Wednesday, October 2, 2013

WWRW: A book for kids who love books!

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Doesn't this cover art just grab your attention? It certainly grabbed mine when I saw it sitting on our library's "New Acquisitions" shelf so I grabbed it and brought it home. I know, I know... you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover but this one broke the rules and was a really delightful book. It's so fabulous, I haven't been able to wrestle it away from my kids long enough to read the whole darn thing. It is a book lover's book; that much I have managed to figure out. There are so many references to books my kids have read that they felt like they got all the inside jokes. 
(The same way this child of the 80's feels when she watches Psych!) {affiliate link}

From the Amazon blurb:
Lucky Kyle wins a coveted spot to be one of the first 12 kids in the library for an overnight of fun, food, and lots and lots of games. But when morning comes, the doors remain locked. Kyle and the other winners must solve every clue and every secret puzzle to find the hidden escape route. And the stakes are very high.
The Professor (15) read it first and then asked if he could write to the author and thank him for writing it! Um... yes! Go write ahead! (Hah hah.) I think it was the question about the name of Glorfindel's horse that sealed his love for this book and respect for the author. Any author who refers to Glorfindel is a kindred spirit in his mind. Well, there's that and the idea of being locked in a fabulous library! Shortcake (12) picked it up next after hearing him rave about it. When she finished, she asked if she could write to Mr. Grabenstein  thanking him for the character of Sierra because apparently Sierra is her literary doppleganger. She's talked about enjoying the book so much, I'm sure Sunshine (14) will scoop it up next, that is... if BigBoy (9) doesn't ferret it away first. 
Whoops, too late! He's already grabbed it... and finished it. 
He asked if we could pleeeeeeease add it to his book club list. Oh, sure kid... I guess so. : )

A book that get's passed around through all of my kids is one that I will definitely be adding to our personal library! There is a final puzzle to solve by January 1, 2014 though and even though we sat around at the dinner table for about an hour after dinner was over trying to solve it, none of us has cracked it yet. I sure hope Mr. Grabenstein tells everyone what the solution is when the contest is over because we are going to go slightly insane if we don't find out.

*UPDATE: WE SOLVED IT!!! Right after I wrote this last night, we figured it out. Much whooping and hollering ensued. OH WHAT FUN! *


So, now, what have I been reading? I've been reading Percy Jackson... like... all of them. Because I am the perfect person to market a series to. When I start reading a series, I have to know how it ends, even if I can guess how it ends. It takes a mind-numbingly boring writer or a devolution into vulgarity or raunchiness to throw me off track. So, I read that first Percy Jackson book and even though it wasn't great writing, it was suspenseful and certainly left me wanting to know what happened next. When I saw that our library had the next four available for borrowing in e-book form, well, it was waaaaaaaay too easy to pop those onto my phone (which is where I do most of my e-reading). 
Have they changed my opinion of the first one? No, not really. I still think they are written at a younger reading level even though they are writing about battles and some romantic issues which an older reading age would enjoy more. That still kind of bothers me but there is nothing titilating or gruesome, so I guess it's OK. Riordan doesn't use incredibly complex sentence structures or vocabulary (if you discount the mythological vocabulary) but they are engaging stories, even if they are written more like screenplays than novels.
I also checked the movie {affiliate linkout from the library and watched it to compare. Woah. That was nothing like the book. They changed so much, I can see why die hard fans were seriously disappointed. I'm very sympathetic to screenwriters changing enough to make the story flow better as a movie. Books and movies are two totally different mediums, but in this case, the movie has a completely different ending! That's just wrong. And if those were 12 year olds, I'll eat a hippocampus.


Anyway, that's what we've been reading this week. Click on the cute little graphic above to visit Jessica T.'s link-up. Someone, please find me something else to read for next week or I might be tempted to start on the next Riordan series. And once I start...

11 comments:

  1. I love book lover's books; I'll definitely have to check out 'Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library!' :)

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    1. I'm pretty sure you all will love it! Don't forget to tell Peter about the Glorfindel reference!

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  2. Your pick this week! What a find! Edmund has a letter to Dan Gutman all ready to go, thanking him for writing about baseball and time travel. You do know that there is a new Ranger's Apprentice book out...The Royal Ranger. Have you read all the Goose Girl books by Shannon Hale?

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    1. RA? Oh yeah. It's been stalked for the last year. They all read the first chapter when that was released but I thought the book wasn't due to be released here in the US until November? Did you get your hands on an early copy? I haven't read the Goose Girl books. I will have to try those.

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  3. I will have to look this one up, the cover art does grab you and so does Lemoncello!

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  4. Looks like a great book, thanks for the recommend! And yes, I have always been a series girl myself. I can't stop reading because even if I lose interest (some of the news dystopian triliogies) I still want to know what happens!

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    1. I have to admit that if the first book in a series isn't well written, I've been guilty of... er... looking up the rest of the plot on Wikipedia. Does this disqualify me from enjoying the status of a good and upright book lover? ;-)

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  5. The first book looks perfect for us, and I love the name, "Lemoncello!" I share your urge to find out what happens!!!! even when I dislike something. And yes, our Percy Jackson fans here were highly disappointed in the movie.

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  6. Oh, I'll have to look for Lemencello at our library!

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  7. The library book looks great! I wish our library had it - apparently it has been purchased, but hasn't been released into the library system yet. For some reason that process takes FOREVER at my library! Maybe I should just buy the kindle version. :-)

    I did the same thing with the Percy Jackson books. I read the first one, wasn't too impressed, but continued to read the series because I wanted to find out where it all was going to go. All in all I enjoyed the series, but it certainly wasn't what it could have been, and definitely was rather gimmicky. My daughter and I started to joke about it as we read it - "oh, look, now they're being attacked by yet another obscure mythological monster!" We've refrained from diving into the other series - from the description I was leery about it and I thought that I had probably read enough by Riordan (can't remember what exactly right now though). I never made it to the movie though - thanks for saving me the trouble!

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  8. The kids already have the book in queue after reading your review.

    When I mentioned that I'd started watching Lark Rise to Candleford a few women began raving about the books. I think I may give them a try.

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Thank you for sharing your thoughts and yourself!