Shelf Life

I love this series and im only on the third book. I got hooked after the first three chapters but the first book Working For The Devil, in a nut shell, its set in the future where a woman named Dante Valentine gets contracted by the devil to kill a escaped demon that can not be killed by neither human or other demons. She agrees and goes on a eventful bounty hunt. Its amazing. Great read.

Click to hear an excerpt
California Young Reader Medal Finalist 2009-2010
Deanna is a 13 year-old eighth grader when her father finds her having sex in a car with a 17 year-old (her older brother’s best friend). The boy’s spin on the story and the lurid details invented by the school-gossip grapevine make Deanna the school slut. Even 3 years later she is dogged by that incident. Her formerly affectionate father can’t even bear to look at her. Her older brother has added to the family shame by getting his girlfriend pregnant. The brother, girlfriend, and baby all live in the basement. Add in the father’s underemployment and the rapidly aging, overworked mom and you have a fully dysfunctional family.

Deanna finds her home life unbearable and school is no better. She fantasizes about moving out with her brother and his family and the four of them setting up a home away from her father’s disapproving glare. To enact her “plan” she needs money- first and last months’ rent and a security deposit in the San Francisco Bay area requires a pile of cash. Jobs in Pacifica are scarce though so she ends up at a run down pizza parlor. To her horror her coworker is Tommy– the boy her father caught her with. Out of desperation to keep her dream of a new home alive she keeps the job, daily facing the leering young man.

Deanna’s voice is authentic and her needs and fears feel very real. The author’s presentation of the tense, dysfunctional household and the decaying blue-collar town are very well done. Her growth and transformation are artfully rendered and very believable. There is no deus ex machina resolution to all of the protagonist’s problems. Deanna enters her junior year with many of the same problems to face but the author gives her hope and a new sense of herself. Who could ask for more?

Highly recommended for high school.

By Mr. Doyle

Today Kermit is reading Mark Twain’s classic The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. Some day Kermit hopes to make a pilgrimage to the Calaveras County Fair Grounds where the annual contest is held. It just a short drive from Livingston High School.

If you have any suggestions for frog-related reading for Kermit please forward them to Mr. Doyle (tdoyle@muhsd.k12.ca.us)

Kermit lives in a coffee cup on the window sill of my office. Kermit was a gift from one my student aides. The gift was inspired by a drawing by our resident hit-artist (a.k.a. Mr. Gehres) depicting me as Kermit while announcing a basketball game (apparently I’m no Bob Costas). Anyway, sitting in a coffee cup watching the students come and go gets old so, being a library frog, Kermit reads. Of course he reads frog-related literature. Here he is reading Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel. It is an easy read but it takes him back to childhood (tadpolehood?) when his mama used to read to him.

Here is the original charicature by Mr. Gehres, our photography teacher. That is supposed to be me behind the microphone. This is what happens when Mr. Gehres has too much free time.

Mr. Doyle on Halloween (featuring tats from The Illustrated Librarian).

This book is a California Young Reader Medal nominee for 2008-2009. I read this quite a while ago and I can’t believe I never posted a review. So I will be doing this from memory (please excuse me if I get any details wrong).

Daniel and Armin, though from different social classes, are the best of friends. They are excited about the rise of the National Socialist party and its leader, Adolph Hitler. Just as Daniel is ready to become an official member of the Nazi Party his parents tell him he can’t because he is half Jewish, therefore half human. Daniel must keep the family secret or risk dire consequences. As the Nazis consolidate their power and begin the “Final Solution” life becomes increasingly dangerous for Daniel and his parents. Can they survive in their native Germany? Will they have to leave? Or is it already too late?

Chotjewitz puts the reader in the midst of horrifying but true historical events in which the characters must choose between friendship and patriotism, loyalty and justice. He ends the novel with a shocking twist that will leave you stunned.

By Mr. Doyle

Teenreads.com has compiled a list of 250 titles. They call it The Ultimate Teen Reading List. Take a look at it and tell us what you think. Are your favorite titles there? What books on the list have you read and what do you think of them. Use the comment link below to send in your thoughts.

Mr. Doyle

http://teenreads.com/features/2006-reading-list.asp

We’ve Got Issues

One of my favorite science fiction authors, John Scalzi, has a post on his blog entitled “10 Things Teenage Writers Should Know About Writing.” If you are thinking about becoming a professional writer it is well worth reading. You can find it here:
http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/004175.html

If you like good science fiction I recommend his books. The Old Man’s War, though based on the works of Stephen Heinlein, is a very original story. It is set in a future in which the Earth is caught up in shifting alliances with alien races all competing for habitable planets. Being a soldier for the Earth armed forces is a dangerous job requiring superhuman strength, high intelligence, and a lifetime of experience. The only way to find soldiers like this is to create them. Using the modified DNA of retirees and advanced technology new bodies are created and the minds of the old folks are transferred to the new bodies. As the main character fights his way across various alien planets he begins to wonder just what it means to be human and whether the never-ending war is worth it.

By Mr. Doyle

Many people dream of being someone they truly are not, for everyone wants to have their own place in society and not be singled out. Everyone needs to discover their identity at some point in their life.

However, in the novel, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, the protagonist, a young African American girl named Pecola Breedlove, is having difficulty discovering her own identity. Like many children, she wants an intangible gift, blue eyes.

Society is only making it harder for Pecola to understand what she needs to really value. In fact, Pecola prays every night for her eyes to turn blue. She wants to become beautiful and loved like all of the other little children who have blond hair and blue eyes. Pecola is yearning for blue eyes, ultimately ending in a fulfillment, which is unexpected and a tragedy.

You will not know what hit you, when the novel comes to a finish. The novel The Bluest Eye is very powerful, one that everyone can connect to, one way or another. It is difficult understanding our own identity and remaining true to others and ourselves. Discover Pecola’s story behind just wanting blue eyes. Who knows, you might even learn something valuable? I know I for one did.

By Rajvir Chohan

Eragon by Christopher Paolini is an epic tale about a young man and his journey to a new begining. He will have to face great journey where he will meet grave danger but he will not face these challenges alone for see he has one of the best protectors and friends a boy can have…a dragon! Read this book about a boy and his dragon and their adventure to new lands and new faces where he will have to fight for all their lives.

By Jazmin Ochoa

LHS students and staff are invited to contribute to this blog. As an incentive we are having a book review contest. Write a review of any book you have read this school year and submit it to the Reading Blog. The best review will win a $20 Barnes and Noble gift card. There will be a student winner and a staff winner.

To enter, first read some of the reviews on this blog to get a feel for the format and content of a review. Second, type your review using a word processor with a spell checker (Word, Star Writer, etc.). Third, copy and paste it to the submission form and hit the submit button. It will automatically be e-mailed to me and I will post it for you. For security reasons it will not appear automatically on the blog so don’t send it more than once.

All submissions will be judged by a panel of librarians from around the U.S. and from other countries. All entries must be received by me by 3:30 on Friday, April 7th. See me for more information.

Mr. Doyle

Welcome to the LHS Reading Blog! If you would like to post a book review, comment, poem or other original writing just e-mail it to Mr. Doyle at tdoyle@muhsd.k12.ca.us