Teen's latest book club book

A Series Of Unfortunate Events is a book series that intentionally is guided to a much more depressing and despondent type of story. I've seen several sad stories in my life, mind you, but this has to be the first franchise I've seen that uses the title of the book to show it's viewers how sad it is. This is a pretty risky move on the author's behalf, because younger viewing audiences are attracted to a much more  genre of novels. So, is A Series Of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning worth reading, despite it's gloomy outward presentation? Well...

The story centers around the three Baudelaire children, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny. They lived in a mansion with their wealthy mother and father, and enjoy doing all sorts of things, like building contraptions, reading, and- wait a sec, am I reviewing the right book here? Honestly, a book that uses the word 'Unfortunate' in the title is sure to be a most saddening title indeed, but this - this book right here - seems to be a dream come true, doesn't it? Well, it actually is. Well, until their parents die. The Baudelaire children lose their fortune, as none of them are of age to inherit it from the bank, and are required to go live with their fourth uncle three times removed(or is it third uncle, four times removed? details.), Count Olaf.
Count Olaf.
Even the name is unpleasant. Count Olaf. *shudder*

Let me just say right now that Count Olaf is quite possibly the most despicable, commendable, abomination-of-a-book-character I have ever seen. He is cruel, heartless, vile, ignorant, inconsiderate of other people's live, and more. If anybody asks you why A Series Of Unfortunate Events is such a heart-wrenching sad story, your first and only answer should be 'Count Olaf'.
Well then, now that we've got THAT out of the way, let's talk about the plot. Despite it's outward demeanor, this book is very intricate, and does a good job on keeping the reader entertained, turning the pages as they go. The story is rather short though, and comes with a pretty frightening price tag, but this book is worth a rental or borrow from a library and such. While it's not the greatest story ever told, there are very, VERY few problems and/or issues I have with the book. The only thing that ever really got on my nerves was the constant trend of the narration telling me the definition of certain words. I would be fine with this in any other child's story, but, like I said, most people who read this are 10 years or older, and (should) know these definitions. It's not a major issue, per se, but did agitate me quite a bit.
So, can I recommend A Series Of Unfortunate Events to you, the viewer? It depends. If you're not fond of sad stories, then this book is the bane of your existence, and you should probably close your internet browser right now. But, if you are feeling a bit adventurous, then this book will do a good job satisfying your appetite.

 

 

6.8 ENJOYABLE
+ Always keeps you on edge
+ The most evil character in a book ever
- It insists on holding your hand
- short and expensive

This is GadgetJax, signing out. *click*

 

Geocaching at the Library!

Here's a fun and exciting activity - go Geocaching at the library! 

Follow clues to find hidden caches.  Then look at the contents and the goodies inside.  Sign the log and try to find another cache at another branch!

Visit:  http://www.lcplin.org/teens/geocache.html for more info!!

Book Review!! The Titan's Curse

I’d like to tell you about one of the books from the Percy Jackson series.  The Titan’s Curse is the 3^rd book in the series.  This book is filled with tragedy, adventure, drama, and victory.  When I first started reading the series, I stopped at book 2 (The Sea of Monsters), because I started to read another series of books.  The only reason why I decided to start back up again is because I made a deal with a friend of mine… (like I’d read her series if she read one of mine).

This book kept me on my toes the whole time because I was engrossed in the book.  When something exciting started to happen, or one of the characters does something crazy, I would just so happen to yell at the book every once in a while, causing a pillow to be thrown at me by my dad or brother!!

Percy has a brave, smart, and caring personality.  He’s the story’s main character and his relationship with his best friend is evolving.  The way that he cares so much for Annabeth is truly priceless (his personal emotional turmoil).  In addition, Percy is learning how to use his powers, even though sometimes he’s not the brightest pearl in the sea, he tries really hard to make good.

I would like to recommend this book because it is so intense that you will never want to put it down!  My favorite part of this book was when the Saber Tooth Tiger pounces at Percy.  I could imagine the look on his face, because of the way that Rick Riordan described the scene through Percy’s eyes.  These books are absolutely wonderful to read.  On behalf of my friend, (the one that got me hooked again) and my self, we recommend this series of books to you and your whole family.  I know that you and your family will enjoy them just as much as we have!

Miranda

We had so much fun we forgot.......

...to take pictures of our Teen Book Jeopardy event!  I took a couple of our set up and then charged the battery.  The evening began and we were having such a great time that all thoughts of pictures went out of my head!! 

We had 10 teens, all were able to participate as a contestant, a host, or a scorekeeper.  Oh yeah, and as "Vanna White" LOL! 

17 categories -- 85 questions -- Final Jeopardy -- lots of food and excitement.  The teens wrote all the questions themselves.

Congratulations to our Final Jeopardy finalists - Lily, Dvid, and Zack! Yeah Zack our Grand prize winner!!!!

 

What's the next game you'd like to see??

Where did January go??

Can you believe the weather?  It's been a long time since the weather has been this bad! Things are going well at the library...the Teen Book Jeapordy night is almost here and the Teen Advisory Board members have been hard at work to create some great questions. I mean answers! 


We have excellent prizes, delicious snacks and it will be a extremely fun and awesome opportunity to test your knowledge!!

What do you know about Amulet?

Think you know everything about The Hunger Games?  Hmmm....

Join us for a truly great eveninig & test your skills!!!

tLtWatW - A good surprise!

*Note. While the following review is spoiler-free, it contains mentions of many plot elements in the book. I know most won't mind, but you can never be too careful.*

 

Everyone knows the story of The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe. Whether it was the book, the movie, an internet synopsis, etc., everybody has heard the story at least once.

But, while most people know that The Lion, The War- you know what, (that's too hard to remember. Let's just call it tLtWatW.) While many know that book did so well it spawned numerous sequels, what most people don't know is that tLtWatW is actually a sequel to a previous Narnia book called "The Magicians Nephew".

Quite the curious thing...

So, why would Disney make a movie about a book sequel and not one about the original?
The Magician's Nephew is a very interesting book. While most fantasy books (Including tLtWatW) focus on a war story, and have very cliche elements, The Magician's Nephew sets the stage for the following entries in the series, and does so in a very clever manner. While most people think it's better to read all books in order of numbering, whole idea of tLtWatW becoming a movie and not The Magician's Nephew is a great idea.

When people see a movie, they naturally want to read the books based on the movie. If you read Narnia book 1 first, you know quite well what's going to happen in the sequel. Watching tLtWatW first, then reading The Magician's Nephew is much better because you have no idea what's going to happen. One of my favorite plot points involves one of the characters breaking off a piece of a lamp post in the real world. When this character later goes to Narnia, she hits Aslan with the lamp post piece, which causes Aslan to make a new lamp post out of the ground.
This is the same lamp post where Lucy meets Mr. Tumnus in tLtWatW. Neat, huh?

There are so many other things like this that it would be impossible list them all without spoiling the story. The bottom line is, Watch The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, then read The Magician's Nephew. Trust me, it's a much more satisfying experience, and one of the most clever ideas I've seen in a book-movie adaptation. tLtWatW is great, and so is The Magician's Nephew. When seen in this specific order, the end result is an amazing experience that even the most reluctant reader will enjoy!!

 

9.2 AMAZING
+ Intriguing Story
+ Nicely Drawn Illustrations
+ Ties in great with the movie adaptation
- You need to see the movie to get the most enjoyment out of it.

This is GadgetJax, signing out. *click*