December 2010 Archives

And on Thursday, December 30 at 2:00 pm at the same location, we'll be showing last summer's movie version of  "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World".  It's rated PG-13 & runs 112 minutes.  Here's the trailer for the film.  Hope to see you all at both events. 

The winners of our Teen Book Review Contest are Catherine, Claire and JD.  Each of them won an iPod Nano at today's drawing.  Congratulations to them and to the rest of our contestants for their contributions.  You all did great and we'll soon be announcing another contest.  Happy Holidays!

Next Wednesday, December 29th, we've got "Drop-in For Games" scheduled for 1-3pm in the Meeting Room.  Details here.  And watch this space for news about what movie we'll be showing on Thursday the 30th! 

(Note: Greenwich Library will be closed on Friday, December 24 and Saturday, December 25, in observance of the Christmas holiday.  We will reopen on Sunday, December 26 at 1pm.)

We've discovered one review sent to us by Michael (hope we see you today at the contest drawing) earlier this month on Rick Riordan's The Lost Hero, previously reviewed by Benjamin here:

The Lost Hero is an amazing book about three demi-gods who find themselves at a camp for demi-gods (beings that are half god/half human).They embark on a action packed adventure to save the goddess Hera.

The book is amazing.

Rating: Love it

Thanks Michael.

Everybody remember:  Today (Thursday, December 23) at 2:00 pm we'll be having the drawing for the Teen Book Reviews contest.. Details can be found here.  Hope to see you there. 

We'll be having the Teen Book Review Contest Drawing tomorrow, Thursday, December 23rd, at 2:00 pm in the second floor Meeting Room here at the library.  Details here.  We'll have refreshments as well, so bring a friend!  And if you do win a Nano but can't be there to pick it up, we'll hold it for you.

Bethany gives us the lowdown on Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol:

The book The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown is an epic adventure story as the protagonist, Robert Langdon, races through Washington DC deciphering the mysterious tale of the Masonic Pyramid. While fooling the CIA, running from an escaped convict, and helping to save the secret that had been protected for over 300 years, Robert is in for the ride of his life. As a sequel to both The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, Dan Brown's third installment connects to the reader and combines history with a thrilling mystery novel.

The deadline to submit entries for our Teen Book Reviews contest has passed and we'll be having the drawing for prizes this Thursday, December 23rd at 2pm  (details here).  Meanwhile, we still have some reviews we received before last Friday's deadline to post, so here's Benjamin's take on The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan, with illustrations by Peter Sis:

Benjamin's back with two new reviews.  First up is his take on Notes From The Midnight Driver by Jordan Sonnenblick:

This is a really funny book about a boy named Alex. Once he gets caught driving drunk, Alex, who is only fifteen years old, is sentenced to 100 hours of community service to a man named Mr. Lewis at the retired persons home. 

Claire has another review for us, this time on Dr. Cuthbert Soup's A Whole Nother Story:

This book is about the Cheesemans. They are a very odd family consisting of a father and his three children. Mr. Cheeseman is and inventor and scientist who's almost finished inventing a powerful device that can transport you back in time. This device also happens to be attracting many spies and villains to the Cheesemans.

Two new reviews from Emma.  The first is on Tricia Springstubb's What Happened on Fox Street:

Fox Street is a dead end street with very few houses. Mo Wren lives with her father and "the Wild Child" aka Dottie. When Mo's best friend Mercedes comes to live with her grandmother across the street, Mo is overjoyed. All of a sudden, strange letters come to Mo's home threatening to buy her house.

Claire's back with two new reviews.  First up is Rebecca Stead's First Light:

The book "First Light" was about a boy named Peter who lives with his parents in New York. His father has to go to Greenland for a business trip and decides to drag along Peter, his wife, and a friend of theirs. On the other half of the story there is a girl named Thea.

JD gives us a rundown on Laurie Halse Anderson's Forge, the sequel to her previous book, Chains:

Curzon, the main character was fighting as an ordinary free soldier at Valley Forge until his old master shows up. Curzon and his master meet and Curzon's  invited to go the house his master is staying at. Curzon thinks it's for catching up on the past but its not. He then becomes his master's slave again. Will Curzon escape and reunite with his friend Isabell or will he stay a slave forever?

Benjamin returns with a review of the book Countdown by Deborah Wiles:

Countdown was a book about a girl named Franny who lives in 1962. Her dad's in the Air Force, her uncle is crazy, and Franny herself thinks she's invisible to her teacher, family and friends. She and her brother Drew also have to face the horror of the threat of the bomb being dropped on them any minute and losing their loved ones.

Emma's back with a review of Leslie Connor's Waiting For Normal:

Addie is a girl in 6th grade who lives in a trailer with her "mommers." Mommers stays out late, is divorced, buys lots of school supplies, and smokes cigarettes. She is not exactly the most ideal mother. When Addie's stepfather, Dwight, takes her little sisters away and plans to get remarried, Addie feels like her family doesn't care about her. Across from her trailer there is a minimart which is run by a cancer victim, Soula. Soula and her friend Elliot are faced with many obstacles but are the best of friends to Addie. Addie is faced with the hardships of middle school, a neglecting family, and a falling down trailer. Will Addie have a happy ending, or will her life be ruined more?  

Claire's back with a new pair of reviews, one of them a rare thumbs down!  First up is Esther Forbes' Johnny Tremain:

This book is about a 14 year old boy named Johnny Tremain. He was working for the Lapham family as an apprentice to a silversmith. He is a very good apprentice and could hardly wait until he became a master silversmith.

Benjamin's back with two new reviews plus another take on a book previously reviewed by Michael.  First up is The Smoky Corridor by Chris Grabenstein:

The Smoky Corridor is a spine chilling book, the third in the Zach Jennings series. Personally, I think that this is Mr. Grabenstein's best book so far. It is about a boy named Zach Jennings who moves to a new school which has zombies roaming the halls! Unfortunately, only Zach can see the zombies. Almost immediately, the zombies start to cause trouble for Zach and it is up to him to get rid of the zombies once and for all.

This time out, we've got two reviews by Michael, who begins with a (very) brief one on Russell Freedman's The War To End All Wars: World War I:

The War To End All Wars is a well written book about World War 1. It is an amazing book that you can't stop reading. The book is different than any other book because World War 1 was overshadowed by World War II.  You'll learn a lot from it.

Roma returns with a review of Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper: 

This book is about a family's battle for surviving at any cost. After Kate Fitzgerald was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia, her parents, Brian and Sara Fitzgerald genetically designed a baby that would fit her exact traits to save their daughters life. Anna has helped keep her sister alive: she let Kate borrow her white cells, donated her blood, gave up her marrow and undergone countless surgeries, shots and transfusions.

We've got another "twofer", this time by Benjamin, who begins with a brief overview of the Demonata series by Darren Shan:

Demonata is a bone chilling 10-book series by horror writer Darren Shan.

We've got two reviews by Roma today.   The first one is on Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner:

This book is about two boys, Amir and Hassan, who grow up together in Afghanistan like brothers, although they couldn't be more different.