Books @ your SDSS Library

Break No Bones, by Kathy Reichs

2012-01-13T11:18:00.001-08:00

This is the tenth book in the series that inspired the television drama “Bones.” Fans of the show will find the book drastically different when compared to the TV series they have become accustomed to. The book starts with forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan working at an archaeological dig on Dewees Island with some grad students. The dig takes a turn for the worse when a newer body is uncovered in the dig and upon further investigation is shown to have some unusual characteristics. The hunt is on for both the identity of the body, and the killer. Soon another body is found with similar markings. After that the bodies keep piling up. Tempe’s personal life is also in disarray when both her estranged husband Pete, and her current beau Ryan show up on the island. With the emotional turmoil threatening to boil over and a killer on the loose, Tempe takes some of the investigating into her own hands. This could have dire consequences for Tempe. Break no Bones is another success from Kathy Reichs. This book is not for those who don’t like murder mystery or who are not comfortable with extensive forensic detail. A forensic anthropologist herself, Reichs always has intense detail in her writing. It is not required for the reader to have read the other books prior to this one in this series.

review submitted by Katie, grade 10, Library Peer Tutor

Jude, by Kate Morgenroth

2012-01-13T11:13:00.001-08:00

When 15-year-old Jude’s drug dealing father is murdered, he is a witness to the shooting. The murderer allows him to live on a whim. In debt to a killer and under suspicion for his father’s murder, a new future is revealed to Jude as he is sent to live with a mother he never knew (DA Anna Grady) and told he was kidnapped by his father at only 3 months old. Anna may mean well but she has little time for Jude and the demands of her job come first. Sent off to a prep-school and desperate for friends Jude takes a wealthy boy to his old neighbourhood for drugs. When he overdoses questions start to arise and accusations are pointed left, right, and center. Harry Wichowski (Anna’s boyfriend and police chief) uncovers the truth and sets up Jude to take the fall (with Jude’s permission) on the promise of immediate release after the mayoral election his mother is running in is over. Caught in a web of lies and deceit Jude must discover the truth of his past and strive for the justice he deserves. An edge-of-your-seat page turner, easy to read and get into. An all-around good read.

review submitted by Katie, grade 10, Library Peer Tutor

A Place Called Here, by Celelia Ahern

2012-01-13T10:57:00.000-08:00

In A Place Called Here, Sandy Shortt has been haunted for years by the disappearance of her classmate Jenny-May Butler. Sandy has made it her goal to find all things missing; it is an obsession. As we follow her journey we realize that Sandy can’t come to terms with the fact that sometimes objects go missing and never reappear. Sandy’s mission is to find missing people, so when Jack Ruttle comes to her trying to find his younger brother Donal, Sandy decides to help him. But before she can start, Sandy disappears to. Now all she has to do is find her way home.
Recommended for Gr.10-12
reviewed submitted by Erin, grade 12, Library Peer Tutor

Awake and Dreaming, by Kit Pearson

2012-01-13T09:52:00.000-08:00

In the novel, Awake and Dreaming the main character Theo (Theodora) lives with her irresponsible mother. They make money by singing and dancing in the streets for passersby. Theo dreams of a better life, and one day that dream is granted. She is taken in by the Kador family. They give her everything she ever wanted and love her like her mother never did. But Theo soon finds herself back in her mother’s care, and she is left wondering if her adventure with the Kaldors was real or just a dream.
Recommended for Gr.8-10
review submitted by Erin, grade 12, Library Peer Tutor

Swim the Fly (2009), Don Calame

2012-01-09T09:40:00.000-08:00

Matt Gratton, 15, has two summer goals. First, get the attention of 'hottie' Kelly West. Second, learn to swim the gruelling 'fly' so he can compete in the local swim meet. By swimming the fly he is sure to impress Kelly.
His best friends, Sean and Coop, have also set another goal for their trio of nerds - see a real live naked girl. Their goals ignite a series of hilarious and raunchy antics, many of which involve inopportune bodily functions. At times, the endless series of outlandish mishaps test reality. Then again, the slap stick hilarity will draw in readers.
This is sure to be winner with boys grades 8-9.

Revolution is Not a Dinner Party, Ying Chang Compestine

2011-10-27T13:05:00.000-07:00

While Compestine's debut novel is touted as fiction; the narrative draws on Compestine's experiences growing up in China during Mao's Cultural Revolution. She poignantly describes the erosion of individual rights in China in the 1970's. Ying Chang watches as her classmates, neighbours and eventually her father are denounced as bourgeoisie and thus enemies of the revolution.
Her parents, once prosperous doctors at the local hospital, are forced to work as cleaners throughout the night. Their home is invaded by the revolutionary pioneers and stripped of any western possessions such as radios and western style clothing.
Compestine portrays a life of hardship and fear.
This is a great read for grades 8 and 9. Compestine's experience is especially relevant for student in Social Studies 9.

This World We Live In

2011-10-27T08:37:00.000-07:00

The last in Pfeffer's Life as We Knew It trilogy brings Miranda and Alex together. The two form a a deep relationship as the world continues to disintegrate.
Life as We Knew It is Miranda's and Alex's reality with survival when the moon's gravitational pull increases, causing massive natural disasters on earth. Miranda and her family struggle to survive in a world without cities or sunlight, and wonder if anyone else is still alive.
Cataclysmic disaster is the new genre of choice among teens. Pfeffer's trilogy is a hit for all grades.

Chains, Laurie Halse Anderson

2011-10-27T08:13:00.000-07:00

Isabel is sold after her mistress dies. Her life as a slave in 1776 for a New York couple turns political when she finds herself caught up in the revolutionary war. Isabel narrates a haunting tale of the role slaves and free men played out at the onset of the American battle for independence.
Anderson graphically recounts the daily drudgery of Isabel and her sister. The descriptions of Isabel's new mistress leave the reader screaming for Isabel to escape.
Isabel learns of her own resilience and strength as she navigates the political turmoil of spies and patriots. Will this war free her or will she free herself?
Fantastic read for all grades; especially, grades 8 and 9. This is also a perfect companion for students in Social Studies 9.

Searching for the great perhaps

2011-09-09T10:59:00.000-07:00

Miles Halter seeks the "Great Perhaps" in John Green's Looking for Alaska. His public school life in Florida is uneventful, uninteresting, and unfriendly. He leaves for Culver Creek Boarding School, Birmingham, AL seeking a more fulfilling existence. He finds his meaning of life in Alaska. The "hottest girl in all of human history." She is smart, adventurous and mischievous. Her past is somewhat of a mystery which she slowly divulges during late night smoking and drinking sessions.
Miles is drawn to the excitement of Alaska. But, can he handle the excitement and its consequences?
This award winning first novel is a classic for young adults. Recommended for grades 8-10.

Little Brother

2011-09-09T10:40:00.000-07:00

w1n5t0n and his friends are arrested as a suspected terrorists in the confusion surrounding the terrorist attack on the San Francisco. They are held by the Department of Homeland Security. Their families are in mourning as their children are missing and assumed dead . w1n5t0n is released after days of interrogation. In the wake of the attack and the United States' security fears he vows to use his computer skills to fight back against the increasingly Orwellian tactics used in the guise of safety.
Doctorow's near futuristic narrative is filled with techno-geek hacking and subterfuge. The extensive bibliography offers readers the opportunity to explore the writers research as he learned about hacking and security. A fascinating read for grades 8-10.

Books and Movies

2011-02-09T11:28:00.000-08:00

Need to present a book talk? Try choosing a book that has been made into a movie. Use this guide to help you construct your presentation.
Book or Movie

Losing My Cool (2010)

2011-01-24T10:43:00.000-08:00

Thomas Chatterton Williams reflects on his dual persona growing up in suburban America. He portrays the struggle between the academic opportunities his father, a self taught scholar, provided in the family home, a home filled with 15, 000 books and the allure of Hip Hop culture that permeated black youth in the 1990's. The story is punctuated with lyrics from Hip Hop fame such as Biggie Smalls, Dr. Dre and Ice-T.

While Williams offers a peak into the black male psyche of what it means to be a young black man, it is the unconditional love and confidence that his father exudes that strongly shapes Williams' choices of self over the black community. I found myself waiting for Williams to recount another story of his father's experience as an educated black man from the south. His father was forced to read by flashlight in the closet as his family frowned on his academics. His marriage to a white woman, Thomas' mother, occurred when interracial marriage was against the law in many southern states.

Williams' story speaks of the black experience but I can see the struggle that many adolescents, black or white, endure during their teen years as they navigate the foundations of family and the pull of peers and popular culture.

This book is recommended for students in grades 11 and 12.

Her Fearful Symmetry, Audrey Niffenegger (2009)

2010-11-30T09:29:00.000-08:00

Julia and Valentina Poole, 20 year old twins, are given an opportunity to escape their sheltered suburban Chicago home. Elspeth Noblin, their mother's twin sister, has died and left them her fortune. She has also bequeathed her London flat, which borders on Highgate Cemetery. The Poole twins have always wondered about their estranged aunt. Their mother, Edwina, has cut off all ties with her twin sister. There is a catch to how the young Americans can claim their inheritance; Elspeth has stipulated that the girls are to live in her flat for one year, and their parents are not allowed to enter. Their London flat neighbours include Elspeth's younger lover, Robert and Martin, an eccentric crossword composer whose OCD Niffenegger poetically portrays.
Julia and Valentina embark on a journey that takes them deep into themselves and the ghosts of their family and Highgate Cemetery.
Her Fearful Symmetry brings suspenseful supernatural mystery the unsuspecting Poole twins and the reader. Niffenegger also weaves in a history of London's famous Highgate Cemetery, where likes of Karl Marx, Christina Rossetti, George Elliot and Malcolm McLaren are buried. The novel is rich in topics and themes that students can explore for book talks or for the pure enjoyment of reading. I would recommend Niffenegger's latest work to grades 10-12 as well as the enthusiastic junior reader.

Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro

2010-11-25T11:07:00.000-08:00

Your life has been designed for you to give to others. You will most likely not survive past 30 years old. What is your life like?
Ishiguro creates a disturbing narrative that explores the life of clones destined for organ donation.
Set in futuristic England, Kathy H. reflects on her schooling and friends from Hailsham. She reveals the personal and emotional struggles that she endured upon leaving her protected sanctum of Hailsham.
Ishiguro brings to light the morality of child rearing, education, and cloning through the eyes of adolescence. Never Let Me Go is a powerful read that will have you reflecting on the purpose of your own life. The Vintage Canada edition that we have comes with a reader's guide and discussion questions regarding the movie version. These are GREAT resources for your English book talks. I would recommend Never Let Me Go to students in grades 10 - 12.

DEAR

2010-10-20T10:40:00.000-07:00

SDSS celebrated Drop Everything and Read on October 19, 2010. Special thanks to Ms. Crump's English 9 class who allowed me to join them in their silent reading time.

The Possibility of Fireflies

2010-09-22T09:10:00.000-07:00

Ellie spends a lot of time alone. Her mother is becoming increasing unhinged since her father left them. Gwen, Ellie's sister, is someone Ellie no longer knows or wants to know. She is waiting for someone to come and rescue her from school and her family. As Ellie grapples the dangers of smoking, arson, drugs, alcohol, risky sex, and an abusive mother, Paul creates an intensive narrative and gripping plot. How will Ellie choose to escape her troubled life? The Possibility of Fireflies will appeal to students in grades 8 and 9.

The Boy from the Basement

2010-09-21T13:12:00.001-07:00

Charlie has been confined to the basement since his family moved to town from the lake. One night the back door slams shut and Charlie is locked outside. Charlie is fearful of the outside; he longs for the damp walls of his only home, the basement.
He is taken into care at the local hospital and then into a foster home. As he struggles to adjust to his new life of being 'outside', he learns about Hallowe'en, Thanksgiving and Christmas. His ultimate goal is to one day play soccer outside. But, how can he achieve this; what if father is watching him, what if father finds him? Surely, he will be punished for leaving the basement.
Shaw draws us in to the psychological journey of an abused child as he overcomes nightmares and hallucinations.
While the writing is average and the plot structure somewhat repetitive, there is a thriller aspect to the novel as we wait to see if and when Charlie's father will come back for him.

A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali

2010-09-13T08:27:00.000-07:00

Hotel Rwanda, a critically acclaimed film, is loosely based on Courtemanche's Canadian bestseller novel, A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali, as well as the true life experiences of people during the Rwandan genocide.

The Power of One

2010-09-10T12:07:00.000-07:00

PUSH

2010-09-10T08:46:00.000-07:00

The Road

2010-06-02T14:15:00.000-07:00

The Road, Cormac McCarthy (2006)

A father and son travel to the coast in a desperate attempt at survival. They are plagued by marauders, exposure, hunger and their own demonic thoughts. In a post-apocalyptic America are there any good guys? McCarthy's third person narrative is void of much punctuation and rich in allusion of parental love, sacrifice and saving grace. The conversation between the boy and man is limited as the man's memory fades of life before the apocalypse. The boy knows nothing of a world with blue sky, plants, animals and birds. The absence of nature leads to the absence of humanity; save for the love between a father and son. I cried, I rejoiced, and loved this book. This is a true American masterpiece.

Review from Booklist 2006

A man and a boy, father and son, each the others world entire, walk a road in the ashes of the late world. In this stunning departure from his previous work, McCarthy (No Country for Old Men, 2005) envisions a postapocalyptic scenario. Cities have been destroyed, plants and animals have died, and few humans survive. The sun is hidden by ash, and it is winter. With every scrap of food looted, many of the living have turned to cannibalism. The man and the boy plod toward the sea. The man remembers the world before; as his memories die, so, too dies that world. The boy was born after everything changed. The man, dying, has a fierce paternal love and will to survive--yet he saves his last two bullets for himself and his son. Although the holocaust is never explained, this is the kind of grim warning that leads to nightmares. Its spare, precise language is rich with other explorations, too: hope in the face of hopelessness, the ephemeral nature of our existence, the vanishing worlds we all carry within us. McCarthy evokes Beckett, using repetition and negation to crushing effect, showing us by their absence the things we will miss. Hypnotic and haunting, relentlessly dark, this is a novel to read in late-night solitude. Though the focus never leaves the two travelers, they carry our humanity, and we can't help but feel the world hangs in the balance of their hopeless quest. A masterpiece. -- Keir Graff (Reviewed 08-01-2006) (Booklist, vol 102, number 22, p9)

if i stay

2010-06-02T12:35:00.000-07:00

If I Stay, Gayle Forman. (2009)

Mia has it all, a cool boyfriend, loving parents, a bright future as a world class concert cellist. One snowy day, she and her family take a drive. With her parents and her little brother now dead, Mia must decide. "What would you do if you had to choose?" Will Mia stay or will she join her dead family?

This is a FABULOUS read. I laughed but mostly cried as I read Mia's story. The first person narrative flashes between a hospital room and Mia's memories of her love, her family and her cello. Mia's friends and family try to connect to her seemingly lifeless body. While her Grandfather understands her temptation to go her best friend Kim reminds her that "you still have a family".

From Publisher's Weekly Review

The last normal moment that Mia, a talented cellist, can remember is being in the car with her family. Then she is standing outside her body beside their mangled Buick and her parents’ corpses, watching herself and her little brother being tended by paramedics. As she ponders her state (“Am I dead? I actually have to ask myself this”), Mia is whisked away to a hospital, where, her body in a coma, she reflects on the past and tries to decide whether to fight to live. Via Mia’s thoughts and flashbacks, Forman (Sisters in Sanity ) expertly explores the teenager’s life, her passion for classical music and her strong relationships with her family, friends and boyfriend, Adam. Mia’s singular perspective (which will recall Alice Sebold’s adult novel, The Lovely Bones ) also allows for powerful portraits of her friends and family as they cope: “Please don’t die. If you die, there’s going to be one of those cheesy Princess Diana memorials at school,” prays Mia’s friend Kim. “I know you’d hate that kind of thing.” Intensely moving, the novel will force readers to take stock of their lives and the people and things that make them worth living. Ages 14–up. (Apr.) --Staff (Reviewed March 2, 2009) (Publishers Weekly, vol 256, issue 9, p64)

Night

2010-05-07T08:55:00.000-07:00

Night, a haunting account of Wiesel's teenage experience in Auschwitz and on the Buchenwald death march. He questions man's inhumanity to man; Jew and German alike. He reflects on the presence and absence of God.

"For God's sake, where is God?"
And from within me, I heard a voice answer:
"Where He is" This is where - hanging here from this gallows ..." (page 64)

This a powerful read as Wiesel explores humanity's decent into madness.

Amazon.com Review

In Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel's memoir Night, a scholarly, pious teenager is wracked with guilt at having survived the horror of the Holocaust and the genocidal campaign that consumed his family. His memories of the nightmare world of the death camps present him with an intolerable question: how can the God he once so fervently believed in have allowed these monstrous events to occur? There are no easy answers in this harrowing book, which probes life's essential riddles with the lucid anguish only great literature achieves. It marks the crucial first step in Wiesel's lifelong project to bear witness for those who died.

Slumdog Millionaire

2010-05-04T12:50:00.000-07:00

Read the BOOK. Available @ your school library.

Teenage Angst is Bildungsroman

2009-12-09T14:36:00.000-08:00

Cameron, Peter. Someday This Pain Will be Useful to You. (2007).

James Sveck announces that he is not going to Brown University. He is too smart for that. Why go to university when all he needs to know can found in books anyway. What, pray tell, will he do? He will buy a house in the Midwest.
James is at odds with his mother, father, and sister. He is troubled by his feelings for his art gallery colleague. He finds solace in visiting his D-list celebrity grandmother.
This is James' summer from HELL.
Peter Cameron brings a Holden Caulfield character to a contemporary setting.

Chick Lit from Britain

2009-11-30T14:07:00.000-08:00

Limb, Sue. Zoe and Chloe: Out to Lunch. (2008).

Zoe and Chloe have the perfect summer planned. They will get fab jobs and save their money for a proper holiday to boy laden Newquay. There are a few obstacles along the way. Their summer jobs turn out to be rubbish and how on earth will Zoe convince her parents that she and Chloe are old enough to go to Newquay alone! Sue Limb is hilarious. Grade 8 and 9 girls will love the Zoe and Chloe series.
Other Zoe and Chloe novels available in the school library include, Zoe and Chloe on the Prowl.

Gossip Girl for the Arab World

2009-11-30T13:47:00.000-08:00

Alsanea, Rajaa. Girls of Riyadh. (2007).

After Friday prayers an anonymous young woman from Riyadh sends stories via email to a list of subscribers to her online list-serv. Over the course of a year our narrator shares the triumphs and tragedies of four friends - Gamrah, Michelle, Sadeem and Lamees. Gamrah is the first to succeed in securing love in a traditionally arranged Saudi marriage. Michelle, whose mother is American, is the rebel in the group and will seek love on her own. Sadeem struggles when she loses her father and mother and thus has no one to arrange a suitable marriage. Lamees is the academic in the group and pursues a successful medical career. Originally published in Arabic in 2005, Alsanea's first novel took the Arab world by storm, stoking controversy and igniting debate about the role of young women in the traditional Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia.

Short Story Collection

2009-11-30T13:02:00.000-08:00

Ellis, Deborah. Lunch with Lenin and Other Stories. (2008). Here is a collection of ten short stories that explores how drugs have affected teens across the world. In Afghanistan, Tahmina and her family harvest opium. Valerin, a child abandoned in Moscow's Red Square, is offered heroin to "take away the sins of the world". Kelly struggles to find a place for herself in the shadow of her drug-addicted sister, Shannon, by entering the Miss Firefighter Pageant. While the characters may seem trite and the tone might be preachy, Ellis's straightforward writing style makes this heavy subject easily accessible to reluctant readers.

Akpan, Uwem. Say You're One of Them. (2008).

Akpan, a Jesuit priest, creates stories from the children of Africa. These children are prostitutes in Nairobi. Maisha, 12 years old, works the streets of Nairobi to help bring food for Christmas and money for her brother's education. Mary and Pascal are sold by their uncle to Gabon. Jean and Monique witness the massacre of their mother and the people of Rwanada. With textured writing and compelling voice Akpan lifts the troubles and spirit of the African child into our souls.

Are you a GREAT teacher?

2009-11-09T14:30:00.000-08:00

Whitaker, Todd. What Great Teachers Do Differently: 14 Things That Matter Most. Larchmont, N.Y.: Eye on Education. (2004).

Are you a GREAT teacher? Whitaker offers a quick review of what great teachers do. I am back in the classroom after a 4 year hiatus and found this book to be a good pick-me-up and a reaffirmation for why I chose the teaching profession. Furthermore, it offers common sense guiding principles for all teachers - keep your behaviour and emotions in check and students will respond accordingly.

In these times of deficits, cutbacks and finger pointing it is important to remember to maintain a professional and responsible role in the classroom. One of the recurring themes is that great teachers are positive.

Teachers are the filters for the day-to-day reality of school. Whether we are aware of it or not, our behavior sets the tone. If students overhear us whining or complaining about something, it may be the talk of the school for days even if it was something minor. By the same token, if we always approach things in a positive manner, then this is what the students reflect. The most effective educators understand this and choose their filters carefully (55).

The teaching profession asks us to make hundreds of decisions each day. What is the basis for your decisions? How to do you plan and prepare your lessons? Whitaker suggests that great teachers do three things (89).

We may have been taught to "teach to the middle," where the majority of students cluster. However, as long as we teach to the middle, that is where the majority of our students will remain. Great teachers take a different approach. Great teachers aim high. Great teachers make decisions following three simple guidelines:
1. What is the purpose?
2. Will this actually accomplish the purpose?
3. What will the best people think?

Schools are competing against each other for students in an effort to increase enrollment and thereby increase funding. Whitaker reminds us that great teachers know that it is people, not programs, that determine the quality of a school (127).

Come down to your school library to borrow this great book. You can also find many other teacher resources in our Teacher Professional Library.