ASB Book of the Week

The American Library Association (ALA) has a prestigious award called the Michael L. Printz Award.  In 2008, The White Darkness won.  This is a very adventurous story about Sym–who is in love with a dead person! Titus Oates was the captain of an expedition to the South Pole, yet Sym is pretty obsessed with this historical figure. When she ventures out on a dangerous expedition with her uncle to the Antarctic wilderness, she experiences the dangerous struggles of existence on this adventure.  They are looking for Symme’s Hole–an opening that leads to the center of the Earth!

Now that the movie Slumdog Millionaire has won best film from the Golden Globe awards and has received 10  Oscar nominations, perhaps it should be known that previously this title was an international bestseller under the name of Q & A.  Vikas Swarup, who is actually a member of the Indian Foreign Service, wrote this tender story.  A young man wins a large amount of money on a TV quiz show, but since it seems impossible for him to win, he’s is falsely jailed for cheating.  Through flashbacks, all the answers are explained for this true winner by the histories of his life.

William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a timeless classic.  While some may find Shakespeare’s use of language difficult to decipher, there are many versions of the tragic love story retold.  This new version by Bruce Coville is beautifully illustrated by Dennis Nolan.  The best picture by far is the balcony scene–it literally folds open and out of the book since it’s been expanded.  At first you can see Juliet looking for her Romeo, and then you open up the page to see Romeo professing is love to his Juliet.  This version is breathtaking and a relief for those who would like to read the story in prose rather than verse. 

This national book award winner is a must read.  It’s reminscent of The Perks of Being a Wallflower yet with a multi-cultural slant since the narrator is a Native American Indian from the Spokane, Reservation.  Many will be able to relate to the voice of this teenager for it is so real–his fears, feelings, and experiences are universal.  The big decisions he makes about his own education and the choices he makes to change his pathway in life are inspirational.  If we could all be so brave to tackle our personal and also cultural fears, we would be as successful as Junior.  However, the best part of this book is the ultra fun comics Junior creates to supplement what he is feeling and experiencing.  He’s sarcastic, witty, and just about genius!

If you had the choice to control magic, would you take it? Or would you rather stay locked up in your room to avoid it in any possible way? For Reason Cansino, this is no simple question. After her mother ran away from her grandmother, Sarafina is the caretaker and only parent left in Reason’s close family. Esmeralda is Reason’s grandmother. She is bewitched by the practice of black magic, the caretaker of evil, well at least it seems like that. Reason feels no joy in being captured by the police after her mother, Sarafina, goes stark mad. The fact that makes her most miserable is now she has to live with her grandmother until her mother gets better–if she does at all. After a while, the most important question echoes inside her head: what will she choose, Magic or Madness? Along with her friends, Jay Tee and Tom, she learns to trust in herself. Can she find the true magic within her? Magic or Madness is a wonderfully bewitching tale; it’s a must read!

Can you imagine dying and going to a place totally different from what you expect?  Elsewhere, by Gabrielle Zevin, describes just this place.  Liz Hall is fifteen when she dies.  She was excited to turn sixteen and get her driver’s license.  She was excited to continue high school and graduate.  She wants to one day fall in love.  But, now that she’s in Elsewhere, she has to get used to a whole new reality–a reality in which you grow younger with each day until the day you are a baby, close to your birth when you are born all over again. 

The following review has been written by guest blogger, 7th grade Regie Cruz who attends the American School of Bombay:

Eclipse is truly an amazing book. It’s the sequel to New Moon which is the sequel to Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. This time, Bella and Edward are back together and happy…until Victoria comes back. But this time, Victoria has help from other newborn vampires. This could cause a war in Forks and expose the vampires’ and werewolves’ identities. The Cullens can’t handle her and her ‘army’ alone, so they ask for help from the werewolf pack. The only reason the pack is helping is because of Jacob. For Jacob and Edward, this is a war for Bella’s safety and a war for her heart.

Shantaram is an excellent epic all about our home town: Bombay!  While this 900+ page book seems mammoth to read, the pages do turn rapidly due to the narrative description by Gregory David Roberts.  If you are a foreigner living in Mumbai, you will really be able to relate to and enjoy the vivid descriptions of this colorful city.  Not only is the novel enjoyable to read, but you also learn cultural understandings about the country of India and its many magnificent cultures.  The main character receives his name, Shantaram, from the people he befriends.  Shantaram lives for a while in a village, among the slums, and down in Khala Goda.  He even is befriended by the head of the mafia, and of course he falls in love with a visiting German foreigner.  For all the adventures Shantaram experiences, the reader–if living in Mumbai, India–can definitely find passages to relate to.