Saturday, January 31, 2009

A Curse Dark as Gold

by Elizabeth C. Bunce

Oh, my. I don't even know where to start.

A Curse Dark as Gold depicts the familiar "Rumplestiltskin" tale in a much more serious and suspenseful way. Charlotte Miller, the daughter of the dead miller, is forced to take on the responsibilities of the mill. However, not all mean well to the mill. Charlotte's suspicious uncle has a part in making Charlotte's life worse, while competitive millers from other towns fight over who should buy Charlotte's mill. Desperate for money, Charlotte finds aid in the undead Jack Spinner, a strange man who can spin gold out of his hat.

OK, I have to admit--I got scared while reading this book. Jack Spinner was kind of creepy for me, and I hated Bill Penny and his dead daughter. Other than that, this book was great. It was so similar to other books I've read, but the story plot was still fresh and interesting.

***Minor Spoiler Warning***
For those of you who have read the book, I have a question:

Was Uncle Wheeler actually a poor boy who just took the name of Wheeler in order to gain popularity and a high status? Or was he actually a Wheeler from the start? I didn't really understand that part.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

6 Things I Love tag

From Reading to Myself

Rules of the tag:
- Link to the person who tagged you
- List 6 things that make you happy
- Post the rules, tag six others and let them know you did so
- Then tell the person who tagged you your entry is finished!

Six Things That Make Me VERY Happy :)

1. BOOKS!!! And getting them in the mail is very exciting too.

2. Food--yes, spaghetti and brownies and banana bread and basically anything edible.

3. Music and the radio...they make me feel better when I'm having a bad day at school or something.

4. Imitating people. Especially teachers. They are fun and easy to do. :P

5. Reading other people's blogs and blogging myself. That takes a reasonable chunk out of my everyday life.

6. Family and friends who make me laugh.

*****

And now I am tagging:

Maya
Erin
Katie
Cuileann
Emily Ruth
Em

***edited to add***
And if anyone else wants to do it too, go ahead! Just post a comment on this post with your blog url so I can see your lists.

Can't wait to see all of your responses!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Harry Potter Quiz

Which Harry Potter Character Are You?

You are Hermione. You're a bookworm always in search of answers. When pressed, however, you can always be counted on to put away the books and help your friends.

Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

Monday, January 26, 2009

ALA Awards are out

Here's the video (thanks to Miss Erin for posting that up)

Ugh...I had art day at school today. Basically, you do three workshops, ranging from crafts to theatre to culinary arts. Just my luck that I got doughnut making and chocolate delights as two of my choices--I am absolutely stuffed and I don't want to look at another donut or chocolate again. :(

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Dragon Slippers


by Jessica Day George

Dragon Slippers is the story of a girl named Creel who was "sacrificed" to a dragon in hopes that a knight would come and save her. Creel escapes the dragon with a pair of beautiful blue slippers and heads off to the King's Seat to find a job at an embroidery shop. Along the way, she starts to realize that the slippers might be more...magical than she realized, but nothing prepares her for the dangerous adventure that the shoes bring.

I would give this book five stars. It was like a perfect fairytale to me- suspenseful, magical, fun, and, well, dragons! Need I say more? All of the characters were well-thought out, from their dialogue to their physical descriptions, while the story itself seemed to weave together plots from other stories while maintaining its originality. I would highly recommend this to anyone who loves fantasy and a good read.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Interview Meme...

from the wonderful Edge

The Rules of the Interview
1. Leave me a comment saying you want to be interviewed.
2. I'll email you five questions, of my determination not yours!
3. You update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.


Q & A

1. If you could go somewhere for a week just to write, where would you go?

Hawaii. I've never been there before (sadly) and it's super-warm there too, so I would probably set up a chair on the beach and write write write! Mmmmm...pineapples...

2. Are you an extrovert or introvert?

Erm...it depends. When I'm with other people, I'm more of an extrovert. But when I'm by myself, I transform into a lonely little introvert. :)

3. What book have you read recently that you think should be made into a movie?

Diary of a Wimpy Kid just because I'd love to see Greg scaring all of the little kids with worms. And trying to throw giant snowballs at people. And sneaking violent games past his friend's dad. And trying to act cool when he's really not. And...I'll stop here.

4. What is your favorite quote?

I have tons of favorite ones--this is one of them:

"I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me."
Noel Coward (1899 - 1973)


Haha, his last name is "Coward." Coward..mwahaha...

5. Favorite five songs?

Keeps changing...
"Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood is my all-time favorite.

Right now, my other faves are:
"Forever and Always" by Taylor Swift
"Burnin' Up" by The Jonas Brothers
"That Song in My Head" by Julianne Hough
"Don't You Know You're Beautiful" by Kellie Pickler

Yes, I know. Country galore.

___

So anyways, if you want to be interviewed, all you have to do is comment on this post with an "I want to be interviewed" and I'll send you your questions asap.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

baseball talk and my abysmal baseball knowledge

I got two ARC's from HarperCollins: one about dogs and one about baseball.

They were both pretty good, actually. I learned a lot about weird dog breeds and famous baseball players. Can you believe that until now I didn't know that Babe Ruth was a pitcher? I don't really know what I thought he was...just a hitter, I guess...or a candy bar... lol. And out of the other famous baseball players, I had only heard of one other: Jackie Robinson. Because everyone knows him...right?

Monday, January 12, 2009

Saw this in the doctor's office...

I pledge allegiance to the rainbow
And to the elation for which it stands
One circus
One ringmaster
With balloons for all

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Shakespeare's Secret

by Elise Broach

Hero is the youngest daughter of two Shakespearean experts. Named after a character in "Much Ado About Nothing," Hero starts off the school year at a new school. As usual, her strange name is the object of ridicule for most of the students.

Eventually, Hero gets used to school, and she even makes some friends in and out of school. After her kindly neighbor shows her a precious diamond, Hero is suddenly caught up in a whirlwind of mystery and history. The diamond takes Hero, her neighbor, and one of the schoolboys into a highly debated topic even today: was William Shakespeare the real Shakespeare? In addition, they end up solving the mystery of the long lost diamond.

This book was quite interesting...even a little creepy. I wouldn't recommend reading it at night. However, I did learn a lot about history, such as previous queens of England and their reigns. The story reminded me of Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliet--it had the same mysterious appeal. Definitely a great book to read on a rainy day.

Just something I noticed--does the cover art look similar to the art of The Series of Unfortunate Events? I don't think the artists are the same, but...doesn't the girl on the cover look kind of like Violet? Or maybe it's just me.

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Books I've Been Reading

Oooh, this is my 100th post! Celebrating around 2.5 years of hard work :)

I've been reading so many books lately, I decided to shove them all into one post instead of separate book reviews. I'm just adding a super-short summary to each book:


The Runaway Dolls by Ann M. Martin and Laura Godwin is the third book in the Doll People series. Probably my favorite one. Annabelle and Tiffany, while trying to save Annabelle's long lost sister, end up at a mall with their brothers. They meet dolls of all kind while desperately trying to escape before they reach the clutches of the evil mall people...

Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass. A nice book, but probably not my favorite. The story features three main characters- Alpha, a complete nature and space genius, Bree, one of the most popular girls in her grade with nothing on her mind but clothes and modeling, and Jack, a pudgy boy who hates science but is good at drawing. All three meet at a site where a solar eclipse is about to happen--and change their lives.


Kind of hard to read by the cover, but this book is The Girl Who Could Fly, by Victoria Forester. Piper McCloud just discovers she has an amazing ability--she can fly. After word gets out, she is packed off to I.N.S.A.N.E., a place for "special" kids. At the school, Piper realizes that not all places are as perfect and friendly as she once imagined them to be.



Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. This book was really funny, and the drawings were great too. The main character (I think his name was Greg) writes in his journal about his futile attempts to accomplish something in his life. He goes through an exercising stage, giant snowball fights, scary teenagers at Halloween, backstabbing best friends whose cartoons are better than his, and more. His intention for writing: when he's famous one day, he can just hand his journal over to the reporters instead of answering their pesky questions.


How to Ditch Your Fairy, by Justine Larbalestier. Everyone--or almost everyone--has a fairy. These fairies are invisible and never seen, but they can come in handy. There are parking fairies, good hair fairies, shopping fairies, etc. Charlie is the sad owner of a parking fairy for which she has no use. Of course, everyone wants her in their car, but Charlie finds no personal use for it, as she doesn't even drive. This book is the tale of Charlie's desperate quest to get rid of her fairy once and for all.
*** The only thing I didn't like about the book was that some parts were a bit cheesy, but you might just find them funny.

Saturday, January 03, 2009

boring

I ponder why no one will play with me
While under the needles of an evergreen tree
As I watch a maple leaf furl and unfurl
I realize I’m the most boring frog in the world.

Father is too busy hunting for flies
Mother is always baking apple pies
Sister is searching for jewels in the bog
Brother is going out for a nice long jog

My aunt spends her time growing our tomatoes
And making salads with those horrid potatoes
My uncle owns the grocery store
He doesn’t want to have fun anymore

The Professor- well, he never comes out to play
Until the summer solstice for his solar display
The Poet is hidden away near the stream
Where she can write her poems, think, and dream

None of them have time to be with me
They’re all a part of the Frog Potpourri
And besides, since they’re all so clever
They probably know I’m the most boring frog ever.

Thursday, January 01, 2009

One More Thing...


I forgot one more book that I'm looking forward to: The Demigod Files. It's an offside Percy Jackson book with short stories, character interviews, and more. Here's the link on Rick Riordan's blog, where you can find out more about it.



Random Thoughts

I have broken one of my resolutions already. I've said L-I-K-E ten times so far today. Oops.

And here are some things I am looking forward to this year:

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan...
is finally coming out! The last book in the series, I believe, where we will finally figure out if Percy saved the world or not. I'm sure he will- it would be weird to end a series with a major disaster. Anyways, since The Battle of the Labyrinth ended with an agonizing cliffhanger, everyone is looking forward to this book.

Sunrise by Erin Hunter...
and probably a bazillion other books too. Since Erin Hunter is actually four authors, they churn out books almost once every two months. Except the books come out in big bunches, if you know what I mean. In 2008, they came out with...6 Warriors books, if I'm not mistaken. Not to mention the first book in their new series, Seekers. Sunrise is one of the most highly anticipated Warriors books now because Long Shadows was such a bang with the most twisted plot ever.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince...
the movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay for Harry Potter movies! I can't wait to watch it. Although the book wasn't my favorite, hopefully the movie will make up for it. Although I still don't like how the actors look so...old now. In the first movie, they were so cute and little. Now, they're...more like Harry Potter characters, I guess, but not as cute. :-)


I've been getting so used to seeing Christmas trees and lights in my neighborhood, it's strange to look outside and see darkness and dark houses. There are no more twinkling Christmas trees in the windows, just rain. There is one house, just ONE, that has their Christmas lights on. And I'm going to go switch ours on right now.

2009!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the second year I've stayed up until 12 for the New Year. Over the hills behind my house you can see the occasional firework, and of course, there are the fireworks at the Space Needle...and the most highly anticipated ball in New York that fell three hours ago.

For 2009, my two main resolutions are...
  • Blog more- I'm hoping to get at least 15 posts a month.
  • Say "like" much less.
What are your resolutions for 2009?