in a Heartbeat

November begins with a unusual New England snow storm which reeked havoc on trees and power lines. School has been canceled for days now and until recently we didn't have power either. The good part of no electronics is it means more time to read. My daughter and I finished one book and are well on our way to finishing the second in just a few days. So what's my choice for this week?

"In a Heartbeat" by Loretta Ellsworth
Scholastic Publishing, ISBN 978545389600

Amelia and Egan are two teenage girls who lives are about to link in ways neither of them imagined.

Eagan is an outgoing, driven young figure skater; determined to push herself to the Olympics. There are secrets in her family that complicate her relationship with her parents, especially with her overbearing "skater-mom" mother. She just received her driver's license, just got a boy friend and wants to experience life a little, much to her mothers dismay.

Amelia's personality and family life is opposite from Egan's. Amelia is quiet and unassuming. Athletics are no longer possible since Amelia received news six years ago that her heart was defective. She is apprehensive about receiving a new heart, knowing that her joy is obtained through the tragedy of another. Amelia is on the heart donor transplant list.

Yes, you are correct if you think you know where this story is heading. Eagan's life is cut short when she falls during a jump at her skating competition. Amelia is to receive Eagan's heart since Eagan checked the organ donor box on her drivers license.

This story is told from alternating viewpoints of Eagan and Amelia. Amelia finds from the moment she wakes up in the hospital that she is carrying more than just the heart of her donor. Amelia starts taking on characteristics of her new donor. Some neurophychologists call this cellular memory, theorizing that memory is not exclusive to brain cells. Eagan's story is told from the fog of the afterlife, she sees her life, both the good part and bad, through memories. Eagan's drive in life and conflicts with her mother pushes Amelia to find her donor's parents and give them closure.

Personally, I found this story to be an excellent YA book. I was interested in the way the author showed the personality of both girls, shaped by their family relationships. The subject of organ donation was also a often overlooked subject for a young adult book. Loretta Ellsworth did a superb job dealing with this subject of young people who have to deal with organ donation and those who lose their lives unexpectedly.

Girl, Stolen by April Henry

Scholastic Publishing

Cheyenne Wilder, a sixteen-year-old girl has just stepped into a nightmare. She's sleeping in the back of her car while her step-mother gets her some medicine for her pneumonia. A strange man gets into the car and starts driving away... with her in the car. Terrifying? Yes! Now add to that situation the fact that Cheyenne is blind. What starts as a car theft turns into a kidnapping scheme when the thieves find out Cheyenne is the daughter of Nike's president.

This story is an excellent choice for middle school readers. It has all the suspense and action most kids enjoy in a good book. I especially liked how April Henry developed Cheyenne's character; explaining how she learned to uses her senses,both physical senses and emotional senses, to survive in a sighted world.

Stolen, by Lucy Christopher.
Gemma is traveling with her parents. While in an airport, the cup of coffee she ordered at the stand is paid for by a stranger, a man called Ty with entrancing blue eyes, a man who pays attention to her. He seems familiar some how...

Ty drugs Gemma and takes her away to the Australian outback to be with him forever. Who is Ty? Why did he decide to kidnap Gemma? Will she be able to escape such an isolated and hostile place? Will she want to?

This book is an amazing book of survival. We learn what happens to a person who has to do what is needed to survive. Fascinating! Definitely, a MUST READ!!

What a great tale of Nicky Flynn and his new dog, Reggie. Nicky has had a rough couple of months. His parents just separated. He just moved to the Boston suburb of Charlestown with his mom. Which means a tiny apartment with no bedroom of his own, a new school. Life can't get much worse. Then his mom brings home a dog. Reggie is a retired seeing eye dog who takes over Nicky life. That's a good thing! With Reggie faithfully at his side through good times and bad. Nicky and Reggie walk through the streets of historic Boston finding the clues to life and finding new friends along the way too

Library Books on the Kindle, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Amazon

Library Books on the Kindle, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Amazon

Two book to choose from.

Doesn't it seem that we start one book then inevitably forget it and start a second, third, etc. Many students and adults find difficulty in following two stories. Maybe it's the multitasking mom thing but I'm okay with it. In fact, for me it's like overindulging in food; I always have room for more. So... what am I currently reading?

Book 1: "The Help" by Katheryn Stockett. A young white woman, Skeeter, comes back from college with the drive to follow her career path in Journalism unlike her friends who chose to give up their dreams to marry and have children. She convinces the maids of prominent socialite families to write about their experiences serving white people. Set during the Civil rights era of the early 1960's, the story delves into the relationship and expectations women during this time when women's rights were still evolving and the dangerous times for African American's searching for a voice for equality.



Book 2: "Thirteen Reason's Why: by Jay Asher. Clay Jensen comes home to a package filled with several cassette tapes from a girl who committed suicide two weeks earlier. In the tapes she explains the thirteen reasons why she decided to take her life.

Both books so far have been intense and intriguing. I actually find similarities in the way both books explore the relationships the girls/women have with the men in their environment. In both cases the women are fit into stereotypical roles that they rebel against in completely different ways.

I would recommend either to higher middle school to high school and up.

Books, Books, Books

My Blog is about to change it format. I hope you don't mind!

"Book Scouter" will be my muse for the books I've read. Since I work in a middle school, many of the books will be appropriate for grades 6-8. However, there may be more adults books as well. If anyone out there finds this blog and reads it, please fell free to comment.

Current favorite: The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

More to come...