Aarg! ...but there's a bright side

I was scrolling down Chick Lit Teens blog to see if there was a new post ready for the February reads for the 10 in '10 Teen Chick Lit Challenge. I was so excited to see that Jessica Brody now has a trailer for her upcoming novel The Karma Club. Then it hit me - I forgot to order it along with my other pre-orders this weekend!

On the bright side, I absolutely love her book trailer. When I saw the book trailer for her second adult book, my instant reaction was it would make a great movie. It is the same with this one. I can see how it would be a perfect teen film! I especially like that the trailer and the front cover match up so nicely. I am excited for the book to come out.

Chasing Brooklyn

Once again Lisa Schroeder left me breathless with Chasing Brooklyn. I sat close to tears as I read the last page and closed the book with a fulfilling sigh. I was not surprised at all. Schroeder had immediately captured and maintained my interest with her first two books.

You can see more about the plot via the book trailer below. It was interesting to see the complexities of the characters unwind throughout the book. I have mentioned many times that multiple points of views always fascinate me, and I loved seeing how Schroeder navigated this change from the other books. She did it wonderfully. Catching glimpses of Ava from I Heart You, You Haunt Me was another plus.

All year long the girls in my class have been reading I Heart You, You Haunt Me. It has been passing through their hands like wild fire. Students from all different reading levels have been able to enjoy the same book (albeit with different levels of understanding, but being fascinated just the same). One day I was reading Far From You while I was monitoring my students take a test. I hadn't even told them what I was reading but their questions came popping up in their reading journals and in passing, "Were you reading the second book by Lisa Schroeder?"

As I was reading this book, I knew that they were going to be just as captivated by Chasing Brooklyn. Here's what I am really excited about. With the addition of part of the book being told from Nico's point of view, I think some boys just might like it as well. It will be interesting to see. I would love to see them swept up in what would probably be their first experience of reading a novel in verse.



(A special thanks to Lisa Schroeder for donating this book to our classroom library. My students are going to be so thrilled to have a signed copy!)

I just pre-ordered...

and can hardly wait to receive:

It's Raining Cupcakes by Lisa Schroeder

Rules of Attraction by Simone Ekeles

The Cinderella Society by Kay Cassidy

They are all released this spring in April-May.

Far From You

I should have know that as soon as I picked up Lisa Schroeder's Far From You I would be finishing it within the same day. The only thing that kept me from reading it in one setting is that I started it while at school while my students were taking a test, and I had to pull myself away from it when it was time to move on to the next part of our day. Let me tell you, I couldn't wait to pick it up again!

As I was getting swept away I could not help but think about all of my students' buzz for I Heart You, You Haunt Me. Once again Schroeder uses just the right words to instantly pull me in and get me to feel the main character's emotions. In this case, she artfully told Alice's story of dealing with so many different emotions - losing her mom, having her dad remarry, the birth of the new baby, an argument with her best friend, and dealing with other teenage decisions. I have mentioned it before, but I love the way verse writing can be so short, yet so powerful with so much to say. I can't wait to read Chasing Brooklyn now and hope that Schroeder is writing away on more.

Prada & Prejudice

I am gearing up to have a round of book clubs with my students in a week revolving around classics. I have always loved remakes of classics. This interest was sparked when I was in high school. Smack in the middle of our unit on Romeo and Juliet my freshman year in high school the Laz Buhrmann version of Romeo and Juliet was released. Then as a senior I happened to be assigned to read The Taming of the Shrew right when Ten Things I Hate About You came out in the theaters. In college I explored more modern updates, and ever since whether updates are movies or books, I am instantly hooked.

Hopefully I can inspire the same passion in my students. That is why I couldn't resist buying a copy of Prada & Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard as soon as I heard about it. After finishing it this weekend, I can hardly wait to share it with my students that will be reading Pride and Prejudice starting in a week, but I will be waiting until we are farther into the book club.

When I opened the book for the first time, a huge smile spread across my lips as I noticed that Hubbard decided to alter Austen's famous opening line. I always love to think about the process that authors must go through to decide what to keep and what to alter. Though I had not thought about whether or not the opening line would be present, once I read it, I thought to myself that any other way just would not have seemed to fit!

In the book Callie goes on a school trip to England and innocently enough buys a pair of Prada heels expecting them to land her a spot with a group of girls instead of feeling like a loaner on the trip. However, walking out of the store she trips and hits her head. When she wakes up she slowly realizes it is 1815! In Alex she finds her own Mr. Darcy and adventures abound as she tries to navigate the expectations of the time while also trying to figure out how to get back to her own time.

Without giving away any spoilers, as I was reading I kept on hoping that two things would happen at the end of the book. While one did not happen at all, the other did, but with a twist. I always love it when my prediction comes true but that the author also has something else added in that I did not expect.  This book was a fun read, and I would love to read more about Callie, as I enjoyed seeing her grow throughout the book.

Leaving Gee's Bend

Looking forward to another great class of authors was one of the reasons that created a lot of excitement as the new year approached. I could hardly contain the feeling of bliss I felt when my Amazon box came containing my first two books from the Class of 2k10, Leaving Gee's Bend and A Secret Year. Because life has felt so busy and hectic lately, I have not been able to read nearly as much as I would like, but I enjoyed every minute that I was able to read Leaving Gee's Bend.

The narration quickly swept me up into Ludelphia's world full of adventures, challenges, and mystery. When she found the courage to leave her hometown for the first time in order to try to get a doctor for her mother whose medical condition consistently became more complicated, I could not wait to see what would happen.

I imagine Lu never would have thought that her first time out of her community would be all by herself, maybe she hadn't even thought of leaving ever. Yet, dire circumstances drove her to sacrifice anything and to find a way to do everything in her power for her mother's well-being.

In order to find comfort, Lu gathered up every scrap of cloth possible to add to a quilt she was making to tell her story and give to her mother. Yet, at certain points along her journey Lu began to worry that not only would she lose her precious quilt, but also her mother and everything else that was important to her.

Irene Latham created a multi-faceted story weaving together history and culture to bring Lu's story to life. Tomorrow I will be proud to add one more high quality book to my classroom library shelves!