Hidden by Helen Frost

I realized last week that I only did one post so I will be doing a few more this week. :-)

Hidden by Helen Frost is a book written from two girls' point of views. Wren, 8, was waiting for her mom in the car when a guy gets in the car and steals it. Hidden away in the back seat, Wren realizes that the guy has taken her to his house and she is trapped in the garage. Darra, also 8, realizes what her dad has done and tries to help Wren escape. Six years later, Darra and Wren meet at a summer camp, instantly knowing who each other are. Can they escape the past??

In Hidden, Helen Frost has created a world of poetry ,(the whole book is in free verse), that shares how two lives were completely thrown off course because of what Darra's dad did. Each girl is having to fight with the feelings of anger and understanding. This is a well written book that is a quick read and many students will be able to relate to. And sometimes, it is not your fault.

I have always been a Gary Paulsen fan. I read Hatchet as a middle school student, and since then I have been hooked. I have heard stories about how funny he is in person and that his biographies are great. He is a very outdoorsy person and he obviously loves dogs. He has run the Iditarod sled dog race a few times. (If you do not know what that is, Google it.) AND he has pretty much always had a dog.

My Life in Dog Years is an autobiography of his life. But instead of judging it by his age, he has split it up by the dig in his life. There are some sad stories, and some hilarious stories. This book is going to be a part of the summer required reading for 6th graders and I LOVED IT!!! I have always had a dog so I can relate to Mr. Paulsen. Dog lover or not, you will love this book!

Spring 2012 Bookfair

It seems like every time the library seems to slow down, the universe sees me taking breath, laughs, and throws something else on my calendar. :-) This is the life of the Stafford librarian. (And I would not have it any other way!!)

So, we are in book fair season again. You would think that all there was to setting up a book fair is to open the big metal cabinets and start selling...it is nothing like that. Book Fair Crew was announced today...thus the madness begins.

For those of you interested, the book fair will start at the beginning of March and will run for a week. There is going to be some awesome books delivered and I cannot wait to share it with you!

Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry and 2,000 visits

I will say the first time I saw this book, I had to stop and actually pick it up. This is the front cover, but if you flip that open, you get the creepy picture of a zombie. This is the perfect book for middle schoolers. I told them at the beginning of the year the vampires are out and other monsters are making their way in. With Rot and Ruin on the Lone Star list, this one is sure to make the rounds.

Book Summary:

In the zombie-infested, post-apocalyptic America where Benny Imura lives, every teenager must find a job by the time they turn fifteen or get their rations cut in half. Benny doesn't want to apprentice as a zombie hunter with his boring older brother Tom, but he has no choice. He expects a tedious job whacking zoms for cash, but what he gets is a vocation that will teach him what it means to be human. (Taken from book.)

 

Mrs. Lassley's Review

I will be honest with you, I went into this book with low expectations. How in the world can anyone like a book about zombies?? Somehow, it works. Benny is a typical 15 year old kid. He has a crush, hangs out with his friends, and does not get along with his older, zombie killing brother. But that is where the similarities to our world stop. The town he lives in is surrounded  by a fence to keep out the zombies, he must lock himself in his room in case the zombies come in, and he is now an apprentice to his brother, learning how to kill the zombies. What the author does that is unexpected is create an empathy for the zombies. These "things" were once people, and they did not choose this life. Who would have thought that by the end, you would have that??? Great book, but make sure you are prepared for the idea of zombies.

 

2,000 Visits

I know it seems weird to be so excited about this, but you have to understand that at the beginning of the year only had 500 hits. It means a couple of things: 1) The students are coming on here to see what I have to say, and middle school students that is pretty awesome!, 2) Other people are also seeing what is going here and hopefully like it because they keep coming back, 3) I am just having too much fun writing it!!! :-)

 

Thank you for following me and I look forward to bringing you more from here in Spartan Country!

Scooter Race

I know how much our students enjoy seeing the teachers embarrass themselves in order to show school spirit, so I knew that a scooter race would be the perfect thing to go along with the book fair. Yesterday I had teachers and students alike participate in a scooter race that earned from the fall book fair. The school sold over 1,000 items and the students donated over $100.00 to the library for books in order to have this. I had a 6th grade team, 7th grade team, and an 8th grade team competing for the prize of $20 each at the next book fair. Many taunting words were exchanged and in the end the 8th grade won. But the 7th grade believed that they had cheated so...we went again and, although it was closer, 8th grade won again. Thanks to the teacher and students at Stafford Middle School for helping make this event awesome!

The Joy of Books

There is nothing like walking into a book store. The smell of the pages and the ink, the shelves that are almost too high to reach...LOVE IT! This video literally brings that love to life...ENJOY!

Steampunk...no this is not a word that I made up!

Steampunk is a new term for an old way of writing:

Wikipedia states that:

Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s.^[1] Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain or "Wild West"-era United States—that incorporates elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Works of steampunk often feature anachronistic technology, or futuristic innovations as Victorians might have envisioned them, based on a Victorian perspective onfashion, culture, architectural style, art, etc. This technology includes such fictional machines as those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or the contemporary authors Philip Pullman, Scott Westerfeld and China Mieville.

Now, when I think of this, the movie Sherlock Holmes comes to mind. A student at BYU made the following video:

Come and see me if this is the genre for you!!

Book Review: Stolen by Lucy Christopher

For such a simple cover, this book has kind of taken my breath away. In a time when this can happen to anyone, it is scary to see it in writing, fiction or not.

Gemma is on vacation with her parents. They are passing through an airport and Gemma sits down in a coffee shop and starts talking with Ty, a mysterious stranger. Next thing she know she is in a bedroom, with nothing out the window except a vast, empty plain. Ty has stolen her away from her family in order to keep her and make her love him.

Sounds like the start of a time filled time of violence, but it actually is not. Ty is not the violent type, although you keep waiting for it to happen. He is just a lonely guy who took a girl for company....sounds so...insane it is almost sane.

Let's get 2012 started off RIGHT!

I know it has been awhile since I have blogged. Between the craziness of the library here at Stafford at the end of December and then me taking time to be with my family, blogging was put on the back burner. And with that, 2011 seemed to just pass right into 2012. What an amazing year 2011 was! Between the birth of my daughter, continuing in a job that I love, and spending tons of time reading, I loved 2011. So here are my goals for 2012:

• To see as many students as a can each week in the library. (This goal is going to be easy in January because there are lots of big projects coming my way. ;) ) 
• Read at least 2 YA books a week. (I know this does not seem like much but with an 8 month old and 5 year old at home, I will be lucky for this.)
• To blog at least 2 times a week. This will not always be a review of a book, but it will always be library or literature related!

These are at least my professional goals. And please help me keep them! 

And now for some news...I have been a follower of Michelle Zink's ever since I read Prophecy of the Sisters (Lonestar Book). She had mentioned on her blog that she needed readers and reviewers for her upcoming book Temptation of Angels. After contacting her and her publisher, I GOT A COPY!!! I am so excited to read it! It does not hit shelves until March, AND I HAVE IT!! So be looking for me to start reviewing it in a few weeks. 

Hope 2012 has started out good for you! 

(1 blog down, 103 to go.) :-)