Murder and Mayhem on World Book Day

While I enjoy watching criminal shows and mysteries on television, I don't usually read those types of novels. The few times I have in the past, they were a bit...cheesy for my taste. Well, obviously, I wasn't tasting the right kind.

First, my regular book club chose Defending Jacob, by William Landay, for our book this month. We met on Saturday to discuss it. It is a great novel, but not a happy one. The premise is a teenage boy is murdered in the park on his way to school and another boy is accused of the murder. The boy accused of the murder just happens to be the Assistant District Attorney's son. There are many sides to this story, and it definitely keeps you interested. No boring pages in this novel. The book is heart-wrenchingly good...and more than a bit creepy.

Second, I just finished (and by 'just', I mean less than 10  minutes ago) Mary Kubica's debut novel from 2014, The Good Girl. Wow, what a ride! This book was recommended to me by one of my advanced reading students. Actually, it was more than that. She didn't simply recommend it, she brought her copy to school, put it in my hand, and told me to read it. My student has excellent taste. 

The Good Girl is not a young adult novel, it's an adult fiction book. It's a bit complex in the way it is set up, but I liked it that way. I will tell you that the novel jumps around between characters and points-of-view. It also goes back and forth between the present and the past. It is done very well, but I know some of my friends who don't like when a novel does that, so...don't say I didn't tell you up front.

The novel is a story of a young woman who gets abducted. In the story, we hear from the kidnapper, the mother of the victim, and the detective in charge of the case. We hear about the victim from the others, but don't hear from the victim herself. It's an interesting thriller, with lots of unexpected twists and turns. I really enjoyed the ride and look forward to discussing it with my student tomorrow.

That's all I have for tonight, folks. I'm sorry to cut it short, but it's been a glorious day filled with family and friends celebrating my granddaughter's second birthday. I'm barely able to keep my eyes open as I write this, but I was determined to put out the good word for these two novels before I went to bed.

I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend, and a beautiful World Book Day!!

Happy reading! :)

Cooney's Series is Still a Winner!

I have separate book clubs at school for my boy students and my girl students. I find it works better that way. Not necessarily because of book choices, but for comfort levels on both sides of the gender fence. My students prefer it this way, as well.

Recently, my girls' book club read Caroline B. Cooney's novel, The Face on the Milk Carton. I had been looking for a good book in our school's book room and not having much luck in finding multiple copies of something I thought looked interesting until I found this one...

This is not a new book. It was originally published in 1990, and it is the first book in the Janie Johnson series. I hadn't read it before, but I remembered my youngest daughter loved it when she was in middle school, so I called her up for a recommendation. When my twenty-year-old child can remember a book she liked in sixth grade, that's a very good sign. :)

The series revolves around a teenage girl, Janie, who sees herself in a little girl's picture on a milk carton at school. She begins to question if she was kidnapped when she was little. She sets out, along with her boyfriend, to try to discover if there are any secrets in her past or her family's past.

Here's a good book trailer my girls' gave a "thumbs up" rating to after reading the book:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzmdiN_ErMA

Not only did I enjoy the first book, but I ended up ordering the second one to give to the girls last week when our book club ended. They wanted to continue the story and discuss on their own. I just gave it to them last Friday and most of them have already finished it and want the next one! 

While this may not impress you if you are an avid reader, I should mention that these students are reluctant readers. They do not simply read on their own because they want to read. For the most part, they thought reading was boring...until now! 

It has been so much fun watching their excitement over the books and discussing it with them in the hallway. At least once a day I hear, "Look, look what chapter I'm on! Have you read that far yet?! Oh, my gosh, I can't believe what just happened!" If another book club girl overhears the conversation, she starts squealing about where she is at in the next book. It is, truly, music to my ears!

As for me, I have to keep up because they want to touch base with me and discuss as they discover. I just finished the second one, Whatever Happened to Janie?, and I am already a few chapters into the third, The Voice on the Radio. I'm still enjoying where this author is taking us on Janie's journey. While I realize it is a middle school series, it is a really good story and worthy of my reading time (which is quite precious to me). 

I'd like to mention, too, that the covers on the books have been updated. My students didn't think they were going to like the book when I first showed it to them. (Thus, the saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover!") As I said earlier, the first copies we had were from our school's book room, and they were the old version. The new covers that came on the new ones I purchased through Amazon were, as my students' said, "WAY cooler!"

Because of how well the series has been received by my most reluctant readers and my avid readers, I've decided I need a supply of them on my classroom bookshelf. And, trust me, that is the best recommendation any middle school book can receive from me. When I like a series enough to purchase several copies and share with my sixth graders, you can bet it's a good one. :)

Well, time to go now. The Voice on the Radio is waiting to speak to me. ;)

Happy Reading!