It's dark, it's sympathetic, it's suspenseful and intense, it's graceful and powerful.
So in two days I go to India with RATA Teacher Support- I guess that is why these blogs have been about my places in the world over the last couple of days. No blogging for a few weeks sorry people! I will be hanging out with a bunch of amazing Indian educators who although formally untrained are making a huge impact in the lives of the students that they teach and our job is to support and encourage them in this!
There are leopards in India!
Malik loves exploring the mountains near his village in Armenia, and he's never forgotten the leopard he once saw as a very young boy. But the night he hears a shot from a poacher's gun ring out across the mountain he knows his leopard is in grave danger. As Malik strives to find out who would want to kill such a beautiful creature, he uncovers a villainous plot that will mean not only the death of his rare and beloved leopard, but will harm every other living thing in the mountains too.
This book is an easy read but it is a powerful yarn!
This one will get me going as well. Set in Ghana- a nation close to my heart, it is about a woman who is wrongly enslaved and eventually she takes the 'important men" to court.
Isn't everyone wrongly enslaved- who has been rightly slaved?
I have been to the door of no return in Elmina Castle on the Cape Coast in Ghana. That place is haunted- I tell you! It is a small door where the 'slaves" would walk through onto the boats to take them away so there bodies could be used as machines to do work for free, I felt sick and gutted that due to my heritage somehow I was related to that evil scheme. I guess the redeeming feature of that experience was I went with a bunch of amazing Ghanaian school kids- 25 of us in a minivan- and those kids played in that castle, laughed, ran- redeeming its story in part. The slavery of their forebears was matched with spontaneous freedom and joy by a bunch of kids running up the same stairs and playing on the beaches with delight- the same beaches that carried away their people a century ago.Perhaps ignorance is bliss!
This is the story of Abina Mansah--a woman "without history" who was wrongfully enslaved, escaped to British-controlled territory, and then took her former master to court-- it takes place in the complex world of the Gold Coast at the onset of late nineteenth-century colonialism. Slavery becomes a contested ground, as cultural practices collide with an emerging wage economy and British officials turn a blind eye to the presence of underpaid domestic workers in the households of African merchants. The main scenes of the story take place in the courtroom, where Abina strives to convince a series of "important men"--a British judge, two Euro-African attorneys, and a jury of local leaders--that her experiences and perceptions matter. "Am I free?" Abina inquires. Throughout both the court case and the flashbacks that dramatically depict her life in servitude, both the defendants and members of the court strive to "silence" Abina and to impose their own understandings and meanings upon her.
This Graphic Novel also includes the transcripts of the case, excellent background historical information and three experts critical analysis of Abinas story.
I do not do crafts- ever, prefer to run a marathon- which I've never done- than to make crafts.
Id prefer to clean a hotel full of bathrooms than do craft. I just dont like making things- unless its food The only good things I have ever made are my kids- I might embarrass them saying that- but it is true! I tried to knit my daughter a cute baby jersey cause good mums do- my friends basically did the whole thing- I made coffee! My mum has just taken a cross stitch I was doing for my son when he was two- it was a cute fire engine. he loved fire engines. She is going to finish it for me- he is now 26.
But I know some people LOVE crafts and so I bought you a book.... enjoy!
This will get me going... Last year I had the opportunity and privilege to help construct two libraries in Tanzania and a few years back we gifted three to schools in Ghana.
Little do you know when you humbly visit a village and convert an container into a library and leave a few thousand books and walk away- what could happen as a result. Who would know that a kid would study them, pour over them- and perhaps then become an home grown engineer to impact the entire village. Will the books we gifted our schools create another William Kamkwamba- I hope so- I hope so!
This story is so inspirational to me, because I have seen it, I know it, I have met Williams of Africa but this guy did it, made it happen and shared his story with the world.
It turned William into a hero- one who harnessed the wind. But bigger than that- it proves- books and education is the key to change, is the answer to giving opportunities for communities to flourish. What an encouragement to RATA as we head to India this week- Education and books create heroes who can change the world for the special people in their lives- even in a rural poor famine struck village!
Read this book- it is the youth version and be inspired by William Kamkwambas story.
Is this book a nod toward the Syrian refugee issues, does it say out loud what we might think and some of us do. It this book set in another world and place, but screaming at us today?
Fourteen-year-old Hamish Law has lived in Little Town, on the border with Old Country, all his life. He knows the rules: no going out after dark; no drinking; no litter; no fighting. You don't want to get on the wrong side of the people who run Little Town. When he meets Pavel Duda, a refugee from Old Country, the rules start to get broken. Then the bombs come, and the soldiers from Old Country, and Little Town changes for ever.
Sometimes, to keep the people you love safe, you have to do bad things. As Little Town's rules crumble, Hamish is sucked into a dangerous game. There's a gun, and a bad man, and his closest friend, and his dearest enemy.
Hamish Law wants to keep everyone happy, even if it kills him. And maybe it will ... But he's got to kill someone else first.
This book is historical fiction- my favorite genre. It is about two stories in history that fascinate me- Holocaust Germany and Apartheid South Africa. What I cannot get my head around is how the Jewish re settlers in South Africa could ever be pro-apartheid, surely from their own experiences they would have to be the first to protest loudly... some did- others cowered in silence. It seems sadly that this book does not explore the horrors of apartheid as it does the horrors of the holocaust. Perhaps a visit to the Holocaust museum in Capetown is in order- it parallels the evils of both regimes. I would assume a book with such Christian content- would off and should have addressed the evils of both systems!
As World War II draws to a close, Jakób fights with the Polish resistance against the crushing forces of Germany and Russia. They mean to destroy a German troop transport, but Gretl’s unscheduled train reaches the bomb first.
Gretl is the only survivor. Though spared from the concentration camp, the orphaned German Jew finds herself lost in a country hostile to her people. When Jakób discovers her, guilt and fatherly compassion prompt him to take her home. For three years, the young man and little girl form a bond over the secrets they must hide from his Catholic family.
The blurb on the back of this book is stunning.. and this book was written by a 16 year old!! Go you!!!!
'Maybe freedom is knowing who you are, so no one can try to make you think you're someone else"
What is freedom? It is a good question. Free to move, free to make decisions, free to think, free to chose our home, free to chose employment, free to chose who we love..
What about free to pursue peace, free to be just, free to be prosperous, free to have order.
Is freedom a selfish thing or a corporate thing. I think in places like Syria freedom six years ago was a private thing, something one determined for themselves- now it has become a national issue, even an international issue- what freedom was for a Syrian six years ago is very very different from today.
This book is about freedom- set in a very different world to Syria but perhaps the theme of survival is exactly the same except Syria's virus is war!
IN THE NEAR FUTURE, A VIRUS WILL DRIVE HUMANKIND TO THE BRINK OF EXTINCTION. WITH THE ILLNESS SPREADING FASTER THAN ATTEMPTS TO CONTROL IT, AND SOCIETY COLLAPSING, THE LAST SURVIVING CITY WILL BECOME A BEACON OF HOPE FOR SURVIVORS.
Walled off from the outside world, this city is christened Oasis.
Governing on a promise to protect its citizens from infection at all costs, the government of Oasis begins to impose its vision of the perfect society. Every aspect of life is controlled, and the city begins to take on a new, sinister shape.
A must-read for all bibliophiles!
Caitlin said this after she read it "This is one of the most beautiful children's books I have ever read. For all ages and all times and all hands."
sleeping bag with a flashlight."
Genre: A fantasy adventure with all the magic of The Arabian Nights.
A sword & sorcery fantasy set against an Arabian Nights backdrop. The story follows the paths of three unlikely characters: Adoulla Makhslood, an aging disgruntled mage and the last ghul hunter left in the city who's still hunting ghuls; Raseed bas Raseed, the mage's young pious protege who, unfortunately, has no magic of his own but has been blessed with great strength; and Zamia Badawi, a young gifted (but self-righteous) shapeshifter from a desert tribe who no longer has a home. These three are drawn together by circumstance--a powerful sorcerer is creating powerful ghuls and letting them loose to slaughter in the desert. For Adoulla and Raseed, it's their duty to rid the land of evil, but for Zamia the journey is one of vengeance and self-sacrifice. There's also a royal conspiracy plot running in the background.
With brilliant sensitivity and emotional resonance, bestselling author Ellen Hopkins’s Rumble explores bullying and suicide in a powerful story that examines the value of forgiveness and reconciliation.
Should we address issues of suicide, do we want books that are full of anger, hatred, bigotry. Or do we face these issues, hear the voices even if we don't like them, or if they make us uncomfortable.
Should I offer this book to my 13-14 yr old students who struggle to often figure themselves out without chucking a book at them that just piles confusion and anger and big hard difficult ideas at them.
Life has a habit of letting down Matthew Turner. He may be a senior with decent grades, and he may have a hot girlfriend, but just about everything else in his life is a mess. When his younger brother committed suicide, Matthew's fragile faith in any possibility of a higher power was hopelessly crushed. Since his brother's death, Matthew has witnessed his parents' lives implode. His mother is drinking but still clings to her religion. His father, always more dedicated to the high school team he coaches than his family, has rekindled a love affair with a former girl friend.
Just when Matthew needs the love and support of his own girl friend, she is withdrawing from their relationship and focusing on a new youth pastor hired at her church. Matthew's therapist tries to provide helpful advice, but Matthew is just going through the motions.
When a bold girl named Alexa offers to listen and also admits that she hopes he will leave Hayden for her, Matthew begins to rely on her friendship and is surprised to find himself physically attracted to her as well. Maybe her freshness is just what he needs to be able to come to terms with his brother's death and his broken family. Whether or not he buys into the ideas of religion, faith, and prayer, he must find some way to forgive himself and the others who have let him down.
Ann Aguirre's Mortal Danger (Immortal Game, #1) begins a new series that focuses on Edith (Edie) Kramer, and a game that is being played out between two separate presumably paranormal forces that use humans as their chess pieces.
Mortal Danger focuses on Edith (Edie) Kramer. When we first meet Edie, she's reached the end of her rope, and decides to kill herself. She has it all meticulously planned out to the very minute. Edie has been the brunt of cruel bullying and harassment by the so called Teflon crew at Briarwood Academy that goes beyond what is considered to be in good taste. She's shy, she has absolutely no friends, her parents are pretty clueless and ignorant about her unhappiness, and in her mind's eye, it's better to be dead, than face yet another day.
Kian Riley appears out of nowhere and offers Edie a way to get her revenge on those who did her wrong.
“Anything you want,” he said.
With her first wish, Edie asks to be beautiful while retaining her smarts. With a full body magical transformation, a few weeks at a science camp where she finds an actual friend, and a boyfriend, Edie believes that she is ready to take on her demons. If you think all is well is happyville, you would be absolutely wrong. What she doesn't plan on is her feelings for Kian, or what is truly expected of her once her revenge has taken place, or who would be pulling all the strings in order for this to actually happen, or the fact that innocents would be tossed into harms way without a care in the world.
**Here's where I tell you what I didn't like about this story. I think the story's message is absolutely wrong. It's saying that beauty and popularity is more important than being who you really are. That a person with boat loads of insecurities can suddenly find themselves the queen of the damned, with loads of self confidence to boot. While I don't agree with bullying AT ALL, a large majority of us have been through it, and gone on to be better lives than those who bullied us. Most of us weren't beauty queens in High School but we managed to survive and blossom after we went to college, and started our careers.
I'll also call out those who don't believe that people who are bullied kill themselves. Obviously, you are not paying attention to the news. I would also say that if you are bullied and think that you need to commit suicide, to please talk to someone first.
**The insta-romance between Edie and Kian kind of unnerved me to be perfectly honest. I have a whole lot of faults with Kian starting from the fact that he "watched" as Edie got bullied, and faced the worst moments of her life without stepping in and helping. The fact that he apparently liked Edie when she was "ugly" and now that she's beautiful, he's hopelessly in love with her, and willing to die in order to protect her.
I have to speak about Edie's parents for a moment. You've heard about helicopter parents. You've heard about latch key parents. Edie's parents are oblivious to what is actually happening to their daughter. They go on trips for months at a time. They are so focused on their work, that they missed all the signs that something was horribly wrong with Edie. When they do finally appear as parents, Edie has already made her choice, changed her appearance, and started on a journey that only Aguirre knows where it ends.
Piper and Quinn are twins separated by their Mother when they are tiny. Piper has a good life with her Mother and Father in a nice house with a somewhat normal childhood. Quinn is left behind with their Grandmother in a remote house on the moors. Quinn is brought up in a frugal household with no schooling, harsh punishments for small misdemeanors and infrequent visits from her Mother who is indifferent to her or sometimes cruel. When their Mother dies the twins meet at her funeral and their lives are changed forever as family secrets are unveiled and they discover that they are not so ordinary but have a power within them which if unleashed, could have catastrophic consequences.
By order of Miss Featonby- and what a great recommendation it is!!! She has stolen it from the library so if you want to read it you will have to wait two days- she is a speed reader!
Originally titled Butterfly in the Dark, the story revolves around teenage musical prodigy Zoe Maisey. Years earlier she was convicted of killing of a number of her friends in a car accident and was sentenced to nine months in a rehabilitation unit. Now years later her parents have divorced, with her mother remarrying. Tonight is mean't to be the culmination of Zoe's life resurrection, performing a musical with her brother in law Lucas. The performance in itself will go well, but the rest of the night will be disaster. Firstly a father of one of the teenagers killed in the accident, will threaten Zoe from the audience. Then tragically by the end of the night, Zoe's mother will be dead.
The question of who killed Zoe's mum is paramount, but is one that is skillfully blended in with the impact of what the death will do to an already fragile family structure. The story is told not by one main narrator, but instead from all of the family and a local lawyer. Rather than making this a fragmented read, it instead, thanks the writing made for an intriguing read. With themes as varied as domestic violence, infidelity, substance abuse and how we as humans try to move on from the greatest upheavals in our lives, made for compelling reading. While in no way a great thriller, The Perfect Girl is a excellent page turner for those after a clever and well written thriller.
Yesterday 50 people died in a violent shooting based on hate, judgement and bigotry. We have no right to act in hate and terror and destroy any life for reasons of opinion.
"America's worst shooting slaughter, with 50 dead and 53 wounded victims in hospital, is the perfect political storm that combines the hot-button issues of a highly charged presidential election campaign – terrorism, gay rights, Muslims in the US and gun control.
US President Barack Obama calls the attack that killed 50 people at an Orlando nightclub an "act of terror and hate" and calls for prayers for the victims and their families."
Genre: Marvel comics turn into books!!
What do you expect from the first ever YA novel about a comic-book superhero? That was the question many of us were wondering upon the news that Marvel was branching out into one of the biggest book markets today.
Natasha Romanoff is one of the world’s most lethal assassins. Trained from a young age in the arts of death and deception, Natasha was given the title of Black Widow by Ivan Somodorov, her brutal teacher at the Red Room, Moscow’s infamous academy for operatives.
Ava Orlova is just trying to fit in as an average Brooklyn teenager, but her life has been anything but average.The daughter of a missing Russian quantum physicist, Ava was once subjected to a series of ruthless military experiments—until she was rescued by Black Widow and placed under S.H.I.E.L.D. protection. Ava has always longed to reconnect with her mysterious savior, but Black Widow isn’t really the big sister type.
She sighed. "Knock-knock, Ivan. "Who's there? S.H.I.E.L.D."
He looked at her blankly. "I don't get it."
Natasha punched him in the face as hard as she could.
As he went flying back, she rubbed her fist. "Sorry. It's more of a punch than line."
"Black Widow: Forever Red is a cinematic and action-packed adventure with one of the best and most interesting characters in the Marvel universe, Natasha Romanoff. This YA book is full of twists, fast paced and with characters you’ll recognize from the comics and the MCU. There are also new ones whose fates will end up intertwined with the Black Widow in this story that gets back to Natasha’s origins and has a spies movie vibe that’ll keep you turning pages."
A futuristic world where a genius has created children with the power to move objects with their minds, first pulses; and others with the same abilities but who also cannot be physically harmed, second pulses.
The genius, as all good ones are, is evil. In an effort to save the world, he has the entire US population now living in one of two cities; the Eastern and Western. Few live in the wasteland that is the bulk of the nation, Faith and Dylan do. They are second pulses, shown the ways of the evil genius, and sworn to end him before his nefarious plans can come to fruition.
Wade and Clara are the "children" of the genius, they too are second pulses. Sworn to do their father's bidding, unaware of his final goal, they work tirelessly to end Faith and Dylan.
The trilogy tells the story of Faith's discovery of her pulse, the history of Hotspur Chance, the genius; and the battle between good and evil.
These book are hot favorites in our library- I love them - they mix fantasy with history in a way the guys can relate too. These books get our lads reading and for that I am a HUGE fan!!!. This movie is about the Spanish Inquisition and the Assassin and it is going to be massive!!!!!
Captain Tom Barnes is leading British troops in a war zone. Two boys are growing up there, sharing a prized bicycle and flying kites, before finding themselves separated once the soldiers appear in their countryside. On all sides of this conflict, people are about to be caught up in the violence, from the man who trains one boy to fight the infidel invaders to Barnes's family waiting for him to return home. We see them not as they see themselves, but as all the objects surrounding them do: shoes and boots, a helmet, a trove of dollars, a drone, that bike, weaponry, a bag of fertilizer, a medal, a beer glass, a snowflake, dog tags, an exploding IED and the medical implements that are subsequently employed. Anatomy of a Soldier is a moving, enlightening and fiercely dramatic novel about one man's journey of survival and the experiences of those around him. Forty-five objects, one unforgettable story.
"..An elixir is not a magic liquid. It is knowledge. Bottles filled with magic liquids eventually run dry, but knowledge lasts a lifetime..."
In a remote valley, a tribe of humans is being killed off by a terrible disease.
There is a rumor that the trolls of Troll Mountain have a cure for the illness: a miraculous elixir.
When Raf's sister gets sick and his tribal leaders refuse to help him, he makes a courageous decision. He sets out on his own for Troll Mountain ... to steal the elixir.Along the way he finds allies in the outcast warrior Ko and the lost Troll Dum. Their quest into Troll Mountain is more than the mission to find the elixir to cure the disease but along the way Raf realizes that all the truths he had once known may have been lies to keep him in his place. The ruling families of the village may have been keeping the truth away from the rest of the village to keep their hold over all the others.
In Troll Mountain he finds the Troll King who holds dominion over the valley by force and blood. Will Raf find in himself the warrior to overcome the dangers of Troll Mountain? Will he learn the true secret of Troll Mountain?
This is an amazing amazing cover!! Thats two amazings!
I am going to India in three weeks- India = curry and vehicular carnage and horns and masses of people and colour and fabrics and street food and auto's and markets and dahl and chai and stuff that makes all your senses all go at once- hard out!
runs deeper than blood and skin.
Sudasa doesn’t want to be a wife, and Contestant Five, a boy forced to compete in the test to become her husband, has other plans as well. Sudasa’s family wants nothing more than for their daughter to do the right thing and pick a husband who will keep her comfortable—and caged. Five’s family wants him to escape by failing the tests. As the tests advance, Sudasa and Five thwart each other at every turn until they slowly realize that they just might want the same thing.
Told from alternating points of view—Sudasa’s in verse and Contestant Five’s in prose—allowing readers to experience both characters’ pain and their brave struggle for hope.
but the questions he asks.
It has all the makings of a magical novel: characters of diverse sexuality and race, a focus on mental health, and some interesting tidbits of science fiction.
"Your entire sense of self-worth is predicated upon your belief that you matter, that you matter to the universe. But you don't. Because we are the ants."
"Dreams are hopeful because they exist as pure possibility. Unlike memories, which are fossils, long dead and buried deep."
"I'll die, you'll die, we'll all die, and the things we've done, the choices we've made, will amount to nothing."
If you knew the Earth was ending and you had the opportunity to press a button that could stop the Earth’s destruction, would you? Would you press it without hesitation? Or would you think about it?
For some of us, the answer is easy of course they would press the button! For others the answer is not so simple, some may even consider not pressing the button at all.
Henry is left with the ultimate choice: push the button and save the planet and everyone on it…or let the world—and his pain—be destroyed forever.