Tuesday, April 27, 2010

The Morgue and Me



by John C. Ford



Christopher Newell took a summer job doing a little janitorial work at the morgue. It wasn't really his first choice, but it sort of fit in with his life-long goal to become a spy; learning forensics and all that jazz, so it wasn't too bad of a gig. Little did Chris realize that his summer would end up heavy on the spying and light on the cleaning.

Something needed cleaning up, all right, but it wasn't the floor. There was a body and it had been declared a suicide. But it had a few too many bullet holes in it and the doctor doing the examination had a few too many stacks of hundred dollar bills sitting in a bag in his office.

Chris knew he couldn't go to the police with this one. The sheriff was the one who brought the body in. So Chris went to the local paper where he finds Tina, a new-in-town reporter looking for her big break. Before he knows what he's doing, he's holding on for dear life in the passenger seat of Tina's Trans Am as they go hunting all over town for clues.

The Morgue and Me is a great mystery. It's fast-paced and funny with enough twists you keep you guessing until the very end. If you like "whodunnits" then definitely check this one out at the LFHS library. Act fast, though, because book check out end May 7th!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Marcelo in the Real World


by Francisco X. Stork

The sound Marcelo hears in his head is like the most beautiful music in the world. But it's not quite music. It's like the feeling of music without the music actually being there. Lately, though, the internal music, or IM as Marcelo calls it, has been harder to hear and often it isn't there at all. Maybe there is no IM in the "real world." Marcelo would rather not be in the real world, he'd rather stay at Paterson.

Marcelo likes being at Paterson. It's a school for "people like him," although he's not quite like "people like him" either. The closest thing to what Marcelo "has" is Asperger's syndrome, but he's that's not really the best description either. Marcelo's father, Arturo, thinks that it's about time Marcelo left Paterson to learn to live in the "real world" and go to a public school for his senior year.

It'll be very difficult for Marcelo, so Arturo makes him a deal. If Marcelo can work at Arturo's law firm for the summer and learn to follow the rules of the real world, then Marcelo can return to Paterson for his senior year. But if he cannot successfully follow the rules of the real world, then Marcelo must go to the public high school.

The real world is tough to process. Marcelo is given a job in the mail room under the supervision of Jasmine who informs him that he's not to let other people in the office give him tasks to do. However, Arturo informs Marcelo that he should try to help out Wendell, the son of Arturo's partner, whenever he can. Is the real world always so complicated?

Things really get complicated when Marcelo finds a photograph of a disfigured girl in the trash. Marcelo wants to know what happened to her, but can Marcelo follow the rules of the real world and also solve the mystery of the girl in the photo? In the real world you have to make choices and choices have consequences. Will Marcelo risk his chance to stay at Paterson to satisfy his curiosity? Check out Marcelo in the Real World to find out!

Friday, March 19, 2010

Leviathan


by Scott Westerfeld

Here's another one by Westerfeld that I really liked. It's a little sci-fi and a little old-fashioned at the same time, a style that has come to be known as "steam punk." The story is set in a sort of alternate timeline version of Europe around the time of World War I. As the story begins, Alek is woken up in the middle of the night by a couple of his personal instructors to give him a late-night Stormwalker driving lesson. It makes sense to some degree, but why is Alek's fencing instructor, Count Volger, coming along? Is he in danger, is that why they're leaving at night? Is he in danger from Count Volger? Maybe he's being kidnapped!!

At about the same time, a girl in England named Deryn is trying to join the military's Air Service. She has a couple of things standing in her way, though. She's a bit young and she's a she. So Deryn tries to pass herself off as Dylan to join up. She has a lot of experience with flying already, so she's well ahead of her peers in terms of skill. While riding up on a tethered Huxley, Deryn runs into a storm that forces her to cut ties with the ground and float off over London. She's picked up by a giant airship, the Leviathan. Or should I say air beast? The Leviathan and the Huxley are both living creatures. England is a Darwinist country and they use living things, crazy beasts made from the DNA of different creatures, for transportation and weaponry.

Alek is from Austria, though, and he's a "Clanker," relying on giant mechanical contraptions for their military conflicts. How will Deryn (Dylan) and Alek fare when their countries start gearing up for war? Check out Leviathan from the LFHS library to find out!

Thursday, March 4, 2010

The Answer is Always Yes

by Monica Ferrell

 


What does it mean to be cool? Can you decide one day that you're going to be cool? Can you rebuild your personality, start over from scratch, and make yourself one of the cool people? If you study what the cool folks are doing and emulate their styles, will they accept you?

 


These are the questions that Matt faces as he heads off to NYU for his freshman year of college. He's spent the summer finding the "right" clothes and made sure he's found the "right" places to hang out. But what happens when he puts theory into practice?

 


It doesn't go well, at least not right away. His first impression with his dorm roommates goes horribly wrong and his dorm counselor hands him a pamphlet on homesickness. His pre-planned "cool" outfits don't go over very well either. Matt does make his first friend, Jason, because of his shoes, but not for the right reasons

 


Things start to go a little better for Matt when he meets Sophie, a sophomore from Lake Forest, Illinois (weird, right?). She and Jason help Matt feel a little better about himself and they form a nice little trio. One night they find themselves at a very trendy club and Matt finds his way into the VIP area where he is approached by the club's owner, Vic. Vic thinks Matt has potential and invites him to be one of the club's promoters. Everything seems to be going Matt's way, but what happens when you get everything you think you want? Will it go to Matt's head or can he walk the fine line between his life at school and his new life at the club

 


Check The Answer is Always Yes out from the LFHS library to see what happens!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

The Lightning Thief


By Rick Riordan
This week the LFHS Library Blockbuster Book Club will be discussing The Lightning Thief and going to see the movie version of the book this Friday. For more information about either of these events, click on this page.
The Lightning Thief is about a kid named Percy who gets into a lot of trouble and has been expelled from several schools. It’s not really his fault, though. Weird things just seem to happen to him. Things start getting really weird for Percy, though, when his math teacher turns into a monster and starts attacking him. His best friend, Grover, turns out to be a satyr who conceals his goat legs with baggy pants and fake feet, and his Latin teacher turns out to be a centaur who conceals his horse body with a magic wheel chair. It’s a lot for Percy to digest all at once. Maybe if he had paid more attention to the Greek mythology lessons in class, he’d be able to figure out the mess he’s found himself in.

When she realized how much danger he in, Percy’s mom finally reveals to her son that he’s a demi-god (child of a mortal and a god) and that he’ll be going to a special summer camp for kids like him. Hopefully there he’ll be able to get a handle on what’s going on. While at camp he meets Annabeth and Luke who help show him the ropes. He’ll need a lot more help than that, though, because things get out of hand quickly and before he knows it, he’s out the door and on a quest to save the world.
It’s a great book; funny and full of adventure. If you like Greek mythology, you’ll definitely get a kick out of it. If you’ve already read it, then join us in the library for the Blockbuster Book Club. Hope to see you there!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Shift


By Jennifer Bradbury

Chris and Win, short for Winston, want to ride their bicycles across the country after graduation. They’re starting in West Virginia and plan to ride all the way up to Seattle, where Win says his uncle lives. The thing is, though, Win doesn’t have an uncle in Seattle. That’s just one of the things that Chris learns during his first week of college after finishing the ride….without Win.
Somewhere along the way they get split up and Win’s father pulls in a favor from an FBI agent “friend” of his to keep an eye on Chris after Chris shows up home by himself. Something had to have happened and Win’s father thinks Chris knows a lot more than he’s been telling everybody. But what did happen? How could best friends just lose each other like that and why hasn’t Win contacted anybody? Well, maybe he has…

To find out what happens next, check out Shift from the LFHS library!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Creature of the Night


By Kate Thompson
Bobby likes to steal cars and go joyriding. He also likes to steal iPods and other gadgets to sell. He and his friends use the money to buy drugs and alcohol. This is Bobby’s life in Dublin and Bobby thinks it’s a pretty good one. So, he’s not too happy when his mother packs him and his little brother, Dennis, up to go live in the country. He’s not too worried, though. He doesn’t plan on staying long.
The new place seems okay, but boring. The people seem nice, but are a little strange and act a little mysterious about the previous tenants of their new home. The last guy disappeared, but that’s not the weirdest part. The landlord’s mother tells them that they need to leave a bowl of milk out every night, for the fairy.
Fairy?
Bobby and his mother brush off the advice and think nothing of it until Bobby finds Dennis awake in the middle of the night, talking about visiting with a tiny old woman. Could it be true? Could there really be a fairy that comes into their home every night? Bobby doesn’t think so, but the more he learns about the house and who used to live there, the more he’s sure he wants to go back to Dublin and back to the life he used to have. To see how Bobby and his family deal with the strangeness of their new home, check out Creature of the Night from the LFHS library.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Luke, it is your Destiny

Do you know how to use the LFHS library online card catalog? It's called Destiny Card Catalog and you can access it at the library (you know, on those last two computers on the main level that you use to check your email even though you know you aren't supposed to...) or from anywhere through the library's web page. You can use Destiny Card Catalog to look up fiction and non-fiction books, audiobooks, and lots of other resource material as well.








But is that all Destiny Card Catalog does? No way! Destiny Card Catalog gives you, the student, the opportunity to interact with the catalog and leave your mark here at the LFHS library. You can make book lists and even write reviews that show up in the catalog for all of your classmates to see. Tell us what you liked and what you didn't. Tell us why you liked a book, or why you thought it was awful. When you're looking for a new book to read, it often helps to see what your friends and other classmates think about it.


So, how do you sign up for this feature? On the upper right side of the Destiny Card Catalog search page, click on "Create Account"





Then enter your last name and your barcode number. That number is "P" plus your ID number. For some students there is a space between the "P" and the ID number and for some there is not. Try it both ways. If you have trouble, find one of the library staff members to help you.

After that, all you have to do is log in to your account and you're ready to go.

To write a review, first find the book you want to review and click "Reviews" on the upper right, then click "Add Review" and start writing! When you're done, save it and it'll go to one of our staff members to check over before it goes "live" on the catalog. Have fun with it, but inappropriate language and other abuse will, of course, not be tolerated.






So get out there and review something! And if you find that you like reviewing books or writing about your reading experiences, why not write for the Page Turner? Email us with your reviews or other ideas lfhslibrary@lfschools.net

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Going Bovine


By Libba Bray
It’s not every day you see a talking yard gnome or a punk angel with pink hair. You probably haven’t had to save the universe from black holes and fire giants either. But you’re not Cameron Smith and you probably don’t have Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, otherwise known as the human form of Mad Cow Disease.
The disease is slowly turning Cameron’s brain into Swiss cheese and the doctors don’t give him very long to live. But what if the doctors are wrong? What if it’s not CJ (Mad Cow) at all? This is where the angel comes in. Dulcie, the angel, visits Cameron in his hospital room and tries to explain to him that something is eating his brain, but it’s not what the doctors think. It’s something much worse that won’t stop at Cameron’s brain. It will destroy the universe and only Cameron can stop it. But he’ll need some help. Dulcie suggests that Cameron bring along Gonzo, the guy in the next hospital bed.
So begins their adventure to save the universe and find the mysterious Dr. X and play jazz and rescue a short, wooden Norse god and be on a spring break TV show and locate a time-travelling pop group and… well, all sorts of crazy things. It’s a wild ride and you can join in by checking out Going Bovine from the LFHS library!

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

The Maze Runner


By James Dashner

He arrives in a box without any memories except his name and a vague feeling that he’d been here before. His name is Thomas, but everybody is calling him “Greenie” as in, the new guy. They’re all kids and they’re all boys. One new boy arrives each month, Thomas being the newest. Each boy has a job to do and now they have to find something for Thomas to do as well.

After learning about the different job possibilities, Thomas decides he wants to be a runner. He needs to be a runner. He can just feel it. But newbies can’t be runners. Being a runner is the most dangerous job you can have in this place, whatever this place is. They all call it the Glade. From what he’s learned so far, Thomas begins to understand that outside of the Glade’s walls is a maze. Every day, the walls open up and the runners take off into the maze with the task of mapping out the maze’s twists and turns. The job sounds simple enough, except for the fact that the maze changes every day. The walls of the maze move. Despite their best efforts, the runners have yet to find the exit to the maze. Some in the Glade doubt they ever will.

The day after Thomas arrives, everything changes. Another person has come through the box. They’ve never had two kids come through the box on consecutive days. But that’s not the strangest part. This kid is a girl.

So what does it all mean? Is this girl somehow linked to Thomas? Just like he feels he needs to be a runner, Thomas also feels like he knows this girl. Is Thomas special? Is being special a good thing in the Glade? Check out The Maze Runner from the LFHS library to find out!

Monday, January 4, 2010

Happy New Year!


It's a new year and it's cold! It's a great time to knock out a bunch of books! This month we'll be tackling books about giant mazes that change their paths and adventures with mad cow disease and other fun and weird stuff like that.


Have something to say? Leave a comment! But what if you have something to say about a different book? Why don't you write your own review?! Write something up and send it to lfhslibrary@gmail.com and we'll add it to the blog. If you'd rather talk about a book, we can have you do a video or podcast review. It's your blog, LFHS, take charge!