Take a bite out of this one!

Vampire High by Douglas Rees is a nominee for the California Young Readers Award.
In this story, Cody Elliot is a self-destructive flunk out who is quickly on his way to becoming a high school drop out. His Father is sick and tired of his smart mouth and ridiculous tactics and gives him the choice of going to Our Lady of Perpetual Homework or Vlad Dracul Magnet School. Cody decides to go Vlad Dracul because the idea of perpetual homework just does not sit well with him. Maybe he should have thought his decision over a little better. What ever do you think the Dracul stands for? Cody finds out quickly that the students at Vlad Dracul are definitely not the same as he is. Slowly, he realizes that his fellow classmates are vampires and that his view of vampires was not quite correct. Cody makes friends with Justin and Ileana who have been long time childhood friends. Quirky and silly at times, this book has the essence of a hero that just didn’t know that he was until he puts forth the effort to succeed. Highlighted in the story are the drunken swim coach, the belligerent headmaster, the annoying bully vampire, and the mysterious wolf that follows Cody around campus. Read this book and find out how Cody saves the swim team from disaster and puts Vlad Dracul on the map!

The Fair Ones

In legends and folk lore, fairies are magical beings who can sometimes be seen by humans, they can be friendly, and quite often they behave impishly. The name fairies means the fair ones and they hail mainly from England and Ireland. Presently you can find a lot of fairies in children’s literature because they are a great source of fun and are very imaginative. Authors can place fairies in different worlds with numerous amounts of magical powers and powerful lessons that can be learned from fairies. One author brought fairies into New York City and had them peddling fairy drugs. However, that was not always so. Fairies in the past were feared as dangerous and powerful beings who could often be very cruel.

Morgan LeFay was known to be a cruel and malicious fairy. She was the half sister of King Arthur and she was said to have sought after him for most of his life. She lay in wait for him and stole Excalibur and changed herself into a rock so he couldn’t find her. She tried many times to kill her own half brother. In the end, it was said that she took Arthur away to Avalon after their son Mordred mortally wounded him in battle.

It was said that fairies would also carry off babies and leave their own sick babies in their place. The sick fairy child is called a changeling. The strange thing is that the changeling did not look like a human child so the parents knew right away that something was wrong.It is thought that the fairies lived in our world and were hidden under rocks or in streams nearby. They had tricks too such as when they danced in a circle if a human joined in they would never be able to break the circle and they could never stop dancing.

Different fairies have different powers. Some like Morgan Le Fay have what is called foresight, which means they can see into the future. Some can grant wishes and worst of all some send out curses for any reason they feel suits them. There have been stories in Ireland about fairies that appear and ask for food. If they are denied then they will curse the person for life. Fairies are also interconnected with the names little people, elves, gnomes, leprechauns, and witches.

Fairies have been around for many hundreds of years in some form or another. The idea of fairies was made popular in Europe in the Dark Ages and was used to describe fairy women lovers that appeared in the night, similar beings have existed in both folklore and written literature for thousands of years. This is the time that Sir Thomas Malory wrote his Le Morte De Arthur in which he featured Morgan LeFay as the fairy witch that enticed King Arthur and his knight. Today in England, Ireland, and Scotland they stand true to their fairy ties and keep the fairy legends in mind as they are never sure who might be lurking nearby in a cave or a bog.

Gods & Goddesses

Today is a dark and stormy day! I am reminded that the Greek gods and goddesses are a source of infinite wisdom. With that in mind I would like to recommend the book Greece, Rome, Monsters by John Harris. In this great book, twenty mythical monsters are featured along with a supporting cast of gods, goddesses, heroes, and heroines. The book begins with a warning telling you that you are about to embark into the land of creepy creatures. There is the Basilisk, if you see him run for your life! Keep away from the Cyclops, he’s a very big and very mean guy. You’ll not want to look at Medusa because there’s that poor option of turning to stone. The book does offer a few nice creatures such as, Pegasus the beautiful white horse with wings, and the fiery Phoenix who is reborn out of the ashes over and over again. Calef Brown’s artwork is fun and playful with shades of sour-apple green, turquoise blue and terracotta orange.

Of course, this brings on a surge of memories of The Lightening Thief featuring the notorious and wonderous Percy Jackson. Our hero, as A.D.D. as he is , is always finding a ways to get nasty creatures to chase after him. Percy soon finds out that his life as he knew it is not really the truth. He has been cloistered away from the world of gods and goddesses in which he really should be involved with since he is related to one of the most famous gods of all. As Percy learning how to deal with his new half godliness, he decides to go on a quest to find out who has stolen Zues' lightening rod. The book is excellent and full of great surprises. You'll want to read this one just to catch up on your Greek Mythology!

Pumpkin Queen Girl

I know that October has passed and we have long moved on from Halloween, however I recently I had the extreme pleasure of reading this sweet book. I think it is a definite keeper and could be quite special for any pumpkin lover. I love the fall and I wish I could have pumpkins all year round.To honor her Mother who passed away when she was six, eleven year old Mildred is determined to win the Circleville, Ohio, Pumpkin Show in Me and the Pumpkin Queen by Marlane Kennedy. Unfortunately, something awful always happens to her pumpkins and they turn to mush. Mildred´s obsession with pumpkins alarms her Aunt Arlene so she tries to get Mildred interested in clothes instead of pumpkins. Will Mildred´s dream of growing a prize-winning pumpkin ever come true? This book is a sweet coming-of-age story that also introduces readers to pumpkin growing competitions. As Mildred finds out, it requires much more than luck to produce a thousand pound champion! If you are interested in this topic, take a look at the website featured in the book www.pumpkinshow.com.

Hope this makes you hungry!

My other hope is to start evaluating magical characters in children's literature. This evaluation is going to be called "Magical dudes and chicks in children's literature" and will focus on any character that has magical abilities. This will also include telekinetic and spiritual powers as well. We shall see how this goes! Here is a review I just wrote for work and I hope it makes you hungry and want to read this book as well!

In "The Perfect Hamburger and other Delicious Stories" by Alexander McCall Smith, you get three hilariously cooked up tales all in one book. First, in The Perfect Hamburger, Joe's favorite hamburger joint is going to go out of business unless he can figure out the ingredients for the perfect hamburger. Will he get it right before it's too late? Second, in "The Spaghetti Tangle", John and Nicky would love to eat spaghetti all day long, but instead they get vegetarian dishes. To get a decent meal they enter a recipe contest. When they win a visit to Mr. Pipelli’s spaghetti factory they are thrilled! You'll never guess what happens when they come face to face with the spaghetti spinner! And third, in "The Doughnut Ring", Jim tries to help Mr. Pride by coming up with a fundraiser to sell doughnuts. He decides to send out tons of emails asking for donations. This seems to work, but it soon gets out of control and Jim finds himself practically covered in doughnuts! Will he be able to sell all of his yummy treats, or will he be stuck with the sticky goods forever?

This is the place!

This is the place, this is where it all happens! I am so excited to be writing on my blog again. It has been a long time and I have so much to tell. I have gone on a journey that has exceeded all possibilities. Tomorrow I start a new job that has been a dream of mine for quite a while. I am going to be working in a middle school library. I will be surrounded by young adult books which is so fantastic.

I am hoping for lots of luck on my new adventure, but I'm pretty sure I won't need it!

YA Literature Rules

I am a great fan of Young Adult Literature. I would like to cover YA books that I have read and review if I like them or not, and what I think teens would like or not like about the book. I would also like to highlight YA authors and their current as well as up and coming works. Young adult books fascinate and intrigue me. I am here to tell you that I read at least one young adult book every few weeks and I just can’t get enough! Maybe that’s because I work in a library and I have supreme access to all kinds of wonderful young adult books. I find library books to be like gems you pull out of a lost pirate’s treasure chest and then later you return them to the chest so that someone else can get a chance to experience the joy that you have had.
Some of the books I have read recently are:
Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
Life in the Fat Lane by Cheri Bennett
The Truth about Forever by Sarah Dessing
Artemis Fowl the Opal Deception by Eion Colfer
The First Part Last by Angela Johnson
Inexcusable by Chris Lynch
Poison by Chris Wooding
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling