Book to Movie News - The Giver

Dear Jeff Bridges...make this happen!  And he needs to be the Giver.  Make it happen JB...and soon!

The Giver Update on Movie

The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo

A long time ago, there was a young boy by the name of Peter.  And he was desperately searching for his sister Adele.  And just so happens, there is a young girl named Adele at the local orphanage who feels as though she doesn't belong there, but rather she belongs to someone else.  And a local magician is desperate to prove that he knows more than just simple tricks, but actual real and wonderful magic.  Then when an elephant drops in, everything begins to change!  

A very cute story!  I already enjoy Kate DiCamillo's writing and this was simply a fun read.  At first, there are moments in which the story is quiet sad and rather depressing.  However, there are even more moments of encouragement and hope!  It's is truly a story about believing...believing in the impossible and watching it happen right before your eyes.  I really loved the inventiveness and the rhythm of the story.  To me it kind of has the same imagery as "The Invention of Hugo Cabret."  And much like that story, this would be a great one for film.  The Magician's Elephant is also a fairly quick read.  It's a great story for those who many have lost in their ability to believe and need to find it again. 

Teen Craft Idea!

This would be a really cool idea if you could get some clock parts for cheap (or even for free!) and some donated cds.  Or even let the teens bring their own.  The designs could be just about anything and you could even let them use paint.  Always something to consider!

CD Clocks

Stuck on Earth by David Klass

Stuck on Earth is a cute story of how an alien comes down to Earth, takes over the body of a geeky teenage boy and has to evaluate if the human race should survive or be terminated so the planet can be given to someone else.  The first few chapters are extremely funny.  The alien, Ketchvar III, has a difficult time adapting to Tom Filber's tough home life and even tougher school situation.  When things start to go wrong, Ketchvar needs to get out of here fast. But his ship has temporarily been summoned to help another planet and will be back soon.  Until then, he has to tough it out.  But he also learns about the wide variety of human emotions, behaviors and the ability to actually make a difference. 

It was a cute story in the beginning and at the end.  But the middle is were it kind of gets dicey.  In the story, his "sister" Sally actually finds out the alien secret and lets everyone in the world know.  But she and everyone believe that Tom is merely making it all up.  And for a while, even Ketchvar believes it.  But he soon comes to his senses and remembers who he is.  It's this part that I have to most trouble with in the story.  Sally never really gets her dues and she really had no reason to behave that way.  Also, Ketchvar's struggle with Tom and his consciousness, makes the story begin to delve into psychological issues a little bit and it just feels kind of out of place.  Probably could have brought out the dilemma in the story a little bit better than using his sister.  Overall, the story was good.  It's a nice quick read if you are looking from something to help pass the time.

The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens

The Emerald Atlas, follows the story of three orphans: Kate, Michael and Emma.  They were left under mysterious circumstances and have been moved from orphanage to orphanage.  At their most current place, they are the only three and they are under the care of Dr. Pym, who is most definitely not what he seems (but fear not, he is not bad).  Here, the kids encounter time traveling, learn all about magic, giants and mystical creatures.  But they meet an evil sorceress.  The three kids will have to outsmart her in order to save lives and figure out how they are linked to the Books of the Beginning, including the newly found Atlas.  If they can, then they can figure out how to change time itself and even try to rescue their parents.

I loved this first book. The couple of chapters were fairly slow, but as the story goes on, it completely pulls you in.  It is very mysterious, but eventually the pieces start to fall in place.  The characters are very imaginative and different from each other.  They each bring something to the table(they remind me a bit of the Baudelaire children in characterization).  Kate, the oldest and the leader of the trio, has formed a special connection with the book known as Atlas.  She swore to her mother to protect her younger siblings and is willing to sacrifice herself for their safety.  The second oldest is Michael and he is a bookworm that is obsessed with dwarfs.  Known for being rather cowardly, he also likes to document things, but when push comes to shove, he will stand for what he believes in.  The youngest Kate is fighter.  She is not known for being nice and will fight anyone or anything that dares to threaten her or her family.  But with as much passion as she fights with, she also cares that much as well.  Their search for a missing book of magic, takes them on an adventure through time.  And if the ending is true at all, it will not be their last!  It's a very creative and wonderful story that was extremely well written.  Excited for the rest of the series!

Tyger Tyger by Kersten Hamilton

Teagan has grown up her life hearing the stories of Irish folklore either from her Irish mother or from her librarian (yay!) father.  But she never thought that they were real.  That is until Finn Mac Cumhaill (pronounced like McCool) enters her life and unfortunately, her mother dies.  Suddenly she and her little brother Aiden are on the run from goblins and are trying to figure out their mother's mysterious past.

Hmmm...where to begin?  I loved this book! Once I got started, I really just couldn't stop. But I'm a huge fan of folklore and legend, particularly of the Irish variety! It was extremely well written and descriptive. It mixed legend with modern day to make an intriguing and (eerily realistic) story.  The main character Teagan is simply a girl who likes to be the best, but is still rather humble.  Finn is dreamy and the kind of wonderful that makes you wish he was real.  I can't wait for the second book to come out. But I do recommend the audio, because many of the words have a Gaelic pronunciation, so the way they look and they way they are pronounced are completely different!

Empty by Suzanne Weyn

"Empty" takes place in a very near future.  It's probably no more than 20 years from today.  However, we are in a massive oil shortage and have been burning oil like crazy.  Not only has this left us at war with other countries, but it's also caused insane changes in the weather.  Now a small town must try to survive after all of the oil is completely gone.  

A very interesting look into the world and it's dependence on oil. Also what is means for our future. I thought that the story was well told and a very interesting concept. The main characters were very realistic and you seem to have all of the social groups in high school represented: popular jock; mean, bratty popular girl; loner girl; smart guy who is jock; funny guy.  Until I read this book, I truly never realized how many products were actually made/needed oil.  It's also scary to see what exactly could happen.  It's semi-dystopian only in a much closer future. Definitely a book to make you think.

Books that I DID NOT enjoy! GASP!!!

Okay, so most of the time, I rave about books that to me were enjoyable on some level. For those that do not know me, you may think that I instantly love every book. But trust me.  I have gone through my fair share of books that I literally couldn't finish.  As a librarian, I always try to make it a point to finish a book, even if I don't particularly like it.  However, I heard a very wise piece of advice the other day..."Life is too short and too full of good books to waste time on the bad ones."  So now, I am officially trying to not finish a book if I do not like it.  And there have been instances, sadly.  I'm not saying that my word is the end all of a book, but to me, it just wasn't that great.  Below is what I like to call, "The Unfortunate List of Dreadful Books."

1) Living Dead Girl - by Elizabeth Scott
2) Fever Crumb - Philip Reeve
3) Gentlemen - Michael Northrop
4) Very LaFreak - Rachel Cohn - this one I pushed through (predominately because I love Rachel Cohn's writing, but I found the main character to be unlikeable until nearly the end).
5) The Half-Life of Planets - Emily Franklin and Brendan Halpin

I'm sure that I have others that I could easily place on the list, but these are the most recent.  But I will once again say, just because I didn't like them, doesn't mean that you won't!  But really the whole point is that sometimes, you have to try something just to see if you like it or not.  You may end up hating it terribly or you may end up loving it.  It may be something that in a million years you would ever choose for yourself.  But it's that kind of fun....going outside the box and having a new experience.  For instance: I am not a big love story kind of reader.  Give me some science fiction or realistic fiction any day.  But something that is focused on a love story - forget it!  This is why I have taken great lengthens to avoid Sarah Dessan.  Nearly all of her books seem to focus on love.  But I decided, if  I wanted to be a well rounded librarian, I needed to start reading books that I normally would not pick up.  So then after I did some research, picked up The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessan.  And to be honest, I couldn't put it down!  (See post below) Who could be more surprised than me!!!  But that just proves, try something new.  You may love it,  you may hate it...but you'll never know until you put yourself out there and try!

Happy Reading!!

HUGO movie!!

For those that absolutely loved (like me) The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick be prepared!! The movie is almost here!! They have finally released the trailer and while not completely like the book, they seem to be doing a pretty good job with it! A link to the trailer is below!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-NbNjPJFFI&feature=youtu.be

Whither by Lauren Destefano

Whither takes place in a future where genetic modification of children has left a severe sickness in all newly born children. The first generation of genetically modified children came out completely perfect, no disease and could potentially live hundreds of years. However, their children and grandchildren...not so much. Men die at the age of 25, and women at the age of 20.

It was a very interesting concept. The main character, Rhine, was kidnapped and sold into bridedom. She was forcibly married to a wealthy architect whose father is a scientist from the first generation trying to find an cure for the killing disease that is within their blood. She is taken from her twin brother, only because she has heterochromia - two different color eyes. She is genetically an anomaly. But she is trapped in the house with no escape and under the watchful of sinister Housemaster Vaughn, the scientist.

I liked the concept and the characters very much. They all seemed to be so realistic for the time and situation that they were set in. I also liked the dynamic and the bond that was built between the three "sister wives" how Rhine also related to her "husband" Linden. But I think that the part that really was so profound was the part that she knew that she was going to die but she wanted to do it in her way and on her terms. Can't wait to see what happens in the second one!

Teen Craft Idea

This would be an awesome craft to do with teens.  Okay, so teen boys would hate it.  But overall I think that they would like it.  Just get some plain (probably non-glazed) coffee cups, old buttons, some craft glue and ta-da - instant craft!!  Cheap and easy...just the way I like it!

bead-and-button-teacup

Captain America: The Man without a Face

Now that Bucky has taken over in Cap's stead, he now has to deal with living up to the standards that Steve Rogers set as well as battle his past as Winter Soldier.  And part of that past comes back to haunt him as he is attacked by an old enemy and comes to a terrible realization about studies and experiments done on his old (and deceased) friend, the first Human Torch.

This is one of the follow up stories to the Death of Captian America storyline.  Overall, I liked it.  It didn't go into as much depth or backstory as I would have liked to see.  This is the kind of story where you actually have to know the beginnings of Captain America and the story of Bucky Barnes. I did like to see how Bucky struggled to be Captain America while also have to deal with his past as Winter Soldier.  If you do/have enjoyed "Cap" comics before, I think that this one is a great start to people getting used to Bucky as the new Cap. It was really only about 5 issues, but I feel like if they had wanted it to, it could have easily been at 8-10.  If that had been the case, I think I would have probably liked the story more.

Book-to-Movie News

Are you kidding me?!  As if the first movie didn't ruin it, they decided to make a second one!  The awfulness that was the first Percy Jackson movie is about to strike again because they have decided to make Sea of Monsters. Seriously, Hollywood. Stop ruining wonderfully written and amazing stories with terrible movies.  This is simply one example of how many times, it's all about the money and not about the actual story.  Oh well.  At least the first Percy Jackson movie won't be alone now.  It'll have other movies (now the second one and the upcoming Hunger Games) to keep it company in the "Terrible Films" category. 

The link below an article detailing the progress of the second movie so far.

A second Percy Jackson

The Truth about Forever by Sarah Dessen

So this was my first Sarah Dessen book.  I normally stray away from her since they all look romantic and very teenage emotion and drama.  But I read that this was one her best works and I have to admit, I truly and really liked this book!  I know...a shock to myself!  The character, Macy, is a sweet girl who does everything she can to please others and make them happy.  Well, everyone except herself.  She has some security issues as well as dealing with the sudden death of her father.  But when she all of a sudden takes a catering job, everything changes.  I find it very interesting that the main character is introverted, since in most teen realist fiction, the main character is extroverted and has a very close friend/s. This was not the case here as she begins essential alone.  Only after a while does she actually begin to make friends.  I also really liked the mother/daughter dynamic in the book.  The mother wants her child to be one thing but the child is another.  In the end though, they don't become best friends or stay angry at each other.  There is simply an easy parental relationship between them which most stories do not tell (others I find, focus on being extremely close or extremely distant).  They talk, but not overly.  They share, but not deeply.  Even through that though, you can still sense that they love each other.  Also, surprisingly, the love story is secondary to the self-discovery theme.  And it was a nice kind of love story to tell (very refreshing).  Over all, I have to hand it to Dessen, she wrote a great book on this one!

Nomansland by Leslie Hauge

 

This story takes place sometime in the future after the world had apparently ended due to environmental reasons.  A group of women live apart from men on an island they call Foundland.  They are trained to be hunters and caretakers of their land.  They scorn men and blame them for pretty much everything bad that ever happened.  They also are not to have anything to do with things of the past.  They are to put aside they way they look, feel and any friendships.  Little do they know, but just outside of their little island, the rest of the world (also full of men) call them Nomansland.

As far as dystopian young adult novels go, this one is pretty good. It's an interesting concept and even though the characters were hard to relate to, they seemed naive and very simple, so you ended up liking them because they just didn't know any better. The author left the ending open for a sequel, but I haven't heard of one yet. It was initially a slow start, but it soon picked up and was fairly quick to read through. I would probably put this on a recommended reading list of similar titles.