Hunger Games

Book Cover:

Book Title: Hunger Games

Book Summary:

In the future way in the future, we are split in to 12 districts and each is required to participate in what is known as the Reaping.  Where one girl and one boy are sent to fight to the death in the Hunger Games, this is suppose to keep the population down and to establish a health dose of fear in to the people in the districts.  Katniss’s sister is finally old enough to be put in the pot, and what are the odds of her being chosen?  So well that Katniss decides to volunteer so her sister doesn’t have to go.  As she is getting ready to fight and show off her skills you learn that the Capital is corrupted and that this is just a game to them.  Katniss does not take to this light and starts to defy the rules and the capital is trying to subdue her while the districts are trying to rally behind her.          

APA Reference:

Collins, S. (2008). The hunger games.  New York, NY: Scholastic Press.

My Impressions:  This book reminded me of The Lottery, with how parents can accept that their child may be picked and then killed just because their name was drawn out of a hat.  Makes me really glad that I don’t live there and I hope that we never start something like that.  I really enjoyed reading this book it made we want to rebel a little and kind of sad that I didn’t rebel a lot as a teen-ager.  Katniss is a strong female lead that we aspire to be like and want to impress so she will be our friend.   

Professional Review:

School Library Journal

In a not-too-distant future, the United States of America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war, to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 12 districts. Each year, two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts, the televised games are broadcasted throughout Panem as the 14 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors, literally, with all citizens required to watch. When 16-year-old Katniss's young sister, Prim, is selected as the mining district's female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart, Peeta, the son of the town baker who seems to have all the fighting skills of a lump of bread dough, will be pitted against bigger, stronger representatives who have trained for this their whole lives. Collins's characters are completely realistic and sympathetic as they form alliances and friendships in the face of overwhelming odds; the plot is tense, dramatic, and engrossing. This book will definitely resonate with the generation raised on reality shows like "Survivor" and "American Gladiator." Book one of a planned trilogy.

Citation:

Baird, J. (2008, September). The Hunger Games. [Review of  the book The Hunger Games by S. Collins] School Library Journal, 54(9),

          176-177.

Library Uses: I would have the students compare and contrast The Lottery and this book, then at the end have them finish The Lottery what happens next.

Twilight

Book Cover:

Book Title: Twilght

Book Summary:

Bella decides to move in with her dad so her mom and new husband can travel, because new husband is a baseball player.  While in Forks Washington Bella meets Edward Cullen and his strange family.  Edward is not a normal human in fact he is not human at all he is a vegetarian vampire.  That means he only hunts animals not humans, which is a good thing.  Until they meet vampires that do feed on humans and those guys start to cause a few problems when some of the town folk end up dead.  And who is next on the list to be hunted that is right you guessed it Bella.  Edward does not take this lightly and wants to run away with Bella to keep her safe, his family convinces him that the two should spilt up as to confuse the hunters.   

APA Reference:

Meyer, S. (2005). Twilight. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

My Impressions: I love this book and this series; this is the only series that I have ever read.  I love that it feels like you are there sitting in the café with them chatting up a storm.  The way that there are little clues that are important for the next book in the series is great, it makes you want to read the next book just to find out what happens to Jacob. 

Professional Review:

Meyer, Stephenie. Twilight

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up--Headstrong, sun-loving, 17-year old Bella declines her mom's invitation to move to Florida, and instead reluctantly opts to move to her dad's cabin in the dreary, rainy town of Forks, WA. She becomes intrigued with Edward Cullen, a distant, stylish, and disarmingly handsome senior, who is also a vampire. When he reveals that his specific elan hunts wildlife instead of humans, Bella deduces that she is safe from his bloodsucking instincts and therefore free to fall hopelessly in love with him. The feeling is mutual, and the resulting volatile romance smolders as they attempt to hide Edward's identity from her family and the rest of the school. Meyer adds an eerie new twist to the mismatched, star-crossed lovers theme: predator falls for prey, human falls for vampire. This tension strips away any pretense readers may have about the everyday teen romance novel, and kissing, touching, and talking take on an entirely new meaning when one small mistake could be life-threatening. Bella and Edward's struggle to make their relationship work becomes a struggle for survival, especially when vampires from an outside clan infiltrate the Cullen territory and head straight for her. As a result, the novel's danger-factor skyrockets as the excitement of secret love and hushed affection morphs into a terrifying race to stay alive. Realistic, subtle, succinct, and easy to follow, Twilight will have readers dying to sink their teeth into it.--Hillias J. Martin, New York Public Library

FT/IMG

Martin, Hillias J.

Citation:

Martin, Hillias J. "Meyer, Stephenie. Twilight." School Library Journal Oct. 2005: 166. Business Insights: Global. Web. 14 Aug. 2015.

URL

http://bi.galegroup.com/global/article/GALE|A137918783/47a48944e8a630efe24dfa4b6d82b744?u=txshracd2679

Library Uses: I don’t know what activity I would with this book, I know that I would see if I could get it added to the book club list, for every book that we that have a movie we can watch the movie when we finish the book and then compare and contrast them.

Paper Towns

Book Cover: 

Book Title: Paper Towns

Book Summary:

In high school there is always that one girl that is the craziest in the whole school that would be Margo, and she was a dozy of a girl.  She finds out that her boyfriend is cheating on her so she plans one last great night of revenge.  All goes well and she has sparked a flame in her next-door neighbor he hopes that he will be her next boyfriend.  The next part of the book is all about how Quentin the neighbor grows up and finds himself while trying to find Margo. 

APA Reference:

Green, J. (2008). Paper towns. New York: Dutton Books.

My Impressions:  That this is what I would think that a normal high school student does, I was the teachers pet and could not see my self doing this at that age, or my mom letting me do it.  I have had a few friends that have done some pretty stupid things in high school.  The book left me with some questions like how Margo had been able to manage on her own in an abandoned building with no income, and I wanted to know how Quentin could suddenly come and go at all hours of the night when he was still a senior in high school without his parents having some concern.

Professional Review:

Publishers Weekly

“Green melds elements from his Looking for Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines -- the impossibly sophisticated but unattainable girl, and a life-altering road trip--for another teen-pleasing read….  The title, which refers to unbuilt subdivisions and 'copyright trap' towns that appear on maps but don’t exist, unintentionally underscores the novel’s weakness: both milquetoast Q and self-absorbed Margo are types, not fully dimensional characters. Readers who can get past that will enjoy the edgy journey and off-road thinking. Ages 12-up.”

Paper Towns. (2008). [Review of the book Paper Towns by John Green]. Publishers Weekly, 255(36), 51.

Citation:

Paper Towns. (2008). [Review of the book Paper Towns by John Green]. Publishers Weekly, 255(36), 51.

Library Uses: I would have the students come up with a cary adventure that they want to go on.  I would also have them research some paper towns to see which towns are real and which are not.

Paper Towns Book Tailer

Twilight Book Trailer

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler Book Trailer

If I Stay

Book Cover:    

Book Title: If I Stay

Book Summary:

One snowy day the Hall family went for a drive, but sadly it did not end well.  When Mia wakes up she is standing in the middle of the crash site wondering why no one can hear her.  Then we realize that she is a ghost and starts following the firefighters around and realizes that her mom and dad have left earth.  She ends up at the hospital, and starts to remember her life.  Most of the memories center around her boyfriend Adam, this is where the drama begins.  To stay on earth or to leave and be with her family, it is quite the internal battle that plays out.  Her aunt and all her friends come and visit but none has convinced her to stay.  Until Adam comes and tries to see her and fails on several attempts to see her, it is not until the end of the book that he does get in and starts to sing to her.

APA Reference:

Forman, G. (2009). If I Stay. New York , New York : Dutton Books.

My Impressions:  The book was hard to read because I saw the movie first, but other than that I liked it.  The books that I have picked lately have reminded me of high school, not that it is a bad thing but it is making me feel old. 

If I Stay is a book that any teenage girl would love, it deals with all the things that we think of while dating a boy.  The added tension of trying to decide if life is worth living, which in my book it always is, this is common teenage life. >

Professional Review:

Horn Book Magazine July/August, 2009

What begins as the gift of a rare snow day in Portland, Oregon, turns suddenly into nightmare. Seventeen-year-old Mia drives off with her family on the unexpected holiday. A sudden explosion of metal, and Mia is looking at her dead parents sprawled on the asphalt, her little brother nowhere to be found. An ambulance arrives to take Mia's body, bristling with tubes, to a trauma unit, and incorporeal Mia rides along. Distant kin to the dead narrators of The Lovely Bones et al., Mia hovers somewhere between life and death, watching surgeons bustle around her comatose body. An empathetic nurse clues Mia in that "she's running the show" -- that the choice to live or die belongs to Mia. Forman's one-sitting page-turner moves easily between the present vigil and Mia's past as she considers the ultimate choice. A talented classical cellist, Mia is deeply in love with punk-rock singer Adam, who has more in common musically with Mia's formerly punk, effortlessly cool parents. As Mia holds out for Adam's arrival at the hospital and considers the unbearable pain of living with so much loss, her best friend Kim reminds her that she does have family -- all the relatives and friends out there pulling for her. Apart from a heavy-handed clunk or two ("I realize now that dying is easy. Living is hard"), the stakes are poignantly conveyed through Mia's vivid memories of a rich, rewarding life.

Citation:

Adams, L. (2009, July-August). Gayle Forman: If I Stay. The Horn Book Magazine, 85(4), 422+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA205360330&v=2.1&u=txshracd2679&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w&asid=e5296330a9a3b20e99b6bc33c8832113

Library Uses: I would use this book to teach conflict and resolution.  This book is also good to use to just connect with the teenagers to see what they are thinking and how to help them solve problems in their own life.