Evolution, Me and Other Freaks of Nature - Robin Brande

Wow, would I NOT like to be Mena. She's a high school freshman who is shunned by many of her peers, people who USED to be her best friends. Mena has done something, clearly, but there are only veiled hints as to what it is for the first probably half of the book. Whatever it was, it surely made some people VERY angry. Angry enough that while they profess to be Christian, they call her some very unkind names.

Luckily, Mena finds a new friend, Casey, but there's one big problem. Casey's a boy. Mena's already in big trouble at home for whatever it is she already did, and now she wants to go to the house of a BOY?!? He is her only friend, and it is for science class, well, at least at first, but still. She knows her parents would never go for it, and so she begins to lie. And when was the last time you ever read a novel (or saw a real life situation for that matter) where the lying worked out? Mmmmm-hmmmm.

And then there's this whole other part of the story which is about Mena's science class where her teacher is teaching about evolution. But one of the town's pastors is very against this, and wants Intelligent Design included in the curriculum. Ms. Shepherd, the teacher, is having no part of it. Mena is a thoughtful Christian girl. She has trouble understanding the great rift between evolution and Christianity. In fact, she even finds some places in the Bible where she sees evidence of evolution.

As she tries to makes sense of all this - the behavior of her pastor, her so-called friends, her parents - for herself and for others (The Bible Grrrl says), she learns a lot of important lessons about leadership and doing the right thing even when it's hard. She learns a few things about puppies, Lord of the Rings and first love as well.

I'd highly recommend this to 8th graders and up who like science and a novel that makes you think a little. I think some of the science concepts might bog down younger readers.

Thwonk - Joan Bauer

I read this directly after reading Squashed, and it's the Joan Bauer novel I've like least of all her books that I've read. It has a sort of cute premise. The protagonist, AJ, finds a cupid who can grant her one "area of improvement." She, of course, picks love over grades or talent, and it turns into quite a fiasco when the boy who suddenly is in love with her goes WAAAAAY over the top and actually ends up making her kind of nuts.

Unfortunately, I thought it was a little overdone and while it was funny in parts, I didn't think it was of the same caliber as her other novels. An OK read, but just that.

Squashed - Joan Bauer

I REALLY liked this story!

Ellie is trying to grow a champion super-sized pumpkin for the town fair, and so far it's been a very good year. but growing a champion is NOT easy stuff. Did you know you had to inject those babies with a super secret potion through a slit in the stem? Or did you know that sometimes at night you had to cover them with a heating pad? Or did you know that if the hail's a comin', you'd better get out there with 10 layers of blankets and maybe even a trap tent or a lean-to? Well as someone who had trouble growing even zucchini this summer (must amend soil!), I was pretty fascinated by all the effort it takes to grow a pumpkin!

And then there are all the other issues:
* the problem of pumpkin stealers!
* the problems of the parents (or of only having one parent in this case, and not a
farmer one at that)
* the problem of the cute boy
* the problem of the extra 20 pounds and the pants that are seriously going to burst
at the seams...ever worn a pair like that?

I thought this story was a lot of fun. Joan Bauer tends to be a funny author, and this story, like many of her others had quite a lot of humor in it. I also cried in some parts when Ellie's desperately missing her mother. It had great suspense, and readers will find themselves cheering Ellie on right up until the end. A lovely fall read! Highly recommended for all levels of middle school.

Her Royal Spyness - Rhys Bowen

I thought this would be a sleuth/spy novel sort of like I'd Tell You I Love you But Then I'd Have to Kill You or Maisie Dobbs, but it was more grown up than those. It wasn't super complicated in its plot or anything, but the main character, a young woman 34th in line for the throne of England, is a little older and I don't think this story would be very interesting for middle schoolers. I liked it ok as an adult, but it didn't really move along quite fast enough for me.

The Princess and the Pauper - Kate Brian

This is a typical trade lives book, but even though I sort of knew what was going to happen, I didn't know all the details, and I thought it was a fun little read.

Princess Carina, on a trip to America, is dying to get away from her bodyguards so she can go to a concert and meet the rock star she's been e-mailing with. This is proving quite difficult. But then they meet Julia; she's practically Carina's TWIN! With some work on Julia, they're pretty sure they can pull it off. But Julia doesn't really want to participate...until they offer her $10,000 which she and her mother, who are about to be evicted from their apartment for not paying their rent on time, REALLY need.

They manage the switch-off, and it seems to be working, at least at first it's working. Needless to say, things quickly unravel, and before she knows it, Carina is stranded in the desert and Julia is on a plane across the ocean.

It's a story with some sweet moments and some funny ones. This is definitely a more girl oriented book than boy oriented, but if you're a girl and you like princess stories, I'd recommend it.

Accidental Love - Gary Soto

This book wasn't as good as I was hoping it was going to be, but it was still good. The premise is that a girl gets in a fight, like a real fist fight, and in the course of that two of the people involved drop their identical cell phones. Of course, they pick up the opposite person's phone without realizing it.

14 year old Maria is the protagonist in this story. And she's a pretty tough young woman. Rene (a boy) is the owner of the other phone. He is an absolute NERD. Marisa surprises herself by becoming attracted to this little nerd, despite his high-water pants and his white socks. His personality wins her over. And Marisa begins to see that he has opportunities that she definitely does/ will not at the school she's currently attending. She figures out a way to transfer, and things are really looking up for her academically. Rene's mother, however, is NOT keen on Marisa, and she does everything she can to keep them apart.

There are a lot of struggles in this book which many teens will relate to in some way. Hispanic teens will particularly appreciate the smattering of Spanish phrases thrown in, and they will be easily understood by all readers. A not-so typical teen romance novel.

Do the Math - Secrets Lies and Algebra by Wendy Lichtman

If you like math, this is a GREAT fiction book for you. If you don't like math, but you like stories about middle schoolers and the things they're thinking about, this is a book for you. If you like both, it's your lucky day.

This book is about an 8th grade girl who's really good at math, and she figures out how math is really related to everything else. She can apply it to people's personalities, to situations, to relationships, everything. I like math ok, but I'm not really a math person, so it was interesting to me to see math applied in these kind of not usually math kinds of situations.

The plot isn't too complicated or earth shattering, but it's very like what's going on in middle school, and for this reason, I think many students will enjoy it.

The Snow Baby - K. Kirkpatrick

The full title of this book is The Snow Baby: The Arctic Childhood of Admiral Robert E. Peary’s Daring Daughter. This is an award winning, non-fiction book about the childhood of Marie Ahnighito Peary, and it is fascinating. There are TONS of photographs in this book, and they're all very interesting. Marie's father, Admiral Peary was trying to reach the North Pole. The story is full of fascinating tales of Marie's experiences and those of her father's explorations. Sometimes Marie went on the explorations with her father, but other times she did not. Often they were separated on different continents. There were many, many struggles for her father and for the whole family.

It's a super good book, and it's not that long, so it doesn't require a huge investment of time. I'd highly recommend this book, and we have it in the WOMS library.

The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

This is my new "Little Girls Book Club" book for my book club I do with my 10 year old niece. I don't know how I missed this book in the past. It's awesome! It's a little bit challenging because there's some discussion of things that were taking place in India when it was under British rule, and if you didn't know what an "ayah" was, for example, it might get confusing. There's also a lot of English dialect that makes it a little challenging, but it's SO worth it.

It's a lovely story about a young girl who becomes orphaned and has to go live with her uncle who is a very sad and depressed man. At her new home, she discovers there's a garden where no one is allowed to go, and she's determined to find it. She also discovers a little boy there, and he is NOT a particularly nice little man. She, however, is equally not nice, so they make a perfect pair. But together, with the help of a perfectly WONDERFUL young man of the moors, they form a friendship and grow into people who are not only nice, but really quite wonderful. And their friendship works many miracles, both for themselves and for others.

It's quite a delight, and I'd highly recommend it!

5 OBOB books this week!

Here are the 5 OBOB (Oregon Battle of the Books) books I read this week:

The Pinhoe Egg
Ark Angel (my favorite of the five)
The Stouthearted Seven
Atherton: House of Power
Fablehaven

Can I just say that for some reason I wasn't that excited about this group when I read the titles? Now though, it's a whole different story. I really, really liked ALL these books. I'm excited to tell you all about them and get teams signed up for OBOB. the regional competition is Feb. 28th here a our very own school, and I'll be getting students signed up next month for school competition teams. We'll also have hte all 6th grade competition as usual. Ms. Darby's hoping to retain the trophy that's been in her room for 2 consecutive years now, but Mrs. Gatlin's determined to take it away! Look for many more details later.

Princess Mia - Meg Cabot

A totally typical Princess Diaries book, and of course I liked it a lot. You'd think I'd grow out of these, but I haven't. I think it's just that I know Mia so well now, it's like having an old friend come by for a visit. What is this number 7 or 8 in the series or something? And she's still the same old Mia. Maybe it's that somewhere inside I still hope that someone's going to tell me I'm a princess...I really ought to be one, you know. And every time I have a summer vacation I realize more that I was meant to live a life of luxury...but alas, I don't think it's to be if it hasn't happened by now. Good thing I have the next best job to being princess---school librarian :)

If you liked the rest of the series, this one's a sure thing. If you haven't ever read a Princess Diaries book and you, like me, wonder what it would be like to be a princess, check this series out. Although I'm warning you, even princesses have to pass Algebra!

Feed - MT Anderson

This audio book was one of the best audio presentations I've ever heard. I really want to look at the book's text and see how it's done, because the way they presented the audio was amazing. I'd HIGHLY recommend the audio of this novel.

This book is set in the future, at a time when basically everyone has some sort of computer chip implanted in our brains, and we receive information directly, kind of like having the Internet and TV commercials all directly routed into our brains. Most people never question it, but Violet's not like the others, and she wants people to think! Frighteningly, I think this story has some very real possibilities. Maybe like Orson Wells's 1984 which he wrote in 1949. A little too prescient.

Some of the material and language is more appropriate for high school than middle school, so I won't be getting this book in our library, but I'd recommend it to mature readers and high schoolers. There's a lot of cool stuff and some pretty creepy stuff, but any way you look at it, it's fascinating contemplating the future.

Wait for Me - An Na

I listened to an audio version of this book (not the best reader ever, I thought), and it took me quite a while to really get hooked. The action was pretty slow during the first part of the story. As it went on, however, the story become very compelling, and many students will determine this book a winner.

This is an immigrant (Korean) family drama where, typically, the teenagers in the family clash with the parents who have perhaps more traditional values than their children. For Mina, she has no voice of her own, even to tell her mother about important things. There is a lot of hurt in this family, often suppressed for many years, and there are many deep secrets tearing this family apart. The question is whether they will be able to find a way to work through their problems or whether things will explode to an irreparable point.

Although the immigrant issues will ring true for some, the issues of parents and children striving to find a way to co-exist peacefully will resonate with nearly all teens.

A great story by Printz Honor winner, An Na.

Heart, You Bully ,You Punk - Cohen

This was my book club pick for August, and it was definitely a heart breaker at the end. Every single person in the book group was like, "WHAT?????" It was an interesting study of three people: teenager Ann James, her math teacher/tutor, Esker, and her father. The writing in this novel is quite stunning, and upon a second reading I found more sympathy for the most troubling of the three characters, but this is one of those books where I'm not really sure if I liked it or not because there was so much I questioned about so many of the characters' behaviors. An interesting read for grown ups with lots to discuss.

The Constant Princess - Philippa Gregory

THIS was a fantabulous book about the life of Katherine of Aragon. It is quite an amazing and interesting story. I can't even imagine some of the things she lived through. And even though I knew what was coming at the end, the getting there was a wonderful journey. Great story!!

Saturday - Ian McEwan

I have to say, this novel draaaaged for the first 3/4 of it, but I was determined to finish it since I'd borrowed it from a friend nearly a year ago and it had merely languished on my pile. By the time I got to the last 1/4, though, I couldn't stop. It's kind of an interesting work, since it takes place all in one day in the life of a neurosurgeon in London, and not many books are like that. The characterization, although I expected it to be really strong based on the type of story, was not what I'd hoped for. Or maybe it was just that I never REALLY cared about the characters as much as I wanted to. It was an OK book, but not one of my faves.

Suite Francaise - Irene Nemirovsky

This was an amazing book - one of the best adult books I've read all year! It was written by a young Russian Jewish woman in France during WWII about the occupation of the Germans in France. It was heartbreaking in its honesty and clarity. It was a different perspective than one usually sees in Holocaust literature, which I really liked.

Because the author of this book was sent to Auschwitz, this book was actually only 2/5 finished, and it is difficult to imagine the power the completed work might have had after reading this.

Amazing!

The New Yorkers - Cathleen Schine

This was a super fun audio book. It's another of my summer grown-up books. I'm not sure where I got the idea to read it. The friend I thought recommended it to me, said she's never heard of it. Whoever recommended it, good choice. Nice, light summer story. Has a sense of short stories about it at first, but then they weave together. Not a Pulitzer Prize winner, but I liked it.

6 Summer Reads

On vacation and in between vacations (well, I guess the whole summer's really vacation, but I mean vacation, vacation, like actually leaving home vacation) I got busy and did a bunch of reading. Only one of the books on this list is a YA book That book is the first on my list: Deadline (audio) by Chris Crutcher. Chris Crutcher is one of my favorite YA authors. He writes about tough experiences, and bases a lot of his writing on the work he does as a therapist for adolescents. His work, including this one, is always thoughtful and though provoking. Many of his books have been challenged because people thought they dealt with topics too mature for kids. I think this one is a little advanced for middle school both topically i na few spots and philosophically, but it is great writing and would be perfect for high schoolers.

Deadline focuses on Ben Wolf who discovers, just at the beginning of his senior year, that he has terminal cancer. his parents don't know, and since he's 18, he can decide whether to tell them or not. He decides not to. He's trying to save his family from pain. As a grown up I can see how that's never going to work, but I admire his idea of protecting the people he loves. The book is a roller coaster of emotion and has really funny parts, and really sad parts, as you can imagine. I, of course, was bawling near hte end, and if you're home reading where no one can see you, it's one thing, but if oyu're sitting in your car listening to a story while everyone in the parking lot can see you crying your eyes out, you get some looks, let me tell you!

I'll just give you a quick blurb of the adult books:

**Whistling in the Dark - Kagen I read this for my reading group. It was OK, but not great. It just never really grabbed me.
**Seven Wonders - John C. Ryan This was a fabulous quick read of seven inventions we have that if more people started using them could probably save our planet! Some of the things are (1) the laundry line (instead of the dryer), (2) the library (instead of buying new books all the time - that's a lot of paper!), (3) the bicycle (instead of cars)
**The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Bauby Incredible story (now a movie) of a very successful man in his early 40s who suffers a massive stroke and is imprisoned inside a non-functional body with a completely sharp mind. He dictated this story through eye blinks! Amazing and utterly distressing.
**Water for Elephants - Gruen I loved this story about life in a circus in the post-Depression era. It was fascinating. Great photos to accompany the text.
**Thunderstruck (audio) - Erik Larson We'd already listened to another of this author's novels (Devil in the White City) which we enjoyed, so we thought we'd give this one a try. Interestingly, he followed nearly the same format. Two separate stories that after a LOOOONG time, come together. This one, too, had a mystery as one storyline, and the other storyline was that of Marconi, the inventor of wireless communication. Imagine if he could see what "wireless" means now! A little too much of the Marconi for me, but it was enjoyable, nevertheless. The reader could have been better. His voice as a little too soothing, and I kept falling asleep. Luckily, I wasn't driving!

Airhead - Meg Cabot

Well, this was an OK Meg Cabot, but I didn't think it was her best. The reviewers really liked it, though. I liked it, too; I just didn't LOVE it.

It's a bit of a Twist on Freaky Friday and maybe sort of Frankenstein where the main character ends up a science experiment as a brain/body transplant patient. Was it coincidence or fate that super smart but kind of nerdy Emerson Watts and supermodel Nikki Howard were both at the opening of a new Stark Megastore when the ginormous TV screen crashed down? Guess whose brain got saved and guess whose body...

So now Em has to figure out how to convince people that she's really NOT Nikki, even if she looks like her, and she has to figure out WHY she has this other person's body, too. It's got a lot of funny parts when people expect her to be someone she's not, and it's got some good thought-provoking parts as well.

If you're a Meg Cabot fan, a Freaky Friday fan, an A-list girl, or one who's the complete opposite of this, you'd probably enjoy this novel. And if you enjoy this, be sure to watch for the sequel.