Catching Fire and Mockingjay

    

       I finished the Hunger Games Trilogy this week. I just thought I would add my reviews of those books to my blog. Overall, I really enjoyed the trilogy. Catching Fire was amazing. It picked up right where the first book left off. Katniss and Peeta have both survived the Hunger Games. Which is a problem since since the games can only have one winner. However, since Katniss and Peeta claimed to be lovers and were about to commit suicide at the very end of the tournament, they were allowed to live. However, even though it was as act of love(maybe, at least for Peeta) it was a way of rebelling against the Capital. Districts start questioning and rebelling against the Capital. In order to end this rebellion, the Capital celebrates the seventy fifth Hunger Games by choosing victorious tributes from each district. These tributes are not all young. Many of them are older. Of course Katniss and Peeta have to go into the game again. Overall, I thought this book was more exciting then the first book. I was a little bit distracted by the love triangle that they put with Katniss, Peeta, and Gale (a friend from Katniss' district). I felt like it was a cop out to Twilight fans.  There are characters such as President Snow and Gale that become more involved in the story. The character of Finnick starts off as a tool, but you later see that is is quite a complicated character. This is definitely a sequel that surpasses the first one. Will they be able to survive against ruthless people who have won the games?Will they still be able to convince Panem of their love to survive again?  Does Katniss really love Peeta? What will become of this rebellion? Find out by reading Catching Fire.

       I really enjoyed Mockingjay. It was very different from the rest of the books. Instead being about the Hunger Games, the book was about the districts rebelling against the Capital. The rebellion was lead by District 13 (a district everyone was led to believe was destroyed). Katniss, Gale, and Finnick start out living with District 13 and training for the rebellion. Peeta has been captured by the Capital. Peeta is tortured throughout the book. When he is saved by the rebels, it is found that they broke his mind. They altered his mind to believe that Katniss was evil. It takes most of the book to recover. Peeta and Katniss have some very beautifully sad encounters. After seeing what the Capital has done to Peeta and to the other districts, Katniss makes it her priority to rid Panem of President Snow. This book was the most exciting of the trilogy to me. And yes, I did keep wondering if Katniss would end up with Peeta or Gale. You will be able to figure out by simply reading into the text. You can see which one she has her funny and sweet moments around. The Hunger Games Trilogy is very chilling. However, it is definitely worth reading. The ending will not disappoint you. It has a wonderful ending. I am very excited to see the movies. I have no doubt that Jennifer Lawrence will do an amazing job as Katniss. She was wonderful in X-Men: First Class as Mystique. She added a lot of depth to a non talking character that basically just walked around and killed people in the other movies.

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games

Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique Darkholme in X-Men First Class

Percy Jackson and the Replacement for my Harry Potter fix

     So,  I decided to check out Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.  I knew that it was Harry Potter-ish, so I thought to give it a try. I really enjoyed it. Basically the premise is that the Greek gods still exist. They have been traveling through the ages wherever Western civilization spreads. Currently they are in America. Percy Jackson is a young boy who has been kicked out of several schools. He has never known his father. His only family is his mother and good for nothing step dad. Percy's life changes when one of Hades Furies, disguised at a math teacher, attacks him on a school field trip. However, after the incident his mind gets wiped and he things it might have all been an illusion.
    When he goes home for the summer, his mom takes him on a vacation. Everything goes well until they are attacked by the Minotaur. His mother was able to get him to a summer camp that his father always wanted him to go to, before the Minotaur kills her.  It turns out that these monsters are hunting Percy because he is a son of a Greek god. The gods still like mating with mortals and having children. The summer camp that he goes to trains these "half-bloods." Percy is not just the son of any god, but of Poseidon, god of the sea. This is significant, because Poseidon, Zeus, and Hades all agreed to longer have mortal children since they are the most powerful gods. It is revealed that WWII was caused by their offspring. After, Percy goes through some basic training and catches up on his Greek, he is sent on a quest. He is suppose to retrieve Zeus's thunderbolt, because he has been blamed for it. Zeus thinks that Poseidon told Percy to steal it in order to overthrow him. If Percy does not find it, then a huge war will break out among the gods. And that is never good. If you like Harry Potter, fantasy, or Greek myths, then you will probably want to give this series a try. 

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda

   

       So, I saw this book at Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest a few weeks ago and I had to check it out. It is the story of a boy named Tommy who is trying to figure out if Origami Yoda is real. Origami Yoda is a paper puppet that exists on the finger of a boy named Dwight. Dwight claims that Origami Yoda speaks through him. However, Dwight is the weirdest boy in school. He is the kind of guy who wears the same t-shirt everyday, fails every class except math, and sits in holes. Origami Yoda is able to prophesy and give good advice. So, Origami Yoda has to be real. right? He has to be channeling the Force. How else can Dwight be able to give good advice and tell the future? However, Tommy needs to know if Origami Yoda is real, because he needs to ask him if a certain girl in his class likes him. If you are a Star Wars fan, then you will love this book. I was pretty much laughing on every single page. They also make references to Spider-Man and Lord of the Rings. This is a terrific book for children from fourth to sixth grade.

An End of an Era

    So, I recently saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. I have to say that it was a pretty emotional experience for me. My generation got to be apart of something special. We got to grow up with Harry Potter.  The books and movies were being written and filmed as we were in middles school, high school, and college.I was in middle school when I started reading the Harry Potter books. The first movie came out when I was in eighth grade.
     Harry Potter is wonderful and exciting to read. I recommend it to any one of all ages who like fantasy. I very deep connection to Harry Potter. I was never much of a reader before I started reading those books. Reading was very difficult for me. I had trouble with comprehension. Many books that my mom got me to read never gauged my interest. However, J.K. Rowling's books helped me love reading. I remember that Harry Potter was a way for me to escape from the real world. The first movie came out about a week after I had written a suicide letter in eighth grade.You see I was going through some rough times. I was diagnosed with depression. I also remember reading the third book  in the office when my parents were meeting with the counselors, teachers, and principals at the school. Harry Potter was a place I could go to where I didn't have to worry about bullies in PE, hard classes, and self image issues.
     It is almost a miracle in that Warner Brothers signed on to make movies from all seven Harry Potter books. The movies were so well done. J.K. Rowling was very involved in ensuring the movies were faithful adaptations. The movies aren't perfect. They leave out a lot of important details, but overall they were well done. I consider the movies as companions to the books. The acting was amazing. My personal favorites were Alan Rickman as Severus Snape(One of the greatest characters ever created) and Emma Watson as Hermione Grangier (aka my one true love). The effects were fantastic.  The musical scores were fantastic (I do wish John Williams could have done the score for all eight movies instead of just two).
     It is with a heavy heart that I say good-bye to Harry Potter. There has never been anything like and there will probably never be anything like it that will come about. I hope that J.K. Rowling does write again. I would like her to write another book that takes place in the Harry Potter world. However, even if she does not visit that world again, I know that whatever she writes will be brilliant.

If only you were real, Hermione.

One of the best HP characters. I wish he could have had more screen time.

I want to go to school at Hogwarts.

Hunger Games

    Since I entered library school, I kept hearing people talk about .The Hunger Games  by Suzanne Collins. This book is about a post apocalyptic society called Panem. Panem rules its twelve districts with an iron hand. Many of the people are starving. Every year Panem has an event called the Hunger Games. Each child must submit their name into a lottery. They are required to more entries into the lottery as they get older. The more times they submit their names, the more food their family gets. Okay, so at this point I am sure you are saying "So what, that doesn't sound too bad." If you win the lottery, then you are selected to participate in a fight to death tournament with twenty three other children.
     The story revolves around Katniss Everdeen. She is a girl from District 12. District 12 is a coal mining district and is one of the poorest. She volunteers for the games so that her younger sister does not have to go. Katniss is the leader of her family. She endures a lot in her life. Katniss is very natural and real. She does not want to kill. She is just a victim just like every one else in the tournament.
     This is a very well written story; however, it is incredibly graphic. It is even horrifying in parts. For parents who are concerned about their children reading violent content, I would suggest they read the book first. Katniss is a very dominant and focused young woman. She would be a good character for girls to read about. She is definitely superior than most of the girls that are on any modern T.V. show.

An Internship in the Forest

           

  I really enjoyed my internship this summer at Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest. It was a wonderful learning experience for me. I got experience in adult, technical services, children's, and teen departments. The Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest is a new facility that opened in December 2010. Previously the Vestavia Hill Library had been in a very small location that is down the street from its present site. The new facility is LEED certified.  LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Over eighty percent of the trees from the site were used in the building to create floors, furniture, desks, and doors.  Trees beyond forty feet from the building were left alone.  There is a garden on the rooftop that provides insulation to decrease energy use and costs.  The building has a very modern look and it was exciting for me to come into this library everyday.

  
      My supervisor's name was Leslie West.  She is the adult services librarian at Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest.  The whole summer she had historians and event planners come to the library and talk about the history of Birmingham and things to do in the city.  The library patrons really enjoyed these programs.  Leslie also has a book club that she does every month.  About twenty people show up every time.  She has a wonderful group of people that likes to discuss the books.  Leslie always chooses the books.  She wants her patrons to have exposure to a variety of literature. They might not always be comfortable reading the books, but they at least are willing to have an open mind to the material.

My favorite departments to work in were the children and teen departments.  This is where Leslie would send me most of the time to work. The children’s department is where I spent most of my time. I helped them put their books on the shelves, because they circulated hundreds of items a week. The children’s department head, Amanda, charged me with many important tasks. All through the summer she had me call different businesses to get them to donate items for the library’s children summer programs. I felt I gained a lot from this. It helped me become better at talking to strangers and developing a relationship with them. Amanda would suggest some businesses like Alabama Art Supply and Rave Motion Pictures. She allowed me to come up with my own businesses.  I was able to get items donated from local comic book and sports card stores. I found that this was important as well, because it got me thinking about activities that children might like to do like laser tag or paint ball. Amanda also asked me to assist her in story time. I helped both the children and the teen departments with programs that they had going on during the summer. I had the most fun in these departments. Amanda and Terri (the teen librarian) asked me to put together read alikes and reading lists together for them.  Before doing this internship, I did not know how I felt about children and teen service, but now I will look for jobs in these departments when I graduate.

  
    Overall, I enjoyed my internship at Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest. I found it to be a valuable learning experience. Everyone there was very respectful to me.The employees at this library were very friendly and eager to teach me about things that they have learned while working in this field. I felt that the work that I put into this internship was valued by all of the departments. This library has many different programs and events going on. It will be interesting to see what this library will be doing five year from now.I would recommend Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest as a good place to do an internship.

The Dragon Reborn

     A few days ago I finished reading The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan. This is the third book in the Wheel of Time series. I really enjoyed this book. The book continues to tell the story of Rand as he begins to embrace that he is the Dragon Reborn. The book concentrates heavily on the adventures that his friends have. Many of them have powers. In this one it is revealed that one of his friends has the power of luck??...!!!??? I am not sure what that is all about, but I am sure it will be explained in future books. Robert Jordan has created a very complex, but coherent world. He does a wonderful job at developing his characters.  I recommend this series to those who enjoy reading fantasy.