How I Spent My Summer Vacation

This weeks entry is in honor of summer being almost over!

How I Spent My Summer Vacation By: Mark Teague

Wallace Bleff is telling the class about his summer vacation, he was sent on a train to visit his Aunt Fern. Along the way he is captured by cowboys that make him a cowhand.  He learns how to be a cowboy and then decides to go back to his Aunt's house with all his new cowboy friends. Near the end of his story the teacher is actually paying attention and he says he cannot wait for show and tell.

I love this book!  The pictures are what really drew me in, they are hysterical.  The way the teacher is portrayed as not quite paying attention in the beginning to how she is looking at him with a shocked expression at the end is so funny.  I love the way this boy's imagination flies away with his story. I plan to use this book as a first day activity with my class this year.

I purchased this book from Amazon.com  ISBN: 978-0-517-88556-7

Fateful

Fateful By: Cheri Schmidt
Danielle Darcey has left her home to attend art school in London. She is living with her aunt and uncle and cousin Brianna.  Brianna is showing her around town on the second day that she is living there and decides to go with her boyfriend leaving Danielle to figure out how get home. When she leaves the library after dark she is surprised to see a strange looking man standing by her car and even more surprised when in an attempt to get away from him he follows her. She is scared and begins to try to fight back with her karate skills but is unable to fight him. She is rescued by another young man and is left wondering who he is.  She finds out that the mystery guy is Ethan Deveroux.  She is instantly attracted to him and she thinks her is attracted to her too. They begin to date and she can tell there is something different about him. As they get closer his secrets are revealed to her, he is a vampire and he needs her to break what he considers the curse of the vampire.  He tells her that he does not know how to break the curse but that he knows she will help him because he feels like he has known her all his life. She is falling for him too and wants to help him. But that pesky vampire that was chasing her in the begining of the book will not let them be.  Will they find a way to break the curse, will Ethan have to turn Danielle into a vampire so they can be together, and will they get away from the dark vampires trying to hurt them?

I enjoyed this book. It was like many vampire books, girl falls in love with a vampire and they have to fight to be together. What set this book apart was that they are trying to cure him from being a vampire. They have no idea how to do it, just a clue that they have to decipher.  That part made it interesting.  I would say that this book would be  for high school or older students as there are situations that are mature.  :)  The good news is that there are two more books in this trilogy so the story will continue.

I purchased this book on Amazon.com the Kindle edition.  ISBN: 1461103991

Tiger Eyes

Tiger Eyes By: Judy Blume

Davey is experiencing a very tough situation. Her father was killed at his store during a hold-up.  Davey is trying to cope with the loss of her dad and the loss of her mom too as her mom sinks further into a depression.  Davey’s aunt and uncle who she hardly knows have agreed to let her family  visit them so that they can begin to heal. But as Davey realizes that this vacation might turn into something more permanent she is feeling even worse. She feels her life is slipping away.  She meets a young man, who calls himself Wolf, and they develop a friendship based on a common element in their life, Davey lost her dad and Wolf is losing his.   Davey’s brother seems to enjoy living with their aunt and uncle but Davey does not like how they have taken over being the parents of her and her brother as her mother slips further away.  Will Davey be able to overcome this event in her life? And will her mother finally realize that Davey needs her? 

I loved this book because it really hit many of the emotions of loss.  It would be best for a high school or older reader as it does touch on things such as teenage drinking. But it would be a great book for someone who wants to know what others might be thinking if they are going through the loss of a parent, or parental figure in their life.  I think that Blume truly showed the healing process and the relationships of the characters and their emotions were laid out fantastically.

I got this book from the Pima County Public Library. ISBN: 9-440-98469-6

OLIVIA

This mornings Picture Perfect Friday is dedicated to one of my favorite characters, Olivia!

Olivia is the creation of Ian Falconer.Olivia has many many books out and her own television show! She is the pig who knows drama! Olivia loves to act, sing, dance, do art even when it gets her put in time out. Olivia has a huge imagination that she is always using, whether she becomes an opera singer, ballerina, or a circus performer.  I just love the spunk that Olivia shows!  The images that are in the book are hilarious as they show Olivia in all her glory!  These books are perfect for any age and show just how wonderful using your imagination  can be!
  
The original Olivia book is titled Olivia and is a Caldecott Honor Book!  ISBN: 0-689-82953-1

But I know that once you start reading Olivia you will have to go out and get them all!!

Forever

Forever By: Maggie Stiefvater

Grace and Sam are meant to be together. But the life of being a werewolf is keeping them apart. Sam (who is now cured of being a wolf) is trying to find Grace after losing her to the woods as her wolf self, and every time Grace turns back to human she is trying to get back to him.  When she finally does they are thrilled to be back together again because they know they do not have much time together. Then, they find out that their friend Isabel’s father is trying to help kill all the wolves in the area. An unlikely support turns up to help them lead the wolves to safety. But will they get there in time? And will they find the cure that Cole is sure exists so that they can stay human and together all the time? 

This is the thrilling conclusion to a fantastic series. I loved the way that Stiefvater conveys her characters and makes you want to keep reading and you want the story to never end at the same time.  Grace and  Sam’s love story is a beautiful one that shows that even in hard times the commitment they have stays strong. This book is perfect for high school readers and above and will get you hooked. I do suggest you read the first two books in the series before this one so you know the history behind this story.  They are Shiver  and Linger. 

I purchased this book from amazon.com  ISBN: 978-0-545-25908-8

This post was also featured on the Bite Club Blog as their Spooktacular Sunday Feature July 24, 2011
http://vampchixreadbooks.blogspot.com/2011/07/spooktacular-sunday-review-of-forever.html  

Royally Crushed

Royally Crushed By: Niki Burnham

Valerie's parents have just told her that they are getting divorced, and that her mother has decided to go and live with her girlfriend.  Valerie is very upset about this news and has no idea how to tell anyone, so she doesn't. But when given the option to stay with her mom or leave with her dad to a small foreign country called Schwerinborg, Valerie decides to go and live with her dad. She thinks she might have lost all her friends by making this choice as they are very angry and upset with her.  Schwerinborg is not the place she thinks when her dad tells her that he is going to be working for the Prince of the country and that she is going to live in a palace, it is a dull boring country to her and she is not quite the happiest to be living there. Until she meets Georg, who she does not know at the time is the Prince's son (also a prince).  They form a quick friendship that they both want to be more. But because he is a prince there are many things keeping them apart.  Will they be able to be together no matter what other people think?

This is a collection of the three books about Valerie and Georg.  I thought it was a great teenage read. It read very easy and was really entertaining.  It was sort of like the Princess Diaries series.  Where there is a love and they cannot be together because of the stations that they are in.  It was about kids in high school so there are elements of high school drama.  I really liked the style of writing and was able to read it quickly, but the story was also a great one. I would recommend it to any who love a great royal love story!
I got this book at the Pima County Public Library ISBN: 978-1-4424-0648-3 

Also Known As Harper

Also Known As Harper By: Ann Haywood Leal

Harper is a poet and loves to share her poems at school to her teacher.  But Harper’s dad left a while ago and her mother is having trouble paying rent on their house. Harper comes home one day to find everything they own in the front lawn and her mother tells them they are moving.  They move into a motel where they meet a couple of other kids that live around there. Harper can no longer go to school because her mother needs to work more and she has to stay home with her brother.  Harper finds out that life is tough but if you stick together things can work out even if they are not perfect. Harper finds joy in her writing and is able to make the best of a really bad situation for their family.

This is a terrific story of a child overcoming the bad things that can happen and do happen to many children. Harper and her family are basically homeless people and she has trouble dealing with that. Her brother constantly looks for their father to return and is crushed every day that he does not.  I cried a lot while reading this book because it breaks my heart that some kids actually do live this way. It makes me want to drive around and find these kids and let them go to school where they could be normal for a while.

I was given this book from a  friend, it is written at about a 5^th grade level, but very mature themes would make me say that maybe wait until middle school to have a child read this. 

ISBN: 978-0-545-24389-6