The Real Question

It is cold and windy here today. It is even snowing a little bit, not very much, but the wind makes it look worse than it is. It is kind of neat because the snow has piled up a couple of inches or so on the outside of the library windows. It is definitely a good day to stay inside and read! Plus it is Kansas Day. So Happy Birthday, Kansas!

I just finished reading The Real Question by Adrian Fogelin. Fisher Brown is a straight A student. He has studied hard and done everything expected of him since 6th grade. His father pushes him to succeed in school, to ace the SATs and to get into a great Ivy League university and to help Fish stay motivated, he puts index cards with questions on them around his room. One day when Fish finds the card that says, “What is the Real Questions?” Fisher wonders what is the real question for his life. The pressure seems to be too much and he slowly feels himself beginning to crack. So when his father leaves town, Fish decides to take a break. The careless and carefree Lonny asks Fisher to go with him to help roof a house for a former girlfriend and Fish sees it as the escape he needs. However, Fisher finds himself stranded several hundred miles from home and he must decide where his real future lies.

Hail Caesar

When I was in high school, I loved the book, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. I read it and her other books several times. The thing that I really liked about The Outsiders is that it was written by a 15-year-old. That book is still really popular today and I think part of the popularity is that it is written by a teenager. A couple of years ago when Eragon came out, I loved that it was written by 17-year-old Christopher Paolini. Books written by teens are always popular with other teens. So I was excited when I picked up Hail Caesar by Thu-Huong Ha. Ha was 15-years-old when she wrote this book.

Senior John Miller has it all. In fact, he is the king, the emperor which is why they call him Caesar. His friends and even his teachers call him Caesar. He rules the school. He can do whatever he wants and have whatever girl he wants. That is until a new girl comes to town and Eva is not impressed by him or his reputation. She forces Caesar to confront the type of person that he is and figure out what type of person he would like to become. Ha holds nothing back in her description of the parties and the meaningless sex and the language she uses when she writes.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

I am glad that Parent Teacher conferences are over for another trimester! I used to like conferences because I had a chance to meet my students’ parents. But now that I am in the library, I don’t have that many students. This trimester I have two student aides. I saw both their parents in the first 30 minutes of conferences, so that made for a lot of sitting. I did do a book fair during conferences and that helped me see a few more people. But I still had plenty of time to read.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is a great book. It is one of those rare books where I laughed while my heart was breaking. Alexie writes a heart-wrenchingly hilarious coming-of-age story about Arnold Spirit growing up on “the rez” in Washington State. Arnold is a goofy looking freshman with a good jump shot and a pressing desire to be something different from the other people on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Arnold sees how alcohol, poverty and lack of education has doomed the members of his tribe, so he knows that he must do something different. After he is kicked out of school for hitting a teacher in the face with a book, Arnold transfers to a small school off the reservation. On his first day, Arnold wonders what he is doing at “Reardon where the school mascot is the Indian making him the only other Indian in town.” The dominate mode of the novel is humor. Arnold wants to be a cartoonist, so it is filled with his cartoons to explain his view of the world. Even through all the tough times he faces, Arnold finds a way to see the good in the world and find hope for the future.

All-In

I have a friend who has a weekly Texas Hold'em Poker game. The 10 dollar buy in gets you a certain amount of chips and once you lose them you are done. I have never done very well. Always being one of the first to lose my chips, I usually spend the rest of the night talking with the other "losers" in the kitchen! I am a terrible liar, so everyone knows when I am bluffing. That makes for a lousy poker player.

The book All-In by Pete Hautman is about a teenager who is a fantastic poker player. In fact, he makes so much money playing poker that he leaves his home town to move to Las Vegas and play full-time. The descriptions of the tournaments are exciting. I never thought that reading about the action in a card game could be thrilling, but Hautman has a gift. Denn Doyle is 17 years old and he has won and lost a fortune playing poker. He gets on some one's bad side and they set him up to lose everything. Now Denn's only chance is a winner- take-all tournament; however, he has to come up with the $10,000 entry fee.

If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where's My Prince?

I finally had some time this weekend to work in my yard. I have had snow in my yard since the ice storm before Christmas. With a couple of nice days last week, most of the snow has melted, so I was able to get out there and do some raking. I had two great big cypress trees in my backyard and they are really messy. I needed to rake up all the junk they lost plus the broken limbs from the ice storm. I moved the big limbs out into the front yard so they could be picked up. The city says that it is working on picking them up, but it might be March before they get to my neighborhood, and I just am not patient enough to wait that long. So I found someone with a truck who would pick them up for me. It will be nice to have that done. I also packed all the leaves and stuff in garbage bags and set them out by the curb to be picked up with the trash today. I felt pretty good about my yard when I finished, so I didn't feel bad about spending several hours reading a book.

The book I read was If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where's My Prince? by Melissa Kantor. This book is nothing new, but if you like romantic fiction it is a good read. Lucy's father has remarried and moved her from California to New York, so she can live with her new stepmother and her two new stepsisters. Her father has some business to finish in California so Lucy is there alone. She feels invisible at her new school until she has a conversation about basketball with the "cutest guy in school." And suddenly Lucy's life is looking up. She sees that maybe she can have a prince since she has a wicked stepmother and two wicked stepsisters. However, Lucy starts to see that maybe the prince isn't so perfect after all. This book is witty, light and very entertaining and Lucy is a strong female character.

Absolutely Positively Not...Gay

I had to laugh at the book Absolutely Positively Not...Gay by David LaRochelle. The main character Steven is a closet square dancer. At school every year before Christmas, our students go to the gym and square dance. The gym is filled with students who really enjoy the activity. So it was funny to see Steven who doesn't want his friends to know that he likes to square dance. Steven has other problems too. He doesn't like sports, his best friend is a girl, and he just can't seem to find any enthusiasm for the Victoria Secret catalog, but he is "absolutely positively not gay!" This book treats the subject of sexuality in a humorous, but honest way. Steven tries to deny who he really is by dating as many girls as possible and reading a book that attempts to curb his "deviant behavior." This book is sometimes laugh out loud funny and sometimes it really makes you think about teens and the world we live in. We all can understand how Steven feels as he searches for someone to talk to--someone who shares his feelings. And everyone--gay or straight--can understand the need to be accepted.

Looking for J.J.

I like to watch sports of TV. I watched the KU basketball game last night. It was not a very good game, so I didn't have to pay close attention which was good because I was reading a really good book.

Looking for J.J. by Anne Cassidy is a good mystery novel. Six years ago 10 year old Jennifer Jones killed her best friend. She has now been released from prison and is trying to make a new life for herself. However, the tabloids will not leave Jennifer Jones alone. They want interviews and want to know why one child would kill another and want to see what kind of monster she is. J.J. has become Alice as she tries to put her past behind her. However, Alice is haunted by what happened when she was 10 years old and so is the reader. The story of the murder is told in flashbacks as the reader discovers what happened with J.J. and her friend and her family. If you like books that keep you guessing, this is a good one. And I really liked the ending because it seemed real. I don't like books that have those canned endings that tie everything up nicely and put it in a neat little box. Life is messy and I like books that reflect that. Looking for J.J. does that.

Twisted

Happy New Year! And Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

I am a few days behind. The Jayhawks won the Orange Bowl last Thursday night, so it is a good time to be from Kansas! Of course, I stayed up and watched the game and then I was tired the next day. I don't think that I was the only one though.

I am still trying to get back into the swing of school after the Christmas vacation. One of my New Year resolutions is to blog more often. We'll have to see how that goes; it doesn't look too promising. I don't know what happened to the vacation time. I thought that I would have lots of time to read, but somehow that didn't happen. I guess that there were too many friends and family members to see because I only read one book over the break.

The book was a really good one. Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson was a really good read! I loved Speak and also enjoyed Prom which are also by her, so I knew that I would enjoy it. I liked the twisted pencil on the front cover of the book which is what made me pick it up to begin with. (Yes, I judge books by their covers.) Anyway I don't know why, but I expected it to be a fun read like Prom instead of being thought-provoking like Speak. However, this book really made me think and it was a great combination of funny and sad. Tyler Miller was socially invisible before he spray-painted the school and became "dangerous." As he describes himself, "I was a zit on the butt of the student body." But the physical labor he does for his community service with the school custodians and his summer job working for a landscaper transform him from a wimpy junior to a strong, ripped senior. Suddenly the girl of his dreams sees him and his new muscles in a new light and his social life has hope. When naked pictures of Brittany are posted on the Internet, the police and the school come after Tyler. When there seems to be no justice for Tyler, he considers many possible escapes including running away and suicide. Although the book doesn't have a "happily-ever-after" ending, Tyler perseveres and shows strong moral integrity. This book is sad and funny and hopeful!