The 24-Hour Mark

Just checking in at my 24-Hour Mark. Lesse...

Since starting the challenge 24 hours ago, I have...

Read for 10.25 hours
Blogged/Social Networked for 2 hours
(For a total of 12.25 Challenge hours logged)
Finished 3 books (and I'm just about halfway through Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly)
Read 964 pages

To reach my goal of 24 hours, I'll have to read and blog for 11.75 of the next 24 hours. To reach my secret goal of 30 hours, I'll have to read and blog for 17.75 of the next 24 hours. I don't know if I can make it to 30 hours, but I will give it my best shot!

... After I take a shower, that is. ;)

48HBC: Poop Happened

Checking in here... I just finished Poop Happened!: A History of the World from the Bottom Up by Sarah Albee, which was gross and informative and too European-centered (but kids are going to love it). I wrote a full review, but I'll be posting it on Monday for Nonfiction Monday.

So, my 48-Hour Book Challenge Update...

Time spent reading: 7.5 hours
Time spent blogging/networking: 1.75 hours
Books completed: 3
Pages read: 757

I'm going to have to take a little break here in a bit and go to work for a few hours for our Summer Reading Club Kickoff Party, but I'll try to read a bit more before I go (maybe something YA...) and I'll be back by 5 to continue reading! We're on hour 17 of the challenge and I've read/blogged for 9.25 hours so far.

To everyone who's still going - you can do it! Keep going!

48HBC: Scumble

Scumble by Ingrid Law. Grades 4-8. Dial Books for Young Readers, August 2010. Reviewed from ARC provided by publisher. 401 pages.

Things start to come apart for Ledger Kale on his thirteenth birthday. Literally. In Ledger's family, kids get a savvy, a special power, on their thirteenth birthday. Ledger had been hoping for super speed, but savvies don't work that way. They're unpredictable. And Ledger's savvy seems to be the power to destroy man-made objects. After he demolishes his uncle's barn at his cousin's wedding, Ledger's parents decide it'll be best for him to spend the summer at his uncle's ranch in Wyoming learning to scumble his savvy. But Ledger's afraid he'll never be able to control his new power. To make matters worse, Sarah Jane, a girl from the nearby town of Sundance, keeps following him everywhere, determined to uncover the secret of his strange family. What will happen if the world finds out about their savvies?

I really enjoyed the Newbery-honor-winning Savvy, but I think I liked Scumble even more! It's got the same rich tapestry of description and language that Ms. Law employed in writing Savvy. While Savvy is about a girl anticipating her power and wishing and hoping for it, Scumble is about what happens afterward - the struggle to grow into this newfound ability. It's about learning to take the world into account, moving from your self-centered childhood into a more worldly young-adulthood.

Scumble's got that same wonderful tall-tale feel to it, complete with tall-tale words, stories, and characters that are larger than life. There are family feuds, broken hearts, first loves, and fresh starts contained within the 400 fast-moving pages of this novel. It's a thick book that didn't feel like I thick book because the characters, even with their fantastic abilities, feel like real people. I read this line:

...Mom and Dad swung into action doing the things parents always do - making calls, feeling foreheads, furrowing brows, and shooing the dog off the bed. (pg 382)

And I literally stopped and thought "That's so clever of a thirteen-year-old kid to say that! It's exactly what grown-ups are like!" And then I had to stop again and say to myself "No, Ledger Kale did not write this book. He's fictional. Ingrid Law made up that line and she's a grown-up!" Which, to me, says that Ledger became much more than a character to me. He became a literary friend.

Here's hoping that Scumble's not the last we see of these magnificent families. If it was up to me, I'd want to know Gypsy's story next. Just sayin'.

Scumble will be on shelves August 24! And I already know a couple of kids that'll be itching to get their hands on it.

48-Hour Book Challenge Update

Time spent reading: 6 hours
Time spent blogging/networking: 1.25 hours
Books completed: 2
Pages read: 587

48 HBC Update

Wrapping up my reading for the night, here's where I stand:

Time started: 7:15pm
Current time: 11:53pm
Time spent reading: 3.75 hours
Time spent blogging/networking: .75 hours
Books finished: 1 (Touch Blue by Cynthia Lord)
Pages read: 390
Currently reading: Scumble by Ingrid Law

Annnd it's bedtime. I might read a tiny bit before falling asleep, but I'll see you in the morning!

48HBC: Touch Blue

Touch Blue by Cynthia Lord. Grades 4-6. Scholastic Press, August 2010. Reviewed from ARC provided by publisher.

Eleven-year-old Tess knows what she wants. She wants to stay on her tiny island home forever and she wants to be a fisherman when she grows up. She wants this plan to work because she can't even think about moving to the mainland and starting all over. The plan? To save their tiny island school from being shut down, island families have agreed to take in foster children. Which is how Aaron comes to live with them. Tess is hoping that Aaron will be like Anne from Anne of Green Gables - a feisty friend ready to explore all the island has to offer. But Aaron's not what Tess expected at all.

This is a gem of a book! Tess herself is a feisty character whose mouth gets her into trouble occasionally. She's full to the brim with hopes and wishes and she keeps her lucky pieces around to help her get what she wants. I love how Tess saw the whole foster-kid thing through the books that she'd loved - Anne of Green Gables, Bud Not Buddy, and The Great Gilly Hopkins. Kids who have read any of these books will delight in seeing references to them.

What else did I love about this book? The quirky island characters. The details about Maine lobster fishing. Tess's supportive parents. Tess's effervescent personality. In fact, I dare you not to fall in love with this book. Even the cover is perfect - so bright and eye-catching while really fitting with the events in the story.

I know I'm gushing, but the more I think about it, the more I love this book. Do I hear Newbery bells? I just might...

You'll surely want to hand this to fans of Lord's previous book, the Newbery-honor-winning Rules. I'd also hand it to fans of Moxie Maxwell and maybe Clementine (though it's aimed at kids a bit older than your typical Clementine audience).

Touch Blue will be out on August 1.

And this was my first book completed for the 48-Hour Book Challenge! (What a great way to start off the weekend!)

Totals:

Time spent reading: 1.75 hours
Time spent blogging: .25 hours
Books completed: 1
Pages read: 186

48-Hour Book Challenge - Starting Line!

Well, it's finally here - the 5th Annual 48-Hour Book Challenge!! (Want to sign up? There's still time!)

My time will run from 7:15pm Friday to 7:15pm Sunday and I'm aiming for at least 24 hours of reading and blogging time (but my secret goal is 30 hours). I have to go in to work for a few hours tomorrow for our Summer Reading Club kickoff, but other than that I am free to read and blog all weekend!

I've got a huge stack of books to choose from, but here are the ones I'm considering first:

(Also note the couch, which will make this year's challenge MUCH more pleasant than last year's, I think...)

I'll be checking in throughout the challenge and I'm hoping to read and comment on others' blog posts more than I did last year. Those supportive comments really help! So, on that note I'm off to do some reading!

Good luck to all of you doing the challenge this year and I'll see you in a bit! :)

BEA 2010: The Loot!

I shipped the vast majority of my Book Expo "loot" and my boxes arrived on Wednesday! Since 1) I thought those of you that didn't get to go might want to live vicariously and 2) I like seeing pictures of other people's loot, I thought I'd record video of the box-opening festivities and share it with y'all.

Just a note: I only really talk about a handful of the titles I collected. There were many, MANY other great books in the boxes. However, if I had talked about every book about which I was excited, the video would have been about 3 hours long. :)





Books mentioned in this video:

Waiter Rant by Steve Dublanica
The American Painter Emma Dial by Samantha Peale
Packing for Mars by Mary Roach
Zombies Vs. Unicorns, edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier
Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
Splendor by Anna Godbersen
Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen
Halo by Alexandra Adorentto
Matched by Allie Condie
Low Red Moon by Ivy Devlin

PS: This is my first (and only) vlog! (If I get a decent webcam someday, I will make more. I kinda liked it!)

BEA Recap #4

(Hey, don't miss the first, second, and third installments of my Book Expo recap!)

Just a few more thoughts about BEA 2010.

All the publisher reps I spoke with were extremely nice (and very brave to put up with the mad crowds). A couple get special mention. Bloomsbury/Walker was the first booth I got to that had a really nice selection of ARCs and very enthusiastic people there to talk them up. While all the booths were nice, Bloomsbury/Walker gets the Niceness Award.

Runner up for the Niceness Award was Disney/Hyperion. I stopped to ask about a summer galley and they didn't have a copy. I should have nicely asked if they'd send me one, but I was overwhelmed at that point and just thanked them and left the booth. Well, one of the reps chased after me down the aisle to offer to send it to me.

Also, I have to give honorable mention to both Egmont USA and Llwellyn/Flux for their extremely enthusiastic reps. I so enjoyed talking to them and hearing about the books they were excited about.

The Crazy-Ridiculousness Award goes to Little, Brown. For some reason, both mornings this was where ALL the people were. People were literally shoulder-to-shoulder, pushing against each other, trying to go both ways and grab all the books they could. On Wednesday, I couldn't take it and had to escape the crowd, but on Thursday I braved the madness and just pushed on through. Brava to the brave reps from Little, Brown who did not run screaming from the mob.

Honorable mention for the Crazy-Ridiculousness Award goes to HarperCollins and Disney/Hyperion. Their aisle was front-and-center when people walked in the main entrance and it was a mob scene, too.

Winner of the Best Thing at the Conference is the shipping area. Like I've said before, it was my oasis and helped me lighten my load and become less cranky. A VERY close runner-up for Best Thing at the Conference was Library Journal's Librarians' Lounge. Not only was their sign properly punctuated, but they had FREE FOOD. They had bagels and muffins and coffee and water... All for free! Rather than chalk up $12+ for lunch, we just grabbed free bagels on Thursday. And we didn't even have to leave the conference center.

And Candlewick gets the On The Ball Award because on I received my first requested-at-BEA book from them on Tuesday, June 1!  Way to be on the ball, Candlewick (and thank you)! (Incidentally, the book in question is Stork by Wendy Delsol, a debut author. I am very excited!)

And that about wraps up my BEA experience. WHEW! Check out my travelmates' BEA recaps: Jen (BEA Highs and Lows and BEA Pictures) and Kelly (part 1, part 2, and part 3).

48 HBC is Coming Up!

Don't forget that MotherReader's 48 Hour Book Challenge is this weekend! I'm going to do it. Are you going to do it? (You should do it!)

AudioSynced - May Roundup

That's right, it's time for the roundup of May posts about all things audio - your AudioSynced Roundup! Annnnd this is a very special time for audiobook lovers because June is National Audiobook Month! Hey man, David Sedaris supports National Audiobook Month. You should, too! Get thee to a library and check out an audiobook this month! And if that's not enough to convince you, tune in to some of your favorite authors speaking about why they love audiobooks.

And as part of your National Audiobook Month celebration, check out Audiobook Community where you'll find discussions, audiobook news, special events, and more. KidLitters may be particularly interested in SYNC, a YA audiobook haven featuring free downloads this summer (starting July 1). Audiobook Community is brought  to you by the people at Audiofile Magazine.

Kelly of Stacked has a post up about the Audies Awards. 

For more audiobook news, don't miss Audiobooker, a Booklist Blog written by Mary Burkey, a teacher, librarian, and audiobook addict. 

And now, reviews...

Kimberly of Stacked reviews Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd and Kelly chimes in with What Can Ruin an Audiobook. 

Carin at Caroline Bookbinder shares a review of Grayson written and narrated by Lynne Cox. She says "Very short, the story of just a couple of hours' time, the audio is the same length so it's like it was occurring in real time. The audio is read by the author, who has a languid and calm tone, even when relating worry and confusion. I think if the book had been longer, her tone might have had a somnolent effect, but in this brief tale, it was perfect."

Mel of Mel's Books and Info reviews Reality Check by Peter Abrahams, narrated by Jim Colby, of which she says "While Colby was clear and easy to understand I had difficulty getting into the story, which for me is unusual especially in audio format.  I found myself eager to turn off the audio and switch to book format, mostly because I didn't think he was engaging enough as a reader."

Mel also reviews Fallen by Lauren Kate, narrated by Justine Eyre, of which she says "Her narration is the picture of clarity and is spot on for Luce and her schoolmates."

Over at Traveling Classics, you'll find posts about How to Be a Pirate by Cressida Cowell, Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, and Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Amanda at A Patchwork of Books gives us her April/May audiobook roundup with reviews of The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (narrated by Jesse Bernstein), The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place by E.L. Konigsburg (narrated by Molly Ringwald), and Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (narrated by Bernadette Dunne).

Jeanne of Books for Ears shares a review of Under the Dome by Stephen King, narrated by Raul Esparza.

And Lee's out of town on a fabulous vacation, but don't let that keep you from visiting Reading With My Ears to check out the following reviews:

Still Midnight by Denise Mina, narrated by Jane MacFarlane.
Knucklehead written and narrated by Jon Scieszka.
Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen, narrated by Danny Campbell.
A Damsel in Distress by PG Wodehouse, narrated by Jonathan Cecil.
In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant, narrated by Stephen Hoye.
The Turnaround by George Pelecanos, narrated by Dion Graham.
The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera, narrated by Jay Laga'aia.

What a fantastic roundup this month! Thanks to all who participated. Did I miss any links? Add them in the comments and I'll update the post accordingly.

Didn't get to an audiobook this month? That's fine - catch us next month. Kelly will host another roundup at Stacked on July 1.