82. Invisible I: The Amanda Project Book 1 - Melissa Kantor

The cover says the author is Stella Lennon.
Stella Lennon is the pseudonym of a collaboration.
Melissa Kantor actually wrote this book.
Other writers will write the next in the series.
Harper Teen 2009
296 pages
Rating 4

Amanda Valentino, new to Orion and Endeavor High School, has befriended Callie Leary. And since Callie is a member of the "I-Girls", the most popular freshman, and Amanda has been pegged by the other three I-Girls as a weirdo, she keeps the friendship secret. But she has felt more special in Amanda's company than she has in a long time. Callie's living with a secret - her mother has mysteriously left with not word, no reason, and her father has hit rock bottom - the rock bottom of a wine bottle.

And then, one day in March, Amanda disappears. She has left mysterious messages for three different people - Callie, Hal Bennett, and Nia Rivera. A fourth message is left in and on the assistant principal's car in the form of colorful grafitti. Neither Callie, Hal, or Nia knew that Amanda had any other friends, and they are certainly not friends.....yet. But the mystery of Amanda's appearance brings them all together.

I was intrigued and interested in the story. There are a lot of questions, about Amanda and her lies and secrets, but especially about Callie's mom, her disappearance, and why her father hates the assistant principal so much.

The story ends with the creation of a website that the three create in the hopes they find other people who might have known Amanda. The website is available for all to see: http://www.theamandaproject.com/ . There will be seven more stories, all written, it seems, by different authors (much like The 39 Clues). This will be interesting, and I plan to continue with the series - starting with Book #2, Signals from Afar, by Peter Silsbee, out in June of 2010.

81. Maze Runner - James Dasher

Delacorte Press, 2009
376 pgs.
Rating: 4

Thomas arrives at "the Glade" with his memory erased but with a weird sense of recognition. There is the huge maze with monstrously hight walls and doors that clang shut every night. Doors that protect them from the terrifying "grievers." Maze walls that change every night. Unanswered questions. Getting stung and going through "the change." A new boy arrives every month. Supplies arrive. For two years this has gone on. Thomas is the last newbie/"greenie" male. Everything changes after his arrival.

When I got to the end of the book and saw the words END OF BOOK ONE I threw the book across the room. There's no joy in this book at all. I don't know about its futre - a series? Enough of these series! Tell a good story in one book!

80. How To Take the Ex Out of Ex-boyfriend - Janette Rallison

G. P. Putnam's, 2007
266 pgs.
Rating: 2.5

Jesse breaks up with her boyfriend because he is running the student-body-president campaign for her twin brother's opponent. Of course she regrets it and tries to rectify it. Of course there's the usual funny attempts and misfires - with the always appreciated satisfying ending.

I read this for my TARC reading group. It was exactly what I expected. It was a quick read, perfect for reluctant high school female readers.

79. City of Ember - Jeanne DuPrau

Audio read by Wendy Dillon
Published 2003
6 unabridged cd's
6 hrs. 52 minutes
288 pgs.
Rating: 3.5

Lina and Doon have grown up in the city of Ember, where electricity is on from a set time in the morning to a set time in the evening. When the electricity is off, it is completely dark everywhere. And the electricity is failing for longer and longer periods of time more and more frequently. It's been 200 years since Ember's been built. People are unsure of the future.

Then Lina and Doon, recently graduated from school to jobs (as a messenger, and in the pipeworks that keep the city electricity running), discover a message about a possible way out of Ember. It is riddled with holes and missing information, so they have to piece together the words and clues they discover.

We are left anxiously awaiting the next installment of the story with great anticipation. And three other titles have followed in the series:

#2 People of Sparks
#3 Prophet of Yonwood (a prequel to the whole story)
#4 Diamond of Darkhold

Linda DuPrau has a website, and there has been a movie made (with Bill Murray and Tim Robbins!). You can see the movie trailer on the website.

77. & 78. - Love That Dog AND Hate That Cat - Sharon Creech

Love That Dog, 2001
Hate That Cat, 2008
Rating for both: FIVE!

Two very special books, both written in verse, both with layer upon layer of witty writing, clever intertwining of poetry, and a healthy dose of a very cool relationship between a student and his teacher. I LOVED these books. I've read Love That Dog twice, and just knew that Hate That Cat couldn't come close. WRONG!!! So wrong....I think Hate That Cat is even better! Both are short reads, although Love That Dog is a bit shorter, and perhaps a little harder for some kids to get into. I read it aloud to my fourth graders after spending a week prepping them by sharing Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" and "The Pasture", William Carlos William's "The Red Wheelbarrow:, many of Valerie Worth's SHORT poems, William Blake's "The Tyger," Walter Dean Myer's "Love That Boy", and some of the poetry of Arnold Adoff. They were oh-so prepared, and they loved it. It was great fun to read aloud, and the kids' reactions were very gratifying.

Now I'm preparing the pre-poetry for Hate That Cat. There's more William Carlos Williams and Valerie Worth,with additional poems from Edgar Allan Poe, Alfred Lord Tennyson, T. S. Eliot ("The Naming of Cats"!!!), and Walter Dean Myer's son, Christopher. There's alliteration and onomotapoeia, similes and metaphors, rhythm and image. There's laugh-out-loud cleverness and a rolling, thought-provoking storyline.

I don't want to share the plots. They're a joy to watch unfold. They take 20-30 minutes each to read. Enjoy, enjoy.

76. Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side - Beth Fantaskey

for: Young Adults
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009
HC $17.00
354 pgs.
Rating: 5

I loved this book - for many reason. It's many-layered. It starts out light and humorous then works itself slowly to a darker, heavier feel. It's really quite clever, as vampire stories go. Heads (many of them, actually) above the Marked series... I know there are lots and lots and even more lots of vampire teen books out there now, but this one is clever, well-written, and super enjoyable.

Jessica knows that she was adopted as a newborn from her Romanian parents. That's all she knows about her past - and all she really wants to know. She was raised on a farm in central Pennsylvania by "granola" parents, adored as an only child, nutured and loved. She is an ordinary, studious, fun-loving, honest American teenager. That is, until one day, on the first day of her much-anticipated senior year, Lucius Vladescu appears - and her past and future appear to become totally unbelievable. For both she and Lucius are vampires, promised to each other at the time of their births, to stop a huge vampire feud. Not only is she a vampire - but a vampire PRINCESS! Lucius becomes a foreign exchange student at Jessica (Antanasia is her real name-as much as she wants to deny it)'s high school - and the roller coaster ride starts there...a roller coaster rides with some interesting twists and turns. The storyline switches once in awhile from Jessica's first person point-of-view to letters that Lucius writes to his ancient vampire Uncle Vasile. These letters show an intelligence and humor in the young vampire that aren't to be missed - a great addition to the storyline. I read it in almost one long sitting - just couldn't put it down!

This is Beth Fantaskey's first book. I hope there are many more to follow.

75. Need - Carrie Jones

for: YA
Bloomsbury, 2009
$16.99
306 pgs.
Rating: Hmmmm....3.5?? 4??

Within the first few pages Zara, the protagonist, arrives in Bangor and hits Rte 1A for the coast of Maine. Well. If I had a buck for each time I'd done this..... Every bit of the setting of this story is known to me. All the places that Zara's EMT grandmother is called to - Rte. 9, Acadia National Park. This Bedford, Maine has to be Ellsworth. I can see the high school, have walked the halls (and taken summer workshops) there many times. The library - I love the Ellsworth Library - is one of my favorite places. Betty, Zara's grandmother has to live in Lamoine or Trenton, or one of the long, twisting roads that attach the outside world to Ellsworth. And there's a blizzard in October. Major nor'easter. A little early for my liking - but we're talking Maine here. Those long, cold, gray winter days arriving in October are part of the reason I now live in Tucson!

So.....I loved loved loved the setting of the book. The heroine/protagonist Zara is a gutsy, interesting young lady. Liked her a lot. Some of the other characters were harder to get to know. I wanted more about them before startling images and information were given. Oh well. I must admit I couldn't put the book down. No vampires in this one! However, there are pixies (they sound a lot sweeter and nicer than they actually are) and plenty of "were's." Gold glitter. A lot left to the imagination. Not enough details! Specifics - what does "turning" look like? I needed deeper insight into everything that went on.

I feel like I've already given enough spoilers for the story. I don't want to give away the few secrets that you wait for. It's good. It's fun. Maybe the next in the series, out in January (I think) will give me more of that. I will be standing in line for the first Tucson copy....

So, yes, the book is about to have a sequel! To go to the "series" website click here.

74. The Day of the Pelican - Katherine Paterson

for: Middle and Upper grades
Clarion (H/M), 2009
$16.00
146 pages
Rating: Incredibly mixed: I loved learning more about the plight of Albanians in Kosovo, there's so little we really know and understand. Some of the storytelling was terrific, but there were places where I know that kids will just put the book aside. And some of the storytelling was just that - a narrator telling a story. I was profoundly moved by the plight of this family. I do love Katherine Paterson's writing. This didn't seem like her extraordinary writing though. It was more....ordinary. I feel guilty and mean saying this about a powerful author. But it's the feeling I'm left with....

Meli's family goes through unbelievable cruelties in the three years between living a comfortable life in their home in Kosovo, then taking very few belongings and fleeing to a remote mountain KLA hideaway, then to live in a tiny farmhouse with uncle, aunt, elderly granny, cousin and her three kids (14 of them in all, I think), to trudge for days without food or water to be thrust into a freight car, dumped on the Macedonia border and put into a refugee camp....to traveling to Vermont to a new life. Horrible injustices. So much hate. And killing. Cruelty. Subhumanity. And this is going on in many places in the world RIGHT NOW! The story ends shortly after 9/11, which is another huge blow to this non-practicing Muslim family.

When we look around and see immigrants, we must realize how much they've left behind to be here. Huge pieces of themselves left behind. Family and friends that will never been seen again. I'm almost speechless with sadness. What can I do to help?

Here's another review, from Twenty by Jenny. It includes an interview with Katherine Paterson and her editor about the writing of the book. Quite interesting.

73. Homeboyz - Alan Lawrence Sitomer

Jump at the Sun/Hyperion, 2007
$16.99
283 pages
for: YA/High School
Rating: 4.5

Although this book is the third in a series about siblings living in the inner city of LA, I have not read the first two and did not need to. It stands alone. And it's good. Impossible to put down. I inhaled it in two evenings.

Teddy Anderson's 14 year-old sister has been killed - an innocent bystander - in a gang killing. 17 year-old Teddy, who is more-than bright and a computer hacker extraordinaire, is driven by revenge. He's not part of a gang, but he knows them, understands the mentality, because he's always lived in the 'hood. His brilliant plan has one tiny, microscopic, unforeseen hitch, and he is caught and incarcerated. It's the punishment that "makes the man"....and saves a 12-year old wanna-be gangsta as well.

You see a little bit into the reason that gangs still blossom and grow. It's difficult to understand, but you can see why it happens and what its enticements are. Powerful book.

Sad stuff. Good stuff. Fascinating stuff. Viva la biblioteque! A well written story with a happy ending, redemption... and a little bit of mystery still left. A fourth novel, perhaps?

72. Cam Jansen: The Mystery of the Babe Ruth Baseball - David Adler

Cam Jansen Adventure Series #6
Illustrated by Susanna Natti
(recently updated cover art by Joy Allen)
Scholastic, 1982
58 pages
Rating: 3.5
(2.7, 500L, L, 28 DRA)

Cam Jansen is a fifth grader with a photographic memory. Therefore, she's able to solve mysteries, and that's what she does in this story. She and her best friend Eric accompany her parents to a hobby show. While there, an authographed Babe Ruth baseball is stolen. Cam uses her mental abilities and tracks down the thief.

(It would help if you know a little about the history of baseball when reading the story, and have a bit of an idea of who Babe Ruth was.)

The story is simple, simple to read - a second grade level - so is particularly well-suited for 3rd or 4th graders who are having reading difficulties to practice their reading. A somewhat interesting story with details, adventurous, with a mystery to solve.

71. Junie B. Jones & the Stupid Smelly Bus - Barbara Park

Junie B. Jones series, Book #1
Illustrated by Denise Brunkus
Stepping Stone Book/Random House, 1992
$4.99
RL: 2.0, ages 6-9
74 pages
Rating: 4.5
www.randomhouse.com/kids/junieb

Hilarious 1st person narrative. Junie B. is a HOOT!

The story is of her first day at school and her traumatic bus ride. She really, REALLY didn't want to ride home on it, so she hid in the classroom supply closet. She nammped. She investigated the school. But then she had to go to the bathroom and all the bathroom doors were locked. It was an emergency - and she'd been taught what to do.....call 911!

70. The Book of Air and Shadows - Michael Gruber

A Novel
Audio read by Stephen Hoye
Published: 2007
For: Adults
15 cds/ 18.5 hours
480 pages
Rating: 3
Publisher's Weekly Starred Review

Told from three points of view, parts of this book were v-e-r-y tedious, others more interesting. My biggest problem with it, right from the start, was that I didn't think the reader (Stephen Hoye) fit. At all. Something about the timbre of his voice, or his accent, or......well, I'm not sure. But I began wishing I were reading it instead of listening to it. I bet I would have liked the story much more.

The three points of view: Jake Mishken was a dolt. Albert Crusetti was a gem. Richard Brayskirtle was a pompous ass, a seventeenth century pompous ass (and Jake Mishken was his 20th century counterpart). Well, this doesn't tell much about the story. Okay. Albert Crusetti and his coworker, Caroline Raleigh, find some hidden letters inside the covers of a 17th century book. Some are encoded. Throughout the book, we, the readers, are allowed to hear/see/read these letters, the tale of Richard Brayskirtle and his association with William Shakespeare. Apparently, he has hidden away a WS play about Mary, Queen of Scots. When Crusetti gets duped out of the letters, they make their way to Jake Mishken, an intellectual property lawyer, who becomes very deeply embroiled in the escapades that are to follow - including his family (Nazi mother, Jewish father, former thug-current priest brother, rich Swiss wife and two odd children), the Crusetti family (librarian mother, deceased cop father, lawyer and cop siblings), and a variety of Russian gangsters and Shakespearean scholars. It sounds a bit complicated, and it is....it's interesting at points, exciting at points, and pointless at points.

Get it? You switch back and forth between Shakespeare's early 1600's and contemporary America, with a bit of contemporary England thrown in. Good luck.

69. Judy Moody - Megan McDonald

Book #1 in the Judy Moody Series
(Judy Moody was in a mood. Not a good mood. A bad mood.)
Illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds
Candlewick, 2000
168 pgs.
$5.99
Rating: 5

Check out the Judy Moody website!!

Judy Moody was not very happy to begin 3rd grade. She was in a bad mood. But things started looking up when she walked into the room, met her third grade teacher, and saw that everything they were going to do that day revolved around pizza. Of course, she couldn't show her enjoyment, she WAS in a bad mood......

This if a funny, clever story. The book revolves around an assignment that the class has to do in the first month of school, creating a "me" poster. (I'm really glad these kids take their assignments so seriously!) The T.P. Club is created, a highly secret club. And no, it doesn't mean toilet paper. She discovers that the classmate that eats paste is actually not someone to be kept at an arm's distance, but a collector-like-her that was brave enough to eat paste as a dare. She constantly thinks outside-the-box, enjoying a Venus flytrap as a new pet. She aspires to be a doctor like Elizabeth Blackwell and has a huge bandaid collection. She loves to tease her brother, but is always there to make things all right for him, too. She's a really great kid. I love her!

Highly recommended. Would make a great read aloud for third graders, too.

68. New Moon - Stephanie Meyer

Megan Tingley Books, Little Brown
2006
563 pgs plus 36 pages of Eclipse
Rating: 2
For: Middle schoolers

I don't get it. I really don't. I understand how and why Harry Potter got where it did. But I just don't understand how and why this series got where it is. I read Twilight when it first came out, and enjoyed discussing it with my middle schoolers. I wasn't crazy about it - I hated that an intelligent young woman could become so dependant on anyone else, and even more so because she became so smitten, her every move, her every thought, revolved around Edward. I enjoyed the movie. That's why I read this book - the New Moon movie comes out in November. And it sure doesn't take very long to read these almost-600 pages. But, well.....blech.

It was boring. Pages after pages of the same thoughts over and over. Pages and pages (and months and months) of an almost catatonic state because she lost her boyfriend? I liked the character of Jacob, but his reactions seemed so....extreme. His actions made sense, but not his reactions. And the dare-devil activities Bella pursued? Yeah, right. And the consideration she had for her parents? Always included, but as an afterthought, but it was made to appear that her love for them was affecting her thinking. Yuh. Mmm hmmm. Plus, I think this story could have been told in half the pages . Give Bella a tinybit, a microscopic bit, of independence. Of rational thought. I really like Edward, the Cullens, Jacob, his pack.....but I couldn't stand the protagonist! You can't like a book when you roll your eyes at the main player!

I'll probably like the movie. It won't spend half the time going over Bella's tortured thinking. I'm actually really looking forward to it!

67. The Corn Grows Ripe - Dorothy Rhoads

Newbery Honor Book
Illustrated by Jean Charlot
1956
90 pgs.
For: Middle Grades
Rating: Much better than I ever expected

Dionisio, called Tigre (meaning Jaguar) lives in a primitive village in current-day Yucatan. At 12 he is lazy and somewhat spoiled, but takes over his family's milpa (cornfield) when his father is badly injured. This corn is the family's sustenance. Yes, they have a few chickens, but it is the corn that feeds them. We get to observe the full cycle, from cutting and preparing the milpa, to the wait for rain, the sowing, the wait for rain again, and the harvest. During that time we get a glimpse into the life of modern-day Maya that is still tied to those of the ancient Maya.

Full of description, Maya and Spanish words (and a wonderful glossary), stories of gods and ceremonies and a way of life, this book was appreciated by almost all of my 27 fourth-graders. They are creating a map of the setting that has them VERY excited. A codex of 27 of the Maya words and terms will follow. This was a great novel for our Maya unit.

66. Escape Under the Forever Sky - Eve Yohalem

for: Middle grades (one of my fourth graders lent this to me after loving it...)
Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 2009
Hardcover, $16.99
220 pgs.
Rating: 4.5

Lucy Hoffman is the thirteen-year-old daughter of the American Ambassador to Ethiopia. She leaves the safe confines of "the compound" every day to be driven to school, but other than that her life is pretty restricted. She yearns to get out and explore Addis Ababa and the surrounding game area. She has researched mammals of Africa extensevely and hopes to follow in the footsteps of Dian Fossey, Jane Goodall, and Birute Galdikas. She feels that her parents are being overly protective and much too strict, so she sneaks out a few times, always getting caught.

(Spoiler Alert:) One day, she and her friend Tana sneak out and Lucy is kidnapped. She is taken to a remote hut in the middle of she-knows-not-where, given very little food, unsafe water, and held for some sort of ransom. She figures out a way to escape and takes off, with the knowledge she has gleaned from many books about Africa, into the great unknown. Full of wildlife sightings, good thinking, and lots of pluck and luck, Lucy figures out how to save herself.

Kids will love the adventure and the wildlife in this book. The description of life and celebrations in a remote tribal village only add to the feeling of Africa. Yes, it really feels like you're in Ethiopia. Fascinating. Interesting. Based loosely on a story about a girl who made it through a similar escape. Well researched, and thoughtful. There aren't a lot of stories for American kids with a setting like this - keep 'em comin'!

65. Wild Things - Clay Carmichael

For: Middle grades and YA
Front Street/Boyds Mills Press
May, 2009
Hardcover $18.95
241 pgs.
Rating: 5

First-rate first-person storytelling by the protagonist, 11-year-old Zoe Royster, made me want to read without stopping. Wonderful characters, clever plot, subtle twists and turns, and lots of love create a one-of-a-kind tale. Every so often we watch the evolving story through the eyes of a feral cat that Zoe is slowly teaching to trust her. This story is loaded and lovely.

Zoe has practically raised herself. Her unwed mother, in and out of mental hospitals, has dragged her from one boyfriend's digs to another. Her life has been raw and pretty empty of love. She knows how to survive. She is really, really bright and loves to write. She is writing her memoir. When her mother commits suicide, Zoe is sent to live with the heart-surgeon-now-famous-sculptor uncle. She is instantly accepted by his collection of odd friends, and together they create a family. She slowly learns to trust, as does the cat in our parallel story.

This is one beautifully put-together story. I highly recommend it to all, and can't wait for one of my students to try it. Wonderful.

64. Jane Austen Ruined My Life - Beth Pattillo

Guideposts, 2009
274 pgs.
For: adults
Rating: 2

I knew right from the beginnng that this book was going to disappoint, and unfortunately it did. I couldn't stand the protagonist/heroine. I didn't agree with anything she did, felt, or said. The plot was totally unbelievable. The setting was wonderful....the descriptions of London and the surrounding area was detailed and interesting. The facts about Jane Austen were great. It's my own fault. When you know right from the first page that the heroine is a dolt, you should read something else.

Emma had caught her stuffy, boring professor husband cheating on her with his TA. He had helped the TA discredit his wife, and Emma was fired as a professor and left with her tail between her legs. A mysterious woman had written to her from London and tempted her with the possibilites of long-lost Jane Austen letters. This interesting Mrs. Parrot sent her on a series of six tasks, places to from Jane Austen's life, where she was given a photocopy of one of the forbidden/lost letters to peruse. Two handsome professors enter her life, one brand new, one from her past. It's silly, it's not romantic at all. At first I thought that Jane Austen would be peeved, but then I realized that Emma is amazingly like the Emma of Miss Austen's own hand.... I think it's the total and complete ability to be self-centered that makes this book a real two-thumbs down.

(I sure hope that Adam gets on with his life, sans Emma. Please! He's been such a schmuck.)

63. Miss Daisy is Crazy! Dan Gutman

My Weird School SERIES #1
Illustrated by Jim Paillot
Harper Trophy, 2004
Funny - 2nd grade protagonist
ages 7-10, 700 Lexile, L

Miss Daisy, the second grade teacher, says she can't read, do math, or even know the presidents. (NOTE: She's a very wise teacher!!) She gets the school reading a million pages so they can "rent" the school for a night to play video games. She gets a famous football player to come to visit to prove that football players aren't "dumb." Funny and clever - loved it. (Bought it for Ashley, who's just started 2nd grade.)

12-29-2012 Ella and I just read this book together.  She read some, I read some.  She's in first grade.  She had to be told a little about some of the humor, but totally enjoyed it.  So did I!)

For a list of the books in the series, look here.

62. Shiver - Maggie Stievater

for: YA
Scholastic Press, August, 2009
HC $17.99
200 pgs.
Rating: 4.5