American Born Chinese

I started reading the book, and all I kept thinking was, "what the heck?" I was not getting the whole monkey thing. Did not like the book all that much until it came together in the end. I really need to re-read it because it really is a good book and I think I will enjoy it knowing what the monkey thing is. It has a ton of great discussion points! I am excited to discuss it next week! Hope you all enjoy : ) Don't get hung up on the monkey...

Authors

So, if anyone's curious as to how authors write, etc... in his latest video blog John has filmed himself with several other authors (including Scott Westerfield; I haven't read anything by the other authors). It's not his typical hilarious video, but it is interesting to see what authors do while they write :)

Also, if you're a Twilight/Stephenie Meyer fan: READ MY LAST ENTRY. It really would be nice to know so I can figure something out about it.

Bee, hopefully you're having a nice vacation!

Stephenie Meyer Goodstuff

Ok, so. I have a few points to make, all of which center around everyone's favorite author :D

01. Prom Nights From Hell by Meg Cabot, Stephenie Meyer, and a few other authors didn't come out on April 1st like it was supposed to. The current release date is April 24th--hopefully they don't change it again! For anyone who's interested it's 4-6 short stories about paranormal prom dates, all of which go very wrong. It looks really good, and is by several fantastic authors so you should definately check it out once it's released!

02. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer comes out in paperback soon, and this is supposidly a "special edition" book, from what I understand. It will have the first chapter of Eclipse in it (yay!) as well as a few other goodies (I want to say a poster and maybe something like stickers but I can't remember for sure). Originally I thought it came out May 5th, which is the date of the Eclipse Prom (a Stephenie Meyer event in Phoenix, for those who aren't aware ^^), but after talking to the bookstore that is sponsering the event the current release date for this book is April 10th. Make sure to watch for it if you want to read the first chapter of Eclipse!

03. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer comes out August 7th. I talked to a few people at Barnes & Noble last night and asked them nicely to have a Eclipse release party, similar to what they do with Harry Potter. I got a name and e-mail to contact, but before I did so I wanted to find out how many people would be interested in going to it. That way we would be able to get the book at 12:01 AM rather than waiting until normal opening hours--if you're anywhere as obsessed with these books as I am you won't want to wait the extra 10 hours or so. Plus, what could be more fun than a party for it!?

Oh, and in terms of what I've read recently. Frankenstein, which wasn't very good. I wouldn't reccomend it, though learn about the author if you're bored. Mary Shelley had a very interesting life...

More on American Born Chinese

Check out this review of American Born Chinese, it is interesting and gives us some interesting information. It will also give you a great overview without giving away the story. I would encourage you to check it out if you a little skeptical about reading it.

Something else to check-out is an interview with the author of American Born Chinese, Gene Luen Yang.

Rate American Born Chinese

What did you think? Is it the worst book you've ever read (1 star)? Is it the best (5 stars)? Tell us why in the blog comments (not the poll comments)! You must vote to see the results.
Happy Reading!

Our Visit with Jodi Picoult

A few of your favorite HHS staff members visited (and others) Madison, WI to see and listen to Jodi Picoult. Mrs. Court, Mrs. Foster, Mrs. Wopat, Mrs. Swobada, my mom and I headed to Madison after school on Friday. Jodi read from her latest book Nineteen Minutes which is about a school shooting. I love to listen to authors read from their own book and listen them answer questions about how they work, what they are currently working on and even give insite about why they write what they do. This was my third time seeing Jodi and I know it won't be my last. Check out the photos!

Elsewhere

I'm reading Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin currently and have to say it's really good. Lately every book I've looked at on Amazon has recomended it as something I would like (Twilight, New Moon, Looking for Alaska, Uglies, Peeps, etc...) and Amazon is correct--the book is wonderful. I'm 200/275 pages into the book and would highly recomend it.

The End of the World?

One of the best books I have read all year!! Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. An asteroid hits the moon and changes everything for Miranda and her family. The life as they knew it is over. Will Miranda and her family survive the tsunamis, the volcanoes, the cold, the snow...other people. Read Life as We Knew It, in Miranda's journals starting before the moon is hit. Be with her and her family as they survive day to day life in a way they never anticipated. I promise you will not be disappointed!

Done

I'm done with the book Where The Heart Is.

Authors Who Blog

Check out this article from Publisher's Weekly about authors who blog. The article features authors Meg Cabot, Sarah Dessen, Stephenie Meyer, John Green and others. The authors talk about why they blog and what they like and don't like about it.

Do you like it when your favorite authors have blogs? Do you read their blogs on a regular basis? What/Who are some of your favorites?

Where the Heart is

I've started reading it and so far it is pretty good.

Snow Day...lots of time for reading!

I hope you are enjoying your day off, I plan on doing some reading and cleaning--at the same time! Thank goodness for audiobooks. I am listening to Rash by Pete Hautman right now. Bo, the main character is one of the characters you like, but constantly want to yell at because of the studpid decisions he makes. Rash occur some time in the late 2000s, Bo's grandpa was born around the same time as you guys in the 1990s and talks about the way things were which is pretty much how they are for us! It is really interesting to imagine what life will be like in our lifetime. It is kind of out there, but not so out there that you don't believe it. I really think Rash could be a very good book club book especially since many of you like Feed by M.T. Anderson.

Library Thing

A few book clubs ago we read Looking for Alaska by John Green, and since then we've had a hay-day with the whole "in-your(my)-pants" phrase and his & Hank's video blog.

Also, I know several of us here are on Library Thing, and lo and behold the most recent video blog of John's talks about Library Thing. So if you know what Library Thing is, and haven't been watching the Brotherhood 2.0 blogs you should check this out--I'm sure you'll be able to relate to it. And if you don't know what Library Thing is you should still watch it because it will make you laugh (and really not want to eat horshradish).

/random.

And on to books! I'm 90ish pages into Are We There Yet? and have to say I really am not liking this book. Bleugh.

For my British Literature course at UWL though we have to read Sense & Sensibility which I'm pretty excited for. The public library doesn't open for another 7 minutes though so I haven't checked mine out yet. Hopefully I'll like it, I've been wanting to read something by Jane Austen.

Boy Meets Boy

I just finished (actually I finished this a couple weeks ago and forgot to finish my post until this morning) Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan. At first it annoyed me that the city was so nice. Everyone seemed to accept everyone. There didn't seem to be conflict in the normal sense of things. However, after finishing it and thinking it through, I think that is the point. Levithan gives us a picture of how life in an accepting community looks. Initially I think I was irritated that Boy Meets Boy was unrealistic, but I think I was more irritated that our school doesn't necessarily live up to the school environment that Paul's does. I don't know that any school can live up to the example set in Boy Meets Boy, but I think it would be wonderful if it could. The community accepts people as they are and doesn't try to change them to fit molds of our society.

so i just finished reading Forever in Blue by Ann Brashares. it's really good and it's the end of the series and it really made me mad, but it is so addicting that it's not even funny. for those of you who have read it, tell me what you think.

In the news

On Monday night, your very own Bee was on the news with Martha on My Community TV featuring us using the blog. So I thought I would share it with you...

**Unfortunately, as of last week 3/1/2007 (when I checked), the video is no longer on their website.**

Reading Rants

Reading Rants

This is a cool website created by a middle school librarian, Jennifer Hubert, she creates unique reading lists for young adults. There are a few that I thought you would be especially interested in...

Just "Fanging" Around
Nail Biters
Graphic Fantastic

If you could...

In Timeline, scientists develop way to time-travel. If you could travel through time, would you? What time would you travel to? Why? Is there someone you would like to meet? Why? What questions would you ask this person?

Looking Ahead

Our next discussion is for Read it 1st. We will be discussing Timeline by Michael Crichton. An action packed novel where scientists researching time travel get stuck in Medevil Europe. Will they get back? Read it to find out. The discussion will be on February 22 during all thre lunches and at 6:30 p.m. we will be showing the movie in the library. Pick-up your copy in the library today!

Happy reading!

John Green...

...is a fantastic author. For sure :) I haven't been so taken by an author since Twilight last April (though in a completely different way--no offence Miles, but Edward is 100x better :P). Anyways, Looking for Alaska was FANTASTIC. I know a lot of people had issues reading it because it was kind of hard to relate to at the beginning (I did too, but I blamed that on having just finished Eldest...Alabama is just slightly a different setting). I don't know what it was about the book that has me so obsessed, but it's really good.

There are a lot of thought provoking events in it, and a lot of hilarious ones. A definate must read, in my opinion :D (I would sort of classify it with The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Donnie Darko, etc..., and I'm not even quite sure why because they're definately different but there's something about it that is similar).

Currently I am three chapters into An Abundance of Katherines, also by John Green. I didn't want to start it right after finishing Looking for Alaska due to the, event, that occurs during the book (the entire thing is dated a x many days before/after the event) but now a week or so later I'm loving it. John Green is definately an author that if I ever see a new book by him I won't hesitate to buy a copy ^^