COYER Summer Scavenger Hunt Wrapup Post

The COYER Scavenger Hunt Challenge was hosted by Fantasy is More Fun, Because Reading, and Books, Movies, Reviews.Oh My!
I had a blast with this. Unfortunately I was not as socially active as usually due to craziness at work, but I did manage one readathon and occasional Facebook posts.
These are the books I was able to finish during COYER:
Killer Frost
An Abundance of Katherines
Crimson Bound
A Whole New World
The Girl with the Windup Heart

I had hope to finish 6, but 5 is not too bad. Thanks again to Berls, Michelle, and Stormi for hosting!

2015 Bookish Resolutions Challenge: August Update

This is hosted by Michelle at Because Reading is Better Than Real Life and Laura at Trips Down Imagination Road and you can sign up at this link.
My resolutions:
1. Read at least 6 Classics this year.
2. Finish at least half of the challenges that I signed up for this year.
3. Finish at least 4 series this year, particularly ones where I have only the last book in the series left to read.
4. Try to blog more, like at least 10 posts a month.
5. Get healthy!

1. I have finished 4 Classics now. I read Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote and Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery last month, but I still need to review them.
2. I have now started all my challenges and I think I have met my goals for one of them. This is definitely an improvement over last month.
3. I have completed this goal!!! I finished The Girl with the Windup Heart last month, completed my 4th series. I am still going to try to complete a few more series.
4. I did a great job blogging last month with 22 posts!
5. HAHAHA! I gained 6 pounds last month. I am going to start back hardcore this month, because last month was unacceptable!

Thanks to Michelle and Laura for hosting! How did you all do this month?

My September To Be Read List

This is hosted by Michelle @ Because Reading. This month I am going to focus on three books that I need to read for the high school freshmen reading challenge that I cosponsor with the high school librarian. We pick four Bluegrass Award finalist or winners a piece and do booktalks for the students. From those 8 books, they chose one to read and do a project on it. We pick the top projects and each group has a chance to win the grand prize of $100. This year I loved Iron Trial one of my picks, but the other three have not caught my interest, so this month I am going to have you all pick my next read for this, since I need to have all four finished by the end of October. Here are my three choices:


First Choice:

Poppy

Contemporary is one area I read little of, but we want to use this book, since Alecia is a Kentucky author. The story sounds sweet, a family of singers trying to get their big break. A girl falling for a fellow country music star, while she is chosen as a solo act over her family. I am hoping I can get interested in this soon.


Second Choice:

Putnam

Dystopian and I am kind of tired of dystopian novels, but I have heard good things about this. We try to pick a couple of books that could appeal to either gender, so aliens trying to take over the world, sounds like it could be for either one.


Third Choice:

Philomel

This is one of our "boy" books, since Wildflower is one of our "girl" books. The plot sounds promising, a boy trying to learn how his father's murder, while dealing with emerging superpowers. He never knew his father was a superhero and now he must become one.


Please help me find where to start with our challenge and choose the one that sounds best.

El Deafo by CeCe Bell

This book works for the Newbery Challenge and for the Book Blogger Recommendations Challenge. This was a Newbery Honor this year. I will say I like that the awards went to more unconventional style books, two verse novels and a comic book. I think this will make the award more attractive to young readers while holding on to the literary merit that each book has. 

Amulet Books

This is another autobiographical book chosen for the Newbery this year and this one is in comic book format. CeCe's characters are bunnies, but the story is taken from her childhood. She had meningitis which caused her deafness. At first she attends a school where her classmates are all deaf, but when her family moves CeCe is in a class where she is the only one who is deaf. Her teachers must use a microphone that is connected to a device called the Phonic Ear, because of this device CeCe imagines herself as a superhero named El Deafo. Some of CeCe's friends take advantage of her deafness and she uses her device to spy on the teachers. Eventually she finds a true friend and she tells her about imagining to be El Deafo.

The illustrations and story line are well done and draw the reader into the story. By using rabbits instead of people, she appeals to animal lovers, comic readers, and to those who have a disability or want to understand someone who has a disability. The story does not necessarily make CeCe's deafness something that holds her back, even though Bell shows how people took advantage of her at times. CeCe embraces her differences and becomes her own superhero. A very sweet story with great graphics and likable characters. I think this was deserving of the Newbery Honor and is one I would booktalk with 4th grade. 4 cups of cocoa.

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

This book works for both the Newbery Challenge and the Book Blogger Recommendation Challenge.

Nancy Paulsen Books

This is an autobiography of the author's childhood starting with her birth and ending right before her teen years in Brooklyn. She was born in Ohio, grew up in South Carolina, and finally New York. Her mother left her father and she and two of her siblings spent their early childhood years in South Carolina with her grandparents. The children learned about God and were raised Jehovah's Witnesses and they learned the difference between growing up Black in the South and Black in the North. Woodson wrote this in verse form and it is a very appealing fast paced read. Beautifully written, you are drawn into the Woodson/Irby family and don't want to leave.

I can definitely see why this was a Newbery Honor and I love that two verse novels won Newberys this year. Verse novels appeal to middle grade readers, because they look big, but are easy and fast to read. I hear this time and again when the children are picking up the books. Like Crossover, Brown Girl Dreaming deals with family. Jacqueline was raised partially by her grandparents and by her single mother. She also faces a devastating losses as she grows, but continues to hold her family close. You can see Jacqueline's love of writing throughout the novel and you feel proud knowing she achieved her dream. With a great protagonist and insight into the changes of the 60s, I highly recommend this as a classroom read and it is definitely one I will booktalk. We are using this book in the class I am teaching as an example of diversity and autobiography at its finest. It is a National Book Award winner as well as a Coretta Scott King and Newbery winner. 5 cups of cocoa and this was a very deserving Newbery honor.

ARC August Week 4 Update

ARC August hosted by Octavia and Shelly!

This is hosted by Octavia and Shelly at Read.Sleep.Repeat.

Harlequin Teen

I managed to finish both The Girl with the Windup Heart and A Whole New World and review them both!

Disney Press

I am still working on Oblivion and am at 10%. I won't get this one finished before the end of the month, but I am enjoying it.  I can't wait to see how this one ends and it should get me in the Fall/Halloween mood.

Atheneum Books

How is the challenge going for everyone? I hope you got a lot read!

The Girl with the Windup Heart by Kady Cross

This book counts for the Netgalley and Edelweiss Challenge, the Prequel & Sequel Challenge, and Series Enders Reading Challenge. This is also number 74 for the COYER challenge and is a Booking Through Summer book. This is the final book in Cross's Steampunk Chronicles and will have some spoilers for the other three books.

Harlequin Teen

Cross brings to a close all the threads of her past stories and gives us one last romantic couple to fall in love with. Mila just wants Jack to notice her, as a real woman, not as a robot turned girl who needs protecting. She is stronger than all men after all and can take care of herself. The only way to accomplish this is to leave Jack and strike out on her own. In the meantime, Griffin has been kidnapped into the Aether by the Machinist. Finley is willing to save Griffin at all costs even if all costs means her life. Finley convinces Emily to "kill" her, meaning to make her dead enough to travel in Tesla's suit into the Aether, the place between life and final destination. Once inside Finley will have to face down her worse fears and is reunited with the one person she has always missed from her life. While Finley is battling for herself and Griffin, Jack learns to trust others, like Wildcat and Jasper and Emily and Sam, to help him find Mila and keep her safe. Finley and Jack both learn the true meaning of sacrifice when they realize those they love have to have the power to decide their own fates and trusting someone is more important than protecting them. Will the group be able to defeat the Machinist without the loss of those they hold most dear?

What a great ending to the series! I will miss these characters so much and I loved seeing all the romances develop in each book. I love Cross's steampunk creations and her well developed characters and their romances. I also like her writing style and hope to read more by her. 5 cups of cocoa!