Plague

While camping out in front of the television and while hiding within our "safe" room waiting out the tornado warnings this week, I've managed to finish Michael Grant's 4th book in the Gone series, Plague.  It's a tome!  I'd feel safe saying that this was the yuckiest book I've ever read.  What with cannibalism, parasites chewing their way out of the characters, giant cockroach-like creatures and an evil villain with a whip hand, I'd say I'm sure to have an interesting nightmare soon.  Of course there are two more books in this series that I'll definitely read.  I just love young adult science fiction!  I've had fun discussing this book with kids at school this week and flaunting the book for those anxious to read.  I admit I enjoy creating little book "monsters" every now and then.  (smile)

If I could say only one thing to encourage a student to read this series it would be that it's Stephen King's favorite series for young adults.  

That did it, right?
Happy Reading!
RC

Kentucky Bluegrass Award Winners

I'm happy to report that the Kentucky Bluegrass Award Winner for 2010-2011 is Mike Lupica's  Million-Dollar Throw.  

The M.N.M.S. Winner is Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's Faith, Hope and Ivy June. Both books have been "winners" in my opinion since last year!

Lupica's book is more geared for boys....Naylor's is for girls.

Adults will like both.

Happy Reading!

RC

Notes From The Dog

Amazing as it may sound, I've found time this week to finish another YA book.  Notes from the Dog by Gary Paulsen.  Fantastic read.  Love that Paulsen used high school boys to tell a touching story about a woman dealing with the last stages of breast cancer.  Very original.  Bravo!  There aren't many YA books that are written well enough to bring me to tears, but this one did it...to think of two "dudes" taking care of a frail young woman as she recovers from a chemo treatment...the tenderness.  It touched me.  The ending, although abrupt, was handled well.  I understand. 
If you have the chance, you should read this short book.  I can think of several of my middle school kids who are gonna love it.  And, most important of all, my son watched as I was caught up in the ending and commented that he might just read it too.  That's awesome!

Happy Reading!
RC

Night Fires

George Edward Stanley has written a powerful novel for teens...Night Fires.   Here's the blurb from the back cover...

"After Woodrow Harper's father is killed in an automobile accident, he and his mother move to his father's hometown of Lawton, Oklahoma, to start a new life.  Perhaps here he will be able to feel close to his father in a way that eluded him when his father was alive.  Instead, in his new next-door neighbor, Senator Crawford, Woodrow finds both a father figure who shares Woodrow's interests and understands him in a way his own father never did, and a respected member of the community who will help him find friends in his new home.  But in 1923 there are ugly secrets beneath the surface in Lawton, and the senator is at the heart of them.  Woodrow's need to belong leads him to desperate choices that force him to betray everything his father believed in."

Character development didn't go as I had predicted...Woodrow acts like a desperate teenager who wants attention from a father-figure so bad he'll do anything to please him.  The adults in this novel don't always make the best choices and I like how raw and realistic the characters are written.  Although I wish the plot had been developed a little more, I understand what Stanley is doing with the ending.  Racial relations and the Ku Klux Klan were a problem for the United States for many years to come...

I know I'll have teachers fighting to lead the discussion for this book at our Fall Book Frenzy.  Of the books I've read thus far, this is my ultimate favorite book for that event.  One of the best books for a book club I've read in years!  Great for adults too!

This makes book #28 for me so far!  100 here I come!

Happy Reading!

RC

I'm reading 3 books at once!

For my students, let me preface this blog entry by saying that I do not encourage you to read three books at once!  Please don't!  LOL  However, I find that when reading nonfiction, it's totally possible.  While on Spring Break, I picked up books that I'd been meaning to read.  (I have stacks of them everywhere!)  More Glimpses of Heaven, by Trudy Harris, is a collection of stories submitted by hospice workers who have assisted in or witnessed  a person's final breath.  Every single one of the stories makes me cry, but I can't help but read them.  There is such compassion in the work of a hospice worker.  If there's a nurse in your family that you want to honor, this would be the book.  I promise you, these stories are precious.  Although they're true, they could have been the inspiration for Nicholas Sparks's The Notebook. 

The second book I'm reading is called Glimpses of Eternity by Raymond Moody, Ph.D.  Dr. Moody investigates shared-death experiences and shares the stories he's collected throughout his many years of research.  He has previously written articles and books about near-death experiences, but he began to notice that people wanted to tell him about what they'd experienced while at a loved one's bedside.  It seems that there are many people who have shared the near-death experience with family and friends and it has changed their lives.  I find this book to be comforting and inspiring.  The stories are pretty cool!  And, it's nice to read a book that blends scientific fact with Christian belief. 

And finally, the third book I'll finish with tonight is Patricia Cornwell's Portrait of a Killer, in which this well-known novelist shares her research on the Jack the Ripper case.  If you've read any of her books, you're familiar with Scarpetta and that Cornwell is not only an author, but a journalist who has worked hard to gain access to medical investigations, mortuaries, autopsies, criminal court cases,etc...to develop the Scarpetta character.  From the research I've conducted, Cornwell is a bull-dog when it comes to research.  She doesn't let go once she gets an idea in her mind and that's what happened one day in London when she was asked if she'd like to view the Ripper Letters.  That's all it took...she put her forensic experience to work and spent over 6 million of her own money and 13 months of her life attempting to solve the case.  I believe she did it although she has many skeptics.  If you're interested and don't want to buy the book or even read it, there's a nice overview of her research on YouTube.  Just search "Patricia Cornwell Stalking Jack the Ripper" and you'll find 6 videos to watch.  About an hour long.  You could also Google Walter Sickert, who Cornwell believes was Jack the Ripper and committed more than the 5 crimes that have become so infamous.  I'm not a Ripper aficionado, but my husband is and his statement concerning this book was, "If that author can explain why the murders stopped, I'll believe it."  Well, there is an explanation, but I'd hate to ruin it for you.  *Thanks to LT's husband for recommending this book for my husband.  It had lain in his book basket long enough and it was bugging me that he hadn't read it, so I picked it up hoping to read enough to entice him.  Wouldn't you know I'd get hooked???!

It's about time for more young adult fiction...
*And my Beth Moore Bible study is going well.  Day 4!

Happy Reading! (one book at a time kiddos!)
RC

A Reliable Wife

Last year, while in Books-a-Million, I picked up a jewel of a read called A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick.  (Adult fiction.)  I usually don't peruse the sale table, I have enough books bought up to read...but this one caught my eye.  (Plus, it was $3.00.)  USA Today called it "A killer debut novel...good to the riveting end" and I have to agree!  I managed to finish this one within 24 hours, despite 2 sick kids, a hungry husband and a house screaming to be cleaned.  ;)

The story is set in wintery Wisconsin in 1908.  The author was inspired to write about  the desolute people who lived in this time/place and so the details transport you there immediately.  The main characters, Ralph, Catherine and Antonio, are brilliantly written and I began to "cast" them in my very own movie within the first couple chapters.  Character development occurs throughout the book so that you really never know everything about the character...I love when I'm surprised by a plot.  How boring to have it figured out by page 50!  

I really wish someone would write this screenplay.  Man, what a thriller!  I'm hopeful, because this book is published by the same company that released Water for Elephants (in theaters now).

Okay, enough gushing...we have Ralph, the main character.  He's lived a pampered, yet tortured life.  His family owned the town, every major business and virtually his life.  So, he set off to Europe to "live" and made lots and lots of mistakes.  He's paying for them as the book opens.  Catherine is the "reliable wife" he advertised for and who answered.  She arrives in chapter 2.  As she steps off the train, the first conflict is introduced...this is not the woman in the picture he received!  Who is she?  Ah, that's for you to find out.  She has a dangerous past!  What's she doing in Wisconsin???  And our final character, Antonio, is as Italian and dark as his name implies.  He's tall, dark and handsome.  A real ladies man.  And, he's evil.  Of course!  We have to have an antagonist!  But he's the answer to every woman's dream during 1908 and he tries to fulfill every one of their fantasies.  What's the connection between the three?  Well, Ralph gives Catherine her first wifely duty...go find Antonio, his son.  


And just what do you think happens next?  You'll never guess!  In the meantime, take a gander at the other covers offered for this book...

This cover would have sold more copies, I think.

Goolrick says that "winter" is his fourth character.

This is my favorite!  Exactly as I pictured Catherine!

The red canary is a symbol...

Twilight cover, anybody???

Audiobook cover...so, who ran out of money for a real model?  I would NEVER pick this up.  This is sooooo not Catherine.  What were they thinking?!

Goolrick is not my new favorite author or anything like that, but this WAS a fun read.  Couldn't put it down.  Page turner.  Thriller.  Oh, and for those of you who are interested, Goolrick says most of this book is autobiographical.  What!?  Wow!
 
Happy Reading!

RC

The Clockwork Three

With yesterday's stormy weather and the serenity of a daughter who wanted to entertain herself with magic tricks and a son who feverishly slept off a sinus infection, I was able to finish The Clockwork Three by Matthew J. Kirby.  I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised by this historical fiction/science fiction blend.  I'm going to suggest the 8th grade students read this next year.  Multiple copies will be ordered!

I was reluctant to read it, for I had read the blurb and knew it wasn't my type of ya fiction.  I prefer fantasy or realistic fiction when reading for our tweens.  However, I practiced what I preach and dug in.  After about 10 chapters, I have to admit I was hooked.  Will any of my students hang in there for 10 chapters?  Probably not without being led there.  But they will miss amazing character development, an intertwining plot and fantastic historical scenes written with an artistic hand.  I was able to experience everything Kirby intended.  His ability to work with figurative language is remarkable.  Here's an example from page 197, describing Roger Tom, the orphanage factory foreman, "...his neck bent like he had that millstone from the Bible hanging from it."  Now, I know all about the scripture from the Bible that threatens harm against a child of God with a millstone hanging around the neck, but if a student had never heard that, the image would lose it's significance.  This is my argument for reading classical literature..there are some cultural references that show up over and over again.  Kids need to be exposed to certain pieces of literature to "catch" them.


Synopsis taken from book:  "As mysterious circumstances bring Giuseppe, Frederick and Hannah together, their lives soon interlock like the turning gears in a clock and they realize that each one holds a key to solving the others' mysteries." Another example appears on page 201 where Hannah describes McCauley Park and it's magical feel...she sites "fairy rings" and the "phantasm".  A cultural reference the author sneaks in is on page 203..."Who was out here to see her ankles anyway?"  Without describing what Hannah is wearing, Kirby gives us a description nonetheless.  (As long as you know what turn of the century clothes in New York City looked like.)


Who is Giuseppe?  He's a busker, a street musician.  He attempts to earn $2 a day playing his fiddle.  His dream is to somehow make it back to his home country of Italy.  Once he finds a green violin, his story takes a turn.


Who is Frederick?  He an orphaned, clockworker apprentice, trying to make journeyman.  He's working on his own automaton man.  When he discovers a legend is actually true, his story takes a turn as well.


Who is Hannah?  She's a young maid who works in a hotel...trying to support her family.  Her father has had a stroke and can no longer work as a stonemason.  Once she takes a job with Madame Pomeroy, a fortune teller, her story takes a turn...for the worse.

We always ask our students to make connections...here's mine.  "Dirt and manure are my gold.  And these flowers are my jewelry.  I'm wealthier than all the lords of industry." -Alice, pg. 83.  

I absolutely looooove Alice!  She's my favorite character.
Sorry if this review is a bit disconnected.  I'm battling the urge to go outside while writing this entry.  The sun is finally shining!


*This book may/may not make it to the Fall Book Frenzy List.  I'm thinking there's another historical piece the kids may "enjoy" more.  


Happy Reading!
RC

Beth Moore

I've won another contest!  WooHoo!!!  

I've won tickets to a Beth Moore Living Proof Ministries Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas for April 15-16.  For those of you who know Beth Moore, you know how spiritually refreshing attending one of her conferences can be.  Gets you through months and months of adversity or everyday wear-and-tear (which I have too much of lately).  I cannot wait!

Beth Moore has written many Bible Studies.  I especially appreciated, Beloved Disciple, and although I've attended a couple of Bible Studies at our church, I think it's time to do one on my own.  I'm getting ready to begin a private study of Jesus.  My husband purchased it for me years ago and I am ashamed to say, I've procrastinated starting the study.  Perhaps there was a reason and now I'm ready?

I can't share Beth Moore with you without mentionind Feathers from my Nest, Beth Moore's memoirs, a book that touched my heart and would be an excellent book to purchase for yourself or a Christian woman you care deeply about.  It's especially good for mothers/daughters.  I asked my mother to read it and she thoroughly enjoyed it. 

 I'll let you know how the Bible Study turns out...
Until then,
Happy Reading!  and if you're not too busy on the 15th, you should look me up in Little Rock!
RC