Beat the Band

Beat the Band by Don Calame

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book was as much fun as Swim the Fly by Calame. It is told by the POV of Coop,the girl obsessed sophomore who is crass and unlikable only because his main goal is to round the bases with the hottest girls in school. Then he is matched up with Hotdog Helen who is ridiculed by the entire school, to complete a project on contraceptives for Health class. To fight this uncool happening he forms a band with his two best buds in the hope of winning the school's battle of the bands. He soon finds out that Helen is more than she appears with a voice to match. How can he save his sophomore year with Helen around?



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Along for the Ride

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Even though I am old-I can still relate to the 17 year old character in this book. Really, reading young adult books makes me feel like a teenager, of course until my kids start demanding dinner. Anyway, Auden heads to the beach to spend the summer with her dad, his young wife and new baby. Auden is a late bloomer but no fear there is a cute boy in the town who is willing to help her on her quest to do all the things a 17 year old should do or should have done already. It is a sweet, clean story. My mom would approve because there are not pages of x-rated stuff.



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Brian Selznick wrote The Invention of Hugo Cabret a book told mostly through illustrations and some text.  It is amazing if you have not read it yet.  Wonderstruck is told similarly with two stories being told.  One story takes place in New York during the 1970's and it is told through text.  The second story is from 50 years earlier and is told through illustrations.  Check out this trailer.  It is so much better than mine-but I'm not Scholastic.

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

Savvy

Savvy by Ingrid Law.

I loved this book. If you could get a savvy on your 13th birthday what would it be. Think about it. Basically, anytime you feel emotional your savvy will make itself known and probably cause problems for you and everyone around you. Like mom always said, it is all fun and games until someone get hurt.

Gimme a Call by Sarah Mlynowski

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I don't know if I would want to talk to my fourteen year old self as an 18 year old but Devi does. Devi's boyfriend of the last four years-all of high school-just broke up with her to find who he is without her. Sounds like typically teen drama but it's not. Devi tries to help her friends and herself by telling her fourteen year old self what to do. Frosh-14 year old self-does whatever Devi tells her with some unexpected consequences due to the whole time travel aspect. I couldn't put it down and it was fun.



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Just right

Some days everything goes just right.  I got up this morning and the sun was almost shining.  Adam was in a great mood ready to ice his cakes for Business Day.  My coffee was just right, sweet but not too, hot but not burn your tongue hot and the lady at the deli counter told me that I could have anything that I wanted.  Then, when I got to work I was summoned to the desk to give Annie her first library card. 

Annie has been coming to my story times since she was three and now she is almost six.  In that time her family has expanded by two brothers.  Now I get to watch them grow up, but for now Annie is the big girl.  I was so honored because she wanted me to sign her up so I made a big production of the process.  I had her stand on a stool so that I could see her at the counter, then she got to give me all of her information:  name, phone, address etc.  She was so excited.  She wanted to know how many books she could check out and for how long so I gave her a borrowers guide with her name on it.  I also gave her a little Worthington Libraries wallet to hold her card and receipt.  She was very careful about her book selection because she was using her own card and she choose just six when she could have taken home ten. 

My day continues to be great-the sun is shining, it is Friday, the kids are happy and ready for the weekend.  Everything is just right...

Life of a middle schooler.

My son, Sam, is the kindest most loving boy , he does very well in school and sees the best in all people except teachers.  He thinks that all teachers are after him and that after teaching for two years they should get out because they just become mean and hate kids.  I honestly love the little tidbits about school that he gives me that have to do with how the teachers act and his view of their actions. 

Here is the most recent story.  The kids and I were sitting down for dinner and having a nice dinner conversation.  It is OAA week so all three of them have stuff to tell me.  I'm listening to Adam and I hear part of what Sam is saying but it catches my attention and I ask him to repeat it.  It went like this:
Me:  Sam, what did you say?
Sam:  The teachers think we are disgusting and won't touch our papers.
Me:  What do you mean they won't touch your papers?
Sam:  After the testing they take our papers and make copies.  They will touch the copies but the originals they treat like they have a major disease on them.  They keep the copies but send the originals off to some company to grade.
Me:  Ah geez Sam do you really think that.
Sam:  Yeah Mom it happens all the time-they think we are gross or something.
Me.:  Okay first of all they send the original off to be graded because that is the process.  Not because they don't want to touch it.  Secondly, they keep a copy just in case something happens to the original-not because they don't want to touch it.
Sam:  (Sly smile on his face)  Mom, I don't think that I want you to work in the schools-you make the teachers seem human.

To be continued...