Recommend Me Friday

Recommend me Friday is a weekly event hosted by Kate at The Neverending Shelf.  

This where I recommend books I feel deserve to be highlighted. These books can be old friends that I want to share or new ones I just discovered.

Today I am cheating (just a little) because I am recommending a book I just finished this week and reviewed (which I hope you take the time to read since you are already here).

ISBN:9780142414910

Author:Werlin, Nancy

Publisher:Speak

Subject: Fantasy & Magic, Love & Romance Social Issues-Pregnancy

Publication Date:August 2009

Binding:Paperback

Age Level:12-17

Inspired by the classic folk ballad Scarborough Fair, this is a wonderfully riveting and haunting novel of suspense, romance, and fantasy. Lucy is seventeen when she discovers that she is the latest recipient of a generations-old family curse that requires her to complete three seemingly impossible tasks or risk falling into madness and passing the curse on to the next generation. Unlike her ancestors, though, Lucy has family, friends, and other modern resources to help her out. But will it be enough to conquer this age-old evil? (synopsis from Powell Books)

Recommend ME

 

Recommend Me is a weekly event hosted by  Kate at The Neverending Shelf. It's a chance to highlight your favorite reads. It could be a book you just read or one you read years ago.

 

Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson was one of my of favorite reads in 2005. It was so good in fact that it took me less than twenty-four hours to read all 451 pages.

 I first picked up this book  because the cover art attracted my attention. It immediately reminded me of one of my favorite childhood stories. When I was a kid, there were two TV specials that were shown once a year. One of them was The Wizard of Oz with Judy Garland (which of course is still shown just not as a special), and the other was Peter Pan with Mary Martin playing Peter (which is not shown any longer). Of the two specials, Peter Pan was my favorite. I loved the thought of being able to fly, and I thought it was cool that a female got to play a boy. I also liked the idea of pirates and fairies. Seeing Peter and Starcatchers up in the library brought back these memories, and I really wanted to see if this book was a retelling of Peter Pan or not. The next thing that caught my attention was the title, which reinforced my first suspicion that indeed the book was about Peter Pan. Finally, I looked at the back and saw Barry’s and Pearson's picture and figured that the authors must of had a great time collaborating, and I wanted to see just how well they did.  Take a look ...

 I was extremely impressed by this book. First, I loved the fact that Barry and Pearson, took the wonderful tale of Peter Pan and showed just how Peter became Peter Pan. This was very unique and for a fan such as myself it was a lot of fun to read. But what I really liked the most was how the plot was so filled with action and suspense and how the author’s took all the important details that make up the Peter Pan myth and gave a beginning to it.  This includes how Captain Hook (whose name was Captain Black Stauche before he lost his hand) actually lost his hand. How Peter became a boy who would never grow old, and how he came by a fairy that was his constant companion.  I could probably write a lot more about how much I enjoyed this book, but I am going to encourage you to read it yourself. Even without the fascination that I have with Peter Pan, I think everyone will enjoy this fast-paced and original take on the Peter Pan myth.

In addition to Peter and Starcatchers, there are  three more books in this series that you might want to check out.

Recommend Me Friday

Recommend Me is a weekly event hosted by  Kate at The Neverending Shelf. It's a chance to highlight your favorite reads. It could be a book you just read or one you read years ago

Death Watch by Robb White

Published: 1973

Genre: Adventure, Action, mystery

ISBN: 9780440917403

Age Level 12-17

I read Death Watch by Robb White several years ago and still recommend it to my students because it had such a huge impact on me. While this is not usually a genre I am immediately drawn to I do enjoy suspense novels, which White’s book most definitely is. I have to admit that I found this book impossible to put down and that it left me thinking long after I had read the last paragraph.

White spends very little time on his exposition. Within the first forty pages, he introduces the two main characters, the setting, and the problem, and the problem was so totally unexpected that once revealed I was hooked. Ben, the protagonist is guiding a big city hunter named Madec through the desert. Madec is after bighorn sheep. The problem occurs when Madec shoots at what he believes is a sheep. Unfortunately, the sheep turns out to be an old man. While this, in and of itself was unexpected, the truly surprising event occurs after the two main characters realize the man’s dead. Instead of going back to town and telling the police about the accident, Madec shoots the man again with Ben’s rifle, takes Ben’s clothes, gun, and water then drives away in his jeep. Horrible as this all sounds, it doesn’t stop there. Madec wants to insure Ben’s dies, so Madec using the sight of high powered .358 Magnum Maser,  proceeds to watch Ben to make sure he doesn’t manage to survive. Pretty amazing for the first 40 pages!

I have to admit that this book kept me riveted to the page. White did a terrific job describing the California desert setting, which of course was extremely important to the plot. He also did an awesome job at characterization.  Both Ben and Madec were completely well rounded and dynamic in their opposition of and to each other. Madec was easy to hate as the antagonist.  However, I have to admit that I while I was horrified that a person could be so evil, I also found myself feeling a sense of awe at the man’s intelligence. But it was Ben’s smarts that I really revered. His survival depended on being able to outsmart Madec. While as an ardent reader I naturally assumed that Ben would win, White's ending was as unexpected as his beginning.

So, if you think you might like a fast paced book with lots of surprises and loads of suspense, then I can guarantee Death Watch will not disappoint.

Recommend Me

Recommend Me is a weekly event hosted by  Kate at The Neverending Shelf. It's a chance to highlight your favorite reads. It could be a book you just read or one you read years ago

Boy's Life by Robert McCammon

Published in 1992

Literary Awards: Bram Stoker for Best Novel (1991) and World Fantasy Award for Best Novel (1992)

isbn 0833587994    (isbn13: 9780833587992)

This tale of an 11-year-old's struggle between innocence and evil begins with the discovery of a gruesome murder and ends with the revelation that, even in Zephyr, Alabama, life is not safe and simple--and most things and people are not what they seem to be. "Recaptures the magic of being a child in a world of possibilities and promise. . . ".--Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Information above retrieved from GoodReads

Whenever I am asked the question, "What is your favorite book?" Boy's Life is usually the title I give. While most bookstores shelve it under adult horror, I would consider it more along the lines of realistic fantasy despite the fact that this is an oxymoron. Set in the 60's in Zephyr Alabama, a small rural town on the verge of major change due to development of chain stores, Zephyr is also a town divided by the racial unrest of the times. It tells the story of  Cory, an eleven-year-old boy who finds himself crossing the imaginary line between youthful fantasy, and adulthood. It has several elements  that appealed to me. First, the fantasy is interwoven into a very realistic story, with believable characters and setting. The magic includes a river monster,  a mystical woman who hears the dead and can manipulate the living, a ghost who drives a dragster, and the imaginative adventures of boyhood. Secondly, the story begins with a horrific murder mystery that pervades the tale and climaxes to a surprise ending. This is one of those books that stays with you long after you finish the book and its power pulls you back again and again. If you have never read it, then trust me this is a book you need to add to your must read list! If you have, then perhaps it is time to read it again. I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

 Here are a few links to read more about Boy's Life

Guys Lit Wire

My Years of Serious Reading has a great summary with some fantastic quotes from the book

Skyekid

Trish's Reading Nook

Recommend Me

Kate at Neverending Shelf is hosting a new meme on Friday where participants will pick one of their all time favorite reads to share. This could be a book that you read yesterday or years ago. 

My recommendation  this week is Alt Ed by  Catherine Adkins: 

Alt Ed  is a well conceived and fast pace story about the injustices of dealing with peers in high school. The main character Susan is an outcast because of her weight. Like so many teens, she feels alone. Sadly, I think Susan would prefer to be invisible, but her weight makes her a target for every cruel unthinking peer who uses ridicule as a shield against becoming the ridiculed. Her mother is dead, her father is the high school football coach, and her brother is semi-popular. So in addition to being alone at high school, she is also alone at home.

When Susan finally fights back against her worst enemy by trashing his truck, she is forced to endure group counseling sessions after school. Then to add insult to injury  this same enemy is also a member of the group. 

Atkins does a terrific job at creating a strong plot in order to discuss some of the horrible things peers and peer groups do to one another. The premise of the plot is that six teens must attend a group counseling session for a major infarction they have committed. The group consists of three boys and three girls, and within this mix you have the garden variety high school personalities: the jock the prom queen, the redneck, the punk rocker chick, the gay, and the over-weight Susan.  The dynamics of this group are quickly revealed in their first meeting. Sparks fly and each teen’s personality is revealed to the reader, but Atkins also begins to unravel the stereotypical personality traits with each new meeting, almost like peeling an onion, the reader begins to see that there is  a lot more to each of these kids than what appears on the surface.  Atkins also shows how each of the six are interconnected, either by the crime they have committed, or by their individual fears, and bravado. Of the six, Susan’s character is the one the reader sympathizes with the most because it is through her eyes that we become part of this group, and I think Atkin’s message comes through very clearly because of her point of view. That message is that making judgments based on appearances is not only wrong but, almost always harmful and incorrect. For the reader we sympathize with Susan and get to know her not as her peers do, but through her heart. We also get to see how much each of the other members of the group’s have in common once the shields are peeled away.
 
As I mentioned, Atkin’s theme or message in this book comes through loud and clear, and I believe it is an important message for our youth today. All my life I have watched as people have struggled to over come all types of  prejudices. As a teacher, a main goal for many years has been to teach tolerance. However, I have been seeing a steady increase   (and this is not to say that this hasn’t always existed in schools) in bullying.  Bullying is often based on an intolerance of races,  however, much of the bullying I am referring to is centered at attacking those that don’t seem to fit the “norm” of the group.  In Alt Ed, Atkins tries to dispel the myth of "normalcy” in school by showing how looking at the individual and making judgments based on one to one contact is the only real way to get to know someone and will certainly enhance our ability to understand ourselves and each other.