Orchards

This is one that I started reading back in April for Poetry month and finished last week after reading the Beyonders.  This was a good one!!!  For someone that doesnt like poetry, I enjoyed this book.  Here is a synopsis and other reviews for it.

REVIEWS

"After a classmate commits suicide, Kana Goldberg—a half-Japanese, half-Jewish American—wonders who is responsible. She and her cliquey friends said some thoughtless things to the girl. Hoping that Kana will reflect on her behavior, her parents pack her off to her mother's ancestral home in Japan for the summer. There Kana spends hours under the hot sun tending to her family's mikan orange groves.

Kana's mixed heritage makes it hard to fit in at first, especially under the critical eye of her traditional grandmother, who has never accepted Kana's father. But as the summer unfolds, Kana gets to know her relatives, Japan, and village culture, and she begins to process the pain and guilt she feels about the tragedy back home. Then news about a friend sends her world spinning out of orbit all over again."- goodreads

Beyonders: A World Without Heroes

Forewarning:  This book is the first in a series, if you can't handle waiting til Spring of 2012 to read this book, WAIT!!!

This book was fabulous!  The Beyonders about Jason and Rachel who travel to Lyrian through unconventional means is thrilling from beginning to end.  While it took me a while to read this book (in my defense it is 430 pages), there was no lull in excitement!  The only problem I had was that it just ended with me wanting more and finding out I would have to wait!!!

For those of you that havent yet read the Fablehaven series and aren't familiar with Brandon Mull, I would suggest you read those first!!! There are five fabulous books in the alraedy completed series.  That way, you wont have to wait as long when you come back to the Beyonders (unless you're a fast reader, then I can't help you!)  Again, Spring 2012 is a year away, if you can't wait that long, wait a little longer to pick this book up. 

On the plus side, you could be me, waiting 7 years for the 3rd  book of the Abarat series (there will be 5 total), but alas, September can't come fast enough!!!

Check out the synopsis and reviews for the Beyonders below:

(Tell me this doesn't look awesome!!!)



REVIEWS

Synopsis: "Jason Walker has often wished his life could be a bit less predictable--until a routine day at the zoo ends with Jason suddenly transporting from the hippo tank to a place unlike anything he's ever seen. In the past, the people of Lyrian welcomed visitors from the Beyond, but attitudes have changed since the wizard emperor Maldor rose to power. The brave resistors who opposed the emperor have been bought off or broken, leaving a realm where fear and suspicion prevail.

In his search for a way home, Jason meets Rachel, who was also mysteriously drawn to Lyrian from our world. With the help of a few scattered rebels, Jason and Rachel become entangled in a quest to piece together the word of power that can destroy the emperor, and learn that their best hope to find a way home will be to save this world without heroes." - goodreads

Teen Top Ten List!!!

Hot off the presses!!!  Check out this top ten list that is sure to make your summer fly by!!!

TOP TEN LIST

Also, if you read any of these books over the summer, you will be able to vote for your favorites in august and september...the books with the most votes will become the top ten list winners!!!  So check them out, we have a lot here at the library (I have read quite a few!!!!) or ask me about it!

I'm on page 322 of Beyonders so look for a review soon!!!

Ms Laura

May Madness

Let me start by saying...I'm SOOOOO SORRY!!!  I feel like such a slacker!  I have been dealing with lots of changes here at the library as well as going on school visits to talk about Summer Reading as well as a Book Sale/ Bake Sale we had this weekend (which was awesome by the way!) and getting ready for Summer Reading that reading a book has been put on the back burner!  I have been reading, just very slowly, the Beyonders by Brandon Mull and am about half way through.  It's amazing as I expected it to be! 

So as an apology for not posting reviews very much this month, I would like to draw your attention to my wonderful May Display we have here at the Library entitled "Fairy, Faerie, Folk Tales" and is about exactly what it says!  Here is a copy of the handout...remember all these books are available to check out at the library or can be ordered at your local library! 

I have to say, that some of these books are amazing and yes some have been read by the fabulous Ms. Laura!  And if I haven't read it, I want to!  Ask me about them! :)

Hope to read much more quickly and soon! 

Ms. Laura!

Glimpse

This book was awesome!  While the size of the novel in verse was a bit off putting at first, I really got into it!  I was surprised at how quickly it read and really enjoyed all the characters.  Williams does a great job at making you feel how the characters feel.  I would definitely recommend this book!  Check out the reviews and synopsis!!!



REVIEWS

Synopsis:

"Twelve year old Hope's life is turned upside down when her older sister Lizzie becomes an elective mute and is institutionalized after trying to kill herself. Ever since their dad died, Hope and Lizzie have relied on each other from a young age. Their mother is a reluctant and unreliable parent at best, who turns tricks to support the family. Throughout the course of this lyrical and heartbreaking narrative readers and Hope discover that the mother is prostituting Lizzie and it’s up to Hope to bring the truth to light to save her sister.

With raw and haunting writing reminiscent of Ellen Hopkins and Elizabeth Scott, Carol Lynch Williams is a promising new YA voice." -goodreads
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And with this, we end Poetry month!  It was fun but I'm ready to get back to full paged novels!  Up next are so many books!  I have so many choices to make!  Right now, I am starting the Beyonders by Brandon Mull, the amazing author of the Fablehaven series...see past Reviews!!!  If you've never read a Brandon Mull book, I recommend you do!  They are really fast and totally wrap you up in wonderful worlds!!!

Fablehaven 1
Fablehaven 2
Fablehaven 3
Fablehaven 4
Fablehaven 5


That's all for now!  Hope your May has been treating you well!
Ms. Laura