Catching Fire

I actually finished the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy a while ago, but I was traveling a little bit and then with it being Christmas, I didn't get a chance to write my response right away. As it turns out, I'm about 3/4 of the way through Mockingjay at the moment, but I'm hoping I can keep the plots and events separate enough in my mind to have this be strictly Catching Fire. That being said, these are my thoughts: there was so much about this book that completely surprised me. I honestly didn't see so many of the twists and turns coming (spoiler alert: making the victors go back into the Games? Wow. I was literally blown away.) I loved the surprises and I loved the plot of this one; I became even more endeared to the characters and couldn't wait to keep reading and see what would happen to them in this new, elevated in government-control Panem. The "spark" created by Katniss at the end of The Hunger Games grows into a full-fledged Capitol problem that becomes an even bigger problem for Katniss, Peeta, and the residents of District 12. I think I can say that I loved this book just as much as the first one, despite the fact that it ends with a cliffhanger that stopped my heart momentarily....but more on that when I finish Mockingjay and write about that one.

Historical Fiction Challenge Books

I wanted to get a jumpstart on this Historical Fiction Challenge by beginning my list for this year. I'm sure it will change and I'll add to it as I think of more, but these are my candidates so far:

1. The Boy Who Dared - Susan Campbell Bartoletti
2. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry - Mildred Taylor
3. Out of the Dust - Karen Hesse
4. Night - Elie Wiesel
5. Maus I - Art Spiegelman
6. Maus II - Art Spiegelman
7. Number the Stars - Lois Lowry
8. Newes from the Dead - Mary Hooper
9. Sarah's Key - Tatiana de Rosnay
10. Stepping on the Cracks - Mary Downing Hahn
11. Chains - Laurie Halse Anderson
12. Caddie Woodlawn - Carol Ryrie Brink
13. What I Saw and How I Lied - Judy Blundell
14. Redeeming Love - Francine Rivers
15. Bright Young Things - Anna Godbersen

YA Historical Fiction Challenge

I was catching up on my blogs this afternoon and stumbled across this challenge for 2011. Since I have an interest in both English and History, I'm pretty intrigued. There are three options for this challenge (5 books, 10 books, or 15 books) and even though 15 Historical Fiction books seems a little daunting, I've got an entire year and I feel like I can do it. So, I choose Level 3. Considering the fact that I have several Historical Fiction books in my possession that I need to read and plenty more on my list, I don't think it will be hard. And I'm excited!

Soldier's Heart

We just finished this book as a read-aloud in my Honors classes during a unit on the Civil War. I'd never heard of it - although I have always loved Gary Paulsen's books - but I really loved this book. More importantly, my students loved this book. From the very first chapter, they were fully engrossed and involved in the plot and the fate of the main character. Even my girls, who I wouldn't typically think of as being interested in a book about a war, were hanging on every word and became just as attached to the main character, Charley, as my boys. The history teachers were doing a unit on the Civil War at the same time, and they came to us one day after school to say that their students who are reading the book with us couldn't stop talking about it, and were constantly making connections between the content they were learning in history class and what they had already learned from this novel. I highly recommend this one, although I do have a few words of warning/caution: there are a couple of swear words sprinkled throughout the book, which only becomes a problem if you're reading it aloud to your class first thing in the morning and you haven't previewed it beforehand (oops). There's also a lot of pretty shocking violence and bloody parts...certainly no more than they've seen before on TV but again, it becomes more of an issue when you're reading it aloud. It's just one of those where you may need to preview the kids beforehand to lessen the emotional blow. But overall, really great book.

The Hunger Games

Well...I finished it. And it took me hardly any time at all because, let's be serious, it's one of best books I've ever read. It also helped that I had benchmark testing all day Monday and my only job was to literally sit and watch my kids take a test. All day long. So, clearly, I got a lot of reading done. Honestly though, this book is incredible. One of my friends described it as being the perfect book for a middle schooler - boy or girl - because it has the extreme action and disbelief of teenagers fighting to the death, but there's also a romance. I have to admit that I was completely engrossed in the romance, and I plan to start the catchphrase/clothing line of "Team Peeta" and "Team Gale," since I'm not much of a vampire/Twilight fan and I'm tired of their slogans. I would also like to take this moment to say that I'm Team Peeta all the way.

My heartfelt and serious evaluation of this book is that it's great for several reasons: it sucks you in immediately, it's different from basically anything else out there right now, it appeals to both middle school - and adult - boys AND girls, and it's extremely timely. That last reason is just my own personal opinion, but I have to say that I think it's interesting that this series seems to be a commentary and why you shouldn't have big government...but we'll save the political discussion for Book 3 I suppose. For now, let me just say that you should definitely stop whatever you're doing and right now go find a copy of The Hunger Games. And start reading.

Finally!

Just wanted to announce that I'm finally reading The Hunger Games! This has probably been over a year of waiting...waiting for a break in my school schedule and then waiting for the last book to come out so I can buy the boxed set and just read them straight through, and then waiting to finish my master's thesis project so I won't be distracted by literature, and then waiting to finish Percy Jackson because I didn't follow my own rules and started an addicting series while working on my master's thesis project. But, the time has come and all of those things are done, my boxed set has been staring at me expectantly since August, and I'm almost 200 pages in. So far, I love it. For those of you who have read it, Katniss just went through her first individual meeting with the Gamemakers. For those of you who haven't...oops. Spoiler alert. Find a copy and start reading it yourself.

Christmas Book Ideas

One of the blogs I keep up with, Hope is the Word, recommended these Christmas books. I'm not sure when I'll have a chance to look at them myself, but even if it's to just file them away in my mind/reading list so I can have them for the future, I'm kind of excited. I like Christmas books :)

-The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas - Madeleine L'Engle
-The Light at Turn Rock - Julia L. Sauer
-Voices of Christmas - Nikki L. Grimes
-Christmas Day in the Morning - Pearl S. Buck

Percy Jackson: The Last Olympian

Well, ladies and gentlemen, the time has finally come. I've finished the Percy books. One of my students informed me this morning, after I announced this wonderful news, that there's a whole other Percy series now. Well to that I say, "bah humbug," and I'm taking a break from Olympus. I'm sure I'll read them at some point, but not now. Anyway...I'm sure you'll be happy to know that I got everything I wanted out of this one - oops...minor spoiler. I really enjoyed this book, despite the fact that it's mostly battle scenes. Honestly, I'm typically one of those girls who loves watching battle scenes in movies and miniseries, but not so much reading them. I have a hard time picturing it, I think. I did enjoy these though, and felt like Riordan broke a lot of the action up with plenty of commentary, Percy thoughts, and enough description that you could feel like you know what's going on. There were also plenty of battle sequences in which I had no idea what was going on, but it didn't really matter. I still got the gist, and I think most YA readers would too. I have to be a teeny bit honest and say that there were moments when I felt like things wrapped up a little too easily, leaving semi-cheesy moments - just my own opinion - but it's the fifth book of the series and the poor guy was just trying to come up with some closure so I guess I'll let it slide. All in all: great conclusion, great series, and great characters. I love these characters. I refer to Percy as if he's a real person in my life, and my students get a little weirded out I think. Hey, I'm just modeling what engaged reading looks like.

Smiles to Go

Smiles to Go, by Jerry Spinelli, was one of my book fair purchases. As has become the routine, I finished the fourth Percy book and didn't have the fifth at home with me, so I grabbed this one off the shelf. I bought it on a whim that day at the book fair; I hadn't ever heard about it but the name of Jerry Spinelli caught my attention - I've heard so much about him but never read any of his books - and the summary on the back of the book intrigued me. Despite what I thought was a slowish start, I really loved this book. The characters were sincere and relateable, and I laughed out loud all throughout the story as topics such as friendship, sibling fighting and the woes of unreturned crushes pester the main character. A tragic but realistic surprise towards the end of the book endears you to the characters even more (even in the face of somewhat predictable responses to the tragedy) and the final pages even made me cry. As my first Jerry Spinelli book, I was thoroughly impressed, and am now extremely interested in reading some more of his work. Any suggestions?

Percy Jackson: The Battle of the Labyrinth

This is the fourth and second-to-last book in the Percy Jackson series, and Percy continues to battle monsters, halfblood friends turned evil, and the rise of a falled Titan lord trying to destroy the world alongside his best friends Annabeth, Tyson, and Grover. I shared in my last Percy post that I thought the third book lacked some of the umph that I loved so much in the first two books, and just as I predicted the umph is back. To be honest, I found that there were points throughout the plot that could have been a little bit faster or more interesting, and there were also moments where I questioned the success of the sheer number of scrapes and difficult situations Percy is presented with - the monsters are neverending in the labryinth - but I was pleased overall. To be honest about something a little bit more petty...I'm slightly worried about the presence of this Rachel Elizabeth Dare character and how she may affect the romance I've been waiting for between Percy and Annabeth. I like Rachel and all...but if she ruins the story line I've been waiting like an eleven year old girl for since Book 1, I'll be pretty put out.

I also want to take this moment to point out that THREE of my male students are now reading The Lightening Thief. After reading Percy in front of them for the last four weeks, using Percy passages as examples during my lessons, and shamelessly advertising Percy, I'm choosing to take full responsibility. And I'm basking in this proud teacher momma moment, thank you.