The Fire Withinby Chris D’Lacey
I am always picking up books to read and try to find ones that I will be able to recommend to students. Since I am a substitute teacher in Middle and High Schools, I see a wide range of reading levels, interests and have some free time to read. I recently picked up this book at a store. I will admit that I had a hard time putting the book down and in fact finished it in a day.
The book starts out with a college student needing to find a room close to the college that he attends. He finds an advertisement for a room with the post script ” Must like children and cats and dragons”. (The dragon part was handwritten in.) David Rain, the college student, moves in and the fun begins. Between attending class and studying, David spend time with 10 year old Lucy and ends up writing a story for her birthday present. (It is something that he can afford). The story is based on happens in the garden. It involves the local squirrels and their adventures. Of course, the dragons, especially Gadzooks, figure in the telling.
The dragons are a very important part of the story, both the one that David is writing and in the book itself. I won’t share to much more, you will have to read to find out.
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I will admit that I haven’t seen the movie but I enjoyed the book greatly. It is a story about four girls who are friends because their Mothers where in the same aerobics class for pregnant women. The girls remain friends even though their Moms grow apart. The story starts a the beginning of the first summer that these friends will not be together. What keeps the friendships strong is a pair of jeans that seem to be magical. The pants magic makes who ever wears them look good.
The friends create rules to govern the use of the Traveling Pants. They all agree with the rules and that they will send the pants to the next on the list. The pants help the friends deal with the hard ships of growing up and reminds each of the girls to remember that they are loved.
This is a coming of age story that appeals to the girl in all of us. I don’t think many of the boys in my classes would enjoy the book but the girls do. It is a great book to remind us that growing up is tough for everyone but is made easier by the friends that surround us.
I am always looking for books to recommend to students, (I am a English teacher) so I tend to pick up many different books. This book, I actually bought at the recommendation of the bookseller at the local WalMart. She mentioned that she was having a hard time keeping it on the shelve. I picked up a copy and paid for it. Once I started it, I could not put it down and have read the other books in the series.
This is a story of a young man who discovers that he is really a demi-god. (Okay, his Dad was an Olympian. Yes, one of the Greek Gods that we all read about in school. The one of the enjoyable parts of this series is that you are introduced to Greek Mythology in a more modern setting then the stories that I read as a student.) Percy Jackson is thrown into many adventures without having any idea of how he is going to survive but he always does. He has the help of friends, like Annabeth (also a demi-god) and Grover (I won’t tell you his secret, you will have to read the books). He and his friends have to find out who stole Zeus’s Lighting Bolt and clear his name. The trio face many trials and meet many interesting characters along the way.
A movie based on the book is being released soon. I hope that it nearly half as good as the books.
When I was walking around the table at the local warehouse store, the cover of this book caught my eye. I read the review on the front cover and the description on the back and decided to buy a copy. I was looking for books to take on vacation with me.
I was totally surprised with the quality of writing and the story that Tatiana de Rosnay wove about a very little known part of French history. The first half of the book is two stories that are interwoven with each other. The commonality that they share is the location in which they take place. One story takes place in 1942 as the French Police round up the Jews living in Paris. Sarah, who is 10, locks her younger brother in a secret cupboard with promise to return in a couple of hours to free him. They are unaware of what is really going on. The other story is about Julia Jarmond, an American Journalist, who is researching the round up. Julia’s research brings her to discover a secret that her husband’s family has been living with for the past 60 years.
This book will hunt you and you will remember it and the stories that it tells. It very artfully tells the horror that happened to many who did not survive but also how it effected those who did.
This is a must read.
100 Cupboards: Book 1 by N.D. Wilson
The cover of this book caught my eye. It has a bunch of small drawers with one that is slightly open with a pair of yellow eyes peering out of it. The book’s description on the back peeked my interest. As a fan of fantasy adventures and reading about things that go bump in the night, I decided to read it. I am very glad that I did but I am waiting for the library to have the second book available to check out. ( I am on the waiting list with what seems to be many, if not all, of the youngsters needing to read this summer!)
My dad actually read the book before I got the chance to read it and enjoyed it. He didn’t talk much about it but read it in a day while he was visiting. My Dad is the person to taught me that I do not have to finish reading every book that I start.
The main character, twelve-year-old Henry York, discovers the cupboards plastered over in the attic that is now his bedroom. By unplastering the cupboards, he discovers that they lead to other worlds. There is enough creepiness to keep the kids reading the story but not enough to keep them awake at night. That is unless they are trying to find hidden cupboards in their own houses!
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