For my lab I created a book-list for the CNHS library. I asked the librarian what theme she would like for the book list and she had two ideas. One was Earth Day and one was Books into Movies. We decided on the movie theme because it would include more fiction books and our fiction collection will be available the longest. (We are packing up for the summer/big move and non-fiction is getting packed before fiction).
I used the internet to do research on newer YA books that have been made into movies. I tried to stick to popular culture titles from the last 5-7 years. I was pleased with my list; I checked against the CNHS catalog to verify we had the books.
The next steps in my process were for publicity, in addition to the physical list. With the help of the librarian I made a display in the display case featuring a few of the books from the list along with some special edition books featuring pictures from the movies Twilight, Hunger Games and Harry Potter.
The last part of my project was a prezi show featuring the books on my list. I categorized them, used images of the book covers or movie covers and set up the show.
Since it is near the end of the year it will be hard to tell how well the list helps in the library -- but I hope that it makes an appearance in our new library next school year.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Sex, Murder and a Double Latte
Author: Kyra Davis
Genre: Chick Lit (Mystery Sub Genre)
Publication Date: 2006
Number of Pages: (audio)
Geographical Setting: Seattle, WA
Time Period: Around 2003
Series (If applicable): Sophie Katz Mysteries: Passion, Betrayal And Killer, Obsession, Deceit, and Really Dark Chocolate, Lust, Loathing and a Little Lip Gloss, Vows, Vendettas and a Little Black Dress
Plot Summary:
Thriller scribe Sophie Katz is as hard-boiled as a woman who drinks Grande Caramel Brownie Frappuccinos can be. So Sophie knows it's not paranoia or post-divorce, living-alone-again jitters, when she becomes convinced that a crazed reader is sneaking into her apartment to reenact scenes from her books. The police, however, can't tell a good plot from an unmarked grave.
When a filmmaker friend is brutally murdered in the manner of a death scene in one of his movies, Sophie becomes convinced that a copycat killer is on the loose--and that she's the next target. If she doesn't solve the mystery, her own bestseller will spell out her doom. Cursing her grisly imagination (why, oh, why did she have to pick the ax?), Sophie engages in some real-life gumshoe tactics. The man who swoops in to save her in dark alleys is mysterious new love interest Anatoly Darinsky. Of course, if this were fiction, Anatoly would be her prime suspect....(www.goodreads.com)
Subject Headings: : Mystery, Chick Lit
Appeal: Humorous, Witty, Female Detective, Fast Pace, Light-hearted with moments of slight suspense
Killer Heels, book one in the Molly Forester series by Sheryl J. Anderson
Advice columnist Molly stumbles across the dead body of a her coworker Teddy and decides to play amateur detective. So who's the main suspect? Teddy's wife; the boss he was carrying on with; or the model mistress? When a handsome homicide detective enters the scene, Molly's more determined than ever to be part of the investigation. Fluffy and fun.
Rebecca Vnuk, Read On…Women's Fiction (Readersadvisoronline.com)
Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich
Stephanie Plum is out of work and hocking her furniture when she takes a job working for her questionable cousin Vinnie. As a green bounty hunter, Plum has her work cut out for her. Her first apprehension goal is an accused cop on the run –Joe Morelli and he just happens to be a romantic blast from her past, but that’s not deterring Plum. As Plum starts poking her nose in to the Morelli case she realizes she may have bitten off more than she could chew. When she’s saved from the misogynist boxer Ramirez by her target, Morelli, the seeds of a strange companionship are sewn. Walking the fine line between friend and enemy Stephanie and Morelli work to solve his case, clear Morelli’s name and most importantly, get Plum her $10,000 apprehension check.
Body Movers by Stephanie Bond, Body Movers Series
Carlotta Wren’s parents have to go on the lam to avoid prison, leaving her in charge of a younger brother and with no means of support. Sales clerking at Neiman Marcus may not be the best job, but at least it keeps the rent paid and gives her the opportunity to keep up with fashion. Various mysteries are under investigation here, but the pleasure is as much in Bond’s humor and witty tone and in the descriptions of the world of expensive clothes. Barry Trott, Reader's Advisor Online Update (Readersadvisoronline.com)
Dating Can be Deadly by Wendy Roberts
Tabitha Emery, gifted with the second sight, longs to drink butterscotch schnapps with her girlfriends, but instead finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation due to her premonitions, putting her own life in danger when the killer sets his sights on her.
Baker & Taylor (Readersadvisoronline.com)
Tools: http://chicklitbooks.com/category/mystery-lit/, Readers Advisor Online
Classic Romance: Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
"His body was urgent against her, and she didn't have the heart anymore to fight...She saw his eyes, tense and brilliant, fierce, not loving. But her will had left her. A strange weight was on her limbs. She was giving way. She was giving up...she had to lie down there under the boughs of the tree, like an animal, while he waited, standing there in his shirt and breeches, watching her with haunted eyes...He too had bared the front part of his body and she felt his naked flesh against her as he came into her. For a moment he was still inside her, turgid there and quivering..."- Lady Chatterley's Lover
- Author: D.H. Lawrence
- Title: Lady Chatterley’s Lover
- Genre: Classic Romance
- Publication Date: 1928, 1960
- Number of Pages: (audio)
- Geographical Setting: England
- Time Period: Early 1900s
Plot Summary:
Constance Chatterley finds herself married to the crippled Mr. Chatterly. Dissatisfied with their relationship which is based only on talking she finds herself in an affair with the gamekeeper of her husband’s estate. Lawrence gives Connie a bold voice speaking her thoughts about love, sex and affair in vivid detail – a racy novel in its time.
Appeal: Steamy Literary/Classic Romance
Read-Alikes
Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller 1931
Forty years have passed since Grove Press first published Henry Miller's landmark masterpiece -- an act that would forever change the face of American literature. Initially banned in America as obscene, Tropic of Cancer was first published in Paris in 1934. Only a historic court ruling that changed American censorship standards permitted its publication. Tropic of Cancer is now considered, as Norman Mailer said, "one of the ten or twenty great novels of our century". Also banned in America for almost thirty years, Tropic of Capricorn is now considered a cornerstone of modern literature. (Goodreads.com)
Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov 1955
Awe and exhiliration--along with heartbreak and mordant wit--abound in Lolita, Nabokov's most famous and controversial novel, which tells the story of the aging Humbert Humbert's obsessive, devouring, and doomed passion for the nymphet Dolores Haze. Lolita is also the story of a hypercivilized European colliding with the cheerful barbarism of postwar America. Most of all, it is a meditation on love--love as outrage and hallucination, madness and transformation. (Goodreads.com)
Fifty Shades of Grey, by E.L. James 2011
When literature student Anastasia Steele is drafted to interview the successful young entrepreneur Christian Grey for her campus magazine, she finds him attractive, enigmatic and intimidating. Convinced their meeting went badly, she tries to put Grey out of her mind - until he happens to turn up at the out-of-town hardware store where she works part-time.
The unworldly, innocent Ana is shocked to realize she wants this man, and when he warns her to keep her distance it only makes her more desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her - but on his own terms.
Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever. (Goodreads.com)
Awe and exhiliration--along with heartbreak and mordant wit--abound in Lolita, Nabokov's most famous and controversial novel, which tells the story of the aging Humbert Humbert's obsessive, devouring, and doomed passion for the nymphet Dolores Haze. Lolita is also the story of a hypercivilized European colliding with the cheerful barbarism of postwar America. Most of all, it is a meditation on love--love as outrage and hallucination, madness and transformation. (Goodreads.com)
Fifty Shades of Grey, by E.L. James 2011
When literature student Anastasia Steele is drafted to interview the successful young entrepreneur Christian Grey for her campus magazine, she finds him attractive, enigmatic and intimidating. Convinced their meeting went badly, she tries to put Grey out of her mind - until he happens to turn up at the out-of-town hardware store where she works part-time.
The unworldly, innocent Ana is shocked to realize she wants this man, and when he warns her to keep her distance it only makes her more desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her - but on his own terms.
Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever. (Goodreads.com)
Fanny Hill, by John Cleland 1748
From her position of wealth and happy respectability, Fanny Hill looks back at her early life and disreputable adventures. Arriving in London alone, poor and innocent, she falls into the hands of a brothel-keeper. But only when she is separated from the man she loves does she enrol in the 'unhappy profession' of prostitution. Fanny becomes a kept woman and also works in an elegant bawdy-house, entertaining polite voluptuaries. By the age of eighteen, she can afford to retire; in her marriage she can at last combine sexual passion with romantic love. (Goodreads.com)
From her position of wealth and happy respectability, Fanny Hill looks back at her early life and disreputable adventures. Arriving in London alone, poor and innocent, she falls into the hands of a brothel-keeper. But only when she is separated from the man she loves does she enrol in the 'unhappy profession' of prostitution. Fanny becomes a kept woman and also works in an elegant bawdy-house, entertaining polite voluptuaries. By the age of eighteen, she can afford to retire; in her marriage she can at last combine sexual passion with romantic love. (Goodreads.com)
Fear of Flying, by Erica Jon 1973
Originally published in 1973, the ground-breaking, uninhibited story of Isadora Wing and her desire to fly free caused a national sensation—and sold more than twelve million copies. Now, after thirty years, the iconic novel still stands as a timeless tale of self-discovery, liberation, and womanhood. (Goodreads.com)
Originally published in 1973, the ground-breaking, uninhibited story of Isadora Wing and her desire to fly free caused a national sensation—and sold more than twelve million copies. Now, after thirty years, the iconic novel still stands as a timeless tale of self-discovery, liberation, and womanhood. (Goodreads.com)
Couples, by John Updike , 1968
Couples is the book that has been assailed for its complete frankness and praised as an artful, seductive, savagely graphic portrait of love, marriage, and adultery in America. But be it damned or hailed, Couples drew back the curtain forever on sex in suburbia in the late twentieth century. A classic, it is one of those books that will be read -- and remembered -- for a long time to come (Goodreads.com)
Tools:
Matthews, Christopher. "Top 10 Racy Novels." Time. Time, 28 Mar. 2012. Web. 02 May 2012. <http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2110281_2110282_2110288,00.html>.
www.Goodreads.com
Couples is the book that has been assailed for its complete frankness and praised as an artful, seductive, savagely graphic portrait of love, marriage, and adultery in America. But be it damned or hailed, Couples drew back the curtain forever on sex in suburbia in the late twentieth century. A classic, it is one of those books that will be read -- and remembered -- for a long time to come (Goodreads.com)
Tools:
Matthews, Christopher. "Top 10 Racy Novels." Time. Time, 28 Mar. 2012. Web. 02 May 2012. <http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2110281_2110282_2110288,00.html>.
www.Goodreads.com
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Monday, April 2, 2012
John Green's
The Fault in our Stars
Genre: Young Adult / Realistic FictionThe Fault in our Stars
Publication Date: 2011
Geographical Setting: Indianapolis, IN
Time Period: Modern
Plot Summary: In John Green’s latest novel, The Fault in our Stars, Hazel Grace and Augustus, soon to become star-crossed lovers, meet at a grim cancer survivor’s group. Hazel, whose lungs are failing is relentlessly and sweetly pursued by Augustus, who previously lost his leg to cancer. Hazel finally opens up to Augustus and they bond over her favorite book, a trip to Amsterdam, and the familiar paths of young cancer patients. With humor and grace Green has created a story that will bring a flood of both laughter and tears.
Appeal Terms:
Character and Dialogue Driven / Witty Language
Dark / Emotionally intense/ Tear-jerker
Similar Authors and Works
Fiction:
From my experience…
Looking for Alaska by John Green (Character and Dialogue Driven / Witty Language)
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult (Dark / Emotionally intense/ Tear-jerker )
From Novelist…
Before I Die by Jenni Downham (Dark / Emotionally intense/ Tear-jerker )
Forever Changes by Brendan Haplan (Character driven / realistic fiction)
From Amazon…
The Baldheaded Princess: Cancer, Chemo and Courage by Maribeth Ditmars
Non Fiction:
From Amazon…
Teenagers Face to Face with Cancer
Grace: A Child's Intimate Journey Through Cancer and Recovery by Melinda Marchiano
Interview with John Green on The Fault in Our Stars
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