Stacking the Shelves (#6)

Another School Edition!

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews and gives us a chance to share with you what books we have recently bought, won, been given, or stole. ;-)

This week, I am featuring MORE books I bought to add to my school library. We hosted a school book fair at Barnes and Noble on a night that Johnathon Rand would be there. (Author of Michigan Chillers/American Chillers.) Unfortunately, we only raised $800 in sales, and a good $100 of that came from me/the library alone. (The teacher running the fundraiser then only gets to keep $80 bucks. It was WAY more hassle than it was worth, and they failed on many aspects.)

So, here are the books I bought!

I also bought the following book because I picked up the sequel at ALA, which looks to be pretty interesting, and a few students mentioned being interested in.

 

**Please note, ALL book covers on this blog link to their page on Goodreads.

Again, I actually have quite a few book from my netgalley that I NEED to read/review. Does anyone know if there are any netgalley knockouts going on this month or next month? I'd love to participate!

Jenni

Dangerous Waters: An Adventure on the Titanic

Gregory Mone - Roaring Brook Press

The Facts:240 pages - Paperback- 1 day

Summary from Goodreads: A stowaway, a stolen book, a murderous villain: an adventure on the most famous shipwreck in history.

 

The great ocean liner Titanic is preparing to cross the Atlantic. On board is a sinister thief bent on stealing a rare book that may be the key to unlocking infinite treasure, a wealthy academic traveling home to America with his rare book collection, and Patrick Waters, a twelve-year-old Irish boy who is certain that his job as a steward on the unsinkable ship will be the adventure of a lifetime. Disguises, capers, and danger abound as the ship makes its way toward that fateful iceberg where Patrick will have to summon all his wits in order to survive.

My Review: I bought this book to add to my school's library from Scholastic. Unfortunately, historical fiction is rarely read in my school and I wanted to find books to draw students into the genre. This book appeared to be all that I could hope for- and it was! 

The stories surrounding the Titanic tend to me popular anyways, but adding the actiony mystery to the mix was a nice touch. Part of the build-up of this book IS the fact that we know the Titanic will sink. While we get caught up in the 'what is going to happen to the characters?!' the story-line does stand on it's own. 

Students will  enjoy the action, the fighting and disguises, and might even become engaged in historical fiction! (Might I add- it does NOT feature a love story!) The historical aspects of this novel are spot on- and gave myself even a greater appreciation for those who worked in the boiler rooms. 

This book took me maybe 2 hours to read, however that while being interrupted by classes. I could not wait to finish the book, and when I did to look up the author to see what other books I could add to our collection. 

If you enjoy Middle Grade books, work with kids, or want to buy HF for a reluctant reader, this would be a great place to start. 

My Rating: 4 stars. The ending moved pretty quickly so I had to re-read a chapter to fully understand who was doing what, but other than that, this book will be a great addition to my library.

Jenni

Teaser Tuesday (#5!)

Happy Tuesday, folks!

 This year, I created a book challenge for my students. One of their goals is to read a book that I have read this year. This is also challenging me to read books I normally wouldn't, so that I can give a greater area of interest to my students.

Because of that, here's a teaser of a book I am currently reading! This is a middle-grade book, but I absolutely LOVE IT.

Teaser Tuesday is a meme hosted by Should Be Reading, in which we post a little *non-spoiler* teaser of the book we are currently reading.

"His beautifully sharpened book knife would have been the preferred insturment, but the interior of ther Titanic was quite simply too white. the splatter of blood resulting from a fatal stab or slice would be terrible- it would torture him to see those clean halls stained. No, the knife would not suffice."

 

Dangerous Waters: An Adventure on the Titanic

This is the perfect book for some of my reluctant readers, especially for the historical fiction aspect!

--Jenni