VVMBookBlog

It’s the first day of her senior year in high school and Jessica’s world changes with the appearance of Lucius Vladescu, an exchange student from Romania.  She quickly finds out that she had been promised in a marriage pact to Lucius, son of one of the rival vampire families, by her doomed-to-death parents back in Romania when she was a baby.  Her adoptive parents, present at the time of the pact, took on responsibility for her care while never telling her about the pact or her connection to vampires…until now!

Jessica just wants to enjoy her senior year as a normal girl but soon falls under the spell of the very attractive Lucius.  She does her best to help Lucius keep his “condition” a secret but rumors start to fly when Lucius begins to show an interest in Faith Crosse, a shallow airhead cheerleader in Jessica’s opinion!  As action heats up toward a conclusion, Jessica works to convince Lucius he isn’t the evil person he’s been raised to be by his evil uncle.  But what kind of a future is Jessica heading for–college student or vampire princess?  Fun book, lots of humor!

This third book is the conclusion to the Sharon Draper trilogy beginning with The Battle of Jericho and November Blues.  While I didn’t read the first two books, I still liked this story about a group of students who have survived a lot together and now just need to get through their senior year and get on with the rest of their lives.

Much of the story is told from the perspective of Arielle who, along with her mother, must deal with an abusive stepfather, and Kofi, who must be the adult to his irresponsible parents while dealing with a growing addiction to prescription drugs given to him for an injury to his arm.  Added to seeing how they all deal with major issues in their lives is the mystery of who is committing thefts of money and electronic devices, and who keeps pulling the fire alarm in the middle of winter!  Lots of action leading up to a dramatic ending!

Fire from the Rock

(Originally posted by Ms. Moeller)

Fire from the Rock is a historical fiction novel that weaves a fantastic story and supplies information about the fight to desegregate American schools. This is the story of the Little Rock Nine. The main character, Sylvia Patterson, is a typical high school student concerned with friends, boys, and music. She is also a strong willed girl who needs to make difficult choices. Although this book is fiction, the incidents are based on reality. Sylvia is chosen to be one of the few black students to go to the all white Central High School. Her choice is not an easy one as many white people in the community are against desegregation.

Life As We Knew It

Students often come in asking for “scary books.”  Deciding what is “scary” varies from person to person, but this story is very scary to me.

A large meteor is on track to collide with the moon.  Shouldn’t be a huge deal since it’s the moon and not Earth, right?  But then it happens and day by day they began to find out how the moon’s influence on the Earth through tides being messed up and the resulting tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcano eruptions  around the world, turns everything into chaos.  Communication was affected when cable TV went out and cell phones stopped working.  Then real problems began when they realized the climate was affected and winter was coming on sooner than usual.

This is the kind of book where I put myself into the story and wonder how I would react as a mother trying to take care of my family.  When supplies of food, fuel and other necessities get low, how will people behave so that they can all get through the crisis and on to hopefully better days?  Read this book and find out.  Then read the sequel, The Dead and the Gone, to see what happens next!

Written in poetry form using few words, Kek tells a compelling story about escaping from Sudan in Africa after his father and brother were killed, leaving his mother behind, and coming to live in Minneapolis.  He comes to live with his aunt and cousin, arriving in winter to experience cold and snow for the first time.  Riding to his new home with Dave from the resettlement center, he asks to stop when he sees a cow inside a fence along the road.  That  cow is his one connection to his old life.

The story goes on to tell how he adjusts to live in America, going to school in his ESL classes, meeting new friends, and finding a way to care for Gol, the cow.  But all the while he worries about his mother back in Sudan.  Everyone says he probably won’t see her again.  He just can’t accept that.  What do you think will happen?

Read this Maud Hart Lovelace reading list entry for a new way to think about students who come to our country–and our school–directly from another country.