Springtime is wasp time. I don’t know about your house, but a day doesn’t go by that my kids aren’t hollering, “Mom, there’s a wasp in the house.” Thanks to Kenneth Oppel’s The Nest, I have an entirely new, somewhat menacing, perspective on these ubiquitous flying insects. MyGoodReads review on this phenomenally engaging book follows.
The obsessive compulsive handwashing has started up again. Steve’s baby brother has arrived, and something’s just not right. While his parents aren’t elaborating on the baby boy’s heart trouble, Steve knows one thing for certain: his once-attentive parents are exhausted from sleepless nights and countless hospital visits. Hushed voices whisper behind closed doors, and Steve feels his normal existence crumbling apart.
After allergic-to-everything Steve is stung by a wasp, the dreams of a black-eyed angel begin. The gossamer-winged creature promises to “fix” everything, and normally nervous Steve is mesmerized by the angel’s rhythmic voice. Every night, the angel appears, at first soothing Steve’s fears. Then, fueling them by feeding into the young boy’s deepest fears. What if the angels could replace Steve’s critically ill baby brother with a perfect model? One little three-letter word is all it takes to unleash a horrific chain of events: y-e-s.
Even though Steve realizes it isn’t an angel that visits his dreams, but rather a wasp queen, he gives into the temptation. Soon, a wasp nest is abuzz outside of his bedroom window. It isn’t long before Steve begins to see a baby forming inside the nest. When the wasps are done, all Steve must do is open his window and let the angels replace his damaged brother (who Oppel brilliantly leaves nameless for most of the book) with a flawless copy, carefully crafted by thousands of yellow-striped workers.
I couldn’t put this thriller of a little book down. The Nest stings the soul. It got me thinking about the potential repercussions and moral tightrope of genetic engineering. In fact, months later, The Nest is still buzzing around my brain. Toss in a little sister whose plastic toy phone receives incoming calls, and a knife sharpening salesman that shows up at only one house on the street: Steve’s, and you’ve got mega middle school creepiness. I so loved this book that I put two hardcovers in my classroom library. After I showed the publisher’s book trailer to my class, a swarm of students raided both my class library and the school library (We need more copies both places!).
The best endorsement: Owen, one of my first student readers, said he couldn’t put down the book. In fact, for the first time ever, his mom actually yelled at him to stop reading and go to sleep. For any author, there’s no greater compliment than a 12-year-old boy who willingly gets scolded just to keep turning pages. 🙂 Fly out and pick up a copy!
My school days countdown to winter break continues with my list of Ten Quotes on Writing. As a writer, word collector, and sixth grade teacher, I am forever inspired by the words of other writers. Today, for my classroom of young authors, I present a collection of 10 inspirational quotes from some of the world’s master wordsmiths. Perhaps this week you, too, will draft a post containing your favorite quotes. Two great sources for quotes include: www.brainyquote.com and www.goodreads.com. Here now, words of wisdom on writing…
1
“Reading and writing, like everything else, improve with practice. And, of course, if there are no young readers and writers, there will shortly be no older ones. Literacy will be dead, and democracy–which many believe goes hand in hand with it–will be dead as well.”
-Margaret Atwood
2
“The most difficult and complicated part of the writing process is the beginning.”
A.B. Yehoshua
3
“The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe.”
Gustave Flaubert
4
“Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.”
William Strunk, Jr.
5
“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”
Anton Chekhov
6
“I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.”
Anne Frank
7
“Write the kind of story you would like to read. People will give you all sorts of advice about writing, but if you are not writing something you like, no one else will like it either.”
Meg Cabot
8
“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.”
William Wordsworth
9
“I really think that reading is just as important as writing when you’re trying to be a writer because it’s the only apprenticeship we have, it’s the only way of learning how to write a story.”
John Green
10
“All the writing elements are the same. You need to tell a good story….You’ve got good characters….People think there’s some dramatic difference between writing ‘Little Bear’ and ‘The Hunger Games,’ and as a writer, for me, there isn’t.”
Suzanne Collins
In your final 10 school days before holiday break, imagine all the writing you can do…
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library lived up to my son’s lofty reviews. I ripped through this quirky, extremely readable book on the way to and from delivering my daughter, Cady, to summer camp. With puzzling twists and winning turns, this fun-to-read novel dips into Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s world of naughty, have-it-alls who refuse to play fair against the rule-abiding nerds and regular Joes. You’ll find yourself rooting for reluctant reader, Kyle, and his unlikely team of clue-busting cohorts (and wishing brown-nosing Charles takes a royal nose dive). As an added bonus, I loved author Chris Grabenstein’s playful word references to so many other equally awesome YA books. Get thyself to a library and escape in a good book!
Speaking of good books, it’s time to vote for the second book of summer. I’m not sure how many bloggers are in town, but if the votes don’t come in, don’t worry. I’ll roll the dice and pick one to read. I’ve already started A Snicker of Magic and am loving the down-home storytelling that’s floating like Felicity’s words into my brain.
Which of these four books looks like the next Blogtastic Book Club winner? Click on the book cover to connect to a book or movie trailer! I’ve borrowed summaries from others who’ve already read these tantalizing titles. Check them out. Cast your vote in the poll at the bottom of this post. 🙂
If I Stay by Gayle Forman
Mia is a very gifted cellist. She has everything she could ever want, a loving family, an adoring boyfriend, an amazing best friend, and an amazing career ahead of her in music. All of that changes suddenly. Mia and her family have a terrible car accident and Mia is rushed to the ICU. Mia is caught between life and death, and watches as family and friends come to visit her at the hospital she is in. Soon Mia realizes that she must make the most critical decision of her life – wake up to live a life more difficult than she ever could have imagined, or slip away and die. (credit: http://colleenworger.weebly.com)
Photo Credit: GoodReads.com
A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd
Introducing an extraordinary new voice—a magical debut that will make your skin tingle, your eyes glisten . . .and your heart sing.
Midnight Gulch used to be a magical place, a town where people could sing up thunderstorms and dance up sunflowers. But that was long ago, before a curse drove the magic away. Twelve-year-old Felicity knows all about things like that; her nomadic mother is cursed with a wandering heart.
But when she arrives in Midnight Gulch, Felicity thinks her luck’s about to change. A “word collector,” Felicity sees words everywhere—shining above strangers, tucked into church eves, and tangled up her dog’s floppy ears—but Midnight Gulch is the first place she’s ever seen the word “home.” And then there’s Jonah, a mysterious, spiky-haired do-gooder who shimmers with words Felicity’s never seen before, words that make Felicity’s heart beat a little faster.
Felicity wants to stay in Midnight Gulch more than anything, but first, she’ll need to figure out how to bring back the magic, breaking the spell that’s been cast over the town . . . and her mother’s broken heart. (www.goodreads.com)
Photo Credit: Barnes and Noble
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls. Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift. Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers. Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind. (credit: www.jamesdashner.com)
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Alexie Sherman
Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Native American is the school mascot. (How timely and topical, given our community’s discussions about the Washington Redskins decision to change or keep their team name.)
