END OF THE SUMMER

It's hard to believe that the summer is almost over and we will be back in school next week. I have 3 more books to tell you about before I begin concentrating on the 2012 Rebecca Caudill nominees. First is an historical fiction by Caroline B. Cooney, one of my favorite authors. The Ransom of Mercy Carter tells the story of a young girl captured by Canadian Indians during the French and Indian War. Mercy sees her village destroyed and many of her friends and neighbors killed. Then she, her brothers, and most of the children of her village are marched hundreds of miles to Indian villages where they are adopted by Indian families. Mercy shows great courage and curiosity as she adapts to Indian life. When ransom finally comes she must decide if she wants to return to her English home or stay in her Indian home.

Rosemary Wells's Red Moon at Sharpsburg features another courageous girl India who lives in Virginia during the Civil War. Not only does India believe in the cause of the Confederacy, but she is fascinated by the chemistry and biology she learns from a neighbor, Emory Trimble. Repeatedly told that girls do not study the sciences, India holds on to her dream to go to college when the war is over. What India sees of the war and the medicine of the time is quite sickening, but the ending gives hope for a brighter future.

I end the summer with a science fiction book - Across the Universe, by Beth Revis - that takes the reader on a three-hundred year space journey to a new life on a new planet. In alternating chapters we learn the story of Amy, a girl from our time who is frozen along with her parents for the space journey, and Elder, a boy who has grown up on the ship as part of the multi-generation crew. Together these two teenagers solve the mystery of what has been happening on the ship and why the journey is taking much longer than expected -- so long that a totally different society has evolved aboard the ship.

Thank you to those who have shared your summer reading with me. I look forward to hearing from more of you as we meet in the new school year.

ESPECIALLY FOR THE GUYS

Guys, are you tired of hearing your parents and teachers insist that you spend the summer reading? Well, so is Derek in Janet Tashijian's My Life as a Book. Derek expects to spend his summer lying in the grass with his dog Bodi or hanging out with his best friend Matt. But his teacher has assigned 3 books for summer reading and his parents are sending him to Learning Camp! A big extra in this book are the margin drawings by the author's teenage son Jake. In the story they are Derek's drawings of vocabulary words. These stick figure, cartoon-like drawings add to the fun of the book.

A dead body discovered in a nearby river starts off Todd's summer in Tedd Arnold's Rat Life. Although Todd helps out at his parents' motel, he gets no allowance or salary. So when he is offered a paying job at the local drive-in movie theater, he figures this is the best summer ever. At the drive-in he meets Rat and that leads to a host of strange adventures including another dead body, a dangerous flood, and the answers to his questions about Rat. A tinkling murder mystery with all kinds of puzzles to solve in the space of one exciting summer.

NONFICTION THAT READS LIKE FICTION

James L. Swanson has adapted two of his adult books for younger readers. Both books are concerned with the end of the American Civil War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. In Chasing Lincoln's Killer, Swanson tells how the assassination of Lincoln was accomplished and of the manhunt for John Wilkes Booth, the assassin, and his accomplices. It is a fast-paced thriller where you have to keep reminding yourself that communication in those days was so slow that it took two weeks before Booth was finally tracked down! Even though you know the end of the story, Swanson's day-by-day account builds with suspense.
Following that book Swanson has given us Bloody Times, the story of the funeral of Lincoln and the manhunt for Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy. While the North mourns the loss of Lincoln and a funeral train slowly brings his body back to Illinois passing millions of mourners, Davis moves further south as the states of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina become too dangerous for him. Both men were respected by their people, but came to such different ends.
Both books are filled with illustrations, many of them photographs, which helps you get a real sense of time period. I found that I had a hard time putting down either book.

CATCH-UP TIME

It's been awhile since I blogged about my summer reading, so I need to catch up. First, there is Avi's new Poppy book, Poppy and Ereth, which he says is the last Poppy book. If you haven't read the Poppy books, you may need to catch up. Poppy is a deer mouse who lives in Dinwood Forest. Her books are full of adventure and friendship. Poppy and Ereth is no different. Here Poppy loses her husband, is propelled through the air and caught by a bat, and manages to escape a forest fire. There's never a dull moment with Poppy!

Another adventurous book is North by Donna Jo Napoli. Alvin is tired of his overprotective mother's restrictions on his life and intrigued by the adventures of Arctic explorer Matthew Henson, so he decides to leave home and make his way north to the Arctic. Though he is a runaway he is aided by strangers along the way and makes it to Bylot Island where he lives with a trapper and learns of the dangers and the joys of Arctic life.

For fantasy lovers I read Serendipity Market, by Penny Blubaugh. When the world gets out of balance Mother Inez calls a group of storytellers to Sependipity Market to tell their stories and restore the world's balance. These stores are from familiar fairy tales and folklore but with a different perspective. It was fun hearing about Cinderella from a mouse or the "prince" and the pea or the shoemaker and the elves from the elves point of view. There are ten tales in all for you to enjoy.

Another fantasy is in a new series from Kathryn Lasky called Daughters of the Sea. The first book, Hannah, which I read, tells the story of an orphan in 1899 who gets a job with a wealthy family as a scullery maid. However Hannah feels an unusual pull to the ocean. When the family goes to their summer house on a spit of land that juts out into the sea, Hannah finds that pull so strong that she cannot ignore it.
In the humorous genre I read I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President, by Josh Lieb. Besides the incredibly long title which I kept laughing at, the book features Oliver who appears to be fat, lazy, and not too smart, but he is really a genius and a billionaire with his own plan to dominate the world. Unfortunately Oliver wants the approved of his milk-toast father and goes to extraordinary lengths to prove himself by becoming class president at his middle school.

Not to ignore my favorite genre, science fiction, I read Neptune's Children, by Bonnie Dobkin, an Illinois author. Terrorists have released a toxin to kill their enemies that works too well and kills all people over the age of twelve. Several thousand children who were at the amusement park known as the Isles of Wonder with their families and survive the toxin are organized by Milo to create their own community using the resources of the park. This may sound like a great future with no adults to interfere, but problems arise inside and outside the park to threaten the children's safety and Milo's rule.

Finally for nonfiction readers, there is The Secret of the Yellow Death, by Suzanne Jurmain. This book looks at the hunt for the cause and a cure for Yellow Fever that was lead by Walter Reed in Cuba at the beginning of the twentieth century. At that time no one suspected that mosquitoes could transmit disease. Just comparing the medical techniques of that time to what we have today is fascinating. The book is loaded with photographs that are as interesting as the text describing this search.

I hope are enjoying your summer reading as much as I am. Please share your choices with me through this blog or when we come back to school in August.

All Winners

It's been a while since I blogged and a lot has happened in that time -- BUT I DIDN'T STOP READING! I have finished 6 terrific books. Let's start with --
The Red Blazer Girls is a new series by Michael D. Bell. I read the first book The Ring of Rocamadour. The cover advertises "A puzzling mystery! A mystery with puzzles!" and it is as Sophie, Margaret, Rebecca, and Leigh Ann try to find a birthday present that has been hidden for 20 years!

Lois Lowry's new book Bless This Mouse is a sweet story about a community of church mice who try to keep a low profile so the parishioners won't demand the Great X - Exterminator. Each mouse character has a very human-type personality and the illustrations reflect that personality.

Finishing the Crispin trilogy by Avi is Crispin: The End of Time. Now Crispin is stranded in France with the loss of his friends Bear who died and Troth who stays at an abbey to help with her healing skills. Crispin is still trying to make his way to Iceland where he believes he can live free when he falls in the a murdering thief band disguised as musicians. He risks his life to escape with a new friend Owen. Set in the Middle Ages you have a window into life of the the rich, the poor, and the criminal.

Storm Runners by Roland Smith is an exciting and dangerous adventure with Chase Masters and his father who travel the country turning up wherever there has been or is about to be a disaster. This time they are in Florida just before a hurricane with an unpredictable path hits. Chase and his father each have their own survival tale to tell. It seems that this book is going to be followed by another book continuing the story of survival after the hurricane's landfall. Please let me know if you would like the IMC to purchase this sequel.

For those of you who are not fond of science fiction, Ally Condie's book Mismatched may change your mind. In a story that takes place sometime in the future, society has rebuilt after a total breakdown into a world where all choices are controlled by the society for the betterment of the society. Cassie is excited about her Match Banquet where she will find out who she will marry. Surprised and delighted that her selected partner is announced to be her childhood friend and neighbor Xander, she becomes confused when her microcard shows a different boy. She is further confused when at her grandfather's mandatory death at 80, he tells her about a smuggled poem he wants her to have. This is a story about love, romance, and questioning a society where all choices are programmed.

All of the previous books will be new to our collection in the fall, but I also finished a book that is already on our shelves -- The Water Seeker, by Kimberly Willis Holt. Set in pioneer days this tells life story of Amos, son of a beaver trapper who is also a dowser, someone who can find water using a forked stick. Since his mother dies giving him birth, Amos has a series of mother figures in his life while his father Jake is away most of the time trapping. When Jake and his Indian wife Blue Owl finally collect Amos, they head west eventually joining a wagon party going to the Oregon territory. Amos's story is so intriguing that you find you can't wait to turn the page to learn what new adventure or experience is coming his way.

Two More Great Reads

I love Caroline Cooney's books and I found a great new one to read this summer. If The Witness Lied presents a family filled with tragedy. First the mother dies with the birth of her fourth child Tris. Then in a horrible accident the family car rolls over the father killing him. The only one in the car at the time of the accident is Tris who somehow as a two-year-old was able to release the emergency brake causing the accident. After the accident the family split apart. Smithy goes away to boarding school, Madison goes to leave with her godparents, and Jack stays at home with Tris and his Aunt Cheryl who delights in completely remodeling the family home. One year after the accident Aunt Cheryl has contacted a TV producer who wants to do a series on the tragic family. The siblings are appalled, and come together to protect Tris, about to celebrate his third birthday, from the media. With all that is going on, Jack begins to question the circumstances of the accident and wonders what really happened. Part mystery, part media spectacle, Cooney has again captured a story that could be right out of the headlines.
Tragedy on a larger scale is presented in John Marsden's Tomorrow, When the War Began. Set in Australia, the story follows a group of teenagers who go off on a camping trip for five days in a wild area called Hell. When they return they find their world has changed for the worse. Some unknown army has taken over their rural community and apparently all of Australia. All the teens' parents and community are imprisoned and the teens are on their own. After a terrifying expedition to check on their homes, the teen decide to retreat back to Hell and to plan their next move. Should they hide out until the world returns to normal or should they take action and mount a guerrilla war against the invaders?

Welcome to My Summer Reading Blog

I am starting off the summer finishing off 3 great books. First, I am reading The Throne of Fire, the sequel to Rick Riordan's The Red Pyramid. Like the first book in this series there is lots of action, danger, and a whole lot of Egyptian mythology. This time Sadie and Carter Kane have to stop Apophis, the God of Chaos, from escaping his centuries-old prison -- and they only have 5 days to do it. There is a touch of romance for each of the Kane kids as well as a few new god helpers like Bes, a dwarf god considered lucky by the common people in ancient Egypt.

Next I am finishing Black Mirror, by Nancy Werlin. I started reading this one as a possible addition to the Romeo and Juliet Book Reports list since it deals with the suicide by drug overdose. Now I am beginning to see that it is also a mystery and the death of Frances' older brother Daniel may have been murder. All the action takes place on a preppy boarding school campus where Frances and Daniel are recipients of scholarships sponsored by a showy charitable organization known as Unity that may be involved in criminal activities.

Lastly I am half way through X Isle, by Steve Augarde. In a drowned world, people in the mainland try to arrange for their children to be chosen for the X Isle which is said to be a paradise. Baz and Ray are picked but find that the island is run by a religious fanatic and his brutish sons and the boys are slave labor. Rather than a paradise, the boys each get one can of food a day and have to do all kinds of manual labor without knowing why and are terrorized by the adults and their older teen assistants. The boys are beginning to see an advantage in working together. Their current plan is to create some kind of bomb that will kill the adults so the boys can take over the island. I can hardly wait to find out how it ends.
Please let me know what you are reading or if you have read of the same books I am. Books that I am reading this summer will be available for check out at Lakeview in the fall. Have a great summer and participate in Read S'More, Lakeview' Summer Reading Programs. Details are available on the Lakeview Library webpage.