Monday, October 6, 2008

Jumper by Steven Gould



Jumper by Steven Gould

Jumper starts off with lots of action. We see Davy Rice about to get whipped with a belt buckle by his Dad. He "jumps" out of the scene. We then see him in another bad situation, we get another "jump".

Davy's decided that life on his own has to be better than life with his dad. Like his mom, he leaves home. For various reasons, he winds up in New York. We see him learn to control his jumps while getting into successively (is that a word?) worse situations. Then, he makes a jump that changes his life for the better. He meets a girl and things really start looking up for Davy.

Throughout the book Davy wonders whether he is the only teleporter (another non-word?) alive. He wonders why there is so much evil in the world. He wonders why his mother left when he was 11.

He finally tracks down his mom, but a strange situation takes her from him again and Davy vows revenge. He gains more and more control over his power, but not enough control over his emotional life. He gets mixed up with the NSA. The good stuff starts going bad.

Then Davy takes control and turns things around again. We are left with many questions about Davy and his abilities.

This book only gets 3 of 5 stars. Although it was filled with action, the action seemed pointless. Sometimes Gould would flashback into scenes that didn't need a flashback. Davy made stupid decisions that even a child under 7 could see were stupid. The plot was very convoluted and many things had to happen to bring it to a resolution, and those things didn't always make a lot of sense. Still, I found it hard to put down and pretty much read it straight through. I thought the idea of "jumping" could go many different ways. Davy's ponderings about the government and the NSA involvement were very telling. I actually enjoyed the book and know many middle school boys who would get a kick out of it.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Books into Movies Challenge

Check out this Lit Flicks Challenge. You read 5 books that have been made into movies and watch at least 2 of the movies by February 28th.

This works well for me because that's one of the 8th Gr. English Teacher's themes for next month. I will be doing book talks to her class on books that have been made into movies. The students have to read the book/watch the movie and write a paper comparing/contrasting them. Two books she's given me to read are: Hoot and Princess Bride.

I also chose Lord of the Flies because I've always wanted to read that. I just need two more book choices! I think I want to watch the movies for all of them though!!

Book Club Girl suggested the following websites to find your book/movie combos:
Mid-Continent Public Library
UnSpun by Amazon
The Guardian Top 50 Movie Adaptations - scroll down for list

I also suggest you check out:
Teen Reads - here
Kids Reads - here

Have fun!! Let me know if you join.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

The Cybils Begin Today!!

It's time people - time for the CYBILS! The Cybils are Children and Young Adult Bloggers Literary Awards and nominations start today. The Cybils try to uncover books that have great literary merit and children will enjoy reading. There are nine book genres including Young Adult fiction and non-fiction, Graphic Novels, and Fantasy/Science fiction. Books must have been published between January 1 and October 15, 2008. So if you have a great book you want to nominate, head on over to the Cybils and make your voice heard!

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