Send Me a Sign

By Nora

Cancer, cancer, cancer. I just can't seem to get enough of it, what with this and The Fault in Our Stars. I had, actually read this before The Fault in Our Stars. Anyway, after hearing Tiffany Schmidt read a short passage from Send Me a Sign at the New York City Teen Author Festival, I knew I was hooked. I just needed to get it.

Send Me a Sign is beautiful. It is surprising. It is just...amazing. The main character, Mia, and her best friend, Gyver, grabbed my attention from the start. I'm not sure why, perhaps how close they are to each other. BUT THE END. I DIDN'T EVEN...WHAT??? HOW DID I NOT NOTICE THAT??? HDGAHSDKFJHASLDKFHLAKJSDF (Yes, Mom. That means I'm freaking out, not that my keyboard broke)

When Mia is diagnosed with leukemia, she decides to keep it a secret from her friends. I mean, I see why she tried to hide it, but if I were Mia (which I'm not. I'm really, really not. She's completely different from me), I would have told my friends first thing. Meh. But I still loved the book.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to reading more Tiffany Schmidt in the future. She has gotten my attention. I'll be waiting.

-Nora

Requiem

By Kristen

**HUGE SPOILERS FOR PANDEMONIUM AND, BASICALLY, THE FIRST TWO BOOKS**

MY STRIKE IS OVER!!!!!!!!!  I'm wondering how Nora's three posts were.  I should explain why I was striking sooo here it goes: Nora was "busy" like three weeks ago and did no posting when she was supposed to :P So I promised her that I would not post until she did the three she owed me.  And she did, eventually, x) so every thing's all good now.

Requiem

 

 

 

Ohmigod, Lena.  Honestly, I wish Lauren Oliver continued from where she left off in Pandemonium, but as I read, I decided against that.  BECAUSE IN PANDEMONIUM, AT THE END LENA FINDS OUT THAT ALEX IS NOT DEAD AT ALL.  And then she's all caught up with Julian (I mean, I don't hate him, but still.  Lena and Alex are so perfect together and I'm dying to see the show!  And that had NOTHING to do with Lena and Alex being the perfect couple.)

 

But then there's like so much tension between Lena and Alex and Alex and Julian and Oh My Goshness.  It so sad when Lena goes up and scare a bear away and Alex is all like "Oh, the Lena I know would be scared" and then he . Just.Walks.Away.From.Her.  And then there's Coral and something she says to Lena about Alex (Don't worry, it's not a bad thing!)  And then now, moving on so...

 

I read this book like a month before it came out (thanks to Nora getting the ARE, Advanced Reader's Edition, which is not fair to some people but her mom works for Random House).  I heard that they were changing the ending and I think Nora said the only thing they changed is Julian is shirtless or something like that...  BUT THE ENDING.  I WAS SO happy on page 248 (I'm pretty sure, and yes, I am aware that I remembered the page number) because I can't say so asdghjkawdgnkihl that's as close as it's going to get! #TEAMALEX

 

 

-Kristen

 

Eleanor & Park

By Nora

Eleanor & Park was amazing. Like, finish in three days, amazing. At first, I was kind of annoyed by Eleanor.

"I'm so fat and life is awful and blah blah blah"

But as the story moved along, I began to love her. The unfortunate situation with her family made me sympathize for her like crazy. And then there was Park. When I brought Eleanor & Park to
school, two of my K-Pop-obsessed friends wondered if there was any reference to J-Park (a K-Pop star that they love). I told them no, except that he was half Korean. Besides, the book is set in the 80's. Where am I going with this? Blah.

Anyway, the two really captured my heart and I couldn't put the book down. The perfect ratio of sadness and humor was quite astonishing and the music references were just splendid (Did I just say 'splendid'?).

Why do all stand-alone books have to have sad endings? I mean, come on! After reading The Fault in Our Stars (which was too depressing to even think about before bursting into tears), I was really hoping that this would be a happy, cheerful book. I guess I was wrong.

I may have mentioned (I think I did...maybe not...), an author at the NYC Teen Author Festival came up to me and told me she would mug me for my copy of Eleanor & Park. They had sold out. But now I see why. I'd probably do that, too. :)

-Nora

The Fault in Our Stars

by Nora

Well. I need to fully compose myself before writing this post or else I will cry. Again.


Honestly, going in I had no idea that The Fault in Our Stars was (I'm not going to call it a cancer book, because of something mentioned in the book itself) a book with a cancer component. Prior to reading The Fault in Our Stars, I read Send Me a Sign, another book with cancer (What? A book with cancer? No. A book about cancer. -.-) and I was just about done with cancer by then. And now I'm saying cancer way too much. I'm sorry. This book made me a mess.

John Green is evil. He is 100% evil, and I'm pretty sure that if you read this book, you would agree with me. Okay? Okay. ;) It was pretty funny, actually, because Hazel and Augustus (the two main characters) were brought together by a book, written by whom I consider their favorite author. I was actually reading this as I was about to meet one of my favorite authors, Lauren Oliver (what? I know! Post to come).

So, if you would like a good cry, read this book. If not, read it anyway. It is extremely worth it. Just don't read it in public. You will cry. It is beautifully written and I'm so upset that it is not in a series. I am looking forward to reading more of John Green in the future.

-Nora

World Book Night 2013

By Kristen

Happy Belated Birthday Shakespeare!

As you might have noticed right up there ^^ you can tell that recently, Shakespeare's birthday passed :) And it was yesterday! Which may or may not have been a coincidence because yesterday was also World Book Night!

This is why there wasn't a post yesterday: tons of setting up, working on our groovy 1970s room, eating pizza, meeting authors, being interviewed about the books we had to read during a panel interview...

We had quite a few rooms and this year, there were many more people than last year which was very exciting.  So in our first grade wing we had Caldecott Award-Winning Authors "Book Talks."  Nora and I really only know about the rooms but not what goes on in them because we were at our 70s room yelling, "Hello people, come to our 70s room, where you can boogie and jive!" But I'll get to that in a bit :)

Then, in the second grade,  there was a Reader's Theater and poetry readings and displays on the bulletin boards.  I was able to get a peek in the room, I saw parents looking at the books displayed on the tables and children looking around, which was a good sign.Then, in the third grade, there were "Poetry Tellers" and book recommendations and poetry comic displays on the bulletin boards.  Which reminds me...in the hallway to the lower school, there were cute poems hanging on the wall and one in particular which I can't really recall, but I wish I did because it was funny!

The fourth grade had the "Poetry Jam Cafe" which I'm pretty sure they read poems out loud (and I don't know much about the other rooms, I was in ours the whole time!)  The fifth and sixth grade volunteers served as tour guides for the guests and they dressed up like the Olympians from Percy Jackson! And it related because one of the books was The Lightning Thief this year.




Us wearing our awesome sunglasses! (That make our faces look fat)



I'll skip the seventh and eighth grade for now and move onto grades 9-12...So for them, they had something to do with digital apps (the Digital Literacy elective) and Spanish Art Installations.  And here's the seventh-eighth grade now...*drum roll please*


          The 1970s Room!!!!!!!

Come to our groovy 70s room! Come and boogie and jive! Notice that random space there.....

This was the best room eva!  Here, we had mini quizzes to test people's knowledge of the 70s and also a small slip of paper: Middle School was the best/worst time of my life because___________.
I really think that the parents and kids enjoyed our room.  We had music, a word wall (that had terms and phrases used in the 70s, such as brickhouse *laughs silently...its an inside joke between me and my friends* which means a hot person, catch you on the flip side: see you later, cat: a cool person, boogie: dance and a ton more).  We had a wall of facts about the 70s also.  It was like our "Phantom Tollbooth time machine, back to middle school!"



Aj Paquette and David Kelly

And then there was the panel interview.  Look at how HUGE that crowd is.  I mean, who wouldn't be nervous about talking in front of that many people?  So basically, we went thought the whole panel (there was a lot of us too) and said our names, grades, the book we read, and the author of the book.  Mine was Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith and Nora read The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster.

We didn't have to answer every questions asked, but at least one.  Oh yeah, did I mention, we were interviewed about our books by Aj Paquette and David Kelly? Like whoa right there.  Two authors came to our school!

It was AMAZING.  The two authors both talked about how reading shaped their lives and a little bit about what they wrote about in a book they have written.  It couldn't have been any better.


And I've still got stuff to go on about! We had Lucy the R.E.A.D. Dog here.  I got to see her but I didn't get to pet her (haha) because there was a whole bunch of kids gathered around her!  I thought it was a cute thing to have for the younger kids :)

Wow, I've written so much.  I think I'll end it here, and one last thing, if you came to the FRCS World Book Night, thank you for coming!

-Kristen



Nora said the writing on her arm's a Doctor Who thing...Jonathan's just randomly there.....

I was up so late doing my homework....

There were so many free books...most of them were gone by the end...

They also had a raffle! And they were giving away a Kindle! And he  got, sorry I should say won, a book signed by Aj Paquette...Paradox...Jonathan better let me read it...

Volunteers in the event couldn't enter to win.....humph...



My (Extremely Simple) Writing Process

By Nora

Writing is fun. It lets you escape into your own world, with your own characters, and your own fictional problems. It lets you use your imagination and discover what kind of intricate little images your brain can create. In my case, these images are usually morbid and about death or destruction (my friend suggested checking into a mental institution). But, nowadays, it seems like that's common. Though I am, sadly, not a published author (yet), I am here to introduce you to my writing process.

1. I don't map anything out. Call me crazy, but I feel that planning the whole story out at once is useless to me. Though it may work for some people, I just find that it does not work for me. I usually discover my best ideas while I'm writing.
2. Sometimes I start with a small scrap of a piece. When I'm bored and don't really have any ideas, I'll just write a beginning, or I'll come up with an amazing character or setting or plot, that I just start with what I have. For example, the piece I'm writing right now started from just a simple plot idea (a story about a person who can communicate with the dead).
3. Find a place to sit, relax, and write. Sometimes get a glass of water or sugary drink, like lemonade, to refresh you as you write. If I can't find a quiet place away from my family or friends, I'll plug in headphones and listen to an instrumental music track or create a playlist that fits the mood of the piece I'm writing.

So that's pretty much it. I enjoy posting my writing on figment.com so other people can critique and read my work. I enter contests and communicate with fellow teen writers on there, as well. I highly suggest checking it out.

***

Also, this Thursday, April 18, is Operation Teen Book Drop 2013. Hide a book somewhere in your town or library! For more details, click here.

-Nora

UnEnchanted

By Kristen

I honestly thought that this was a really cute book and I loved it a lot! I like the idea a lot and how it has to do with fairy tales (because when I was younger, I loved fairy tales and I still do which might be a bit sad) and the grim reaper (is that supposed to be capitalized or not? *Unsure*)

I need inspiration to finish this post.  My dad bought it for me on my tablet and the second book too, Fairest and I sure hope there's a third because I want to know what happens with Mina and if she and Brody ever get back together because in the first book, like, they were together under a fairy tale and in the end their relationship just stops but Brody still has some sort of memory of her but not really if that made any sense...Sorry for spoiling that part ^.^ and then there's Jared and there's a whole other story behind him.....................................................He's the one that tells her about her ancestry about the whole fairy tales chasing the Grime (Really Grim) family (and I'm pretty sure that's the name)

Her mother tried protecting her from the fairy tales and there's something having to do wiht a mirror (but I can't remember if that was in UnEnchanted or Fairest. Sooooo I think I'll stop there.  I really think that you should read this and I know you'll love it!

-Kristen