What I read in 2010

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope 2011 brings everyone lots of blessings and wonderful books to read. :o)

I decided a long time ago that I won't make New Year's resolutions because they only just end up making you feel bad about yourself when you don't stick to them. As a voracious reader, I just like to be open to new experiences, and maybe make the goal to pick up a few books that I normally wouldn't give the time of day. I actually did that in 2010 because for the first time this past September, I introduced to my literature class a genre requirement list of 20 books. They get to choose whatever books they want to read, as long as they fit within the confines of the genres they're required to read. This forces them to challenge themselves and read books outside their comfort zone (or for some kids, read books at all). I have been completing the form with my students, and let me tell you, it has challenged me too. I am so used to just choosing contemporary fiction that I hardly ever pick up fantasy, mystery, or science fiction. The great thing about this genre requirement is that everyone ends up reading books that they enjoyed that they never would have given the time of day had it not been for this requirement. A perfect example for me is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Unless it's dystopian, I really dislike science fiction. I picked this book up (well actually, I listened to the audiobook) because I knew it was a cult classic and wanted to give it a try. I loved every minute of it. Who knew that science fiction could be humorous? Certainly not me.

I JUST BARELY missed making it to 100 books in 2010. What a bummer! Although, if I counted all the picture books I read this year, I'd have made it well past that mark. I just don't think it's fair to count books that take you all of five minutes to read - so I don't. Oh well. I am determined to make it to 100 in 2011.

Without further ado, I bring you my list of books read (and listened to) in 2010:

1. How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O'Connor
2. Al Capone Shines My Shoes by Gennifer Choldenko*
3. Holding on to Good Ideas in a Time of Bad Ones: Six Literacy Principles Worth Fighting For by Thomas Newkirk
4. What Do Fish Have to Do with Anything? by Avi
5. Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman*
6. A Thousand Never Evers by Shana Burg*
7. The Maze Runner by James Dashner
8. Making History Mine: Meaningful Connections for Grades 5-9 by Sarah Cooper
9. Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron
10. Graceling by Kristin Cashore*
11. In Mozart's Shadow: His Sister's Story by Carolyn Meyer
12. Going Bovine by Libba Bray*
13. Coffeehouse Angel by Suzanne Selfors
14. Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo*
15. The Bear Makers by Andrea Cheng
16. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson*
17. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
18. City of Thieves by David Benioff*
19. The Dog in the Wood by Monika Schröder
20. Angel on the Square by Gloria Whelan*
21. Stitches by David Small
22. Traveling with Pomegranates by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor*
23. "Is It Done Yet?" Teaching Adolescents the Art of Revision by Barry Gilmore
24. Shug by Jenny Han*
25. The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence by Gavin de Becker
26. The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child by Donalyn Miller
27. 360 Degrees Longitude: One Family's Journey Around the World by John Higham
28. Fat Cat by Robin Brande*
29. Travel as a Political Act by Rick Steves
30. The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood*
31. Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman
32. Lost States: True Stories of Texlahoma, Transylvania, and Other States That Never Made It by Michael J. Trinklein
33. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle*
34. Educating Esme: Diary of a Teacher's First Year by Esme Raji Codell
35. Smile by Raina Tegelmeier
36. Big Green Purse: Use Your Spending Power to Create a Cleaner, Greener World by Diane MacEachern
37. Notes from the Dog by Gary Paulsen
38. Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr*
39. Impossible by Nancy Werlin*
40. Word After Word After Word by Patricia MacLachlan
41. Mockingbird by Kathyrn Erskine
42. Monsoon Summer by Mitali Perkins
43. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
44. Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt*
45. Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce*
46. No Plot? No Problem! A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days by Chris Baty
47. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster*
48. The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister*
49. Honeymoon with my Brother by Franz Wisner
50. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan*
51. The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks*
52. A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
53. Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins
54. Wish by Alexandra Bullen
55. Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson*
56. Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes*
57. Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain
58. Peak by Roland Smith
59. The Life You've Imagined by Kristina Riggle
60. Shanghai Girls by Lisa See*
61. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
62. Beastly by Alex Flinn*
63. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
64. Real Food Has Curves by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough
65. The Leisure Seeker by Michael Zadoorian
66. The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger
67. Guinea Dog by Patrick Jennings
68. Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson*
69. Radiance by Alyson Noel
70. Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert*
71. Speak by Laure Halse Anderson
72. Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli*
73. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
74. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth by Jeff Kinney
75. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink*
76. The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney
77. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams*
78. Are You There God? It's Me Margaret by Judy Blume*
79. Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King
80. The Cinderella Society by Kay Cassidy
81. Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson*
82. Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel
83. Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech*
84. Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield*
85. Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
86. Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer
87. Savvy by Ingrid Law*
88. Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott*
89. Prada and Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard
90. Deogratias: A Tale of Rwanda by J.P. Stassen
91. Ice Story: Shackleton's Lost Expedition by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
92. Perfect by Natasha Friend
93. All the Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg
94. The Sharper Your Knife the Less You Cry* by Kathleen Flinn*
95. Dante's Divine Comedy: A Graphic Adaptation by Seymour Chwast

*Indicates audiobook

The Sharper Your Knife the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears at the World's Most Famous Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn

In 2003, Kathleen Flinn is laid off from her corporate job in London and decides, rather than immediately looking for a new job, she'll use her life savings to move to Paris and enroll in Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. With the support of her boyfriend Mike, they embark on new rites of passage in their careers, in their lives, and in love.

I listened to the audiobook and I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of this memoir, from the unpretentious writing, down to the soothing, mellifluous voice of Cassandra Campbell, the narrator, who made each of Flinn's Cordon Bleu dishes sound mouth-watering - even if I never would dream of making it in a million years.

It was interesting to read a modern-day "behind-the-scenes" perspective at Le Cordon Bleu. I appreciated what hard work it is to earn a diploma there, but as much as I love cooking, there's no way I'd ever want to learn in such a disciplined environment. I'm anxious to do further research to see where this experience led Flinn after she received her diploma.

Three parts memoir, one part cookbook, the one aspect that made me wish I had read the book rather than listened to it is all of the delicious recipes included at the end of each chapter and also at the end of the book. I may decide to purchase a hard copy of the book just for the recipes alone. If you love food and you're a sucker for food memoirs, this book is a can't miss.


The Sharper Your Knife the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter and Tears at the World's Most Famous Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn
Published: October 2007 by Viking (audiobook produced by Books on Tape)
Pages: 285
Genre: Memoir
Audience: Adult foodies

Perfect by Natasha Friend

**Attention: Spoiler-ish review ahead** When Isabelle Lee is forced by her mother to attend group meetings for her eating disorder, she soon discovers that the most perfect, popular girl, Ashely Barnum, is a part of the group too. As the novel progresses, the two form a toxic friendship that encourages the other to continue binging and purging. But as Isabelle gradually discovers, her new friend's life isn't as perfect as she initially thought.

This is a difficult book to read. Not because it's a bad book, but simply because you're forced to see the world through the eyes of a bulimic. To see how they deal with pain by expelling food from their bodies. In the case of Isabelle, the main character, her pain stems from her mother's refusal to deal with the death of her husband, Isabelle's beloved father, Jacob.

I thought Friend did an excellent job getting the reader emotionally involved in the story without going into too much vivid detail regarding how the characters went about their purging. Don't get me wrong, there were most definitely some uncomfortable, even disturbing scenes, but the descriptions were written in a way that let you view the "action" from far away rather than being directly in the scene with them. For someone who has a very weak constitution when it comes to vomit, I greatly appreciated this aspect of the writing.

What this book lacked in vivid description (thankfully) it made up for in heartfelt emotion. This is one of the most heart-wrenching scenes of the book and helps the reader understand where Isabelle's pain is coming from:

In my room, I ran straight to my closet. That's where I keep my stash, under one of Daddy's old flannel shirts that nobody knows I have. For the longest time after he died, I kept the shirt under my bed, wrapped in a paper bag. I would take it out whenever I missed him because it had his smell. Clean and warm, like grass.

This shirt was legend. My mother was always trying to throw it out because it had missing buttons and the pocket that got ripped off in a football game. But every time mom tried to get rid of the shirt, Daddy would rescue it just in time. It was their special game. "There you are," he would say, dragging it out of the Goodwill bag and slipping it back on. And Mom would wag her finger at him, pretending to be angry. "Jacob Lee. You are impossible." This was his cue to chase her all around the house until he caught her and wrapped her up in his arms, in that big soft shirt that smelled like him.

One time last year, right before my birthday, I took the shirt out from under my bed and jammed my face in it, hard, because I missed him so much. That's when I realized it was all smelled out. I breathed in and... nothing. It was just a shirt. Just a ratty old shirt that could have belonged to anyone. (20-21)

That was the moment in the book that really pulled me into the story, where I first felt Isabelle's pain.

I really enjoyed following Isabelle's development throughout the novel, and even though it felt a tad "goody-two-shoes" at times, she still had enough triumphs and setbacks to make the story believable.

The ending will leave the reader hanging, which makes me hope that maybe Friend will write another book, maybe this time from Ashley's perspective. Though seeing as how this book was published six years ago, I'm thinking that's not likely.


Perfect by Natasha Friend
Published: September 2004
Publisher: Milkweed Editions
Pages: 172
Genre: realistic fiction
Audience: young adult

Best Books of 2010

As I look back on 2010, I read a lot of great books of all different genres and age ranges. These are my top 10 favorite books published in 2010.

#10
The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood

This book is absolutely adorable and captivating. I think the audiobook, narrated by Katherine Kellgren, made it even more entertaining.

This is the story of three children found running wild in the forest and the 15-year old governess charged to take care of them. There's mystery, there's fantasy, and there's tons of humor.

Audience: middle grade


#9
Guinea Dog by Patrick Jennings

All Rufus has ever wanted is a dog of his own. Since his father will never allow that to happen, his mother tries to appease him by getting him a guinea pig. Rufus soon discovers that this is no ordinary guinea pig. This rotund little rodent runs, fetches, rolls over, and even barks! This book is full of nonstop smiles and even makes you wish for a guinea dog of your very own.

Audience: middle grade


#8
Smile by Raina Telgemeier

This charming graphic novel was inspired by the author's own middle school and high school dental trauma. The story and adorable drawings will make you laugh, smile, and wince all at the same time.

Audience: middle grade



#7
Real Food Has Curves: How to Get Off Processed Foods, Lose Weight, and Love What You Eat by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough

This is not a diet book. It is a paradigm shift in the way you should look at food. Somehow Americans have lost their way in regards to the food we put in our bodies. Convenience has won out over nutrition and pleasure. Not only that, but we've fooled ourselves into thinking those convenience items taste good, when they really have very little complexity and are just pumped full of preservatives, salt, or sweeteners.

This book gives you a step-by-step process of how to rid yourself of those processed foods, and has some great recipes as well.

Audience: adults


#6
The Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood, Illustrated by Renata Liwska

With writing that fills you with serenity and illustrations that will calm the savage beast, I have never seen anyone endear children to quiet the way Deborah Underwood and Renata Liwska have been able to do. Your little one will undoubtedly be ready for their indoor voices and a nap after reading this book.

Audience: primary


#5
It's a Book by Lane Smith

Technophiles beware: Lane Smith wants to warn you of the sometimes misbegotten ridiculousness of the digital age with this comical, verbal romp between a monkey and a jackass. Now some readers were (and will be) inevitably outraged at the fact that Smith had the audacity to use the word jackass instead of donkey, and even more angered at the way it was used at the very end of the book. I agree that it might not be best to read to little ones, and is more appropriate for middle grade and older, but you have got to give Lane Smith his due credit for his pitch perfect comic timing - controversial or not.

Audience: ??? (Depends on who you ask)


#4
The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney

This book looks at rape from a different perspective than what most of us envision in our minds. What if there was no violence? What if the boy assumed that because you didn't say "no", that meant you were saying "yes." Daisy Whitney explores a different, less dramatic rape story, yet no less important to tell.

This book would be perfect to teach alongside Speak in high school classrooms.

Audience: young adult


#3
Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King

Vera Dietz is beside herself when her estranged best friend Charlie dies before they have a chance to make amends. Now she has a difficult decision to make: does she clear his name of a crime that people think he committed or does she allow her own anger and fear to keep her silent?

Describing the plot of this story is very simple. Describing the emotional impact this story will have on you is more difficult. You just need to read it. That's all there is to it.

And an added bonus to this story is that even though the narrator and main character of this book is female, it is by no means chick lit. Vera is hard-edged and will be enjoyed by girls and guys alike.

Audience: young adult


#2
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

I am still going back and forth between my #1 and #2 book. They were both my favorite books of the year but for different reasons. I gave my #1 the edge for reasons I'll explain shortly.

Anna and the French Kiss has been a hugely hyped book in the blogging world this year. I was worried it wouldn't live up to the hype, but I was proven wrong. Stephanie Perkins has managed to write a romance that won't make romance-haters gag. Triteness and cliches are nowhere to be found, and the characters feel like real people rather than caricatures. It is a book that will still make teenage girls swoon, yet it is written in such an accessible style, that it will be loved by a variety of readers, not just the teeny-boppers.

audience: young adult


#1
Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel

Half Brother was not hyped the way my #2 pick was, and I suppose that's part of my reason for choosing it as my #1: I like to root for the underdog.

But that's not the only reason I chose this as my #1 pick of 2010. I have never read such an unusual, emotionally heart-wrenching story before. Oppel poses so many questions about animal experimentation and makes us re-think our positions on this issue. But he does it in such a masterful way that the reader never feels like he is being preached to. The story tells itself and you can't help but question everything just by simply reading it.

audience: young adult


And there you have it. My Top 10 of 2010. Now I recognize that there were many, many great books written this year and I probably left some books off the list that should have been on here, had I read them in 2010. But this is my top 10 of the books that I was actually able to read. So you tell me: which books should I have added to this list if I had read them?

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. But is Dash that right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions? - from Goodreads

I am not feeling the love on this book as much as everyone else. It was entertaining, and I certainly enjoyed the NYC at Christmastime setting, which was almost a character in and of itself, but I wasn't a big fan of the main characters of Dash and Lily. Their development felt superficial to me, and the word choice of these two supposed teenagers was much too sophisticated. Yes, I understand that they were both self-proclaimed word-nerds, but even so, there was something about their character...moreI am not feeling the love on this book as much as everyone else. It was entertaining, and I certainly enjoyed the NYC at Christmastime setting, which was almost a character in and of itself, but I wasn't a big fan of the main characters of Dash and Lily. Their development felt superficial to me, and the word choice of these two supposed teenagers was much too sophisticated. Yes, I understand that they were both self-proclaimed word-nerds, but even so, there was something about their characters that didn't make this aspect of them believable.

I mean, I am an English and literature teacher with a college degree who flags words in books that I either don't recognize or am not completely familiar with so I can look them up later, and this is how many flags I had to use in this book:

For two teenage narrators, this seems a bit extreme for them to be using words that the average teenager (or adult) won't recognize. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great to encourage readers to develop a more sophisticated vocabulary, I just think there's a fine line between being encouraging and being condescending. The word choice in this book is straddling that line I think.

I will say that I often found myself enjoying the secondary characters in this book much more than the main characters. I thought that Dash's friend, Boomer, and Lily's Great Aunt Ida, whom Lily affectionately refers to as Mrs. Basil E., to pay homage to one of her favorite books, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, were much more likable, and a burst of much-needed energy and comedy in an otherwise brooding sort of story.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. My complaints are really more nit-picky than all-encompassing (even though it might not appear that way when you read this review). I thought there were some hilarious, ridiculous moments throughout that made it worth the read. It just felt, at times, more like a fun writing exercise between Rachel Cohn and David Levithan than a fully developed novel.


Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
Published: October 2010 by Knopf
Pages: 260
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Audience: YA

Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time by Rob Sheffield

Mix tapes: We all have our favorites. Stick one into a deck, press play, and you’re instantly transported to another time in your life. For Rob Sheffield, that time was one of miraculous love and unbearable grief. A time that spanned seven years, it started when he met the girl of his dreams, and ended when he watched her die in his arms.

Using the listings of fifteen of his favorite mix tapes, Rob shows that the power of music to build a bridge between people is stronger than death. You’ll read these words, perhaps surprisingly, with joy in your heart and a song in your head—the one that comes to mind when you think of the love of your life. - from Goodreads

Rob Sheffield has a gift for writing in a way that helps conjure up your own memories of the music and era he writes about. While I was listening to Love is a Mix Tape, I couldn't help but remember so many moments from my own junior high and high school experiences that had been long forgotten.

As a whole, I really liked this book. There was one point in the narrative, however, that felt a little disjointed from the rest of the story and that's when he started talking about Jackie...moreRob Sheffield has a gift for writing in a way that helps conjure up your own memories of the music and era he writes about. While I was listening to Love is a Mix Tape, I couldn't help but remember so many moments from my own junior high and high school experiences that had been long forgotten.

As a whole, I really liked this book. There was one point in the narrative, however, that felt a little disjointed from the rest of the story and that's when he started talking about Jackie O. When you read this part of the story, you understand the narrative; it's not confusing why he talks about her. It just completely changed the tone and direction of the story and made it feel slightly off-kilter.

The rest of the book was thoroughly enjoyable and I love that the rock music of my era is now looked upon as classic rock. There's a point in the story where Sheffiled talks about how he hated Pearl Jam at the time they were making music, but now whenever he hears a Pearl Jam song on the radio, he turns it up and shouts, "YEAH! PEARL JAM!" I feel the exact same way. It's crazy to think now that Pearl Jam is considered CLASSIC rock and that the music of the 90's is looked at collectively as the music of a generation - MY generation. When did that happen?


Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time by Rob Sheffield
Published: January 2007
Pages: 224
Genre: Nonfiction/Memoir
Audience: Adult music lovers

Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel

Ben Tomlin has lived in Toronto and been an only child for all of his 13 years of life. But one day, his father decides to uproot the family and move across the country so he can conduct an experiment on chimpanzees and language acquisition. This, however, is not just any ordinary animal experiment. Dr. Tomlin wants to bring the chimpanzee home and raise him as if he were a human child.

At first Ben is resentful, but he soon starts to bond with Zan and eventually views this chimpanzee as a little brother. Both Ben and his mother treat Zan just like a member of the family, but his father sees him as nothing but an experimental test subject and discourages Ben and his wife from getting emotionally involved.

Half Brother is by far Kenneth Oppel's most important book to date. He brings to the reader's consciousness, many questions about animal experimentation and what constitutes cruelty. However, just as a true author should, he doesn't give us any answers or preach his point of view. The purpose of the book is to get you to think and to spark discussion. Just when you think one point of view is right, there is a twist in the story that gets you to consider another way of thinking. This would be an excellent book to read with a class full of high school students and then get a debate going about what is cruel and what isn't.

This book tugs at your heart strings from the word go. It gets you emotionally involved, but not so emotional that you can't have an inner debate with yourself about what's right and what's not. Honestly, after reading this book, I'm still confused on my views. There's no doubt in my mind that in THIS story, Zan was a member of the Tomlin family and should have been always treated as such. But what about other animals? This quote from the book really brought home the purpose and conflict of the story:

"He's an animal, you're right," said mom. "And we use them all the time. We eat them. We inject them. We kill them. Zan's not human. But we taught him he was. We raised him like a child. Our child. And we have responsibilities to him now, Richard. We do." (p. 340)

I want to thank Kenneth Oppel for writing about this topic. It gets people talking about it and brings it into young people's consciousness. I would love to see it taught in high schools. I am on a quest to get more contemporary books in classrooms while only teaching a small percentage of classics. It's books like this that will help fuel my fight to teach modern, relevant books rather than those dusty classics that kids can't relate to. This was by far one of the best reads of 2010.


Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel
Published: September 2010 by Scholastic
Pages: 375
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Audience: YA

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King

Vera Dietz is beside herself when her estranged best friend Charlie dies before they have a chance to make amends. Now she has a difficult decision to make: does she clear his name of a crime that people think he committed or does she allow her own anger and fear to keep her silent?

Describing the plot of this story is very simple. Describing the emotional impact this story will have on you once you read it is more difficult. Vera immediately draws you in with her story. When you're first introduced to her, you make a judgment about her: that she doesn't care about school and that she's turning into an alcoholic.

This judgment begins to fall apart once you continue reading and realize that despite working a full-time job, she gets straight A's in school, enjoys doing her homework, and is only drinking to numb the pain from her best friend's death.

There are no flowery descriptions or poetic passages in this book. The writing itself does not sustain the story. What keeps you reading is the author's ability to put personality and heart into a character. Vera feels like a real person. You want to be friends with her. You want to give her a hug when and then smack her upside the head for some of the decisions she makes.

Rife with symbolism, this book is the antidote for high school teachers to put away some of those dusty classics and try something fresh that today's students will be able to relate to. YA lit today has just as many lessons and talking points as classical literature - if not more.

My only frustration with the book is that one very important part of the story was left unresolved at the end and it was a part that I REALLY wanted to know what happened. But I continue to remind myself that not all books have to end neatly. All in all this is a very satisfying read and one of the most memorable of 2010.

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King
Pages: 326
Published: October 2010 by Knopf
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Audience: YA

The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney

Some schools have honor codes.
Others have handbooks.
Themis Academy has the Mockingbirds.

Themis Academy is a quiet boarding school with an exceptional student body that the administration trusts to always behave the honorable way--the Themis Way. So when Alex is date raped during her junior year, she has two options: stay silent and hope someone helps her, or enlist the Mockingbirds--a secret society of students dedicated to righting the wrongs of their fellow peers. - from Goodreads

This book picks up the discussion where Speak left off. It's really meant to educate young men that a lack of the word "no!" does not equate to a "yes."

You see the purpose of this book on p. 103 when the main character Alex, says the following:

I've thought about rape before. I pictured it happening to me. A dark alley, some rough guy I don't know who's five times my size grabs me and forces me to my knees, a knife to my throat. Sometimes I'd picture it happening in my house while everyone was asleep. He'd come in through my window and hover above me. I'd be startled awake, pinned down in my own bed, everything I know that's right in the world ripped out of my chest.

That is rape.

I know rape is something else too. It's just I always thought of it in a very specific way - with a very specific kind of attacker - not in a way I'd have to defend, not in a way where I'd have to preface everything with "I was drunk, really drunk."

This book is rife with great discussion points and was inspired by Whitney's personal experience in college. It would be an awesome book club selection and an even better in-class read for high school students.

I do have one criticism of the book, which is that the Mockingbirds' sense of justice, while fair and understandable given the circumstances at the school, did not feel plausible to me. At the same time, the plausibility of The Mockingbirds was not the purpose of the book. The discussion that it spurs and the new understandings that it will bring to a generation of teens is far more important than whether or not The Mockingbirds' mission could ever happen at a real boarding school.



The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney
Published: November 2, 2010
Pages: 352
Genre: Realistic fiction
Audience: YA

Drive : The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink

Forget everything you thought you knew about how to motivate people--at work, at school, at home. It's wrong. As Daniel H. Pink explains in his new and paradigm-shattering book, the secret to high performance and satisfaction in today's world is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world.

Drawing on four decades of scientific research on human motivation, Pink exposes the mismatch between what science knows and what business does - and how that affects every aspect of our lives. He demonstrates that while the old-fashioned carrot-and-stick approach worked successfully in the 20th century, it's precisely the wrong way to motivate people for today's challenges. In Drive, he reveals the three elements of true motivation:

# Autonomy - the desire to direct our own lives
# Mastery - the urge to get better and better at something that matters
# Purpose- the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves

Along the way, he takes us to companies that are enlisting new approaches to motivation and introduces us to the scientists and entrepreneurs who are pointing a bold way forward. - from Goodreads

This book was mainly written for people in the business world, but the research presented here has direct, sobering implications on education as well. My hope is that many administrators, CEOs, upper-level managers, and anyone in leadership positions will read this book. The old model of external motivation that Pink refers to as "If/then Rewards" ("If you do this, then you'll get this...") is found consistently again and again to subvert motivation and actually prevent us ...more This book was mainly written for people in the business world, but the research presented here has direct, sobering implications on education as well. My hope is that many administrators, CEOs, upper-level managers, and anyone in leadership positions will read this book. The old model of external motivation that Pink refers to as "If/then Rewards" ("If you do this, then you'll get this...") is found consistently again and again to subvert motivation and actually prevent us from doing our best work.

Yet businesses and schools across America continue to use this old model of motivation (Motivation 2.0 as Pink likes to call it... Motivation 1.0 is merely cave-man survival) in an attempt to keep us compliant.

Compliance will no longer get the job done. We must do better. We must create autonomy in our work environments rather than managerial control over minions. Drive gives us the knowledge and tools to make that happen. To paraphrase Maya Angelou, when you know better, you do better. Let's hope many people read this book so they can know better to do better.



Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink
Published: December 2009 by Riverhead Hardcover
Pages: 256
Genre: Nonfiction
Audience: Adults in business or education

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna was looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. So she's less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris — until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all . . . including a serious girlfriend. - from Goodreads

There ARE good romance novels out there. They're not all trash and cliches. I just want to give Stephanie Perkins a big hug for writing a smart, worthwhile romance that will still make young teenage girls swoon with delight, yet also help them understand that relationships involve work along with give and take, not just a complete sacrificing of yourself for the vampire with the perfectly chiseled face and skin as cold as marble. *coughcoughTwilightcoughcough*

The story had the same vibe of a beloved When Harry Met Sally type of romance but with a little French Kiss thrown in for good measure.

I adored all of the characters in this novel and wished they were real people so I could be friends with them. The dialogue felt so free and easy and not the least bit contrived. I especially loved the development of Anna and St. Clair's relationship and how it starts with friendship and blossoms from that rather than just her drooling over his golden locks and beautiful face. That's not to say that there isn't a fair amount of swooning over looks in this book. It's just done so in a way that enhances the relationship rather than making you feel like that is the only thing their relationship is built upon.

I also really loved how perfectly accurate Perkins portrays the experience of someone moving overseas and the feelings that go along with it - starting with homesickness, self-consciousness over not being able to speak the language, then evolving to the return home and the expectations that things will be the same only to be disappointed that people didn't put their lives on hold for you and then look down on you because you've changed. I experienced all of the same things Anna experienced when I lived in Germany for two years so I fully appreciated how real that aspect of the book was.

This was a brilliant debut from a hugely likable new author. I can't wait to read more of her books! That's always the hard part of following an author from the start of their career: you have to wait a really long time to read more of their books.

My mark of an awesome book is the entire time you're reading, you're ticked off at yourself for not thinking of the idea for the story first. And that is what I was thinking as I was reading. All I could think in my head was, "Awww man! I so wish I would've thought to write this book first!"

If you need a feel good book that won't make you gag (even the romance haters), then run out and purchase Anna and the French Kiss on December 2nd!



Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Publish Date: December 2, 2010 by Dutton (ARC requested from publisher)
Pages: 372
Genre: Realistic fiction/chick lit
Audience: YA

Newspaper Blackout by Austin Kleon

Armed with a newspaper and a magic marker, Austin Kleon makes the process of writing poetry more about chiseling away instead of starting from scratch. I am a huge fan of found poetry and have my students create found and headline poems every April during National Poetry Month. What I always find when students perform these exercises is that at first they think the assignment is just for fun, but then end up creating something really profound.

The idea is the same in Newspaper Blackout. An otherwise mundane newspaper article is now suddenly something really profound.


My only criticism of this book is that sometimes the poems were a little hard to follow and the flow of the poem was stifled because your brain was too busy trying to translate the order of everything.

Check out the book trailer here:





Newspaper Blackout by Austin Kleon
Published: April 2010 by Harper Perennial
Pages: 224
Genre: Poetry
Audience: Adults

Halo by Alexandra Adornetto

Goodreads summary:

Nothing much happens in the sleepy town of Venus Cove. But everything changes when three angels are sent from heaven to protect the town against the gathering forces of darkness: Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, a teenage girl who is the least experienced of the trio. They work hard to conceal their true identity and, most of all, their wings.

But the mission is threatened when the youngest angel, Bethany, is sent to high school and falls in love with the handsome school captain, Xavier Woods. Will she defy the laws of Heaven by loving him? Things come to a head when the angels realize they are not the only supernatural power in Venus Cove. There′s a new kid in town and he′s charming, seductive and deadly. Worst of all, he′s after Beth.

OK, I'm going to start with a backhanded compliment. Given that Alexandra Adornetto is only 18 years old, she is rather gifted with words. But she hasn't yet learned to harness that gift. She's still a bit unwieldy with them, carelessly throwing them around all slap-dash.

This story felt like a rip-off of Twilight but with angels instead of vampires. There was absolutely nothing substantive to the relationship between Bethany and Xavier other than having to read over and over ag ...more OK, I'm going to start with a backhanded compliment. Given that Alexandra Adornetto is only 18 years old, she is rather gifted with words. But she hasn't yet learned to harness that gift. She's still a bit unwieldy with them, carelessly throwing them around all slap-dash.

This story felt like a rip-off of Twilight but with angels instead of vampires. There was absolutely nothing substantive to the relationship between Bethany and Xavier other than having to read over and over again for 480 pages how beautiful they were.

This is a passage from p. 426 during a high-crisis moment in the book:

I woke in the middle of the night, frightened by a dream I couldn't remember. Xavier lay beside me. He looked so beautiful when he was asleep, his perfect lips slightly parted, his hair tousled on the pillow, his smooth, tanned chest rising and falling gently as he breathed.

Really? Really? You're going to go there? At the height of tension and anxiety in the story, you're going to talk about his perfectly tanned chest?

Another huge criticism I have is that if you're going to write a fantasy novel, then you need to find a way to make readers believe in the world you've created. That is the challenge of writing fantasy. It's easy to make up another world. What's hard is taking other people there with you. When I read Harry Potter, for those moments I am reading the book, I believe there is a place called Hogwarts and that Voldemort is trying to kill Harry. JK Rowling transports us into that world. But Adornetto never allowed me to leave this world and enter hers. The entire time I was reading this book I wasn't buying it. The idea of an angel falling in love with a human is an intriguing premise for a plot, and perhaps in the hands of a more mature author it would have worked, but this book felt completely superficial and unbelievable. I will not be continuing with the series when the next book comes out. Maybe sappy girls of 14 or 15 will fall for the "romance" in this book, but I certainly didn't.



Halo by Alexandra Adornetto
Published: August 2010
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Pages: 484
Genre: fantasy
Audience: YA/Lovers of bad romance novels
Disclosure: Finished copy received for review

A Pirate's Guide to First Grade by James Preller

Anyone who reads this book aloud without a pirate voice should be arrested.

This book is told from the perspective of a first grader who sees the world through the lens of a pirate. The illustrations are ingenious - with life in first grade being in full color, and the pirate daydreams faded into the background. I'm thinking I need to purchase a copy of this book to read to my students on International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Even if you're not in first grade, you'd be hard press ...moreAnyone who reads this book aloud without a pirate voice should be arrested.

This book is told from the perspective of a first grader who sees the world through the lens of a pirate. The illustrations are ingenious - with life in first grade being in full color, and the pirate daydreams faded into the background. I'm thinking I need to purchase a copy of this book to read to my students on International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Too bad it's already passed by this year.

Even if you're not in first grade, you'd be hard pressed to find a student who won't be entertained by this charming book.

A Pirate's Guide to First Grade by James Peller/Illustrations by Greg Ruth
Published: July 2010 by Feiwel & Friends
Pages: 48
Genre: Children's picture book

Unlovable by Dan Yaccarino

I am just a tad bit biased when it comes to reviewing this book because I am a devoted pug owner. So when I came across this book about a pug that is told by the family cat that he is unlovable, I couldn't help but want to shout, "BUT I LOVE YOU!!!!!"

My heart broke for Alfred the pug at the beginning of the story as he banished himself to the backyard so as not to have to hear the cat, the parrot, and even the goldfish declare how unlovable he is.

This is a great ...moreI am just a tad bit biased when it comes to reviewing this book because I am a devoted pug owner. So when I came across this book about a pug that is told by the family cat that he is unlovable, I couldn't help but feel the need to shout, "BUT I LOVE YOU!!!!!"

My heart broke for Alfred the pug at the beginning of the story as he banished himself to the backyard so as not to have to hear the cat, the parrot, and even the goldfish declare how unlovable he is.

This is a great book to use with kids to teach lessons about not excluding others and embracing each other's differences. The illustrations are simple but have great impact and emotion, and despite Alfred's empty eyes, they bore into your soul and make you feel extreme empathy for him.

Unlovable by Dan Yaccarino
Published: January 2001 by Henry Holt
Pages: 32
Genre: Children's picture book

Zingerman's Guide to Good Eating by Ari Weinzwig

Zingerman's in Ann Arbor, Michigan is a high-end galleria of food indulgences. They specialize in only the very best products and ingredients. This book is organized well and includes tantalizing recipes at the end of each chapter.

It might appear pretentious to proclaim the merits of purchasing only the very best of every type of food product, but Weinzwig insists that he is not looking for food to be fancy - he just wants it to taste good! That is his thesis for this book and the philosophy behind Zingerman's legacy.

Educational and mouth-watering, this book would be a wonderful addition to any aspiring cook wishing to choose better ingredients for themselves and their family.

Zingerman's Guide to Good Eating by Ari Weinzweig
Published: November 2003 by Houghton Mifflin
Pages: 512
Genre: Nonfiction/food
Audience: Food lovers

Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage by Elizabeth Gilbert

When last we left Liz Gilbert, she was basking in the glow of her new relationship with the suave, older Brazilian man she met in Bali. While they each made a long-term commitment to the other, neither one was willing to walk down the aisle again. But then fate intervened: frequently traveling into the United States for three month spurts, one day, Gilbert's beau was detained at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport by Homeland Security declaring that the only way he would be allowed back in the country was if he married his American girlfriend.

Thus began the perilous journey back into matrimony for Liz and Filipe. In order for her to resign herself to this idea, she began a lengthy research into the history of marriage.

What endears readers to Gilbert's prose is that she can take such a dry topic like the history of marriage and make it interesting and accessible. I have come to the conclusion that Elizabeth Gilbert could write about the history of the phone book and I would be fascinated with what she had to say. She just has a way of explaining something in such an organized, logical, easy-to-read package, yet she still packs a punch with her personality and unique voice.

It amazes me that Gilbert could be so neurotic that in order to re-marry, she had to do extensive research on the topic of marriage. Luckily her neuroses results in ver ...more I have come to the conclusion that Elizabeth Gilbert could write about the history of the phone book and I would be fascinated with what she had to say. She just has a way of explaining something in such an organized, logical, easy-to-read package, yet she still packs a punch with her personality and unique voice.

It amazes me that Gilbert could be so neurotic that in order to re-marry, she had to do extensive research on the topic of marriage. Luckily her neuroses results in very successful books. Keep up the crazy Miss Gilbert because I'll keep reading your books.

Not only was I thoroughly entertained while reading, but I was also impressed with how much I learned about the institution of marriage. You too will be shocked by the things you thought you knew about marriage that will be completely obliterated by reading this book. For example, did you know that early Christians looked down on marriage? It only begrudgingly became a sacrament as a way to try to control the institution rather than trying to prevent people from doing it since that wasn't working. Hmmmm... going to let you draw your own conclusions on that one.

This book is clearly not as engaging as Eat, Pray, Love but it was certainly worth the read. I highly recommend it for anyone considering marriage.


Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage by Elizabeth Gilbert
Published: January 2010
Pages: 285
Genre: Nonfiction
Audience: Adults

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger

Dwight, a loser, talks to his classmates via an origami finger puppet of Yoda. If that weren’t strange enough, the puppet is uncannily wise and prescient. Origami Yoda predicts the date of a pop quiz, guesses who stole the classroom Shakespeare bust, and saves a classmate from popularity-crushing embarrassment with some well-timed advice. Dwight’s classmate Tommy wonders how Yoda can be so smart when Dwight himself is so clueless. With contributions from his puzzled classmates, he assembles the case file that forms this novel. - synopsis taken from Goodreads

I wasn't going to review this book because, while I enjoyed it, I wasn't blown away by it. But then something happened. I put the book on my bookshelf after I finished reading it and kids were clamoring for it. Everyday I would have a different student ask for it.

This got me to thinking. Books don't always have to be well-written. They don't even have to have a good story. Sometimes they just have to have some sort of unifier - something that will get kids talking and that attracts them toward the book.

At my school, the popularity of this book intensified a few days ago when one of my students came to the end of the book, saw the instructions to make her own origami Yoda, and now I've got a bunch of junior high students walking around with Yodas on their fingers - including their teacher:


So even though I give the actual story three stars, I'm going to give the idea 5 stars because middle grade kids are eating this book up.

Radiance by Alyson Noel

I received this book as an ARC from the publisher. I have not read Alyson Noel's Immortals series so this is my first experience with her books.

In Radiance, Riley Bloom, along with her parents and her dog Buttercup, cross over the shining bridge into the Here & Now after a car accident. As Riley begins to settle into her Afterlife, she soon discovers that being dead does not mean she'll get to sit around on a cloud watching the mortals below.

Riley is given a job as a ...moreI received this book as an ARC from the publisher. I have not read Alyson Noel's Immortals series so this is my first experience with her books.

In Radiance, Riley Bloom, along with her parents and her dog Buttercup, cross over the shining bridge into the Here & Now after a car accident. As Riley begins to settle into her Afterlife, she soon discovers that being dead does not mean she'll get to sit around on a cloud watching the mortals below.

Riley is given a job as a soul catcher, along with a teacher - a teenage boy named Bodhi - whose job it is to guide her in learning her new job.

This book was an extremely entertaining and quick read. I will definitely keep up with the series, but I have a couple criticisms of the book:

1) Riley's voice is a tad inconsistent. One minute she's talking like a typical twelve-year-old, using words like ginormous and bejeezums, the next minute she's using words like "glean" and "extenuating circumstances." Noel does briefly address this inconsistency, however, on p. 76 when Riley says, "As someone who likes to mix up my vocabulary a bit, I decided I'd like him for that," but it almost felt like it was added in there as an editor suggestion. Like she said, "OK, Riley talks like a twelve year old girl most of the time, but then you've got her saying these things here and it just doesn't seem like her voice."

2) I thought there were way too many current pop culture references in this story to make this a book worth reading ten years from now. If I were an author (and some day I hope to be) the one thing I would make sure I do is avoid dating my book. But when you mention things like Kelly Clarkson, Joe Jonas, Wii, Punk'd, and Zac Efron, you are giving your book a shelf life, a "sell by" date if you will. The thing is, middle grade readers are really fickle, and 15-20 years from now, kids are going to pick up this book and say, "Who? What? Huh?" and then put the book down due to its inability to reach a new generation of readers. I mean, just imagine if a group of kids today picked up a book that mentioned Pearl Jam, Color Me Badd, and Sega - how many of them would a) know what or who the heck the author was talking about and b) want to keep reading. I'm not saying an author can't make an allusion here and there to pop culture, but I would not suggest making the book rife with it.

Other than those two criticisms, however, it was an enjoyable read and I'm looking forward to catching the next installment.

Cover Comments: I think this cover is stunning. The colors and dream-like quality of the foggy bridge in the background and a glowing Riley and Buttercup in the foreground would make anyone want to pick this book up and read it.

Check out the Book Trailer Here:




Radiance by Alyson Noel
Published: August 2010
Pages: 178
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Middle grade

Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson audiobook review (+ giveaway)

Rose Mae Lolley is a fierce and dirty girl, long-suppressed under flowery skirts and bow-trimmed ballet flats. As "Mrs. Ro Grandee" she's trapped in a marriage that's thick with love and sick with abuse. Her true self has been bound in the chains of marital bliss in rural Texas, letting "Ro" make eggs, iron shirts, and take her punches. She seems doomed to spend the rest of her life battered outside by her husband and inside by her former self, until fate throws her in the path of an airport gypsy---one who shares her past and knows her future. The tarot cards foretell that Rose's beautiful, abusive husband is going to kill her. Unless she kills him first.

Hot-blooded Rose Mae escapes from under Ro's perky compliance and emerges with a gun and a plan to beat the hand she's been dealt. Following messages that her long-missing mother has left hidden for her in graffiti and behind paintings, Rose and her dog Gretel set out from Amarillo, TX back to her hometown of Fruiton, AL, and then on to California, unearthing a host of family secrets as she goes. Running for her life, she realizes that she must face her past in order to overcome her fate---death by marriage---and become a girl who is strong enough to save herself from the one who loves her best. - synopsis taken from Goodreads.

Backseat Saints is beautifully written despite a painful subject matter. Had I not been so transfixed by Jackson's masterful turn of phrase and hypnotizing audio narration (by the author herself), I probably would have some more critical things to say, but since this was one of those audiobooks that is so well narrated, all I can do is sing its praises. Jackson has such a sweet, lilting southern drawl that you can't help but be won over by her storytelling.

There is no point in this story where you feel the outcome will be predictable. You are constantly left guessing as to how Jackson will end it and the climax will leave you on the edge of you seat. If you often find yourself turned off by boring, sleep-inducing audiobooks, look no further than Backseat Saints to jolt you from your slumber.


Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson
Audiobook narrated by: Joshilyn Jackson
Audiobook published: June 2010
Total playing time: 13 Hours
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Audience: Adults


*Giveaway*

Back in June I participated in Audiobook Week over at Devourer of Books. Jen was able to provide a great deal of audiobook giveaways through the generosity of publishers. Backseat Saints was a title I won through that week of participation and I'd like to pass it on to someone else to enjoy.

Fill out the form below before 10 PM EST on October 10, 2010 and I will send one lucky winner my 11-CD audiobook copy of Backseat Saints.

Open to US residents only.