Dead City Review

Dead City by James Ponti This book is on the Sunshine State list for 2014-2015. It is about Molly, a seventh grader, who attends MIST. MIST is a school for gifted students and where he mother went to school. She doesn't have many friends and hangs out at the morgue where her mom worked before she passed away. All that changes when she is recruited to join a team of Zombie hunters called Omegas. The story is about her building relationships and learning what she needs to be a member of the team. I really enjoyed this book. It was a really fun adventure story. I loved Molly and the choices she makes really make a lot of sense. I liked that the we got to see this story from her perspective so you get to really understand how the character feels. It wasn't a scary book so it is good for kids. This is the first book the sequel is Blue Moon. I also loved the first page of this book!

The Boy at the End of the World Review

The Boy at the End of the World by Greg van Eekhout This is not usually a book I would pick up on my own to read. I had to think about this book after I finished it because I wasn't really sure how I felt about the book. This book really stuck with me and I am still thinking about it after a week. It is a mix of The Matrix, Terminator, and The Wizard of Oz and that may seem like a really weird combination the book does have elements of those movies. It takes place after humans are no longer on Earth. Humans got to a point where they could not reproduce and survive in the world they had altered. So what they do is create several Arcs. In these arcs they have frozen people, animals, and plants that will be woken up when the Earth is habitable again. Something attacks the Arc Fisher is in and as the only survivor the robot in charge of the Arc selects a personality profile and awakens him. This book is about Fisher's journey to discover if he is the last human on the Earth or if there are others out there. This was a very fast paced book and kept a pretty steady momentum through the story. I also enjoyed the characters. As Fisher travels he meets different animals and the author paints a world in which nature has taken back the Earth. It was a very interesting look at what could happen if humans are not more concerned with the choices they are making. I think books like this are good for kids to read. It allows them to think about their actions big and small and how they do effect people.

The Doll Bones by Holly Black This book is about three kids who acquire a haunted doll. Zach, Poppy, and Alice have been friends for a long time and they decide to go on a quest to discover who the ghost girl who is visiting and communicating with Poppy is and hat happened to her. This is a great coming of age story. The kids are in the painful stage of changing and growing up. When it is time to focus on becoming who you are and to start putting away childish things. They all struggle with what they want to do and what they feel they should be doing. You watch the characters grow and discover more about themselves and each other. They are trying to navigate through their changing relationships and trying to help and understand the ghost. This was a good middle grades book. It was a bit creepy and if you have someone who isn't a big fan of dolls this book is not for them. I loved that the book had some illustrations to go with it. They were very well done and they were so beautifully done. I took the book out of my school's library and plan on buying my own copy of the book. I enjoyed everything about this book.

Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick

This is the first book I have read written by Becca Fitzpatrick. I was not sure if I was going to enjoy this book going in, because I am usually not a fan of thrillers but I was pleasantly surprised and I do have to say that I loved this book. I gave it 5 stars. I thought the pacing was very well done and it kept you on the edge of your seat. I think it did slow down for a bit in the middle, but it picked up again and was very well written. While I did have problems with some of the characters because I thought they were annoying. It may be accurate depictions of high school kids, so it may just have been me having trouble connecting. But beside that I did love this book. I am really glad I bought a lovely hardcover edition. I have a copy of her book Hush, Hush on my bookshelf and can't wait to get to read it.

How has social media changed my perspective on my reading?

I was thinking about this question earlier this week. As a kid my reading life was a very solitary hobby. I selected my books by going into the book store and seeing what caught my attention. I remember wandering around the Books-A-Million or the smaller Walden bookstore that were in the shopping plaza down the street. My mother would take us to the bookstore frequently and we would pick out books or just wander around and read a variety of books. I would select books from the kids section and when I got older I moved into classics. The fiction section was a bit too daunting for me and I loved reading classics so that is what I read. My book selection was looking at classics or buying books that were on sale. I had one friend that we would talk about books occasionally, but it was not a regular occurrence. I loved talking about books and stories in my English classes. Hearing other peoples thoughts and perspectives on the stories and how it affected people differently. I wanted to hear what people thought and how we saw it differently. So my reading before social media was very solitary. In the last few years my reading has become a more social activity. Once I started getting more into Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram it allowed me to share my passion for books and follow others who are just as passionate. I can get book recommendations and reviews from people around the world. I can have discussion with people online all over the world about books we are reading or want to read. This has opened up the opportunity to stretch myself as a reader. I can explore different types of books and get ideas on where to start with new genres I want to try. Once there it was an obvious move to branch out to Book Tube videos. I am now on You Tube all the time watching a variety of Book Tubers who are reviewing and discussing books. This has made me even more aware of different books out there and what I might be interesting to check out. It also allows me to anticipate when books will come out. I am also more aware of new releases and what to pick up that people are talking about. Some Book Tubers also have groups on Goodreads that then discuss a specific book and you can be a part of an online book club. While I still struggle with finding people to meet with in person, I can find discussion and suggestions on different social media sites. I can get involved in live web chats and watch videos that allow me discover new authors and genres that I would otherwise not have known about. It also makes me more culturally aware of what and who I am reading. I think social media has made me a more active reader because I like to share my thoughts and see what other people are saying about specifics books and the book world in general. Podcasts are another great way to learn about books and interact with others on your thoughts and questions. I have discovered so many interesting books and book news from the wide variety of podcasts available to me. I also think that all of these avenues of exploration all us to feel more connected to each other as readers. Reading is becoming a more social hobby in which we can share our thoughts and feelings with each other. I am excited to see how our communities as readers changes and grows.

Worlds Afire by Paul B. Janeczko

I had never heard of the 1944 Ringling Bros. and Barnum disaster. This book is written in blank verse and from different people's points of view. Each poem gives the perspective of someone who was at the disaster. It starts with their point of view before, during, and after the fire. It was interesting to see the various point of views and how they may have seen the situation and how the event may have been seen from their point of view. This was a very well done book and one of my favorite books written in verse.

Book Mail

I got a couple book sin the mail that I am very excited about. 1. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. Harper Perennial has released a 50th Anniversary Edition of the book. It is such a gorgeous book I could not resist picking it up. It has a black cover with shiny pink and silver lettering. I am very excited to re-read this. 2. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. I have heard a lot of good things about this book and am excited to read it. I am hoping once I read it I can put it in my classroom library for the kids to read as well. 3. Bad Boy by Walter Dean Myers. I bought two copies of this book for my classroom library. We read an excerpt from it in class and the kids were very interested in it. So I had to pick up a couple copies for the kids to read. I put in two orders from Book Outlet. I am very excited about what I picked up on that site and what great prices I got.

Sleepy Hollow: Children of the Revolution by Keith DeCandido

Sleepy Hollow: Children of the Revolution by Keith DeCandido I am a big fan of the T.V. show. When I saw this as an option on the Blogging for Books site I was excited to give it a chance. I really liked the writing style for this book. It definitely had the same feel and mood for the T.V. show. The plot was interesting but I at times I wasn't quite sure where it fit into the season. But the back of the book as an explanation of how the book fits between the episodes “The Golem” and “The Vessel.” The problem I had with this book was that it was structured just like the T.V. show. There were a lot of flash backs for numerous characters and I felt that slowed the book down. While this works great in the T.V. show, in the book I felt it pulled me away from the current story and I wanted to know how that went. The flashbacks where really not that necessary. It also made some of the scenes a bit confusing. So I liked the book for the most part. I gave 3 out of 5 stars to this book. If you are a fan of the show you will probably find it entertaining. I got this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.

Reading Challenge

I have been spending a lot of time watching book tube videos. One of the topics that has come up a few times is the idea of doing reading challenges. I did not realize what a hot topic this was. I feel like approaching this topic negatively from either side is not a great approach. I was actually surprised how passionately people where for or against them. I have done the Goodreads reading challenge for a couple years now. In 2012 I didn't reach my goal of 50 books, I got to 28 books, but that did not bother me. In 2013 I challenged myself to read 50 books and I surpassed my goal and read 53 books. This year I challenged myself to read 52 books in the year. As of today (10/3/14) I have read 63 books. Over the last couple for years I have made reading more of a priority. I also know my number is higher for me because of the types of books I enjoy reading. I also have been reading more because I am a middle school Language Arts teacher. I need to be able to recommend books to my students and model that I am a reader. I use the 40 book challenge in my classroom that Donaylnn Miller writes about in her book The Book Whisperer. I think this is the book that really had me making time to read. I challenged my students to read 40 book in a school and I felt I had to model this and participate as well. Now there are a lot a of rules I use to help students achieve this. They don't have a page minimum, any book over 350 pages counts as two books, and they may read graphic novels. Also middle grades books tend to be shorter reads. So this is not an unobtainable goal for them. But we also celebrate the success they have. If they read 20 books that year I make them feel great about that because that is usually a lot more books then they typically read. This also started me on reading a variety of genres. Since I need to have book recommendations in a variety of genres this means I have to read widely. I do read a lot young adult and am working on including more genres to my TBR. I also do the challenge instead of giving them book lists. I have tried that in the past and students hate selecting a book off a list. This gives them the freedom to explore and discover what they like. Now while that has also broadened my own reading horizons, I also find I like the reading challenges throughout the year. This year for example I have a few challenges going on. I have my Goodreads challenge of 52 books, I do the 40 book challenge between August to June, and I have a 25 categories challenge. The last one I chose to do because I wanted to stretch myself as a reader. I don't find it stressful or feel under the gun to read a certain number of books. My average is about four books a month. I do average one a week. Sometimes it takes me two weeks to get through a book and sometimes I fly through a couple in a weekend. I also read graphic novels which don't take as long to read. So it does depend on what I want to read. It also depends on how much time I have during the week. Having the challenges are like goals for me. But it helps me stay focused on my reading as opposed to freaking myself out. Now I also do not make a goal of a number that I don't think is obtainable. So I don't see a problem if people want to participate in a reading challenge. I was starting to feel a bit bad and having some self doubts as I watched the growing number of Book Tubers telling me how stupid it is. But you know what if the challenges make me a more focused and motivated reader then so be it. I don't have a problem if you find them stressful and choose not to do them, that is what is right for you. But I am not going to feel bad or like less of a reader because I do enjoy them.