Warriors 1: Into the Wild

Into the Wild marks the beginning of Erin Hunter's amazing series. The kitty pet rusty is changed forever when Graystripe, an apprentice wildcat, attacks from the forest. When rusty is pulled in his life is changed forever. The great novel brings the newly born character to light. By the end of the book this unlikely hero finds out his amazing proficy from his medicine cat. I would always read this book first out the 2 series he has created.
As a final statement I would just say that that this is the beginning of a masterpiece.

Rating:4.5/5
"a suspenseful animal adventure that will leave readers eyeing Puss a bit nervously"

-Kirkus Reviews

Ages 10+ because of the more violent chapters

Monthly Winner!!!

I am sorry - this post should have been on Monday, but I got so caught up in reading good books that I completely forgot - Remember that these winners are for posts before 11:59 PM on Sunday.

Today's winner is...














Little Brother, by Cory Doctrow...


This fantastically written book was a good read - I would have given it the PRINTZ award - FAR BETTER than Jellicoe Road, especially if you understood the politics involved.

i also found out some more fabulous news! THIS BOOK HAS BEEN NOMINATED FOR THE NEBULA AWARD!!!

I warmly anticipate Doctrow's next novel (if it exists)

Congratulations!!!

My next award will be on Wednesday, March 25!
see you then!

The finalists for the SECOND ANNUAL CHILDREN'S CHOICE BOOK AWARDS

The second annual children's choice book award finalists have been announced. Remember to vote at www.BookWeekOnline.com from March 16 through May 3.

I put in bold what I think is the best books - no pressure for you to vote for that book though.

The favorite book finalists were determined by close to 15,000 children and teens.

Teen Choice Book Award
Airhead by Meg Cabot (Point/Scholastic)
Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown and Company) - I wouldn't vote for this one
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press)
Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen (Viking/Penguin Young Readers Group)
Paper Towns by John Green (Dutton/Penguin Young Readers Group)

Author of the Year
Jeff Kinney, Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
Stephenie Meyer, Breaking Dawn - I wouldn't vote for this one
Christopher Paolini, Brisingr
James Patterson, Maximum Ride: The Final Warning
Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Battle of the Labyrinth

P.S. The MONTHLY BLOG WINNER will be announced later today!

Cybils announced!

Fantasy & Science Fiction: Middle Grade
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Fantasy & Science Fiction: Young Adult
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Middle-Grade Fiction
The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd

Young Adult Fiction
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

Non-Fiction: Middle Grade/Young Adult
The Year We Disappeared: A Father-Daughter Memoir by Cylin Busby and John Busby

Graphic Novels: Elementary/Middle Grade
Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale, illustrated by Nathan Hale

Graphic Novels: Young Adult
Emiko Superstar by Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Steve Rolston

Poetry
Honeybee by Naomi Shihab Nye

Congratulations! I wanted to add that I loved The London Eye Mystery and The Hunger Games.

Saving Francesca and Looking for Alibrandi

Hello,

I just finished reading Saving Francesca and Looking for Alibrandi, two novels by Melina Marchetta, who also authored Jellicoe Road, the Printz Literature Award for Teens winner this year.

In Saving Francesca, Melina Marchetta weaves a tale of a girl who has a mother in acute depresssion. Francesca, the protagonist, wants to help her mother, but doesn't know how. She looks it up online, but all that she finds is some information about how the "root cause must be addressed." Francesca goes through teh job of finding her mother's root cause, while facing problems at school and at home.

In Looking for Alibrandi, Marchetta writes about a girl who doesn't know her father. Then, her father moves in with her grandmother, who doesn't even know that he is Josephine's father. Josephine Alibrandi is the protagonist by the way. The book, a great first by Marchetta, was amazingly good, and follows the storyline very well. Book readers can only hope that Josephine gets through the ride of her life without some kind of nervous breakdown - that is, untli you read the book! This book also came out as a film - in case any of you are interested.

Looking for Alibrandi:

4.2/5
Good

Ages 13 +

Saving Francesca:

4.0/5
Good

Ages 13 +

The Dead and The Gone

Hello,

I just finished reading The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer.

This was a book about the same time as Life As We Knew It, With the only difference being that it was told from a religious boy woho lived in a city' s point of veiw, and not a practically atheist girl who lived in a small town.

Another major difference was that there was a lot more heartfelt death - first the boy's parents, then (THIS IS A SPOILER) his sister.

Certainly more sad, and Pfeffer show again her natural knack at immersing the reader in the book. Certainly a better job done on the sequel, after getting used to the idea, and Pfeffer did throw more surprises at the reader along the way...

Another thriller, and I know that I will be expectantly waiting for her next book - that is if it exists...

I gave the first book a 4.8, so I feel inclined to give this a 4.9, not that it was better than teh other 4.8 books - it just was so good that it would beat the first book any day

4.9/5
Probably the next "BOOK OF THE MONTH"

Ages 9 and up... If the first was a horror story, This one is scarier...

The Graveyard Book

Hello,

Welcome back to the world of books. Ah... there are so many to choose from. That is why this blog exists... To help you decide which book to choose...

Today, my recommendation is on The Graveyard Book, a wonderful thriller written by Neil Gaiman, and the winner of this year's Newbery Award. If any of you don't know, (you should be ashamed of calling yourself a book lover if you have never heard of it) the Newbery (one R) Award is a prestigious award that is given yearly by the ALA to a children's book.

The novel was quite good - a bit slow at the beginning - but a good choice overall. In it, Gaiman describes an orphaned boy (his parents were murdered) and how he grows up in a graveyard. Bod (short for Nobody) Owens is a giving boy, working hard to rid his school of bullies, yet he is lonely. In a graveyard, there are only dead people, so Bod gets bored... The novel illustrated his excursions and explorations - speaking if illustrations, Dave McKean did a great job on them...

4.5/5

Better that most

Ages 6 and up... A great book, to read or to be read to - does contain mild violence

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw

Ha Ha Ha...

I finished reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw, by Jeff Kinney, and it gave me the usual Diary of a Wimpy Kid laugh. In this book, Greg is set by his dad to do some "manly" endeavors, and to reduce his wimpyness. Greg, of course, sidesteps every one of his dad's needs, from continuing to wear his mother's bathrobe, to volunteering for substitute goalie in order to sidestep soccer time.

Kinney weaves a thriller again with Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw.

4.9/5
"Worth Every Cent"

Ages 7 and up

Savvy

I just finished reading Savvy, a novel by Ingrid Law! Oh, let me slow down - I even forgot my greeting! Still, it was a very good book, and if I was deciding the Newbery, I would have voted this over The Graveyard Book. Oops! I wasn't supposed to tell you about that review that is coming up soon.

Anyway, Savvy was about a family that has special powers. The family calls their powers their "savvy." In the book, Mibs, the main character, chances stowing away on a rickety bus to try to save her father, who had been in an accident.

That day, she was going to find out what her savvy was, and she convinced herself that it would save here father.

She finds love, sadness, and almost every other emotion after the bus ends up going in the wrong direction.

Law wrote a wonderful tale of happiness and sadness, love and affection, cruelty and loneliness.

4.8/5
Very Good

Ages 8 and up

The Big Game of Everything

Hello!

I just finished reading The Big Game of Everything, a fantastic novel by Chris Lynch. It is about a boy named Union Jack, pronounced "Onion Jock," and his family. Over summer vacation, he takes a journey through the truth of the following rule: You have to love your family. It is a rule, and the main character claims that if you don't follow the rule, you must be some kind of animal. Of course, he goes on to say that his brother is that kind of animal, but still, he seems to snincerely believe it.

That thought gets him through the summer, when he goes to help out his grandfather at his golf course. He lives with bankruptcy, family craziness, and more. And he gets though it, loving his family affectionately the whole time.

A wonderful read, especially for young readers - it is classified as YOUNG ADULT, but I thinnk that a 6 year old would get a bigger kick out of it.

4.2/5
Very good read...

Ages 5 and up - that is maintaining that the 5 year old will understand the vocab - a parent might want to read it to a young child