3 1/2 stars - An especially good read for anyone dealing with the loss of a loved one

Hard Hit can be read in one day – the compelling story that’s told in verse flows easily on paper – but is hard-hitting emotionally.  Mark Warren is a sophomore in high school.  His life is all perfect:  new beautiful girlfriend, star of the baseball team, and a great family.  Everything crumbles around him, though, when he learns his dad has cancer.  Suddenly Mark finds himself dealing with fear, hatred, anger and grief.  Can his faith and God, the love of his family, and his faithful girlfriend pull him through?

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

 

 

Peak by Roland Smith

 

4 stars

 

Peak never thought about how much trouble he could get into when he began climbing skyscrapers and spray painting murals of mountains on the sides of buildings.  To him, they were works of art.  He also loved the thrill of the risky climb.  When Peak is caught and arrested, a copycat climber decides to mimic Peak’s stunts– only to fall to his death.  In order to avoid a long stint in a juvenile detention center, 14 year-old Peak agrees to live with his father – a man he barely knows.  Peak is led to believe that his father, Josh, wants a chance to establish a relationship with him.  He later finds out his father, the owner of a climbing expedition group that scales Mount Everest, has an agenda of his own.  Josh wants Peak to be the youngest climber ever to reach the summit of Everest.Will Peak risk his life in order to please his father?  Will he climb Mount Everest to prove his determination and skills to his family and to himself?  I am normally not a fan of outdoor “survival stories” but Peak had me hooked.  The thrill of the climb, the threat of death that lingers around every peak and valley, the friendship and competition between Peak and Sun-jo (another young climber) all make this an interesting read.  The ending is also a great surprise.  Recommended.

 

Friday, January 18, 2008

This month’s Book Club reading selection is Uglies by Scott Westerfield:

 

 

Please remember to post to at least 3 questions:

Pages 1-971.       Most people are unhappy with some aspect of their physical appearance.  In this novel, 16-year-olds are provided with an incredible opportunity – cosmetic surgery that will transform them to become physically perfect.  Tally has waited eagerly for this all of her life – goodbye plain face and wide nose.  Hello, America’s Next Top Model!  Plus she gets to finally be with her friend, Peris, who turned 16 months earlier.  Though the Pretties are physically perfect, we find out (mainly through Tally’s newfound friend Shay) that life as a Pretty may not be as wonderful as everyone thinks.  What are some disadvantages to becoming a Pretty?

 

Friday, January 18, 2008

 

 

 Penny hates her life.  While it seems that everyone else is enjoying their high school years, all Penny dreams of is an escape.  Why not leave forever and never look back – just as her mother did after Penny’s 4^th birthday?  She would never be as pretty as her sister Tara.  Or as popular as her friend Elaine.  In The Geography of Girlhood,  Penny chronicles her life in verse: including the death of  an ex-boyfriend,  the remarriage of her father, trouble with the law and the birth of new, exciting friendships.  Penny spares no details about how truly difficult her journey is to young adulthood– the pain, the happiness, the joy, the fear, the hate.  In the end, the reader realizes that Penny has triumphed after all just by accepting her life for what it is – and all the imperfections that includes. 

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

 

 

 

 If you enjoy fast-paced mysteries, Acceleration will have you hooked from the first page.  Seventeen-year-old Duncan hates his job.  He has to sort through lost and found articles at the Toronto Transit.  He works in a dark, grim basement with no one to keep him company except, Jacob – a seventy-something, cranky, quiet old man.  Soon Duncan finds he has more excitement than he can stand.  One of the lost items is actually a diary.  A diary kept by a madman and wannabe serial killer.  In the diary, the man describes three women he has been stalking.  He has plans to hunt them all.  Frantic, Duncan looks for clues in the diary for the man’s identity.  He even takes the diary to the police – but they don’t take him seriously.  Duncan realizes it is up to him to save these women before it’s too late.  Maybe, just maybe, by saving three lives, he can make up for the life he has lost.  The one person he could not save.  The girl who haunts his dreams every night.Acceleration is impossible to put down.  The story has many twists and turns as you learn more about the stalker through his diary – as well as Duncan’s not so innocent past and the guilt that haunts his every waking moment.  The title of this novel has more than one meaning.  The most important is that Duncan’s life is at a standstill.  Solving this mystery before any crimes take place is the only way Duncan will be able to move forward – to accelerate.  Not only is this book exciting, the reader will appreciate the humor in Duncan’s voice and the relationship he has with his two best friends.  Check it out!  You will be glad you did.  

Tuesday, January 15, 2008