Utopia is the new hot like the oh-so-2-years-ago vampire genre was

Long weekends are for reading, and this 5-day break gave me the opportunity to read Matched by Ally Condie.  And this whole Utopia genre is the new hot like the oh-so-2-years-ago vampire genre was.

This book is Uglies meets Hunger Games meets The Giver and now meets Matched.

Same premise...main character goes most of her life OK with the society's choice for her.  She goes through the matching ceremony and gets "matched" to her life-long friend.  Yay.  But then the conflict starts and like any great Utopian society book, the main character starts to think about how things will go if he/she makes some choices on her/his own.  And her choices begin with her match.

And that's where the issues start.  This book weaves in a really strong love story with twists and turns.  I could hardly put it down.  Thankfully, a 9-hour drive home helped me out.

Matched will give you 21 Reading Counts points.  The sequel, Crossed, just came out.  I can hardly wait to check it out.  I hear it's coming to the WMS library really soon.

Thanksgiving weekend makes me realize that I'm thankful for good books.  Which one are you reading right now that you can't put down?

The Chosen One

Finally gave up on the Uglies series so I would read again.  I picked up The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams after trying to "sell" it to several 6th period students.  Nobody would take it, so I checked it out myself.

I finished it in three days!  What a book.  It's about a girl who is part of a religious cult that lives on a compound as part of a polygamous community.  She has one dad and several mothers and the family follows Apostles and a big mean Prophet.  She is 14 and learns randomly one evening that the Prophet spoke directly to God and she is to marry her 60-year-old uncle in 4 weeks.  Ewwww.

I love watching Sister Wives on TLC.  I'm just fascinated to see how they all work together to make a lifestyle choice work for their family.  This book is more of the same and follows Kyra's struggle with trying to fit in with her community while having "unwholesome" or sinful thoughts...which are just normal 14 year old emotions.  The author tucks in a real love story in here too.  Nice.

A real page turner, this quick read is captivating and gets you 12 Reading Counts points.  It won't disappoint.

What to read next?  Hmmmmm.  Help!  Need another good book.  Or several.  Thanksgiving is a long road trip.  Gotta stock up!

Stealing Heaven: A Little Predictable

Finished up Stealing Heaven this weekend (another book finished on the dock).  The book is about a girl and her mom who move from place to place stealing--it's their occupation.  The main character was believable enough...and I felt like I needed to know what would happen to her.  However, I felt like I could predict the ending....  The foreshadowing was just a little obvious.

I've read a lot this summer, thanks mostly to this blog.  It's kept me focused and looking forward to the next novel.  I hope it helped you too.  Summer reading assignments are due in one week.  Where are you on that?  Make sure you are ready on the first day!

I pick up Pretties this week at the library.  Can't wait to read book 2 of the Uglies series.  All upcoming 8th graders should try to read Uglies--it will give you some background/insight when it comes time to read The Giver in class.

I head to my classroom tomorrow. I'll be there 1-3:30.  Join me if you'd like to:)

Uglies + The Giver + Hunger Games = The Same

Hey upcoming Holt freshmen!  You won't want to miss out on Uglies if you haven't read it already.  It is so similar to The Giver and the Hunger Games that I'm thinking I could teach all three books at the same time and have the same exact discussion going.

Uglies is a sci-fi book which has an alternate world just like Giver and Hunger Games.  I don't really like sci-fi but this is so interesting.  I'm fascinated how the book parallels our own world and how we value "being pretty" with happiness.  When in reality that's not what the world should be about.  It has such a great theme--some really great life-learning lessons.

The main character in all 3 books struggles to learn the truth about what they thought they knew was real and what reality actually is.  The reader follows their journey as they learn the real truth about the world.

I really think you all should give this one a try.  The author is coming to town this fall...I can't wait to meet him too!  Looking forward to reading Pretties before he comes to town.

OK, so just about 2 weeks until school.  Have you completed your summer reading?

Hate List is a great book!

Finished Hate List yesterday on the dock.  I was totally crying.  Although the ending wasn't as good as the whole book...and has one of those open endings that my 8th graders love so much (sarcastic), I still loved the book.

Val really had to go through a lot during the book and grew so much as a person.  I can't imagine how she dealt with all of it without yelling "I didn't shoot anyone" all the time.  And I wasn't a huge fan of either her mom or her dad...or brother really.  What mom never asks if her daughter is guilty?  What mom doesn't step in and help a daughter more?  It was weird.  And her dad.  Yuck!

I thought that they should have put a yearbook picture of Ginny--from before the shooting--in the time capsule.  That would have been very sweet.  Where you thinking that the ending would have been different.  I thought her speech would have been very different at graduation.  I couldn't understand why she kept mentioning the hate list....it was driving me nuts.

Also where did this art teacher fit into everything?  She wasn't related to anyone?  It was really weird.  Not that she liked to draw...but the teacher.  I don't understand why she had to be so eccentric and described in so much detail.

I've started Uglies now and it reminds me so much of The Giver.  The whole location and concept is very much like The Giver's government and ideology.  I like it so far...it's so different.  What a neat concept for a book.  Anyone going into 8th grade should read it before reading The Giver.

Just great reading!

So City of Ashes is pretty slow, so I put it down and waited for Laurel to finish Hate List (which is a book from the list on the right).  She LOVED it, so I was really looking forward to it.  And it's already due next week....

I started Hate List last night and it is certainly worth the wait.  It's about a school shooting, and it goes back in forth in time which is a bit confusing so far.  Laurel said it takes some time to get used to it.  I'm not very far into it, but it pulled me in right away.  I could really identify with the characters immediately.  What I've already learned is no matter much you hate (and you shouldn't), don't write it down on a list, cause that list will surface one day and you'll look bad--like really bad.  That's a good theme, huh?

I reserved and picked up Uglies and Stealing Heaven this morning (the right Stealing Heaven this time).  Laurel is excited to get started on one.  Can anyone recommend which one she should try first?

What are you reading now?  Is it good?