Books and Movies

Lately we have seen a sharp increase of children’s books being turned into movies. Check out some of the movies that will be coming out shortly. Just remember to read the book first ;)


March 2010 - Alice in Wonderland

March 2010- Diary of a Wimpy Kid

March 2010- How To Train Your Dragon

June 2010 - Eclipse

July 2010- Ramona and Beezus

September 2010- Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole

Best Selling Chapter Books this week

1 The Red Pyramid                        by:  Rick Riordan

2 Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer     by: John Grisham

3 The Hunger Games                     by: Suzanne Collins

4 Catching Fire                              by:  Suzanne Collins

5 The Carrie Diaries                      by:  Candace Bushnell.

Audiobook review: Born to Rock by Gordon Korman

I just finished listening to the audiobook Born to Rock by Gordon Korman. The story was read by Billy Hammond. In terms of length, there are 5 cds which took approximately 4 days in my car to hear.


Snapshot of the story:

Leo finds out that his biological father (or as he refers to the term - bio dad) is a legendary punk rocker who is getting back together with his band for a summer tour. Leo decides to contact his bio dad when he finds himself without a scholarship to Harvard after a misunderstanding with the vice principal and a math exam. Leo's plan is to ask for the tuition money but finds himself tagging along on the summer tour, working for his bio dad. Along the way, Leo finds that he is more than the republican boy that he thought he was.

My thoughts:

I am a huge fan of Gordon Korman. Everything that he has written, I have always enjoyed. I found that this story did not have the same feeling that the others did. Perhaps it was the way that the story was read but I found it lacking. I can't put my finger on the exact reason for not loving the story but I found that I could not connect with the character at all and the portrayal of the mother was slightly disturbing to me. I would highly recommend reading Korman's other books such as Son of a Mob, Schooled, or any of his adventure series.

Great audio books to listen to:

1. The Gregor Series by Suzanne Collins

2. The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan

3. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

New Books this week ...

Check out the new books we got this week:




Picture books:

1. The princess says goodnight by Naomi Howland

2. Put me in a book! by Robert Munsch



Chapter Books:

1. We the children by Andrew Clements

2. Finally by Wendy Mass

3. The red pyramid by Rick Riordan



Young Adult books:

1. Restoring harmony by Joëlle Anthony

2. The river by Mary Jane Beaufrand

3. The Shadow Project by Herbie Brennan

4. For the win by Cory Doctorow

5. Theodore Boone : kid lawyer by John Grisham

Twilight Fever

The latest movie installment of the Twilight series - Eclipse comes out early tomorrow morning (12:01 a.m. to be precise). I have read the entire series and Eclipse was my favourite in the series. I wonder how it will measure up on the big screen. I was very disappointed with the first movie, slightly interested in the second one and will let you know tomorrow what I thought of the third. I am taking my Jacob fanatic daughter to the show at 12:01. Hopefully I won't fall asleep :)




Have you been captured by Twilight fever? Whose team are you on?

School's out for summer

Remember the last day of school and everyone would be chanting the rhyme - no more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks. Kids today are probably still chanting that rhyme or something similar to it. Kids are under a lot more stress compared to 30 years ago. They are expected to be somewhat reading and writing by the time they hit Grade 1. Teachers are also under a lot of stress trying to teach these skills. I want to wish both students and teachers a wonderful summer. Kids - turn off your electronics and play outside (it is going to be a pretty dry summer). Teachers - enjoy the carefree days of summer.

The first day of summer

What a wonderful way to start off summer - lots and lots of sunshine! I was so happy to hear on the radio that not only are we having a beautiful day but that it will last for 15 hours! So why not drop by the library, pick up a book and then head outside and read. Have a wonderful day :)