Hello my fellow Kindle-ites! Hope everyone is having a fantastic week.  Tomorrow I will post the review for “The Lovely Bones” but to quench your literary appetites until then… here is this weeks addition to “It’s A Tween Thing.”  Happy reading and remember: When THIS worlds got you down…pick up a new one!

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Amazon.com Review

Amazon Best Books of the Month, January 2010 They don’t call it middle school for nothing. Reggie McKnight (aka “Pukey”) is trying hard to stay under the radar after a really embarrassing start to the school year. But, he’s somehow been drawn into the middle of a big school election, a volunteer project at the local homeless shelter, and the role of “Big Buddy” for a kid in the neighborhood. How will he ever find time to finish his comic book, Night Man? Reggie might see himself as a wimpy kid, but he’s anything but as steps up to new challenges and confronts big questions about doing the right thing in a tough world. Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich’s debut novel is a smart and satisfying read for teens and ‘tweens. –Lauren Nemroff

Product Description

Ever since a deeply unfortunate incident earlier this year, Reggie’s been known as “Pukey” McKnight at his high-intensity Brooklyn middle school. He wants to turn his image around, but he has other things on his mind as well: his father, who’s out of a job; his best friends, Ruthie and Joe C.; his former best friend Donovan, who’s now become a jerk; and of course, the beautiful Mialonie. The elections for school president are coming up, but with his notorious nickname and “nothing” social status, Reggie wouldn’t stand a chance, if he even had the courage to run.

Then Reggie gets involved with a local homeless shelter, the Olive Branch. Haunted by two of the clients there–George, a once-proud man now living on the streets, and Charlie, a six-year-old kid who becomes his official “Little Buddy”–he begins to think about making a difference, both in the world and at school. Pukey for President? It can happen . . . if he starts believing.

For those of you who like to plan ahead (like me) here are a few “potential” goodies to look out for in 2010. The majority of these can be pre-ordered through your Amazon account, but don’t you worry your pretty little heads, I will read and review each and everyone of these when they come out… just in case are skeptical of my taste

2010 Preview

* The Line *

Release 3.4.10

Product Description

An invisible, uncrossable physical barrier encloses the Unified States. The Line is the part of the border that lopped off part of the country, dooming the inhabitants to an unknown fate when the enemy used a banned weapon. It’s said that bizarre creatures and super humans live on the other side, in Away. Nobody except tough old Ms. Moore would ever live next to the Line.

Nobody but Rachel and her mother, who went to live there after Rachel’s dad died in the last war. It’s a safe, quiet life. Until Rachel finds a mysterious recorded message that can only have come from Away. The voice is asking for help.

Who sent the message? Why is her mother so protective? And to what lengths is Rachel willing to go in order to do what she thinks is right?

* The Dead-Tossed Waves *

(The Forest of Hands and Teeth Book 2)

Release 3.9.10

Product Description

Gabry lives a quiet life. As safe a life as is possible in a town trapped between a forest and the ocean, in a world teeming with the dead, who constantly hunger for those still living. She’s content on her side of the Barrier, happy to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. But there are threats the Barrier cannot hold back. Threats like the secrets Gabry’s mother thought she left behind when she escaped from the Sisterhood and the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Like the cult of religious zealots who worship the dead. Like the stranger from the forest who seems to know Gabry. And suddenly, everything is changing. One reckless moment, and half of Gabry’s generation is dead, the other half imprisoned. Now Gabry only knows one thing: she must face the forest of her mother’s past in order to save herself and the one she loves.

* The Body Finder *

Release 3.16.10

Product Description

Violet Ambrose is starting her junior year in high school and faces problems shared by many teens. She is madly in love with Jay Heaton, her best friend since first grade, but does not know if he feels the same. She is trying to do well at school, but classes do not always hold her interest. Unlike others, however, Violet has the ability—or perhaps the curse—of sensing violent deaths around her. Every demise leaves a hint screaming to be discovered: sometimes a sheen of colors, other times a chorus of bells or even a specific smell. When Violet was eight, she discovered a girl’s body in the woods behind her house. This same killer is now striking her community again, kidnapping and murdering teenage girls. He even seems to be getting closer to Violet with every kill. She must deal with her emotions for Jay at the same time as she tries to stop this vicious murderer before it is too late for both. Derting’s first novel provides the reader with both Violet’s and the killer’s perspectives. Violet’s fear is palpable and rises as her attempt to find the murderer leads her close to death and as she confronts her feelings for Jay. The explicit and unsettlingly candid tone of the killer reminds one of Robert Cormier’s Tenderness (Delacorte, 1997), while several twists and turns keep the pages flipping. Older readers will quickly find themselves pulled into Derting’s neighborhood. Reviewer: Etiene Vallee

* Sleepless *

Release 7.13.10

Product Description

Eron DeMarchelle isn’t supposed to feel this connection. He is a Sandman, a supernatural being whose purpose is to seduce his human charges to sleep. Though he can communicate with his charges in their dreams, he isn’t encouraged to do so. After all, becoming too involved in one human’s life could prevent him from helping others get their needed rest.

But he can’t deny that he feels something for Julia, a lonely girl with fiery red hair and sad dreams. Just weeks ago, her boyfriend died in a car accident, and Eron can tell that she feels more alone than ever. Eron was human once too, many years ago, and he remembers how it felt to lose the one he loved. In the past, Eron has broken rules to protect Julia, but now, when she seems to need him more than ever, he can’t reach her. Eron’s time as a Sandman is coming to a close, and his replacement doesn’t seem to care about his charges. Worse, Julia is facing dangers she doesn’t recognize, and Eron, as he transitions back to being human, may be the only one who can save her. . . .

Even once they’ve become human again, Sandmen are forbidden to communicate with their charges. But Eron knows he won’t be able to forget Julia. Will he risk everything for a chance to be with the girl he loves?

Cyn Balog’s follow-up to Fairy Tale has more wit, more supernatural delights, and more star-crossed romance! Teen girls will love this story of a Sandman who falls in love with his human charge.

* Light Beneath Ferns *

Release 1.31.10

Product Description

I have this strange sense that my silence is preparing me for something I can’t name . . .

Elizah Rayne is nothing like other fourteen-year-old girls. More interested in bird bones than people, she wraps herself in silence. Trying to escape the shadow of her gambler father, Elizah and her mother move into an old house that borders a cemetery. All her mother wants is for them to have “normal” lives. But that becomes impossible for Elizah when she finds a human jawbone by the river and meets Nathaniel, a strangely hypnotic boy who draws Elizah into his dreamlike and mysterious world.

Only by forgetting everything she knows can Elizah understand the truth about Nathaniel—and discover an unimaginable secret.

* Folly *

Release 5.11.10

Product Description

Three fates intertwine in this moving and passionate love story set in Victorian London.

Mary Finn: country girl, maid to a lord in London

Caden Tucker: liar, scoundrel, and heart’s delight

James Nelligan: age six, tossed into a herd of boys

When Mary Finn falls into the arms of handsome Caden Tucker, their frolic changes the course of her life. What possesses her? She’s been a girl of common sense until now. Mary’s tale alternates with that of young James Nelligan, a new boy in an enormous foundling home.

In Folly, Marthe Jocelyn’s breathtaking command of language, detail, and character brings Victorian London to life on every page, while the deep emotions that illuminate this fascinating novel about life-changing moments are as current as today’s news.

* Linger *

(Shiver Book 2)

Release 7.20.10

Product Description

* Glimmerglass *

Release 5.25.10

Product Description

Dana Hathaway doesn’t know it yet, but she’s in big trouble. When her mother, an alcoholic, shows up at her voice recital drunk, Dana decides she’s had it with playing the role of her mother’s keeper, so she packs her bags and travels to see her mysterious father in Avalon: the only place on Earth where the regular, everyday world and the magical world of Faerie intersect. Dana is a Faeriewalker, a rare individual who can travel between both worlds. She has always known that her father is a big-deal Fae, but what she doesn’t realize is that she could be the key to his rise in power. When she arrives in Avalon, Dana finds herself a pawn in the game of magical politics. Avalon is a place where both magic and technology work, and humans and Fae coexist in something resembling peace. How can she change the winds of fate, find a boyfriend, and make new friends when she’s not sure who, if anyone, can be trusted?

* The Evil Within *

Release 6.10.10

Product Description

POSSESSIONS: A haunted, super-exclusive boarding school high in the mountains of Northern California…faces in mirrors, statues that move…and Lindsay, who’s had a nervous breakdown, fighting for her sanity, her life…and her soul.

Happy Tuesday!! Here is a cute one for the girls. Enjoy and remember: Reading is contagious…pass it on!

Bella and the Royal Fairy Wedding

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Product Description

Princess Jasmine is getting ready to marry the Fairy King. There’s just one problem–where’s the crown? Forgetful Fairy Bella put it somewhere, and now she can’t remember where. Will she find it in time?

Complete with a wearable glittery crown perfect for a fairy princess, lift-the-flaps on every page, and a spectacular pop-up spread, Bella and the Royal Fairy Wedding will charm and delight young children.

Guest Reviewer – Nicole

Having absolutely adored Beastly, I was quick to grab Flinn’s newest fairy tale rewrite off the shelf when I found it by chance (the fact that there wasn’t a hold list going shocked me).

Flinn’s writing with each book she writes just keeps improving, but compared to her old stuff, which involved real life issues, well I’m an escapist reader so it’s not even a fair comparison, A Kiss in Time and Beastly are light years better than her other young adult novels.

Sleeping Beauty wakes up in the 21st century by the kiss of her one true love–after sleeping for 300 years. Only this time Talia is a bratty princess and isn’t used to things not going her way.

This book could not have been any better, it was perfect and nearly impossible to close, that is until you flip the last page.

To say I loved this book is an understatement–I am addicted to this book.

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(5/5)

Apple Courts Publishers, While Kindle Adds Apps

SAN FRANCISCO — It’s a formidable high-tech face-off: Amazon.com versus Apple for the hearts and minds of book publishers, authors and readers.

Amazon’s Kindle devices and electronic bookstore now dominate a nascent but booming market, accounting for more than 70 percent of electronic reader sales and 80 percent of e-book purchases, according to some analysts. And on Thursday it will take a page from Apple and announce that it is opening up the Kindle to outside software developers.

Apple’s much-anticipated tablet computer, which is widely expected to be announced next Wednesday and go on sale this spring, will be a far more versatile (and expensive) device that will offer access to books, newspapers and other reading material through Apple’s popular App Store on iTunes.

Book publishers, who rail against the dominance of Amazon and its insistence on discounting new releases to $9.99, are now playing the tech titans against each other.

In the process, they may be rushing from the clutches of one tenacious chief executive, Jeffrey P. Bezos, into the arms of another, Steven P. Jobs, whose obstinacy over pricing has given the music industry similar paroxysms of anxiety.

“Will Kindle pricing trump Apple sex appeal? Isn’t that the question, really?” said Richard Charkin, executive director of Bloomsbury Publishing in London, who has been watching developments in e-book sales with keen interest. “I haven’t the faintest idea. All I would say is, great. The more people that are out there marketing books in digital or any other format, the better.”

There are now almost daily tactical moves by various parties in the business, with no end in sight.

In its announcement Thursday, Amazon will say that it is letting programmers create what it calls active content — similar to applications — for the Kindle and keep 70 percent of the revenue from each sale after paying for wireless delivery costs.

Amazon will release a set of programming guidelines that other companies — including publishers of books and periodicals — can use to create and sell applications for the Kindle.

Until Amazon introduces more advanced models of the Kindle, developers will be limited by its slow-to-refresh black-and-white screen.

Ian Freed, vice president for the Kindle at Amazon, said he expected developers would devise a wide range of programs, including utilities like calculators, stock tickers and casual video games. He also predicts publishers will begin selling a new breed of e-books, like searchable travel books and restaurant guides that can be tailored to the Kindle owner’s location; textbooks with interactive quizzes; and novels that combine text and audio.

“We knew from the earliest days of the Kindle that invention was not all going to take place within the walls of Amazon,” Mr. Freed said. “We wanted to open this up to a wide range of creative people, from developers to publishers to authors, to build whatever they like.”

The move may also represent a shift in Amazon’s relationship with newspapers and magazines that make digital editions for the Kindle. Many executives at those organizations have expressed dissatisfaction with their 30 percent cut of subscription fees on the Kindle and lack of a direct relationship with those subscribers.

With a Kindle app store, those media companies will be able to sell more profitable Kindle applications, and present news that is updated throughout the day.

Amazon may be rushing to change the rules of its Kindle platform with an eye toward the fanfare that will no doubt greet Apple’s long-awaited tablet. The devices, to be sure, are fundamentally different: Amazon has positioned the Kindle as the ultimate reading device, easy on the eyes and slow to deplete its battery. Analysts say that to buyers of an Apple tablet, playing video or video games may be more important than reading.

But for book publishers, Apple’s introduction provides a potentially golden opportunity: the chance to counter Amazon’s control over the e-book market and regain some leverage over sensitive matters like pricing.

Apple representatives have been in New York this week talking to the largest trade publishers, according to industry executives. They said Apple had proposed an arrangement under which publishers would get to set the price of their books, with Apple taking a 30 percent commission and the publishers keeping the rest. Steve Dowling, an Apple spokesman, declined to comment on what he called “rumors and speculation.”

Depending on whether Apple sets an upper limit on pricing, its model could be much more appealing to publishers, who resent how Amazon has aggressively discounted their books. Typically, Amazon charges $9.99 for new releases and best sellers, a price that other e-book vendors, including Sony and Barnes & Noble, have effectively been forced to follow.

While Amazon pays publishers a wholesale price typically equivalent to half the list price of a print book — meaning that Amazon generally sells new e-books at a loss — publishers fear that Amazon has accustomed buyers to unreasonably low prices. They say that if Kindle were to maintain its dominant position, it could force publishers to lower their wholesale prices.

The probable entry of Apple and its tablet into the e-book market gives publishers hope that they might gain some leverage in negotiations with Amazon. They could, for example, delay the release of e-books in the Kindle store while selling more expensive versions for the Apple tablet.

“There’s a battle going on for what is the value of a digital book,” said a publishing executive who did not want to be quoted by name because of the delicacy of discussions with Apple. “In that battle, Apple has put an offer together that helps publishers and, by extension, authors.” Some publishers warn that Apple’s terms can be restrictive in other ways, and that a model that looks good in theory may not be as attractive in practice.

And Amazon has moved to counter Apple’s appeals as well. On Wednesday it announced it would improve the royalty terms for authors or publishers who publish e-books directly onto the Kindle — essentially beckoning authors and their agents to split off e-book rights and sell them directly to Amazon.

Under the new terms, Amazon says it will offer authors and publishers who set e-book prices below $9.99 a royalty rate of 70 percent of the digital list price (after delivery costs, typically about 6 cents a book) — an obvious echo of Apple’s offering.

But publishers can anticipate another high-tech heavyweight entering the business: Google, which has pushed its own plans to begin selling e-books.

“The more companies that control consumer transactions, the more important the publishers’ role will be,” said Mike Shatzkin, chief executive of Idealog, which helps publishers develop digital strategies. “If Apple enters this market, and in three months Google follows, we may be looking at a completely different e-book world in the next year.”

Everyone loves a Fairytale, it’s what we grew up on…stories of Cinderella and her glass slipper, tales of Little Red Ridding Hood and her fight to save her grandmother’s life.  We relish in the details, little girls spend hours pretending that their handsome prince is right around the corner, but what happens when there is no happy ending? Well, if you have read the original “Brothers Grimm Tales” then you already know, but for the rest of you…just imagine if the handsome prince wasn’t so handsome…imagine that after 5 months in the castle Cinderella concluded her new husband was a whack job…imagine if someone decided to twist the stories we grew up loving.

“Amanda Marrone” did exactly that in “Devoured” twisting and turning the story of Snow White in to a whole new tale of desperation and greed.

Megan has a little problem…her sister Remy is a ghost. A very small, very wet, very cranky ghost, who follows “Meggy” everywhere showing her glimpses of dead girls and throwing epic tantrums that cause light bulbs to shatter.  Her father is in a coma, her mother spends every waking hour training a dog to dance, and there’s a new boy in the mix that turns out to be a “Ghost Whisperer.”

After deciding her boyfriend has a little too much freedom, Megan takes a job playing the part of Snow White, in the “Land of Enchantment” amusement park, and while she’s ok with fake smiles and dads who tend to grope she’s not ok with hiding from approaching death in an oven in the Hansel and Gretel ride.

The writing was fluid and the plot was intriguing, like I said before…”Marrone” took a story we all know and love and flipped it into a full out battle of psycho ancestors and a magic mirror with a warped sense of humor.  The ending was a little bit abrupt, but by no means did it affect the story.

There were creepy moments inside a dark tunnel, a drunk mother who loves pink velour, haywire nursing home equipment, bad apples, a very dedicated father willing to do anything for his deranged daughter, hidden graves, and 1 very good reason to never loose your keys.

Overall I liked it… it was nice to see things from a different angle.

Get it, live it, love it…pass it on.

Happy reading my fellow Fairytale lovers and remember: never waste your 3rd wish.

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(4/5)

As promised welcome to “It’s A Tween Thing ” Thursday’s.  After almost a year of ignoring the impressionable minds of pre-teens I realized I was doing them a horrible disservice. So here it is.. The 1st in a long line of fantastic books penned to fuel the imaginations of America’s future.  Happy reading and remember: when this worlds got you down…pick up a new one!

The Magician’s Elephant

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Amazon.com Review

Amazon Best of the Month, September 2009: Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo–author of The Tale of Despereaux and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane– has crafted another exquisite novel for young readers. The Magician’s Elephant tells the tale of Peter Augustus Duchene, a ten-year-old orphan who receives an unbelievable piece of information from the local fortuneteller. Peter learns that his fate is tied to an elephant that has inexplicably fallen from the sky when a magician’s trick goes terribly wrong. Why did it happen? And, how can an elephant possibly change the course of Peter’s life? This darkly atmospheric, yet hopeful tale, demonstrates that when the answers to life’s big questions are opaque or unforthcoming, all is not lost. DiCamillo’s rhythmic writing, combined with Yoko Tanaka’s mysterious black-and-white illustrations, enchants and calls out to our sincerest wishes and dreams (recommended for readers ages 8-13). –Lauren Nemroff

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 4–6—On a perfectly ordinary day, Peter Augustus Duchene goes to the market square of the city of Baltese. Instead of buying the fish and bread that his guardian, Vilna Lutz, has asked him to procure, he uses the coin to pay a fortune-teller to get information about his sister, whom he believes to be dead. He is told that she is alive, and that an elephant will lead him to her. That very night at a performance in the town’s opera house, a magician conjures up an elephant (by mistake) that crashes through the roof and cripples the society dame she happens to land on. The lives of the boy, his guardian, and the local policeman, along with the magician and his unfortunate victim, as well as a beggar, his dog, a sculptor, and a nun all intertwine in a series of events triggered by the appearance of the elephant. Miraculous events resolve not only the mystery of the whereabouts of Peter’s sister, but also the deeper needs of all of the individuals involved. DiCamillo’s carefully crafted prose creates an evocative aura of timelessness for a story that is, in fact, timeless. Tanaka’s acrylic artwork is meticulous in detail and aptly matches the tone of the narrative. This is a book that demands to be read aloud.—Tim Wadham, St. Louis County Library, MO
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What happens when we die? Do we descend to heaven? Hell? Are we stuck in some sort of everlasting parallel we refer to as purgatory? Where does our soul go? What do we remember? Who is there with us?

These are the questions “Laura Whitcomb” tries to answer in “A Certain Slant of Light.”

Helen is a ghost, she has spent hundreds of years following one host after another, joining in their daily activities and clinging to them as if they were her only source of life, in a somewhat clumsy attempt to find her way to heaven. She does not know who she is, she does not know what she did to be stuck in the loop she’s in, and she is sad.

After years of lonely wandering, blind to those in the “Quick” world around her, she suddenly notices a boy staring at her, his name is James, he is the answer to her prayers, and a way out. (or in… If you’re looking for acuracy.)

Although “Whitcomb’s” writing at some points are breathtaking, spouting beautiful descriptives such as: “They line the walls like a thousand leather doorways to be opened into worlds unknown.” the book was horribly jumpy. One moment I was reading a captivating novel about the implications of being a ghost and the next I felt as though I had inadvertently picked up the wrong book and starting perusing some horribly cheesy Harlequin, complete with instant love and naked marriage proposals.

Needless to say…40% of the way through I lost interest.

Fortunatly in the last 30 pages the plot picked back up… but unfortunately, I was sound asleep by then.

I wanted to like this book, I even tried to convince myself that I was being to harsh on it, but the reality of it is… I just didn’t give a crap. (which is never a good sign.)

It was a book…I read it…now I’m moving on.

There were moments of body hopping, a cult-ish like… secretive father who made my skin crawl, an overly protective big brother with understandable trust issues, an odd skittishly written war scene, a very sad moment of self recognition, and 1 very uncomfortable meeting with a shrink.

Even with all the little moments of literary genius…the complexities of the plot and the well thought out moral lesson, (except the mistakes you’ve made and forgive yourself.) it was still a flop.

Save your money.

Happy reading my fellow Kindle-ites and remember: everyone has a muse… chances are you just can’t see yours.

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(2/5)

Hello my fellow Kindle-ites…  I’m sorry I haven’t  posted a review recently, but I have been caught up in an unexpected medical whirlwind.  That being said… I did in fact finally finish the book I was reading and will have a review ready for you tomorrow.  Until then… Happy Tuesday, here’s one for the Tiny Tots in your life.

Smelly Locker – Silly Dilly School Songs

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