What Mrs N's Been Reading - The Hunger Games

Finished Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games late last night. Wow! I see why this one has been so popular. It's set in a futuristic country, taking up what's left of North America after several natural disasters and wars. There is a central government area where all of the power and money are, and 12 outlying districts where the people live under oppression and in severe poverty. There had been a 13th district, but after they led an unsuccessful attempt at an uprising, the entire district was destroyed to set an example. Now, as a reminder of the uprising, the central government holds the annual Hunger Games, where a boy and girl from each district are chosen at random and put into a cordoned off area to fight to the death, with the last child left alive winning fame and fortune for him or herself and a year of extra supplies for their district. The people in the districts are forced to treat the games like a festival, and to watch it being televised. I won't give away more of the plot, but I will say that it's well-written and compelling reading. I put myself in the hold line for the sequel, and I very seldom read more than one book in a series. Enjoy!

What Mrs N's Been Reading - Discordia

Just finished Dena Salmon's Discordia: The Eleventh Dimension. Young Lance suddenly finds himself in another world. Is he somehow in the on-line game, Discordia, that he spends most of his spare (and not-so-spare) time playing? If he's not in the game itself, is it a world modeled after the game? Or that the game is modeled after? Is he hallucinating? Why is his online gaming friend there with him? And most importantly, how do they get back from wherever they are? I found the book a little disjoint in the beginning, but a few chapters in, it started to flow better and drew me in more. Not bad, but I liked Conor Kostick's Epic better as a book for and about gamers and gaming. There's some gory, but not really graphic violence, but otherwise nothing objectionable for middle schoolers.

Enjoy!

Spa Day - Girls Day In

Didn't know how this was going to fly when it was first suggested, but as it turns out, we'll definitely be doing this one again! I cut off registration when we hit 40, and most of those folks showed up. We had herbal teas and flavored sparkling water. We had brewer's yeast and yogurt facials, and the good old cucumber slices on the eyes. We had a rosemary steam treatment. And of course, hair and nails. Too bad my yoga instructor didn't show. After nearly 2 hours, we had to chase the last of the girls out so we could get cleaned up, a definite indicator of success! Everyone had a blast. Look for this one again over the winter. If you missed it, pics below.

Brawl Tournament Update

Wow! Great turnout for our first video game tournament of he school year! We had 39 in the tournament, and more who just came for the side games and ambience. Congrats to our winners - Jeremiah H was our big winner with Ben pulling out 2nd place. A big thank you to my ace clean-up crew as well. I'd still be down there packing up systems without them. Thanks also to Alex B for helping to keep that first round running relatively smoothly.

If you missed it, pics below..

Dance Program Pics

We just wrapped up an encore of this summer's dance program. A big thank you to Debbie from Always Time for Dancing in Lemoyne for pinch-hitting at the last minute for Mandy and doing a fabulous job! Everyone had a lot of fun. And what a difference over the course of just an hour! If you missed it, pics below.

What Mrs N's Been Reading - Two Parties, One Tux, and a Very Short Film About the Grapes of Wrath

Recently finished Steven Goldman's Two Parties, One Tux, and a Very Short Film About the Grapes of Wrath. I really enjoyed this one! The main character is high school junior, Mitchell Wells. Mitchell is sort of a nerd - good GPA, clean discipline record, only one real friend, David, a total of one, sort-of-date back in 7th grade, and a popular younger sister. Right at the beginning, David tells Mitchell (at lunch, very matter-of-factly) that he's gay. Mitchell doesn't think things should really change between them, and doesn't want them to, but he can't figure out what he should be saying or doing around David. This is woven throughout the book. Several side story lines are also thrown in. Mitchell and David make a somewhat inappropriate Claymation video in a graphic arts class, and when he can't quite choke down the assigned English class book, The Grapes of Wrath, Mitchell decides to submit it instead of the required paper, drawing some really loose, wild connections to the book. When the English teacher leaves in the middle of the next class, and is then gone on leave, Mitchell thinks that perhaps his film got him administrative trouble. While all of this is going on, there is also behind the scenes setting up of prom dates through intermediaries, and Mitchell suddenly finds himself with not one, but two, girls trying to get him to take them. The characters are believable, likable and funny. When Mitchell finally goes before the headmaster to decide his fate regarding the film, I laughed out loud. Yes, there's a bit of mature subject matter, but it's handled remarkably well. Not appropriate for younger middle school kids, but fine for high schoolers and probably older middle schoolers. If you've ever felt out of place in school you'll relate. Enjoy!

What Mrs N's Been Reading - Triskellion

Finished Will Peterson's Triskellion a while ago. 14-year-old twins Adam and Rachel's mother, who is going through a tough divorce, sends them off to a tiny English village to spend the summer with their grandmother. From the moment they arrive, things just keep getting weirder and weirder, starting with the village appearing initially, to be completely deserted. Everyone they meet seems to be holding back something, including their grandmother. They meet another mysterious young boy who seems to appear and disappear at will, and can communicate with them telepathically. As they pick up bits of information, it appears that the entire village is keeping secrets that are hundreds of years old, and that the villagers will go to any length to protect. Once the story gets rolling, the suspense is kept up nicely. I'll warn you that the ending leaves some questions unanswered, but of course, there's a sequel (The Burning - it's on the shelf). Nothing inappropriate for middle-schoolers. I liked this one.

Enjoy!

Teen Scene Newsletter

A subgroup of our fabulous Teen Advisory Group has just started a teen newsletter, which will replace the old Teen Scene program brochures that were available in the library. They are now out and about in the library, but if you want to get a peek at it before you get here, or just prefer to do things electronically, the sidebar at the right has a link that will allow you to download your very own copy! A big, big thank you to Katie and Brynna for spearheading this effort. We plan to publish every 2 months, so check back mid-to-late October for the next issue.

What Mrs N's Been Reading - Here There Be Dragons and Streams of Babel

As usual, I'm a little behind on posting and have finished 2 books, this time 2 very different ones. The first was James A Owen's Here There Be Dragons. The prologue gets us started with the murder of a British professor. We are then introduced to John, a young man on leave from the British army during WWI, who had been studying obscure languages with the professor. He has been entrusted with the Imaginarium Geographica, which turns out to be magical atlas of sorts, of a parallel world known as the Archipelago of Dreams. He and 2 other young men that he meets when he responds to a summons from the professor, but arrives after his death, are taken by a mysterious stranger, to the Archipelago. The Archipelago is in the midst of political upheaval and a struggle between various races of beings for control. You see hints of references to famous classic fantasy stories, that at times don't seem to flow quite smoothly. However that makes a lot more sense at the end of the story. It wasn't a favorite of mine, but it wasn't bad, and it did take some unique views of some classic fantasy novel features. If you like it, it's the first in a series.

The second book was Carol Plum-Ucci's Streams of Babel. I've liked all of the Plum-Ucci books that I've read. (I think the only one I haven't is The She. I'll have to get around to that one.) She does a wonderful job of drawing you into the characters, and keeping up suspense. In this one, chapters alternate between the perspectives of about half a dozen characters, all teenagers. Some are residents of a small town in New Jersey where 2 women have died, with similar, odd symptoms, and a few teens seem to be developing those same symptoms. Is it a new disease, or is it some sort of terrorist activity with a bio weapon? One of the other characters is a teenager in Pakistan, who has been working as a v-spy for the US government, attempting to track and translate terrorist chatter on the web. All of the characters are gradually drawn together. As usual with Plum-Ucci, the suspense is kept up, and you quickly come to like and care about the characters. It's also an interesting look at terrorism and the strategies being used to try to fight it. Highly recommended.

Link to Summer Book Reviews

Ok, I have the link to take you directly to the book reviews from Teen Summer Reading 2009, up and running. Look for it on the bar to the right of this page, or check it out below:
Teen Summer Reading 2009 Book Reviews

As usual, I was trying to make it much more complicated than it needed to be. A big thank you to Mike, the wonderful, friendly, tech support guy at Evanced for straightening me out. Anyway, that link to the right will stay put year-round. If you didn't check out the reviews page over the summer, take a few minutes and poke around in there. You can search and sort a gazillion different ways, and see what other teens were reading, which books received 5 stars, or for that matter, 1 star, etc. If you're stuck for ideas for what to read next, this is a great source!
Enjoy!