I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You. by Ally Carter

What a fun series! Four books all about Cammie Morgan and her best friends at Gallagher High who are all spies. We're talking honest to goodness spies...security clearance, counter-surveillance, martial arts defense moves, and everything else a good spy know about.

The Gallagher Girls might be spies, but they are also regular girls in many ways. They take friendship very seriously, though they don't always take school seriously, they both love and deplore their parents, and they know all about heartthrobs and heartache.

Here are the books in order. Hope you have a chance to read on! Spy on! Enjoy! -stenson

Images are courtesy of Ally Carter's website which can be found here,

Good & Sticky

A great book to teachers, students, parents, ANYONE trying to make a point.

I love the premise, the writing, the ideas, and the details. This non-fiction book gives readers a nicely packaged, easy-to-read-and-understand checklist to help them get their ideas to stick (meaning the ideas will be memorable, understandable, and effective). As readers work their way through the checklist, they meet all sorts of ordinary individuals who did something extraordinary with their messages. The authors pick apart these stories and give detailed analysis of the methods used to make ideas stick. Witty, well-written, astute.

Click here to read more. And here to read more (scroll down a little, or while you wait to get to the book you know you are interested, take a peek at the other ones there...).

Have fun reading, everyone!

-stenson

image can be found at http://socialmediab2b.com/2009/10/b2b-social-media-books/

Claudette Colvin & Friends

Some of my favorite books have nominated by or have received this award. It's an award that is given not just to books that are widely popular and well received, but to books that represent excellence in young adult literature. Here are some of my favorite National Book Award nominees and winners:

• What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell,
• American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang,
• Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin,
• Inexcusable by Chris Lynch,

and I could on and on and on but I won't. I'll just trust that you look at the links and pick a few to add to your future book lists. Go ahead; you are about to be wowed!

Congrats to this year's nominess and winner:

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose
Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman
Stitches by David Small
Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor
Jumped Rita Williams-Garcia

This years nominess and winner are officially on my book list. As I read them, I'll certainly post about what I've experienced. Add them to your lists too! Go ahead; you are about to be wowed by the talent listed here. Keep reading everyone!

-stenson

*image taken from The National Book Foundation and http://us.macmillan.com/claudettecolvin

The 1st 5 Books of Stenson's Summer

Super exciting stuff...

1. I'm 5 for 5 with books this summer. I've been on a roll. Some of them are really just for grown-ups, but the two I'd recommend for kids are The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han (though I don't need to talk it up that much...it's a huge hit that I'm just getting to) and The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (a book written for all ages, brilliant writing, a fun and feisty protagonist, and an amusing caper).

2. Have you heard of Animoto? Love this free site where you simply upload picutres, pick the music, add some text and submit it all. A funky, original video appears after a few moments. I can't wait to use this in Room 103 with 7th grade readers. Here's a peek at what it can do. *It was my first attempt, so please just humor me. You can watch by clicking on the image above....

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

Flavia, the protagonist from the mystery The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, made me laugh, made me want to study Chemistry, and made me keep reading until the caper was solved. I really fell in love with little Flavia. Feisty, smart, fun- this little girl has two sisters she's constantly trying to poke, pinch, and prod and a father she is constantly trying to delight and charm. The family lives in her deceased mother's family's estate in 1940's Britain.

Day by day, Flavia is entertained mostly by the chemistry lab in the family mansion, but all of that changes one day when she stumbles upon a dead man in the garden of the estate.

Flavia is part Scout, part Sherlock Holmes, and part Marie Lavoisier (don't worry, I didn't know who that was until I read this book either), and she pulls you right into her mind, her home, and her life- a land where emotions though rare sneak out, observations are detailed, complete, and funny, and the story, like the mystery at the center of it, only gets better and better.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is definitely a challenge book (those of you who have had me as a teacher will know what I mean) because I think it's intended audience is grown-ups. However, this delightful tale will be enjoyed by all ages, and the writing is simply too brilliant and too fun to not be shared by everyone of all ages.

Enjoy! The book is a part of a series so get excited for all sorts of amusement.

Please visit the sit for more information about this charming, fun series. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. The picture above was taken from the site linked to the left: www.flaviadeluce.com.

Keep reading!

-stenson

Summer!

It's getting really close to summer break, so I thought I'd highlight to perfect books for summer.

Both written by Jenny Han, The Summer I Turned Pretty and It's Not Summer Without You are flying around my classroom these days. I must admit I have not read them yet (but I did just download the first book on my iPod), but my students say the books have realistic characters and suspenseful, heartbreaking plots.



Here's what the author's website says about the first book The Summer I Turned Pretty:

Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer--they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one terrible and wonderful summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.

For more information about these books, click here to go to the author's site.

Pick up the book, give it a try, and let me know what you think.

Think summer, keep reading!
-stenson

*The photo is taken from the author's website too!

Skeleton Creek and Ghost in the Machine

It's been awhile since I've posted a good book, so I better make it a good one. I think I know just the one (actually, two).

Every time I hear about this book, I think about the movie Disturbia because just like the main character in that movie, the main character in this book is trying to solve a mystery but he is constrained to his own home. Apparently, that is not the only hint of horror movies you'll find in this book. Consequently, I haven't read it. I'm too chicken! But I hope you do.

Skeleton Creek by Patrick Carman (for more information, click here)



During first hour today, 3 out of 18 kids were reading it, and another kid couldn't get it at the media center because all the copies were checked out. I urge you to try your neighborhood library. Let me know what you think.

Happy reading, everyone!
-stenson