Chapter+Books+Jan+2009

Please type you name, your citation for your book, and a paragraph annotation about the book.

Pam Benedon Pullman, Phillip. (1997). //The subtle knife//. new York, NY: Random House. This book is the second book in the //His Dark Materials// trilogy. it is the book that comes after the well acclaimed //The Golden Compass//. The main character, Lyra, has found her way into another world where she is still on her quest for the mysterious "dust". In this other world she meets a boy, Will. He too has escaped from his world after committing a murder to help his ill mother. Will Lyra be able to find the "dust" and track down her elusive father and will Will be able to elude the men who are now looking for him after the murder?

Amie Heinzelman Citation:Wilson, J. (1998). //Girls under pressure//. New York: Delacorte Press.

Sarah Nelsen Sanchez, A. (2001). //Rainbow boys//. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Arthur Long “Stout, G. (1996). //On the Court with... Michael Jordan//. New York, : Matt Christopher Royalties.  This book examined Michael Jordan's the life and basketball career the with the Chicago Bulls, who made a brief attempt to play minor league baseball 1994. I really enjoyed the book because I was and still a big fan of Michael Jordan. I founded the book, I just had to read it and the best part it was a younger reads. I would definitly recommend it to anyone that loved watching Michael Jordan liked I did as child.

Chris Mayer Hornby, Nick. (2008). //Slam.// New York: Riverhead Books. Nick Hornby has a pretty awesome knack for creating widely relatable characters while keeping them interesting and honest. Sam, is no different. Just when he started to find a niche in High School; grades rising, teachers subsiding, skating (board kind) improving, parents coexisting and a girlfriend too, horemones, impulsiveness land him as a teen age dad. This book was really a great read, there are lots of pop culture references that make it very fresh and Sam is a truly heroic anti-hero in the end. I also think its great that subject of teen pregnancy gets tackled in a YAL novel that males and females should both enjoy.

Lindsey Cordes Bechard, M. (2002). //Hanging on to Max//. Roaring Book Press.

Sarah Kichefski Boost Mackel, K. (2008). //Boost//. New York: Dial Books.

Ben Herland

Brown, D. (2000). //Angels and demons//. New York: Pocket Books.

Previous to this class, I have to admit that I haven’t read a book for enjoyment in a long time. The timing for reading this book was amazing, since I had only just received this book as a Christmas present several days before class started. In all honesty, this book is so action packed and mysterious you never want to put it down. I am a very slow reader so reading a 569 page book with a highly intellect vocabulary, is not something on top of my list of things to do. I had completely forgotten how enjoyable and entertaining reading a fiction book can be and how much it expands your imagination. This book was truly fun to read and keeps you wondering the entire time. Summarizing a mystery book is often hard to do because there are so many angles to the mystery; this book is no exception. Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbologist is quickly taken to Switzerland on urgent news about a subject he later learned as antimatter. Little did he know that within an eight hour period he would be crossed with one murdered scientist and four murdered cardinals who were possible candidates to be the new pope. Beyond this, all of murdered victims were burned with a symbol on their chest resembling how they were killed. Besides all of this, Langdon is also in the process of finding this antimatter before it blows up the entire Vatican City! All the devious work of murders and terrorism are all acts from a thought to be extinct group called the Illuminati. I have already said way too much about the plot of the story for those curious to read. I highly recommend the book to any curious reader who enjoys a good mystery as well as indulging in a study between science and religion. The author challenges readers with concepts and keeps a very fast paced, exciting journey!

Jessie Scheer

Downham, J. (2007). //Before I Die.// New York: Random House



Kevin Murphy Flake, S. G. (1998). //The skin i'm in// (pp. 1-171).

This book is about a young African American girl named Maleeka who has very dark skin. When she goes to school all the students make fun of her because of her skin and her clothing. Maleeka lives at home with her mother and they are very poor. Her mother makes all her clothing, which leads all the students to make fun of her. Maleeka asks a young girl named Charlese in her grade who no one dares to mess with for protection. Charlese agrees to protect her as long as Maleeka does all of her homework. Finally a new teacher comes to class named Mrs. Saunders who has a birth mark on her face and all the students start making fun of her. Maleeka doesnt mind that everyone makes fun of the teacher now because it keeps them from making fun of her. Maleeka doesnt want to be seen with her because she says she already gets made fun of enough by everyone. Charlese ends up talking Maleeka into vandalizing her classroom and they accidentally start her room on fire. Maleeka is the only one who gets caught but finally confesses that it was Charlese who talked her into it. At the end of the book Maleeka and Mrs. Saunders become friends and Maleeka realizes that appearance isnt everything.

Paulsen, G. (1998). //Soldier's Heart//. New York: Delacorte Press. This novel is about a young boy named Charley Goddard who joins the Union army at the age of fifteen after he lies about his age. Charley had a number of misconceptions about the glories of combat that are soon shattered before his eyes by the horrors of war. This novel brings up a number of important themes that are rarely explored in young adult fiction such as mortality and war. Charley is from Winona, Minnesota, which also might make students in the Midwest more likely to connect to the character. The novel puts Charley in the heart of many of the most famous battle of the Civil War, making it a novel that could be used in other content areas besides English such as Social Studies as well. The book is sometimes described as a less-advanced version of //The Red Badge of Courage// by Stephen Crane, which is a good comparison. The novel tackles the same tough emotional ground while being easier to read for a younger audience. Paulsen has written a number of quality young adult books and this novel is no exception.
 * Dave Riley**

Traci Behnke Jenkins, J. b., & LaHaye, T. (1998). //Left behind: The vanishings//. New York: thomas nelson, inc. My book is actually a christian based book, so I'm not sure how many schools it would be allowed in. It is a great way to get your students thinking about real life situations though. In this book, there are four children, Judd, Vicki, Lionel, and Ryan, who don't believe in God. However, all of their families besides Ryan's do believe in God. When all of the four wake up one day, all of their family members are gone. The find out that they have disappeared and have most likely been taken up to heaven. It tells a story about each child in first four chapters so you can get to know their families, and then it goes into the nights their families disappeared. Ryan's parents did not disappear, but they died also. The four have no idea who each other are, but they are actually all connected in a very distant way. This one way ends up bringing them all to the same church where they watch a video about receiving God, and now have to make a decision to do so. I don't want to go into to much detail in case some people do end up reading this. This is the first book of a series, and I do have the next two so I might continue to read them. They are only about a sixth grade level but it is a very interesting story and it really gets your mind thinking.It is very action filled and keeps you on the edge so you don't want to put the book down. I enjoyed it very much and would recommend it to anyone of any age.

Val Yost Going, K. L. (2004). //Fat Kid Rules the World//. New York: Puffin. The book begins with Troy, a severely overweight teen, standing over the subway tracks, deciding if committing suicide in this way would be in any way funny. Curt, a legend at Troy’s school for being an amazing guitarist as well as a mysterious dropout (and junkie) “saves” Troy and decides that Troy owes him dinner. They become friends and Curt decides that he and Troy are going to start a band, with Troy as the drummer. Troy hasn’t played drums since middle school, but Curt doesn’t seem to think that’s a problem. Through dealing with his popular jock brother, Dayle, and learning to see eye to eye with his Marine father, Troy finds out who his true friends are and finds something that he really enjoys doing, after a few hiccups…

Trina Hopfensperger Christie, A. (1983). //And then there were none//. The Agatha Christie mystery collection. Toronto: Bantam Books.

Widely known as one of Agatha Christie’s best mystery novels, //And Then There Were None,// formerly titled, //Ten Little Indians,// is a whirl-wind tale of vengeance. Set with an atmosphere similar to that of the childhood game, CLUE, (who did it, where did they do it, and how did they do it?) the author depicts the epic journey of ten individuals, all brought to a desert island under the false-pretences of an anonymous millionaire. One-by-one the odd assortment of individuals seems to be mysteriously murdered as they attempt to discover who may be the killer. However, the clock is ticking with guests of the elite mansion dropping like flies and no way to tell who the killer is. People turn on one another, their true colors show, and all havoc is wreaked. Becoming a moral story, the reader slowly discovers the deep and dark secrets of each of the guests; however, their days are numbered to stop their killer before it is too late.