Eye of the Storm

This book by author Kate Messner is a future meteorologist's dream. Jaden lives in a world where giant storms are an everyday occurrence and her dad is at the forefront of the latest meteorology technology to study these storms. Or a least everyone is made to believe that it is what Jaden's father does. He has even created an entire community safe from the monster tornadoes that are destroying farmland all over Oklahoma. Jaden is spending the summer with her father and his new family while she studies meteorology in his "Eye On Tomorrow" school for young meteorology students. They are said to take the best and the brightest to study storms to hopefully someday find a way to stop these out of control storm systems. Jaden soon realizes not all is what it seems in this quiet StormSafe community when she meet Alex a local farm boy who is also going to the school. Alex lives on a nearby farm outside of the community and his main goal is to find a way to stop these storms that keep destroying parts of his farm.  He gets Jaden on board with the project and the science/detective works begins. The more research Jaden and Alex do the more they realize that there is something very strange about these large storms and that they might not be normal natural disasters.

This is a wonderful book for Tweens and Teens especially those who love science. Kate Messner clearly spent time with a meteorologist in order to use correct language and storm science in the book. It also leads to a lot of great questions that could be explored in a science class. There is a nice mystery element to keep the reader guessing what is really going on in this community which helps keep the interest of less science orientated teens. The bit of teen romance, in a sweet and innocent way, adds interest to the characters and also helps to attract a broader audience. This book is worth reading and if nothing else will be a creative and original take on a teen literature.

Cinder

Cinder is Marissa Meyer's first book and I think she did a wonderful job for a first time author. This book is a twist on the Cinderella story we all are used to, for starter is is set in New Beijing. As I have stated in other post I love books that tell old fairytales in a new and exciting way. This is no exception, Cinder is a cyborg living with her evil step mother and two step sisters. One of the step sisters she actually gets along with which is a nice twist to the old tale and adds interest to the story. In this story Cinder makes her living as a mechanic fixing mainly robots, and is know for being the best. This is also how Cinder initially meets Prince Kai.  He comes by her booth to have his personal robot fixed. This leads to a very whirlwind and complicated romance, considering Cinder is a cyborg, and she somehow forgets to mention this detail to the prince. There is also added drama in this book from the plague that seems to be spreading across the country at a rapid rate. They are racing to find a cure, when the lunar queen "evil moon queen" comes into the story offering an antidote with a hefty price. This is book one in the series and it is a good kick off. I really enjoyed the book and am looking forward to Scarlet the next book in the series set to release in 2013. I think teens would really enjoy this book as well as adults and it has a nice science fiction element without getting to hard core with it.

Weird Oklahoma

I have been a little busy this week, so I thought I would blog about a fun coffee table book. They have "Weird" books for many of our 50 states, and a few Weird U.S. books. I have flipped through a few of the different state books and find them fun. These are books that are great for something you can just flip through, and pick and choose what you want to read. Sure, you can read them front to back too. They are full of fun facts about each state and not the kind of stuff you find in your normal history book. Weird Oklahoma has lots of great pictures and fun tales, some fact and some fiction. Being a book about Oklahoma, it also has some interesting Native American legends. This is a great book if you're looking for a different kind of travel guide. It also is great for its many legends and ghost stories. My nine year old especially likes the scary ghost stories (he has hit that age where he likes to scare himself). I enjoy reading it for the history and learning about the off the main road attractions. I think there is a little something for everyone in this book, there is even UFO stories and a section called Bizarre Beasts. There are some gruesome murder stories in this book though, since that would also be a part of any state's history, so for younger children it would be a parent monitored book. Parents might want to look through the more child friendly sections like Personalized Properties or Roadside Oddities. This is a book that would be fun to pick out a few strange facts to cover or teach about Oklahoma, so it is like a textbook for weird and strange facts. I think it is worth a look, and for adults as a coffee table book it could bring up some interesting conversations.

Grumpy Cat

I bought this book a few years ago on a bit of a whim since I love cats. It was one of those days I was at the book store pulling things that looked interesting and new. After I brought it home, I sat down to actually read it and was pleased I had picked it up.

Grumpy Cat is a book about a cat that everyone thinks is grumpy, but he is really just lonely. The other cats never even try to play with Grumpy Cat because he looks too grumpy. This all changes one day when Grumpy Cat gets stuck out in the pouring rain. He is soaked and soon looks down and sees a little kitten has taken refuge between Grumpy Cats paws. When the rain stops, Grumpy Cat tries to walk away from Kitten, but Kitten thinks she has found a friend and follows Grumpy Cat. Grumpy Cat tries to lose Kitten in many different ways, but Kitten just keeps following and trying to play. Finally Grumpy Cat climbs up a tree, and while Kitten is trying to reach him she starts to fall. Quickly, Grumpy Cat catches her and makes sure she is safe. Then, he even goes and gets a fish for them to share. Grumpy Cat and Kitten from then on become best friends.

This book is obviously for very young children. I have found this book especially good for Pre-K and Kindergarten students at the beginning of the school year. We talk about getting to know someone before deciding what you think about them. Many young students are shy their first year of school, and some just haven't learned how to make friends. This book leads to a good discussion on how to help children learn to make friends. Students also enjoy the large pictures and fall in love with Grumpy Cat.

Kiteman

Now this book is a blast from the past. I actually encountered it via my husband's book self, and he acquired it from eBay, saying it was his favorite back in 5th grade. This book can still be found new and cheap on Amazon. It was written in 1985 by author Alfred Reynolds, who has only published two books. He is currently a flight instructor at an airport in Maine. This is definitely what I would consider a renegade read. I'll review this one to remind everyone that just because a book may be old enough to be sitting in a library book sale, does not mean it isn't a great read. You never know what kind of treasures you can find if you give them a chance.

This book I did find to be a treasure. It is a little strange, being a science fiction book. This is not normally my genre, but I thought I would give it a try because my husband loved it so much. I must say he was right to love it, especially as a 5th grader. This book has flight from hang gliders, pterodactyl like creatures and large lizards that the government uses to control citizens. I mean, who wouldn't love that? Yes I know it sounds quite strange, and it is, but the writing is good and you are quickly submersed into this strange world.  The main character is named Karl, and in the beginning of the book he is preparing for his right of passage into manhood. In his village, Karanga, they are all kite flyers (hang gliders), and they use the kites to hunt the terry (pterodactyls). They also have vast mountains that they fly through. As Karl's right of passage, he must kill a terry. This makes him so nervous, that he not only fails to kill the terry because the spear he was using cracked, but he ran leaving his hunting partner Bron. The terry then killed Bron. The punishment for this was exile across the desert, or death. The desert was thought to be uncrossable, but in being a coward Karl decides to risk the desert and use his kite to fly as far as he can. This is where the book really picks up. Karl not only survives crossing the desert, he finds his courage and strength there. After crossing the desert, he finds the town Rika lives in, or rather Rika finds him. She raises sheep with her family. There it is a poor community highly controlled by a ruthless government that uses lizard creatures controlled by olive groves. The smell of the olives calms the lizards and makes them easy to manipulate. Karl seems to fall for Rita and teaches her to fly like him. They do not have the kites in Eftan like Karl had in Karanga. The longer Karl stays, he soon realizes he must rescue the citizens from the government and their lizards. So he ends up flying back to his home in Karanga and recruiting the citizens to fly back to Eftan with him. They use their kites to burn the olive fields so that the Lizards can no longer be controlled. The reason it is so much easier with the kites is because they can just fly over the lizards that protect the fields. Throughout this story Karl has to overcome his past failure and find his strength in order to save the people of Eftan.

This is a great story of overcoming ones fears and finding strength when you feel you have none. I found it a surprisingly good read, to the point I was surprised this author did not have other books such as this picked up. My husband did recently write him to sign his book, and he was kind enough to sign it and to share that he has been working with Disney to try and possibly make a movie from this book. I think it would actually make a pretty interesting and unique movie just like it did a book. I think that is what I liked so much about this book, in some ways it at least was a story that had not been done before. So many books these days are just a different version of something already out there, and movies have gotten even worse about being repetitive or remakes. I think if you are looking for something different, this book would definitely be worth the few dollars you spend on it and then some.

The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig

This book is one of my all-time favorites. While this one might not be as renegade (I really hope some of you have heard of it), it is a little older, about 1997, but is still a wonderful read for young children. The author Eugene Trivizas puts a wonderful twist on an old classic in this book. Rather than 3 pigs and a big bad wolf, we find ourselves with 3 very smart little wolves and one very, very big and bad pig.

This book starts out as expected, with the mother telling the three soft fluffy wolves that it is time for them to go and build a house of their own. From there the story becomes a little different. The wolves listen to their mother and build a lovely brick house, but they don't call the pig big and bad for nothing. The pig does do the huffing and puffing, but as soon as this doesn't work he knocks down the wolves' house with a sledgehammer, which makes the little wolves very frightened. The story goes on with the wolves making stronger and stronger houses. They try concrete, but the big bad pig destroys it with a pneumatic drill. They try barbed wire, armor plates and heavy metal padlocks, but the big bad pig uses dynamite and blows up the house. Finally the wolves, who are now very frightened with trembling chins and scorched tails, decide to try a different approach to building all together, and make their house out of lots of beautiful flowers. This seems like a crazy idea but it actually works. The smell of the flowers makes the big bad pig clam and happy. In the end, the big bad pig realizes he has been terrible, and ends up living happily together with the wolves in their house of flowers.

In some ways this book has good moral values, because it shows that with a little kindness the pig could learn to be kind too. I love reading this book to children. They all seem to enjoy it. They like how different the building materials are, and seem to find it so interesting when the flower house works in the end. They also love the tables being turned, and the wolves being the nice ones and the pig being the bad one. I find this story just fun to read. I love books that have an original take on classic fairy tales. Fairy tales are nice, but we all hear them so much it is great when someone puts a twist on them to make them more interesting again. I would recommend this book really to anyone. I think everyone would enjoy this fun take on a classic. It is popular enough amongst my students that this is one of the books I have to replace often because it just gets loved to death. I find that is always a tell tell sign of a good read.

New Maggie Brooklyn Mystery Series for Tweens

 

This is a new tween book series by Leslie Margolis. "Girl's Best Friend" is the first in the series released October 2011, and a second book "Vanishing Act" was released January 2012. In reading a "Girl's Best Friend", I believe this is a nice step up from Junie B. Jones for slightly older girls who have grown out of the Junie B. stage, but still like to see a girl main character that has fun and crazy adventures. 

In "Girl's Best Friend", Maggie Brooklyn Sinclair accidentally starts her own dog walking business, but not all is how it should be with the neighborhood dogs.  Maggie soon has to become somewhat of a detective in order to find her ex-best friends dog that has been dog napped. The dog napper is holding it for ransom, and the local police just aren't taking her friend seriously. The first part of the book mainly develops the characters since it is the first in the series, but since it is not a slow read it keeps you interested from the beginning. The author introduces all the characters in a fun and entertaining way. We also soon find out that Maggie has a twin brother which adds interest to the story. Maggie's friends, neighbors and family all are colorful and interesting, which also helps to keep the reader drawn to the story. 

There are references to Nancy Drew in this book. Maggie even reads some Nancy Drew books in hopes it will help her solve the missing dog mystery. Maggie seems to like the books but finds they don't relate to her real world situation. I think that was a good comparison by the author. This book series seems truly meant to be a modern day realistic Nancy Drew type book series. I found it to be an easy reading format that keeps a readers' interest from the beginning to end, and also draws you into wanting to read the next book in the series.  This book was cute and even had a mystery within a mystery. She gave just enough clues to help the reader solve the case along with Maggie while trying not to be obvious. This book was a fun read and would be great for tween girls.

Woolbur

"Woolbur" is a wonderful picture book I just happened to order about a year ago from Scholastic. What immediately attracted me to this book was the cover art by Lee Harper. I thought to myself what nice art, but what a strange looking sheep. Then when I received the book about a week later, I was delighted by Leslie Helakoski's writing as well.

This is a book about Woolbur, a little sheep that is proud to be different. All the other sheep at school follow the flock and do what they are told, but Woolbur puts his own twist on every task. His parents are so worried and stressed about how different Woolbur thinks and acts, but Grandpa keeps telling them "Don't Worry". Woolbur is quite happy being different, always telling his parents "Isn't it great?" when he comes home with a new wild story. Woolbur tries everything from running with the dogs rather than standing still with the sheep, to putting his head in the loom to weave his own forelocks rather than the colored wool provided. His parents finally order him to stay with the flock and be like everyone else. This causes Woolbur to come up with a plan. He then teaches all the other sheep to be just like him.

 This is a great story about being yourself and accepting who you are regardless of what others may think of you. Woolbur shows children the importance of self confidence and being true to yourself. I also love Grandpa who seems to be proud of Woolbur just the way he is, and teaches Woolbur's parents acceptance too by the end of the story. The illustrations are also whimsical and funny throughout the story, adding to the stories charm. I would definitely recommend this book for young readers, especially those who have a little Woolbur in them :)

Why The Renegade Reader?

I hope to use this site to promote lesser known books that I have found to be awesome, but may not be main stream. Why did I decide to do this? Well it all started with Patrick Rothfuss and a staff meeting. It was the first of the year, and we had a new principal and a few new staff members. To introduce ourselves to the new members of our school, we were asked to tell a little about ourselves and what book we were reading. I was reading Patrick Rothfuss's "The Wise Man's Fear" at the time, so I sat and listened to my fellow staff mention books they had been reading. I soon noticed a trend, they were all reading either the same book or other very popular books that had recently been in the media. This is when I realized I was going to be the renegade reader amongst my peers. I decided to stand up and tell them what I was reading, thinking since it is a popular book amongst fantasy readers, someone will at least have heard of it. Sadly no one had, even with all the recent accolades and awards for the series.

This experience, rather then making me embarrassed, made me realize even teachers often -due to lack of time- tend to read whatever the media and promoters advertise. Not to say anything is wrong with reading what is popular; many of the popular books and series are very good reads. Even I am fond of The Hunger Games series, which is soon to be in theaters. I will even be one of those crazy people waiting at the midnight showing, but I also think there are many good authors out there, especially new up and comers, that should be recognized.

That is what this blog is about. I will introduce books ranging from young children's literature to adult literature in various genres, since my main goal is to introduce "everyone" to the idea of reading something different. I plan to reintroduce some older books that have gotten lost over the years, while also introducing some new books from up and coming authors or lesser know authors. These might just be the perfect book for you, if you are also willing the go against the crowd and become a renegade reader.