March Madness!

I wanted to try to post something every day this month. Whew! I made it. Today's post is going to be pretty brief though as it is late and I have a long drive tomorrow morning so I am hurrying.

Fortunately, I will not be posting every day all of the time. Sometimes the posts were long and sometimes they were short, but they always take time for thinking and creating. I don't want my blog to be something that stresses me out, so I will try not to do challenges like this all of the time. Thanks for visiting the blog and I hope that sometimes there are things on here that are helpful.

Having the blog is helpful for me for sure because it gets me thinking. And makes me look for things like this:

Favorite Audio Books

Audio books are such fabulous things - especially when on a road trip. I am so thankful to have audio books to keep me awake and help me keep up with my reading. Here are a few that I have really enjoyed over the years.

Children's Lit

 

Young Adult

Which audio books would you recommend? Happy listening!

Naomi Shihab Nye

I would love to have her as a teacher.

Review: Hide and Seek

Title: Hide and Seek (Capture the Flag #2)

Author: Kate Messner

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Pages: 256 pages

Audience: Ages 8-12

Genres: Mystery, Action/Adventure

Review Copy: E-ARC via NetGalley

Release Date: April 1, 2013

Summary from Goodreads: A fast-paced mystery from the author of CAPTURE THE FLAG!

José, Anna, and Henry are junior members of the secret Silver Jaguar Society, sworn to protect the world's most important artifacts. When they discover that the society's treasured Jaguar Cup has been replaced with a counterfeit, the trio and their families rush to the rain forests of Costa Rica in search of the real chalice. But when the trail runs dry, new mysteries emerge: Who can they trust? Is there a traitor in their midst? With danger at every turn, it will take more than they realize for José and his friends to recover the cup before it falls into the wrong hands.

My Review: Kate Messner has delivered another action-filled and intriguing mystery for her fans.  José, Anna and Henry find plenty of danger and excitement as they help the Silver Jaguar Society try to find the missing Jaguar Cup. In this installment, readers are treated to unusual animals like the glass frogs and bullet ants as the young investigators tromp through the Costa Rican jungle. She also provided a cave excursion. The walls have glowing crystal formations and it all sounds quite amazing.

In addition to a colorful and lush setting, Messner has just the right balance of suspense, humor and action throughout the book. There are chases through the jungle, snot frogs, a zip line, a "swinging bridge of death" and many other bits of fun to bring a chuckle and a smile to the faces of readers. For the mystery lovers, there is plenty to puzzle out and try to solve as the junior Silver Jaguars work to recover the cup and keep each other safe. There are also a few other threads of the story to untangle since the friends are keeping a few secrets from each other. Of course this leads to some difficulties between the friends, but that adds to the believability as they fuss at each other on occasion. What is a bit harder to believe is that their parents are once again not really in the picture during the story, but that isn't terribly distracting. So much is going on that it is just a blip.

Hide and Seek has much going for it and with the wonderful sense of place that Messner has created, this book surpasses the first in my eyes. Hide and Seek will be a welcome addition to any library.

Extras:

Hide and Seek Resources Pinterest Board

Costa Rica Wildlife

More Blogging Fun

After the #diverselit chat on Twitter a few weeks ago, another woman and I connected. We had both wanted to do something to promote diverse literature. One way to do that is to purchase such books and spread the word. We now have the blog up and a few reviews already posted. My head spins just thinking about how quickly we have been working, but it has also been fantastically fun. If you are interested in becoming involved or would like to take advantage of the reviews, information, and resources there, please stop by Rich in Color. We are looking for some more people who would like to be co-bloggers so if you or anyone you know might want to join us, we would be happy to hear from you.

Tuesday Trailer: Courage Has No Color

Courage Has No Color short book trailer from Tanya Lee Stone on Vimeo.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Jen & Kellee over at Teach Mentor Texts host a meme every Monday that invites people to share the children's and young adult books they have been reading over the past week and what they plan on reading the following week.

You may find more complete information about what I am reading at Goodreads or by clicking on the Goodreads widget along the side of my blog.

I didn't realize how little I have read until I started this post. They were all good though.

The Past Week:

Young Adult

Just as I suspected (and the primary reason it took me so long to read it), Wintergirls was a challenging read. Experiencing an eating disorder even a fictional one, is quite emotional and difficult. I had been avoiding it, but so many people have praised the book. I knew that Laurie Halse Anderson writes so clearly and always makes me see her characters as real people so I was a bit afraid to go there. I read it "with my ears" so was puzzled by some of the things happening. I realized after I read a review that the voice actor was having to deal with crossed out words and sentences. I will have to flip through an actual copy so I can get a sense of how the book looked too. This was a great audio book.

I really enjoyed Orleans. It is set in the future when New Orleans has been ravaged by hurricanes and a plague. I have a more thorough review posted at a new blog focused on diverse YA lit called Rich in Color. There are also some links to a giveaway and a prequel. By the way, if you or anyone you know is interested in contributing to that blog, we are recruiting for bloggers.

I am coming to comic books and graphic novels late in life so am still developing my taste for them. I enjoyed Batwoman: Elegy. She is certainly one tough lady. I am still not a comic book reader at this point, but she just may win me over.

The Coming Week:

I am in the middle of an audio book by Bruchac called The Winter People. I am always amazed at the difference in the way French and Native Americans interacted contrasted with the British. I am also reading Dodger by Pratchett. After that I will be reading Courage Has No Color. Then, I am not sure what will be next. There happen to be at least 11 books behind me and more at school, so I have plenty to choose from for Spring Break which should instead be called Spring long weekend. Happy reading!