Conspiracy 365

If you are looking for a quick read, here is one for you. It is a young adult series that covers a year of teenager Callum's life as he tries to solve a mystery that is father uncovered just before his death. The series is written a month at a time, so each of the books are pretty short, but they keep you wanting more and ready for the next month. It was written in 2009 and so all of the books are out and we do have them all.

The Boys in the Boat

The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown

This is an incredible story about 9 young men who overcome overwhelming odds to compete in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. This book is set at a time when the United States was enduring tragedies like the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl as well as being on the brink of war.

Daniel James Brown tells the story of these young men and how they were able to rise above their extreme poverty, learn the art of rowing, and develop the skills necessary to not only defeat the famous rowing teams of the East Coast colleges, but to go on and compete in the 1936 Berlin Ollmpics. Yet, this is not just a story about rowing. The author brings you into the time period, emotions and tragadies that are such a part of our heritage during this time in our Nation's history. He does a wonderful job of bringing their story to life. It is a definite must read.

The Golem and the Jinni

The author creates two mythical  characters that eventually come together in 1899 in New York City. The creatures are a golem , which is a figure of Jewish myth, an automaton made of earth or clay, brought to life to do the bidding of another and a  jinni (or genie), a figure of Arab myth, a magical creature of fire. The tale includes how the creatures come into being and how they survive in the new world they are thrown into. She touches on the inner workings of New York City at the turn of the century with all of the incoming immigrants and living conditions.

This book had a lot of good reviews and I was really looking forward to reading it, unfortunately, I did not really enjoy the book. I felt like the first half of the book was laying the foundation for the story and then the climax of the story really never came. There was so much building of background for the story that I found myself skimming through paragraphs at a time to get to the meat of the story. It had a great premise, it just took way to long to get there.

October Great Reads for Girls

For the month of October, our Great Reads for Girls group will be reading Palace Beautiful by Sarah Deford Williams. The activity will be held on October 3, 2013 at 7:00pm. We will be making a journal out of a composition notebook so bring a one and we will have all of the other supplies here. So get on our website and sign up and join us for an evening of fun!

The False Prince

                                                 

The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Set in a time period of castles, kings and queens, four boys are picked from an orphange and trained in sword fighting, reading, dancing, and even how to eat properly. One of them will be chosen to be the long lost prince of Carthya, the others will not live to give away the new prince's true identity. The story is told by Sage, one of the orphans. The author has created characters that you want to cheer for and some you hate. I think she did a great job of developing story with many layers that always keep you wondering what's next? I definitely enjoyed this book and would recommend it!