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August 30, 2007
HARMLESS by Dana Reinhardt
High School freshmen Annie and Emma have been best friends since they were little. When the new girl at school, Mariah, befriends them, they see it as opportunity to become more popular and less invisible. Before the year is up, Annie and Emma will wish they had never met Mariah.
One night the girls go to a party at Mariah’s boyfriend’s house, but lie to their parents and say they are going to the movies. When their parents show up at the movies looking for them, the girls decide to concoct a story rather than tell the truth and get in trouble. They decide to tell their parents that they were attacked by a man on the way to the movies. They don’t expect their parents to involve the police, but that is exactly what happens. As the girls are questioned by the police and applauded as local heroes for resisting the fictional attacker, they are forced to continue lying until the story is out of control. When an innocent man is arrested, they must decide if they want to live with the guilt of what they’ve done or finally tell the truth.
HARMLESS gives a realistic portrayal of how a simple lie can take on a life of it’s own.
I recommend this book for students in grade 9-12.
Paula Cea
Reference Librarian
Posted by fjacksonem at 2:07 PM | Comments (0)
August 16, 2007
DREAM FACTORY by Brad Barkley and Heather Hepler
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be Cinderella? When the character actors at Disney World go on strike, seventeen year old Ella gets a chance to find out. Hired as the replacement Cinderella simply because the costume fit, Ella spends the summer hosting tea parties for little girls and marrying Prince Charming every day at noon. Yet despite being in the happiest place on earth, Ella finds it hard to believe in the magic of Disney and is consumed with grief over her brother’s recent death.
Also among the cast of characters is Luke who plays Dale (of Chip and Dale). Luke has the perfect girlfriend, Cassie who plays Chip, and a lucrative job in the family business waiting for him back home, but he too is struggling to decide what he really wants out of life.
When a Disney Scavenger hunt is planned to promote teamwork among the actors, Ella and Luke team up to compete for the prize. While they compete against the other teams, they learn about each other and about themselves, and they find out that real magic cannot be packaged and labeled by Disney.
Disney fans will enjoy the behind the scenes look that DREAM FACTORY provides.
I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK FOR TEENS 13-17.
Paula Cea
Reference Librarian
Posted by fjacksonem at 5:13 PM | Comments (1)
August 10, 2007
THE BLACK SHEEP by Yvonne Collins and Sand Rideout
Television is filled with reality shows like American Idol and Survivor, but what if there was a television show where a teen could switch families. Kendra Bishop, 15, would love to leave her money obsessed parents with all their rules, which are kept in a binder, and find new parents. When her parents fire Rosa, her beloved Nanny, Kendra sends off a letter of application to a new reality show call The Black Sheep.
Within the month producer, Judy, is banging down the Bishop's front door in New York City to take Kendra to her new family, the Mulligans, in Monterey, California. Say goodbye to being an only, overprotected child of bankers and hello to a large family with environmentally concerned parents. Now Kendra must learn to share a room with a younger sister and a ferret, accept cameras on her all the time, learn to love otters, and accept the fact she is falling for her new older brother.
This new family, new star power, new cause and new love may be more problematic for Kendra, than the home she left behind. Along with Kendra learn about reality TV in THE BLACK SHEEP.
I RECOMMEND THIS TITLE FOR TEENS 13 TO 17.
Mrs. Jackson
Head of Young Adult Services
Posted by fjacksonem at 4:16 PM | Comments (0)
August 6, 2007
HARRY POTTER BOOKS AND MOVIES
SO YOU HAVE READ IT, SEEN ALMOST ALL OF IT AND NOW IT IS TIME TO DISCUSS IT,
THE HARRY POTTER BOOKS DISCUSSION on Monday August 20, 2007 at 7 pm. From the Sorcerer's Stone to the Deathly Hallows here is your chance to discuss the series of the decade. Meet with other Potter fans and talk about the books, the movies and what you would like to see in the Harry Potter future.
There will be refreshments. Registration for young people in grades 6 to 12 begins today. Seating is limited.
Posted by fjacksonem at 7:25 PM | Comments (0)
August 1, 2007
FOR FREEDOM: THE STORY OF A FRENCH SPY by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
FOR FREEDOM is a about a teenage girl named Suzanne, who is a singer. Suzanne is experiencing living during a war. She is living around the time of 1940.
The Germans have invaded her city of Cherbourg . Due to the invasion; a bomb is dropped on Cherbourg and silences her friend Yvette permanently. Suzanne herself is hurt and goes to the doctor. Soon after the accident everyones' homes on the street are invaded by Germans, accept Dr.Leclerc’s house. Suzanne and her family have to find another home.
For Suzanne singing lessons were very tight because of the war, but Suzanne gets a leading part in an opera. As Suzanne keeps on going to her doctor, he sees a quality in her that is worthy of the job he needs someone to do. Dr.Leclerc is a spy and he asks Suzanne to become a spy as well. She will carry messages to different spies. The Spies don’t call each other by their names but only by numbers. There are 22 spies in all of France . The Germans find out that Suzanne is a spy, so she is thrown in jail, but she escapes. When Suzanne gets out of jail, she knows that number 16 and herself, number 22, are the only spies left alive in all of France . They killed everyone else including Dr.Leclerc and his family, who were also spies.
Thanks to Suzanne and her strong will power she gives America and England a chance of fighting the Germans. She becomes a French hero. This is the story, FOR FREEDOM: THE STORY OF A FRENCH SPY by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley.
I BELIEVE THAT EVERYONE FROM THE 5TH GRADE ON UP WILL ENJOY READING THIS PAGE-TURNER. This is a historical fiction book that really touches the heart.
Tharshana Chandrakumar
Woodland Middle School
Grade 7
Posted by fjacksonem at 8:13 AM | Comments (2)