Category: Books Read-2011

(Review) Jen and the Frosted Friends

Posted on by Cindy


Title: Jen and the Frosted Friends
ISBN:9781452053493
Author:Sparks, Kerry
Publisher:Authorhouse
Pages: 76

Source: Received a copy from the author.

Synopsis (from Powell’s):
Introduction Fifth grade is the best for Jennifer, Rebecca, Pamela and Sammie. Their teacher, Mrs. Fern, is as sweet as pie, the boys are extra cute this year, and, between the girls, the glitter supply is strong. The girls use so much glitter, the principal calls them “The Frosted Friends.” All is well until mean old substitute, Mrs. Frost, comes along. Jen and Becca already had to have Mrs. Frost for fourth grade, and Mrs. Frost is supposed to be retired! Mrs. Frost is back, and she’s as mean as ever. She’s making the girls write sentences and confiscating glitter! Everyone seems to think Mrs. Frost is the pits, except for Jen’s classmate “Frowning Francesca” Clearwater. She’s the only one smiling for once. Will Mrs. Frost pass the girls on to the sixth grade, or are they destined to stay in the fifth grade forever!

MY THOUGHTS:
This is book two of the Get Frosted Series.

I enjoyed this just as much as I enjoyed the first book. I am sure middle grade girls would love this one just as much as the first one.

Jennifer has passed and is starting grade five with a new group of friends. The girls are Rebecca (who was Jennifer’s friend in the last book), Pamela and Sammie. They are all excited because they have a great teacher, Mrs Fern.

The girls are your typical girls who like pizza, boys, sleep overs and make up. The girls earn the nick name “The Frosted Friends” from the principle because of the amount of glitter the girls use.

Things are going great in school for Jennifer until Mrs Fern announces that she is pregnant. What will happen once Mrs Fern goes on maternity leave?

The day comes and Jennifer is shocked at who the replacement teacher is. Once she sees who it is her world comes crashing down. Its the one person she thought she would never see again, Mrs Frost. The class quickly realizes that the rest of the year is not going to be fun except for one person who is actually smiling and enjoying this. Its Francesca.

Jennifer is determined to find out what Francesca is all of a sudden so happy when the rest of the class is so miserable because it appears as though Mrs Frost has gotten meaner since the last time Jennifer saw her.

Jennifer is dealing with having Mrs Frost around and problems with boys. A dance at the school almost risks Jennifer loosing her best friend, Rebecca because it looks like Jennifer is going after the boy she likes (which of course turns out to be the complete opposite because this boy likes Rebecca) so Jennifer lets her friend know that.

Things at school aren’t getting better and to make matters worse Mrs Frost has announced this is pairing the class up for the science project. Jennifer is happy she gets Sammie but its Pam who isn’t thrilled and it leaves Jennifer wondering what is wrong with Pam. The girls have passed and Pam has worked out her issue. Its around Valentine’s Day that Pam surprises the group with her new found friendship. How will the group react?

There is so much more about the book I would love to share but I am afraid if I go on I will spoil it. So much more happens that will surprise you. I know I was surprised and I had to continue reading it.

These books are a super fun and quick read.

Check back tomorrow for my interview with Kerry Sparks.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

(Review) Frost Bites

Posted on by Cindy


TITLE: Frost Bites
ISBN:9781438954141
Author: Kerry Sparks
Publisher: Authorhouse
Publication Date:March 2009
Pages:92

Source: I received this book from the author.

SYNOPSIS (from Powells)
Jennifer Logan is excited about entering the fourth grade…until she finds out her teacher is mean old Mrs. Frost! Mrs. Frost is known for making her students write sentences at their Christmas parties and orders them to square dance on Valentine’s Day! Mrs. Frost has her eye on Jennifer. Will she make it to the fifth grade? Find out in this humorous tale about the ups and downs of fourth grade.

MY THOUGHTS:
One of the best things about blogging is getting to know a new author and/or book that you might not hear about. Since blogging I have been exposed to so many great authors (taking the time out of their busy schedules to email and answer questions) and books. Kerry is one of those authors who has been so generous with her time (via emails and answering interview questions) and sending me both of her middle grade books so that I can review them. Thank you Kerry.

For me I have to say that I didn’t know about Kerry and her two middle grade books Frost Bites and Jen and the Frosted Friends until she emailed me in early December to see if I would be interested in reviewing them.

I read the synopsis of both books and thought they were cute and fun reads so of course I accepted.

Frost Bites was a super quick and fun read. I actually read it pretty quickly. I have to say I think that middle grade girls would enjoy this book.

Jennifer is your typical fourth grade girl. She thinks this is going to be a good year and is feeling really good about it until her first day of school. Jennifer and her best friend Tracey walk into the class to get some good seats but their bubble is quickly popped when the teacher Mrs Frost announces seats are going to be assigned. The class quickly realizes its going to be a rough school year. (I remember my whole elementary school years being in assigned seats.)

Things quickly go down hill for Jennifer as it always seemed like she was the one getting into trouble with the teacher. She almost senses she is in the clear because after Christmas vacation Mrs Frost asks the kids about Christmas and their favorite gift. Jennifer is stunned because she didn’t get presents so she said her favorite part was spending time with her family. Mrs Frost liked the answer.

I felt so bad for Jennifer because it did seem like Mrs Frost was always picking on her. Granted Jennifer was no angel but still. I actually could relate to Jennifer because I had a teacher in elementary school who probably could give Mrs Frost a run for her money. She not only was a teacher but the principal and I have to say not many kids liked her but I found that if you were a student that she knew (I lived three doors down from her) she expected more of you and if you didn’t she would let you know.

Not only is Jennifer having to worry about Mrs Frost, passing fourth grade but she is always worried that she might be loosing her best friend to the class suck up Erica. Jennifer first realizes this budding friendship when Tracey has a sleep over and invites Erica, Rebecca, and Patty.

While Tracey is away on vacation Jennifer connects with Rebecca (even though she is going out with Jennifer’s crush, Billy) but both girls quickly bond over a boy who Jennifer likes and Rebecca is going out with (or she thought).

Will Jennifer and Tracey be able to get over this hurdle or will she loose her friend?

Check back tomorrow for my review of Jen and the Frosted Friends.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

(Review) The Water Wars

Posted on by Cindy


TITLE: The Water Wars
AUTHOR: Cameron Stracher
PUB DATE: January 2011
PUBLISHER: Sourcebooks Fire
PAGES: 240

SOURCE: Received this from the publisher

Synopsis from publisher’s site:
Would you risk everything for someone you just met?

What if he had a secret worth killing for?

Welcome to a future where water is more precious than oil or gold…

Hundreds of millions of people have already died, and millions more will soon fall—victims of disease, hunger, and dehydration. It is a time of drought and war. The rivers have dried up, the polar caps have melted, and drinkable water is now in the hands of the powerful few. There are fines for wasting it and prison sentences for exceeding the quotas.

But Kai didn’t seem to care about any of this. He stood in the open road drinking water from a plastic cup, then spilled the remaining drops into the dirt. He didn’t go to school, and he traveled with armed guards. Kai claimed he knew a secret—something the government is keeping from us…

And then he was gone. Vanished in the middle of the night. Was he kidnapped? Did he flee? Is he alive or dead? There are no clues, only questions. And no one can guess the lengths to which they will go to keep him silent. We have to find him—and the truth—before it is too late for all of us.

MY THOUGHTS:
I have to start off firstly by saying that I absolutely love the cover for this book. I think right now its my favorite cover of 2011. The people at Sourcebooks did a fantastic job with the cover.

When I first heard about this book I thought that Cameron was a debut author but he’s not. This is actually his debut YA book. This is his fourth book. The previous three books were adult books.

Over the past year I have developed a taste for YA dystopia books and honestly I haven’t read alot.

As I was reading this I wondered how far off this book could really be from the future? We all know that the environment is changing and we see it all the time from the drastic weather happening all over the world. What will the next 50 years be like? Will we have this drastic weather, what about water?

Water is something we take for granted and don’t realize how important it is until we don’t have it. This past year I actually grew to appreciate how important it was when a water main broke on our street and we were without running water for several days.

Okay back to my review. When you first open the book there is a new map of North America and its divided with new names. Canada is called the Empire of Canad, Artic Archepelago, Island of Greenland, and the United States is now divided into eight regions called California, Dakotas, Arizona, Repulic of Texas, Republic of Louisiana, The Great Coast, Republic of Illinowa and Republic of Minnesota.

The Empire of Canada is the big old bad enemy and we are apparently at war over what is left of the water along with every other nation that is left. The ice caps have all melted into the ocean and there is no more Niagra Falls.

The story takes place in the Republic of Illinowa. The people who are left are forces to drink unhealthy water that is distributed through the governments Water Board Authority (WBA). People are getting sick from desalinated water. Which is really just seawater with all kinds of chemicals.

Vera and Will attend school (if you could really call it that. It seemed like they were being brain washed) and they have to work on the water team. One day will Vera is waiting for the bus she sees Kia. Kia isn’t like the regular people of the state he is different. He doesn’t go to school because his father is a rich driller. Vera can see this because he lives with guards and drinks fresh water. I quickly realized that there was more to Kia and was curious to find out what it was.

When Kia tells Vera that he knows where fresh water is. Vera is intrigued by Kia and quickly finds ways to spend time with him. Kia goes against everything that she was taught. Then suddenly Kia and his father are kidnapped and thanks to Vera she is the one to put it together. They both decide that they need to rescue Kia and his dad.

I really enjoyed how Cameron told the story about how the water was the hottest commodity out there and just how much people in authority would go to keep what was left sacred. It was about half way when the action picked up. There were pirates, bombs, gun fire, and so much more that you had to read to find out if Vera and Will would survive and get to Kia in time or will it be too late?

I wasn’t sure at the beginning and put the book down several times with no problem but then once I got to the middle I had a hard time to put it down and managed to read it in two days. There was so much going on action wise that I had to keep reading.

I couldn’t find a website for the author but i did find this Blog Talk Radio interview. The host is Brandon and the show is called
Brandon’s buzz Interview with Cameron

There is no trailer for the book but I did find this:

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

(Review) Mermaids Don’t Wear Toe Rings

Posted on by Cindy

real mermaids don't wear toe rings

TITLE: Real Mermaids Don’t Wear Toe Rings
AUTHOR: Helene Boudreau
PUBLISHER: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
PUB DATE: November 2010
PAGES: 206
SOURCE: Received from the publisher.


Synopsis: (Publisher’s site)
Freak of nature takes on a whole new meaning…

If she hadn’t been so clueless, she might have seen it coming. But really, who expects to get into a relaxing bathtub after a stressful day of shopping for tankinis and come out with scales and a tail?

Most. Embarrassing. Moment. Ever.

Jade soon discovers she inherited her mermaid tendencies from her mom. But if Mom was a mermaid, how did she drown?

Jade is determined to find out. So how does a plus-size, aqua-phobic mer-girl go about doing that exactly? And how will Jade ever be able to explain her secret to her best friend, Cori, and to her crush, Luke?

This summer is about to get a lot more interesting…

MY THOUGHTS:
When I first heard about this book I really wanted to read it for three reasons:
1) This sounded like a cute and fun read for winter reading.
2) The author is Canadian and
3) Helene grew up on the East Coast (just like me)

This was a quick and easy read and I managed to read it in one sitting as I was curled up on the couch one afternoon. The day I read it was over cast and dreary out. Your typical winter day so it was nice to imagine being somewhere nice and summery.

Jade is struggling with the death of her mother still (who apparently drowned a year before), puberty, and relationships. If that wasn’t enough for Jade when she is a few months shy of turning fourteen she gets her period for the first time along with another surprise she never expected. Oh what can it be?

Its hard to be a teenager girl but not having your mother around to help you with stuff such as your first period can be rough but thankfully her dad steps up to the plate and helps her. His go to resource is google. What ever he needs to know he googles it.

I had to laugh at the scene where they are in the drugstore and they have no clue what kind of pads or tampons they should get and the fathers solution is to get one of everything.  As they are standing there the father is googling and he informs Jade all kinds of weird facts about periods.

As the book progresses Jade finds it hard to keep her secret from her best friend, Cori but her father insists bad things could come of people knowing what she is.

I loved Luke and I was surprised at the ending. I know it felt to Jade that he was more interested in Lainey but he wasn’t he prefered Jade and waited until her fourteen birthday to tell her so.

This is a great middle grade book for girl readers.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Hélène Boudreau writes fiction and non-fiction for children and young adults from her land-locked home in Ontario, Canada, though she grew up on an island surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. She has never spotted a mermaid in the wild but believes they are just as plausible as sea horses, flying fish or electric eels. Her debut middle grade novel, Acadian Star, was nominated for the 2009–2010 Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award. You can visit her at: Helen Boudreau

OTHER BOOKS:
Acadian Star (Pub 2008)

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.