Battle of the (Kids') Books update

It's down to two:The Hunger Games vs. The astonishing life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the nation, Volume II: The kingdom on the waves. The final Battle of the (Kids') Books judge is Lois Lowry and she will have her decision posted next week. Oh, the tension!

My pick, Graceling (which is on order for the library), was eliminated a while back, but my #2 pick was The Hunger Games so here's hoping it wins! These girls are hoping so too.

Where the wild things are trailer

A trailer for a movie version of Maurice Sendak's classic picture book Where the wild things are was released a few weeks ago. It looks wonderful.



Bring on the wild rumpus!

(If you are unfamiliar with the story, you can always watch President Obama read it to the crowd at the White House Easter celebration.)

Booklist: Dear Diary

On the recommendation of a couple of students, I've put together a list of library books that are written journal-style. From Speak to Diary of a Wimpy Kid to The diary of Anne Frank, there are over a dozen books that fit the bill.

New website links in April

Instead of a weekly post, I've decided to start doing monthly posts of new websites that I've bookmarked on the library Delicious account. So without further ado (it's a long list, folks):

Infinite Photograph

Infinite Photograph is a photo mosaic of more than 300,000 nature photographs that just keeps going and going and going. For example, the image on the left it is a photo mosaic of a chickadee head, which you can see is made up of hundreds of tiny photos. Zoom in (with the yellow square in the bottom corner) to see the other photos, and all of those photos are mosaics as well. It is really quite astounding.

If you enjoy this you may also like NASA's Visible Earth, the Smithsonian's Earth from Space, and the always wonderful The Big Picture.

April Newsletter

Parrsboro Regional Schools' April newsletter is now available to be viewed online as a PDF document. The school calendar is always viewable on the Parrboro Schools' website.

Fantastic Hunger Games video

Two girls made a music video (to the tune of a High School Musical 3 song) about how The Hunger Games should win the Battle of the (Kids') Books. Click on the image to watch it on the School Library Journal website.

Battle of the (Kids') Books

School Library Journal has begun a Battle of the (Kids') Books, with books set head-to-head for elimination. (You can look at the schedule here.) Judges are given two books and must decide which one comes out on top, and the judges are a mix of authors ranging from Anne Brashares to Chris Crutcher. They have a tough job, especially given the quality of the books chosen for the tournament.

Don't let the word "kids" in the tournament title scare you off - most of these books are for teens, not children.

The winner will be chosen in early May and I'm pulling for Graceling, which I tore through a couple of months ago and is now on order for the library. The Hunger Games (which hasn't been on the shelf since I got it in and handed it to someone I knew would love it, and she's been busy ever since getting her friends reading it) would be nice too.

Review: Inferno

Inferno by Robin Stevenson

Smart, independent Dante is struggling at the school she's been attending since she and her parents moved over a year ago, and being brokenhearted due to her secret girlfriend moving away isn't helping matters. For her sixteenth birthday she changed her name to Dante after reading Dante Alighieri's Inferno, but her mother still calls her Emily and sends her to a support group for girls. It is there that Dante gets to know Parker, a mysterious girl who quit school and lives with her boyfriend.

Dante is an independent thinker and Parker easily convinces her to get involved in her protests against free speech and schools' strict rules. Soon Dante is sneaking out of her house in the middle of the night and scaling walls to hang banners. Things are not all fun and games for long however, and when Parker's group decides to protest the status quo in a way that people will notice and remember, Dante must decide how far she'll go to help a friend.

I like Dante, but then I almost always like smart and independent female protagonists. She's also a bit quirky but confident in her quirks, but I almost always like that too. So perhaps I was destined to like her.

That said (and none too eloquently either), what I really enjoyed was knowing how Dante perceived herself and comparing that to how others saw her. How she came across so confident and self-assured and yet really didn't know what to do most of the time. How her actions were definitive but the decisions going into her actions often weren't. The saying "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" could certainly be used to explain what happens with Dante, but that may be taking the Inferno metaphor too far.

The people who populate the rest of Dante's world were fascinating. I particularly enjoyed her parents and their distinct personalities and reactions. Parker was complex and almost unbearable to watch sometimes. Her situation was heartbreaking but scarily accurate, and of all the characters I wonder most about what happened to her. I doubt I'm the only one she sticks with.

As a side note, I love the cover. The fire juxtaposed with circular clockwork-like graphics is eye-catching and the title font is simple and elegant. Not to be ridiculously picky, but I would have liked the cover even more if the font used for the author's name was the same as the title font. Nonetheless, I would definitely be drawn to this book if it was on a display, and I'll find out soon enough here at the library if others feel the same way.

Inferno is a compelling novel that has friendship, rebellion, love, risk-taking, and more. 4 stars out of 5.

Robin Stevenson's website.
Other books by Robin Stevenson at PRHS.

Dante Alighieri's Inferno.

*This review is based on an advanced reader's copy (ARC) that I received through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.

Percy Jackson is coming to a theatre near you

Yes, that's right, The lightning thief (the first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan) is being made into a movie with lots of big-name stars, according to Variety. Here's a quick rundown:

Percy Jackson: Logan Lerman (I didn't really realize it until I saw his picture, but this is exactly how I imagined Percy Jackson.)





Grover (who was my favourite character): Brandon T. Jackson







Annabeth: Alexandra Daddario







Chiron: Pierce Brosnan

Zeus: Sean Bean

Poseidon: Kevin McKidd

Medusa: Uma Thurman (I can't wait to see Uma Thurman with snakes for hair, I really can't.)

Athena: Melina Kanakaredes

More cast choices will undoubtedly be announced in the near future as filming begins in Vancouver in a few weeks.

Also, the fifth and final book in the Percy Jackson series, entitled The last Olympian, is being released on May 5th. Check out the Percy Jackson and the Olympians site for more information.

New library books

A few new books have arrived at the library this week, thanks to a Scholastic book sale and preview books from Copper Beech. Our ordering year starts today as well, so I'll be busy making orders over the next few weeks. Hooray!

Fiction

I'd tell you I love you, but then I'd have to kill you and Cross my heart and hope to spy by Ally Carter

Models don't eat chocolate cookies by Erin Dionne

Nonfiction

The boy who dared by Susan Campbell-Bartoletti

Sexually transmitted diseases by Leanne Currie-McGhee

Genocide in Darfur by Janey Levy

Anorexia by Peggy J. Parks