It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 4-21-14

Thanks to our dynamic hosts: Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kelle at Unleashing Readers.

Head to either blog to find reviews as well as dozens of links to other blogs filled with reviews!

Hello Vacation!  If you're enjoying a week off I wish you a wonderful, energizing and also restful break from your regular schedule.

Books I Read this Week:

The Quantum League: Spell Robbers by Matthew J. Kirby

Scholastic Press, 2014

Science Fiction

263 pages

Recommended for grades 4-6

Right off I was reminded of 2013's The Ability, a story where kids are honing in on a mental power within themselves.  This time the kids are called actuators, and are able to manipulate molecules into weather phenomena or various other physical changes and manifestations.  And, like in The Ability, our main male character has to leave his single mother behind in order to pursue his training.  This time things are not as on the up and up though, creating a main character that feels no loyalty to his new trainers.

Filled with double crossing, and double agents, young readers will never know what is coming next!  

The book ends with a total cliff hanger, so be on the lookout for book 2.

The only thing I found odd was that the book is set to a backdrop of reality, but departs so completely midway through the book, in a way that drastically separates the two parts of the story. 

Zombie Baseball Beatdown by Paolo Bacigalupi

Little Brown Books, 2013

Sci-fi/Thriller

304 pages

Recommended for grades 4-8

Audio read by Sunil Malhotra

Zombie Baseball Beatdown is on the 2014-2015 Maine Student Book Award reading list, though it was one I hadn't read prior to our final voting meeting.  Why didn't I read it...well, there were so many titles on our "short" list, and this one just didn't strike me as being a contender.  Yes, I based a lot of judgement on the cover and subject matter!

And after listening to the first few minutes of the book I thought I had been right.  Main character Rabi uses the word "suck" at least half a dozen times, which really turned me off of the story immediately.  But of course I kept listening, and thank goodness.  Not too far into the story Rabi's mother scolds him for using the word "suck."  Ok, we got that ironed out.  The rest of the story is one awesome journey through relationships, racial issues, the topic of illegal immigration, and of course, zombies!!

The writing is great, and Sunil Malhotra does a phenomenal job bringing the book to life in its audio version.

I'm Currently Reading:

On Deck:

I'm excited to be hosting a stop in The Dyerville Tales blog tour!  Be on the look out for a chance to win a signed copy of the book!  On May 6th stop by for a guest post written by M. P. Kozlowsky!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful week :)