Book Collage - Day 14

Today's challenge is to put the books we have read into a collage.  I can see that there are tons of ways to accomplish this and I will have to play around with it more.  But, for this challenge, this is what I came up with:

I went through my year's reading and pulled most of the young adult and middle grade books that I have read.  It is not totally complete, but this number of books worked well with the collage format that I used.  

26th Page - 26th Line - Day 11

My reading challenge activity today (December 26th) is to look at the book I am reading and type the sentence that appears on line 26 of page 26.  Love it!

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

"...up.  Miss Walter gone tell this woman everything Miss Hilly been spreading..."

Favorite Christmas Book - Day 9

Today I am to pick a favorite book with a Christmas theme or setting.  I intended to read some Christmas books this year, but I am reading The Help and haven't gotten to Christmas books.  I absolutely do not remember any single title that I have read in the past.  They just seem fun while I am reading them and then they leave my memory, I guess.  So, I will have to go back to what I know...Children's books.

Old Standby: 
This one is an old favorite that I read every year to my class when I was teaching pre-k.  We always had a great time reading this one while eating our cookies on our Christmas party day.
 


My kids old favorite: 
This was my kid's favorite when they were young.  It is a short and simple story of baby Jesus told from the animals point of view.



New favorite of the library kids where I volunteer: 
I heard this one being read in the reading alcove and the librarian and student's were loving it.  I will have to check it out to read for myself, but it is obviously a Christmas book about the ever-popular bad kitty.



My new favorite find: 
Let me start by saying I have three boys.  I bought this for my little niece and didn't read it until I got home.  I am not such a fan of the old Llama Llama book, but these new ones have much more storyline to them.  This one is adorable as Llama Llama has to wwaaaiiittt for Christmas and go through all the Christmas preparations.  Too cute!

Hit or Miss - Day 8

Today's challenge:

Sometimes books can surprise us in a good way and sometimes they can surprise us in a bad way. A book you might have been waiting to come out for a year could be a total bomb once you finally get to read it and a book you drag your feet about reading can turn out to be the best book ever. Today let's explore those books. Create a blog post featuring a HIT and a MISS.

My HIT is definitely:



I was "afraid" to read this book.  I had heard so much about it as a "censored" book.  When I had to choose 3 censored books for Young Adult Literature class, this was one that I picked.  I absolutely loved this book.  I was so impressed by Laurie Halse Anderson's way of dealing with such a sensitive subject as rape.  The integral part of art class and the symbolism of creating a tree really touched me.  I thought this was a fantastic read!

My MISS is:



I thought this would be a good pick for a mystery.  I think it was on a previous Bluebonnet or Lone Star list.  I was wrong, I did not enjoy it at all!  I thought it was so unrealistic and so slow - such a disappointment.

Favorite Character of 2011 - Day 7

Today I am to decide on a favorite character from a book that I read this year (that's tough). Then use some pictures to create my post.

I think I would have to choose Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games.  Katniss is introduced to us in this first book of the trilogy.  I like how she is so strong in such horrible situations, yet she is still a girl, still a sister, still a daughter, still torn between two boys.  I know I will have to see the movie when it comes out, though it makes me sad that after the movie I will always picture Katniss as Jennifer Lawrence.  My rendition of Katniss in my head will be forever lost.

This was another book I had purchased right before I began my MLS work which I didn't have time to read.  When I took my Children's Lit. class, this was on the list.  I loved it and read the next two between summer sessions over the long 4th of July weekend. 

Book Title Synonyms - Day 6

Today I had to figure out ten book titles by the synonyms given.  Some came pretty easily, others were tough.  I used Amazon and Dictionary.com to give me some ideas.  Here is the list with (my guess) next to it.  I have the answers below the list in case you want to give it a try.

1. INTERSTATE TO HADES                                  (Highway to Hell)
2. THE UNENDING GRIN                                     (The Eternal Smile)
3. FEMALE ABDUCTED                                          (Girl Stolen)
4. CARDINAL MITTEN                                           (Red Glove)
5. FIBBER                                                                    (Liar)
6. THE UNENDING SMOOCH                              (The Eternal Kiss)
7. THE STERLING CUTLASS                               (The Silver Sword)
8. ASSASSIN ITALIAN FOOD                               (Killer Pizza)
9. MURKY EXISTENCE                                          (Dark Life)
10. SMALL MALE SIBLING                                   (Little Brother)


And the answers are:

Highway to Hell
The Eternal Smile
Girl, Stolen
Red Glove
Liar
The Eternal Kiss
The Silver Blade
Killer Pizza
Dark Life
Little Brother

And...

I won the Book Title Synonyms today!  Yippee!  I get to choose a book : )!

Create a Cover - Day 5

Today's challenge is fun!  I learned three new websites to use for this one; a fake name generator, a random word generator, and a new photo editing site free to use and then I could save the new picture to my computer.  For this one, I am going to copy the directions at the bottom of this post so that I will always have them : ). The bottom line is that I had to create a book cover with my new author name and a picture retrieved from Flicker.  Then, I had to write about my new book.  Here it is...sure to be a bestseller, I'm sure!

Amy has it all, or so it seems.  She is a cheerleader, an honor student, lives in the good neighborhood, and has a wonderful boyfriend, the captain of the football team.  But, her life is no longer what she thought, what she has come to expect.  Her dad lost his job, her mother threatens to divorce him, they will be selling their house and worse yet, her boyfriend is moving away.  Her life is cart wheeling out of control.  That is when she meets Sam Herron, a photographer who promises her a glamorous life.  He offers her money, fame...drugs to help her cope.  Will Amy follow Sam and forget her problems?  Will Amy forget what's really important?  Will Amy lose everything?

This is truly a heart-wrenching, yet heart-warming story of love, life, and family. - Kirkus Reviews

A fantastic coming-of-age novel by a debut author. - School Library Journal

Ha - what fun!?!?

Here are the directions with links:

1. Go to "Fake Name Generator" or click www.fakenamegenerator.com

The name that appears is your author name.

2.  Go to "Random Word Generator" or click www.websitestyle.com/parser/randomword.shtml

The word listed under "Random Verb" is you title.

3.  Go to "FlickrCC" or click http://flickrcc.bluemountains.net/index.php

Type your title into the search box.  The first photo that contains a person is your cover.

4.  Use Picnik, or something similar to put it all together.  Be sure to crop and/or zoom in.

In terms of this activity, we're asking the participants to create the cover and write a short synopsis to go along with it.  What is your book about? 

 

Find a New Blog - Day 4

Today I am to find a new blog about literature that I enjoy.  I follow several blogs already, but I searched to see what else is out there...I found a GREAT one.  I have never seen this one before, though many of you probably have.  It is YABC or Young Adult Book Central. It turns out that there is actually a website too: website.

blog

 I like how this blog has different people posting book reviews.  They seem to do a "Trailer Tuesday" and I have found lists of new releases here and there in the blogs.  I soon found giveaway contests, which led me to the whole website.  There is tons to explore!

website