May & June Books (And a SPECIAL book review!)

Maybe I should change my icon to "Semi-Monthly Book Review with Rebeckann..."!  Either way, here I am!  I'm on summer break, and I finished a great book last night.  Even though, June is not over yet, I figured that I'd go ahead and write about all of my May & June books just to cover my bases.  
So as a reminder, it is my goal to read 30 books in 2015.  According to my reading challenge on Goodreads.com, I have read 16 books, so I am past 50% of my goal!  

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Cress  by Marissa Meyer
My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Cress is the third book in the Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer.  I read the first book, Cinder, in January, and the second book, Scarlett, in February.  Truthfully, the only reason I didn't finish this one until May was simply lack of time!  The character Cress is a Rapunzel character who has been imprisoned in a satellite since childhood.  She has become an excellent hacker thanks to her time alone in space.  She ends up joining with Cinder and Scarlett on their journey to save the world from the Lunar Queen, Levana.  
I did enjoy this book, and I may have given it 5 stars if I hadn't had so much time in between readings, but I am excited to get my hands on a copy of the fourth book, Winter.

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The Witch's Daughter by Paula Brackston
My Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
I listened to this book on Audible in about 10 days!  I really got sucked in by this story.  The books begins with this opening: My name is Elizabeth Anne Hawksmith, and my age is three hundred and eighty-four years. Each new settlement asks for a new journal, and so this Book of Shadows begins.  After this, the book goes between the present-day and the past to tell Elizabeth's story.  I particularly enjoyed the historical aspects of this book, from the 1600s to 1800s and 1900s, we find that Elizabeth has found ways to live in each time period.  Yet each time things become good for her, she has to flee.
I really don't want to give too much of this away, so let's just suffice it to say that I loved it, and it's certainly worth a read (or listen)!

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The River by Gary Paulsen
My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
I will confess this first: this book is a reread.  One of my reading classes was reading The River, and it had been awhile since I had read the book.  I decided to read it while they were working on it.  The River is the first sequel to Hatchet.  In this book, Brian Robeson returns to the wild with a psychologist named Derek to show him how to survive in the wild.  The idea is that Derek will share this information to help teach survival courses.  Things start out well...too good, Brian thinks.  Shortly after telling Derek that the situation lacks tension, Derek is struck by lightning, and Brian must figure out a way to help him survive.
This is a pretty good sequel to Hatchet.  While, neither of these books are my first-choice in personal literature, my students really love them, and they're good books.  This one is also relatively short, and so are the chapters, which my students really love!

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Flipped by Doug Pagitt
My Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars
This was a book I received from Blogging for Books.  I did already wrote an entire post for this review, which you can read here.  (Or you can click on my rating link to see my review on Goodreads.com.)

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City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Saying I finished this is a lie, but I didn't want to just delete it completely. I wanted to like this, I really did, but I just couldn't get into this book at all. With numerous other books to read and reread on my list, I decided to make better use of my time. I'm pretty sure that this is the first book I have ever quit reading. I promptly listed this and the three following books I have on Amazon. I think it is safe to say that the best thing about this book will be the money I make from selling it! 

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Riffs of Regret  by Micah K. Chaplin

My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

Back in October, I was paired with Micah from Unabashedly Me for The Great Pumpkin Swap that Kristin and I hosted.  As it turns out, Micah is also an author!  After reading one of her blog posts, she had copies of her book to be given out to review, and I jumped at the chance!  I finally had time to sit down and read her book, Riffs of Regret, and I really loved it.  In fact, I was up until almost 3 AM last night finishing it!  While I don't know Micah very well, from what I do know about her, I saw a lot of her in the main character, Cori.  The four main characters, Cori, Whitney, Sam, and Luke begin their adventure by attending a music festival together in Texas.  Whitney and Sam had been dating and decided to try to set up their two best friends.  The book has ups and downs, twists and turns, and you really find yourself falling in love with these characters and rooting for the best for them.  I loved the evolution of the characters from the beginning to end of the story.  It was so interesting to watch them change and grow, even though the story only takes place over the span of a year.  To be technical, there were a few typos in the story, an omitted word here and there, but I totally knew what Micah was trying to convey.  I really enjoyed this, and as you may be able to tell from the fact that I was up very late reading it, I couldn't wait to find out what happened to the characters in the end.  I highly recommend getting your hands on a copy of this book! :)

And a special thank you to Micah for giving me a copy to read and review!  I will say, I was nervous after I agreed to do it.  What happened if I didn't like it!?  But I'm so glad that I did! 

Book Review: The Fault in Our Stars

This is officially the last book I was able to read on my summer vacation.  :(  It's tragic.  I still have quite a long list of books I want to read, and I hope that I can do a better job of finding time to read during this school year!

Here's the synopsis from Goodreads.com:

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed reading this book. I actually finished it in a couple of days. The Fault in Our Stars brought tears to my eyes. I feel that an author has done his or her job when your emotions flow! I was able to connect with Hazel and follow her on her journey. 

I bought this book with the intention of adding it to my classroom library because I had heard students talk about it in the past. I will NOT be adding it, though, there is content that I do not find appropriate for 6th grade students, and I will leave those decisions up to their parents. 

I did find that Hazel and Augustus are perhaps too smart or wise for their years. They do seem like adult versions of teenagers, quoting difficult material, and being almost philosophic. I'm not saying it's not possible, I'm just saying it's not quite like any teenagers that I've even known! 

I would certainly recommend this book, though, and I would like to see the movie! 

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Book Review: The Chronicles of Narnia

I've been wanting to read these for a long time.  I remember reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in 5th grade, and I loved it!  It's obviously taken me a really long time to read the entire series.  I got the series from my school's book fair last fall, and it's taken me most of the summer to read the entire Chronicles of Narnia.

For some insane reason, the numbering of the books on Goodreads.com is all messed up, but here are my ratings in the correct order:

The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars






The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars







The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis

My rating: 3 of 5 stars






Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars






The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

My rating: 3 of 5 stars







The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars






I won't lie to you.  Some of these books took me a really long time to get through.  Before I read the last two, I took a break to read Bossy Pants.  The Magician's Nephew was hard at first, but I loved it by the end.  I gave it, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardobe, and The Last Battle all 5 stars.  I may have even given the others 3 or 4 stars because I felt like I should, not because I truly felt that they deserved them. Most of the books (including the ones I loved) were really slow moving at the beginning of the story, which made it really hard to get into reading each one.  Then things would pick up, and sometimes, it was enough to make me change my mind about how I felt the book.

I'm actually going to be taking these to add to my classroom library because I would definitely like my students to read them.  I'm very glad that I did.  But I can truthfully say that I don't think I'll be rereading these.

Have you read The Chronicles of Narnia?  What did you think of them?

Book Review: Bossy Pants

I have heard more than one person say great things about Tina Fey's Bossy Pants!  Actually both of my friends named Kristin (from Kristin's kNook & from Life's an Adventure) have recommended it.

Here's the synopsis from Goodreads.com:

Before Liz Lemon, before "Weekend Update," before "Sarah Palin," Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV.

She has seen both these dreams come true.

At last, Tina Fey's story can be told. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon -- from the beginning of this paragraph to this final sentence.

Tina Fey reveals all, and proves what we've all suspected: you're no one until someone calls you bossy.

(Includes Special, Never-Before-Solicited Opinions on Breastfeeding, Princesses, Photoshop, the Electoral Process, and Italian Rum Cake!)



Bossypants by Tina Fey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I really enjoyed this book! It's not often that you get to read a story that literally makes you laugh out loud...not just type it on a keyboard without even cracking a smile....

I would definitely recommend this book for a laugh. I'm not a super fan of Tina Fey or anything, so I only knew a bit about her from what I've seen on TV, but this was really a great read.

I especially loved the chapter called "Amazing, Gorgeous, Not Like That" about what it's like to go to a photo shoot. It was seriously HILARIOUS.

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I couldn't believe how many times I was laughing so hard that I had to stop reading!  While this isn't a book I would reread (it's just not that type of book, in my opinion), I do absolutely recommend that you pick up a copy or borrow it from your local library!  (OR as Kristin from Kristin's kNook would do, listen to the audio book.  I've heard that it's read by Tina Fey herself, which would make it even more hilarious.  In fact, I WOULD definitely listen to this book again!)

Have you read anything good lately??