Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Released: August 2010

Mockingjay is the 3rd and final book in Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy. This series has easily been the most enjoyable I've read in all of 2011, and definitely one of the best Young Adult series I've ever read. Ever!

Having survived 2 rounds of Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen has seriously angered President Snow and the rest of the Capitol in becoming the "Mockingjay," or the face of the rebellion against the Capitol. As Katniss escapes to District 13, which is literally the underground district that has been kept secret from all other districts, she is again faced with the challenge of learning who she can and cannot trust within the rogue district. After all, District 13 is comprised of individuals who once served the Capitol, among other stragglers from some of the other districts. On top of all this, Katniss is faced with a brainwashed Peeta, whom President Snow has sent to District 13 on a mission to kill Katniss.

Friday, November 25, 2011

The Cat in the Hat Beginner Book Dictionary by Dr. Seuss and P.D. Eastman

Released: August 1964

This Dr. Seuss The Cat in the Hat Beginner Book Dictionary is a funny, ridiculous, effective learning guide for toddlers and young children attempting to learn the alphabet and begin reading. The book contains a total of 1350 common words such as "apple" and "dinner," and nonsensical words such as "kerchoo" (which is, apparently, a sneeze in 1964).

Sunday, November 13, 2011

A Stir of Bones by Nina Kiriki Hoffman

Released: September 2003

A Stir of Bones is a prequel to Nina Kiriki Hoffman's novels entitled, A Red Heart of Memories (1999) and Past the Size of Dreaming (2001).

Set in the early 1980s, A Stir of Bones is about Susan, a young girl in middle school whose life is dictated by her strict and violent father, who abuses Susan's mother when Susan does anything that upsets her father. To stay out of her house as much as possible, Susan takes on school projects and visits the library often; when one day she overhears a group of kids her own age talking about a haunted house. Intrigued, Susan introduces herself to the group and joins them on their secret excursions to the haunted house. When Susan enters "House" (which is the name Susan assigns to the doting house that seems connected to her), she meets Nathan, a ghost of a young man that inhabits House whom she forms an adoring relationship with. In short, A Stir of Bones tells the story of a young girl willing to hide from her own, frightening family, to instead make her home with the ghostly apparition of Nathan and their House.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Death of a Dreamer by M.C. Beaton

Released: February 2006

Death of a Dreamer is the 22nd book in M.C. Beaton's Hamish MacBeth cozy mystery series.

After a long, cold, and icy winter in Scotland's Highlands, Lochdubh's local police constable, Hamish MacBeth calls on a new local resident named Effie Garrard to see how she has fared throughout the season. Upon visiting Effie, Hamish believes her to be delusional and a bit crazy; especially when she becomes obsessive and claims that the new local painter and womanizer named Jock Fleming has asked her to be his wife. Days later, Effie is found dead on a hillside with the remnants of poison in her system, so Hamish begins to interrogate all the potential murderers. With the help of Priscilla Halburton-Smythe, Hamish's former fiance and current friend, Hamish eventually uncovers the identity of Effie's murderer.