24 Hour Read A Thon! - coming 4/18/09

I will be participating in my first 24-hr ReadAThon on Saturday, April 18th starting at 8am! I will NOT read for 24hrs straight but will be pretty close!! I plan on reading at least 10 books, listed in no particular order:

1. Radiant Darkness by Emily Whitman
2. The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong
3. The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong
4. Broken Soup by Jenny Valentine
5. Love You, Hate You, Miss You by Elizabeth Scott
6. Ghost Girl by Tonya Hurley
7. Ghost Girl: Homecoming by Tonya Hurley
8. The Alchemist by Paul Coelho
9. Three Girls and Their Brother by Theresa Rebeck
10. NOT SURE - Jellicoe Rd, Wintergirls, or Willow

5 of the books are ARCs so I will review those. I will update my progress, or lack thereof on Twitter. So sign up to follow: @ReadAThon for near constant updates! For more info on the ReadAThon, click the bookstack!

Friday Five

1. Fridays! - I love Fridays. For some reason they seem more relaxed than any other day of the week. We're off school today, cheated out of an extra day for Spring Break, so Jess and I are going to go into Chicago and hang out. She has a crazy schedule - "collect ourselves" being a point on it!

2. Books - I received a shipment of books from HarperTeen! I finally feel as if I've arrived. I can't wait to read and review them. I'm especially looking forward to the Kelley Armstrong books because she will be at Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville on June 2nd with Melissa Marr! Can't wait to meet them!

3. Twitter - it is so much fun. I think it's even more fun than Facebook! I've learned a lot and have such a great group of people to follow: bookstores, booksellers, authors, librarians, publishers, and reviewers. Book people love to talk about what they read! I get so many great ideas. And they are helpful. If you want to reach a ton of people quickly you should be on Twitter.

4. The Office - they are funny again! There was a point when it was kinda blah but now they are back on top! Ryan's hair! Hah! You can also follow Kevin, Dwight, and Kelly on Twitter.

5. J. Chen - the best Chinese restaurant around here! Jess and I love it. And the prices are great. Our top choice: Governor's chicken. Complete with british accent - guv'na.

Review - Five Minutes More by Darlene Ryan

[Rating: 5.0]
Five Minutes More
Darlene Ryan
Paperback: 212 pgs.
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers, April 2009

There's nowhere to look and not see coffins. ...like some kind of death department store. (p. 2)

D'Arcy and her mom are making the funeral arrangements for her dad. His car was found in the river and D'Arcy cant help wondering if it was an accident or he did it on purpose. If he committed suicide, the big question for D'Arcy is why?

"I just wanted you to know that if you have any troubling thoughts, if you need to talk to someone, I'm here." (p. 79)

As she looks for answers, D'Arcy meets Seth. He accepts her and doesn't ask questions she can't answer. Meanwhile she's growing farther and farther away from her friend Marissa, her boyfriend Brendan, and her mom. She just wants to forget the past and move on. She thinks Seth offers her that choice. But Seth has his own problems and he's looking for an escape...

"Do you know where Seth is today?" The smile disappears and his eyes shift away from me for a second. (p. 136)

Throughout the book, D'Arcy finds out a lot about herself. She has a hard time coping with who she is and what she learns about her family. D'Arcy goes on a downward spiral with no end in sight.

When my dad was here...it was never this dark and cold and empty. (p. 179)

With the exception of the spelling of D'Arcy's name, I really enjoyed this book. Orca publishes books for reluctant readers and I read this with them in mind. Claire, D'Arcy's step-sister is stereotypical - bitter about the new family and and new sister who stole her dad away. D'Arcy's mom is conveniently unaware of what's happening because she is tied up in her own grief. Marissa, D'Arcy's friend, tries to force her to confide what's happening but never goes to anyone to get help when D'Arcy refuses. Even with all of that, I think the book is great. I was blindsided by Seth's decisions and really wanted to know how the book would end. I will book-talk this one because I know some students who will love it.

Waiting on Wednesday - Demon's Lexicon

Demon's Lexicon
by Sarah Rees Brennan
Pub Date: June 2009

I'd seen this around the blogosphere but I wasn't interested. Looked hokey. Then, Melissa Marr, of Wicked Lovely fame, wrote about it on a fansite, Rath and Ruins,and she made it sound super fantastic. So now I want it. I put it on my wish list at Powell's and Book Mooch. Feel free to send it to me if you have it! I promise to love you forever.

What are you waiting on?

Brought to you courtesy of Breaking the Spine!

YA List

I found this over at The Shady Glade. I usually make a small (10 books) list like this for the people who work at our school for each summer.

The following list of books teens love, books teens should read, and books adults who serve teens should know about was compiled IN ABSOLUTELY NO SCIENTIFIC MANNER and should be taken with a very large grain of salt.

Instructions:
Put an “X” next to the books you’ve read
Put a “=” next to the books you LOVE
Put a “#” next to the books you plan on reading
Tally your “X”s at the bottom
Share with your friends!

1. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy / Douglas Adams X
2. Kit’s Wilderness / David Almond
3. Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian / Sherman Alexie X=
4. Speak / Laurie Halse Anderson X=
5. Feed / M.T. Anderson X=
6. Flowers in the Attic / V.C. Andrews
7. 13 Reasons Why / Jay Asher X
8. Am I Blue? / Marion Dane Bauer (editor)
9. Audrey Wait! / Robin Benway X
10. Weetzie Bat / Francesca Lia Block
11. Tangerine / Edward Bloor X=
12. Forever / Judy Blume X
13. What I Saw and How I Lied / Judy Blundell X=
14. Tyrell / Coe Booth X=
15. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants / Ann Brashares X
16. A Great and Terrible Beauty / Libba Bray X
17. The Princess Diaries / Meg Cabot
18. The Stranger / Albert Camus
19. Ender’s Game / Orson Scott Card X=
20. Postcards from No Man’s Land / Aidan Chambers
21. Perks of Being a Wallflower / Stephen Chbosky #
22. And Then There Were None / Agatha Christie X
23. Gingerbread / Rachel Cohn X
24. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist / Rachel Cohn and David Levithan X=
25. Artemis Fowl (series) / Eoin Colfer X=
26. The Hunger Games / Suzanne Collins X=
27. The Midwife’s Apprentice / Karen Cushman
28. The Truth About Forever / Sarah Dessen X
29. Little Brother / Cory Doctorow X=
30. A Northern Light / Jennifer Donnelly #
31. Tears of a Tiger / Sharon Draper X
32. The House of the Scorpion / Nancy Farmer #
33. Breathing Underwater / Alex Flinn
34. Stardust / Neil Gaiman
35. Annie on My Mind / Nancy Garden
36. What Happened to Cass McBride / Gail Giles X
37. Fat Kid Rules the World / K.L. Going
38. Lord of the Flies / William Golding
39. Looking for Alaska / John Green X=
40. Bronx Masquerade / Nikki Grimes
41. Out of the Dust / Karen Hesse
42. Hoot / Carl Hiaasen X
43. The Outsiders / S.E. Hinton X=
44. Crank / Ellen Hopkins
45 The First Part Last / Angela Johnson
46. Blood and Chocolate / Annette Curtis Klause
47. Arrow’s Flight / Mercedes Lackey
48. Hattie Big Sky / Kirby Larson
49. To Kill a Mockingbird / Harper Lee
50. Boy Meets Boy / David Levithan
51. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks / E. Lockhart X=
52. The Giver / Lois Lowry
53. Number the Stars / Lois Lowry X
54. Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie / David Lubar X=
55. Inexcusable / Chris Lynch
56. The Earth, My Butt and Other Big, Round Things / Carolyn Mackler X=
57. Dragonsong / Anne McCaffrey
58. White Darkness / Geraldine McCaughrean X
59. Sold / Patricia McCormick X
60. Jellicoe Road / Melina Marchetta
61. Wicked Lovely / Melissa Marr X
62. Twilight / Stephenie Meyer X
63. Dairy Queen / Catherine Murdock X=
64. Fallen Angels / Walter Dean Myers
65. Monster / Walter Dean Myers
66. Step From Heaven / An Na
67. Mama Day / Gloria Naylor
68. The Keys to the Kingdom (series) / Garth Nix
69. Sabriel / Garth Nix
70. Airborn / Kenneth Oppel
71. Eragon / Christopher Paolini
72. Hatchet / Gary Paulsen X
73. Life As We Knew It / Susan Beth Pfeffer X=
74. The Golden Compass / Phillip Pullman X
75. Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging / Louise Rennison X
76. The Lightning Thief / Rick Riordan X=
77. Always Running: La Vida Loca / Luis Rodriguez
78. how i live now / Meg Rosoff
79. Harry Potter (series) / J.K. Rowling X
80. Holes / Louis Sachar X
81. Catcher in the Rye / J. D. Salinger X
82. Push / Sapphire
83. Persepolis / Marjane Satrapi
84. Unwind / Neil Shusterman X=
85. Coldest Winter Ever / Sister Souljah
86. Stargirl / Jerry Spinelli X
87. Chanda’s Secrets / Allan Stratton
88. Tale of One Bad Rat / Brian Talbot
89. Rats Saw God / Rob Thomas
90. Lord of the Rings / J.R.R. Tolkien
91. Stuck in Neutral / Terry Trueman
92. Gossip Girl / Cecily Von Ziegesar X
93. Uglies / Scott Westerfeld X=
94. Every Time a Rainbow Dies / Rita Williams-Garcia
95. Pedro and Me / Judd Winick
96. Hard Love / Ellen Wittlinger
97. American Born Chinese / Gene Luen Yang X=
98. Elsewhere / Gabrielle Zevin X=
99. I am the Messenger / Markus Zusak X=
100. The Book Thief / Markus Zusak X=

Read - 49 still a ways to go. There are some titles I would cross off or change, though. I bolded the ones I might want to read. Not something I will keep up with though. I have a list like that - here.

In My Mailbox - April 3 - Part 2

We are doing a book fair at our school. We usually use Scholastic and it runs for two weeks including the week before Sprig Break. We also stay open late one night to be there for Student-Led conferences when parents come in. This year I wanted to try something different. I'm using Lowry's Books and More, an independent bookstore. The issues with this are: no advertising included and no advance copies of books. I'm so used to that Scholastic box coming a month in advance with posters, folders, book lists, little flyers, etc and then getting about 10 or so books early enough to read and tell students about...I forgot to do anything to advertise this fair. The cool thing is they are letting me have it after Spring Break. So I decided to bring a few books home and I will read them and see if I can drum up more interest when we return from break.


Jerk, California by Jonathan Friesen
Mexican WhiteBoy by Matt De La Pena
Burned by Ellen Hopkins
Fade by Lisa McMann

Hopefully this will help. If not, there's always next year!!

In My Mailbox - April 3 - Part 1

Ah. Time for me to tell you what books I received this week. This meme courtesy of The Story Siren. Check out her blog for more books and contests!

Bought:

Yes, I'm not supposed to being more books. I know. But I couldn't help it. Now I have my Powells.com virtual credit though so that will help for a month or two!

If I Stay by Gayle Forman
Willow by Julia Hoban

These two books were the talk of the YA blogosphere and were on my Waiting on Wednesdays posts. I will review them over on Book Blather rather than here though. I already finished If I Stay and will get to Willow soon.




Borrowed:

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles
Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Outside Beauty by Cynthia Kadohata

I got these from the library. Perfect Chemistry follows the age-old story of love with one person from the wrong side of the tracks. Let's see if Ms. Elkeles puts a new spin on it. Jellicoe Road won the Printz back in January 2009. I'm slowly working my way down that list. Outside Beauty is a new Cynthia Kadohata. I enjoyed Kira-Kira and Cracker! so hope to enjoy this one too!

Begged:
Queen of Cool by Cecil Castellucci
London Calling by Edward Bloor
SLOB by Ellen Potter
Five Minutes More by Darlene Ryan

The first two books I traded Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange to a student to read over break and she's letting me read Queen of Cool and London Calling. I've read The Plain Janes and Boy Proof and loved them both. I've read Tangerine and Taken by Edward Bloor. Five Minutes More is courtesy of LibraryThing and I must say - I LOVED IT!

Coolest thing I received this week is the ARC of SLOB by Ellen Potter. I follow her on twitter - @ellenpotter8 - and asked for a copy to review. She SIGNED the ARC and sent a personal note. How cool is that!!! She is nerdtastically awesome and I can't wait to read this!

That's some of what I have! What do you have in your mailbox this week?

Friday Five

The Friday Five

1. Spring Break - some of the best things about working for a school are the breaks. We have the next week off! I am going to read and clean, read and clean, and, possibly, go to Chicago. Definitely read and clean though!!

2. iGoogle - I keep trying to get people to use this tool. It is awesome. I have many blogs that I try to read consistently. This tool lets me organize them and see the last three posts. Much better than bookmarks. I also have some of my favorite sites: Lifehacker, Questionable Content, Slate, my Google Bookmarks, Gmail, etc. and since its web-based as long as I have an internet browser I can access them! Yay - ya!

3. Netflix - right now I get 2 movies at a time plus all of thier instant movies. Sweet! I hook the computer up to the TV and watch them whenever I want. The movies in my queue are delivered within one day of me returning the old ones. I'm watching The Outsiders right now and, up next, The Wizard of Oz! It's easy to use and fairly inexpensive! Plus, NO LATE FEES!

4. Castle - I love Nathan Fillion. Dear Nathan, I heart you. Will you marry me? Sincerely, me. PS: I would love to have that lifesize cut out of you from Castle.

5. Ipod Touch - Love it, love it, love it. The only thing I could love more would be an Iphone. Favorite apps: Fandango, Stanza, Google search, Facebook, Tweetie, and YouTube. I love that I could be somewhere, hear a song, find it in Itunes and download it. I listen to it in the car, at work, at home with speakers, I've even watched HSM3 on it. When I am rich and/or famous, I shall invest in an Iphone. It will of course be called something else, but hey, I will get it!

Review - Me, The Missing and The Dead by Jenny Valentine

Me, The Missing and The Dead
by Jenny Valentine
Pub: Harper Teen, 2007
Pgs: 201

Lucas Swain walks into the cab office because he is too tired to walk home. He's got money that his sister, Mercy, accidently left in his coat and he plans on using it. Everyone was staring at him. He looked away and then he saw her - the urn, I mean, Violet Park, she was in the urn. He didn't know her name then. But she was calling to him, compelling him to take her home. So he did, eventually.

"The main thing about my mom is that she's sad." (42) Lucas' dad, Pete, disappeared five years ago, when Lucas was 11. He wears Pete's clothes in the hopes that it will help everyone remember him. His mom hasn't moved on because no one knows what happened to Pete, and for Lucas this means he may be coming back any day now!

It turns out the dead lady in the urn, Violet Park, knew Lucas' dad The more Lucas uncovers about Violet the less he thinks it's a coincidence that he found her. His hope is that Violet will lead him to his dad and help Lucas bring Pete home. Funny though, the more he learns about Violet, the more he learns about Pete and he has to wonder, "Have I been remembering my dad correctly?" (88)

As Lucas uncovers the mystery of how Violet and Pete's connection he learns things about his mom, and his Gramps, and his little brother, Jed. Some things he wish he didn't know. "I went to my room and punched a hole in the wall, but I didn't cry." (200)

This was a fast but satisfying read. I felt as if I knew Lucas and could understand his need to idolize his dad and to find out what actually happened to Pete. I enjoyed this book very much and will book talk it April 16th

Waiting on Wednesday - Being Nikki by Meg Cabot

WOW is inspired by Breaking the Spine. Each week you list what book you are eagerly anticipating!

Being Nikki
by Meg Cabot
Publication date: May 1, 2009

I really enjoyed Airhead and lend it out of my special stash that I keep in my office. Students must return it to me and tell me what they think. I will be using it for 8th Grade book talks on April 16.

Here's a blurb from Meg Cabot's website:
There's no escape
When everyone is watching you.

Emerson Watts was pretty sure there couldn't be anything worse than being a straight A student whose brain had been transplanted into the body of a teenage supermodel.

But it turned out she was wrong.

Because that supermodel could turn out to have a mother who's mysteriously gone missing, a brother who's shown up on her doorstep demanding answers, ex-boyfriends crawling out of the woodwork who want more than just a photo op, and a British heartthrob who's written a song about her that's topping the charts.

How can Em balance all that with school, lingerie runway shows, and weekend jaunts to St. John—especially when she's got final exams; a sister who is headed to the high school cheerleading championships; a former best friend, Christopher, who's intent on destroying Stark Enterprises to avenge the death of his lost love; and a company she represents that seems to be turning to the dark side...

But then, nobody said it was going to be easy, being Nikki.

Find out what other people are waiting for at Breaking the Spine.