Mean Girls

"Poison Ivy" by Amy Goldman Koss is a mean girls type of book. In this book Ivy has been targeted and bullied for most of her school life. Everybody accepts it, even Amy who just tries to ignore what is going on around her. Enter a teacher who sees the injustice of this and holds a mock trial that will hopefully demonstrate that bad guys get what's coming to them. But the power of popularity is a force not to be reckoned with. There are many different narrators sharing their own points of view about the events and I think you will be surprised and maybe a bit outraged at the way the story unfolds. Not a totally satisfactory ending but lots of food for thought.
What are you reading today?

3 Weeks Later

I knew this would happen... just like you I am reading but run out of time to blog about the books and then I forget what I have read! Okay here are a few I still have hanging around the house.
Two books have come my way that have to do with travelling through time and war. The first is one that I heard about before I purchased it. Titled "Nick of Time" by Ted Bell, this book is hugely popular in other places and is just now making its mark here. Set in 1939 on a small island in the English Channel, Nick's father, a lighthouse keeper, is watching for German submarine activity in the days leading up to the Second World War. Nick is an adventurous boy helping his father but uncovers a very special machine hidden in one of the island's coves. A wonderful mix of history and adventure as an evil pirate travels through time looking for this machine.
History also plays an important part in "Day of the Assassins" by Johnny O'Brien when two English school boys discover a secret in the basement of their school. When trying to evade capture, Jack Christie is thrown back into the past where a plot to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand is going to be stopped. But this assassination is the event that initiates the First World War and if the war is stopped what consequences are there for the later world?
What are you reading today?

Catching Fire

"Catching Fire" is the title of the sequel to the very exciting "Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins that I first read last January. When we left the first book Katniss and Peeta had survived the games and headed home to be treated like royalty and live a life of luxury. All is good... except for rumors of rebellion in other districts because of the stance the two made in the games. Isolated from all outside information it becomes a huge shock to discover there is to be a new game comprised of all the winners of all the previous games. Katniss and Peeta head back to the arena for a new fight to the finish with new twists and turns at every side. Just as good as the first and another is on its way... You will love this series and don't miss it!

What are you reading today?

My Favourites Again

It has been a hectic three weeks but I managed to read two new books in one of my favourite series "The Ranger's Apprentice". I borrowed them from VPL as they purchase them direct from Australia where author John Flanagan resides. Needless to say I loved them and am anxiously awaiting the next and the next and the ......
Book 7 "Erak's Ransom" takes Will, Halt, Horace, Gilan and Princess Cassandra to the desert lands south of the Constant Sea to rescue their Skandian friend Erak. Treachery, fierce nomadic tribes and the harsh desert elements combine to make this an exciting adventure. Will loses Tug in a sand storm and goes after him only to find himself on the brink of death when he makes a wrong turn. The others go after Erak only to find themselves at the mercy of unforgiving enemies.I turned immediately to "The Kings of Clonmel" Book 8 for a whole new adventure where Will, Halt and Horace travel west to Hibernia to try to oust the religious Outsiders from taking over the last of the country's kingdoms. Halt has a very personal connection - not only to the kingdom but to its king as well. But it is Horace who steps up to risk his life for his friends and this kingdom. This story is to be continued in Book 9.

What are you reading today?