The Game by Linsey Miller- for fans of Pretty Little Liars, One of Us is Lying, and Riverdale5/30/2020 This modern YA thriller will end up pretty popular. It reminded me a lot of other successful YA thrillers like Pretty Little Liars, One of Us is Lying, and #MurderTrending. The premise of a school/community wide game of Assassins going wrong and murderous was very intriguing. Linsey Miller does this idea justice. This story follows Lia who is obsessed with the Senior year game of Assassins- as she is a big gamer, and doesn't feel like she is particularly good at anything else. She is good but not great at anything except gaming- escape rooms, board games, etc. She has been preparing for this game for a whole year - listening and observing all of her classmates. It is one benefit of being relatively invisible, no one notices when you follow them/listen and take notes. This was a fun read and I would definitely read it again. The murderer was a bit expected as I had suspected the person for a large portion of the novel. I particularly love mystery and thriller novels, so this isn't completely unexpected. I still liked the novel and it left off on enough of a cliff hanger for Linsey Miller to write a sequel or series on the premise. I think I have plenty of students who would enjoy this book. In comparision to other YA novels in this genre it is measures up pretty well, but is not as complex of a mystery as some others that have come out. I look forward to see how my students react to The Game when it comes out August 2020!
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To start off, I am gonna say that I am definitely going to be purchasing this book for my library (probably multiple copies) because it is just so good. This book follows Danyal a guy who has always been seen as someone with nothing more to offer than his pretty face. Growing up Indian and from a Muslim family there are expectations that they have for their boys- incredibly smart, driven, and going to college. All of which Danyal does NOT identify as. He feels that he is always disappointing his father by not being the brightest and wanting to go to culinary school. This book is a love story from the boys perspective- think of the traditional geek girl meets jock scenario but you are instead in the jocks point of view. Add on top of that, he shows true vulnerability and emotions that are not often portrayed in male characters. I know for a fact that my diverse school (with a magnet academy population) would devour this book just as I did. This book has so many quotable lines, and great moral messages! I learned many things I would have never known about Winston Churchill and food. It was a quick and fun read- I look forward to seeing what this author has to follow up with this fabulous first novel! More than Just a Pretty Face by Syed M. Masood will be out in August of 2020!
Snap shot of somethings that we have been able to accomplish this year (even with craziness of COVID-19 shutting down the world):
This year has been a challenge- I am a first year librarian. This was nothing like what I expected my life to look like, but it has been so overwhelmingly positive. I have had a lot of positive feedback from my students, staff, and even parents with the events and programming I have been able to provide during this time. I never got to know and enjoy my school libraries until I was a teacher, and I am so happy that I have been able to make a safe space for my kids and community. Tomorrow I get to look forward to standing outside in the sun all day (in my most likely sunburnt skin) seeing kids and collecting books. I honestly cannot express how fortunate I have to find my home. When I am trying out a new book I look for a few things. Normally, the first requirement is YA because I work with teens and I want to know what they are reading and well- my reading taste has always been YA. I believe it is probably because I didn't really find good YA until I was in college. Another thing I look for is either romance, mystery, or a fundamental truth that we can all learn. Katherine Center's What You Wish For didn't meet my first criteria, which almost made me abandon it/read it last. But I am so glad I didn't. This story is filled with love, hope, and joy that we all need during this time in our lives. The main character Sam is a librarian at an elite elementary school in Texas. I, as a new librarian and fellow romantic, really connected with Sam. She has the grit and personality that I have come to associate with being a new age librarian. She also has a romantic and idealistic notion towards her life and her job that I love and aspire to. This is a wonderful feel good novel- that could easily be loved my teens as well. It was a pretty quick read and made me feel great while reading it. It may not have been my normal go to pick, but it might just push me to read more adult fiction. I am not going to lie and say that I am not 100% a Karen McManus fangirl- because I definitely am. Each book she publishes only get better. Just to put into context- I love stand alone novels. While I sometimes delve into a world of series, stand alone novels are my jam. With that said, The Cousins does not disappoint. McManus has a knack for creating a world that has plenty of twists and turns that a reader does not expect. My first experience with her work was Two Can Keep a Secret. The Cousins is similarly structured in that the secrets of the family and a generational downfall remains the center of the plot. The beginning of both of the books starts slow as they begin to build the background and let the reader invest in the characters. I would say that these two novels contrast her initial success with One of Us is Lying series- but are in no way less exciting. McManus artfully captures a King Lear like familial drama that has much more twists and turns than one would expect- spanning 3 deaths and 3 generations, several impersonations, and a few unexpected romances. I loved every minute of following Milly, Aubrey, and Jonah. I look forward to reading more of her books- she has a long future ahead of her in YA. My students will love this book as much as they have loved all of her books- already on my list for purchasing next year! The Cousins by Karen McManus will be out Dec. 2020! Keep a look out for it- you will not want to miss it! This book is Sonia Hartl's second YA book- and it does not seem like it. This book has all of the things that kids and adults love about YA: intrigue, dynamic family structure, love, and deceit. This book is a perfect summer romance: think Gilmore Girls meets Gossip Girl in modern day. The twists that are introduced by Hartl are unexpected and very believable.In an age of social media, it is not difficult to imagine how we would all react to a viral twitter feed that documents a strangers perspective on a meet cute and how they can manipulate reality. This story follows Macy as she lives through the most complicated week of her life, beginning on a high note of bringing her mom to a Royals baseball game and meeting a boy while there, to the lows of being publicly slut shamed for something she never did. This story shows both sides of viral stardom how it can help some people and damage others. While exploring such important issues of the digital age, the author also allows the readers to see what love really looks like in a person's true moment of need. Macy does not know how she will follow her dreams if this viral twitter feed follows her forever, and how messy life can get because of social media. This was truly a quick, fun book to read. I would suggest it to any of my students who wanted a little romance and a little reality to spice things up for a great read. I wish it came out over the summer for kids to enjoy! Not Your #Lovestory by Sonia Hartl comes out in September of 2020. I keep wondering what to actually say about COVID-19 because this time has been some of the most crazy, anxiety driven, and creative I have been since the beginning of this school year. I keep finding it hard to believe that this is only my first year as a librarian and my 6th year in education when all of this happened. The other day when I was on a video call with my administration during our weekly Instructional Leadership Team meeting, and my principal and I are both in our first years in our position and at our campus. We were reminiscing about how this year has felt like 5 years. The experiences I have been able to get this year by far surpassed what I ever expected. Then COVID-19 happened.
In some ways I feel that COVID has pushed our professions in a way to hep us all succeed and see how the future may look with more incorporation of technology. I have worked in many schools and districts that were advanced in technology, had one to one initiatives, and my current school district that is trying to get there, but has its own financial limitations. When all of this started, all of the other librarians and I were worried about our stability and what we could do to help support teachers and students during this time. Here are some of the things we have learned:
Honestly, I was just trying to stay afloat this year, but because of being a teacher and being flexible I have been able to thrive. Like who knew that I would have high schoolers that would log in to video conferences just to hear their librarian read aloud scary stories? I sure didn't think that would happen, but now it happens at last once a week. It has allowed me to get survey data for projects for next year, because I would have never gotten my students to stop to fill out a survey for me in person or during their free lunch time. I am having nearly the same amount of students interact with me online than I did when we were in the physical building. I have also been able to advocate more with my administration and my parents than I was ever able to do before. The support I have seen in the past few weeks has been so astounding! To all the librarians out there- KEEP IT UP! |
Kaitlyn R CarpenterWriter. Reader. Librarian. Blogger. Teacher. YA lover. Archives
September 2020
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