The Next Harry Potter?

Is Percy Jackson the next Harry Potter?

Perhaps... though I doubt any boy hero will ever surpass Harry Potter in popularity. Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series follows a normal teenage boy through adolescense, much like the Harry Potter series does. The difference? Percy's parents aren't wizards. Percy's parents are a normal mortal mother and Poseidon, the god of the sea. Naturally, being a demigod, Percy will not have an easy teenage experience.

The five books in the series introduce the Olympian gods, the Titans, and other mythological characters in a way that is easy and familiar. Riordan brilliantly educates his readers about the myth without making it appear as though he is lecturing. The Percy Jackson series is a great tool for exposing young adults to Greek mythology in a fun, entertaining way. And now that the first book in the series will be on the big screen this Friday, Riordan's work is sure to reach higher levels of popularity.

I personally would recommend these books to anyone who found Greek mythology or the Harry Potter series interesting. I couldn't put them down and was easily able to devour one book in less than 24 hours. Happy reading!!

More Vampires to Sink Your Teeth Into

Well, you all know how much I love a good vampire story! Allow me to introduce this delicious vampire series!

P.C. Cast - The House of Night series: Marked, Betrayed, Chosen, Untamed


This series is about Zoey Redbird, a typical teenager. Except that she's been Marked to become a vampyre. Because of this, she must switch schools and attend the fledgling vampyre school in Tulsa, The House of Night. Zoey learns all about the politics and supernatural aspects of being a vampyre. But that's not to say that she doesn't experience normal high school issues: the snobby mean girl, the gorgeous guy that all of the girls pine after, keeping up in classes, and even high school leadership. Zoey has powers that no other vampyre has ever been gifted with. Zoey learns throughout the series that with that power comes responsibilty that is difficult to handle.

The series is somewhat predictable to say the least. However, it is really entertaining. The books progressively get better because you learn more and more about the characters. Zoey is likeable and so is the book's heartthrob, Erik Night. Even the "mean girl" Aphrodite becomes a character that I wanted to know more about. The two things that really bug me about this series are the forced pop culture references (like referring to Matt Damon and the Bourne movies, etc), and also the names. Upon entering The House of Night, fledgling vampyres are considered "reborn." Therefore, they can begin their new lives with a name of their choosing. Some names remain normal. But others are distracting. For example, there is a professor named Dragon. Eventually, you do get used to the unusual names, just as Zoey gets used to her new school. But other than those two minor things, the series is quite good! It's not as great as Twilight or Sookie Stackhouse, but it is definitely different... and in a good way! I've only read the first four books, so I can only speak for those so far... but I am willing to guess that the fifth and soon to be released sixth books are just as good. If you like vampire stories, I would highly recommend these!

Next up for me? The Last Wife of Henry VIII

It's a YA Revolution

Is it just me or has young adult literature really taken on a new life form? When I was younger, we had R.L. Stine's Fear Street books and Ann M. Martin's The Babysitter's Club books. While I enjoyed them greatly, they are nothing compared to these new books that are all over the place!

I think it began with the Harry Potter books. I know they were intended to be children's books, and you'll find them in the youth section of a book store or library. But let's face it, they've turned into young adult books also as Harry turned into a young adult himself. It's amazing how huge these books became. I am obviously an enormous fan. Next came Stephenie Meyer's fabulous vampire series, Twilight. If you've read anything else I've written, you know how I feel about these books. They're so wonderful and really live up to the all of the hype that is centered around them. These two series have really made reading something "cool" again. There are obviously more young adult treasures out there, but I think these two series are real gems.


And that brings me to my latest read: Libba Bray's A Great and Terrible Beauty, the first installment of her Gemma Doyle series. It's about a girl named Gemma who has a vision of her mother's murder in India. She is sent to a finishing school in London while both mourning her mother's death and trying to cope with her new found ability. She struggles to make friends and deals with the catty mean girls of Spence Academy. Once Gemma finds her place at Spence, her visions thrust her into a world of magic and mystery that is far beyond her comprehension. In this first installment, Gemma struggles to understand the wonders and the dangers of possessing such magic.

This was a great read. I found myself constantly wanting to find out what was going to happen next. I think it's a great young adult read. It obviously does not measure up to Twilight's caliber. But the story is still a good one. It explores a different branch of magic that I personally haven't read about before. It's a world that mixes witchcraft with Victorian England. I'll definitely be reading the other books in the series to see what happens to Gemma and her friends.

A Beastly Prince

This is Donna Jo Napoli's Beast. It is the story of Beauty and the Beast, but tells the story about what happened to the beast and how he got to where he did. Prince Orasmyn is in line to be the king of Persia when he angers a fairy. The fairy then condemns him to a life as a beast. Her curse will only be broken when a woman falls in love with him. Orasmyn, trapped in his lion's body, travels to India and tries to assimilate himself into lion culture. But his human instints are too great. He travels to France and finds an abandoned castle. When a man wanders into his castle during a storm, Orasmyn demands that he bring his daughter to him. The daughter who loves roses as much as Orasmyn did. Belle arrives, and the two slowly become friends and eventually fall in love, thus breaking the curse and returning Orasmyn to his handsome human form.

I loved this. It's the traditional fairy tale with a really raw and interesting twist. It is a book designed for young adults, but as an adult, I loved it too. It took a while to get into it as it explains in detail a traditional Persian ceremony. However, after this, the story really picks up. It is interesting to get a look into the trials that Orasmyn had to face. We all know what Belle went through thanks to Disney, but we never knew what made the Beast so bitter and resentful. This book sheds Napoli's interpretation on this. I'd recommend it if you're looking for something a little bit different. If you liked Wicked, you'll like this better. The language is easy to follow, and the entertainment level is there too.

My reading has been a bit sparse this month. My first semester of my teaching program is coming to an end, and of course everything is due now. But I am planning to start I Am Mary Tudor this week if I get the chance. I've heard good things about it, and it's about the Tudors... so I can't really go wrong there. I am currently looking for reading recommendations. I have not updated my TBR list in a really long time. I am open to pretty much everything fiction. Thanks ahead of time!

On another note, I know I will be the envy of every big reader out there when I announce this. I got a part-time job at my local library! I work predominantly in the youth department, which is really fun. Already I had a little girl, who wasn't any older than two, following me around and wanting to copy everything I was doing while reshelving. So adorable. So when I am not at home reading or doing work to teach my future students about reading, I am surrounded by books at work. Heaven for a book nerd like me! Happy reading!

The Wednesday Wars

Well, like I said, I'm back. I promised to keep this thing updated, so here I am. I finished The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt the other day. It's about Holling Hooodhood, a seventh grader in Long Island, during the Vietnam War. When all the other kids leave during the middle of the day on Wednesday to attend their respective churches, Holling (whose church doesn't have Wednesday classes)has to stay with his English teacher, Mrs. Baker. During their time together, Mrs. Baker has Holling read different Shakespearean plays. Slowly, Holling begins to understand them as he applies them to his life as he grows from a boy into a young man.

I ADORED this book. It won the 2008 Newbury Award and definitely deserved it. It's a great book to maybe get young adults into Shakespeare and is also really great for adults who have already read some Shakespeare. For me, it was funny to hear Holling call Romeo a wimp, only to understand him later on. He walks around using Shakespearean curse words on his enemies, the eighth grade bullies. All of this coming of age is set against the backdrop if the Vietnam War and will have you in tears at one point in the story. You end up loving Holling and Mrs. Baker. I want to know what happens to him once he reaches grade eight. I highly recommend this one for both you and your kids. It's really a wonderful treat. I am pretty confident that you'll love it.

In other news, I'm really loving my tutoring that I am doing with a few high schoolers at Bexley High School. Things have been going really well and it feels great to know that I'm definitely on the career path that I was meant to be on. I wish I had discovered it a bit earlier, but there's no time like the present. I've helped a few students understand their subjects a little bit better than they did before, and that is truly the feeling that I've been waiting for with starting this whole teaching thing. All I can say is that it feels really good.

Up next on my reading schedule: My Lady Of Cleves, by Margaret Campbell Barnes. I have read nothing about Henry's fourth wife, so I'm really very excited to learn a little about her.