It's all Greek to me!!

Let's take a moment to travel in time, way way back. I mean, WAY back. To Mount Olympus. We'll open Pandora's box, meet the Olympians, and maybe even voyage to the underworld. Well, at least we'll read about it.

Pandora Gets Jealous by Carolyn Hennesy

So we all know the story of Pandora, right? She opens a box she's not supposed to, and bad stuff happens. Well, maybe that's the version you heard, but this book explains things differently. Pandora Atheneus Andromaeche Helena (who goes by Pandy) is a thirteen year old girl who is a rather plan demi-god, set on pleasing her parents and not being teased by her classmates. So, she decides to bring a box to school for a special project. This box, of course, contains a bunch of horrible, evil, no good stuff, and somehow it accidentally gets opened...and then it's up to Pandy to collect everything that escapes it. Can she do it in a year's time? Read to find out!!

Demeter and Persephone: Spring Held Hostage by Justine and Ron Fontes

The story of Persephone being kidnapped by Hades and taken to the underworld is one of my favorite Greek myths. This graphic novel is a FANTASTIC retelling. Demeter, Persephone's mother, misses her daughter so much that she causes droughts and kills farmer's crops. She begs the Olympians to help get her daughter back. Read this book to find out if Persephone is safely returned to her mother.

The Shadow Thieves by Ann Ursu

Charlotte Mielswetzki is followed home one day by a man in a tuxedo. This is only the start of weird occurences. Her cousin Zee arrives from England, and brings with him news of sick children...and then discovers that the disease is spreading in the U.S. too. What's causing this weird illness, and what does it have to do with the man in the tuxedo? And who is Philonecron, and why does he want to overthrow Hades? How can Charlotte and Zee help? WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN?!??! Read this book to find out.

Snow Day! HOORAY!!!

I hope everyone had a fun and not-too-cold Snow Day yesterday. I enjoyed the day off by cuddling with my cat and, of course, READING! I would have gone outside and played, but...this looked COLD to me...

Anyway, for future snow days (if we're lucky this year), here are some good reads:

Ramona's World by Beverly Cleary

Ramona is probably one of my favorite literary characters. I grew up reading her, and this book is the newest book in the Ramona series. She's nine now, and determined to make fourth grade the best year EVER. Will a new teacher, a new baby sister, and the Yard Ape prevent that from happening? Oh Ramona, what trouble will you get into this time?

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
Told in both words and pictures (though not a picture book), this book is the amazing journey of Hugo Cabret. He is an orphan who keeps the clocks running at a train station in Paris. He's also a thief. His shenanigans make him cross paths with a well-read girl and an old man who runs a toy both. Both may help him solve the mystery of a cryptic drawing, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and how they all connect to each other and Hugo's father. I couldn't put this book down, and the ending was so amazing, it quite literally almost blew my mind. This is a book you DON'T want to miss.

The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry

Think you've got it bad? The Willoughby children definitely have it worse. Their parents want to get rid of them. And honestly, they'd be quite happy without their parents. The question that often comes up in this book is "what would good old-fashioned people do?" The book offers many answers, from a kind nanny, to a candy bar inventor, to many other odd characters that the children come across. This is a fantastically funny read, but very different from Miss Lowry's other books. It constantly pokes fun at "classic" children's literature, especially where there are orphans involved. A good read indeed.

Enjoy these books, or whatever you're reading, and stop in at ImaginOn this Friday, Jan. 23rd, for a super fun G.O.O.F. Off Day that celebrates the Chinese New Year.

~Ellen

Let's go adventuring, shall we?

Hello all! I hope everyone's 2009 is going off without a hitch so far. Aside from the fact that it rained for like, two weeks straight (what WAS that anyway?), things are going well here at ImaginOn.

Is anyone else excited for the movie version of Inkheart? I know I am!

I'm also excited about sharing a few books with you. Let's go adventurng, shall we?

The Lighthouse Family by Cynthia Rylant

Pandora is a lonely cat who tends to her lighthouse on a small island, until Seabold, a sailing dog, crashes on her shore. Together, the two friends adopt three orphaned mice children: Whistler, Lila, and Tiny. In each book of this series, the family finds new adventures on the island, and meets many interesting animal friends along the way!

The Fairy-Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley

Join Sabrina and Daphne Grimm as they move in with their Granny Relda in Ferryport and learn about their famous ancestors (the brothers Grimm) . Will the girls be able to handle being swept into a world of the real Prince Charming, the Three Little Pigs, the Magic Mirror, and many more fairy tale creatures? (Well, it IS an entire series, so apparently they CAN handle. Though that shouldn't ruin it for you, it's a fantastic and fun book!)

Finally, I would like to say hello and welcome to Ms. Fabulous, who left us a great comment with some cool recommendations:

"I am Ms Fabulous and NEW to this blog, although I have members of my family that are SMELLY and GROSS and are BOYS!!! Ewwww. One of them actually gave me a COLD... yuck, so I have made myself some jasmine tea. I actually do have an anti-boys spray I use often when I am reading and don't want to be disturbed that smells of lavender and works marvelously. BUT I just finished reading the most delicious book called The Alchemyst and I couldn't put it down! It's about a brother and sister that are twins and have magical powers... truly a gripping and terrific read. I actually read it in two days! The Morrigan wears a cape of black feathers who is wickedly powerful. There is also a sphynx that has the head of a woman and a goddess with a changing form from woman to old maid to girl. VERY cool. Now I am reading Luxe... so I will pop in and tell you about that when I am finished. So far it's set in the late 1800's in NY and the girls have silk gowns and boys who are rich and dashing and servant boys that are strong and adventurous. So far I love it. I just want one of the silk dresses, the fancy parties and champagne. I know the girl dies because the beginning of the book says so... but so far I can't figure it out. This weekend I borrowed the movie, from the Mint Hill branch, Ballet Shoes because I had never finished the book . I REALLY enjoyed this movie and highly recommend it for a chick flick on a cold winter night. I just returned it to Imaginon today if you want it!See ya... beware of BOYS...-Ms Fabulous"

Okay, so ALL of those recommendations sound great, and I'm going to have to add to my growing list of things I HAVE to read or watch. Thank you Ms. Fabulous, and we look forward to hearing from you again!

Until next time, I wish you good reading adventures and some extra anti-boys spray!

Well, I have to apologize too!! But Book Reviews Inside!!!

Hello Rockin' Girls!,

I guess since Ellen apologized I have to apologize too. But, I don't have a great excuse like school... I have just been busy READING!!!!

So, here goes Ms. Leah's reading list as of late


Charlie Bone and The Shadow by Jenny Nimmo

If you haven't read the Charlie Bone series---Where have you been! As much as I love Harry Potter for me, Charlie is where it's at. If you aren't familiar with him, here's some background.

Charlie is known as one of the 12 children of the Red King. These 12 have different magical gifts. Charlie's is that he can travel to, and communicate with, people in paintings and photographs!

These 12 all attend a special school called Bloor's Academy. Run by the not so nice Dr. Bloor and his family.

Needless to say Charlie has many run ins with the Bloors but, that's not all he has to look out for. Under his own roof there is trouble as well! With the likes of his Aunts Grizelda, Lucretia, Eustacia and Venetia.

Book 7, is just out, and titled Charlie Bone and The Shadow. I won't get into what it's about because I want you to read it! But, trust me, it's well worth it!

Find out more about the Charlie Bone series by going to http://www.scholastic.com/charliebone/index.htm

Now, I am still in the middle of this book, and it's a YA title but, I love it so far!

It's called Avalon High and it's by author Meg Cabot. She has also written the Princess Diary series! This one jumped out at me because I absolutely LOVE King Arthur Tales!!!

This one is based around a girl named Ellie. Her parents are both medival history professors. When they decide to take a year off to do a sabatical(it's when teachers do research projects) they move Ellie away from all her friends to Annapolis, Maryland. New town means new school right? So, Ellie is enrolled as a Junior in Avalon High.

Now, just as she thinks things are a bit normal, she meets A. William Wagner. The handsome captain of the football team, senior class president and valedictorian.

When they meet, they both feel a strange connection. But, they know they have never met.

Things begin to become more clear when one of their teachers Mr. Morton begins to unravel a plot that connects some of Avalon High's students to a modern repeating of the King Arthur legend!

Once I'm done I'll be sure to post a real review but, so far I'm hooked!

That's what I've been up to so far!

I am also going to be doing a program about some cool Virtual Worlds! Once I get that together I'll be sure to post them here!

See y'all soon!

Leah

FREEDOM!!

Hello all! I'd like first and foremost to apologize for being completely absent from this blog. You see, I was bogged down in school. (You know, school. It's that place you have to go to learn stuff, but really, you'd probably rather be reading? But you have to go to become "smart.") But now I am officially done, and free at last!! I want to celebrate!

I also want to put up a book review that Sophia wrote a while ago for the boys' site (why not for us, Sophia? whhhhhyyy??). I won't be a mean and sneaky girl and leave out the part where she talks about how awesome the Boys Rule Boys Read site is, because she's right! Again, I'm so sorry for not doing it sooner.

Island: Book One: Shipwreck
This book is by Gordon Korman. Even though this isn't about the book, I need to explain something to you guys. OK, so I'm a girl, that doesn't mean I want to take over your website. I just think your website is totally awesome! I love reading. Now, Shipwreck is the first book in the Island series. It's about a bunch of of boys and girls who were on a boat, then the boat got in this storm, and the six kids got washed up on a deserted island.
I think you should read this book, it's awesome and I love it!! Gordon Korman is a very good writer and I think you should read all his books. The ones I like are his Island series, Dive series, and his Everest series.
Most likely they're at the library, but if you want, you could also buy the books. They're cool. In the Island series, there are two girls and four boys. In the next book, Survival, they have to survive on the island until they can Escape, book three. Gordon Korman writes awesome books!!

Now that I am finally done with school, I plan on reading a lot more books...for fun. And posting the reviews on here, of course. And any more recommendations you want to throw my way, I'll actually have time to read now!

Free Movies, Books, and Popcorn! (You can't beat that!)

Hello Girls! I apologize for the long gap between entries. I need to fix that, and add some goodies to this site.

I just wanted to let you all know that on Tuesday, November 11th, we are having another G.O.O.F. Off day here at ImaginOn, which means LOTS of great stuff to do. For starters, we'll be showing the movie Shrek at 10:00 a.m. and passing out some movie trivia sheets to see if you all can keep up with how many fairytales are mentioned. At 2:00, we'll be showing The Lion King 1 and 1/2. Did I mention there will be lots and lots of free popcorn, too?

In the meantime, you ladies now have an OFFICIAL display (and yeah, it's totally bigger than the boys' display, so there) and many bookmarks (way cooler than the boys'). Please come by and visit, or send in book reviews, and I'll hook you up with some free books (just like, you guessed it, the BOYS!).

Here are some rockin' recommendations from me.

Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell

So Emmy's parents have been really distant, and her nanny is HORRIBLE. On top of that, she can hear the class rat talking (and he is NOT very nice). When Emmy discovers that her nanny may be drugging her parents to make them forget her, will she be able to save the day and get her family back? Read this book to find out.

Hate That Cat by Sharon Creech

I was a huge fan of Love That Dog by Miss Creech, and I was pleased to find this sequel in a stack of new books. It is about the same boy who is writing poetry about how much he dislikes cats and misses his old dog, Sky. When he gets an adorable kitten for a Christmas present, will he be able to resist the temptation of the fluffy cuteness? (I mean, who can resist that, really?)

Horse lovers, take heed.

Hi, I'm Beth, and I'm a librarian. But I started out as a lover of horses! I shall always be a lover of horses and books!

Growing up, my book shelf was home to all of the Walter Farley “stallion” books- Black and Island; Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty and Marguerite Henry’s books- Misty was my favorite- maybe because as a child I got to go to Chincoteague Island and take part in Pony Penning Day.

The horses in my life had names like Why Wait, Oh Daddy, On Easy Street, Sandstorm, and Tar Baby not Flame, The Black, Merrylegs or Beauty. I recall how they were often woven into my daydreams- Alec and the Black and me and On Easy Street galloping along a deserted beach near my home. While watching Why Wait, Sandstorm and Tar Baby grazing nose to nose in the pasture, I was reminded of passages from Black Beauty.

If you are a lover of horses and of books you, too, might enjoy…

War Horse by Michael Morpurgo
This story comes “straight from the horse’s mouth!” Joey, the horse, recounts his life story- the idyllic days as a beloved pet on an English farm, the horrifying events he endured as a cavalry horse during World War I and the heartwarming reunion with his first master.
This story reminds me of Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty.

A Blue for Beware by Jessie Haas
In this sequel to Beware the Mare, Lily and Beware are ready to put themselves to the test- entering a show for the first time. Lily wonders if all her hard work will be rewarded , "can I keep Beware in check around other horses, will she take the jumps or refuse?” Young readers will be cheering Lily and Beware as they prove themselves inside the show ring.

My Kingdom for a Horse : an anthology of poems about horses edited by Betty Ann Schwartz
The reader encounters a herd of horses- real and imaginary. Poems celebrate the race horse, the farm horse, the work horse, the circus horse and the new born foal. The poets include Robert Frost, Jack Prelutsky, Walt Whitman and William Shakespeare.