The DaVinci Code

Title: The Da Vinci Code

Author: Dan Brown
# of pages: 454

Review:

Robert Langdon, Harvard professor and renowned symbologist, is suddenly awakened by a phone call, discovering that a curator of the Louvre museum has been murdered. To make matters worse, he is the prime suspect for the crime thanks to a cryptic message left by the curator in his dying moments.

Fortunately, for him, though, the curator's cryptologist granddaughter Sophie Neveu knows that he is innocent, and accompanies him on his proceeding quest for the true culprit behind the murder, leading him to travel the world in search for justice.

Filled with twists and turns in the plot, it is no wonder that The Da Vinci Code became a worldwide success, later being adapted for the silver screen. Dan Brown's writing is filled with action and adventure, along with strong elements of mystery. The completely unpredictable events will keep the reader yearning for more, until the twist in the conclusion that finally puts everything into perspective.

I would highly recommend reading this and Angels and Demons, despite the already large numbers of rave reviews in recent years.

Screen Name: WaterfallOfDestiny
Branch: Angus Glen

HP and The Deathly Hollows

Title: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Author: J. K. Rowling
# of pages: 607

Review:

Harry Potter has been left with an extraordinarily difficult, yet crucial task of finding all of Voldemort's Horcruxes, pieces of his soul that have been separated from Voldemorts physical being. Doing so will finally bring down the Dark Lord and his reign of terror over the magical world, but every minute he and his best friends Ron and Hermione spend is filled with fear of fatal discovery by the Death Eaters.

And so, they set off to hide in the wilderness for the duration of what would have been their last school year at Hogwarts if not for Voldemort. The Death Eaters have now taken over the Ministry of Magic, and several stringent regulations regarding Muggle-borns, Muggles, and "blood traitors" who are pure-bloods but support the Muggle cause have been enacted. The evil regime poses an enormous problem for witches and wizards who mean good, but Harry remains true to his destiny and works to

Though some were unsatisfied with the last instalment of the bestselling Harry Potter series, I thought it to be a fitting conclusion to the series save for certain parts of the ending. Had Harry died, readers would see a dynamic close to the saga. Some of the deaths that did occur, however, seemed unnecessary in that they didn't influence the emotional aspect of the novel.

Nevertheless, J. K. Rowling did a wonderful job of putting in many twists and turns in the plot, piqueing the reader's attention and making the story an absolute thriller from the beginning to the end.

I would highly recommend reading this and the other Harry Potter novels, even if the fanbase is already at a quite substantial size.

Screen Name: WaterfallOfDestiny

Branch: Angus Glen

Title: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Author:Roald Dahl

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, written by a illustrious author Roald Dahl, focuses on a little and unfortunate boy named Charlie Bucket. He may seem young, but he has a big heart. It was just like every other day-CHarlie woke up, got dressed and went to school. But that day, a miracle happened. He found money on the ground. He eventually uses the money to buy Willy Wonka's chocolate bar. He was anxious and eager to open it, as the five LUCKY people who discover golden tickets in their chocolate bars are given a lifetime supply of WIlly Wonka's delicious chocolates. What was more important and exciting was that those five fortunate people get an opportunity to tour around Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. This was a one-time opportunity as no one except Wonka and his employees-"his OOMPA LOOMPAS" has been allowed to see the factory. Four other people have already found the golden tickets and luckily, Charlie was the fifth one.

CHarlie takes his grandpa with him to the factory. Before his arrival at the factory, Willy Wonka's rival asked Charlie to find Wonka's secret in his chocolates and tell him. He had promised money to CHarlie, but to his dismay, Charlie did not respond. Inside the factory, the five winners and their family members experience various emotions. Some had fun and were amazed; some were pleased and others were not. At the end of their trip, everyone except Charlie is offered a lifetime supply of chocolate. When he and his grandpa go to ask why is this, Willy Wonka proudly says that Charlie just won't get a lifetime supply of chocolate. Instead, he'll get the opportunity to be the owner of this factory. Charlie and his grandpa were stunned by his response. Wonka responds to them by reasoning to them about how old he was getting and therefore, is too old to take care of this facotry anymore. He revealed that the main reason he announced this event was because he was looking for a responsible person who can take care of this factory and make it expand more. He reflected on Charlie's character throughout the tour and how he's proud of his morals at a young age. WOnka continues on about his secrets of the factory. Eventually, Charlie, his grandpa Joe and WIlly WOnka go on a trip in a "flying glass lift" after Charlie's inheritance of the factory---the end.

Even though this would have been a book you guys read a long time ago, I have never read this book. Almost all students have read this book. This book is different to the type of books I usually read. It was still an interesting fiction read. I am happy I read this book. There are still a few books I still have to finish reading like Charlotte's Web.

Mina
Miliken Mills

Black Tuesday

Black Tuesday by Susan Colebank

264 pages

This brand new book came in this week and I just had to read the story.

Black Tuesday is about Jayne. some of it is typical, successful high school student who has it all and was well on her way to Harvard where her mom wanted her to go.

One Tuesday afternoon when she is running around doing the usual many activities, teens do, she is driving with her cell phone taking calls when she has an accident.

This book is different that Driver's Ed by Caroline Cooney because it deals not only with the accident and its' effects but it also focuses on the changes this girl made in her life as a result.

Good read!

Catherine
Teen Services
Angus Glen

Portrait of a Lady

Title: The Portrait of a Lady
Author:Henry James

Isabel wants to have her independance and freedom at all time. SHe fears that if she gets married she will lose it all. At her home town, Casper Goodwood, someone Isabel like, proposes to her but she says that after travelling with her aunt for one year in Europe, she will answer Casper on marriage. In Europe , her aunt's neigbor Lord Wuburton proposes to her,she rejects it. After some time, Isabel's uncle dies and leaves half his fortune to ISabel. Isbel travel to Florence with her aunt and aunt's friend. There she meets an another man named Gilbert Osmond. He also proposes to her, and she accepts it. Her aunt's friend has planned this so that Osmond has access to Isabel's wealth. Also Osmond has a daughter name Pansy who's mother died. They get married. Soon, Isabel sees Osmond's selfish, inaffecionte character. Isabel plans to visit her cousin Ralph who is dying of a disease, but Osmond opposes. During the the time Isabel learns that Pansy's mother is her aunt's friend, who has a secret relationship with OSmond. Isabel was shocked, and went to England to see Ralph. At there, Casper again begs ISaabel to marry him and forget about her old marriage. But, again Isabel refuses and goes back to Rome.
Altogether Isabel's thought of losing her freedom and independance and reject Lord and Capser, made her to go and get married to a person in where she did lose all her freedom and independance.

Mina
Miliken Mill

Some Blog Reviews will be used for teen webpage

We hope to use some of your great reviews for the teen web page. The web page should be driven by you and have content that would be of interest to you and other teens.

If you have any questions about this, let me know.

Thanks.

Catherine

Book Reviews - on blog and webpage

By the end of September, we are going to have a teen web page. If you would like to submit, further reviews, in the fall, please email them to: teens@markham.library.on.ca.

It will be the same as now. We will use only your screen name. I like to protect your privacy so when you email the review, you can give your real name but know it will not be used.

Keep up the good work and we will look forward to your further reviews, in the fall.

Catherine and Andrea

Wings

Title: Wings
Author: Julie Gonzalez
# of pages: 208

Review:

Ben is determined that one day, he will sprout his wings from his back and fly, despite everyone in his surroundings rejecting this belief and calling it off as naiveness and a wild imagination. He is fascinated with all flying animals, even documenting the wing structures of insects and birds with sketches and diagrams, or studying Leonardo da Vinci's wing design. He jumps off his roof, off the top of his tree, off a railroad track over a roaring river, to see if his wings come out. He insists that others call him Icarus after the character in Greek mythology. He does well in school, but refuses to dedicate the rest of his life to anything other than independent flight. One day, his dream comes true, surprising those who knew him, and he sets off to find people who are just like him, human-like creatures with wings.

Wings portrayed the value of believing in oneself no matter what opposition or consequences there are. I would say that it gives a realistic picture of self-confidence, had human-like creatures sprouting wings been a well-documented event - hence, the novel won't likely serve any purpose as a self-help book.

Otherwise, this novel was mainly dull. It constantly focuses on Ben's dream to fly, and while it shows how strongly he believed in it, many of the small occurrences hardly meant anything in the end.

I would not recommend this novel to anyone, though I strongly advise that those who do read it, fully understand the dangers of jumping off high elevations. In real life, Ben's fate would be forever changed if he had a spinal cord injury and lost his motor skills (therefore having no chance of flight).

Screen Name: WaterfallOfDestiny
Branch: Angus Glen

P.S. I apologize if my sudden review submissions have caused any inconvenience. I had some reviews that were half-completed from the past few weeks and I only recently finished them.

A swift pure cry

Title: A Swift Pure Cry
Author: Siobhan Dowd
# of pages: 310

Review:

After her mother's death, Michelle "Shell" Talent is struggling to take care of her younger siblings Jimmy and Trix alone, in her small village of Coolbar. Her father has quit his job and his previous life, becoming an angry and often delusional man who claims to dedicate his life to God and preaching the Gospel. Although Shell lost her faith in God after the tragedy in her family, a new curate comes to her parish and renews the faith in all of those who attend Mass.

Meanwhile, Shell Talent's life is further troubled when she realizes that she is pregnant with the child of a boy who has left for the New York. She tries her best to hide it, but when it is born, an entirely new crisis emerges and throws the village out of balance.

Based on a true story, the plot of A Swift Pure Cry seemed to lack originality. Teenage pregnancies are a common issue that has been dealt with in many, if not all, developed countries. Often, teenage mothers resort to abandoning their babies. Therefore, Shell's situation in terms of the baby could have easily been another regular occurrence.

Nevertheless, the concept of faith expressed in the novel was quite interesting. A single priest who arrived in Coolbar completely changed the views of the congregation with his passion, and he is described as a person with a kind heart. Shell immediately fell in love with religion, even having frequent hallucinations of her mother.

Because of the deplorable lack of creativity in the story, however, I would not recommend this novel to anyone.

Screen Name: WaterfallOfDestiny
Branch: Angus Glen

Title: The End of East
Author: Jen Sookfong Lee
# of pages: 245

Review:

The first member of the Chan family to arrive in Vancouver was Seid Quan, a poor man from a Chinese village who looked toward a job in Canada as a great opportunity. With his passage being paid for by the village, he set off in 1913, determined that he will pay back his debt, send enough money back to China to feed his family there, and save up so that his wife and children can settle in the city with him.

Two generations later, his granddaughter Sammy is looking back on her family's history, uncovering Seid Quan's mementos hidden in an old crate and an aged cigarette tin. She has been assigned the task of taking care of her outrageous mother now that all of her elder sisters have moved away to live with their husbands.

While The End of East did not have the format of typical historical fiction, I found Lee's style to be very entertaining. We learn about the difficulties Seid Quan faced for most of his time in Canada, especially the racial discrimination that was prominent in society at that time. The characters are given real personalities, and it almost seems as though the reader knows them in person. The events that occurred could have easily happened in real life.

I would highly recommend this novel to everyone with an interest in historical affairs, or simply anyone who enjoys reading novels.

Screen Name: WaterfallOfDestiny
Branch: Angus Glen

Number the Stars

Title: Number the Stars
Author: Lois Lowry
This story takes place during the when Nazis were ruling and were against Jewish. Annemarie is Jewish and her best friend Ellen is also. However Ellen lives with parents who are not. One day, back to school both of them were stopped by Germans to ask them some questions. Because of situations getting serious, Annemarie’s family leaves. Annemarie’s uncle helps them to flee to Sweden for some peace. Days passed by and the war has stopped. Anne’s parents explain to Ann that her older sister Lise has died because she was part of Resistance, and also the fiancé of her older sister. Ellen hasn’t also returned to where Ann is now. Anne starts to wear the Star of David pendant chain, since now there is no fear of wearing of it. She believes that Ellen and she will meet again and will live together.
This story at many times were sad. It makes me think of how it has been to many of the children and adults during the wars years. We are all lucky to be living in a peaceful country and live a happy childhood. Compared to our diffculties and struggles these children has went through much more than us. I would reccommend everyone to read this book.

Mina
Miliken Mills

nothing but the truth

Title: Nothing but the Truth (And a few White Lies)
Author: Justina Chen Headley
# of pages: 256

Review:

Patty Ho was born to a Taiwanese mother and a white father. Since her father left her family, Patty's mother has been working tirelessly as an accountant to feed the family. However, her mother is subject to performing lengthy lectures and screaming in the public when she is unsatisfied with something. As the school year ends, the Truth Statement that was meant to be her end-of-the-year project was labelled by the teacher as "incomplete" because it did not seem to portray the truth about herself.

The following summer, Patty is sent to math camp at Stanford. There, she meets teenagers she once considered as nerds, but who are really people just the same as she is and have a passion for math (or were otherwise sent by their parents to study mathematics). Though she used to deny her mathematical abilities, she learns from her mentor at Stanford that one must not hide their strengths, and that she must be proud of her heritage regardless of common stereotypes. By the end of the camp, Patty finally realizes the truth about who is , and it is with that knowledge that she finally completes her Truth Statement and hands it in to her teacher.

Justina Chen Headley did a fantastic job of portraying the process of self-discovery and how the support of mentors and friends can help one accept the identity of oneself. It takes a series of events before Patty transforms from a girl who downplayed her mother's origins after constant bullying at school, to a confident young adult. Headley also gave an interesting perspective on the common stereotypes regarding Asians, describing how a seemingly harmless stereotype could have such effect on a person.

Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies) is recommended for all teenagers, and may be of particular interest to those of Asian or part-Asian descent. The novel also contains some significant elements of chick lit.

Screen Name: WaterfallOfDestiny
Branch: Angus Glen

Love is a many trousered thing

Title: Love is a many Trousered Thing
Author: Louise Rennison
# of pages: 271 (250 when appendices and glossary excluded)

Review:

Georgia Nicolson, after several long weeks of wondering where her future love life lay, has finally received not one, but two offers of being the girlfriend of either Robbie, her handsome first boyfriend who just returned from Kiwi-a-gogo-land (aka New Zealand), or Masimo, the charming singer for the Stiff Dylans who replaced Robbie after he left England. In the eighth instalment of Georgia's story, she must decide who will ultimately be her boyfriend, even if the situation is only more complicated with Dave the Laugh's constant presence in her life.

Finally, three novels since the introduction of Masimo as a romantic interest in the series, do we see any progress in terms of the plot. That expanse was filled with a few events that managed to carry on for pages and pages, to the point that the repetition occurring in the series was unnerving. Of course, there were some hilarious situations here and there, but for the most part, it was Georgia ranting about how depressing her life was when in fact, it seems that she lives life with no worries besides those of her love life. I enjoy the humour expressed in Rennison's writing, but I find that the events that have occurred in the eight novels so far could have been consolidated into 4 at most, to save readers from reading about the same complaints over and over again without many plot developments, and to have a sense of conclusion and the end of each novel that I had only seen in Love is a many trousered thing and the first few books.

I would recommend this novel to all fans of chick lit, and (previous) fans of the series will be satisfied with it.

Screen Name: WaterfallOfDestiny
Branch: Angus Glen

Everything Worth Knowing

Title: Everyone Worth Knowing
Author: Lauren Weisberger
# of pages: 367

Review:

Bette Robinson works at UBS as an accountant, and spending long work hours doing mindless work bores her. One day, she suddenly decides to quit her job, though she admittedly has nothing in mind concerning her future prospects. She does, however, enjoy unemployed life and the immense freedom it brings.

Perhaps in an act as sudden as quitting her job, her trustworthy columnist Uncle Will lands her one at his ex-assistant's firm: a PR company specializing in planning events, with strong connections to the most prominent celebrities. She is an immediate success, meeting new faces, going to parties, and suddenly being part of the "cool" crowd - meaning, thinking nothing of a $1000 price tag, or enthusiastically keeping track of her place in the wait list for the next Hermes Birkin bag. However, as she soon finds out, all of her life is published onto accusatory tabloids, and appearances are often deceiving.

One of the things I noticed about this novel was that it bore strong resemblance to another, perhaps more well known, of Weisberger's works: The Devil Wears Prada. The main character experiments with a job that seems to bring great opportunities, only to realize how much it destroys her personal life and the relationships with the ones she loves most. Perhaps one of the few significant differences between the two storylines was that the characters landed on different jobs.

In all other respects, Weisberger has done an excellent job of documenting Bette's life throughout the course of the story. The storyline is imaginative, for the most part. Nevertheless, I found the conclusion quite disappointing - it seemed a bit rushed, when Bette's revenge against those who defamed her during her stint as a PR girl and her relationship with her new boyfriend a not as well-described as the rest of the novel.

A prime example of chick lit, Everyone Worth Knowing is recommended for all young women who enjoy reading the genre, but don't keep your hopes up for a good ending.

Screen Name: WaterfallOfDestiny
Branch: Angus Glen

Next week - Prize draws

Next week, we will make the draws for the final prizes.

I will then send all the prizes (trivia etc) to the home branches (branch nearest your house) for pick up.

Catherine

Last week for blog - Survey

Hi,

This is the last week for blog, this summer.
Unfortunately, it was not as successful as last year.

1. What would you like to see instead for next year's reading club?

2. Would you like it to be a different format, like Facebook?

3. Would you prefer a meeting in the library, instead?

4. What kind of program would you like for next summer?

5. Final question about programming: Is there a program you wish the library would offer for teens?

Thanks.

Catherine and Andrea

P.S. one survey entry will be drawn for a prize.