Thursday, January 28, 2010

Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1) The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed reading this book! Riordan has a great grasp on all the things I find most important in a novel--compelling, layered characters, conflict and lots of opportunities for the main character to make choices that will change his future. This book has been made into a film that will release in February. My greatest fear is that this book will be overly compared to Harry Potter. (Young man discovers that he has unusual powers, goes to a place where similar children gather and are protected by adults who know more about that young man than he does, then fights a great battle against people much more powerful than him and finds out who his friends really are.) The reason I hope there won't be too much comparison is that this book is good in its own right, and Riordan is a good author in his own right. Let's face it, Harry Potter changed literature for this generation, and it will be hard to find a best-selling sci-fi/fantasy children's series without comparing it to Harry Potter.

There were a few things I wish Riordan had amped up, but I don't want to write about them because I want this book to be read!

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For more information about the Percy Jackson series, go to Rick Riordan's website.

For more information about the upcoming film, visit IMDB, where you can see trailers and read about the film's rating, cast, etc.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Jazz Reading--Read to Achieve



Parents!!! On Friday morning, we kicked off our Jazz Reading Program--Read to Achieve! Our Bagels and Books started things off well with nearly 3000 minutes! Thanks for your support!

We'll be collecting minutes each Monday (or the first day of the school week), and work toward our minimum goal of 1600 minutes per student! You CAN count the minutes you read to your children for this reading contest. Be sure to look for the reading slips sent home with your children last Thursday, and keep track of minutes your student reads to him/herself, as well as the minutes you read to them. Track the minutes separately on the reading slips and send the information with your students on the first day of each school week between now and February 16th!

The top 10 schools participating in this program will get a read-a-thon with a Jazz player! We will also have many great prizes along the way! Be a team player and read! Help our students earn this great reward!

For more information on the reading contest, visit this link.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Schooled

Schooled Schooled by Gordon Korman


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was my favorite of the three books I read during my "Gordon Korman" week. I was hooked from the very beginning. I loved the characters and once again appreciated Korman's skill with point of view. My only complaint is about the very end of the book--one of the characters goes through a change that is too drastic to be believable. (Which is the only reason I didn't give the book a 5 star rating.) I highly recommend this book!

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Saturday, January 9, 2010

No More Dead Dogs

No More Dead Dogs No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was a fun book. It took me a while to get into it, but I ended up liking it better than "Swindle", the other novel I recently read by Gordon Korman. The plot kind of fell apart near the end when everyone turned against the main character all of a sudden, and the evidence that made them turn against him didn't seem all that clinching. However, the characters were fun and they had interesting quirks. There was a line in the book that I especially liked. "Trudi didn't laugh with her mouth, she laughed with her hormones."

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