Mrs Payan Reads

     I just finished reading City of Glass by Cassandra Clare.  I have to say that I am quite impressed with the three books in this series.  I love the idea of the world in which all of these creatures exist.  I also am always impressed when as a reader I have absolutely no clue in the middle of the book how things will possibly work out for the characters in the book.  Throughout this series there is a tension between the main characters that is both intense and realistic.  There are so many twists in the plot lines but each time it seems that the story must have been meant to go that way.  I love that this third book in the trilogy so neatly wraps up the story but does so in an unexpected way which at the same time made me say…”I knew it.”  Anybody who is enjoying all the great fantasy series out there will enjoy this fast-paced series of books. 

    Along these same lines, I saw that Clare has started a new series.  Reading Clockwork Angel was similar to reading City of Bones.  There are a lot of parallels in the stories and it will be interesting to see where the plot line goes in the other books.  I, for one, was glad to see that this talented author is writing more about the fascinating world of the Shadowhunters.  The fact that the new series is set in nineteenth century England was also quite intriguing.  

     It took almost a year before I picked up the book Burned from the House of Night series.  I was so angry with how the last book ended that I didn’t know if I wanted to continue reading the series.   I was curious about how the books would continue after what seemed like a definitive ending in the last book.  I am glad that I decided to continue reading the series.  This book was less about the difficult decisions that Zoey had to make and more about her friends and what they decided to do.  I enjoyed the plot line of this book and the hopefulness that was present in it. 

     Another book I have read during the few short weeks of vacation so far is Secrets, Lies, and Algebra by Wendy Lichtman.  This is a fun, easy read with a bit of a mystery.  The narrator is a teenager who thinks about life in mathematical terms.  It starts with Tess finding out that her mother thinks that her friend may be a murderer.  She is not sure what to do about this but is pretty sure that her mom should be reporting her suspicions to the police.  What follows is a wacky mystery with all the middle school angst that you might expect from a young adult book. 

      The book Witch and Wizard by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet is a fast-paced adventure book as Patterson’s books tend to be.  The premise in this book is the take over in the world of a new radical political party who are trying to rid the world of any possible threats.  Unfortunately that means that they are arresting children who might pose a threat to their power in the future.  The two protagonists in the book are a brother and sister who were never told that they had magical powers but discover throughout the action that they really are a witch and a wizard.  This book has a lot of great fantasy elements but also reads like a lot of the futuristic novels with a warning in them about the state of the world.  I am looking for ward to reading the next book and seeing what happens with the characters and the New Order.

     I also recently read The Princess Bride.  I absolutely love the movie and I wanted to see if the book was as good.  I did not realize that the book is actually an abridged version of the original story written by William Goldman who also wrote the screenplay for the movie.  It was fun to read the story, but there was nothing new in it because the main action was exactly like the action in the movie.

   Rick Riordan writes a spectacular adventure in the Percy Jackson series.  I had a hard time putting down each of the installments in the series and couldn’t wait to read the fifth book The Last Olympian.  The development of the relationships among the characters and the twists and turns really made a fantasy story very realistic.  I was as eager to find out what would happen between Annabeth and Percy as I was to find out how they would save the world from the Titans.
      In The Lost Hero Riordan continues to write a fun-filled adventure story.  This book starts a series that includes a different prophecy that is in the hands of other demi-god children.  There are cameo appearances by some of the favorite characters from the Percy Jackson series and a hint that Percy himself might show up in further adventures.  I am very excited to see what else happens to this set of characters.
      The Red Pyramid was also a great read.  I was intrigued by the egyptian myths and gods.  Just as in the Percy Jackson series, I learned quite a bit about mythology.  I also really liked the author’s style of shifting the narration back and forth from Sadie to Carter.  The different styles they had of telling the story added humor and intrigue to the book.
  

    I am quite embarrassed by how long it has taken me to get back to this blog. I will have a hard time remembering all the books that I have read since the last post.  First I think I will make a list of the books I have read and then I will begin to review them.  I have read most of the rest of the books in the House of Night series, Fahrenheit 451, City of Bones and City of Ashes, The Lost Hero, The Red Pyramid, The Kitchen Boy, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and a few Holocaust historical fiction books.

    I will start with the House of Night series.  I still enjoy the quick and entertaining reading that those books provide.  I will say that the characters are interesting and it is my curiosity about what will happen to Zoey that keeps me going back to the books.  However, I find the story getting more and more unbelievable and crazy.  In the third book Zoey makes some decisions that I found to be really unrealistic and the rest of the books have continued that plot line.  I would still recommend the series but maybe not as highly as I might have before.

    Part of my mission as a teacher and a reader is to be familiar with classic books as well.  I am a little ashamed to say that until this fall I had not read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.  It is a science fiction book that takes place in a world where reading and books are prohibited.  The firemen in this world are called out to start fires in homes where books have been spotted.  The protagonist of this book is a fireman who starts to have doubts about his life and the fire starting that he does.  I found myself wondering throughout the book what a world like that would be like.  I think that is the magic of science fiction…it brings you into a new place and makes you think about what the world could be.  I wasn’t as thrilled with the book as I thought I might be.  It is worth the read and it is good to know that I have read another classic, but I don’t think I was missing much before.

     The new Mortal Instruments series is a thrilling adventure/fantasy series.  The first book City of Bones had me intrigued from the start because the protagonist, Clary, has no idea what is going on.  She starts to see things that no one else can see and her mother starts acting really weird all at once.  Throughout the story she starts to discover a whole world of other creatures and secrets that her mother has been keeping.  Besides all the fantasy and intrigue there is a love triangle that develops and makes for some great reading.  City of Ashes continues the adventure and is as fun to read as the first book.

Hello!  I have been super busy with the beginning of a new school year so I haven’t posted in awhile.  That does not mean that I have taken a break from reading though!

     First up today is the book Looking for Alaska by John Green.  In this book the protagonist is a high school boy who decides to ask his parents to send him to the boarding school his father went to.  He doesn’t really have any friends at his school in Florida and is looking for a new beginning somewhere.  At the new boarding school he becomes friends with a rather motley group of students who enjoy pulling pranks.  One of the group is a girl named Alaska who is gorgeous and elusive and quirky.  There is a sense of suspense throughout the novel because each section has a heading counting down to some event.  This is a novel that contains some mature references but is one I would recommend to many teens.  I was drawn to it first because it is a novel that won the Printz award for young adult books.  Every book that I have read that has had that distinction has been an excellent book.

    The next two books were both written by Sharon Draper.  The first book, Copper Sun, was recommended to me by a fellow teacher.  The book starts out describing a very nice domestic scene in a village in Africa and very quickly turns into a tragedy when the white slave traders come to the village and kill everyone that they do not find to be suitable to bring with them for slavery.  The narration is through the voice of a young woman who then tells of her journey on a slave ship, being bought at auction, and living as a slave on the plantation where she ends up.  Throughout the second part of the book the narration skips back and forth between Amari, the slave, and Polly, a white indentured servant. I learned a few things that I did not know about the history of the United States and a free village that existed in Spanish Florida.  I would highly recommend this book.

    The second book by Sharon Draper that I read recently was Tears of a Tiger.  The book starts with a tragic accident in which a star basketball player dies.  The book explores the level of grief that the other students go through and the struggles of the student who was driving the car with survivor’s guilt.  It is a fascinating and sad book.  I really appreciated the way the author used many different formats to narrate the book.  The narration was a collection of letters, newspaper articles, glimpses into students’ thoughts, etc.  I know that this book is the first in a trilogy and I will definitely be seeking out the other two books. Be ready to read a tragic story when you sit down to read this one.

   The last book that I want to talk about is the book Marked by P.C. Cast and Kristen Cast.  This is the first book in the House of Night series.  I have to say that I was somewhat reluctant to read this one because I am a little sick of the vampire craze lately.  (Not that I haven’t also been a part of the craze)  I was pleasantly surprised by this book.  The authors created a whole new idea of what the vampire myth could be and it is very intriguing.  I really enjoyed getting to know the main character and learning about her adventures.  This book is reminiscent of Harry Potter and worth the read.

Hello All!

I have enjoyed reading the many great adventure series out there for a while now. It is such fun to imagine a world in which monsters, secrets, wizards, etc. exist. The best thing about this kind of series is the fact that it usually starts with a kid who has absolutely no clue that these kinds of things exist or that he/she is involved.

I decided to start this blog to write about all the amazing teen books I am reading. I wish I had all the time in the world to do book talks in the classroom, but it is so hard to be able to talk about ALL of the great books out there. I will continue to bring up the awesome reads in class but I also want to give people a place to come to hear all about the books that I am reading.