Incarceron

Simply amazing..... that's my impression of this fantasy novel "Incarceron" by Catherine Fisher. The cover is dark and mysterious and you just know the book is going to be too.

You meet two characters in two different worlds.... Finn is a young man trapped in an underground world, a prison within a prison.... in a hierarchy of degenerates out for themselves, his only friend Keiro, his oathbrother who looks out for him.

Claudia is a young woman, the entitled and privileged daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, the prison, who is slated to marry, against her will, the next king of the kingdom where time has stood still for hundreds of years, where technology has no place unless it is to keep things as they once were.

Does this sound too confusing? As the plot falls into place you see and feel the desperation of those who are trying to escape both prisons and see how they find the key to communicate.

I am off the buy the sequel, Sapphique, tomorrow.

Very True

Have you read "Martha Walks the Dog"by Susan Meddaugh ? The picture book with the talking dog? In it there is a dog who is told by his owner he is a bad dog and because he is called bad he acts very bad... but when he is told he is a good dog, he, well, acts good. Do others opinions of us dictate who we are and how we act?

In "True (...sort of)" by Katherine Hannigan the wonderful main character is Delly. The thing about Delly is that she is always getting into trouble.... not mean trouble but trouble all the same. It all began when she was 6 and went with her family to the County Fair. Delly could not stand to see all those chickens couped up in the coup so she let them all out. She was told it was a Bad BAD thing to do and that she was bad. She believed those words and the trouble went on and on from there...

But Delly has the uncanny understanding of when something good, a surpresent, is going to come to her. ( In Delly language a surpresent is a surprise and a present) And on Saturday Delly just knows a surpresent is coming. She waits all day and finally she feels it coming.... its in a green Impala car that comes bumping and grinding into town. But to her disappointment there is nothing in the car except a pale, skinny boy wearing a too big t shirt. Delly refuses to believe this is her surpresent.

The boy turns out to be a girl, Ferris Boyd, a very special person. Special in that she does not use words or talk ever and cannot be touched. But Delly finds something in her that is fascinating and thus begins a very special friendship.

And then there is Brud, the basketball wanna be, who stumbles over words and friends as well.

I absolutely loved this story.

It demonstrates how very rare good friendship is and once found never let it go, it demonstrates that we can communicate in so many ways if we try very hard.... with a one word note that is tucked into your pocket, with a look that tells everything you are thinking or by just sitting together not doing anything. It demonstrates how Delly and the reader learn so much about life.... that by just asking questions one does not get into trouble.

Special......

The Crime of the ....

A crime has been committed... a very serious crime where $208.00 has been stolen. "The Lemonade War" by Jacqueline Davies was the beginning of the saga when siblings Evan and his younger sister Jessie battled it out to see who could make the most money selling lemonade.

The story continues in "The Lemonade Crime" when Jessie, bright and advanced for her age, particularly in math, is now in Evan's Grade 4 class and overhears Scott tell their classmates that he has just bought a very expensive Xbox 20/20. How interesting when brother Evan has just has the profits of their lemonade war, $208.00, stolen from his shorts as he is swimming in his friend's pool. The plot thickens when it is learned that Scott, also at the same friend's house, had gone to the bedroom alone, quickly changed and and even more quickly headed off.

Jessie puts two and two together and decides to confront Scott with a trial complete with judge, lawyers and jury of classmates, to prove he is, in fact, guilty of theft. Jessie thinks it is a slam dunk but does not account for the fact that members of the class love playing the new Xbox with Scott. Evan is caught up in the middle and things just seem to go from bad to worse.

Read to find out who was right, who was wrong and who did steal the money.

The Final Battle!

Do you see what is on the cover of the latest Ranger's Apprentice? The Final Battle........ I am reading it as I write and will let you know .........

A Bit of History

"The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly, a Newberry Honor Book and as well as a YRCA 2012 choice, is a detailed look into the life of an 11 year old girl in the year 1899 in Texas. A time when girls were girls, not scientists.


What are you reading today?

Another Dreamdark

I know it has been awhile..... I have been reading adult books instead of books for kids! But I am back and have been reading and tracking down some great new titles. Stay tuned.

For now I have to write about the second book of the series Dreamdark called " Silksinger" by Laini Taylor that I enjoyed so much.

After a slow start I thoroughly enjoyed her first book, "Blackbringer" and was excited to get my hands on this story that takes place shortly after the other leaves off, with champion Magpie Windwitch, her friend Talon and her loyal band of crows on the quest of finding the fire elementals, the djinn, who together will save the world from chaos and destruction.

We soon meet up with Whisper, a young faerie who is the last of her clan and who is entrusted with the task of protecting the Azazel, a long lost fire elemental, tucked safely away in her tea kettle! Another character we are introduced to is Hirik, a young male faerie with a hidden past who is set on being the champion to the Azazel. These brave and engaging fighters come together, with a host of other intriguing characters, to fight the devils who are slowly getting closer in succeeding in their goal to find Whisper and take over the world. I think you will be suitably shocked to see who is behind all this!

This book is wildly imaginative and yet seems very real. You become immersed in the history and the culture of the clans. The plot is brilliantly woven together giving us insights into these characters' minds where we are aware of their feelings, their desires, their fears. There is both humour and despair. This book is beautifully written with wonderful lyrical descriptions and I know you will be as caught up in this tale as I have been and you will not be able to put it down.

What are you reading today?

Girls and Girls

One of my ex students, Amanda, didn't like fantasy and would always ask, "Don't you have anything real?" So I used to go looking for good "real" books just for her and the others like her.... those who didn't share my love of fantasy. I did pick up two this week, both "realish" and very different from each other.

The book I finished late last night is "Close to Famous" by Joan Bauer. This book had me simply drooling over all the glorious cupcakes described and I have learned so much about cupcakes that I am inspired to go and make some and I hate to bake!

I really enjoyed this book as I have enjoyed so many of this author's in the past. In this book Foster is a 12 year old girl, fleeing with her mom in the night to get away from an ugly incident, and finally ending up in West Virginia in a small hiccup of a town. Foster is one of those girls that I admire so much. Not a whiner or complainer or a poor me, well maybe just a little when her pillowcase full of mementos gets lost, but instead she epitomizes the saying "when the going gets tough.... the tough get going".

No job? need money? Not a problem! Foster prepares some of her scrumptious cupcakes and heads over the the town's diner to share her treats. She comes away with orders for the next day and the next... Foster's goal is to be the youngest chef on tv and she is an amazing baker.

But Foster does have a problem or two of her own and the biggest is - she can't read. She is one of those kids who are so good at getting others to read for her but because Foster is that type of kid who is likeable, honest and is a straight shooter she soon has quite a few of the town folks helping her over come this particular obstacle.






The second is "Encore Edie" by Annabel Lyon. Set in Metro Vancouver, Edie is a 13 year old girl who is just having trouble with life; trouble with her sister Dexter, trouble with her cousin who has Down syndrome and has come to live near her, trouble with her new school, trouble with the school play she has involved herself in and even trouble with a boy who likes her.

Life seems very overwhelming for Edie and I think for a lot of young girls today who just get so wrapped up in themselves and forget to look at the big picture. Things do eventually resolve with Edie feeling and acting better but I can just hear the tone and voice throughout..... whatever!

What are you reading today?