Samantha Sutton and the Labryinth of Lies

 

 If you're in my Summer Reading Program group, you may find this title familiar. It's in my giant bag of book picks for the 4th and 5th graders. While trying to coerce one of my more fickle readers into picking something from my gargantuan bag of tricks, I couldn't pass up this read...and it was worth taking home.

Samantha Sutton has wanted to be an archaeologist like her Uncle Jay for her entire life. And when he finally gives her, and her annoying brother Evan, the opprotunity to go on a real archaeological dig and help out, she's as excited as could be.

Once at the dig site in Peru, an ancient temple in the Andes mountains ("as ancient to the Inca as the Inca are to us"), Samantha finds out that some weird things attributed to "El Loco" have been happening at the dig. With suspicious running high against one of her Uncle's prize (though seriously rude) student, Samantha knows she has to figure out who is really behind the destruction of the dig sites, and theft of important artifacts. 

I found Samantha to be a likable enough character, although some of the language in the book made me feel like this was "written down". I also didn't like the way her parents were portrayed as the kind of people who don't know (or care...) about the difference between archaeology and paleontology --especially when archaeology runs in the family. (If you don't know the difference, let me enlighten you: paleontologists deal with fossils, archaeologists deal with people/cultural artifacts...and that's the easy definition; there are some blurred lines, but not many). I also really...really...really dislike books that insert a foreign language into a book; especially when they don't translate sentences you need to understand to get the drama! I am hopeless at languages (ironic, huh?). I took a semester of Spanish in college...and my professor didn't encourage me to sign up for another semester of it --which I was fine with. I have a lot of patience for foreign books to be translated into English.

Other than that however, it was an engaging read --and the first in a series. There is one copy available in the MORE system, which is currently in my bag 'o books but if you ask nicely, I'll let you check it out.

So, that's what I've been reading, how about you?

-S

Summer Reading is Here!

So, it's that time again...even if it hasn't really felt like it outside with all the rainy weather --but summer reading is again upon us!

Rather than the updates like we've done the last few summers, I am going to focus more on reader's advisory; this summer focusing on books that (I think!) fit well into our two summer reading themes: Dig Into Reading (ages 4-11) and Beneath the Surface (12-18). Both age groups overlap our middle schoolers, so hopefully everyone will be able to find a good book this summer!

My first suggestion for the summer is one I really, really love...and I swear I don't think I've reccomended it before.

 

The first time I read Holes by Louis Sachar, I was probably about 11. Since that first reading, I've picked it up about four more times. I don't know what it is, but I just fell in love with Stanley and all the guys at Camp Green Lake. Even though it's generally a realistic fiction book, it does have the element of mysticism to it that I enjoy in my books.

If you're not familiar with Holes, here's the gist: The Yelnats family was cursed when Stanley's dirty-rotten-pig-stealing great-great grandfather...well, stole a pig, hopped a boat to America, and never looked back. That curse is what lands Stanley at Camp Green Lake...that is neither green nor has a lake. While there, he makes friends with the delinquent boys, including Zero, a quiet kid who has "zero future". At camp, the boys dig holes daily: five feet wide by five feet deep...and if they find something "interesting", they're supposed to bring it to the attention of the Warden; a woman known for wearing venom-infused nail polish (to make the red extra shiny). The story flips between the past and present, bringing not just one, but three stories together and might just help break a family curse.

Sachar is known for his young adult fiction, and Holes is a great place to start with this author, or pick him up again. You may be familiar with his other series, like the Wayside School books or the Marvin Redpost series.What you may NOT know (at least I didn't until last year), but Holes has a sequal called Small Steps that was published in 2006. Small Steps picks back up with Armpit living at home in Austin, Texas...trying to stay out of trouble...but when X-Ray arrives, things start to spiral out of control.

Have you read Holes or are you familiar with other books by Louis Sachar? I myself rather enjoyed the Wayside School books. They're a great laugh! Feel free to share your thoughts on the book, the author, or tell me what you're reading! I'm always on the look out for a good book!

Happy reading --and we hope to see you into the library for Teen Thursdays (ages 12-18 at 4PM) or the Summer Reading Program (Thursday mornings starting July 11th, 9:30 AM), or just into the library.

-Samma

You Must Read This!

Cassie and Samma and I have been doing a lot of reading lately in preparation for this summer's theme, Dig Into Reading.  The book I've liked most so far is actually a series of five books that start with Gregor the Overlander by Suszanne Collins. 

Gregor is an eleven year old boy who follows his little sister Boots down a shaft in the apartment basement and discovers a world of oversized bugs and rodents and a group of people know as the Underlanders.  In this first book, Gregor is sent on a mission foretold in a prophecy that names Gregor as the Warrior.  Gregor gets to fly on the back of a bat, which I actually think would be really cool, as well as meet creatures like a three foot high cockroach named Temp.  Temp turns out to be one of my favorite characters, but I still don't like the small kind!