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New Website!!!!

Hey everyone!
The new website is up, but isn't entirely populated yet. It does have some stuff on it though so hop on over and take a look and see how you like it!!

www.thelibrarylarvae.com

Background Change!

Since we are expecting snow here in Maryland, I changed the background to snow! Snow, hot tea and a book! Woo hoo! Looking forward to it! (even though it is March)

The Bone Witch Book Trailer

The Bone Witch is out today!! Check it out at your local book store!

I Will Always Write Back

I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives by Caitlin Alifirenka
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When Caitlin was in the 7th grade, her English teacher had the class pick a country and compose a pen pal letter. Caitlin wanted to pick a radically different culture and thought that Zimbabwe sound exotic and faraway. In Africa, Martin’s class received 10 letters and only the top of the 50 kids in his class were able to receive one. Martin was one of those kids and was handed Caitlin’s letter from the United States. Martin wrote back. Caitlin wrote back. The two continued to write back about daily life. It wasn’t until Caitlin finally understood how Martin was living that it all turned around and sealed their friendship forever. Martin didn’t want to bother Caitlin with the burden of his living conditions or his country’s economic conditions becoming worse or his father getting laid off from his job, but when Martin’s education was being threaten, he felt he had no other alternative to let Caitlin and her family inside his world. Without a hint or hesitation, Caitlin and her mom funded Martin’s education in Zimbabwe and did the necessary footwork to find him a scholarship to get him to the U.S. to reach his dreams. Throughout everything, Martin and Caitlin remained the best of friends.

I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives by Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda is an amazing story of two incredibly different people who crossed each other’s path and changed their destinies forever. Caitlin’s family saved Martin and his family from the deteriorating conditions in Zimbabwe and kept them all alive. Martin saved Caitlin by letting her see that the world is much bigger than a $100 pair of jeans or another trip to the mall. I highly recommend I Will Always Write Back by Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda to every pre-teen and teenager. It really gives the reader a sense of the things that are truly important.

View all my reviews

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Received as an ARC from NetGalley.

Tea was no different than many girls growing up except for her voracious thirst for reading and learning. Her sisters were witches in ‘good standing’ and her brother, Fox, left to join the army when Tea was 10 years old. Fox was returned home in a small, pine box and it was at his wake that Tea found out who she really was. In bed sick, Lady Mykaela came to Tea to help her recover and move on to a world where she could learn and a world where she could be watched and controlled. Tea moved into the Valerian where all asha go to become properly trained. But she was different. She was a dark asha. She was a bone witch. She was dangerous.

The one word I could use for The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco is ‘intriguing’. It’s written basically in two parts. There is Tea, where she stands now, and a wanderer has asked to hear her story as to why she is in exile. The second part is Tea’s story that she is telling the traveler. The two stories are very complimentary and separate, but intertwine with perfect timing. I am not a fan of fantasy worlds that have been made up by the author. I find words that I can’t pronounce distracting from the story, but the further I read into The Bone Witch, then the less that mattered. After Tea raises her brother from the dead, she is taken to the Valerian to begin her journey to become asha. The asha are a group of highly received women who are trained in dancing and singing and are hired out of their respectable houses to parties to entertain nobility and the affluent. The description of the asha women are unmistakably Geisha-esque. Yes, there is a common theme of poor little girl who is destined for greatness, but there is an undertone of a sadness. Somehow that ‘greatness’ is what everyone is protecting her from because it is more of a self-sacrifice than anything and that is what puts a twist on the mundane. In the beginning of the book I was intrigued and by the end of the book I was fully vested.

There are a couple things that pop out for me with really good books. One are ‘eye-poppers’. Eye-poppers are books that you read so hard that you feel like your eyes are going to pop out of your head. Another are ‘ghosts’. Ghosts are when you are going about your daily lives and images of the book begins to linger into your head. It’s really strange, but the book is still very much around even when you are not reading it and will linger days after you are finished. The Bone Witch is a ‘ghost’ to me. The characters and their world is so richly developed and the story is so intriguing that it just lingers in your mind. I highly recommend The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco.

View all my reviews

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!!

His stories are dear to everyone hearts. My favorite? Yertle the Turtle, the Lorax and Horton Sees A Who...because a person is a person no matter how small! 😉 What's your favorite?

Summer Reading List

I'm not sure I explained my summer reading list. During the school year I work as an assistant librarian at an elementary school. My school reads the Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Nominees every year and at the end of the year we play a Jeopardy like game at our local library. I read the graphic novels and help to make up the questions. I also volunteer at our local library with the middle school MD Black-Eyed Susans so I have to read them too and I review picture books for a local bookstore and write the blog for them. Finally, I pick a few advanced reader copies out to review throughout the year. There's a lot of work reading throughout the school year. I put together a summer reading list in hope that I'll have time during the summer to read for no other reason than to read and enjoy! Sometimes that doesn't happen. Maybe I should call my reading list - The Summer Reading List of Hope! LOL

Do you keep a reading list? Feel free to look over mine!

The Hate U Give

I am SO curious about this book!! It was just published yesterday and I'm intrigued. It is definitely going on this year's summer reading list! If you've read it already, then leave a comment of what you thought below.

The Hate U Give

By Angie Thomas

Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, Angie Thomas’s searing debut about an ordinary girl in extraordinary circumstances addresses issues of racism and police violence with intelligence, heart, and unflinching honesty. Soon to be a major motion picture from Fox 2000/Temple Hill Productions.

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.