Queen of the Tearling -- Erika Johansen

I read this book in less than 24 hours. In fact I did not leave the couch, let alone the house while I was reading Queen of the Tearling. The book is set in a future where several shiploads of people, presumably from our nearish future, have made a 'crossing' to a land that maybe exists in our world, or is maybe in another one. There is tantalizingly little information about The Crossing in book one of Erika Johansen's series and I imagine that more will be revealed to us in upcoming books! The main focus of Queen of the Tearling is Kelsea, a 19 year old  girl who has been living in secret with her foster parents for most of her life. She is also the Queen of the country of Tear and now that she is of age she must leave her home in the forest and venture into a corrupt and venal court led by her uncle the Regent.

Kelsea knows very little about current events in her kingdom and to tell you any details about what's going on in her capital would ruin, what for me was a pretty epic moment or two, so I won't. But there are some fun details I will share! For one, because this book takes place in our distant future there are some throwbacks, Kelsea has copies of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series on her bookshelf, along with The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings. We learn pretty early on that the main reason for The Crossing was to cut away the modern day trappings of life that we are so accustomed to, so the people of Tear live a pretty medieval lifestyle, complete with swords and armour. And I can always get behind some sword fighting! The book contains plenty of parallels with some of my favourite series. There's a nod to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in the Red Queen, who is Kelsea's nemesis, and some very strong similarities to The Hunger Games in a lottery system whose purpose I won't divulge!

A really great combination of new ideas and themes, mixed with the more conventional aspects of Young Adult fiction that we have all come to know and love! Another thing I will add is there is some profanity in the book (the f word pops up more than once) and some adult themes (think prostitution) so this book is not meant for the young end of the YA spectrum. But really a great read!

Enjoy!

This is Not My Hat -- Jon Klassen

This book is SO GREAT!
1. it is hilarious, a little fish steals a big fish's hat and thinks he is going to get away with it, and I think we all know what happens to little fish who think they're soooo smart.
2. this book is great for teaching inference with kids if you happen to be a teacher who needs to teach inference.
3. The illustrations are lovely and simple as is the premise, and there is very little text making this a great choice for young readers!

This is a book that I would not hesitate to add to my collection and my favourite part is that we are left guessing about the fate of our little fishy friend at the end!

Back in Business -- Me

So I'm back! I took a long hiatus for which I have no good explanation. But I am back and am not only writing about my reading again, but am also expanding into some new and exciting territory as well. I am hoping to start including great books for younger children as well as books for young adults to my repertoire, as there are one million great, hilarious, informative and interesting books to explore! I may also include a personal story here and there about my own experiences with children! So thank you for being patient with me and I will do my best to post regularly! (or at least more than once every two years...).

And as a introduction to my life as a teacher and why I might need to escape into books on occasion, a hilarious and only slightly disturbing encounter I had with a student recently.

*Morning Bell Rings to Come Inside*
All students but one line up to head inside and start the day. The student left is a grade one student (6 years old) whom we shall call Ron to protect his identity. He is still playing on the climbers without a care in the world.

Me: Alright Ron, let's go the bell rang it's time to go inside for school!
Ron: looks at me and continues playing
Me (to another teacher on the yard): Can you blow your whistle at him so he knows we mean business?
(everyone knows that when a teacher blows their whistle you need to move your butt)
Other Teacher: Sure *blows whistle*
Ron: Looks at us and continues playing
Other Teacher: Ok Ron I'm going to count to three and you need to be over here 1..2..
Ron: Finally starts coming down towards us
Me: Ron don't forget to get your backpack
(which has been left on the other side of the play structure)
Ron: How am I supposed to get my f**king backpack when you're already counting down from three?
Me: (NOT LAUGHING ON THE OUTSIDE) Good question and I see your point, but if we could perhaps avoid profanity in the future that would be super!

Oh the life of a teacher!

-- Morgan

*image sourced from booksforkeeps.org*

Sea of Shadows -- Kelley Armstrong

I liked this book. Kelley Armstrong is a Canadian author, which is always exciting for me, and several of her books take place in Canadian settings! This one however, is not set in our world at all, but in another one where creatures of myth become real and the spirit world overflows into the realms of the living. Moria and Ashyn are twin sisters chosen for the roles of Keeper and Seeker. Every year they are sent to quiet the spirits of criminals who have been exiled into Forest of the Dead. Obviously given the name "Forest of the Dead" we can surmise that many of our exiled friends do not survive and their angry spirits are prowling around the forest waiting for the unwary. This time when Ashyn enters the forest to quiet the spirits, nothing goes as planned and events are put into motion that will change the girls lives forever! This book is another in a long string of easy- to- read, relatively exciting Young Adult novels that have sprung up recently. Armstrong perhaps takes things a little far with the types of monsters we encounter, zombies, ghosts, spirits and Thunder birds to name but four and we of course have love interests for both girls whose course runs anything but smoothly. And because we have two female protagonists, we get both a charming thief as well as a strong, silent nobleman. 

I have to say that this book has gotten some pretty stinky reviews on Goodreads, but I really didn't think it was bad at all. The plot moved quickly, there was lots of action and I quite liked the character development for both Moria and Ashyn. It will be interesting to see what happens in book two!

Enjoy!