Saturday, October 3, 2009

Day one

This blog is under construction right now. Come back soon to see pictures and videos, and read stories about the exciting world of a high school library. While you're waiting may I suggest any one of these great books.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman --Stack Location: F GAI


Hear this tragic tale: a sleeping family, a talented murderer, and an adventurous toddler—orphaned, but not assassinated. Small and alone, by accident and luck he escapes the scene of the crime and climbs a grassy hill to safety. At the top of the hill the boy finds a fence, and on the other side, a dark, quiet place.

Uglies
by Scott Westerfeld --Stack Location: F WES


Playing on every teen’s passionate desire to look as good as everybody else, Scott Westerfeld (Midnighters) projects a future world in which a compulsory operation at sixteen wipes out physical differences and makes everyone pretty by conforming to an ideal standard of beauty. The "New Pretties" are then free to play and party, while the younger "Uglies" look on enviously and spend the time before their own transformations in plotting mischievous tricks against their elders. Tally Youngblood is one of the most daring of the Uglies, and her imaginative tricks have gotten her in trouble with the menacing department of Special Circumstances. She has yearned to be pretty, but since her best friend Shay ran away to the rumored rebel settlement of recalcitrant Uglies called The Smoke, Tally has been troubled. The authorities give her an impossible choice: either she follows Shay’s cryptic directions to The Smoke with the purpose of betraying the rebels, or she will never be allowed to become pretty. Hoping to rescue Shay, Tally sets off on the dangerous journey as a spy. But after finally reaching The Smoke she has a change of heart when her new lover David reveals to her the sinister secret behind becoming pretty. The fast-moving story is enlivened by many action sequences in the style of videogames, using intriguing inventions like hoverboards that use the rider’s skateboard skills to skim through the air, and bungee jackets that make wild downward plunges survivable -- and fun. Behind all the commotion is the disturbing vision of our own society -- the Rusties -- visible only in rusting ruins after a virus destroyed all petroleum. Teens will be entranced, and the cliffhanger ending will leave them gasping for the sequel. (Ages 12 and up) --Patty Campbell

Forged By Fire by Sharon Draper --Stack Location: F DRA
See full size image
When Gerald was a child he was fascinated by fire. But fire is dangerous and powerful, and tragedy strikes. His substance-addicted mother is taken from him. Then he loses the loving generosity of a favorite aunt. A brutal stepfather with a flaming temper and an evil secret makes his life miserable. The one bright light in Gerald's life is his little half sister, Angel, whom he struggles to protect from her father, Jordan Sparks, who abuses her, and from their mother, whose irresponsible behavior forces Gerald to work hard to keep the family together.

As a teenager, Gerald finds success as a member of the Hazelwood Tigers basketball team, while Angel develops her talents as a dancer. Trouble still haunts them, however, and Gerald learns, painfully, that young friends can die and old enemies must be faced. In the end he must stand up to his stepfather alone in a blazing confrontation.


Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson --Stack Location: F AND


Since the beginning of the school year, high school freshman Melinda has found that it's been getting harder and harder for her to speak out loud: "My throat is always sore, my lips raw.... Every time I try to talk to my parents or a teacher, I sputter or freeze.... It's like I have some kind of spastic laryngitis." What could have caused Melinda to suddenly fall mute? Could it be due to the fact that no one at school is speaking to her because she called the cops and got everyone busted at the seniors' big end-of-summer party? Or maybe it's because her parents' only form of communication is Post-It notes written on their way out the door to their nine-to-whenever jobs. While Melinda is bothered by these things, deep down she knows the real reason why she's been struck mute...

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins --Stack Location: F COL
Cover image for Catching fire
At the end of The Hunger Games (2008), breathless readers were left in the lurch with any number of questions. Will Katniss lead an uprising against the Capitol? Does she fancy Peeta or Gale? Both? Neither? And perhaps most importantly, how in the world is Collins going to live up to the (well-deserved) hype? Without divulging too much, don’t sweat it. The book opens with Katniss and Peeta reluctantly embarking on their victory tour through the 12 oppressed districts of Panem, where they witness more than a few surprising things. And right when it seems as if the plot might be going into a holding pattern between the first and third acts of the trilogy, a blindsiding development hurtles the story along and matches, if not exceeds, the unfiltered adrenaline rush of the first book.

10 comments:

  1. Go Ask Alice was a very insightful book, I was very disappointed by how Alice's life ended. I really thought she was going to turn her life around.

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  3. I am reading Dawn by Elie Wiesel. It is a book about a Jew who survived the Second World War and is in an underground movement for Jewish rights. He instructed to kill a British officer that was taken hostage but questions himself if he wants to be a killer for the rest of his life.

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  4. I am currently reading a book by John Grisham called "The Summons." Its a very interesting book. The general plotline is that Ray's father, who is a judge, dies. Mysteriously, Ray finds a boatload of money hidden in his fathers house and has no idea where it came from. Is it counterfeit or stolen? Thats the whole idea of the book. This mystery takes you along with Ray on his quest to find where this money is from.

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  5. I am finally reading the book Brisingr by Christopher Paolini and might I say that it is amazing. The storyline hasn't ever been done before not to mention the fact that multiple interesting fake languages such as elven and dwarf that really put the finishing touches on the books plot and tone. The book is made gratefully and surprisingly, especially since the author started this book series (The Inheritance Cycle)when he was only a young teenager. Who knew that such a young mind, me being one myself, could have that much writing skill and artistry. He must have had amazing teachers and infinite amounts of talent. What it all boils down to is that if your a teenager or frankly an adult, this book shows the potential of any person simply through the way it's written and also what it's written about.

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  6. I am reading a book called A-List. It's very intriguing and is one of those books that's nearly impossible to set down. It's basically about a pretty girl named Anna who is the farthest thing from a party girl. She gets the grades, goes to the boring prep school. She decides she doesn't want to lead an unexamined life, and jets off to LA to become the new Anna. While she's trying to turn into someone who lives life to the fullest, there's lots of crazy drama she's put through. Anna is someone i feel i can relate to, and this book is just really good.

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  7. I am reading Mossflower by Brian Jacques and it is a wonderful book. First I read Redwall by Brian Jacques and I was hooked. Mossflower is a prequel to Redwall and is just as good. This book is full of action and adventure. It's about a young, strong warrior mouse, named Martin, that travels to the land of mossflower and Kotir. Kotir is ruled by merciless wildcats and the woodlanders have to fight for their woods (Mossflower) and their lives. The only way for them to reclaim what is rightfully theirs is to send Martin on a quest to Salamandastrom to bring back an old warrior. ALong the way their are vast dangers. Will Martin make it or will he fail? Read to find out.

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  8. Charms for the Easy Life by Kaye Gibbons is an interesting book about strong-minded women in the nineteenth century. It is a great read for girls who believe in being independent.

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  9. I read the Hunger Games series, which is a very addicting book, so much so that i stayed up until 4 in the morning reading it. Its a good idea to start from the beginning of the series

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  10. I have read The Hunger Games and I am very excited to begin the next book in the series, Catching Fire. The Hunger Games was a extremely good book and I am anticipating that this book will be good too. I recommend this series to anyone.

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