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!

Blood Red Road -- Moira Young

I loved this book! I thought Saba was such a great character, she's a bit of an anti- hero. When her twin brother Lugh is kidnapped by thugs from their isolated home Saba takes off to go find him, even abandoning her younger sister with a former friend of her parents. Saba has never much cared for her younger sister Emmy Saba blames her for their mother's death and for stealing her precious time with Lugh, but Emmy has more to her then Saba knows and both of them will discover new things about themselves on their journey to find Lugh. 

Saba really doesn't think much of herself, she's completely single minded in her pursuit of Lugh, but other people quickly see her value and she builds a nice little team to help her on her quest. She really has some amazing adventures, lots of fighting with a nice little stint as a gladiatrix, followed by a daring escape from captivity. There really is a lot happening throughout the book. It's fast paced and exciting, a great start to what I'm sure will be an excellent series!

Enjoy!

Finnikin of the Rock - Melina Marchetta

I liked Finnikin of the Rock I really did, but I have to say there were some issues with the book. The premise was really interesting a country locked in a curse, with half it's people trapped inside with a mad king and the other half in exile, reviled by the people they now rely on to survive.

 Finnikin our main character is the son of the former Captain of the Lumateran Guard and he's living in exile, travelling from kingdom to kingdom hoping to convince one of the kingdoms of Skuldenore to take in the people of Lumatere. In the course of his journeys he picks up Evanjalin, a fellow exile who, like Finnikin, wants nothing more than to break the curse on Lumatere and end the reign of the false king inside. The story of how the curse came to be is a good one, and I won't spoil it here, it's very dark and scary, but as I was reading the book it felt like I had missed this huge important event. The way Marchetta wove the back story into Finnikin made it seem as though there was another book with other characters that came first. Considering the importance that Finnikin's father and Stepmother have in the story I felt like she should have at least perhaps written a prologue from one of their points of view. It just seemed a bit strange to be reading about a parent's love story from the child's point of view, especially since he was so young when it all took place and likely wouldn't remember it in any significant detail. 

Overall it was a good read, well worth picking up, though I have to say I liked the sequel Froi of the Exiles much much better! I would read Finnikin just to read Froi  and I have high expectations for the conclusion to the series Quintana of Charyn which frustratingly has been released in Australia but not yet in North America. 

Enjoy!

The Brides of Rollrock Island - Margo Lanagan

This was another book where the premise had me hooked and itching to read! Throughout the book I found myself enjoying the book but not as engaged as I had thought I would be until the climax. For probably fifty pages I was so tense that I almost forgot to breath and at the end of the action I had to physically pull myself away for a little while to regroup and finish the book. Because it was just so intense. 

The books setting is a little reminiscent of The Scorpio Races` as in it`s set on a small isolated island where magic is a seamless part of the culture and the Selkies of legend come to life (Selkies are seals who are turned into women for those of you unfamiliar with the term). In this book however the character we begin with is not a plucky young woman determined to earn her place in the world, but is instead a young woman who is constantly on the outskirts of society, mocked by her peers for both her appearance as well as her unusual abilities. Her home life is no better with her mother a horrible harpy and her sisters little better. She spends her childhood and adolescence completely miserable, until she decides to finally use her powers. But young Misskaella doesn`t use her power to improve her life, she uses it to ruin the lives of the women of the island. She brings beautiful, obedient seal women out of the ocean to become brides to the men of Rollrock Island, effectively driving the indigenous women off. 

This book was a roller coaster! At first you are so angry with the townsfolk for the way they treat Misskaella, then you`re so angry with her for being such a horrible witch and living up to their expectations of her, and then your feelings and emotions continue to swing this way and that as you see the story from the perspective of different islanders over a period of several decades. 

Well worth a read! And if you are struggling in the beginning please push through! It is worth it!!

Enjoy!