Friday, May 4, 2012

Book Review: The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens

Oh my gosh, gosh, giddy-gosh! 
I just finished The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens yesterday, and I must admit, I was impressed.  Try to stay with me here, this is going to get complicated...
Imagine three siblings who are torn from their parents at quite a young age to be shuffled from orphanage to orphanage for ten years.  What keeps them going is the promise that their mother made to Kate, the oldest:  they will come back for them. 
When the three are sent to an old, run down mansion in Cambridge Falls, they think they have hit rock bottom.  There are no other children at the orphanage - in fact, there are no children anywhere.  The landscape is barren, the people are openly hostile, and the weather is abominable.  While exploring the old mansion, the students come across a mysterious book - one that can transport them to different times in history.  They are immediately sent back in time 15 years, and Cambridge Falls is completely different.  The landscape is beautiful and the mansion is gorgeous.  The children of the town have all been taken hostage by an evil witch who will stop at nothing to find the mysterious book - the one that just brought Kate and her siblings back to the past!  Kate must figure out a way to save her brother and sister, the town, the children, and find out where her parents are located all without the witch taking possession of the book.  She does not get all of these tasks accomplished, but three out of four ain't bad! There will definitely be sequals!
There is action, adventure, magic, monsters, and even dwarves!!  I found the book to be entertaining and an easy read.  I have already recommended it to some of my fantasy kiddos, and I hope they come back with raving reviews!

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Reorganizing the Library Part Deaux

Hello, all!
I forgot to mention that I completed the ficiton re-org that I began at the beginning of the year!  Okay, it was actually completed a couple of months back, but I did not update you on the progress.  We decided on five genres that would best fit our library - general fiction, suspense (which includes mystery and horror), graphic novels, sports fiction, girl's favorites (chick lit.), fantasy, sci-fi, adventure, historical fiction and classics. 
The neat part is now I know what the kiddos here enjoy most.  Fantasy.  Fantasy!  I would have told you it was suspense, but nope, Fantasy.  The top three are Fantasy, Girl's Lit, and Suspense.  My least looked at genre is historical ficiton.  Now I know I need to start creating displays highlighting that genre - there are some real gems in there!!
I have posted some pictures of the library, so you can see examples.

An example of Girl's favorites

Fantasy - the school favorite!

Suspense - notice the Darren Shan alongside Willo Davis Roberts

My chart to let kiddos know what the colors mean
The "map" of the shelves so students can navigate their way


Book Review: I Am A Genius Of Unspeakable Evil And I Want To Be Your Class President


While shopping for books to place on the cornucopia of knowledge that is my library shelf, I wandered across this title.  I must admit, I was intrigued.  I began reading reviews ingratiated with phrases such as "laugh out loud funny" and "comedic writing at its best".  Now I was doubly intrigued.  So, I did it.  I bought the book along with countless others that I hoped would grab the attention of my adolescent readers.  Truth be told, I really wanted to read it because I thought, "If the title is this good, imagine what is on the inside!"  In four-to-six weeks the book arrived, and I immediately began reading it.  I was not disappointed.  The book follows the exploits of young evil genius Oliver, who hides his astounding intellect with astounding oafishness.  His mother provides unconditional love, and he loves her right back.  His dog, Lollipop, has been trained in the Basque language so that when Oliver gives her commands like "Kill" or "Maim", people think he is just speaking gibberish.  At school, Oliver gets enjoyment by messing with teacher's heads - he owns a cigarette company, so he has them print messages on his teacher's cigarettes like "take a bath" or "use deoderant".  Kids that try to pick on him generally get hit with some kind of chemical that makes them break out into a mass of pimples or suddenly find themselves with some sort of mysterious rash. 
Oliver has billions of dollars, owns major corporations, and even has his own private blimp, but the one thing he does not have is his father's approval.  Oliver decides that he will gain his father's approval as well as bring his self-rightousness down a notch by running for 7th grade class president.
Oliver must figure out how to run for class president against a worthy-enough-to-run-but-not-worthy-enough-to-win opponent, overthrow a dictator, survive an assassination attempt, and maintain his idiotic demeanor all at the same time.  And, oh yeah, figure out his feelings for the evil junior high "mean girl".
Part of the book gets to be a bit preachy about the democratic process, and it does poke jabs at some of the characteristics of our elected leaders, but overall it was a good read.
The book is hilarious, but I think some of the material might be over many of my students' heads. I have recommended it to my hard-core higher level readers, most of who, have stated they "thought it was funny."  As far as middle schoolers go, that's high praise!