39 Clues: The Sword Thief

Well, I'm back after a bit of a break - writing these articles can wear you out after a while. So, i have a bunch of catch up to do...

I'll Start with the semi-new 39 Clues threequel, The Sword Thief. Written by the virtually unknown Peter Lerangis, the book was written in a way that boasts writing experience and personality. While it is certainly a book meant for a younger age group (8-12), the sense of good literature that was absent in some of the biggest hits in YA history (coughtwilightcough) makes its appearance. I actually find this kind of kidlit to be better than some YA I have read becuase while the storyline is sorta childish, it has a point to it, and when the author built the story to a climax, the protagonist didn't just talk their way out of it - they ACTUALLY ENDED UP IN THE FIGHT YOU WERE WAITING FOR. (coughtwilightagaincough)

The book was about the hunt for 39 clues that would reveal the secret of alchemy - how to make the philosopher's stone.(the ideas in the book became rather Harry Potter-esque)
Action packed and full of suspense, The Sword Thief will not dissapoint.

4.0/5
great

Ages 8-12 (Scholastic said so and I don't dispute this)

reviews for the first 2 books in the series:
Book 1
Book 2

The Big Over Easy

Well, I just finished reading The Big Over Easy, a novel by Jasper Fforde...

It was a mystery about nursery rhyme characters in the town of "Reading"...

It is sort of like fantasy/sci fi/ mystery, but all that i can tell you is that it was REALLY good...

In this installment of the series, Humpty Dumpty has been murdered as he fell of the wall...

Jack Spratt and his detectives are on the case!

4.7/5
AMAZING

Ages 14 and up...

Two Parties, One Tux, And A Very Short Film About The Grapes Of Wrath

Well, after reading the longish title, it doesn't seem very appetizing, but trust me, it is a GOOD BOOK. Around 9th grade level, the book is about a guy going through his life in 9th grade. It consists of going to two parties, renting one tux for his prom, and making a movie about The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck...

Very surprising, don't you think?
It has other elements too, like becoming popular and then becoming unpopular, and then becoming popular again and then unpopular, the popular, and then ending where he started...
amazingly good book...

4.7/5
VERY GOOD

ages 14 and up...

AAARGH!!!

I just found out that Warner Bros. changed the end of Harry Potter 6. When I first heard that it was PG, I was very surprised, but now it looks like they didn't kill Dumbledore. First they split the 7th movie into TWO F***ing parts, and now they cut the end of the 6th movie. Warner Bros. is starting to really annoy me!

some of this information was found at:

http://thebookbind.blogspot.com/2009/03/test-screening-of-harry-potter-and-half.html

An abundance of Katherines

Lately, I have been reading a lot of John Green, but unfortunately, this is the last book written by him that I am going to review for a WHILE.

An Abundance of Katherines was a book that was closer to Looking for Alaska than it was to Paper Towns, both of which make up the other 2 books written by Green. Lindsey, in particular, was very close to Alaska in my opinion.

The book was about a child prodigy named Colin, who has dated 19 Katherines. He is amazing at math, and tries to create a theory that will predict romance. The book is about his success, and he tells his story at the same time.

It was very well written...

4.3/5
Excellent

Ages 12 and up for content

The Hunger Games: a movie?

Breaking news that is not breaking anymore:

Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games, has signed the contract that will make The Hunger Games a movie - and a gruesome one at that. It will be produced by Lionsgate - which is also currently creating the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie - and is slated to come out in 2011.

Speaking of 2011, it seems like a big year for book movies. Eragon, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (part 2), The 39 Clues Series, and more should be coming out then...

Of course, that is making sure that the distributor doesn't get greedy and wait for another year to maximize profits.

I wonder how the Collins, who will be the screen writer, will manage to adapt the movie so that it isn't R - after all, it is full of genocide...

Hopefully, she will do as good of a job as Louis Sachar did with his adaptation of Holes.

More news coming later on this blog!

Paper Towns

After reading Looking for Alaska, by John Green, I couldn't help but read Paper Towns, by the same author.
Paper Towns was a bit of a surprise, in the way that it was different from Looking for Alaska on many counts. It was about this boy who falls in love with a girl named Margo. It could have easily been named Looking for Margo, because the storyline was very similar with the exeption that instead of Margo dying like Alaska, she went missing. This book was much more fast paced and enjoyable, although it was a bit less moving in the end.

4.6/3
AMAZING

Ages 13 and up for references to (omminted because of age level of some readers)

To JayKae: Life Stinx

After getting back from BLOG VACATION, I read To JayKay: Life Stinx, by Jean Davies Okimoto. It is an old book (1999) that was nothing like I expected it to be. The back gave it a completely different angle to the book than what you would read in it. It was far worse than I thought it would be, and the only thing that wasn't so bad was the fact that it wasn't rated "R" but it was in fact rated PG(maybe 13). It was about this kid who meets this person on the internet using a chat room and they start a correspondence. Meanwhile, his life is completely disorganized and messed up, he has NO life, and his dad thinks that he is a psycho. It was an interesting book...

3.7/5
O.K.

Ages 11 and up for references to cyberbullying and inappropriate material.

To abandon a book isn't a sin - or is it?

For some reason, I have been reading extremely disappointing books recently. First After Tupac and D Foster, and now The Astonishing Tales of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, both of which were award winners of famous awards. It just goes to show you that random adults who think that they know what kids will like in literature and give out awards to praise themselves are sorely mistaken.


Octavian Nothing was about this slave boy and his mother, the princess of some African Tribe, but now a slave. It is boring, boring, boring. And not because there is no interesting story, like in After Tupac and D Foster. There is just no hook at all. There is nothing to keep you reading, and I discovered that the hook is vital to a book. Without it, the book is boring whether or not the rest is perfect.

In this case, unlike After Tupac..., the book is over 500 pages and on 8 1/2 by 11 sheets, quite a substantial amount. Therefore, I abandoned, and I know that I shouldn't have, and I'm sorry, but I have so many books to read. I just hope that abandoning a book isn't considered an act of evil.

Thanks...
BC101

Scat

I took a trip back into kidlit - not that I am getting tired of YA, but this book sounded very good. "This book" was Scat, another book by Carl Hiaasen. It had such good reviews, and the author is historically good, albeit I hadn't read him since '05. Still, I gave it a shot, and it paid off.

It was about this kid named Nick. His dad was in Iraq, and he was very "fond" of this girl. Now, I just HAVE to mention that fond hasn't been used since the 60s or something. Well, on his class field trip, his least favorite teacher went missing. He is very interested in the mystery, and tries to solve it...

Meanwhile, this kid named Duane is convicted of arson, and people are going ballistic about it. And an oil company gone bad is running an operation around there...

Well, I would tell you more, but you wouldn't read it.

Hiaasen did a great job, although he lacked detail, and used jargon from ages ago.He also gave away the mystery in the begining of the book, although he did save little pieces until the end.

4.3/5
EXCELLENT

Ages 7 + It was an appropriate book for most grade levels, although his dad does get blown up by a bomb in Iraq...