13 Little Blue Envelopes

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

Ginny a seventeen year old girls receives a package in the mail from her recently deceased Aunt. In the package are thirteen little blue envelopes and a set of instructions. The envelopes can be opened one at a time and only after the task on the opened envelope is completed. While completing this project she can have no contact with anyone in the United States and she must leave with only one backpack, nothing else. The first envelope takes Ginny to London. From there she will meet people and travel all over Europe. Ginny is trying to better understand her wacky Aunt and herself on her trip. She makes friends, ends up in some questionable situations and manages to learn the lessons she needed to learn. I enjoyed this book because of the travel aspect, we see each country through Ginny's eyes including the small things most tourists might not see.

Whats with the titles being questions?

If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where's My Prince? by Melissa Kantor

Lucy Norton is a teenager who has been transplanted from San Fransisco to Long Island because her father has gotten married. She now has a stepmother and two stepsisters and she begins to see parallels between her life and Cinderella's. Lucy likes art and basketball, it is her like of basketball which brings in the boy she thinks is her prince, the star basketball player hoping to take the team to finals. Lucy thinks she is happy with her boyfriend and even gets the prom invite she has been looking for. However when everything should be coming together for Lucy it all seems to be falling apart, why isn't she happy? After some drama she discovers that her life isn't quite as similar to Cinderella's and that what she was looking for in a boyfriend was right by her all the time. While this story is fairly predictable it is a happy and fast read which ends in a happy storybook fashion.


What If . . . Everyone Knew Your Name by Liz Ruckdeschel and Sara James

This story is similar to the Choose Your Own Adventure books that everyone read when you were younger. These stories though are aimed at teens and deal with that type of subject matter. This story begins with teenager Haley who just moved in to town and starts school at her first public high school. The reader chooses the path Haley will take, who her friends will be, what sort of social activities she will participate in, which party's she will go to and much more. While I was excited at the concept of this book I was disappointed in the execution. The story does not flow well for many of the paths that you choose. It is obvious that selections are better suited to alternate story lines. There is one more book in this series which I will try to see in the next attempt at this story format works out any better.

He's back.......

The Librarian is back in a new TNT movie! The Librarian Return To Solomons Mines is the sequel to The Librarian Quest For The Spear, it will air December 3rd. I am setting up the DVR now!! Look here for more information The Librarian.

Elsewhere and Peeps

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin


Elsewhere is a place you go after your life here ends. You take a boat ride there and other people you know who have died are usually there to meet you. It looks a lot like here and seems a lot like here except people grow younger rather than older, when they become babies they are sent down the river to return to our earth as newborns. If you think of life as a giant tree the earth we know is the part above ground, Elsewhere is the roots, just a big and just as important but not seen or thought about. Life is seen as a series of circles along a line. This and much more is what Liz Hall learns after her tragic death at the age of 15. This is a story that gives a new explanation of what might happen after death and is an interesting read. Liz has a journey where she learns more about herself and life. This book is one of the ALA Top Ten 2006.



Peeps by Scott Westerfeld

Scott Westerfeld once again gives us an exciting adventure story. Legends of vampires have been around for almost as long as people have been recording history. What if the stories are true, not that they are vampires but that there is a condition that results in vampire like traits. While most people with this parasite fall victim to its symptoms others are just carriers with controllable symptoms who train and hunt down the others, they call themselves Peeps. There seems to be something new happening to this system which has been in place hundreds of years to control the infected population. Cal has been infected for over a year now and thinks he has a handle on his parasite. He will be one of the first to discover these strange changes and must try and figure out what is going on and what he can do about it before its too late. This book was also an ALA Top Ten 2006

The Ice Queen

The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman

I picked up this book because I have heard of the author from her YA titles but it was also available on CD, so I was able to travel with it on my long drives this week. I didn't know what to expect. This is the story of a librarian who feels she is ice inside, her mother died when she was very young and her grandmother raised her and her brother. She became a librarian because she didn't know what else to do. She is obsessed with death, its causes, it effects, anything and everything. On the outside she seems normal but she is not, she is ice and fights emotion. She also feels that if she wishes for something it will happen, such as her mother not coming back. One of her motto's is "be careful what you wish for". When her elderly grandmother dies the woman's brother takes her to Florida where she begins working again, still not living her life. One day she is struck by lightning. This event leads her to meeting fellow strike victims and eventually "lazurus jones" a man who is fire inside and has faced death having died for a time after being struck, even just his touch burns and blisters the skin. At first I thought this book was quite depressing, all the talk of death and just being not happy with life. It is about a journey though, of realizing who you are who you are becoming. The story takes facts and usage of fairy tales to show there are different aspect of life, different points of view. I didn't want to like this book, but in the end I did.

I, Coriander and The End

I, Coriander by Sally Gardner

This book tells the story of Coriander, set in 17th Century England. Coriander is the daughter of a wealthy merchant father and a mother with a mysterious history. The story is divided into six parts, each covering a part of the 15 years the story covers. This is a combination of historical fiction and fairy tales. It gives details of Cromwell's Puritan England after the execution of the King and the changes in society with the coming of Charles II. The story also brought to mind the fantasy aspects of Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. It was an interesting book but I struggled to get though it. I found myself struggling to follow the story at times and to follow the characters.

The End (A Series of Unfortunate Events) by Lemony Snicket

Finally the last book in the miserable tale of the Baudelaire orphans. I did not enjoy reading this series, however I did like the last book. The tale begins with the Orphans stranded in a boat with Count Olaf, they get caught in a storm and get washed up on the coast of an island , the local castaways are again an interesting group for the orphans to interact with. On the island the find many of the answers they were seeking and conquer some of the challenges they had been facing. The children learn many lessons and by the end of the book seem to have taken charge of their destiny. The book ends with a small 14th book which does bring up a few more questions but overall I was happy with The End.

Three new books

Here are three books I have finished in the last week, here are some short description/reviews.

A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb

This book is about a woman named Helen who is Light, she died 130 years ago and has been attached to several hosts since. Helen loves literature and is enjoying here current host, Mr. Brown and English teacher. One day in class a boy looks at Helen, no one has looked at her since she became Light. She soon discovers that this boy is James who was once light too. The book follows their growing relationship and the results of their action to try and be together. This is a ghost story and a love story, neither of which I usually read, however it was one of the best books I have read in awhile, I couldn't put it down.


Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception by Eoin Colfer

The Opal Deception is the fourth book in the Artemis Fowl series. This book picks up with our favorite series characters. Opal Koboi has hatched a plan to break out of her high security coma. She intends to expose the faerie world to the humans with a devious plot. Holly needs Atremis to help defeat Opal but Artemis is still under the mind wipe from the fairies. There is the usual adventure both in the fairy world and human world. Artemis is once again conflicted between good and evil, if he should change his ways and try to be a normal 14 year old boy. The ending is surprising but help to lead up to the recently released fifth book in the series.


Eragon by Christopher Paolini

I just finished this book today. It is the first in a three part series about a boy named Eragon and his discovery of a dragon egg. The egg soon hatches and Saphira the dragon joins Eragon. Eragon soon has his home destroyed, which sends him on a journey to find those who did the crimes. Ultimately he discovers himself and his destiny to become a Dragon Rider. There are dwarfs, elves, dragons, magic and much more in this fantasy tale. The story is long but exciting. The world created and the adventures that these two see are vivid. It is hard to believe the author is so young.

Pimp My Bookcart - the contest!

Unshelved is a comic strip which follows the adventures of the Mallville Public Library, from their site:

Welcome to Unshelved, the world's only daily comic strip set in a public library! Writer Gene Ambaum (the made-up name of a real-life librarian) and co-writer and artist Bill Barnes have been publishing since February 16, 2002. Some of the stories are made up, some of them are based on real life, and some are absolutely true stories sent to us from our readers. And the stranger the story, the more likely it is to be true.

Now they present...

The virtual ink had hardly dried on our "Pimp My Bookcart" sequence when we started getting emails from libraries and schools talking about how they planned to customize, augment, or otherwise pimp out their bookcarts. So let's have a contest! Here's how it works:

• Email us pictures of your pimped-out bookcart - front, back, and sides. You agree to let us post your entry on the site.
• Bill and Gene will pick the winning entries
• First prize gets a $250 gift certificate to the Overdue Media Store plus a signed custom drawing of the Unshelved character(s) of your choice by Bill
• Runner-up gets a $50 gift certificate to the Overdue Media Store
• We'll post the all the entries on the site so that everyone can enjoy your hard work and creative flair
• Open to libraries, schools, businesses, and anyone with a bookcart that needs a little something extra
• The deadline for entries is January 15th, so get pimping!

P.S. For inspiration we offer our new shirts

Who has ever pictured a librarian like this:



Seriously... her skirt is books... she has a cape. This is about the lamest image of a librarian I have ever seen! Its not even the sexy librarian image, she just look ridiculous, this I find insulting as a librarian, they could have at least made her look good.

Cameras

So today I finally joined the masses and bought a digital camera. Its a Casio EX-Z60 6.0 MP. I am excited because while I have used other people's digital camera's this one is mine. I just have to wait for it to come in since they didnt have one for me to bring home today. Now I will be able to take my own pictures and post the results.

As for reading my latest was the last release in the 1-800-Where R You Series- Sanctuary by Meg Cabot. It continues the story of Jessica Mastriani aka "Lightning Girl" who has secret psychic abilities which she is trying to hide from the government while attending high school and trying to convince her love interest to show some interest in her. The story beings at Thanksgiving Dinner when the new neighbor knocks on the door to ask if anyone has seen his son who left a few hours ago but should have been back. The boy's body is found later in a corn field with a mysterious mark on his chest. This leads the ever inquisitive Jess to try and learn what the mark means as well as who did it. Soon however the local synagogue is burned down and a local Jewish boy has now disappeared. The investigation leads Jess and Rob to a local white supremacist militia that is holding the young boy hostage and has some interesting ideas they want to enforce. It is a good continuation of the series although the battle between the bikers and the militia gets a little unbelievable while still being entertaining. I cant wait for the final book in the series to come out in January.

Ok my blog finally has a look! Now to get some content...

Alrighty

So I am finally on here and have started a real blog. Let see what I can think of to put on here to amuse my self and others. I do plan to keep track of what I read, I can never remember the titles and authors.