I have been reading, just not posting :-)

Here are the books I have finished lately:

If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period, by Gennifer Choldenko

Synopsis (from: http://www.choldenko.com/books/treefall/synopsis.html )

Two kids. Two lives.

For Kirsten the world is crumbling. Her parents are barely speaking to one another and her best friend has come under the spell of the queen bee Brianna. Only Kirsten’s younger science-geek sister is on her side.

For Walker the goal is to survive the new very white private school his mom has sent him to because she thinks he’s going to screw up like his cousin.

“Don’t have to worry, Momma, before I go bad I’ll let you know, send a Hallmark card ready made for the occasion...on the eve your son messes up.”

But Walk is a good kid. So is his new friend, Matteo, though no one knows why Matteo will do absolutely anything that hot blond Brianna asks of him.

Two worlds collide in one compelling story. Then suddenly Kirsten discovers something that shakes them to their core...

“You knew all along,” Walk says.

"No, I didn’t.”

“You’re lying. You found out and then you told the whole world...”

I have read her AlCapone does my shirts book a few years back, and it was pretty interesting, so when this one came across my desk I just had to read it too, after all the character is named after me :-) I liked it and can recommend it to our students.

  Peeled by Joan Bauer 

First paragraph of the TeenRead website: 

 Rumors of a haunted house ignite the curiosity of teen reporter Hildy Biddle. She starts investigating the story only to have her school newspaper shut down. What Hildy uncovers and how she overcomes the obstacles that would have her silenced are at the core of Joan Bauer's new book, PEELED.

Yes, I liked this book also. It goes along the lines of sensorship at a School Newspaper. Another one for the students to enjoy :-) 

Blue Flame, by K.M. Grant (Book one of the Perfect Fire Trilogy)

Review:(click for full review)

Cathars are surprisingly fashionable. You can date the rise in interest in them back to Emmanuel LeRoy Ladurie's Montaillou, a grisly account of a Cathar village and the Inquisition, published in the UK in 1978. But in the decades since, they've become unfairly associated with Dan Brown-esque plots about the Holy Grail such as Kate Mosse's Labyrinth.

So one might approach KM Grant's Blue Flame with caution on reading that the flame is a mysterious rallying symbol for Occitania, the area now known as the Languedoc, in the south of France. There is danger in seeing the middle ages through a modern lens, and the rather garish cover with its crenellated castle conjures up the 19th-century theme park that is Viollet-le-Duc's over-restored Carcassonne.

But I hope it won't put readers off, because there is much to enjoy and admire in this book. At its heart is a love story between Raimon, a weaver's son, and Yolanda, daughter of the Count of Castelneuf. They are nearly 14 and have grown up together, romping through the countryside round Castelneuf, swimming in the river, playing with Yolanda's large hound, Brees. 

As I have read the DeGranville Trilogy and How the Hangman lost his Heart by K.M. Grant, I just had to read this one also. It didn't disappoint either. Now I am curious for the next two in the series, and one is already out, but where? Have to check Amazon and see what is going on, the third, and final, book is coming out sometime this year (according to her website). The DeGranville books fly off our shelves so I assume this one will go also.