Monday 27 October 2014

Review: The 100 by Kass Morgan



 My Review:
   I just recently read, "The 100" by Kass Morgan.  Set in a futuristic world where humans have been forced to live in ships in outer space due to radioactive poisoning that destroyed life as we know it on planet Earth.  Many years later after a fatal stunt, 100 delinquents are chosen to do what no one else has ever done.  They must travel down to Earth as an experiment to see if Earth can be recolonized.
 
 The story revolves around four characters perspectives and with every chapter comes a flashback. These two things combined can be disorientating but the flashbacks remain crucial to the story. The hamartia {fatal flaw} of this book for me was in fact the romance. After reading the synopsis and even watching the promo’s for the TV show I was pumped and ready for an action packed thriller that would keep me begging for more so I was rather disappointed when it wasn’t.  Often I found the story dragging on a bit so a good elaborate plot twist at about the middle of the book would have been god for readers like me just so we don’t lose interest.  For those who get bored easily this is not the book for you.
     If you read a lot you there are only so many times you enjoy the same plot, romance development etc… It’s always nice to find a book that offers you something new. The spaceship was in fact a first for me but something got lost along the way and that to me was the building of anticipation. If you read the synopsis you understand that these kids are going to earth but I wanted to know more about their society, how cruel their world might have been, why those 100 kids and why not others, how much different was their society? I felt like I was being rushed into going to earth without having an understanding of where these kids are coming from.
  However If you enjoy books like James Dashner’s “The Maze Runner” or “Gone” by Michael Grant then this is the book for you. If you are looking for an edge of your seat thriller I would defiantly not recommend this book. Ultimately it was a good book and will appeal to different people; it just didn’t click for me.
By: Teen Reviewer Chloe

Friday 24 October 2014

Battle of the Books 2015



 
It's time to start High School Battle of the Books 2015! We have reduced the list to forty books but don't expect it to get easier, we will be increasing the amount of questions we do per book on battle day.
 
To participate in the program put together a team of up to eight students and get a copy of this list from the Orillia Public Library or the librarian at your school. As a group, all of the books on the list between November 2014 and May 2015.  In the spring you will be invited to the library where all three schools will compete against each other.  For the past three years a team from Patrick Fogarty has won the grand prize!
 
For more information contact me at ltoutant@orilliapubliclibrary.ca
 
 

1. Classic


1.  Animal Farm by George Orwell
2.  Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
3.  The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
4.  Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
5.  Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
 

 2.  Books With Impact

 

1. The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson
2.  We Were Liars by E Lockhart
3.  The Summer I Wasn't Me by Jessica Verdi
4.  Forgive Me Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick
5.  A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews
 

3.  Award Winning

 

1.  Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos
2.  Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
3.  Ask the Passengers by A.S. King
4.  I am the Cheese by Robert Cormier
5.  The Road by Cormac McCarthy
 

4.  Books with a Female Protagonist

 

 
1.  Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy
2.  Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira
3.  Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano
4.  The Ring and the Crown by Melissa De La Cruz
5.  Empress of the World by Sara Ryan
 

5.  Books with a Male Protagonist

 

1.  The Rule of Three by Eric Walters
2.  More Than This by Patrick Ness
3.  Ungifted by Gordon Kormon
4.  Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith
5.  The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan
 

6.  Science Fiction

 
1.  Eye of Minds by James Dashner
2.  The Here and Now by Anne Brashares
3.  Breathe by Sara Crossan
4.  World War Z by Max Brooks
5.  Birthmarked by Caraugh M. O'Brien
 

7.  Fantasy

 

1.  The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton
2.  Sea of Shadows by Kelley Armstrong
3.  White Space by Isla J Bick
4.  The Haven by Carol Lynch Williams
5.  Half Bad by Sally Green
 

8.  Wild Card

 

1.  Guy in Real Life by Steven Brezenoff
2.  Dorthy Must Die by D.M. Paige
3.  Noggin by John Corey Whaley
4.  Friend with Boiys by Faith Erin Hicks
5.  Panic by Lauren Oliver

Friday 3 October 2014

Sketchbook Project 2013-2014

The Sketchbook is complete!  As part of our teen summer reading program in 2013 we purchased two sketchbooks to leave in the teen section.  Over the course of the last year you have filled it up with beautiful drawings! We have selected some of the sketches to feature on this blog.  Stop by the teen section to start filling up the next book!