I Stole This

So I was looking through the teacher websites recently, and I stumbled upon this list on Mr. Halley's website. I did what any good reading teacher would do....I STOLE IT! :-)
SO, here is a different book list with a bunch of books that he recommended:


The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
Throwaway Daughter by Ting-Xing Ye
Out of the Dark by Wilton Katz Welwyn
Armaggeddon Summer by Jane Yolen and Coville, B
Black Mirror by Nancy Werlin
Shattered by Eric Walter
The Lord of the Ring by Tolkien J.R.R.
Shadowfalls by Amy Kathleen Ryan
Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger, Mature book
Tribes by Arthur Slades
Lord of the Flies by
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
Stargirl by Jerry Spinnelli
Chanda's Secrets by Allan Stratton
Crank by Ellen Hopkins
Impulse by Ellen Hopkins
On Wings of a Dragon by Cora Taylor
On Wings of Evil by Cora Taylor
Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling
Last Sam's Cage by David Poulson
Dead Water Zone by Kenneth Oppel
A Step from Heaven by Ana Na
The Glory Field by Walter Dean Myers
New Moon and
Twilight by Stephanie Myers
Little by Little by Jean Little
Tehanu by Ursula LeGuin
Hold Fast by Kevin Major
Checkers by John Marsden
Password: Murder by Norah McClintock
Esther by Sharon E. McKay
Catch Me Once, Catch Me Twice by Janet McNaughton
The Secret Under My Skin by Janet McNaughton
An Earthly Knight by Janet McNaughton
Inexcusable by Chris Lynch, National Book Award Finalist, mature
October Sky by Homer H. Hickham
Mercy's Birds by Kinda Holeman
Kat's Fall by Sheley Hrdlitschka
Blaine's Way by Monica Hughes
In Spite of Killer Bees by Julie Johnston
Hunter in the Dark by Monica Hughes
Snake Dreamer by Priscilla Galloway
Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons
Shattering Glass by Gail Giles
Grace Happens by Jan Czech
Looking for X by Deborah Ellis
Double or Nothing, Mature, by Dennis Foon
After the Rain by Norma Fox Mazer
The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul
Being with Henry by Martha Brooks
The Carved Box by Gillian Chan
The Telling Pool by David Clement-Davies
Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
Whatever Happened to Janie
Mary Jane Harper Cried Last Night
Heroes by Robert Cormier
Chocolate Wars by Robert Cormier
Children of the River by Linda Crew
Speak by Louise Halse Anderson
The Hidden World by Alison Baird
Redwork by Michael Bedard
Neither Wolf Nor Dog by K. Nerburn, MN writer
Speak to the Earch by William Bell
Forbidden City by William Bell
The Lightening Thief
Zack by William Bell
Sunflower Diary by Nemetz L. Boraks
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
Lucky T by Kate Brian
City of Beasts by Allende Isabel
Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson
Fever 1793
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

Talking to the Author

On Tuesday I finished a book called YOU by Charles Benoit. I was reading it aloud to my classes. It was a great book, but there were things that were not wrapped up nicely at the end. SO, my seniors encouraged me to send the author a message. Here is what I wrote:

I just finished reading YOU as a read aloud to my 4 classes. My seniors especially are beside themselves with how the book ended. They are especially concerned with what happened to Zach. They want to know if you are going to write a second book...which I told them probably not.
Can you offer them anything further about the end of the book?
Thank you in advance!
P.S.
We LOVED this book. SO well written...and it so captured the mind of a high school student.
ALSO...the point of view....fascinating!!!

Well, imagine my surprise when I received an email from the author that same day. Here is what he wrote:

Thanks so much for the note - it really made my day. This is the first time that I've heard from a teacher/class that did the book as a read aloud. How'd that go? What was the tone you took with the voice? I always saw it as a sort of matter-of-fact narration, like a voice-over in a documentary, rather cool and detached. But that's just me. The folks that did the audio version took a different approach...can't say I'm a big fan but that was their decision.


Ah, the ending! When I started out writing the book, I knew I wanted a WTF ending (wild, thrilling finish...obviously) and I like to hear when it worked. And what I think happens to Zack is unimportant - it's what you think happens that really matters. But since you've all probably discussed what you think happens (without me there to hear, by the way), here's what I think happens to Zack:


Nothing.


Sure, he's got some explaining to do, but he's so smooth it'll all roll off him. As he predicted earlier, he'll get bored at Midlands or, even better for his reputation and ego, he'll be asked to leave. He'll start off at yet another school, doing what he's always done, using people for his own enjoyment. There is no redemption, no guilt, no justice.


One of the first schools I spoke at when the book came out was in Austin, Texas. It was a public school with a Middle School Honors program and the teacher told me that the students had some tough questions about the book. I remember thinking, 'Middle School Honors? Right. How hard is this going to be?' Then I got the first question from a student. "Given his unusually suave demeanor, his vast reading background and his innate ability to manipulate the actions of others, is it fair to say that Zack is the devil incarnate?" I mumbled something about metaphors and similes ( which I got confused and had to be corrected by another student), but the truth is I had never thought of anything like that. However, I like that idea so much that I'm now telling folks that yes, yes indeed, that was my intention all along. (Unless you've got something better.) So if Zack is Satan--and I know a Middle School Honors student who says he is--I guess that he keeps going on, collecting souls and keeping the Buffalo Bills from having a winning season again in my lifetime.


As for another book, yup, it's in the works. It's not in second person and it's not quite as dark. It's a YA romantic comedy caper novel meaning the book is about our protagonists planning and committing a big crime, in this case it's stealing a painting from an art gallery. And even though it's a ro-co, let's just say I plan on a dark, noir-ish ending. I've got three chapters left to go and should be working on it right now, so thanks for the chance to procrastinate! I've attached the first chapter for your reading pleasure. The working title is Fall From Grace. [Kari - Please simply read it to the class - my editor would freak if she knew you printed copies and passed them out]


So thanks again for the note and keep reading.


Cheers,
Charles

My students were so excited by this!! This was our little brush with fame!

OH MY GOODNESS!!

I am so excited about how an email I received today.
I can't really talk about it until I have spoken to my classes tomorrow....but stay tuned!!!

Best Books

Readers' Choice: Best Books of 2010
Web exclusiveFeature by Editors of BookPage

In November we asked readers to tell us their favorite book of 2010. More than 2,600 readers responded, and the results span genres from literary thriller to YA phenomenon to historical epic. Several of these books overlap with our own Best of 2010 picks. The results are in order of votes.



1. The Passage by Justin Cronin
2. Room by Emma Donoghue
3. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman
4. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
5. Fall of Giants by Ken Follett
6. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
7. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
8. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
9. The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer
10. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
11. Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny
12. Still Missing by Chevy Stevens
13. Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
14. 61 Hours by Lee Child
15. A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron
16. Ape House by Sara Gruen
17. Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
18. House Rules by Jodi Picoult
19. Faithful Place by Tana French
20. Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

Note: Although our Readers' Choice "Best of 2010" picks were limited to books published in 2010, several older books received a significant number of votes. The Help by Kathryn Stockett, Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese and Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay remain especially popular with BookPage readers.