Reading

Read and need to review:

• Confessions of a Serial Kisser
• Avalon High
• Nugrl90
• The Luxe
• Wish You Were Here
• Confessions of a Blabbermouth

Abandoned:

• Guyaholic

Up Next:

• The Glass Castle
• Thank you, Lucky Stars
• Geek Magnet
• Book of a Thousand Days

Reality Chick by Lauren Barnholdt

Reality Chick
Ally Cavanaugh decides she wants to be on a reality TV show. In her freshmen year of college. That begins the unrealistic part of the book. The setting, the television show, could have been changed without changing the book. The book could have been changed and you wouldn’t know you were reading something different. It really had that “haven’t I read that before” quality and not in a good way.

If Barnholdt would have explored the photography angle and the growing relationship between Drew and Ally, the book would have been much better. A little less name-dropping would help too – it will really date the book. Barnholdt also portrays Ally’s parents as idiots and her best friend as the stereotypical gay guy obsessed with his looks. So campy. Those parts could have been left out and would have improved the story.

Barnholdt’s Two-way Street is a much better book.

How to Hook a Hottie by Tina Ferraro

How to Hook a Hottie

Let’s just start with the title. Bad. Can you imagine having to ask for this book in a store or at the library? How embarrassing! This book was unrealistic from beginning to end - the mom moving to Germany to work on her degree, Kate earning money so she doesn’t have to go to college, the nerd dating the most popular guy in school, and then everyone wanting to know her secret. It was totally predictable and the ending could be determined within the first two chapters. Nothing was explored in depth. We all want to believe that you can cross the lines of popularity. This book does not help us.

Airhead by Meg Cabot

Let me just start this by saying I am NOT a Meg Cabot fan. So I went into this with a bias – but hoping that I would be proved wrong.

Emerson Watts is a “feminist” – she doesn’t dress like a girl, she doesn’t wear makeup and she plays video games every chance she gets.

Nikki Howard is a “model” – she’s tall, skinny, and not very bright. She is loved by every guy who sees her.

Nikki is the new face of Stark Enterprises and everything Emerson sees as what’s wrong with society.

*****SPOILER ALERT*****
Emerson has to take her younger sister Frida – a Nikki Howard fan – to a grand opening ceremony of a new Stark Enterprises megastore. They are there to see Stark;s new singer, Gabriel Luna but they see Nikki walking through the store. Frida chases after Nikki to get her autograph and almost has a television fall on her head. The only thing that saves her – is Emerson.
When Emerson comes to, she finds out that her brain has been transplanted into Nikki Howard’s body.
*****END SPOILER*****

Looks vs. Brains? Can you have both? Does our society put a premium on what’s on the outside or what’s on the inside?

The Fold by An Na

The Fold
Joyce and Gina are best friends ending their junior year of high school. They are determined to make this summer one of transformation. They want to look better, prettier, to stand out and be noticed. When they go back to school in the fall, they want people to say Wow. Who wouldn’t want that?

What steps are you willing to take to be “pretty”? Joyce’s Aunt Gomo offers her the chance of a lifetime. She will pay for Joyce to get her eyes done. Get her eyes done? Will that work? Is that all she needs to be beautiful? Joyce has a decision to make. Will the surgery get her what she wants?

The Fold follows Joyce on her quest for popularity. She has to decide how far she wants to go to get what she wants.

Although this story has a great premise, it is predictable and slow-moving. Joyce’s obsession with John Ford Kang is unrealistic based on what he writes in her yearbook. Her loathing of her sister Helen is selfish and has no basis and knowing what we do about Gomo – leads us to the conclusion long before we get there.

The SummerBC has picked!

The top 5 novels for us to read this summer are:

1. Reality Chick by Lauren Barnholdt
2. Confessions of a Serial Kisser by Wendalin Van Draanen
3. The Luxe by Anna Godberson
4. Audrey, Wait by Robin Benway
5. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

We will discuss Reality Chick on June 19th. In the meantime, check out some of Lauren Barnholdt's favorite musicians.

YA Summer Book Club Choices

The girls (8th/9th/10th grade) get to pick their top 5 and then we will see which ones we read. Our first book will be Reality Chick by Lauren Barnholdt and our last book will be Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer.

1. It's All About Us by Shelley Adina
2. Audrey, Wait by Robin Benway
3. Shift by Jennifer Bradbury
4. Mixed Bags by Melody Carlson
5. Take Me There by Susane Colasanti
6. How to Hook a Hottie by Tina Ferraro
7. Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty by Judy Gerham
8. Imaginary Enemies by Julie Gonzales
9. Luxe by Anne Gunderson
10.In Between by Jenny B. Jones
11. My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger
12. How to be Bad by Lockhart, Mylnowski, Myracle
13. Suck it Upby Brian Meehl
14. Dairy Queen/The Off Season by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
15. Thirteen by Lauren Myracle
16. The Fold by An Na
17. How to Build a House by Dana Reinhardt
18. Geek Magnet by Kieran Scott
19. The Comeback Season by Jennifer E. Smith
20. Lost It by Kristen Tracy
21 Me, The Missing and The Dead by Jenny Valentine
22. Confessions of a Serial Kisser by Wendelin Van Draanen

Really hard to pick just 5! I know that #14 is actually two books but you gotta read both! What are your picks?

Top 20 YA Books I Want to Read

1. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie
2. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
3. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by MT Anderson
4. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
5. My Name is Chloe by Melody Carlson
6. Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
7. The Opposite of Invisible by Liz Gallagher
8. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
9. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
10. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
11. Sunrise over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers
12. Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
13. The Off Season by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
14. The Fold by An Na
15. Unwind by Neil Shusterman
16. Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
17. Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
18. Climbing the Stairs by Padma Venkatraman
19. Black and White by Paul Volponi
20. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak


I'm halfway there..!

A Poem A Day - Clean the World

Keeping our Earth clean,
Makes for a better place to live,
For you and for me.

Here's one of our Haiku collaborative poems. Just in time for Earth Day.

Spring Break

It's spring break for our school this week. I need to catch up on my assignments for my library classes! I hope you all have a wonderful week and I will bring you more student poetry next week!