Dragon's Pages

Everyone's a critic: Library Page Alexis C. shares her reviews

We have some avid readers here at Dana, and library page Alexis C. is one of them. She is a voracious reader and was nice enough to share her thoughts on some of her latest reads. Here's what she thinks:

 

 

• Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead
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This series was randomly reccommended to me and I am so greatful. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVED, this series. This book is way better than Twilight. It has a strong plot and a strong, developed main character; Rose is a little spit-fire, and feminist who follows through with the belief that rules were meant to be broken. This is a action packed novel that also has a lot of romance throughout. It keeps you on the edge of you seat at all times, and just when you think the author can't possibly think of anything better, you read the next book and it tops the previous. I highly reccommend this series.

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• Identical by Ellen Hopkins

Weird. Thats all I can say about this book. It was very, very difficult to read because one of the main characters suffered multiple forms of abuse from her own father. I could relate to this book because I have a twin; it was heartbreaking to see one twin get all the love, while the other craved anything even close to love. I did not expect this book to have the ending that it did. I loved how it was all writen in poetry form. I want to read more books by Hopkins.

Everyone's a Critic: Stitches by David Small

Stitches

David Small

W.W. Norton: New York, c2009

                                     

I admit, graphic novels are a format that I tended to stay away from. I was never really into comic strips as a child and somehow I let this color my view on this amazing format and method of story telling. I recently read Stitches, a memoir written and illustrated by picture book artist David Small, for a young adult literature class and was deeply moved not only by the story but also the hunting depictions of Small's childhood.

Stitches tells the story of Small's devastating childhood from the time he was 6 to about 16. When a lump is discovered on his neck at age eleven, his parents elect to ignore it fearing that treatment will be too expensive, even though his father is a doctor. It is obvious that David's parents neglect his needs and think of their son as an expensive annoyance. Three and half years later he finally has surgery on his neck which leaves, "a crusted black track of stitches; my smooth young throat slashed and laced back up like a bloody boot." Not only must David now live with this horrible scar, his is also left partially mute. He leaves home at 16 and lives amongst starving artist and addicts in the rough areas of Detroit's inner city.

Eventually, David gains his voice back. And finds a kind of solace and refuge in his artwork. He goes on to be the recipient of the Caldecott Medal, the Christopher Medal, and the E.B. White Award for his illustrations in picture books.

Stitches is a story that broke my heart and gave me hope. I would highly recommend this memoir for avid fans of graphic novels and for those who are new to the format.

Everyone's a critic: Shift

Shift

by Jennifer Bradbury

New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, c2008.

    Chris and Win (short for Winston) have been best friends since middle school, infact the two have been collectively known as "chrisandwin". As a final adventure after they graduate from high school  and before they head off to different colleges the two set out on a two month cross country bike trip, but only Chris makes it back home at the end of the summer leaving Win's parents, an FBI agent and the rest of their small town wondering what happened to him on their trip.

    Bradbury's Shift, told from Chris' perspective, bounces back in forth between the present tense of Chris at Georgia Tech to Chris and Win's bike trip. While trying to make it through his first week of college Chris is visited by an FBI agent who wants to know what happend to Win while they biked across the country and why Win would have taken off the way he did. Chris knows Win is still alive when he starts recieving mysterious post cards signed "Tricksey", he knows it's a sign that his friend is out there and wants to be found.

    This is an great fast paced read about the lengths Chris will go to not only finding his missing friend but also finding himself. Shift is a great adventure/mystery but it also reminds us of the valuable lesson of coming in to our own at the end of high school and learning to break away from the comfort of home and of old friends.

I'd recommend this book for grades 7 and up.

 

Everyone's a Critic: Zombies vs. Unicorns

Ah, the holidays, a great time to curl up and read a heart warming tale that is sure to give you the warm fuzzies. Or, if you're like me, zombie books. Word on the street (or in the library) is that zombies are the new vampires.  I recently read Zombies V. Unicorns, a collection of short stories all relating to, you guessed it, zombies and unicorns. This book was edited by Holly Black (author of the Spiderwick Chronicles, White Cat, The Poison Eaters) and Justine Larbalestier (Magic or Madness Trilogy). Black defending unicorns and Larbalestier standing up for zombies. The YA authors featured in the collection include Scott Westerfeld (The Uglies), Libba Bray (Going Bovine), Alaya Dawn Johnson (Moonshine), among several others. Most of the stories are quite funny, though the some of the zombie stories are a bit dark (especially Carrie Ryan's Bougainvillea) and gory (Alaya Dawn Johnson's Love Will Tear Us Apart). I found this to be a great collection of stories that made me laugh and made me go "ewww". I would recommend this book for the upper school students because many of the stories in the collection contain profanity and gore. So, which team am I on? Definitely team Zombie. I found the zombie stories to be funny, clever, and made me think "what would the world be like if there was a zombie outbreak?"

                                        

Everyone's a Critic: Zeitoun

Zeitoun By Dave Eggers

Vintage Books: 2009

Reviewed by Ms. Klasson

I remember the last week in August of 2005 quite vividly. I was excited to move back to school to start my sophomore year at Bridgewater State College. I was preoccupied with getting my class schedule in order and buying my books that I didn't give much thought to a hurricane that was building strength in the Gulf of Mexico. A few days later seeing the images of what once was New Orleans on TV I was completely floored. A once vibrant city now half submerged underwater. Millions of homes were lost and families displaced. In Dave Eggers' new book  Zeitoun he follows the story of the Zeitoun family and what they went through in the post Katrina chaos. Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun own a painting and contracting company in New Orleans and are the proud parents of 5 children. When news of a powerful hurricane heading towards Louisana starts to concern residents Kathy and the children evacuate and stay with friends in Pheonix, AZ. Abdulrahman (referred to as Zeitoun throughout the book) stays behind to watch over the house and the properties he works on. He never thought the storm would bring what it did- distruction, devistation, looting, and a month long stay in a maximum security prison for being suspected a terrorist. This book offers a biting look at how Muslim people are treated in post 9/11 America and harsh review of the Bush administration's lack of proper care after the storm hit. Altough this book deal with some heavy topics it left me feeling hopeful of what America is capable of rebuilding after. All of the proceeds from this book go to the Zeitoun Foundation, an organization dedicated to rebuilding New Orleans and fostering interfaith understanding. Due to some of the subject matter I would highly recommend this book to upper middle schoolers and high schoolers.

  

Spotlight: Most popular movies 2009-2010

If you have ever set foot in the Dana Hall library on a Friday afternoon, you probably already have a good idea of how popular our DVD collection is.  For those of you who haven't, just take a look at the lifetime checkouts on some of the items on the list and think about when those movies came out on DVD (hint: we're talking a year to three years ago for many of them!).  Finally, this list only shows how many DVDs were officially checked out - not how many times they were seen in the library! 

The moral of the story: Dana Hall loves DVDs. 

Most Popular Movies at Dana Hall 2009-2010

Rank	Title	Call #	Checkouts 2009-2010	Lifetime checkouts
1	The Jewel in the crown	VIDEO F JEW v. 1-4	18	24
2	Rent	VIDEO F REN	15	20
3	Sydney White	VIDEO F SYD	12	12
4	The Reader	VIDEO F REA	11	13
5	She's the man	VIDEO F SHE	11	26
6	21	VIDEO F TWE	10	10
7	The Notebook	VIDEO F NOT	10	48
8	A History of European art	VIDEO 709.4 HIS v.1-4	10	10
9	Sunshine Cleaning	VIDEO F SUN	9	9
10	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.	VIDEO F CSI	9	19
11	10 things I hate about you	VIDEO F TEN	9	47
12	Love Actually	VIDEO F LOV	9	9
13	The Duchess	VIDEO F DUC	9	9
14	The Hurt Locker	VIDEO F HUR	9	9
15	17 again	VIDEO F SEV	9	9
16	Shakespeare, the animated tales	VIDEO 822.33 H SHA	9	9
17	Mad Men	VIDEO F MAD	9	9
18	Little Dorrit	VIDEO F LIT	8	9
19	Hannah Montana	VIDEO F HAN	8	8
20	Jefferson's blood	VIDEO 973.46 JEF	8	20

Spotlight on: Most popular nonfiction 2009-2010

And now for the most popular nonfiction books in the Helen Temple Cooke library during the 2009-2010 school year.  Drumroll please...

Most Popular Nonfiction Books at Dana Hall 2009-2010

Rank	Title	Author	Call #	Checkouts 2009-2010	Lifetime checkouts
1	Searching for Hassan	Ward, Terence	955.05 WAR	6	6
2	Sharon and my mother-in-law	Amiry, Suad	956.9542 AMI	5	5
3	Seize the story	Hanley, Victoria	808.02083 HAN	5	5
4	The cardinal's hat	Hollingsworth, Mary	282.092 HOL	5	5
5	Events that changed Germany	Thackeray, Frank W.	943.08 EVE	5	6
6	The competent woman	Barnett, Rosalind C.	155.633 BAR	4	4
7	Producing fashion	Blaszczyk, Regina Lee	746.92 PRO	4	4
8	911	Cart, Michael	810.8 NIN	4	4
9	Columbine	Cullen, David, 1961-	373.7888 CUL	4	4
10	How to attract the wombat	Cuppy, Will, 1884-1949.	814.52 CUP	4	5
11	Dancing in the dark	Dickstein, Morris.	973.91 DIC	4	4
12	Century of struggle	Flexner, Eleanor, 1908-	305.490973 FLE	4	6
13	The Purposes of pleasure	Hawley, Richard A.	613.8 HAW	4	4
14	Hispanic American struggle for equality	Jensen, Jeffry, 1950-	305.868073 JEN	4	4
15	America's war on drugs	Johnson, Joan (Joan J.)	363.45 JOH	4	5
16	Anastasia	Kurth, Peter.	947.08092 KUR	4	7
17	Drugs in America	Long, Robert Emmet.	363.45 DRU	4	6
18	The Oxford history of the British Empire	Louis, William Roger, 1936-	909.0971241 OXF v.4	4	4
19	Hispanic Americans	McCaffrey, Paul, 1977-	305.8968073 HIS	4	5
20	Contemporary world architecture	Pearman, Hugh	724.6 PEA	4	11

Spotlight: Most popular fiction titles 2009-2010

The following list shows which fiction books were checked out the most in the past year.  Have you read any of them?   If not, being checked out a lot generally means something is a good book (in librarian language!).  

Most Popular Fiction Books at Dana Hall 2009-2010

Rank	Title	Author	Call #	Checkouts 2009-2010	Lifetime Checkouts
1	The help	Stockett, Kathryn	F STO	8	8
2	The sea of monsters	Riordan, Rick	F RIO	6	10
3	When you reach me	Stead, Rebecca	F STE	6	6
4	Elsewhere	Zevin, Gabrielle	F ZEV	6	21
5	The Hunger Games	Collins, Suzanne	F COL	5	9
6	Along for the ride	Dessen, Sarah	F DES	5	5
7	13 little blue envelopes	Johnson, Maureen	F JOH	5	7
8	The evolution of Calpurnia Tate	Kelly, Jacqueline	F KEL	5	5
9	The Titan's curse	Riordan, Rick	F RIO	5	9
10	The Last Song	Sparks, Nicholas	F SPA	5	5
11	A girl made of dust	Abi-Ezzi, Nathalie	F ABI	4	4
12	The lost symbol	Brown, Dan	F BRO	4	4
13	Don't judge a girl by her cover	Carter, Ally	F CAR	4	4
14	Catching fire	Collins, Suzanne	F COL	4	4
15	Lock and key	Dessen, Sarah	F DES	4	9
16	Loving Frank	Horan, Nancy	F HOR	4	8
17	Greetings from planet Earth	Kerley, Barbara	F KER	4	4
18	Dirty little secrets	Omololu, Cynthia Jaynes	F OMO	4	4
19	Half broke horses	Walls, Jeannette	F WAL	4	4
20	Love & lies	Wittlinger, Ellen.	F WIT	4	4

Spotlight: Summer reading goes YouTube!

Picture this: you, on summer vacation, with a super book.  Pretty great, right? But yikes!  What to read, what to read?  We have got you covered.  We've recorded some summaries of recommended books that we endorse from both the middle and upper school summer reading list.  These titles are doubly great as they are NOT required titles (even though some of those books are delightful too)!  Huzzah freedom!  They are posted on our YouTube channel, which you can access year round from both our website and our links page on this blog!  Happy reading (and viewing!).

Everyone's a Critic: Al Capone Does My Shirts

 Al Capone Does My Shirts, by Gennifer Choldenko
G.P. Putnam's Sons: 2004
Reviewed by Anna C., Class of 2014

     Al Capone Does My Shirts is the tale of a boy, Moose, and his adventures living on Alcatraz. His dad serves there as a guard and electrician, for one of the worst prisons of all time. Alcatraz is filled with rapists, murderers, hit men, con men, and all the dangerous sorts "regular" prisons don't want. So, needless to say, it is not the ideal home for Moose. But Moose, his sister Natalie, and some of the other children living on the island must learn to occupy themselves. When Moose discovers a convict loose and talking to Natalie, will he tell his parents?

      Al Capone Does My Shirts is a fun, must-read novel. Gennifer Choldenko's writing keeps you wondering what Moose and his friends will do next. I found myself devouring this book in one night, as I was brought back into the time of 1935. Overall I highly recommend this historical fiction novel for anyone who not only loves historical fiction, but a good laugh or suspense.