The Heartbreak Messenger by Alexander Vance

My sixth grade book club that I share with the AVID teacher is reading the book The Heartbreak Messenger.  If you are looking for a sweet and funny book about middle school, this is a fast and fun read.  Quentin, a 7th grader, has become the Heartbreak Messenger, because he thinks his single mother is struggling to make the bills.  As the Heartbreak Messenger, he gets paid to break up with people.  If you pay him a little extra, he'll throw in flowers or chocolates.  He likes the money but is the job really worth the occupational hazards such as girls attacking him or his best friend Abigail snubbing him?  Find out what Quentin does in the The Heartbreak Messenger.  Here is more on the book http://www.amazon.com/The-Heartbreak-Messenger-Alexander-Vance/dp/1250029694

Elf on a library shelf

My 5 year old daughter is early awaiting the return of our elf on the shelf named Cookie.  He appears the day after Thanksgiving.  She loves searching for him every morning and her behavior seems a lot better because of Cookie.  I was talking to her about Cookie and an idea popped into my head.  Wouldn't it be cool to have a library elf on a shelf and have some sort of contest to have kids come in and eagerly look for him?  I have learned that there are a lot of similarities between kinder and middle school kids.  I think they would totally get excited about searching for our library elf, which I believe I will call Langston.  I am going to have him in different parts of the library reading a different book a day.  The contest will be the question of "What is Langston reading?"  I have created a google form which I have embedded on my library guide (course I will have to change it daily, no biggie).  And I will draw one from the correct entries and they can pick from my treasure box of goodies (oriental trading stuff, free fine coupons, preview books, etc.).  I'm hoping it will get people into the library and maybe they'll want to check out a book.  We shall see.  I'm starting it when we get back from Thanksgiving Break.  Wish me luck!

Spookygirl

The second book I was able to read during Book Fair lulls was Spookygirl.  This was just a fun, supernatural book.  Violet can see dead people.  Her mom could too, before her death. Her mom's death is a mystery.  She was investigating a haunted house when she was killed.  Violet wants to find out what happened to her mom and more importantly find out why she hasn't seen her mother's ghost since she died 7 years earlier.  This book should be a hit for kiddos (7th grade and up) who like not super scary paranormal mysteries.  It is a short and easy read so reluctant readers might enjoy it as well.  

The Selection

This has been Book Fair week.  The only thing I can say I like about it besides giving my kids an opportunity to buy some cool books (which most choose to buy the trinkets) is that it gives me an opportunity to check out some great reads during the lulls.  I was able to read The Selection & Spookygirl.  Both books I greatly enjoyed.  

I am now a huge fan of The Selection by Kiera Cass.  If you liked the Hunger Games and Divergent, give this one a try.  Again, this book is dystopian, as most are these days.  In this society, there is a distinct social caste system.  America, the main character is a singer/musician, which is a lower caste. She is in love with a boy who is in a caste below her.  They are in love but he encourages her to enter The Selection, a competition for young women to compete to be the wife of the crown prince, because he knows he will never be able to provide for her.  She does it for him and she ends up getting chosen.  Read the first in this trilogy to find out what happens next.  FABULOUS!  Definitely a 7th grade and up book.  I'm waiting for book fair to be over so I can get the book downloaded onto my Kindle so I can read the next book in the series.

Maybe One Day by Melissa Kantor

I admit that I've been doing a lot of reading ARCs (Advanced Reader's Copies).  I like to see what's coming up instead of what's already out.  I luckily was told about Edelweiss Above the Treeline and I signed up and I am able to download ARCs to my old school, first generation Kindle for free.  Free is my favorite word!  I recently was able to download one that interested me.  It said that this book was similar to The Fault in Our Stars by John Green which is probably one of my all time new favorite books (more for the 8th grade and up group).  So, I thought, let's give it a shot.  It's called Maybe One Day by Melissa Kantor.  Like "The Fault..." Maybe One Day also has cancer front and center.  It's the heart wrenching story of your best friend getting cancer and how it changes everything in a blink of an eye.  Zoe and Olivia have been best friends since they were 4 years old .  They met in dance class.  Their world revolved around dance and they thought they were going to be world famous dancers until...the dance school kicked them out for not being good enough. This stops Zoe from dancing all together and Olivia decides to use her skills to teach an inner city class.  Unfortunately, Olivia is diagnosed with an aggressive form of Leukemia.  It sends both girls into a tail spin, one wondering if she'll live and the other feeling like a piece of her is missing even though she is healthy.  Of course, there is a cute boy who complicates things a bit.  It's a lovely and funny book for high school students (there is more mature content, language, mature situations).  Give this to your girls who loved The Fault in Our Stars or those who want a good cry.  They'll love you even though it will make them cry.  This book will be coming out Feb 18th, 2014.

Into the Dark Book #1: The Shadow Prince by Bree Despain

I admit that I am a sucker for anything that has romantic tones.  When I read the summary for the digital ARC (preview copy) I thought I'd give it a whirl.  It centered around mythology and my students are always looking for the next Rick Riordanesque book.  I can't say it was anything like Rick Riordan.  I can, however, say that it was more of Rick Riordan meets Stephanie Meyers/Maggie Stiefvater,  Into the Dark in one word is FABULOUS!  It had action, forbidden romance (that intense soul mate thing) and Greek mythology wrapped in a modern day package.

So here's the quick summary:  Haden is the son of the the King of the Underworld (not Hades, he has been killed).  He's not the favored son but the Oracle chose him (Haden) over his twin brother to go on a quest to bring back a girl, who is the key to bringing back stability and power to the underworld.  Daphne is an aspiring musician.  She has the voice and can hear music in everything.  She lives with her mother in Utah until her father, a famous rock star brings her to Olympic Hills to go to a special music school.  Little does Daphne know that she's the person Haden has to bring back to the Underworld.  She has to go willingly.  Will Haden be able to get her to trust him?  Will he be successful in his quest?  Check this book out March 11, 2014!

Washington Post Article about Poverty and Education

One of my favorite library people, Dr. Lesesne, put a link to an interesting article about education via her twitter feed.  Here is the link http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/10/09/the-bottom-line-on-sat-scores-in-one-chart/.  It really is eye opening but nothing new to those of us who have the honor of working with kiddos whose families may not have the money or knowledge to take extra prep classes or have knowledge building experiences.  I just found it interesting to see it in chart form, since I love charts.  It has so many implications for us as educators, students and parents.