Follower Love Blog Hop Giveaway Winners

The winners of this giveaway were chosen at random using the number generator on random.org

The winner of Glimpse by Stacey Wallace Benefiel is:

Lisa Loves to Read

The winner of The Tapestry of Love by Rosy Thornton is:

Thebookfaery

Both winners have 48 hours to contact me with their address or I will select a new winner.

Congrats to the winners and thanks to everyone who entered. I love all my new and old followers! :o)

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In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren.  The idea is to connect with other bloggers and book lovers to see what everyone is reading.  Books don't have to literally come in your mailbox.  They can be books you checked out at the library, bought at the bookstore, or downloaded to your e-reader.  The idea is just to share what's new on your immediate TBR pile. 

This was a great book week for me:

For Review:
 
The Fourth Stall by Chris Rylander

I had a mom come up to me after school one day last week and said, "I have an assignment for you.  I've heard that if you have Borders gift cards you should spend them ASAP in case they go bankrupt.  I know what a great classroom library you have so if I give you $100 in gift cards, will you spend them by this weekend?"

DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Of course I will!  :o)  These are the books I bought for my classroom library:

Oogy: The Dog Only a Family Could Love by Larry Levin (I'm a sucker for dog books and word has it, this one won't make you cry at the end)
I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore (wish I hadn't bought this one now that I know the smarmy way it was written)

The Mermaid's Mirror by L.K. Madigan
The Brooklyn Nine by Alan Gratz

The Order of Odd Fish by James Kennedy
Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan

The Odyssey: A Graphic Novel by Garreth Hinds

One by Kathryn Otoshi
Zero by Kathyrn Otoshi

I always try to stop by my town's library on a Tuesdays because their used book store is open when I stop by after work.  I always get tons of goodies for my classroom library whenever I stop there.  This week was no different: (Notice the beer bottle in the background to give the picture that touch of class :p  Oops!)

 

 Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

The Naked Mole-Rat Letters by Mary Amato

How to Rule the School by Kathryn Lay

Moccasin Trail by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

The Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift

Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo

Flipped by Wendelin van Draanen

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper

The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare

Chasing the Falconers 1-4, 6 by Gordan Korman

Report to the Principal's Office by Jerry Spinelli

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

Dogs Don't Tell Jokes by Louis Sachar

Devoured by Amanda Marrone 

And finally, this is one my favorite things book-related I received this week.  I went upstairs to our school's library earlier this week to talk to the librarian and I noticed there was an empty, rotating book rack just sitting there.  It had formerly been filled with all the library's paperbacks, but they have recently been moved to some available bookshelf space.  Since my classroom bookshelves are filling up quickly, I asked the librarian if she was getting rid of the rack.  She said, "Why, do you want it?"  I practically yelled the word YES!  She said, "It's yours."

So now I am now the current owner of my very own rotating book rack:

My students said to me the other day, "Mrs. S, your room is starting to look more like a library than a classroom."  Better yet, they said this statement with excitement and pride.  As one of my friends on Facebook said, "Surround them with enough books and they won't even know they're learning."  That is precisely the idea!

Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Amal is a normal sixteen-year-old girl. She loves fashion, TV-shows, and going shopping with her friends. But she is also committed to her faith and despite the difficulty she knows she will endure, has decided to start wearing the Islamic hijab full-time.

Randa Abdel-Fattah does a really great job educating her target audience that Islam in its purest form is not oppressive to women, but I thought story itself and the juxtaposition of educating her audience about Islam needed to ...moreAmal is a normal sixteen-year-old girl. She loves fashion, TV-shows, and going shopping with her friends. But she is also committed to her faith and despite the difficulty she knows she will endure, has decided to start wearing the Islamic hijab full-time.

Randa Abdel-Fattah does a really great job educating her target audience that Islam in its purest form is not oppressive to women.  So in that regard, I have to say that this is a perfectly-timed narrative given the fear and the hate-mongering that Muslims living in Western countries must feel. However, I thought story itself and the juxtaposition of educating her audience about Islam needed to be a little more seamless. The whole thing reeked of desperation at times. I never felt like I could relax into the story and just enjoy the characters because every scene felt like one big lesson for the ignorant non-Muslims out there who don't know any better.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciated the sentiment behind the story and I really think the author has done a service to non-Muslim teens by writing this book and helping to squash some huge misconceptions; I guess I just wish it hadn't been done in such an "in your face" manner.  

Even so, this is a worthwhile read and proves to everyone that there are wackadoos and hate-filled people in every religion.  Abdel-Fattah makes the perfect case that terrorists speak for Islam as much as the Ku Klux Klan speaks for Christianity.  There will always be people that manipulate the beliefs of a religion to promote hate.  Intelligent, open-minded people should know better than to let that hatred be their one-dimensional view of a religion.  

I remember a few years ago the 6th-8th grade at the Catholic school where I teach visited a mosque.  I still get choked up when I think about the beauty of that moment and what it did to open hearts and minds of students, parents, and teachers.  Some of my own prejudices about Islam had been squelched that day. It was a moment in my life that affected me deeply and will be forever burned in my memory.  I wish everyone had the opportunity to experience something like that.  It might change a lot of minds.


So having gone through that experience and despite my critical view of this book, I understand the reason and the passion for why Randa Abdel-Fattah wrote it.  She's hoping that all those young people who pick it up will have an experience even the tiniest bit similar to that life-changing one I had sitting in that mosque five years ago.  




Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fatttah
Published: May 2007 
Publisher: Orchard Books
Pages: 360
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Audience: YA
Disclosure: Library copy

Follwer Love Giveaway Hop

Thanks to Inspired Kathy from I Am A Reader Not, a Writer who is hosting the Follower Love Giveaway Hop!

Seeing as how this is the month of February, I'm giving away two books for this blog hop that deal with love:

Giveaway #1:
The Tapestry of Love by Rosy Thornton
Published: July 2010 by Headline Review (U.K.)
Pages: 406
Audience: Adult 

A rural idyll: that's what Catherine is seeking when she sells her house in England and moves to a tiny hamlet in the Cévennes mountains. With her divorce in the past and her children grown, she is free to make a new start, and her dream is to set up in business as a seamstress. But this is a harsh and lonely place when you're no longer just here on holiday. There is French bureaucracy to contend with, not to mention the mountain weather, and the reserve of her neighbours, including the intriguing Patrick Castagnol. And that's before the arrival of Catherine's sister, Bryony. - from Goodreads

Giveaway #2:
Glimpse by Stacey Wallace Benefiel
Published: May 2010 by Stacey Wallace Benefiel
Pages: 262
Audience: YA

Zellie Wells has a devastating crush on Avery Adams, the son of her mom’s high school sweetheart. At her sixteenth birthday party, held in the basement of her dad’s church, she finally finds the courage to talk to him. Turns out, the devastating crush is mutual.

As Avery takes her hand and leads her out onto the makeshift dance floor, Zellie is overwhelmed by her first vision of his death; shocking because not only are they both covered in his blood, but they’re old, like 35, and she is pregnant.

Afraid to tell anyone about the vision, (she’d just be labeled a freaky black magic witch, right?) Zellie keeps the knowledge of Avery’s future to herself and tries to act like any other teenager in love. When they get caught on their way to a secret rendezvous by her mom and his dad, they are forbidden to see each other.

Convinced that their parents are freaking out unnecessarily, Avery and Zellie vow to be together no matter what. They continue their relationship in secret until Zellie learns that their parents are just trying to prevent her and Avery from suffering like they did. The visions are hereditary, they’re dangerous, and if they stay together the visions will come true.

Now Zellie must choose between severing all ties with Avery, like her mom did to prevent his father’s death, and finding a way to change Avery’s future. - from Goodreads

The Deets: 

• Must be 13 years or older to enter
• Open to U.S. residents only
• Must be a GFC follower
• Starts February 8th, ends February 13th at 11:59 PM EST
• Optional entry: Leave a comment telling me your favorite romantic scene from a book or movie
• Fill out the entry form

My favorite romantic movie moment was from When Harry Met Sally at the end of the movie when Harry and Sally had a falling out and he runs to the New Year's Eve party and says to her "The reason I came here tonight is because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."  *Sigh* One of the best movie lines of all time.  

Can't wait to hear about your favorite romantic movie and book moments!

Don't forget to visit the other blogs participating in the blog hop:

And they said Detroit would never win a Superbowl

...but this Chrysler commercial sure looks like a win to me!



Pure awesomeness. It's nice to have people love your hometown for a change. Detroiters don't get to feel that too often.

Audiobook Rant

My work commute is very long: 50 minutes each way.  So I have become quite the expert on listening to audiobooks. 

I have come to understand that a narrator can make or break a book.  And there's nothing that breaks a book more than a middle grade novel being told in first person, with a MIDDLE-AGED audiobook narrator.  I mean, this is a total and complete fail on the part of the producers of the audiobook.

I just started listening to Ann M. Martin's A Corner of the Universe which is the story of Hattie Owens' and the summer she turns twelve, when her mentally disabled uncle shows up on their doorstep.  Hattie is the book's first-person narrator and therefore should have a young audiobook narrator, or at the very least an adult with a child-like voice.  Instead, the producers chose Judith Ivey, who not only has a very mature voice, but she sounds like a pack a day smoker.   


Audiobook producers, please, do readers a favor: choose age-appropriate narrators!  If A Corner of the Universe had been a novel told in third-person, then I would have no qualms about choosing Judith Ivey as a narrator. A third-person narrator is not inside the story and therefore does not need to sound like a particular character.  In fact, it's probably better that they don't since a third-person narrator tends to be a neutral voice.  But when you have someone telling a story who is twelve-years-old and the audio narrator sounds fifty, this undermines the authenticity of the story.  Not only that, but it turns your audience off since they ARE twelve-years-old and they want to hear someone who sounds like them if the person telling the story is their age. 

What audiobooks have you listened to where the producers got the narrator completely wrong?

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In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren

Library Loot: (I've been on a Caldecott streak the past few weeks if you haven't noticed)


A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Phillip C. Stead, illustrated by Erin E. Stead
Hondo & Fabian by Peter McCarty
The Red Book by Barbara Lehman
Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth

Audibooks downloaded to my iPod:


Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson

What did you get in your mailbox this week?