GadgetJax reviews of Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims by Rush Limbaugh by

I think I'm not the only one who can say that Social Studies are, well, not that fun in school. But what if there was a book that made History fun? I know it sounds like blasphemy, but after lots and lots of research (And by that I mean Googling Historical Fiction for kids), I found one: Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims.

The story follows the tale of Rush Revere and his horse Liberty. Liberty is a special horse, as it is able to Time Travel, Talk, and Vanish among other things. The unlikely duo make use of these skills to Time Travel to the past and learn more about the 1600's, more specifically the time of the Pilgrims. 
The story features many quirky characters and witty jokes. Though, if I do have a few complaints about the story, though you may not agree with this, they are as follows:

The first and biggest issue is that some characters from the modern times will sometimes say things related to modern media to past characters (For example, a character named Tom praises Captain Miles Standish by calling him 'The Incredible Hulk'). The reason this is so bad is because it is not only a really repetitive joke, but it also halts the progression of the story as if Time just stopped.
The second problem I have are the illustrations. Now, to be fair, I can't really judge a book by it's cover (or it's pictures), but aside from screenshots of older images (such as a portrait of the Native Americans), all the artwork looks like boring clip art, and is really jarring and can make even a dedicated reader feel uneasy. It's not as bad an issue as the 'Modern Media' one, but it's pretty noticeable.

I think that the Rush Revere series as a whole is very enjoyable. There are lots of interesting connections to History and enough laughs to make it feel like a perfect mix of Fiction and Education. I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys this Genre. Until then, see you all next time.

Like what I do? Do you perhaps you like Pokemon? I run a blog all about the Pokemon TCG, and if you're interested you can check it out here: http://tcghq.blogspot.com/

-GadgetJax

The Voice: scary stories

This is our adaptation of "The Voice"* from the Scary Stories You Can Tell in the Dark program on Sept 30th.

We almost made it to the end of the story in this take.

Almost.




*short story is from the book More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark collected from folklore and retold by Alvin Schwartz; with drawings by Stephen Gammell.

The Trumpet Of The Swan (a review by GadgetJax)

For the most part, while I do like to read, when it comes to my personal Literature preference, I usually shy away from the new bestsellers in favor of classics. Today, I'll be taking a look at a book I was required to read for my School Schedule: The Trumpet Of The Swan.

The Trumpet Of The Swan follows the tale of Louis, a young Swan that can't talk. If this doesn't make sense at first, let me be a bit more informant. He can't talk, can't sqawk, can't make any Swan-related sounds. Ixnay. So, Louis learns how to play the Trumpet, so he can communicate with all of the other animals. (He also learns how to write, but it's not important at the moment, so let's just pretend that he doesn't.)

Pretty soon, Louis becomes a professional Trumpeter and starts playing at high-class establishments, such as Hotels, Restaurants, and the like. THe story may seem bland on paper, but it gets very interesting, despite seeming simple and childish. Louis has to go through many complicated decisions that do a good job of reflecting real life. Though, if I do have a gripe with this book is that, like many Classical Books, the ending is way too sudden, and doesn't do a terribly good job of wrapping up any loose ends.

Can I recommend The Trumpet Of The Swan to you, the reader? Yes, I can. It's pretty short, despite being around 200+ pages long, and it's something that would fit perfectly on my list of books that I would read more than once (Along with the How To Train Your Dragon series, Hatchet, and The Magician's Nephew.)

This is GadgetJax (David, as my peers call me), bidding you good day!

If I Stay by Gayle Forman: A Quick Review by Lily W.

If I Stay is a pretty popular book right now, I am pretty sure there is movie premiering soon. In fact, I wouldn’t have been interested in reading the story if not for the movie trailer. A friend and I were watching the movie The Fault In Our Stars, watching the previews, when this trailer comes on. Just a shout out to whoever designed it THE ONLYREASON WHY I WANTED RO READ THE STORY WAS FOR THE LAST CHAPTER SO NEXT TIME YOU DESIGN A TRAILER MAKE SURE IT DOES NOT GIVE AWAY THE ENTIRE MOVIE! THAT TENDS TO MAKE BUYING TICKETS USELESS. 

So basically my friend and I had this joke where for weeks all we would say is how much we wanted to just read the last chapter, just to know how the story ends. Anyway, this book was really nice, it kept me in suspense the whole time, it used the literary device flashbacks amazingly. I also liked that there was a strings player (Mia, the main character, was a cellist, I myself am a bassist). Because I choose to NOT spoil the entire story line, I will just won’t disclose anything that wasn’t on the dust jacket. I will try to reveal nothing in the book and advise you to NOT watch that trailer unless you want to know the whole story. So Spoiler Alert. Basically Mia is a teenager with dreams to attend Julliard to study music, she has her parents, little brother (Teddy), boyfriend (Adam),and best friend (Kim). But one day all of that changes when her family (her included) gets into an accident with a semi-truck. From then on the book focuses on her thoughts and memories while in a coma which is a really nice way for us, the reader, because we can see a lot of what is happening outside of Mia herself, if that makes any sense. 

 

Oh if this review does not make sense read the book it is really nice!

Introductions and Book Discussions

Hi there! 

I am Jennifer, the new Librarian here at Highland. This is what I look like (feel free to come up to me and introduce yourself):

 

Here are a few of the books that we brought in today for our "Best Books of the Summer"  book discussion:

1. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan

2. The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan











3. Hereafter by Tara Hudson
(Jennifer's recommendation) 










4. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
(this title was a late entry by one of our absent members)










 5.  The Odyssey by Homer
(this is a required summer reading book...not so much a favorite) 












The book we are discussing on Wednesday September 3rd from 3:45-5 pm is Divergent by Veronica Roth There are copies here at the Highland Branch, so come by and pick one up!

 

 See you soon!
Jennifer

Rube Goldberg - Summer Reading 2014

We didn't get too many pictures because it was just toooooo exciting to see the racetracks that everyone made.  And they all worked!! They were mainly created from cardboard, duct tape, boxes and coffee cans.  We ended up with four racetracks!  And a bird!

The Bird

We raced some cars on the floor as well...a little drag racing for fun! 

Teen Advisory Meeting - not what I expected!!

 

 

This was my last Teen Advisory Board meeting before I left for Griffith.  I was in the meeting room with two of the teens, making small talk, wondering why no one was showing up...hmmmm.....

So, Lily told me she wanted to show me something in the children's room, and WOW!! what a surprise! 

I will miss you all!  You're funny, smart, ingenious, and caring - yes, and AWESOME!!!!

 

........... and David is hiding!!!