Currently reading
At the library I work at we have a new craft area with a tree. The tree gets named something to go along with the season or special event (birthday, holiday, etc.), and we decorate it with the craft that goes along with the theme. For the first part of March the tree is called "The Truffula Tree" for Dr. Seuss's birthday.
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Kings of Nowhere by Patrick de Moss
I'm so excited for this book that I can't wait to get off work to start reading :D
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The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
I would first like to lay out on the table that I'm not easily scared by horror books. I don't know why, maybe it's lack of imagination, but I find horror movies much more stimulating and scary. I remember my sister telling me to read the Amityville Horror because it was terrifying, so I decided to pick it up and it turned out to not be that terrifying to me.
That said, I didn't find The Woman in Black that scary. It did have a creepy atmosphere, and I was creeped out at times, but not overly scared. Now you're probably thinking why then give the book a 4 star rating. Good question. Despite it not, in my opinion, being scary I still think this is a really good book, with good writing, and good story telling. Honestly, that's all I ask for in a book sometimes.
This book instantly got an extra star when I read on the very last page, "For Tiffany, who was worth the wait." And that's just the last page!
This is a charming little book. There are no words to read, so you have to let the illustrations speak for themselves. I always get excited when a book is like this because when I'm reading books to kids I don't actually have to read it to them (heheh), and I've always felt when it comes to picture books and graphic novels if they're using a lot of narration instead of using the illustrations to tell the story than they're failing at how the book is supposed to tell the story.
When the boy's red airplane gets stuck on the roof of a house he tries different ways of getting it down. Failure after failure, he decides to plant a tree near the house. At this point it initially gets a little depressing (yes :(, depressing) as he has to wait years, and years, and years for the tree to grow tall enough for him to climb up it and retrieve his long lost airplane. However, he seems to be perfectly content and happy to finally have it back despite his old age. So it's all good.
Now, I too, am thinking why he didn't just ask an adult to help him. He certainly would have had his airplane back much sooner. That brings me back to what was said on the last page.
Aw, poor Mortimer! He's lonely, and all he wants is somebody to love. I get you Mortimer, I get you.
I really, really, realllyy liked Eleanor and Park. At first when I opened the book I was a little put off and I didn't want to finish it, but nope! It didn't take much to rope me in. So you have the two main characters, Eleanor and Park, who seem like they come from different sides of the tracks. Park lives with his loving family who are pretty well off and the worst thing he has to worry about is his dad not allowing him to get his drivers license (oh the humanity!), and Eleanor lives with her mom and her step-dad (who is evil by the way) who can't afford to replace the door on the bathroom (who knows what happened to it in the first place), put food on the table, buy decent clothes, etc. Oh yeah, and Step-dad is abusive towards sometimes loving, but sometimes cold Mom.
Back to Eleanor and Park! It doesn't start out that great for them. They don't even talk to each other for a good first part of the book. One day on the bus Park notices that Eleanor is reading his comic books an over the shoulder type thing, and starts lending them to her. And thus, the barrier has been broken. This is one thing I love about this book. They start bonding over comic books!
Another aspect I love about this book is the part that's touching up on being with some one that everybody else in the world looks down upon for being weird, or coming from that particular family, or just not being normal in general, and being okay with that. Because it's not just about you becoming comfortable with the way the world looks at that person, but about you becoming comfortable with the way the world looks at you for being with that person.
Oh where to begin with this book. When I first started reading this book there were little things about it that bugged me. Like how the main character, Mia, has a very black and white look on the ways of life. At some point (I don't really know when)it became hard to put down, and I just devoured it. As the book progressed I could see the slight changes in her character, and by the end of the book she starts to see the grey areas in the world and comes to the conclusion that maybe life isn't always about having to pick and choose between one or the other. If it wasn't for that I don't think I would have liked the book as much. This is the kind of character growth that is important in books. I'm looking forward to reading the second book!
I'm so happy I finally decided to pick The Giver up. Actually, the library I work at started up an employee book club, so I have them to thank. There may be spoilers ahead...
The Giver is a short read, but a very good read. As a dystopia usually goes, the book starts out with a world seemingly so perfect that you see how a society like that would be appealing. As the book progresses the imperfections of the rules and normalcy that has been established in the Community start to become apparent. As each child in this Community becomes a Twelve they are assigned their job for training. The main character, Jonas, is selected to become the Receiver of Memory. As he takes on the role of Receiver of Memory, which is held by only one person, he starts to see the imperfections and why they're imperfect. An interesting aspect of the book is that Jonas spends most of the time coming to realize the flaws of his community versus him actively standing up against the Community. At the very end he does leave to seek what is 'outside' and you know it'll cause a stir, but it doesn't give you any hint as to whether anything in the community was changed by his leaving.
Overall I really like this book. It's a nice simple read if you're looking for something short, but it still has the thought provocation a dystopia, or any book, needs.
This book deserves negative stars. I wouldn't even wish this book upon my enemies. On a more positive note, this is the last book!
After 3 seasons of the tv series, and some people trying to get me to read the graphic novel I finally decided to pick it up. I had a lot of apprehension about reading The Walking Dead because I didn't want to go back and tell those people I didn't like it, but I have to say I'm not at all disappointed in the first volume. The story is good of course, and I liked the dialog well enough. I really respect how Kirkman doesn't always rely on words, and instead allows you to just enjoy the artist telling the story. That's what makes me really appreciate graphic novels. Because there's art in it for a reason, right? I only hope that remains to the end.