The Red Blazer Girls

I love the pulp-feel of this cover. It's actually the reason I bought the book.

The Red Blazer Girls
by Michael Beil
Scholastic
Audio book from public library/
Purchased from Scholastic Book Fair
[#17 in my 75 Book Challenge]

Sophie, Margaret, and Becca are three normal seventh grade girls attending a normal Catholic school (St. Veronica’s) in New York City. One day they stumble upon an old woman with a puzzle to solve — a puzzle created twenty years before for her estranged daughter. The puzzle was never solved and Mrs. Harriman enlists the girls to go on the adventure and recover the hidden prize at the end.

The puzzles in the book range from word problems to literature trivia and math equations, and they are exactly appropriate for a bright middle school student. Unlike most of the books I read, this is quite solidly a middle grades novel. YA’s would be too mature for the story.

By far, I loved the characters the most. Sophie, Margaret, and Becca are normal girls that I would want to be friends with. They are bright, yes, but a little sassy and a little lost when it comes to boys. The narrator on the audio book, Tai Alexandra Ricci, nailed the voice and tone of the story without sounding too juvenile (unlike the obnoxious narrator in The Lightning Thief).

Final Grade:   C   While it was a cute story with likable characters, it didn’t blow my mind. I’m grading it as  C against other middle grades fiction, not against all fiction, since the novel knew so clearly which audience it wants to reach. There’s a very small portion of middle-class middle-school girls who would appreciate the novel, and they would love it. I am not a middle school girl anymore, so it fell a bit short for me. This is a short-ish review because I just don’t have much more to say!

Top Ten Books I Would Give A Theme Song To

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the bloggers over at the Broke and the Bookish. Book bloggers from all around create lists based on the chosen topics, and post links to the host blog to share our love of books. This week we’re looking at music and books. I thought this post would be easy and fun, but it actually turned out to be quite difficult! I guess I love my music so much and I love my books so much that matching them made me super-picky. There were other choices, but I liked these the best:

[and what the song is. and why.]

1.) Peak by Roland Smith/”Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell

Though a love song, I’m applying it to a teenager climbing Mt. Everest here. Because I can.

2.) Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher/”Rocketship” by Guster

This is a book about suicide, and the suicide “note” Hannah Abbott has left behind in the form of seven audio tapes. The tapes tell her story and explain how thirteen people caused her to end her life. The Guster song is a beautiful, but heartbreaking, song about suicide.

“They’ll find it on the stairs
Politely placed it there
Been so unkind without a hint
No warning sign for them
Read my apology
Their hope of disbelief
But no denial changes things
No remedy ahead”

3.) Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli/”Magic” by Ben Folds

I just wrote my review of Stargirl yesterday after I re-read it with my book club. Basically, Stargirl is a free spirited girl who tries to attend a normal public high school full of conforming students…and the one boy who loves her almost as much as he loves fitting in. The Ben Folds song captures the way that Leo watches Stargirl as a bystander, and how Stargirl can’t be contained.

“saw you last night
dance by the light of the moon
stars in your eyes
free from the life that you knew
saw you last night
stars in your eyes
smiled in my room”

4.) Crossed by Allie Condie (or any other dystopian novel)/”Run Away” by The Real McCoy

Though I didn’t care much for the book, it does make me think of this song for the 90′s. A bit a of a throwback for you! The song also works for just about any dystopian novel…take your pick. Delirium? Divergent? The Giver? Unwind? The Forest of Hands and Teeth?

“Money, sex in full control, look, big brother is watching you,
Unlock your brain and save your soul,
No more limits, no more curfew
Life in the perfect system,
Take a stand and fight for freedom
Keep the faith, you gotta keep the faith
You’d better keep the faith and run away”

5.) Stuff White People Like by Christian Lander/”Hipster Bitch” by Lelia Broussard

The book is a non-fiction book based on the website of the same name, but I always think of it when I hear this Lelia Broussard song. Nobody likes to admit they are a hipster, but there are enough of them out there to drive me nuts.

“hipster bitch
lord knows i’m nothin like her
hipster bitch
gotta be the life of the party
hipster bitch
so quick to tell ya she’s artsy
but I guess it’s hard to hate that ass and those lips
hipster bitch”

6.) Beauty Queens by Libba Bray/”Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses

The song is over-the-top and so is the book. It’s all a big metaphor in the end, right?

“Welcome to the jungle
We take it day by day
If you want it you’re gonna bleed
But it’s the price you pay
And you’re a very sexy girl
That’s very hard to please
You can taste the bright lights
But you won’t get them for free
In the jungle
Welcome to the jungle”

7.) The Fault In Our Stars by John Green/”What Sarah Said” by Death Cab for Cutie

The Death Cab song is one of my favorite songs of all time. Many of the Death Cab songs, with their dark themes about life and death, would work for this book about kids with cancer.

“And it came to me then that every plan is a tiny prayer to father time
As I stared at my shoes in the ICU that reeked of piss and 409
And I rationed my breaths as I said to myself that I’d already taken too much today
As each descending peak on the LCD took you a little farther away from me”

8.) Anna and the French Kiss by Stephenie Perkins/”I Love You” by Sarah McLachlan

Anna and Etienne get thisclose to falling for each other at so many points in this book, while roaming the streets of Paris. Since this Sarah McLachlan song takes place during a parting at a streetlight filled with unspoken emotions, I thought it was perfect for the romantic tension of the novel.

“Oh and every time I’m close to you
There’s too much I can’t say
And you just walk away
And I forgot
To tell you
I love you”

9.) Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver/”Here It Goes Again” by OK Go

Before I Fall has a Groundhog Day-esque plotline about a girl reliving the same day over and over. I thought the OK Go song would be peppy enough for the movie soundtrack of the book. I imagine it as the song playing on her alarm clock when she wakes up each morning. Or on the car radio.

“Oh here it goes, here it goes, here it goes again
Oh, here it goes again
I should have known, should have known, should have known again
But here it goes again
Oh, here it goes again”

10.) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins/”Love Is Battlefield” by Pat Benatar

Really this song works for the whole series.

“When I’m losing control
Will you turn me away
Or touch me deep inside
And when all this gets old
Will it still feel the same
There’s no way this will die
But if we get much closer
I could lose control
And if your heart surrenders
You’ll need me to hold”

Stargirl

A simple, yet effective, cover. I know people who have this as a tattoo.

Stargirl
by Jerry Spinelli
Dell Laurel-Leaf
Library copy purchased from Perma-Bound
[#17 in my 75 Book Challenge]

I don’t do a lot of re-reading, for good reason. I often find I like books far less on the second go-around. ReadingStargirl a second time was an adventure for me. I first read the book in high school maybe twelve years ago — right around the time it came out. Right around the time I was the same age as Leo and Stargirl. Now I am almost the same age as Leo is in the epilogue, so I believe this was the perfect time in my life for a re-read. I loved it, then hated it, then loved it again. Like I said — an adventure.

The Plot

Mica Area High School is a normal high school in Arizona, full of kids who like to conform. Leo is an average high school sophomore. One day a new student by the name of Stargirl Caraway arrives and totally rocks the boat…and wins Leo’s heart. Leo must seek to understand Stargirl and himself, while dealing with the ever-watchful eyes of his fickle, judgmental fellow students.

Thoughts on the Re-Read

Now that I’m not in high school, I GET this book a bit more. The epilogue especially hit close to home for me, even though Leo is still processing everything that happened that year. I get kind of irritated with the manic pixie dream girl character that is Stargirl from time to time, but I understand that the story must have extreme characters to get the point across. During my initial read, I was focused on the romance and the “be yourself!” attitude of the plot. But the re-read really brought the complexity of that “be yourself” message to light.

Being yourself is a tricky thing. It’s not always easy, and there are areas of gray when it comes to knowing exactly what it mean to “be yourself.” Stargirl takes individuality to an extreme, not caring what anyone thinks. In reality, though, we do have to figure out where we all draw the line. I’m more of a Leo than a Stargirl, and most of us are. I think that’s the point Spinelli is trying to make: we aren’t Stargirls, and we shouldn’t try to be Stargirl. But we should think about how we behave as onlookers and bystanders in life.

Reading With The Book Club

My sixth-grade book club really enjoyed this book. They are at an age where they are just trying to develop identities and become their own interesting little people. They read the book a lot like I did in high school. There was a lot of open-eyed optimism about how they were all like Stargirl, marching to the beat of their own drummers. We did have some great conversations about random acts of kindness, acceptance of others’ differences, and bullying that I think did have an impact. Overall, we had a great time with this book and it was appropriate for the kids to be reading it. I hope they, like me, read it again and reflect on the deeper meanings.

Final Grade:   B  My original grade was an A, but I gave that based on reading the book twelve years ago. I had far fewer awesome YA novels in my arsenal of knowledge. It’s still an excellent book, but it has some flaws and it doesn’t quite match some of the books I’ve given A’s to this year. It does withstand the test of time, though, and it can be enjoyed by all ages. I recommend it to lovers of contemporary YA, both adults and students. My library owns this as a class set, and I think it will get much use over the years.

Some great blogs I love

Blog Love!

So, over the past few weeks I’ve been recognized by a few of my fellow bloggers with some blogging awards. While I don’t normally do awards, I did want to take a minute to thank these ladies for thinking of me and share some of the great things they are doing.

Emma @ Easy Reading and Damn Hard Writing

Emma gave me the Sunshine Award. I follow Emma on Goodreads, Twitter, and WordPress and I think she’s got some great things to say on YA lit. I love that she has a kick-ass feminist slant on her reviews, drizzled in sarcasm. Her reviews are smart and super-helpful, especially her pro and con lists at the end.

Stephanie @ Misprinted Pages

Stephanie gave me the Liebster Blog Award. I love Stephanie because she leaves some great comments! Her blog is a look at books that I would probably never stumble across in any other place, and I have picked up a few titles that I want add to my list of Grown-Up Reads. Her recent blog-love for A Wrinkle In Time got me a little excited, too!

Dorothy Mae @ I Love Sunsets By The Sea

Dorothy Mae gave me the Versatile Blogger Award. I have just discovered Dorothy Mae’s little space in the blogosphere, and I have to say that she’s got some great pictures posted as a photography enthusiast! Such a beautiful area of the world! I might be asking to use some for a future Quotetastic Friday post.

Reading blogs at coffee shops. That's how I roll.

I follow these ladies on WordPress, but I also read TONS of other blogs on a regular basis. Usually I discover these on Twitter. Here are some of my favorites:

Megan @ Coffee and Wizards

I love coffee. I love wizards. But mostly I love Megan’s discussion posts for the books she reviews. Book bloggers have to be careful about spoilers, when what we really want is to talk about the juicy endings of the books we read. Megan’s discussion posts are designed for this very purpose.

Candice @ The Grown-Up YA

Candice, like me, is a late 20-something with a love for YA. We have quite a bit of overlap in books we’ve read or what to read, so I love seeing what she thinks. Between her Retro Reads and the recent discussion posts about Sex in YA and Fan Fiction, she’s got some great content and you should definitely check her out!

Heidi @ Bunbury In The Stacks

Heidi seems like the kind of awesome librarian that I’d totally hang out with in real life. Heidi posts regularly with  great reviews and fun memes. I definitely keep her in my Google Reader!

Ginger @ GReads!

I love Ginger’s beautiful blog design, but I also love her posts. She has some great features, including Tune In Tuesday and TGIF, that I enjoy reading on other blogs as well. I’ve seriously considered moving Quotetastic Friday to participate in TGIF! Ginger is back in school to become a middle school language arts teacher, so I’m excited to see her experiences in the classroom as well!

Liz @ elizzieBooks

Liz inspires me to want to vlog. Her video blogs are great and I am truly interested in the titles she choses to review. Like me, she’s a huge John Green fan and Nerdfighter! She’s nerdy and funny, but quite smart and charming at the same time.

Lisa @ Lisa is Busy Nerding

I mean, the girl takes nerd and makes it into a verb. I love that Lisa embraces her nerdyness whole-heartedly. She focused on books and other nerdy endeavors, and everything she writes has tons of personality behind it. With super-cute vlogs from time-to-time, I’ve really been able to see her personality and I think it made me love her posts even more.

Adam @ Hitting on Girls In Bookstores

Lady bloggers are great, don’t get me wrong, but it is great/awesome/unique to get the male perspective on YA lit. Or Jane Austen novels. Since I don’t fall in love with male characters in quite the same way as most of the female, heterosexual blogging world, I like reading Adam’s reviews. Plus he’s hilarious! His posts about reading his way through the Jane Austen novels, and the subsequent pop-culture references, made me laugh like a fool.

That’s just a tiny snippet of the blogs I read on a regular basis. Twitter is always showing me great posts and great blogs, or reintroducing me to ones that have gotten lost in the mess that is my Google Reader. Which blogs to you read, love, and recommend?

Quotetastic Friday

The Fault In Our Stars (FINALLY)

The cover really tells nothing about what the book is about, but I love it anyway.

The Fault In Our Stars
by John Green
Dutton
Pre-Ordered from Amazon (signed copy!)
[#16 in my 75 Book Challenge]

“Some infinities are bigger than other infinities.”

I know I’m not the last person on the planet to read this book, because I see some of y’all on Twitter, your blogs, and Goodreads that are also still waiting to read or finish it. But sometimes I feel like I’m the last person to read it, a month late.

This is a story about kids dying from cancer. Hazel Grace Lancaster has been living with terminal Stage IV thyroid cancer since she was twelve. A pharmaceutical miracle saved her life at age fourteen, but Hazel is tethered to an oxygen tank 24/7 and is living on borrowed time. While attending a cancer kid support group, Hazel meets the charming Augustus Waters…and our adventure begins.

Let me say first that this book, while still very John Green-y in it’s nature, is different from the other John Green novels. First, it’s told (very well) through the POV of a girl. And it lacks a Margo/Katherine/Alaska-esque Manic Pixie Dream Girl. And the general plot veers a bit from the standard John Green plots. Just a bit. Like always, though, I loved the quoteable, intellectual moments, the references to classic literature, and the rapid-fire wittiness of the characters. I don’t care if teenagers don’t actually talk like that! They think they do in their heads, and I think I do in my head, so I’m okay reading it in a book. That’s the heart of why I love John Green so much. That his fabulous way of saying profound things in obscure ways.

TFioS is a book about cancer, so I was also well prepared for it to be sad. And it was. I can’t lie — there were teary spots on my pillow. But it wasn’t quite as sad as I was expecting. It felt real, and real things have more emotions than just gut-wrenching sadness. There’s hope. There’s acceptance. There’s fear. I like what John did with this book and I like the discussions that can come out of the story. It certainly made me think about my own life and helped me reconsider some of the fears I have.

Final Grade:   B   As much as I hate it, this particular book isn’t likely to make my top 10 at the end of the year. It was good, and the messages will stick in my brain for a long time. But I think the messages overpowered the plot sometimes. To be completely honest, I think I had difficulty connecting with the plot because I’ve never had anyone close to me die of anything, much less cancer (knock on wood). It will happen one day, I know, but right now I just have no idea how that feels and nothing to connect those emotions to. I imagine someone who has gone through that would give the book five stars. And I do think everyone should read it, so I would definitely recommend it to all of my students and friends. Even people who don’t like sad books — because this is so much more than a sad book! There are sad parts, but it’s a book about life. We all die at some point. What happens when we go?

AAAANNNNNDDDD some spoiler-free quotes from the oh-so-quoteable John Greeny-ness:

“I believe the universe wants to be noticed. I think the universe is inprobably biased toward the consciousness, that it rewards intelligence in part because the universe enjoys its elegance being observed. And who am I, living in the middle of history, to tell the universe that it-or my observation of it-is temporary?” 

“There was quite a lot of competitiveness about it, with everybody wanting to beat not only cancer itself, but also the other people in the room. Like, I realize that this is irrational, but when they tell you that you have, say, a 20 percent chance of living five years, the math kicks in and you figure that’s one in five . . . so you look around and think, as any healthy person would: I gotta outlast four of these bastards.”

…and that’s all the non-spoiling quotes I could find. READ THE BOOK!

Happy World Thinking Day!

February 22 is the annual celebration of World Thinking Day by Girl Scouts and Girl Guides around the world.

On Thinking Day, Girl Scout and Girl Guides stop to honor the global nature of our organization. We think about our sisters (and brothers!) around the world, while also focusing on a yearly global action theme. This year’s theme is “We can save our planet.” This is also a particularly special year for Girl Scouting in America because it is our 100th Anniversary!

Now I know this post doesn’t have much to do with libraries, but I’m going to give a plug for the Girl Scouts of America and the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. I have been an active member of the Girl Scouts for 23 years, and this organization has made a huge impact on the person I am today. So I would like to take today to say hello to my sister Girl Scouts, both current and alumnae, both local and international.

My favorite experience as a Girl Scout was traveling to England and France for two weeks to visit Pax Lodge in London and see all the sights. We worked for five years to earn the money to go, and we had the best time! I know many of my readers were probably scouts at some point, so leave a comment with your favorite Girl Scout experience and tell my why you love(d) Girl Scouting!

(And yes, I did earn my reading badge. I earned it as part of my path to my Gold Award. My project was an after school book club that I started at a local elementary school.)

Top Ten Books I’d Save If My House Was Going To Be Abducted By Aliens

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the bloggers over at the Broke and the Bookish. Book bloggers from all around create lists based on the chosen topics, and post links to the host blog to share our love of books. This week we’re looking at books that we’d save in the event of a house fire/alien abduction/natural disaster/etc. I’ll be picking a few based on their literary value, some based on unique qualities (signed copies, inherited books), and some because they are just my favorites. The photos shown are the actual copies of the books from my bookcase at home. Here they are:

[my most valuable books]

1.) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

2.) The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

3.) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

4.) A Light in August by William Faulker

Each of these four makes the list because they are my mother’s copies of the books that I have ended up with over the years. Mostly likely I have taken them without her knowledge. At the very least I owe it to her to return her books rather than let the aliens have them. But in my mind, these are irreplaceable. They have my mother’s name (maiden name) on the inside, and one has her old phone number while another has her old address on the inside cover. Nope, the aliens are not taking these suckers!

I’m reading Brave New World right now, and I read the other three in AP English during my senior year of high school. I liked them, so I took them!

5.) The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

6.) Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

Both of these get saved because they are signed copies. I don’t have any other signed copies of books because I’m not the kind of fan girl who seeks such things — but John Green is my nerdtastic exception. The copy of Will Grayson, Will Grayson in particular represents a great memory of my John Green-esque roadtrip to see him speak (and read the first chapter of The Fault In Our Stars) live.

I will not allow the aliens to have these books. They can hunt down their own signed copies. I’m sure John Green would love to meet them and would be glad to sign their books.

7.) Girlfriends by Carmen Renee Berry and Tamara Traeder

I have a few books given to me by friends, but very few with notes written inside. I love and miss the times when we did this type of thing. This book in particular was given to me at a going-away party when I moved from Virginia to North Carolina between middle and high school. I had a very close-knit crew of best friends, and this book has remained on my shelf as a reminder of that. Emma and I are only Facebook friends now, though we did keep in touch for many years, but I remember the days of our middle school friendship quite fondly.

I will never get rid of this book, and the aliens definitely cannot have it. Or the bookmark.

8.) The Complete Grimm’s Fairytales

My Aunt Cris sent me this book in the mail three or four years ago, completely out of the blue. Not long after, my grandmother passed away and this is now one of the few things I have to remember her by. I believe this book did not actually come from my grandmother’s life-long book collection, but rather that it was purchased from a used book store in the late 80′s. However, I have it because my grandmother specifically wanted me to have it, so I’ll keep it forever.

I doubt the aliens would understand my sentimentality on this issue.

9.) The Norton Shakespeare

I took a course in Shakespeare in college, and this was my textbook. I still have all of the plays marked that we read, and even a few notes/highlights on the plays. This is a pricey volume and it reminds me of learning great things during my wonderful four years in college. It’s the kind of book that will absolutely sit on my shelf for years to come. Also, I think the aliens won’t be sophisticated enough to understand the Bard’s humor and the importance of his work…in their hands, this book would go to waste.

10.) Eloise by Kay Thompson

Eloise represents all of my childhood books. I ended up being able to only pick one for my list, so I picked this (runner up: Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume). It’s important enough for me to have it my blogger picture in the sidebar! There are no personal notes or anything in my copy, but it has great memories attached and I want make sure the inter-galactic aliens don’t get to touch my fantastic childhood favorite.

Okay, so there’s my ten books that I would take with me if my house got abducted by aliens. They can have Harry Potter and my Onion books. Take the Alice series and my old college textbooks. These books have value beyond the written words on their pages and they are going with me when I run from the alien apocalypse.

Which books would you grab?

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

This book cover is adorable. If I wrote a memoir, I'd want it to look like this.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)
by Mindy Kaling
Crown Archetype
E-Book from Public Library
[#15 in my 75 Book Challenge]

Full disclosure: I don’t watch The Office. I didn’t even really know who Mindy Kaling was before reading this book, but I knew I had to read it. After reading Bossypants by Tina Fey, this one came recommended…and I can see why! I love smart, funny, successful women who don’t take themselves too seriously. Mindy is my homegirl.

I don’t know exactly what I would call Mindy’s book. Like Tina Fey’s book, it’s part memoir and part comedy essays related the life of a female comedy writer. While I wasn’t rolling on the floor laughing, I did find the writing delightfully witty. I enjoyed every second of reading the book and really didn’t care if there was a cohesive “plot” or not (there wasn’t…especially after the first half or so). It’s just a series of essays about everything, and they are totally worth it.

Some great moments in the book:

1.) The list of Best Friend Rights and Responsibilities

2.) The list of Greatest Comedy Moments (Liz Lemon crying out of her mouth? YES!)

3.) The list of alternate titles for the book

4.) Mindy’s description of not having one night stands because she’s afraid of getting murdered (my life story).

…aaaaaaand a few great quotes, which really emphasize why I loved this book:

“This book will take you two days to read. Did you even see the cover? It’s mostly pink. If you’re reading this book every night for months, something is not right.”

“I guess I find “Jack and Diane” a little disgusting…I wish there was a song called “Nguyen and Ari,” a little ditty about a hardworking Vietnamese girl who helps her parents with the franchised Holiday Inn they run and does homework in the lobby, and Ari, a hardworking Jewish boy who does volunteer work at his grandmother’s old-age home, and they meet after school at the Princeton Review. They help each other study for the SATs and different AP courses, and then after months of studying, and mountains of flashcards, they kiss chastely upon hearing the news that they both got into their top college choices.”

“Frisbee people won’t let it go. My theory is that this is because there’s a huge overlap between people who are good at Frisbee and people who do Teach for America.”

Final Grade:   B+   This is a great book, totally recommendation-worthy and fun to read. It falls just short of “amazing,” which is what keeps it from an A. I have to be super-careful about giving away A’s, or else I’d just be flinging them around left and right! If you read Bossypants, you need to read this book. If you love The Office and other way funny shows (30 Rock), you need to read this book. If you love sassy, funny ladies, you need to read this book. It’s short, sweet, cute, witty, and charming. And I might even start watching The Office now. Go figure.

Quotetastic Friday