Shooter

I finished Shooter by Walter Dean Myers this morning. This was a short book, but it took me forever to read it. The summary made it sound like it would be a very good book. It was made up of police and psychological reports/interviews of Cameron, who was a friend of Len, a senior in high school who shoots another student and himself.

Cameron is questioned about his family, Len's family, Carla (Len's girlfriend), and other relationships at school. I think the book was written to give us insight into a disturbed mind. I don't think it did a good job.

AR 4.8/5 pts

CHS books I read before I started this website

Burn—suzanne phillips rating 3.5/5 (finished 2/11/10)

cameron gets bullied at school by the jocks. he tries to hide the bullying from everyone else because he knows it will just get worseif he tells on the jocks. he lies to everyone including his mom. he finally reaches his breaking point and takes his anger out in the wrong way. this book was hard to read because i don’t like toread about kids getting picked on and it doesn’t have a happy ending. because of all this, it’s very believable. Probably most everyone can relate to cameron because we all have been picked on before.

AR 4.1/ pts

generation dead—daniel waters rating 5/5 (finished 1/27/10)

Teenagers die and come back as zombies—not brain-eating zombies, almost regular people zombies. They try to fit in at school and with the “traditionally biotic” people. Phoebe and adam, living teens, try help the zombies with their cause and end up being friends. tears came to my eyes at the end of this book. it was really good. I plan on finding the sequel.


AR 5.4/14 pts

IDENTICAL -- eLLEN HOPKINS RATING 4/5 (FINISHED 1/17/10)

TWO PRIVILEDGED TWIN SISTERS HAVE PARENTS WHO TREAT THEM BAD AND DON’T CARE ABOUT THEM. tHE GIRLS FIND COMFORT IN DOING BAD STUFF. i LIKED HOW THIS STORY WAS TOLD—tWO POINTS OF VIEW AND IN KIND OF FREE VERSE, STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS SORT OF WAY. vERY INTENSE, DISTURBING, AND EMOTIONAL.

Blood brothers – SA Harazin RATING 4/5 (finished 1/11/10)

A teen boy who works in a hospital has to deal with his very sick friend who took some bad drugs. This book was pretty good. It’s sad, though, because the main character, clay doesn’t quite fit in anywhere.

LOOKING FOR SALVATION AT THE DAIRY QUEEN—SUSAN GREGG GILMORE RATING 3/5 (FINISHED 1/23/10)

CATHERINE’S MOM DIES IN AN UNFORTUNATE ACCIDENT, LEAVING CATHERINE AND HER SISTER ALONE WITH THEIR DAD. THEIR COLORFUL NEIGHBOR GLORIA JEAN GIVES CATHERINE ADVICE ON GROWING UP. ALL CATHERINE CAN DREAM OF IS LEAVING HER SMALL TOWN AS SOON AS SHE TURNS 18, BUT WHEN SHE DOES SOMETHING AT HOME HAPPENS TO BRING HER BACK.

Wintergirls – Laurie Halse Anderson RATING 4.5/5 (finished 1/3/10)

This book was really good. A girl’s friend dies for anorexia complications and her surviving friend struggles with her own anorexia issues. The end was really good.

Undiscovered country – Lin Enger RATING 3/5 (finished 1/1/10)

a teenage boy is out hunting with his dad and finds his dad dead of a gunshot wound. Did he commit suicide or didn’t he? The books follows the boy’s quest to find out the truth. I got kind of bored with this book in the middle, but it ended okay.

Scrambled Eggs at Midnight--Brad Barkley RATING 4/5 (finished 12/8/09)

A teenage girl whose mother works at fairs sort of finds a permanent home and a boyfriend. I liked the main character because of her sarcasm. cute book.

The Chosen One--Carol Lynch Williams RATING 3.5/5 (finished 12/27/09)

A teenage girl living in a religious cult is ordered to marry her 60-year-old uncle. stuff toward the end of the book made me mad when i read. I was not happy with the ending.

THE BOOK THIEF – MARKUS ZUSAK RATING 3.5/5 (finished 12/19/09)

Started out slow. almost gave up on it. it got a lot better as it went on. a teenage girl living in nazi germany hiding a jewish man in her basement.

PURE – TERRY ELAN MCVOY RATING 2/5 (finished 11/12/09)

a group of Girls wear purity rings until their firendships fall apart. I had to force myself to keep going with this one.

Bliss--Lauren Myracle RATING 4/5 (finished 10/24/09)

A high school girl is sent to live with her grandmother in the 1960’s south. Has some paranormal stuff in it. Pretty good. I read it in one night.

The Poison Apples

It's about three girls who are put in a boarding school because of their "evil stepmothers." They tell their backstories--how their parents split up and where the stepmothers came from. Then they all move to the new school and have to try to find friends there. They end up meeting each other and find out they have the common "evil stepmother" bond.

I was a little disappointed in the ending of this book, but up until the last 20 pages or so, it was pretty good.

AR 4.3/9 pts

Thirteen Reasons Why

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher is not a new book to our library and it was recommended to me by a student (Thanks CS!). It turned out to be a one-dayer, what I call a book so good I read it in a day. I even woke up to finish it in the middle of the night because I couldn't wait to see how it ended.

Clay gets a box of 13 cassette tapes in the mail from Hannah, a girl who recently committed suicide. Each tape contains a story (told by Hannah) about a person from school who made a significant impact on Hannah's life and death. On the day she commits suicide, she mails the box of tapes to the person whose story is on the first tape. Then he mails the box to the next person and so on. Clay has to listen to all the tapes to see how he fits in, even though listening to each one is incredibly hard for him.

This book will make you rethink all your actions, whether they're intentional or not, and wonder what kind of impact they make on other people. I HIGHLY recommend this book.

AR 3.9/9 pts

Instructions for using "My Account" on CAT

The "My Account" section of our online library catalog (CAT) allows you to place or cancel books on hold (reserve them when they are next checked in), renew books, and check if you have been billed for a lost/damaged book. In order to use "My Account," you will need to log in.

To log in:

1. In the ALT ID box (the 2nd box) enter your lunch number.

2. In the PIN box (the 3rd box) enter your birthday month and day. This is a 4 digit number. For example, if your birthday is January 3, your PIN would be 0103. If your birthday is October 15, your PIN would be 1015. You must place zeroes in front of single digits. If you don't understand this or have problems logging in, see Mrs. Beaumont for help.

*Some of you were given barcode numbers on index cards earlier this year. Disregard those. You use your lunch number instead.

Account Summary Tab: Gives general details about your account

Additional Tabs appear if transactions exist (checkouts, bills, holds):

Checkouts tab will give your checkouts/overdues information. This is where you can renew books.

Bills tab will give bills information (if you have been charged for a lost/damaged book).

Holds tab will give holds information. It will show if you have a book on hold or it will allow you to cancel a hold.

To place a hold on a book:

Search for the book you want on CAT. When the description comes up, look for the "Place Hold" link. This is where you enter your lunch number in the Alt ID box and your birthday (month and day) in the PIN box. Then click "Place Hold". This completes the process. Be sure to log out when finished.

When the book is checked in, Mrs. Beaumont will send a note for you letting you know that your book is in and you can come pick it up.

IF YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEMS, ASK MRS. BEAUMONT FOR HELP.

Hush, Hush

I just finished reading Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick. I liked this book a lot. It reminded me so much of Twilight. Nora is a sort-of uptight high school sophomore who gets paired up with Patch, the mysterious newcomer, in biology. Sound familiar? Patch shows a romantic interest in Nora, but she can't admit she likes him. He keeps "accidentally" into Nora wherever she goes. There is quite a bit more to this plot, but I don't want to give it away. If you liked Twilight, you'll definitely like this book.

AR 4.5/12 pts

Ghostgirl

I just finished reading Ghostgirl by Tonya Hurley. This was a cute book. Charlotte is not popular at school but really wants to be. She envies the most popular girl, Petula, and has a crush on Petula's boyfriend, Damen. Charlotte makes a plan to get Damen to notice her. However, her plan backfires when she chokes to death on a gummy bear. Determined to reject her newly dead status, Charlotte can't give up her plan to get close to Damen, even though the other dead kids make it clear she needs to give it up.

I loved the poetry and song lyrics that started out each chapter. Some I recognized and some I didn't. There were lots of references to music within the chapters, too.

AR 6.6/10 pts