Thank you Cassie Clare! Not only for the awesomeness that is Clockwork Prince, but because we finally, finally have a new book in the top ten! Her latest in The Infernal Devices series debuts in the top spot this week. There's also a new middle-grade book on the paperback list--The Candymakers by Wendy Mass is... Continue Reading →
While I'm glad some books have such great staying power, it's been severeal weeks without any new entrants on the top 10 list. 😦 Nothing's changed on the paperback and series lists, either, though I'm positive that will change next week when Cassandra Clare's latest, Clockwork Prince, gets tabulated in. I predict it will put... Continue Reading →
Easily one of the most-anticipated YA books of the year, Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare will push an already popular series into the stratosphere of YA lit. It is everything a fan could possibly want: lush, exciting, surprising and heartbreaking. One of Clare's greatest talents is on full display in Clockwork Prince: her ability to... Continue Reading →
For the third week in a row, there are no new entrants to the top 10 list, though The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick has gotten a huge bump with the movie version, Hugo. It's pretty safe to say next week's list will be topped by Cassandra Clare when Clockwork Prince is released... Continue Reading →
Intrigued by the world of Tahereh Mafi's Shatter Me? Here are some ways to explore the themes further: Essays: Earlier this month we discussed George Orwell's 1984. Read it and compare it to Shatter Me. Pick one or two elements to compare and contrast. We also discussed a writing technique called stream-of-consciousness, which is used in... Continue Reading →
Wow, another mild week on the children's best-seller lists. Ally Condie's Matched is still doing well in its second week; Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why is back at no. 1 on the paperback list (possibly a bump from this week's release of The Future of Us); and James Dashner's The Maze Runner series is at... Continue Reading →
It was a pretty ho-hum week on the children's best sellers lists this week. Ally Condie is at no. 3 with Crossed, the sequel to Matched, and John Flanagan's The Outcasts is at no. 6. No major changes on the paperback or series lists, either. Perhaps things will get shaken up as the holiday shopping... Continue Reading →
Book burning, biblioclasm or libricide is the practice of destroying--usually with big hoopla--books or other written material and media. In modern times, phonograph records, video tapes and CDs have also been ceremoniously burned, torched or shredded. The practice, usually carried out in public, is generally motivated by moral, religious, or political objections to the material.... Continue Reading →
As we mentioned in our reviews of Tahereh Mafi's Shatter Me, the main character's style is a little different from what most readers may be used to: stream of consciousness. What is it? Glad you asked. It's a style of writing that portrays a character's point of view by giving the written equivalent of the character's thought processes, either in... Continue Reading →
As Sara mentioned in her review, there is a firestorm of hype surrounding the release of Tahereh Mafi's debut, Shatter Me. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but this reader feels most of the hype is deserved. The most "striking" thing readers will notice is the use of strike-through by our main character, Juliette, to edit... Continue Reading →
Novel Novice 