The Hunger Games

Read The Hunger Games.

Just Read It.

I finally did.

Now would someone please find me a copy of Catching Fire?

Quickly!

Happy Reading!

Mrs. T :)

P.S. Reading is like breathing chocolate air!

P.P.S. Stay tuned for a special announcement about World Book Night! It's a celebration of reading and books which will see tens of thousands of people share books with others in their communities across America to spread the joy and love of reading on April 23.

Tomorrow Girls: Behind the Gate

I am pleased to offer you the following post written by Ellen, one of my sixth grade students.


Louisa and Maddie live in 2020 when their country is in war. They are running out of gas and fresh food. They are being sent away to a school called Country Side Manor (CMS). They don’t know where this school is or when they can come home, but Louisa knows that she will have the freedom her parents never gave her. Maddie is a little different; she doesn’t want freedom from her parents. She only wants to see her parents who are off fighting in the war.

The two girls get on the bus heading for school. There they meet a very paranoid girl, Eleanor. Eleanor thinks the school is some sort of trap for kids, but she has no proof. Louisa and Maddie also meet a sporty, “too cool” girl named Rosie. Rosie doesn’t talk to them; they just overhear her conversation with some other girls on the bus.

When they get to CMS, some pretty strange things happen. Is Eleanor right? Is this school a trap?

The Tomorrow Girls: Behind the Gate is a riveting read. This book hooks you from the start and never lets you go. It is definitely in my top ten books that I have read this year. The entire series consists of four books that are amazing! Eva Gray did a wonderful job writing these books!


THANK YOU, Ellen, for this post!

Click HERE to see a book trailer made by Ellen and her classmate, Tessa. Thanks for your time and effort to create this, girls! Job well done!

Happy Reading!
Mrs. T :)

P.S. Reading is like breathing chocolate air!

The Boy at the End of the World

“Fisher is the last boy on earth--and things are not looking good for the human race. Only Fisher made it out alive after the carefully crafted survival bunker where Fisher and dozens of other humans had been sleeping was destroyed.

Luckily, Fisher is not totally alone. He meets a broken robot he names Click, whose programmed purpose--to help Fisher "continue existing"--makes it act an awful lot like an overprotective parent. Together, Fisher and Click uncover evidence that there may be a second survival bunker far to the west.”

In The Boy at the End of the World, Fisher and Click depart on an adventure loaded with encounters of menacing rats, monstrous parrots, flesh-eating piranha-crocs, and gadgets with missile launching capabilities. Readers, take a breath because you will also encounter a giant electric eel, the Intelligence (Hello!), a spiked seedpod, and weaponized prairie dogs!

Add a juvenile mammoth named Protein into the mix, and you have a story that is a read-without-stopping romp! Greg van Eekhout has written a story that middle grade readers will not want to put down.

I enjoyed the post-apocalyptic plot and the quirky characters. I enjoyed the swing of emotions in the story—from wonder and curiosity to suspenseful scenes and from action-packed fight sequences to warm-n-cozy humorous moments.

While accomplishing all this for the reader, the author does something else quite astonishing. He makes a plea for the world we live in today. “You humans dig more than you can ever put back. You burn anything that is burnable. You is destroying forests, is covering world with concrete and plastic, is changing weather.”

Indeed, Greg van Eekhout shows readers a future world that is not one we wish for. It is a lesson to heed.

Visit the author's website HERE. You can read chapter one of this thrilling book right HERE!

Don't miss this fantastic read coming to a bookstore near you on June 21.

(Thank you, Greg van Eekhout and Sarah Prineas for this ARC. It has already been read and enjoyed by several sixth graders!)

Happy Reading!
Mrs. T :)

P.S. Reading is like breathing chocolate air!

Nathan Abercrombie - Dead Guy Spy and Goop Soup

I was first introduced to Nathan Abercrombie last fall. Since then, David Lubar has kept the books in this popular series rolling off the presses. I recently finished the second book, Dead Guy Spy, and the third book, Goop Soup.

In Dead Guy Spy..."Nathan is approached by the secret organization BUM—aka the Bureau of Useful Misadventures—which offers him a cure in exchange for his help. Nathan jumps at the chance to become the world’s first zombie spy, but soon discovers that BUM may not be quite what it seems. Can Nathan trust them? Or is BUM’s offer too good to be true?”

And in Goop Soup ..."Nathan is just getting started with his training for secret organization BUM--the Bureau of Useful Misadventures--when greasy green globs of goop start oozing from every faucet in town. Gross! BUM asks Nathan to investigate, but he's not so sure he's ready for his first mission. Things get even worse when Nathan's mother makes him a doctor's appointment. His doctor is sure to notice he's dead. Is Nathan's life as a half-dead zombie spy over before it has even begun?"

I know middle-schoolers will continue reading this series once they start. Nathan and his friends Abigail and Mookie (yes, Mookie and his noxious gaseous self is back!) keep the ball rolling in these two books. Fun-filled and full of adventures and laughs, once you pick up the first Nathan Abercrombie book, you'll be hooked.

And believe it or not, David Lubar has the FOURTH book in the series coming out on August 31. The new book is called The Big Stink.

Happy Reading!

Mrs. T :)

P.S. Reading is like breathing chocolate air!

11 Birthdays

"What do you call it when every tomorrow is both tomorrow and today? And every today is both today and yesterday?"

I just finished 11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass. What a quick, fun read.

"Amanda's eleventh birthday should be a happy occasion. Instead she's dressed in an itchy costume her mother picked out for her boring Hollywood-themed party while, across town, her ex-best friend, Leo, is celebrating their joint birthday with a huge bash including a hypnotist, a football star, a giant iguana, and a rock band. SO not fair!

Amanda can't wait for the day AFTER her birthday so she can stop thinking about the fight that led her and Leo to have separate parties for the first time in their lives. There's just one problem. The next day is her birthday all over again.

In this hilarious and touching adventure, Amanda must figure out how to get unstuck, in more ways than one."

I enjoyed this book. Living the same day over and over again is a plot that I have seen in a movie before, and I was interested to see how Wendy Mass would approach the same topic in this book. I believe she was successful. I kept reading to see how Amanda was going to get out of the repeating situation.

Pick this book up and give it a try!

Happy Reading!
Mrs. T :)

P.S. Reading is like breathing chocolate air!

My Rotten Life Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie

“My best friend and I used to have contests where we’d try to gross each other out. We don’t bother with that anymore. I can win every time, even when I’m not trying.” Nathan is not your ordinary ten year-old. At least, not after he gets doused with Hurt-Be-Gone.

Nathan Abercrombie lives a not-so-popular life. He is dissed by Shawna Lanchester in the cafeteria. She asks Nathan if he has heard of her popular Halloween party. (Of course he has!) Shawna smiles sweetly and drops the bomb, “You’re not invited.” The same day at school, Nathan is picked last for a team in gym class. (Of course he is!). Then Nathan loses awfully at a video game in front of his entire art class. (Of course he does!) Nathan doesn’t think the day can get any worse. He actually wishes he had sat on glue so all he’d have to do is “slip out of my pants and walk home in my underwear. That, I could handle.”

Nathan and his best friend Mookie meet up with their classmate Abigail who believes can help Nathan feel better. Her plan involves her eccentric uncle who has been working on a secret formula called Hurt-Be-Gone, “the world’s first all-natural, totally safe emotion killer. It takes only one tiny drop to wash away all your sorrows. We can even target specific hurts, or protect people from new ones.”

However, clumsy Mookie trips over his own shoelace and crashes into Abigail’s uncle who is holding the Hurt-Be-Gone. Nathan is doused with the formula and soon finds himself needing no sleep, no food, and feeling no pain.

What has happened to Nathan? Will he find a cure? If he does, will he want to go back to his normal self?

I enjoyed My Rotten Life Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie by David Lubar. My favorite character was Mookie. Mookie provides the comic relief in the book. From his off-topic ramblings to his ability to produce noxious gas, Mookie kept me chuckling. I also enjoyed Abigail’s character, smart yet dealing with a secret hurt of her own.

Both boys and girls will enjoy reading this story. It has action, humor, suspense, grossness (is that a word?) and the ever real dilemma of ‘fitting in’ among middle school students. Pick this one up! You’ll enjoy it!

Happy Reading!
Mrs. T. :)

P.S. Reading is like breathing chocolate air!