Paper Towns

Title: Paper Towns     

Author: John Green 

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Audiobook Narrator: Dan John Miller
Audiobook Publisher: Brilliance Audio   
Publication Date: 2008   
Genre/Format: Realistic Fiction/Novel  
Goodreads Summary: When Margo Roth Spiegelman beckons Quentin Jacobsen in the middle of the night - dressed like a ninja and plotting an ingenious campaign of revenge - he follows her. Margo's always planned extravagantly, and, until now, she's always planned solo. After a lifetime of loving Margo from afar, things are finally looking up for Q . . . until day breaks and she has vanished. Always an enigma, Margo has now become a mystery. But there are clues. And they're for Q. Printz Medalist John Green returns with the trademark brilliant wit and heart-stopping emotional honesty that have inspired a new generation of readers. (taken from Goodreads on 1/6/12)
What Jen Thinks: I'm not sure if I'm supposed to like or dislike Margo Roth Spiegelman! There were parts when I liked her and then there were probably more parts when I really didn't like her. Most of this book is all about her even though she's mysteriously absent for most of the book. I'm glad I loved Q, the main character, and all of his friends. I think this book ends up being more about friendship and being there for each other and willingly going off on time-crunch road trips and loving the journey than on how it all ends up. And since a large part of the book centers around Walt Whitman, this seems like the perfect point to be illustrated.
     I'm not a huge fan of J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. I read it in high school and didn't get it so I reread it not that long ago thinking maybe now that I'm older and wiser I might understand why everyone loves it. But I didn't. It still is a book that was hard for me to identify with. I kept thinking of Holden Caulfield as I listened to Paper Towns. And since I didn't really care for Holden as a character maybe it makes sense that Margo Roth Spiegelman didn't really appeal to me either.
The best part of disliking Margo Roth Spiegelman is that it brings life to this awesome John Green quote:

“I don't know where people got the idea 

that characters in books a supposed to be likable. 

Books are not in the business of 

creating merely likeable characters with whom 

you can have some simple identification with. 

Books are in the business of creating 

great stories that make you're brain go ahhbdgbdmerhbergurhbudgerbudbaaarr.” 

     It was really hard for me to identify with Holden Caulfield...and really, we don't have much in common so I get that it's hard for me to sympathize with him. In the same way, I don't have much in common with Margo Roth Spiegelman. Like John Green says, it doesn't matter if I like or dislike the characters - it's that I've read the books and realize that there are people out there who can relate to Holden and Margo and who feel like those characters are written for them. It's about recognizing that the world is not made up of people exactly like me and loving the world just a bit more because I get it.
What Kellee Thinks: This is my favorite John Green book.  (This is like saying my favorite Harry Potter book- they are all amazing...)  I do think that one of the reasons why I really enjoyed it is that it takes place in Orlando so I was truly able to visualize Margo and Quentin's adventure.  


I can see how Jen could have felt the way she did about Margo, but I found her intriguing throughout most of the book.  At other points you hate her.  At some you love how she makes Quentin feel.  But I find the power of a good book is that you feel about the characters.  


I love listening to John Green's books on audio.  I've listened to them all and I really find his works perform so well orally.  They always make me laugh out loud.  And Paper Towns was no different.  I found myself laughing out loud and sitting at the edge of my seat (not literally because I was driving) throughout the story.
Read Together: 9 - 12  
Read Alone: 7 - 12 
Read With: Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks by E. Lockhart, An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
Snatch of Text:  

"What a treacherous thing to believe that a person is more than a person." 

"When did we see each other face-to-face? Not until you saw into my cracks and I saw into yours. Before that, we were just looking at ideas of each other, like looking at your window shade but never seeing inside. But once the vessel cracks, the light can get in. The light can get out." 

"I'm not saying that everything is survivable. Just that everything except the last thing is." 

"If you don't imagine, nothing ever happens at all." 

"Peeing is like a good book in that it is very, very hard to stop once you start." 

(I don't have page numbers because I listened to this book.)

Mentor Text For: Making Connections, Characterization, Dialogue, Voice, Simile, Personal Narrative 

Writing Prompts: Write about a time in your life when a friend let you down. Write about a time in your life when someone turned out to be different than who you thought they were. 
Topics Covered: Friendship, Love, Relationships, Family, Adventure, Taking Risks, Identity

Jen "hearts" it

Kellee "hearts" it

  and 

Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Title: Will Grayson, Will Grayson     
Author: John Green and David Levithan  
Audiobook Narrators: Nick Podehl and MacLeod Andrews
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile 
Audiobook Publisher: Brilliance Audio on CD
Publication Date: April 2010 
Genre/Format: Realistic Fiction/Novel 
Goodreads Summary: One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two teens—both named Will Grayson—are about to cross paths. As their worlds collide and intertwine, the Will Graysons find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, building toward romantic turns-of-heart and the epic production of history’s most fabulous high school musical.
Hilarious, poignant, and deeply insightful, John Green and David Levithan’s collaborative novel is brimming with a double helping of the heart and humor that have won both them legions of faithful fans. (taken from Goodreads on 1/5/12) 
What Jen Thinks: I love this book! It's so hard not to gush all week about all this great writing that seems to effortlessly spew out of John Green, well, in this case John Green and David Levithan. I did listen to the audiobook, and Nick Podehl quickly became my favorite narrator. He makes Will Grayson sound like such a real person. I easily forgot that it was a narrator reading a book and felt like it was a real person. MacLeod Andrews also does a brilliant job of bringing Tiny to life. He is such a grand character and Andrews does him justice.

I'm amazed by books like this one that consist of different chapters written by different authors. It seems like writing a book is hard enough, but writing and trusting another author to do his or her own part seems like it would make it even harder. At the same time, I can see how it would be possibly fun to have someone as a partner in writing a book (much like working with Kellee on this blog is so much more fun and exciting and easier with her).

I haven't tried this with students, but I think it would be really interesting to offer them the opportunity to partner up and write a story with another person by taking turns to write the parts of the story. Or a larger group of students could contribute by each writing a part like an extended version of what I know as a campfire game where each person tells one word or sentence in a wild and crazy story. It would probably take a lot of planning to make it end up coherent, but it might turn out something like Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman
Read Together: 9 - 12
Read Alone: 9 - 12 
Read With: Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan
Snatch of Text:  

"Maybe there's something you're afraid to say, or someone you're afraid to love, or somewhere you're afraid to go. It's gonna hurt. It's gonna hurt because it matters." (John Green)

"You like someone who can't like you back because unrequited love can be survived in a way that once-requited love cannot. " (John Green)

"Maybe tonight you're scared of falling, and maybe there's somebody here or somewhere else you're thinking about, worrying over, fretting over, trying to figure out if you want to fall, or how and when you're gonna land, and I gotta tell you, Friends, to stop thinking about the landing, because it's all about falling." (John Green)

"I have a friend request from some stranger on facebook and I delete it without looking at the profile because that doesn't seem natural. 'Cause friendship should not be as easy as that. It's like people believe all you need to do is like the same bands in order to be soulmates. Or books. omg... U like the outsiders 2... it's like we're the same person! No we're not. It's like we have the same English teacher. There's a difference." (David Levithan)

"After tiny has tried ballerina pose, swing-batter-batter pose, pump-up-the-jam pose, and top-of-the-mountain-sound-of-music pose in the reflection of the bean, he walks us to a bench overlooking lake shore drive." (David Levithan)

(I don't have page numbers because I listened to the audiobook.)

Mentor Texts For: Characterization, Description, Personal Narrative
Writing Prompts: Write about a time when a friend or family member urged you to do something outside of your comfort zone. 
Topics Covered: Friendships, Relationships, Love, Trust, Adventure, Adversity, Confidence, Taking Risks

 

Let It Snow, "Freak the Geek" & "The Great American Morp"

Title: Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances     
Author: John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle
Publisher: Puffin 
Publication Date: September 2008  
Genre/Format: Fiction-Romance/Short Stories as a Novel
GoodReads Summary: Sparkling white snowdrifts, beautiful presents wrapped in ribbons, and multicolored lights glittering in the night through the falling snow. A Christmas Eve snowstorm transforms one small town into a romantic haven, the kind you see only in movies. Well, kinda. After all, a cold and wet hike from a stranded train through the middle of nowhere would not normally end with a delicious kiss from a charming stranger. And no one would think that a trip to the Waffle House through four feet of snow would lead to love with an old friend. Or that the way back to true love begins with a painfully early morning shift at Starbucks. Thanks to three of today's bestselling teen authors—John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle—the magic of the holidays shines on these hilarious and charming interconnected tales of love, romance, and breathtaking kisses. (Taken from Goodreads on 1/1/12)
What Jen Thinks: Honestly, putting three great authors together can't result in anything but complete awesomeness, right? I love all of these authors and what they have done with this book is to tell three different stories with lots of hysterical characters and then in the end make them all fit together.
     Since this is John Green week, I get to point out that John Green might be the one of the top examples of an author who can demonstrate voice in writing. He is full of wit and energy and charm and it all adds up to brilliance. After watching his Vlogbrothers episodes you can definitely see how his personality is evident in his writing.
     I, of course, have to just say one more time that Lauren Myracle and I are connected psychically. Our brains are set to the same frequency. Every book I have read that she has written makes me feel like she is inside my head and writing the book for me. She makes me laugh and cry and realize how I have to stop and think about my expectations sometimes.
What Kellee Thinks: You cannot go wrong with those authors! What I found was not only a romantic, funny book, but a perfect holiday read! Let it Snow is like those movies where you follow three very different stories and then eventually they intertwine and everything seems to follow into place. I loved reading each story, wanting to learn more about a certain character and then realizing the next story was about them! The authors also did a fantastic job throwing in aspects of Christmas and pushing the holiday cheer without shoving it down your throat. Let is Snow is one of those books that I want to curl up and read by the fire while it snows outside.
Read Together: 9 - 12 
Read Alone: 7 - 12 
Read With: Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan, Peace, Love and Baby Ducks by Lauren Myracle, Dash and Lily's Book of Dares and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan 
Snatch of Text:  
From "The Jubilee Express" by Maureen Johnson
     "'Oh my god!' said one of the Ambers. 'Is this not the worst trip ever? Did you see the snow?'
     She was a sharp one, this Amber. What would she notice next? The train? The moon? The hilarious vagaries of human existence? Her own head?
     I didn't say any of that, because death by cheerleader is not really the way I want to go." p. 22

From "A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle" by John Green

     “I dashed upstairs, my socks sliding on the hardwood floor in the kitchen, and stumbled into my bedroom. I tore open the closet door and began feverishly sorting through the shirts piled on the floor in the vain hope that inside that pile there might be some wondrously perfect shirt down there, a nice striped button-down with no wrinkles that said, ‘I’m strong and tough but I’m also a surprisingly good listener with a true and abiding passion for cheers and those who lead them.’ Unfortunately, there was no such shirt to be found. I quickly settled on a dirty but cool yellow Threadless T-shirt under a black v-neck sweater. I kicked off my watching-James-Bond-movies-with-the-Duke-and-JP jeans and hurriedly wiggled into my pair of nice, dark jeans.” p. 131-132

From "The Patron Saint of Pigs" by Lauren Myracle

     "Being me sucked. Being me on this supposedly gorgeous night, with the supposedly gorgeous snow looming in five-foot drifts outside my bedroom window, double-sucked. Add the fact that today was Christmas, and my score was up to triple-suck. And add in the sad, aching, devastating lack of Jeb, and ding-ding-ding! The bell at the top of the Suckage Meter couldn't ring any louder.

     Instead of jingle bells, I had suckage bells. Lovely." p. 215

Mentor Texts For: Voice, Word-Choice, Characterization, Compound Adjectives
Writing Prompts: Think of a time when you were stuck somewhere that you didn't want to be and couldn't really do anything about it, how did you feel? What did you do to keep yourself busy? Did something happen that you would not have expected or that wouldn't have happened if you weren't stuck or stranded? 
Topics Covered: Friendship, Love, Determination, Loyalty, Trust, Risk-Taking, Kindness, Cheerleaders? (that's supposed to be funny...)

Kellee "hearts" it

Jen "hearts" it

*   *   *

Anthology Title: Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd

Editor: Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci

Publisher: Little, Brown for Young Readers

Publication Date: August 2009

Genre/Format: Short Story Anthology/Novel

Short Story Title: "Freak the Geek"

Author: John Green

Summary: Kayley and Lauren, BAOFs (Best And Only Friend), attend Hoover Preparatory School for Girls where traditions ring true.  Unfortunately, they find themselves on the wrong end of the tradition "Freak the Geek" where two juniors are chosen to be Freaked.  This year, it is Kayley and Lauren. 

What Jen Thinks: It sucks to be a lone geek among others who seem to think they are cool but it's not so bad to be a geek when you have someone else to be a geek with you. It makes me think of Nerdy Book Club, actually. I like that this short story is about friendship, the kind of friendship where you can get mad at each other, talk it out, and then get back to being BAOFs. John Green also points out some many of the backward ways of following a tradition without knowing what it's all about and going along with the crowd.

What Kellee Thinks: When I found out that John Green's newest novel was from the point of view of a girl, I was a bit worried. Everything else that he's written (I believed...) is written from a male's point of view.  But after reading "Freak the Geek" I realize I am ridiculous for being worried- John Green can write from any point of view.  He is able to capture the voice of any character he wishes including a female's. Lauren is someone who everyone who has ever been picked on will connect with and the "lesson" this short story teaches is one that is so important to share with anyone who is feeling the same way as Lauren. 

Snatch of Text: 

"...I think doing things solely because they were done in the past is absolutely idiotic. I suppose it shows respect to our teachers when we stand every time they come into the room, but you know what would show more respect? If the insolent students who have colonized this awful place paid attention in class. Or took notes." (p. 274)

"Sometimes I like things the cool kids like. But I find it a little ridiculous to like ALL of the things that the cool kids like. I mean, dip? Really? All the tooth-staining power of coffee with the extra added bonus of mouth cancer? Thank you, but no." (p. 274)

"It's not your problem or my problem; it's their problem.  They're the demented ones, not us, so don't take it out on me, because the only thing that holds anything together for me is having someone else on the Not Demented Team." (p. 281)

Topics Covered: Bullies, Friendship, Traditions, Individuality

*   *   *

Anthology Title: 21 Proms

Editor: David Levithan

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Publication Date: March 2007

Genre/Format: Short Story Anthology/Novel

Short Story Title: "The Great American Morp"

Author: John Green

Summary: When Maggie breaks the news that her parents will be the photographers for the prom to her best friend, Carly decides it's a perfect opportunity to host a Morp - a backwards prom where they celebrate the best of prom without having to actually go to prom. 

What Jen Thinks: It might have made my day to read "The Great American Morp"! The single positive aspect of having gone to prom for me is that I can say I now have a ridiculous prom-night story to tell. This story makes not having a date to the prom seem preferable. I love the non-prom night Maggie gets in this story. Like in "Freak the Geek", John Green makes readers stop and think about tradition - in this case prom - and decide if it's worth it to go through all the hype and hoopla just to say you did it when doing things your way and rocking it out will always be infinitely more fun. 
Incidentally, I love the crazy Morp outfits guests show up in. They are exactly the kind of dress or tuxedo I would love to create and sport to a party with friends who've also created and are sporting such insane articles of clothing. A duct-tape-bumblebee Morp dress? I say no more.

Snatch of Text: 

"...Dad says, 'Are you sure you don't want to go? It's a night you never forget, prom.'

My mom looks askew at him and says, 'Didn't you get stood up by Suzie Spears?'

Dad smirks. 'And I never forgot it.' (p. 279-280)

"'No drinking,' says my dad, and I just laugh. I like the idea of drinking just fine, but in practice it never works for me. Beer tastes like carbonated pee, wine tastes like spoiled grapes and gives me a headache, and anything harder than that tastes like dragon breath.

'No house messing up,' my mom says.

'Don't worry,' I tell them. 'Nobody would ever come to my house looking for a crazy-fun party.'" (p. 280)

Topics Covered: Friendship, Traditions, Taking Risks, Being Yourself

  and

John Green- Defending Intellectual Freedom

At NCTE, the very first break out session I planned to go to see John Green and Jimmy Santiago Baca speak about defending intellectual freedom (aka censorship and challenges).  When the masses arrived and had filled the room, we found out that unfortunately Jimmy Santiago Baca could not make it.  Although I was really looking forward to hearing him speak, this did leave 70 minutes or so for John Green to speak. 

And it was awesome!

John began by talking about his writing and why he writes for teens- "The great thrill of writing teen novels is they're doing things for the 1st time and don't know how."  He says the problem comes in because "authors write the porn and educators have to justify it to their audiences" and the audiences aren't always so accepting.  But what we all do not realize is that the "chilling effect of challenging books is people would rather not go through the trouble.  But then the challengers win and we're excluding a class of literature very relevant to teens these days."  The world needs to see "literature as a blanket that covers the world and has comforted us since the beginning of time... Reading can be a way in to not feeling alone but it is also important to read about those not like us.  The better I can imagine being you, the more empathetic I am... Censorship is an argument against empathy."  He shared that if a book is challenged within your school, don't give up.  Contact the author, NCTE, others for help and fight it.  He gave us one key piece of advice, but asked us not to say he said it so I am staying mum; however, if you ever meet me, ask me what he said and I will share. 

 This session was also a big pep rally for teachers.  Here's some highlights: 

"Public schools exist for the benefit of social order.  An educated society benefits us all."

"We need to trust teachers and when we don't we do us all a great disservice."

"Part of the s#*tty thing of being a teacher is you are never thanked."

His biggest piece of luck was having teachers who didn't give up on him.

"Anticensorship = not giving up on beliefs and what is good for your students."

"A teacher's passion, attention is never wasted."

"If you can empower teachers to do their job, they'll generally do it well."

Leaving the session you couldn't help but feel empowered and 

I hope that everyone in the room felt the same way as me. 

 But then, to keep my John Green high going, I was able to 

meet him (briefly) at the ALAN cocktail party and he spoke again at ALAN. 

His session at ALAN was shorter and took on the topic of social networking and, of course, reading.  He shared how our students are living in the information society and "the information society is about fear- fear of being bored, alone". Really, most young adults do read, but they read online and "online reading/writing is skimming. It is like the cliffnotes version of consciousness. And it is all terrifyingly wonderfully distracting."  But that is why reading is so important. "Reading forces you to be quiet in a world that no longer makes a place for that."  He hopes that as a writer he can find "a seat at the table of the lives of his reader". 

John Green is one of those authors who I could listen to just ramble on because random acts of brilliance always accompany him. I was honored to see him speak twice and if you ever have the chance, you should try to see him as well. 

 

Introducing John Green Week January 3-10

Jen first heard about John Green Week on YA Bibliophile and after hearing about it, we knew we had to take part it in!  John Green Week is a feature that is being hosted by a ton of bloggers including Melanie of Reclusive Bibliophile to help celebrate John Green in anticipation of his newest book, The Fault in our Stars, which releases on January 10th. Jen and I are both so excited to take part in this week celebrating one of our favorite authors! 

To start off this joyous week of celebration and to set the mood, we will now show you 

the brilliance of John Green by sharing some of our favorite quotes 

from his novels and favorite videos from Vlogbrothers: 

“So I walked back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, 

thinking that if people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane.”

“At some point, you just pull off the Band-Aid, and it hurts, but then it's over and you're relieved.” 

“That is the fear: I have lost something imporatnt, and I cannot find it, and I need it. 

It is fear like if someone lost his glasses and went to the glasses sotre and 

they told him that the world had run out of glasses and he would just have to do without.” 

“Have you really read all those books in your room?” 
Alaska laughing- “Oh God no. I’ve maybe read a third of ‘em. But I’m going to 

read them all. I call it my Life’s Library. Every summer since I was little, 

I’ve gone to garage sales and bought all the books that looked interesting. 

So I always have something to read.” 

“When did we see each other face-to-face? Not until you saw into my cracks and I saw into yours. Before that, we were just looking at ideas of each other, like looking at your window shade but never seeing inside. But once the vessel cracks, the light can get in. The light can get out.” 

“I'm not saying that everything is survivable. Just that everything except the last thing is.” 

"Books are the ultimate Dumpees: put them down and they’ll wait for you forever; 

pay attention to them and they always love you back.”

“What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable?” 

“I responded to this development with the kind of sophisticated language for which I am famous. 

'Crap crap crap crap crap crap crap stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid crap.'"

“Once you think a thought, it is extremely difficult to unthink it.” 

“Maybe there's something you're afraid to say, or someone you're afraid to love, 

or somewhere you're afraid to go. It's gonna hurt. It's gonna hurt because it matters.” 

“When things break, it's not the actual breaking that prevents them from getting 

back together again. It's because a little piece gets lost - the two remaining ends 

couldn't fit together even if they wanted to. The whole shape has changed.” 

“You like someone who can't like you back because unrequited love 

can be survived in a way that once-requited love cannot. ”

Then behind all of these books, John is part of a very popular You Tube channel- The Vlogbrothers.  Some of my favorite Vlogbrother's videos (with John) include: 

Vlogbrother FAQ (a video that helped me jump into Nerdfightia when I learned about Vlogbrothers)

Top 10 Animal POWER Moves

How to Make Guys Like You

I Hate Pennies! (Reminds me of Death to Pennies)

Honey Badgers: The Crazy Truth (an addendum Randall's Honey Badger video *warning: explicit*)

The Five Worst Typos Ever

This week we have many different things schedule for you.  Today we shared some of our favorite quotes from John Green novels, just to get us in the mood.  Tomorrow, I will share my experiences at NCTE/ALAN where I saw John Green speak twice and was lucky enough to meet him.  This will be followed by book reviews of Let it Snow, Paper Towns, and Will Grayson, Will Grayson.  We will finish up the week by doing a mini-review of the first 2 chapters of TFioS to help everyone get excited.  

DFTBA!

and 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 1/2/12

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA! 

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now…who knows, you might discover that next “must read” book!

After doing the meme for a couple of weeks, we realized this would be a fun meme to start up with a kidlit focus - anyone reading and reviewing books in children's literature - it can be picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, you name it in the world of kidlit and it's in! We have loved being a part of this meme and we hope you do too!  We encourage everyone participating to go and visit the other kidlit book bloggers that link up and to comment on as many posts as you can. We love talking books and believe in sharing and discussing what we're reading. We hope you join us!

Last Week's Book Adventures:

Jen Says: I finally finished The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. I loved the audiobook version of it. The narrators were great. I finished Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins. It was another great book. I love the characters. Lola is so much fun. I also finished Eye of the Storm by Kate Messner. It was such an awesome adventure. I can't wait to review it and share it with students. I also listened to Jenni Holm's Turtle in Paradise. She refers to Annie the comic strip and I kept thinking of the movie as I was reading. Another book with lots of fun characters and a good story. I haven't started Stealing Magic yet but we did find the Thorne room that is on the cover when we were at the Art Institute of Chicago yesterday. And, believe it or not, I did start up Neversink again. I am deteremined to read it. It's on my have-to-read-this-week list. 

Kellee Says: I love vacation! It is such a great time to read books.  I love my job so much, but this time where I can sit and read a book in one sitting even if it takes until 2 in the morning is brilliant!  So, in this last week of winter break, I did as much reading as I could.  Right before writing this, I finished Sara Zarr's amazing book How to Save a Life.  I also read You Against Me by Jenny Downham, a star-crossed lover romance, All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky, a dust bowl adventure story with mobsters and Now is the Time for Running, a refugee story of a boy who loses everything all which I will review for you in January. On Friday night I also decided to sit down and read some e-galleys on Netgalley and I read Hades: Lord of the Dead by George O'Connor, one of my favorites by him so far, Beep and Bah by James Burks, a fun early reader graphic novel, Titanic: Disaster at Sea by Philip Wilkinson, a nonfiction book with everything you want to know about the Titanic, and Escaping Titanic: A Young Girl's True Story of Survival by Marybeth Lorbiecki, a picture book biography. Lastly, I read a friend's manuscript and really liked it. If (when!) it is published, I'll share it with you. 

Reviewed Last Week:

      

Just click on any picture above to go read the review

Upcoming Book Adventures: 

Jen Says: IT'S JOHN GREEN WEEK! I'm so excited about this. I have enjoyed John Green since I read Will Grayson, Will Grayson which he co-wrote with David Levithan. It is high on my list of great books. I am excited to listen to Paper Towns this week and the review will be up at the end of the week! I also checked out Geektastic and 21 Proms which are two short story anthologies that John Green contributed to. I'll be reading his stories and maybe a few of the others. I'm also rereading A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness with Colby Sharp from sharpread this month so I'll get started on that. 

Kellee Says: This week with school starting I am not sure all of what I am going to read.  I know I am going to read John Green's story from Geektastic and the chapter preview from The Fault in our Stars, but I am not sure what else I'll get to.  Everyone who is going back to school tomorrow- have a good week!  All of you that have one more week off- enjoy and read a bunch for me! 

This Week's Reviews:

Check back throughout the week to hear about these books. 


We will also have posts about John Green's presentations at NCTE/ALAN, our favorite quotes from his books, and our favorite Vlogbrother videos.

So, what are you reading this week? 

Please link up below and don't forget to check out other blogs to see what they are reading!

 and

Reading Along on I-94 - A Monster Calls - Part 1

After the epic fun and exhilarating excitement of NCTE in November, Colby Sharp from sharpread asked me if I wanted to join him on a book adventure. He proposed that each month we read a book together. One month he gets to pick the book for me to read and the next month I get to pick the book for him to read. Since we both live along I-94, but in totally different states, we're going to call this feature Reading Along on I-94. You are invited to read along with us and respond to our conversation in the comments section.

In December, we read Hound Dog True by Linda Urban. We discussed the book and recorded our conversations in a Google Doc (which, by the way, has helped me see the awesomeness of Google Docs in a whole new light).

If you want to read our December Hound Dog True read-alongs you can see our installments at Colby's blog: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

I totally forgot to send this pictures to Colby, but you can see them now. 

This was the excitement of me getting Hound Dog True:

Colby wouldn't tell me what book we were reading so I had to wait until it arrived in my mailbox.

Unfortunately, it wasn't as easy to keep a secret from him. First of all, he guessed the book I picked for January...and even though I didn't tell him he had guessed it, we both knew he had guessed it. And then he threatened to read it...and then someone sent him the book because they had an extra copy and he threatened to read it again...which is when I finally had to tell him in my most disgruntled-but-nice way that it was, in fact, the book I had picked from the beginning. 

So here we are and the book will be reading in January is:

A Monster Calls By Patrick Ness

Here's the discussion we have had so far before we've even read the first page of the book!! 

(My comments are in pink and Colby's are in black.)

Jen: When you wanted to start our book club, Monster Calls by Patrick Ness instantly came to mind. I was fairly sure you hadn’t read it yet and I know it’s a book that is going to take your breath away. Over the summer the ARC was passed along to a lot of our Twitter friends and everyone was amazed by it.

I’m eager to read this book again myself and to be able to think more about the writing than about going along with the story like I did when I read it the first time.

I have never cried as much or as hard as I did when reading this book. My husband tried to console me when he saw me blubbering as I read but I had to tell him it was a good cry. Sometimes we need those kind of cries: healthy cries that let us release feelings for others rather than ourselves. This book is the definition of catharsis.

This is also a book that had me freaked out when I started reading because I didn’t know if I was going to have the same experience with it that others had. Monster Calls makes you think, well, it really made me think. Sometimes I read a book that I have heard others rave about and I don’t feel the same way about the book - which I have learned is what sharing books is all about. It’s good that we all have different opinions about what we read. I am anxious to hear what you think though because I have only heard great things about this book.

Colby: I too, am worried about having the same experience as others. Sometimes I worry that I won’t like it as much as others, and sometimes I don’t want to like the hot book as much as others. It seems like all of my reading friends love this book, so I am super pumped to give it a read. It will be the first #nerdybookclub YA winner for me. Do you think it is YA or MG? I am a little scared of YA.

Jen: Don’t be scared of it being YA...honestly, as I read it I didn’t think of it as YA at all. I definitely would have said it was middle grade until I was looking for it at the book store and they led me over to the YA section. I was so surprised. I’ll have to reassess as I read to decide if it really is a YA book. It did win a YA Nerdy after all. From memory, the only reason why I would say it is YA is because of the intense content.

I remember when I first read Twilight that I was so excited about it. We have a consultant for our district who is from Arkansas and he is always talking books. At one workshop he said, you will want to read Twilight. He didn’t say much about it but I wrote it down because I write down every book that comes out of his mouth. I got the book on audio at the library and put the first disc in without even reading the back cover (I was a bad reader and did not preview the book that day...) and then after I was listening for a bit, I grabbed it because I was so confused. What was up with this Edward guy?

I told lots of book-loving friends about Twilight and their faces would become confused frowns when I said she falls in love with a vampire. Everyone thought I was crazy.

And then all of a sudden everyone was reading Twilight and then I wasn’t so crazy...but at the same time, I wasn’t so excited about Twilight any more. When the first Breaking Dawn movie came out I just shrugged at seeing it after having seen Twilight and New Moon at midnight (I think I went into the hospital to have Danny the night Eclipse started in theaters so that doesn’t really count...but I don’t think I would have gone to the midnight showing anyway). I’m sorry but I’m so over Twilight. It’s somehow not as cool now that everyone loves it. (Although, I still did enjoy the series and was a huge Edward fan before R Patz made his appearance.)

But I do think you will love this book. What I’m afraid of is that you will devour it in one sitting and we won’t have time to discuss it before you have finished it. Somehow you’ll have to pace yourself a bit...just enough to stop and at least write something or our read-along book-club won’t be all that exciting for people to read!

Colby: This is getting me excited! I will read it in installments. If you could take a quick look at the book and let me know where you think I should stop, that would be fantastic.  The only thing that I am worried about is not liking it as much as you want me to. Were you feeling that at all with Hound Dog True last month?

Okay, I will begin reading January 1. Let me know how much I should read before I stop.

Jen: I’ll look at the book and see if I can come up with some good spots to stop for you!

I was a bit worried with Hound Dog True but not at the same time. I can’t say it was my all-time favorite book, but it was definitely a great book and a superbly written book. I definitely appreciated it more having read it and talked about it. Knowing we were going to talk about it really made me think intentionally about the writing instead of just reading along for fun. The reason I wasn’t worried was because I trust your opinion about books. I know books you have loved and books you didn’t really care for and we’re usually on the same page. Although, it wouldn’t be interesting if we agreed on everything and I think we grow most from talking about books and what we like and don’t like so we can see how our perspectives differ. Case in point: I Want My Hat Back.

I can’t believe we’ve just written (well, it’s me mostly...) about just thinking about reading our January book. It’s so #nerdybookclub!

Colby: You do tend to write a lot more than me. I think it is a gender thing:)

Now it's time for the reading to begin. 

All I have to say at this point to Colby or anyone who is reading along with us is this:

Grab a box of tissues!!!!