"The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

With the recent release of "Catching Fire", the 2nd in the series, I'm reposting a previous blog message:

I recently finished "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins. This is the first book in a series aimed at young adults. It is an absorbing page-turner featuring an annual televised event called The Hunger Games. Each district of Panem, the remains of what used to be the United States, has to send one boy and one girl to the games where they will fight to the death until only one tribute remains.

This normally wouldn't be the type of book I would choose, but since it's being billed as something Twilight fans would enjoy, I thought I would check it out.

All in all, I would probably give it 4 1/2 stars. Luckily, it didn't turn out to be as gory as I had feared, and the characters were very well-drawn. I had a few minor complaints; namely that the reasoning behind the games didn't ring true. There was also a romantic twist in the book, but certain aspects of it just weren't very believable. I'm definitely looking forward to the next installment!

Ashley's "Easter" Books

Janet Evanovich's "Stephanie Plum" series

I guess I'm on a book kick, because Ashley is also getting books in her Easter basket this year. I was first introduced to this laugh-out-loud series about ten years ago; somewhere along the line Ashley picked one up and read it which is very unusual since she usually avoids the books I read like the plague. Of course she was instantly hooked and has read the entire series, and like all of her favorite series, she has decided she wants to own them all. So I have been diligently trying to seek out & round up the 14 books (so far) in the Stephanie Plum series, along with the miscellaneous "Plum" books Evanovich has put out. I think I've almost got them all! If you've never read a book about this feisty New Jersey bounty hunter and her colorful cast of friends and enemies, pick up the 1st, "One for the Money", and you'll be hooked!

From the back cover: "Welcome to Trenton, New Jersey, home to wiseguys, average Joes, and Stephanie Plum, who sports a big attitude and even bigger money problems (since losing her job as a lingerie buyer for a department store). Stephanie needs cash--fast--but times are tough, and soon she's forced to turn to the last resort of the truly desperate: family. Stephanie lands a gig at her sleazy cousin Vinnie's bail bonding company. She's got no experience. But that doesn't matter. Neither does the fact that the bail jumper in question is local vice cop Joe Morelli. From the time he first looked up her dress to the time he first got into her pants to the time Steph hit him with her father's Buick, M-o-r-e-l-l-i has spelled t-r-o-u-b-l-e. And now the hot guy is in hot water--wanted for murder. Abject poverty is a great motivator for learning new skills, but being trained in the school of hard knocks by people like psycho prizefighter Benito Ramirez isn't. Still, if Stephanie can nab Morelli in a week, she'll make a cool ten grand. All she has to do is become an expert bounty hunter overnight--and keep herself from getting killed before she gets her man."

For years there have been rumors of this series being made into a movie, with entire websites dedicated to who should be cast as Stephanie, Grandma Mazur, Morelli, and the whole bunch. The competition & opinions have been fierce, especially for something that may never see the light of day. For me, one of the most important casting calls would be for Ranger; he is so extremely sexy and mysterious I can't think of anyone who would do him justice. Many people who read these books are either pro-Morelli or pro-Ranger, comparable to the Team Edward/ Team Jacob competition of the Twilight series. Give these books a try and discover if you're a Morelli or Ranger fan and let me know! Jodi

P.S. As you can probably guess, I am firmly planted in the Ranger camp!

For more information and fun stuff about Janet's books (including how many cars Stephanie has destroyed) check out her website at http://www.evanovich.com/.

Will's "Easter" Books

Working in a university library, I'm not up on children's books like I used to be. Recently though I stopped in at a children's bookstore, looking for Easter presents for my nephew William. I've blogged about Will's love of books before, and I thought some new books would be a nice little addition to his Easter basket. I ended up buying the above 3 books for him, and I just love them; I hope he does too!
A little about them:
Little Quack's New Friend by Lauren Thompson

This is the 4th entry in the "Little Quack" series; I can't remember if I've seen any of the others, but I love this one, primarily because it has a frog in it. Other things I like about it are the bright, cheery colors, and the sound effects ("plunka, splunka"). In this story, Little Quack meets Little Ribbit, who wants to play. Little Quack's siblings determine the frog is "too little" and "too green" to play with, but soon join in as they see how much fun Ribbit & Quack have together. Besides being a cute, fun story, it has a beautiful message of friendship and acceptance as the ducks learn that just because someone looks a little different from them, they can still have lots in common.

Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late! by Mo Willems

What can I say....I love the pigeon! Will literally cheers when I bring out a pigeon book, so I thought I'd better get him a new one. In this one, the bus driver asks us to make sure the pigeon doesn't stay up late. Of course, the pigeon comes up with all kinds of reasons & excuses why he should get to stay up, including there being a very educational show on TV about birds. School Library Journal had this to say about the illustrations of the books: "set against comfortably faded pastel backgrounds, the cartoon artwork focuses tightly on the main character, with his comments presented in dialogue balloons. The black-crayon lines speak volumes, as the pigeon's body language and the positioning of his ever-expressive eye humorously convey each nuance of the text." If you're looking for a funny book to read to a child, seek out a pigeon book today!

The Small Seed by Judith Nicholls (Little Scholastic)
This 1st nature book has rhyming text and realistic textures which children can feel as the seed grows roots, develops into a shoot, a stem, and finally a beautiful flower as the last page is folded out. The Little Scholastic series is "a developmental publishing program of interactive books created exclusively to give babies and toddlers a head start in learning". I'll have to seek out more of these because it looks like a wonderful new series. When I first picked this book out, I wondered if it would be too "old" for Will, and something he wouldn't really be interested in. But then I saw him at my parent's house, and what is the first thing he did? Showed me ALL of the new plants that grandma and he planted, and how they're all growing. So I think he may just like the seed book after all!