Book A Day Challenge Nerdy Book Club

Here is another reading chgallenge I am going to participate in --- beginning June 1, 2014 until the end of the summer, August 31, 2014. Check out the post (http://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2014/05/18/the-sixth-annual-book-a-day-challenge/)and see if you want to try too!

Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner

Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this Prince Honor book as part of the 2014 Hub Challenge and oh did I like it! The world that Miles Standish lives in is scary, bleak, and brutal. Miles is different and for that reason he has no friends and is bullied constantly by students AND teachers. Miles has one blue eye and one brown eye and "can't read, can't write, Miles Standish isn't bright." One day a family moves into Zone 7, the burned out, bombed block aptly named Zone 7 where only the ostracized live- and this family, Hector and his mom and dad, The Lushes, have a secret. The Lushes become like family to Miles and his grandfather. Hector stops the bullies in school from their constant assaults and provides the only light, true friendship, in Miles life. It is Hector who helps Miles stand up to the Motherland. The chapters are short, I couldn't stop turning the pages, and even more disturbing are the illustrations of maggots, flies and rats appearing on the pages with their own story.

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Will and Whit by Laura Lee Gulledge

Will & Whit by Laura Lee Gulledge
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this book as part of the 2014 Hub Challenge. Willemina (Will) lives with her aunt after her parents die in a car accident. Will has a great group of friends, an aunt who is now her caretaker, she is afraid of the dark and keeps really really busy. With the coming of hurricane Whit, power is out for an extended time, resulting in Will confronting some deeply hidden fears. This graphic novel does not disappoint.

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The Here and Now by Ann Brasheres

The Here and Now by Ann Brashares
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This ARC is from my visit to ALA Philadelphia. Boy am I glad I received this book (I never read the Sisterhood books...) Imagine you are a young boy fishing and sees a girl come from the river. So begins the story of Ethan Jarves who finds Prenna James, a girl who has traveled from the future. She lives in a strictly constricted world with her mother who used to be a doctor. Prenna and others came to the present because there was a series of plagues killing everyone. Some of the rules they live by: seek no medical attention, avoid places of worship, fit into society but don't get too close, and no falling in love. When Prenna's best friend is taken away and she is cautioned against her friendship with Ethan, things begin to get very scary. As the community leaders close in on her, Ethan helps Prenna try to figure out what is going on in her world and his. This book is able to go from the future to the present convinclingly, Prenna's fear and rigid brainwashing are so scary and believable. But her growing love for Ethan and his tentative, sincere love for Prenna power this book and romance, Highly recommended!!!

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The Book Thief by Markus Zusack

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I re-read this book as part of the 2014 Hub Challenge. I loved it when I first read it and the words, characters, and setting were just as beautiful and horrifying. Told from the point of view of Death, Liesel Meminger is a young girl who is adopted by a German family during the time the war with Germany broke out and the Jews were persecuted, killed, and some were hidden in homes, basements and walls. Liesel becomes the book thief when she picks up a book a gravedigger dropped while burying her brother, Werner. She continues to take books at a parade celebrating the Germans superiority (where she realizes Hitler probably killed her mother because she was a Communist)and later when she carries her step mother's laundry to the Mayor's house. His wife has a room full of books and lets Liesel read any of the books. Liesel's stepfather, Hans Hubermann is a wonderful man who has difficulty finding work because he will not join Hitler's party. He shows Liesel love, and teaches her to read. On the other hand her stepmother is gruff, and angry. But that changes the day, Hans accepts Max, a Jew (Max's dad saved Hans in the war)into their house. Liesel's stepmother now becomes a loving, scared person who supports hiding Max and swears Liesel to tell no one, even her best friend, Rudy. The story of Liesel, her friends and family, narrated by death is one of my favorite books. Everyone should read it, Markus Zusack speaks of a time that must never be forgotten in history. He writes with depth and compassion to show Liesel's world and how she continued to live despite losing everyone she loved, one by one. Death loves Liesel and you will too.

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Winger by Andrew Smith

Winger by Andrew Smith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this book as part of the Yalsa Hub 2014 Reading Challenge and I loved it. For most of this book, I laughed at Ryan Dean West's loser status and proclamations. Winger, as he is called by his Rubgy friends is smart, 14, and a junior at a Prep school. After getting in trouble, Ryan Dean is now exiled to the bad kids dorm, Opportunity Hall with a really scary roommate, Chas. He misses his old roommates in the normal dorm. He is also madly in love with Annie Altman, who has been his best friend for two years. He is so insecure about so many things, you laugh out loud with him about his loser status. But this book is about so much more than his fumbling, sports, and high school hijinks. On the back cover of the book, I didn't understand why AS King said the book was "heart-wrenching" and Matt de la Pena called the book "raw." You only have to read Part Four to become so totally sad, angry, and beyond hope about this book. That is all I will say, YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK!!!!

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