The Suburban Strange by Nathan Kotecki book review

Author (Last name first):  Kotecki, Nathan

Title of the Book:  The Suburban Strange

Publisher:    Houghton Mifflin             Date of Publication:  2012

ISBN#         978-0-547-72996-1

Price: $16.99        Grade Level:         J/S     Number of Pages: 349

VOYA Rating: 4Q 4P

Highly Recommended  

Celia Balaustine transferred to Suburban High at the start of her 10^th grade year.  She wants to reinvent herself and not be the same person she was at her old school.  Celia is a highly talented artist, who catches the attention of a girl named Regine.  Regine introduces Celia to her tight knit group of friends who call themselves The Rosary.  Celia become part of this group and for the first time in her life, has a place to belong. The Rosary wants everyone in the group to do their homework, study, have an after school job, look sophisticate and expand their artistic horizons.  They hang out at a club on weekends to listen to music and dance.  Then weird things start to happen at school.  The story takes on a paranormal twist and every 16 year old girl is at risk of getting hurt at Suburban High.  The Rosary may have the answers to this school curse.

One of the first things to catch the readers’ attention in this series are the character names.  They are definitely unique.  The cover gives off a dark, eerie, gothic vibe and the reader can expect the same from the writing.  I think readers will be introduced to new music and artists that inspired parts of the writing.  The characters were really into discovering new music (being the perfect outlet for the author to share the music he likes).  I would like to know the reaction of today’s high school students to the music references.  Most of it seemed to be 80s-90s dark alternative music.  I enjoyed it because I was familiar with most of it…but I am not sure about the average 16 year old.  I love that some of the setting takes place in a used bookstore and the conversations about visual arts.  Unusual for a YA book.  I think this book can be classified as an urban fantasy.  There are elements of romance, mystery, intrigue and the paranormal.  I like how the story did not end with a huge cliffhanger, but hints at the future. I am looking forward to the second book.

I think this book is appropriate for a school library.  It will appeal to the visual arts/music students and those interested in the gothic or indie scene.  I would promote this book to both boys and girls. I don’t see it fitting into the curriculum directly, but it’s definitely a good pick for fun reading.  I think it’s the perfect book during a school break (I’ll put it on my Spring Break books display).  It would make for a good book club pick. The book made me want to go listen to the author’s playlist.  Overall, it was a unique and intriguing story.  I’m rather surprised that I was not able to find professional reviews of this book.

The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong book review

Author (Last name first):  Armstrong, Kelley

Title of the Book:  The Reckoning (Darkest Powers: Book Three)

Publisher:     HarperTeen           Date of Publication:         2010

ISBN#         978-0-06-166283-6

Price:  $17.99        Grade Level: J/S     Number of Pages: 391

VOYA Rating: 4Q 4P

Highly Recommended  

This was the third book in the first of two series trilogies.  It is definitely recommended to read The Summoning and The Awakening first.  The story is set in the East Coast.  The Edison Group has been genetically modifying DNA to make humans more powerful.  The main characters in this story include: witches, sorcerers, a necromancer, and ghosts.  As soon as their powers start to show, they are put in a mental institution.  Turns out that the mental institution is owned by the Edison Group and the kids have been tracked their entire lives.  The Tori, Derek, Simon and Chloe are on the run because they know they are in danger and do not know who to trust.

There are a lot of twists and turns. Chloe and Derek have a unique relationship that turn into something more, which the readers will probably root for. There are definitely themes of friendship, love, loyalty, honesty and responsibility woven in to the story.  This is one of those books that I wish I would have read when it first came out.  It will make for a good high school book display.

The setting and the characters have so much detail that it is easy to get lost in the book.  I think this book and this trilogy would make a great addition to a school or public library.  It is a paranormal story that I think would have a larger audience appeal.  It has a great mix of realism, history, action, romance and superpowers.  The characters are likeable and strong.  The reader is hoping they will rescue their friends and solve the mystery of who they are and where they came from.  I don’t think there is anything that is objectionable for middle school or high school teens.  It is a well written book that keeps the reader coming back for more. I think students will enjoy the companion website.  I will also look for a book trailer to post in my Moodle page to advertise the book (or series) to students so they will come into the library to check it out.

Illuminate book review

Author (Last name first):  Agresti, Aimee

Title of the Book:  Illuminate (A Gilded Wings Novel: Book One)

Publisher:     Houghton Mifflin Harcourt          Date of Publication:         2012

ISBN#         978-0-547-62614-7

Price:  $17.99        Grade Level: J/S     Number of Pages: 511

VOYA Rating: 4Q 4P

Highly Recommended  

Haven Terra is a nerdy, hard working, down to earth high school girl.  One day she is called down to the principal’s office and told she was picked for a very prestigious internship.  Her best friend, Dante, and another acquaintance, Lance, are also chosen from her school. The three of them are very surprised, but they are excited and can’t wait for their adventure to start.  They get to stay in Chicago’s newly remodeled Lexington, where everyone wants to be and be seen.  Unfortunately, as soon as they arrive, Haven notices that members of “The Outfit” act really weird.  Aurelia and Lucian are in charge of the hotel, and they give off a sinister vibe.  As the story unfolds, Haven begins to piece things together and realizes that there is evil at work in the hotel.  Haven and Lance are working together to save themselves and their classmates.  A romance is blossoming and most of the story is wrapped up at the end, but there is a lead in to the second book.

Overall, I enjoyed this book.  It was a little daunting at first because it is over 500 pages!  But it read pretty quickly and it was hard to put down once all the action started.  I like that there was a little bit of Chicago/Al Capone history woven into the story.  It had a paranormal twist with the Haven, Lance and Dante being angels.  The Prince made an appearance as the owner of the hotel – he was Satan.  Aurelia and Lucian were fallen angels that were now acting as agents for Satan and could not undo the evil they had done.  They were out to collect souls and were recruiting other soul collectors.

The setting was glamorous.  The beautiful people were wearing nice clothes, hanging out at the hottest nightclub, The Vault, inside the Lexington.  The food was amazing.  The history of the building was that it had been part of the smuggling operation during Prohibition, so it had underground tunnels and trap doors.  Haven was getting secret messages telling her what to do, so she stayed at the hotel because she believed she had a larger purpose in being there.  I think this book would appeal to high school girls and I will definitely add it to the school library collection.  I’m not sure that I see any Common Core connections besides just reading for fun.  It could be used as a book club book.  There was no objectionable content and it would be appropriate for grades 9-12.  The cover art is very attractive and I think students will pick this book up.

The official book trailer:

Marketing the School Library

So, I have these giant 8 ft. x 8ft. bulletin boards that I've somehow inherited over the years.  It's the perfect place to market the school library.  Here's a picture on the perspective of how big these boards are:

My first bulletin board has the attributes of the IB Learner Profile (on a frog in my pond :) ).  Then I have placed book covers suggesting which books have a main character that exemplify a characteristic of the Learner Profile.  It has definitely helped the circulation of those books go up!  Always a good thing in a high school library.

Here is a close up of the IB Learner Profile bulletin board:

The newest bulletin board is "Your School Library in 6 Words."  I got this idea from a project another school librarian did and posted onto LM_NET (listserv for school librarians).  School librarians and students from all over the world created a 6 word poem about the importance of school libraries.  I took some of the best 6 word poems and integrated them into the bulletin board.

Steampunk Book Display

A lot of my students were reading Scott Westerfeld's Levithan series and The Iron Thorn book.  They really enjoyed them and were asking for more looks like those.  I had to do a bit of research to find YA appropriate books in the Steampunk genre.  I made a concentrated effort to order a good number of books with my summer order and then a few throughout the current school year.  The students who know what steampunk is, are loving the expanded selection.  Other students are learning that steampunk is a branch of the Science Fiction genre.  See more info here.  Either way, it's a pretty popular book display. Yay!

Pretty Impressive Library Curriculum

Wow!  This is a pretty impressive library curriculum.  Looks like a huge team of teacher-librarians work on this.  But it would be great for our school :)

http://www.iowa-city.k12.ia.us/library/Curriculum.htm

Student vs. Learner

There is an IBAEM conference going on right now in Spain and they are tweeting topics of conversation.  Oxford University Press shared this video and I thought they were worth passing on.

Student vs. Learner

Student/Learner 3.0 The Teacher