Two From First Second

Life Sucks
by Jessica Abel
First Second, 2008
ages 12 and up
review copy compliments of the publisher
Book #2 -- 48 Hour Book Challenge 2008

Dave Miller works the night shift at the Last Stop convenience store. Dave is a vampire and the Last Stop is a 24-hour convenience store for LA's vampire community. Dave has his eye on a cute goth girl who hangs out at the juice bar down the strip mall, but unfortunately, so does Wes, a studly blond vampire surfer dude.

Not a book I'll put in my classroom collection. This book was a stretch for me. Vampires and "who's going to get the girl" are not my things. I'll pass this book on to a teen who is into the Twilight series.


Three Shadows
by Cyril Pedrosa
First Second, 2008
ages 12 and up
review copy compliments of the publisher
Book #3 -- 48 Hour Book Challenge 2008

This is a scary book.

From the jacket flap:

"What price would you pay to save your child?

For the parents in this powerful, visually stunning graphic novel, the threat to their son is both real and frighteningly vague. Three shadows loom, and wherever the family flees, the shadows follow. Is escape impossible? Are parents even meant to try?"

Also not one for my classroom, but I'm glad I read it. Graphic novels never cease to amaze me. They can be light and fluffy, or they can be deep and thought-provoking. There's something for everyone in the graphic novel format!

Rapunzel's Revenge

Rapunzel's Revenge
by Shannon and Dean Hale
illustrated by Nathan Hale
Bloomsbury Children's Books
August, 2008
review copy compliments of the publisher
Book #1 -- 48 Hour Book Challenge 2008

Rapunzel lives in a walled villa with lush gardens and the woman she thought was her mother. There is a friendly guard who teaches her rope tricks (this will become important later) and disturbing dreams she is told to forget.

On her twelfth birthday, she climbs to the top of the wall, sees what's on the other side, meets her real mother, and gets locked in this story's particular "tower." There's growth magic and plant magic involved, which explains why Rapunzel winds up with twenty (thirty?) foot braids.

She escapes her "tower" using her braids (no letting the hair down for the hero...yet), and after making short work of an air-headed Adventuring Hero who cannot recognize the "maiden in distress" standing right in front of him (probably because she's competently riding the wild boar she just lassoed and tamed using her braids), Rapunzel hooks up with a clever lad named Jack who's running from his past with a goose under his arm. The two manage to do good and right wrongs wherever they go (lots more effective use of braids as lassos and whips and ropes) as they make their way back to the villa and Rapunzel's ("Punzie's") real mother.

There is enough action, adventure, head-thumping and hog-tying to keep the story moving briskly along -- this is no sissy fairytale. Keep your eye open for guest appearances by other fairytale characters, and be ready for the humor tucked into both the illustrations and the text. In true fairytale form, there is enough "happily ever after" to go around in the end, even though Rapunzel ends the story with a pixie cut.

The publisher recommends ages 10 and up, but I think fairytale lovers as young as 8 or 9 would enjoy this story. It would also make a good on-the-lap read aloud for a parent-child duo.

48 Hour Book Challenge -- Finish Line

Here are my final stats:

Books read: 5 (RAPUNZEL'S REVENGE, LIFE SUCKS, THREE SHADOWS, ADVENTURES IN GRAPHICA, A DROWNED MAIDEN'S HAIR)

Pages read: 1163

Time spend reading: 14 hours (17 if you count the time I spent with the Columbus Bloggers talking about books, shopping for books, and enjoying an author event.)

Mini-theme completed: Graphic Novels and More (RAPUNZEL'S REVENGE, LIFE SUCKS, THREE SHADOWS, ADVENTURES IN GRAPHICA)

Mini-theme not completed: Laura Amy Schlitz (A DROWNED MAIDEN'S HAIR but not GOOD MASTERS! SWEET LADIES!)

Time spent blogging: +/- 3 hours

What else I did: took one nap, had dinner with friends, vacuumed the house for the first time in two weeks (hard to believe that just last weekend I was spending every last minute finishing report cards and burning end-of-year dvds...), swam for the first time in at least two weeks, went to a graduation party, went to a retirement party.

I proclaim the 2008 48 Hour Book Challenge a success!! Maybe I didn't meet my goals, but I definitely read more than I would have and I seriously diminished one of my to-read piles. I can't wait to cruise around the Kidlitosphere in the days to come and check out what and how much and how long you all read!

Sequel to INTO THE WILD is Coming Soon!

I just finished OUT OF THE WILD by Sarah Beth Durst. I loved the first book in this series--INTO THE WILD. Sarah Beth Durst sent a copy of this new book so I got a sneak peak!

I must say that I loved the first book but I think I loved this one even better. It is quite a fun novel with lots of fairy tale characters that we know. The same characters that we met in the first book are back--Rapunzel, Julie, Puss-in-Boots, and Julie's grandmother. This time, we also get to know Julie's dad, the prince and some other great characters--a few little surprises along the way!

I think I liked this story because of the adventure and because I understood the concept of "The Wild" so much better after the first book. And this book takes us to lots of places across the country and brings us to lots of different fairy tale characters. Julie, once again needs to fight off the evil of The Wild and is once again, quite a creative problem solver.

This book has hooked me on novels based on fairy tale characters. They are quite fun. I am fascinated by the brilliance of people who write these. We had several 5th graders at school who loved the first book and who are looking forward to this one. These are great books for kids in grades 4-6. The perfect combination of fun, action, and great characters!

This book is due out next week! Lots of advance praise is already out there!

A Break from 48-Hour Read With Summer Goals Meme 2008

So, it seems to be time for that Summer Goals Meme. Mary Lee and I were just talking about it this week and then Amy at My Breakfast Platter mentioned that she was ready for it too! Last year, I wasn't so successful. I set some great goals and then didn't meet very many of them! I guess summer goals might be like that--no big deal if you don't accomplish them!? So, I am going to be more realistic this year. When I looked back at my goals, it was kind of depressing because I have still not accomplished some of them! The two books that were on my to-read stack last June are still on it today.

So, here are some goals that I have:
1. Read Lots
2. Continue Boot Camp but also add a 30-60 minute walk about 3-5 days a week.
3. Learn a few new recipes.
4. Drink more water.

Okay, so that's it. I am trying to be realistic yet change a few habits. We'll see how it goes!

And to get the meme restarted, we tag Katie D at Creative Literacy, Karen at Talkworthy, Bill and Karen and Literate Lives, Abby at Authentic Learner, Stella at My World-Mi Mundo , Mary Lee here at A Year of Reading, Amy at My Breakfast Platter and Megan at Read, Read, Read.

Happy goal setting!

48 Hour Book Challenge

Twelve down, thirty-six to go.

I have finished RAPUNZEL'S REVENGE, LIFE SUCKS, and THREE SHADOWS. I'm ending this graphic novel phase of the 48 hours by reading ADVENTURES IN GRAPHICA by Terry Thompson. (Here's the link to the video podcast Franki mentioned earlier this week.)

Talking About Books Counts...

...doesn't it???










The Columbus Area Kid Lit Bloggers (from the left: Stella of My World - Mi Mundo, Mary Lee and Franki of A Year of Reading, Katie of Creative Literacy, Abby of Authentic Learner, Karen of Talkworthy, and Karen and Bill of Literate Lives) met for a delicious NorthStar breakfast and then reconvened at Cover To Cover Children's Books, where Sally (the owner) let us take as many ARCs as we wanted! Heaven!
























Then we were treated to the World Premier Author Chat and Book Signing by Sarah Prineas, author of The Magic Thief.









(Franki, Sally, Mary Lee and Sarah Prineas)

Now it's time to get back to reading. I finished RAPUNZEL'S REVENGE and I'm halfway through LIFE SUCKS. After I finish, I think I'll stick with the GN theme for now and move on to THREE SHADOWS and ADVENTURES IN GRAPHICA. Then I'll be quite ready for WINNIE-THE-POOH!!

48 Hour Book Challenge

So, realistically, I know I can't drop everything to read for 48 hours. I LOVE Mother Reader's 48 Hour Book Challenge and am excited to devote as much of this weekend as I can to reading.

So, I started yesterday and did a bit of reading while getting my hair colored--I had let it go for far too long and it was getting pretty gray!

So, I finished LETTERS FROM RAPUNZEL and also read BASKETBALL BATS--a new book that I think is going to be a new series.

More later--but I am fitting in reading with the rest of the things I have to get finished this weekend. Like Mary Lee, I'll be thrilled if I finish a few of the books on my stack!

Ready, Set, GO!

READY: I have selected the books for my stack. Nothing new; nothing from the teeming boxes of Notables. Those can wait. I am going to take out my to-read pile in the next 48-hours. Well, part of it, anyway. The stack that sits at the end of that one bookshelf. There's still that whole shelf full of adult to-read, the professional to-reads, and another half shelf of children's to-read. Sigh.

Back to the list! I'll start with a graphic novel -- RAPUNZEL'S REVENGE. I've been saving it for the first book out. Then there's WINNIE-THE-POOH and THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER. Apparently, one of the places we are going to stay in England sits next to the forest where Milne received his Pooh-ish inspiration! Left over from CYBILS last year is A DROWNED MAIDEN'S HAIR, and left over from this year's CYBILS is GOOD MASTERS! SWEET LADIES! So I'll have a little Laura Amy Schlitz going on! HONEYBEE by Naomi Shihab Nye is on the pile, as are LIFE SUCKS and THREE SHADOWS. To complement the graphic novels, I'll read ADVENTURES IN GRAPHICA. If I finish all that in 48 hours, I'll be amazed...and pleased!

SET: My morning tea is made and waiting.

GO: I'm off to read!

Poetry Friday -- Endings and Beginnings

The school year has ended. The students have been delivered north of childhood to their freedom by the big yellow buses once again. The teachers have gone south. (Don't worry; we'll bounce back!)

Someone must have flipped a switch to begin summer -- all of a sudden it's in the 90's with no sign of relief for a week.

Here's a poem about endings and beginnings:

NORTH OF CHILDHOOD
by Jonathan Galassi

(read the whole poem here...this is the last half:)

Summer’s back,
so beautiful it always reeks of ending,
and now its breeze is stirring
in your room commanding the lawn,
trying to wake you to say the day is wasting,
but you’re north of childhood now and out of here,
and I’ve gone south.