The Blood of Olympus is the concluding book to The Heroes of Olympus series. In it, readers follow the seven heroes of Olympus as they fight monsters and the rising of the Earth Goddess Gaea. I applaud Riordan for the way that he writes stories that work for both girl and boy readers. I love […]
Archives for 2015
Review | The Naturals (The Naturals #1) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
2015-02-20 · by ·
Seventeen-year-old Cassie has a natural ability of being able to read people. Piecing together the tiniest details, she can tell you who you are and what you want. It’s not a skill that she’s ever taken seriously until an FBI agent approaches her and invites her to become a part of a unique program; a […]
Thoughts on Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
2015-02-19 · by ·
With books that are widely popular, I often find that I am among the last to discover them. Well, not discover them, exactly, but to read them and discover why they are so popular, and well liked, for myself. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemptionis exactly that kind of a […]
Review | The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
2015-02-18 · by ·
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander was the winner of the 2015 Newbery Award. The story is a quick read about a junior high school basketball player named Josh. Josh’s father was a famous basketball player in Europe and has taught Josh and his brother JB how to play the game; that combined with a lot […]
Review | On Writing by Stephen King
2015-02-17 · by ·
Do you want to be a writer? I’m not asking “do you want to write?” It’s not the same question. Rather “do you want to be a writer?” If so, you could do worse than reading On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King. On Writing is part memoir that provides context for […]
The Top 5 Dystopian Novels
2015-02-09 · by ·
Dystopian novels have been a staple of science-fiction since the birth of the genre. And while contemporary YA authors like Veronica Roth and Ally Condie have brought the concept of the dystopian novel back to the mainstream, many of the tropes of the sub-genre were established at the height of the Cold War, when anxieties […]
Review | William Shakespeare’s Star Wars by Ian Doescher
2015-02-04 · by ·
Dost thou love Shakespeare? Are you Star Wars fan? If you answered “yes,” once, then William Shakespeare’s Star Wars is recommended reading. If you answered “yes” twice, this is a must read! Ian Doescher masterfully retells Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope in iambic pentameter. However, this is far from being a simple script rewrite of […]
Review | All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
2015-02-03 · by ·
At first glance, All the Light We Cannot See seems to be the poster child for book groups and best read lists, but the hype is well-deserved. With a subject that has already been so well covered, you’d think there wasn’t much more to be gained from another book about World War II. But Doerr’s story is fresh, […]
The ALA’s Caldecott Winners for 2015
2015-02-02 · by ·
This morning the American Library Association announced their coveted youth media award winners (Caldecott, Newberry, etc) for books for young people. In addition to the Caldecott Award winner, surprisingly, seven other picture books walked away with the Caldecott Honors. Unfortunately, you probably have never heard of most of these books and if you’ve tried to find them […]
Review | The Infinite Sea (The Fifth Wave #2) by Rick Yancey
2015-01-30 · by ·
The Infinite Sea is the second book in The Fifth Wave series by Rick Yancey. I loved book one, The Fifth Wave and was incredibly excited to read it. The story picks up right where book one left off. In contrast, however, The Infinite Sea spends more time focusing on the character of Ringer. Readers get […]
