Finally...

Finally... time to write about 2 completely different books that I have just finished reading. "The Gypsy Crown" by Kate Forsyth is about 2 gypsy children living in the 1600's in England who, with their menagerie of a dancing bear, a monkey, a dog and a horse, have the job of saving their family who have all been thrown into jail with the threat of execution in a month's time. Emilia's granny has told her to get both help and a family charm from 5 other gypsy families scattered around Southern England. Emilia, with the help of her cousin Luka, sets off on this adventure gaining and losing things needed and necessary. The only problem is the constable who is on their tail trying to capture them and have them hanged! Exciting!

Also quite exciting is "Swindle" by Gordon Korman. Korman writes many different kinds of books like "Schooled" and "Son of the Mob" and his adventures series too but this one is in the humorous vein! Griffin finds an old baseball card in a dilapidated mansion slated for demolition. When a pawn broker offers him $120.00 for it he takes it only to discover the pawn broker, Mr. S. Wendell Palamino, is taking the card to auction where it is estimated to be worth one million dollars! Needless to say Griffin is very unhappy and decides to put a plan into action, a plan to take back the card! With his friend Ben and a few other fellow students he has some hilarious results in trying to get the card. Does he get caught? Has he thought of all the consequences? Read and find out.

What are you reading today?

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?

Two More...

As we head into our second week of school I am not finding enough time to read. Seriously, I am never too tired to read a bit but I am too tired to read a lot. Only two more books to tell you about....

A very interesting title about a very interesting character in "Kiki Strike - Inside the Shadow City" by Kirsten Miller. Ananka meets Kiki Strike, an unusual girl ; small, light haired, appears and disappears like magic and yet is pulling this group of misfit girls together to form the "Irregulars". Kiki introduces them into the world of the Shadow City - a labyrinth underneath the streets of New York City of tunnels and rooms and exits into important buildings which, a hundred years ago, were used for criminal activities. Kiki's goal is to take over this Shadow City before any other thieves discover this long forgotten place. However all is not what it seems. Does Kiki have another goal? Does it have something to do with the Princess? Read and find out...
The second book is called "If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period" by Gennifer Choldenko who wrote the acclaimed "Al Capone Does My Shirts". This books follows Kirsten and Walk, Grade 7 students who form an unlikely friendship only to discover a secret that leaves them both shocked and almost shattered. Kirsten is slightly overweight and her best friend is ignoring her to hang out with the popular crowd. Walk is an African American, new to the school on a scholarship and immediately starts injecting himself into situations. Bullying, race relations, friendships and parents all come into play but I think you will be very surprised at the twist this book takes.

What are you reading today?

Science & Fiction = Good

It is interesting that the last two books I have read have to do with science and fiction. These are different than Science Fiction which makes me think of outer space and aliens. No, these books have to do with things that are possibly being invented here on earth as we speak, things that could change lives or how we live. The first book is "Frozen in Time" by Ali Sparkes. The year is 1956 and Freddy and Polly are willing participants in their father's experiments of cryonic suspension, having their hearts frozen. Their father usually wakes them up two hours later. In 2009 Ben and Rachel are bored at their uncle's home until they find these two frozen children in an underground vault in the garden. You will want to know what happens next, how this has happened and why didn't their father wake them up.
"Dot Robot" by Jason Bradbury is a super exciting book about a young boy Jackson Farley, a digital genius, who is playing a video game when he is invited to a very special website. His super skills have attracted him to billionaire Devlin Lear, founder of top secret defence force MeX. Along with 3 other brilliant young gamers , his job is to fly state of the art robots around the world helping where needed...... or that is what it seems on the surface. Jackson discovers there is more to this than he anticipated and now he might be part of a huge crime.
Both good...one exciting.

What are you reading today?