Wednesday, July 30, 2014

My Zombie Hamster

 

There has been a Zombie Apocalypse but aside from the walls around town, the Zombie Zappers, and the Zombie Squad life is pretty normal.  Matt Hunter hangs out with his friends, wished for new video games, goes to school, gets a new hamster.  But when his hamster, Snuffles, turns out to be a zombie things get a bit sketchy.  The new Anti-Snuffles escapes and starts turning other pets into zombies.  If that wasn't bad enough, when a field trip goes horribly wrong Matt's best friend Charlie gets turned into a zombie.  But she is different.  Can Matt and his friends capture the hamster, convince people that Charlie doesn't want to eat their brains, and save the town.

Capitalizing on the zombie fascination this story was fun, a little scary, and interesting.  I feel like it's  a good fit for my 3rd and 4th grade readers who like Goosebumps.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Odd, Weird, & Little

 

Toulouse is a new student.  He is really little, a bit odd, and yes a bit weird.  He is also quick, wears gloves and funny clothes, and seems to have strange eating habits.  Woodrow has always been considered a bit odd himself and finds a friend in Toulouse and stands up for his new friend.  But who is his new friend exactly?

This was a cute little book.  I am thinking it would be good for my earliest readers.  It ended a bit abruptly I thought with Woodrow's discovery but overall I liked it.


Sunday, July 27, 2014

The Great Greene Heist

 

You know that feeling you get when you pick up a book, get a few pages in, and then realize it's a sequel to a book you haven't read.  Yeah, that's what happened here except...it's not a sequel.

That's right...this is a stand alone book but all throughout it refers to other heists, Jackson's older brother, a kiss that shouldn't have happened.  It was a little confusing.  Did it keep me from liking the book....um...it made it harder to get into because I felt like something was missing.  I ended up liking it...a good heist, switcharoo, guy got the girl, good beats evil but...Turns out there is a short prequel on the author's website...Maybe I could put a QR code in from of the book linking to the prequel and say - read this first...

Overall it was good but a little odd...

Saving Lucas Biggs



 

Margaret's father has just been sentenced to death for a crime pretty much everyone knows he didn't commit.  Unfortunately, he butted heads with a big business and they are getting him back.  Somehow Margaret wants to exonerate her father.  The best was to do that is by reaching Lucas Biggs the judge.  But Mr. Biggs has a long history of disappointment and anger.  Can Margaret use her family's gift of time travel to change the events that led to Lucas Biggs anger or is there a way to change the results of the past by events in the present.

This was a really good story.  I love time travel and might have enjoyed a bit more in this book but that actually wasn't the point and it worked.  Good friendships, action, historical references, and cause and effect.  Very enjoyable.


Saturday, July 26, 2014

Freedom Summer



This book talks about the events during the summer of 1964 in and around Philadelphia, Mississippi.  During that summer college students came down to Mississippi in an effort to get African Americans registered to vote and to start Freedom Schools.   Unfortunately, the summer began with the murder of 3 of the workers - 2 white and 1 black.  The book follows the investigation into their murders and the work done in the area and in the Civil Rights movement during that summer.

What I thought was interesting just now was when I looked up Freedom Summer on Goodreads I got quite a few hits on books about the same topic.  So why this one?  What makes this stand out?  Why write another one?  I personally had not read a book about the Freedom Summer murders so it was good information for me.  I struggle with whether to put it in my 1-5 grade library.  No one even studies US history in my school.  Do I send it up to the jr. high?  High School?  It was a good book, don't get me wrong...I just don't know what to do with it.