TOP TEN TUESDAY: Top Ten Books I'd Want On A Deserted Island

Top 10 Tuesday is hosted at The Broke and the Bookish. Today’s topic is the Top Ten Books I'd Want on a Deserted Island.

Hatchet by Gary Paulson
Survival Info!

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
This girl kicked some butt on the high seas.

The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

6 stories in one book? Stories that will make me look at the stars and think about all the drama going on up there? Ok!

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
Summer fun!

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
A lovely adventure story.

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
Why wouldn’t I want this?

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

A great story AND survival tips.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
One of my newest favorite books.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
A nice, long, sweet book.

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny HanA great beach-read.

The 1st Annual UMS Young Author's Workshop

Do you plan to submit an original piece of writing for the 2013 Young Author's Contest but want it edited first? Are you writing something but can't figure out what should happen next?

Come to this year's UMS Young Author's Workshop on December 14th where there will be time to have your work peer edited, get feedback, and share ideas. A rough draft of your original work should be submitted to Mrs. Welch in Room 2701 or Mrs. Ruud in the Library by December 7th to reserve your spot.

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Top Ten Books on Elections & the Government

Top 10 Tuesday is hosted at The Broke and the Bookish. Today’s topic is the Top Ten Books on Elections/the Government

Happy Election Day!

No matter how you feel about the government, we are fortunate to be able to vote (and the votes actually count) for our leaders. This is something many other nations do not have and, as a history-nerd at heart, it is something I really appreciate. 

So, in honor of election day, here are my Top Ten Books about Government & Elections!

 

      

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
I love Abe Lincoln.
And this was an amazing book not only about Abe but also about his Cabinet and how they used all their different opinions and beliefs to solve problems and keep the country together. The end of the book impacted the most… it tells what happened to all these men after the war. Sadly, after serving their president, many of them spent the rest of their years in despair, poverty, agony, etc. But, still, this is an excellent book.

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris
I love Teddy Roosevelt too.
And this is the book that really made me fall in love with Teddy. I mean, this guy really was awesome: he wrote dozens of books, was a real cowboy out west, cleaned up some of the government corruption in New York, served in the military, and had fun doing it all!

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
This is a tale of government gone all wrong. And the government even burns books… Ugh!

Hunger Games by Suzanne CollinsAnother really messed up government. I guess it is good that we learn what a government should NOT do.

Divergent by Veronica RothAnother ‘government gone wrong’ book. This has a different twist than Hunger Games but it is equally intriguing and enjoyable.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
This is one of my new favorite books! It involves the British and German governments during World War II and some of the things they were authorizing, but oh, it is a good book!

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’EngleGovernment secrets and experiments put lives in danger. Thankfully there are fantastical creatures and cool kids to try to fix things.

Independence Hall by Roland Smith
Book #2 is called White House so you know there will be some action in and around the government.

Spy Dust: Two Masters of Disguise Reveal the Tools and Operations That Helped Win the Cold War by Antonio and Jonna Mendez Have you heard about the movie Argo? Well the movie is based on Tony Mendez’s life. And Ben Afleck plays Tony Mendez. And I actually got to meet Tony & Jonna Mendez last year. They are so amazing, smart, and adorable. And, literally, masters of disguise (really… they showed us). I think many people are fascinated with spies and secrets so this book about declassified CIA info is a must read.

So You Want to Be President? by Judith St. George & David SmallI LOVE this book. Lots of facts about the presidents with funny pictures and random information. I have read this book aloud to social studies classes many times and it great to see their reactions when they learn that Taft got stuck in a bathtub because he was so fat and John Quincy Adams used to go skinny dipping in the Potomac River.

STUDENT REVIEW- Copper Sun by Sharon Draper

Copper Sun

By Sharon Draper

Published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2008

336 pages (hardcover)

When pale strangers enter fifteen-year-old Amari's village, her entire tribe welcomes them; for in her remote part of Africa, visitors are always a cause for celebration. But these strangers are not here to celebrate. They are here to capture the strongest, healthiest villagers and to murder the rest. They are slave traders. And in the time it takes a gun to fire, Amari's life as she's known it is destroyed, along with her family and village.

Beaten, branded, and dragged onto a slave ship, Amari is forced to witness horrors worse than any nightmare and endure humiliations she had never thought possible — including being sold to a plantation owner in the Carolinas who gives her to his sixteen-year-old son, Clay, as his birthday present.

Now, survival and escape are all Amari dreams about. As she struggles to hold on to her memories in the face of backbreaking plantation work and daily degradation at the hands of Clay, she finds friendship in unexpected places. Polly, an outspoken indentured white girl, proves not to be as hateful as she'd first seemed upon Amari's arrival, and the plantation owner's wife, despite her trappings of luxury and demons of her own, is kind to Amari. But these small comforts can't relieve Amari's feelings of hopelessness and despair, and when an opportunity to escape presents itself, Amari and Polly decide to work together to find the thing they both want most...freedom. (from barnesandnoble.com)

[I liked that] it was about someone’s life. [The book would have been better if the author] would not leave out stuff because I wanted to see how Amari and her baby live on. Yes, [I would recommend this book to a middle schooler] because it’s about choices and how they influence you.

--Lauren C.

Book Fair During Fall Conferences!

Come to the Scholastic Book Fair!

The UMS Student Council will be holding a Scholastic Book Fair during Parent/Teacher Conferences on Thursday, November 1^st from 4-8pm and Friday, November 2^nd from 8-11am outside the Cafetorium.

The Scholastic Book Fair benefits the UMS Library which means that, depending on how much is purchased, the Library gets a certain amount in free books that students & staff can check out.

Stop by and get some popular books, teen favorites, and other fun items. The prices on these books are often lower than the prices at bookstores so now is the time to get some good things to read!

And THANK YOU to all the student council members who help at the book fair. You are awesome!!!

STUDENT REVIEW- Independence Hall by Roland Smith

Independence Hall (I, Q Book #1)

By Roland Smith

Published by Sleeping Bear Press, 2008

302 pages (paperback)

Fame has arrived for rockers Blaze and Roger! Just married, leaving Los Angeles, and touring the United States with teenagers Q (Quest) and Angela in tow, the excitement heightens in Philadelphia when Angela realizes she's being followed. Q soon learns the secret about Angela's real mother - a former Secret Service agent.

Readers are thrust into current issues affecting the world in this edge-of- your-seat, modern-day mystery adventure. I, Q readers will be immersed in the work of U.S. Secret Service, the Mossad, and the MI5. But who are the good guys and who are the bad guys? What happens to this newly formed family if Angela's mom is not dead? (from barnesandnoble.com)

It has a lot of action in it. I didn’t want to stop reading! [I didn’t like that] sometimes he rambles but, overall, the book is really good. Yes, [I would recommend this book to middle schoolers because] the whole book made me want to keep reading.

--David G.

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Anna Dressed in Blood

By Kendare Blake

Published by Doherty, Tom Associates, LLC, 2012

320 pages (hardcover)

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. They follow legends and local lore, destroy the murderous dead, and keep pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

Searching for a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas expects the usual: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

Yet she spares Cas's life. (from barnesandnoble.com)

What a weird and messed up story.

But I mean that in a good way.

Kendare Blake did an amazing job of building a world where we need ghost killers like Cas to keep us all save from those evil ghosts who do more than say “Boo!” The characters were well developed (mostly) and I think the reader can really understand the motives and actions of each character.

Also, the book was creepy and eerie and a good ghost story. I don’t want to spoil any of the book for you, but there are ghosts that tear people apart but then those people stay around as spirits themselves. CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEPY.

HOWEVER, for all the descriptions of Anna, I didn’t feel that I understood her or why she did/didn’t do things. She is a main character (shoot, she is the title) but I was more confused by her than anything. And the ending kind of confused me, but I am hopeful that many of my questions will be answered in the sequel.

Yes, there is a sequel and I will be reading it soon. I really do need to know what happens to all the characters!