VVMBookBlog

I’ve seen this book around in stores and then heard about it last weekend at a conference I attended for media specialists. The leader of this session was telling us about the “latest and greatest” in books, especially since everyone is out looking for “the next Harry Potter.” Well, for sure this book is non-traditional in so many ways.

First of all this is a 534-page book that can be read in about an hour, but readers should take more time than that to really appreciate this book. Reading this book is a little like watching a movie or reading a graphic novel because of all the pages of Selznick’s illustrations. In fact it’s a lot like reading one of our Everybody books, but an Everybody book that is more than the usual 32 pages!

Hugo Cabret is a 12-year-old orphan who has taken over his uncle’s job of fixing and maintaining all of the clocks in a Paris railroad station in 1931. His life holds many secrets, including the mechanical man [automaton=robot] he is hiding in his secret apartment within the train station, and his dead father’s notebook that might hold the answers to making the automaton work. However his experiences with the old toystore owner and his god-daughter, Isabelle, jeopardize all his secrets, and only bring up more questions to answer.

I can’t say much more without giving away too much information. I’ll just say that it’s an interesting look at the history of early films, and brings up thoughts about the purpose of things and people and what happens when things or people are broken.

A very unique book!

(Lexile-820)

Cover-Up: Mystery at the Super Bowl by John Feinstein

Typically I only post about books I read during the summer, but after finishing Cover-Up, I wanted to recommend this book. Feinstein, author of Last Shot: Final Four Mystery, writes another book about Steve and Susan Carol, two teenage reporters. He uses his knowledge of sports, including what probably goes on behind the scenes, to create a mystery that these two young reporters solve. It is not an easy task, and it is not without danger.

The novel starts with Steve and Susan Carol as teenage reporters with their own television show on a station similar to ESPN. Both are super excited because they will spend a week covering the Super Bowl. Their parents are apprehensive because they’ve gotten into dangerous situations covering sporting events in the past, but let them go. Soon Steve is fired and replaced with a young music idol. Although Steve and Carol are not happy, they decide it is best for Carol to continue on the show. Steve is lucky enough to be able to cover the Super Bowl with Kellerher from the Washington Post and eventually CBS.

Even though the two are rivals, they begin working together when Steve finds out that players from one of the Super Bowl teams have tested positive for HGH (steroids). Once again the two are put in dangerous situations as they try to solve this mystery. The deadline looms as the Super Bowl is hours away.

This book is great reading for anyone who loves mysteries or sports. A little romance is even involved.