BotW: Slob

When you pick up Slob by Ellen Potter and you stare at the book's cover with an Oreo cookie substituting as the title's "o," you might think you know what the book means by "slob."

To Ellen Potter's immense credit, you would be wrong.

The story opens with Owen Birnbaum, who declares at the beginning of the book that he is likely fatter and smarter than you are. Being overweight AND smart means Owen doesn't fit in well at school. He's got a friend or two, but most everyone at school makes fun of him. Bullies delight in humiliating him, especially Owen's sadistic gym teacher.

But being a social misfit isn't what troubles Owen the most. Well into the book you will find that even though Owen lives with someone he calls Mom, something happened to his real parents. Something tragic. Owen can't let go and move on from his parents' untimely death and so he works on his own personal invention, a device he calls Nemesis, to better cope.

Like Owen tells you from the start, he's smart. Genius smart. Owen knows all about satellite waves and he plans to build Nemesis so that it can grab some security camera footage of his parents the night they were killed.

Heavy stuff.

The book is also very funny and lighthearted. Owen's sister belongs to GWAB: Girls Who Are Boys and insists everyone start calling her Jeremy. The school's thug reportedly carries a switchblade in his sock. Owen's friend Nima makes tasty momos and talks about Tibetan Buddhism karma.

It's the ending, however, that makes Slob shine. The most beautiful and saddest aspect of the book is how Ellen Potter makes you think slob means one thing, only to turn it around on its head in the book's final pages. Potter artfully combines the themes of her book--loss, grief, forgiveness--and drives them home so poignently. If you don't like crying in public, read the ending in private!

New Arrival!

Bystander by James Prellar is a book about bullying in school. Here's the Destiny summary:

"Thirteen-year-old Eric discovers there are consequences to not standing by and watching as the bully at his new school hurts people, but although school officials are aware of the problem, Eric may be the one with a solution."

Library Tip of the Week

Did you know you can put your own books on hold? You can!

Here's how:

1. Go to Smith's Destiny library page.
2. In the upper right hand corner, click "Login."
3. Enter your student id number (sxxxxxx) and password.
4. If you logged in correctly, your name should display in the upper right hand corner.
5. Now, do a search of the book you want to put on hold.
6. When you find the book, click on its title to bring up its detailed information.
7. Off on the right side, you should see a red symbol that says "Hold It."
8. Click on that symbol.
9. You're done! When the book comes in, Mr. Thomson will check it out to you.

Keep in mind that when you put a book on hold, you are put in a queue. There could be one or five or twenty people in front of you that get to check the book out before you do. Also, holds expire after a few weeks. So if you put a book on hold and you don't get the book in a month or so, put in another hold.

Book Fair Starts Today!

The library book fair begins today and runs through this Friday! 6th grade will be coming to the fair with their reading class. 7th and 8th graders can come with a pass from their teacher.

The fair is also open Thursday night during 6th grade open house.

So swing on by the library and buy a good book!

BotW: Catching Fire

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins is the sequel to the critically-acclaimed The Hunger Games.

It picks up where the first left off. Katniss and Peeta have won the Games, but there are rumors that open rebellion lurks within every district and Kat has become a reluctant symbol for revolution against the Capital.

I found the first half of Catching Fire to be a bit on the slow side. It takes Collins some time to build the story up to the book's climatic, action-packed second half. But the next round of Games are as engrossing as they are bloody, a compelling clock mechanism that keeps the gladiators constantly on the run for their lives. I like how Collins handles the love triangle between Kat, Gale, and Peeta. She does a good job of pinging Kat back and forth between the two love interests.

Collins also does a good job of setting the story up for the inevitable third book in the series, Mockingjay. Given the circumstances surrounding open rebellion sweeping the districts and the revelation that District 13 might not be as desolate as The Capital claims, I bet Mockingjay will be an even stronger, more interesting book in the series.

New Arrival!

The Morgue and Me by John C. Ford looks to be an exciting mystery book, if not a bit on the violent side judging by the front cover. Here's the Destiny summary of the book:

"Eighteen-year-old Christopher, who plans to be a spy, learns of a murder cover-up through his summer job as a morgue assistant and teams up with Tina, a gorgeous newspaper reporter, to investigate, despite great danger."

Library Tip of the Week

I talked about Scott Westerfeld's gripping steam-punk novel Leviathan last Monday. If you didn't already know, Scott maintains his own website and updates it often. You can find it at http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/. He's got a ton of information about him and his books, including recent news and fan art and fiction.

On his site, Scott announced that Behemoth, the sequel to Leviathan, releases this October 5th! Here's a sneak-peak of the cover art: