Shmoop.com

Here's a great new website for homework help:

www.shmoop.com

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Try it, I think you'll like it.

Impossible

The story revolves around the impossible-to-solve tasks that are within the lyrics of the "Scarborough Fair" folk song by Simon & Garfunkel - you might have heard it..."Are you going to Scarborough Fair? Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme..." Well, if you've ever listened to the words, it talks about some seemingly impossible tasks that the woman has to perform in order to be "a true love of mine." This song is based on an old, old poem from Scotland - the Elfin Knight - that has had many reincarnations throughout time. Well, the author of "Impossible" decided to bring it up to date by creating Lucy - a seventeen year old girl who discovers that she and all the women in her family have been cursed to have a child at age eighteen, then go crazy - all because some ancestor refused to fall in love with a Fairie Knight. Will she be able to perform the impossible tasks before she goes crazy? You'll have to read it to find out.

It took me FOREVER to read this book, which usually indicates that it wasn't great. This one had fabulous reviews and lots of discussion on teen book listservs, but I'm still not sure if it lived up to all the hype. Part of the problem might have been that I only read it during lunch - a half an hour at a time. Some books you just have to delve into and read them in big chunks, maybe this was one of those. Try it and let me know what you think.

Fablehaven

Most kids' idea of fun is not spending the summer with grandparents you've never met while your parents go on a cruise. Particularly if when you arrive at your grandparents' house (where you've never been invited before, by the way) the house is hidden in deep, dark woods that are surrounded by a huge fence with massive iron gates. No TV, no internet, no nothing but a pool and a garden with a bunch of weird butterflies. Oh, and those deep, dark woods - you're forbidden to enter them.
This is the summer that Kendra and her brother Seth have to look forward to. BORING!
But then they find out that their grandparents are caretakers of a preserve for magical creatures. Those weird butterflies? Fairies! Those deep, dark woods? Filled with every magical creature you've ever read about in any fantasy book, and some you might never have heard of. Sounds great, right? It is, until the one summer night that something goes horribly wrong and it's up to Kendra to find the courage to set things right and try to save herself, her family and Fablehaven.
This is a great series. The second book is even better than the first (but read Fablehaven first - you'd miss lots of important background info if you skip right to Rise of the Evening Star). Kendra and Seth seem like real people you'd meet at school - and it would be so cool if Fablehaven was a real place! I highly recommend this series for fantasy lovers in grades 6-8. Also, I've heard that the film rights have been optioned - this would make a great movie.
Let me know what you think.

And so it begins...

So here is the first of what will hopefully be many posts to the Horsham Library teens blogspot. My plan is to use this to let kids know what's going on for them here at the library, to market new materials for teens in our collection and to rave about great teen books I've had the pleasure of reading, and possibly just to babble on endlessly, depending on the time of day.
You should all know that this blog started as a project for a Library 2.0 class I'm taking online. This will catch me up to speed with all the latest technology you younguns are using. So if it seems like it's going slow, give me a chance...remember the story about the tortoise and the hare...