sections and it simply confused her as to how any of the stories were connected. She liked Ranger’s tale and how the cats all became part of one family. I decided to keep reading on my own. I am still struggling with how I feel about the book. I thought some of the images were beautiful. I love Ranger’s story and I honestly wanted the book to just stick with that relationship. I didn’t think the three stories merged enough to make it work. The Tale of Desperaux by Kate Dicamillo is, for me, a great example of various stories merging to make one great tale. Gar Face did not have any redeeming qualities and yes, he gets it in the end but it all just ties together in one quick knot. I thought the writing was repetitive and went on to long (i would have cut out a few chapters). As a school librarian my main concern is who to recommend this book to; what age group; what teacher for read-aloud. I am left wondering. Many students would love the animal aspect but be very put-off by Gar Face’s treatment of animals and his swilling of every known spirit available to him. The snake, Night Song and Hawk Man thread is complicated and students have trouble traveling back and forth, back and forth so frequently. Was this bookmeant for elementary students? I am glad I read it and parts of it will stick with me; I have especially enjoyed reading the variety of comments about this book from other bloggers. There seems to be no definitive answer on this book and perhaps that is what makes an interesting tale.

Freaky Friday

I haven’t read any books today! I have been spending far too much time browsing blogs, browsing cookbooks, and selling books to students and I am so ready to go home. What I did not get done was cleaning my desks of piles. The last two days have been conference days and so the Scholastic book fair is in the library. Parents and students have browsed and bought and I like that; I just don’t like the commercialism of the book fair. Two tables are devoted to the amount of Disney stuff they include. High School Musical cookbooks (did they cook in the movie, how is this related??), Hannah Montana work books, photo albums and chapter books devoted to the girl and all that fluff gets in the way of the good books that are there. Doesn’t even count the powderpuff pens and fancy ribbon pencils that I leave in the box…ugh…
Okay enough ranting!! I do love it when parents come in and buy their student a good book or two and say no to the crap. Yeah Parents! Yeah Friday! Ready, set, go home and relax…with a good book.
Here is what I am reading: Elijah of Buxton for a school book club, Elvis and Olive, and trying to finish The Underneath. I’ll take a cold beer with those books and hope and pray we do NOT get the winter storm predicted for this area.