It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 7-15-13

Joining in the weekly fun, hosted by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers (by the way I might not have told Kellee that I think that blog name is awesome, so I am telling her now...)

This week was a home run reading week for me.  Maybe I shouldn't have finished two spectacular books in the same week...it's going to be a tough act to follow.  I LOVE when I find myself thinking about a story or the characters, and am truly just itching to get back to the book.  Let's be honest, with the volume of reading many of us do, this is not always the case.  

As promised yesterday, I will be giving away my preloved ARC of The School for Good and Evil, so be sure to enter at the end of this post!

So, here we go:

Books I Read This Week:

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

Harper, 2013

Fantasy

496 pages

Recommended for grades 4-8 

This hefty novel opens with a letter to readers from The School Master.  A favorite section: "...you must learn to respect each other, for no matter how different you may seem, you cannot exist without the other.  The line between princess and witch is a thin one indeed..."  What is good without evil?  Are there good people without any traces of evil within, and can we really distinguish an evil disguised as good?  And how hard or easy is it to switch from one side to the other?  It will be difficult not to ponder questions like these while stumbling through the paces of The School for Good and Evil alongside best friends Sophie and Agatha.  

Skinny, blonde, beautiful Sophie desperately wants to be taken by The School Master, while others are doing their best not to be torn from their families and homes.  

You see, Sophie has dreams of becoming a princess, and she has the picture perfect princess exterior already in her favor.  Knowing that two children are taken every four years, one good and one evil, Sophie has plans to secure the evil slot for her graveyard dwelling friend Agatha.

But when the girls are dropped at the schools, roles seem to be reversed.  Is it a mistake, or is it fate?  

Witty, clever writing leads readers into a world that feels as real and as wonderful as we could ever hope to be lost in.  

Fan art (by Esther @AnguilaGretchen) perfectly captures the two leading ladies...one seems to be more satisfied than the other with her new image...

This is a book for readers that love to be immersed in story.  It is high fantasy though, think Harry Potter (spells, magic, boarding schools, etc.), and isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea.  But whether you love or hate princesses, you will surely be represented within these pages!  Though the book ties up nicely in the end, there is certainly plenty of unexplored ground for following stories.

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein

Random House, 2013

Mystery

289 pages

Recommended for grades 4-7

A fast paced mystery is afoot while 12 twelve year olds compete in the ultimate game at their new public library.  Eccentric game maker, Mr. Lemoncello, has created a puzzle where the clever kid or kids to solve it win big.  The game: the kids are locked in the new library overnight with the task of figuring out how to get out of the library before time is up.  The catch: they can't go out the way they came in, and can't use any exit that will set off an alarm.  

Mr. Lemoncello has book titles woven into almost all his lines, which I got a huge kick out of-very cleverly done!   I loved solving this mystery alongside these authentic characters.

In the author's note at the conclusion of the book we find this little mindblower: "There is one more puzzle in the book that wasn't in the story.  (Although a clue about how to find it was!)"  He's killing me!  I want to reread this already!  Someday I will.  It would be fun for kids to keep track of all the book references that pop up throughout the story, I know I wish I had!  Go get this one, it's fun!

I'm Currently Reading:

On Deck:

Requested by the publisher, I won't be publishing a review for this one until September.  However, I'm super excited to read it now because I've got to prepare some questions for one of the creators.  I will have the opportunity to interview the one and only, amazing and talented...

Brett Helquist!  

Yahoo!  Why am I telling you this now?  Because I want to open the questions up to anyone!  If you've got something you think I should ask Brett just leave it in the comments section.  I've been a huge fan of his for...ever!

Thanks for stopping by!