Finished two more Lone Stars :-)

This weeks readings were Evolution, Me & Ohter Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande you ought to read about her! She was a trial lawyer at one time, plus many other jobs! This was a very interesting book you are just going to have to read it yourself, or check out the above link!


The Great Wide Sea by M.H. Herlong, WOW! What a book and the authors first to boot!!! I didn't know what to expect about this one as the title says it has something to do with the Sea...but there is much more to this book. These were two very interesting books and I didn't want to put either one down! Read them both!

Finished...

...Antsy does time by Neal Shusterman interesting to read and the continuation of Neal's The Schwa was here.

From Neal's website:

Fueled by friendship and sympathy, Antsy Bonano signs a month of his life over to his "dying" classmate Gunnar Umlaut. Soon everyone at school follows suit, giving new meaning to the idea of "living on borrowed time." But does Gunnar really have six months to live, or is news of his imminent death greatly exaggerated? When a family member suffers a heart attack after donating two years to Gunnar, Antsy wonders if he has tempted fate by playing God. Fans of "the Schwa" will welcome favorite and new characters in this wholly fresh tale, which is as touchingly poignant as it is darkly comical.

Yes! Some more taken off the list :-)

I, Q: [Book One: Independence Hall] by Roland Smith. (Texas Lone Star) It's actually one that grows on you once you know where it's going. And now you wait for the sequel! It's another spy book, and I do like mystery spy books. And when it's for kids it's easy to read, but this one is in for some surprises! Enjoy it!

From the website: Thirteen-year-old Quest (Q for short) used to live with his mother, a singer, on a sailboat in Sausalito, California. Fifteen-year-old Angela lived with her father, a songwriter, in a loft in San Francisco. Now their parent are married and Q and Angela are on a luxury motor coach traveling around the country on tour with their parents' new band called Match. Their schoolwork for the year is a Web diary of their travels. Perfect… Q can practice his magic tricks and Angela can read her spy novels. What could go wrong?

 Suck it up... by Brian Meehl, yes another Texas Lone Star. This one is about vampires...thanks, have enough of them now!

From the website: The origin of Suck It Up? Teeth-grinding frustration.

When I was writing lots of kids TV for PBS back in the 90s I was often told by politically correct TV producers that I couldn't put such and such in a show because it might offend so-and-so. I couldn't put angels on a wedding cake because it was too Christian and might offend non-Christians. I couldn't write about birthday parties because Jehovah's Witnesses don't believe in celebrating birthdays because it's a celebration of self.

At some point, I became brainwashed by all this political correctness and had a eureka moment. The one minority that no one seemed to care about was our bloodsucking brothers and sisters: vampires. I mean, c'mon, they have special needs too. They're subjected to unfair stereotyping. They even suffer from a terrible hate-crime: staking.

So I found my cause. I was determined to write a story that would let everyone know that vampires are like everyone else. They just have a slight drinking problem--correction--they're diet-challenged.

The story started as a screenplay for a movie (with the likes of Jim Carry playing Morning McCobb). It was called "Don't Call Us Vampires – We're Undead Americans!" It even won a screenplay competition, taking 1st place in The New England Screenwriting Conference of 1998. The Conference gave me a wonderful staged reading of it. But the screenplay never sold and became a film.

After I finished Out of Patience, I decided to resurrect the screenplay as a YA novel. And that's how Suck It Up rose from the grave of a writer's trunk.

3 Willows: the sisterhood grows by Ann Brashares. Okay, never read any of the "Sisterhood" books, but came across this one and downloaded it to my MP3 player and listened to it every day. It's about 3 girls and how their lives during one summer suddenly changes (divorce, camp, job, love). I have to admit I did get kind of hooked on this one and if you listen to it their is an interview with the author at the end :-) (and this was not a Lone Star list book...)!

From Ann's website:
The new book from Ann Brashares, the bestselling author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
Seeds
Polly has an idea that she can't stop thinking about, one that involves changing a few things about herself. She's setting her sights on a more glamorous life, but it's going to take all of her focus. At least that way she won't have to watch her friends moving so far ahead.
Roots
Jo is spending the summer at her family's beach house, working as a bus girl and bonding with the older, cooler girls she'll see at high school come September. She didn't count on a brief fling with a cute boy changing her entire summer. Or feeling embarrassed by her middle school friends. And she didn't count on her family at all. . .
Leaves
Ama is not an outdoorsy girl. She wanted to be at an academic camp, doing research in an air-conditioned library, earning A's. Instead her summer scholarship lands her on a wilderness trip full of flirting teenagers, blisters, impossible hiking trails, and a sad lack of hair products.
It is a new summer. And a new sisterhood. Come grow with them.

More Reading!

It is summer and reading is in full swing :-)

The Compound by S. A. Bodeen...is another Texas Lone Star selection which the kids ought to be reading when school starts again. I am not too happy about the list this year...don't like this book too much. But then if you like Science Fiction, you probably will like this one. Maybe I just don't like Science Fiction!

the dead & the gone: a novel by Susan Beth Pfeffer, hah that's the same genre, so here we go it's a bit better then the other book, but still not what I like for summer reading, and some kids might not get into it as they are just not muture enough. Oh, well, don't need a sequel to this one either (it doesn't help that Dan and I started watching a movie going right along this book -Impact, which will conclude tomorrow evening.

And Jason wanted me to read a book he likes Storm Front: book one of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, does Jason know I don't care about vampire books. Well, I read it and will be reading the next one also (well, I'll listen to it on CD as he gave that to me also). Actually the book is about Harry a wizzard and detective who gets to work with the police on paranormal murders.

Oh, my, I almost forgot about this Texas Lone Star book I have read: 

Gym Candy by Carl Deuker hmm, what to say. He writes books about sports and this one is just like it. Love football, love the book...well...anyways, the book is about this boy who's father didn't make it big in football because he wasn't doing what he should have done, hides all he's done from his son and is treating his son to become a big football star. With all the pressure he succumbs to the 'gym candy', so there's the message!

Okay, that's all I have read this week, reading a book at work, listening to a book during workouts, and am starting a new book now (then I'll also start listening to Jason's CD in the car...I'll be having 4 books going at once...might have to change the one I am going to read as it looks as though I have picked another SciFi one :-()

It is time to update this post again...

I have been reading!
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. If you want to read about Pakistan and Afghanistans school children this is the book for you. It started out very slow for me, but once I knew what it was all about it became a lot clearer. I do recommend this book, it is hard to read with all these customs we are not used too, but I think it is interesting and I believe Greg Mortenson has his heart in the right place.

Diamond Willow by Helen Frost, this is a Texas Lone Star book and I read it for school. It actually is a pretty interesting book to read and gives you a bit of an inside into Alaska's wilderness. And if you want to know what a "Diamond Willow" is click here.

Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor, another Texas Lone Star. This is about the saddest book I have read in a long time. But I do recommend this one. No wonder our students are so messed up. A mother who loves her children, or so she says, but is never around to watch what they do or take care of them. The two youngest end up with their father when the oldest has to take care of them all the time. But because the oldest is not his child he can not get custody of her...I won't tell you the ending, but there are some interesting caracters and friendships in this book.

Reading Gym Candy now. Will have to post update later when I am finished with it!

Rain and a book to read! In heaven!

Yes, it rained and was overcast yesterday, what a day to spend indoors curled up with a book I really wanted to finish! Uprising by Margaret Peteson Haddix! Wow! The book is about the Triangle Shirtwaist factory and the girls who worked there. All from the view of a few girls whose path crosses a few times and who end up becoming friends in dire circumstances. I knew a little about the factory, but this brought the plight of the workers, and their ages, to a different understanding. It is a fictional account, but neverless you can get into the story and start understanding what these girls had to live for - nothing! I would recommend this book as a Texas Lone Star book over some of the books that have been nominated and shouldn't have been. Hmmmm, maybe I will do just that!

Yes, two more finished :-)

I am Scout: the biography of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is the most widely read novel in American literature. Two-thirds of American public high schools include it in their curricula. Yet the author — who never published another novel— remains a mysterious figure, refusing since 1965 to give interviews or talk about her Pulitzer prize-winning novel.  I Am Scout is the first-ever comprehensive biography written for a young audience that tells the story of how Miss Lee struggled to become an author and created one of the most popular novels of the 20th century. It fills what has been an empty place on school and library shelves for almost 50 years.

"The text does an excellent job of conveying the facets of Lee's personality that made her a writing success, including her honesty, tenacity, sense of justice and adaptability of interpersonal style... Shields demonstrates Lee's critical role in the creation of longtime friend Truman's Capote's In Cold Blood. Prior knowledge of both works is not absolutely necessary, thanks to an absorbing and easy narrative style...." -Kirkus Reviews

 Description and Review from http://www.charlesjshields.com/ 

This was an interesting book to read, hard to follow at some points, but very interesting to find out why and how she wrote only this one book. Yes, I recomend this for reading. It was also a Junior Literary Guild selection. BTW,To kill a Mockingbird has it's 50th anniversary!

The second book I just finished is The Possibilities of Sainthood  by Donna Freitas and here are the official Reviews from http://www.thepossibilitiesofsainthood.blogspot.com/ 

"Fresh and funny...[Antonia's] emails to the Vatican add flair to a coming-of-age novel already vivid for its warm portrayal of urban Italian-American family life...While getting at serious issues, Freitas wins readers over with a beautifully sustained light tough." -- Starred, Publishers Weekly

"First-time novelist Freitas hops into the romance genre and brightens and heightens it by providing characters who are anything but run-of-the-mill...Yes, it's kind of silly that Antonia thinks she has a shot at being the Patron Saint of the Kiss, but her first-person narrative is so smile-inducing, it's easy to go along with the premise. As Antonia sorts out her feelings for longtime crush Andy, as well as Michael, the boy who makes her blush, readers will be hard-pressed to decide what interests them most--make out sessions or marters." -- Starred, Booklist

It was a pretty funny book about a 15 year old girl who is not allowed to date. She goes to a catholic girl's school in NY, is from Italien descent and has a love of Saints. For more you just have to read the book for yourself, and remember, it's a teenager!