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A few months ago, I attended a workshop at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena on upcoming popular books – this book came highly recommended by one of their booksellers (I forgot her name! sorry!). Anyway, so I ordered it for the library and I was not disappointed. It is a bit like the movie “Crazy/Beautiful” and a bit like “Romeo and Juliet” with two kids from opposite worlds falling in love but it was a nice addition to those stories.
Brittany Ellis is the perfect girl. Rich, blonde, thin, co-captain of the cheerleading team and driving a new BMW, Brittany has is all! It is the start of her senior year and everything will be wonderful.
Then she walks into Mrs. Peterson’s chemistry class. Mrs.
Peterson assigns seats. That morning Brittany almost crashed into Alejandro Fuentes, a Latino Blood. He is in her class. He is now her lab partner.
Remember things are not always the way they seem. “Perfect Chemistry” moves pretty quickly. It is the perfect beach read and definitely one to add to your summer reading list.
“Here Comes Everybody: the power of organizing without organizations” is a worthwhile read. Clay Shirky explains the positive and negative aspects of social networking sites in a way that is an easy and exciting read. I am a lay-person when it comes to the internet and the examples he uses to illustrate his points are things I have heard of and have wondered about, like flash mobs.
Shirky’s focus on the amplification of group communications with the use of various “web 2.0,” like facebook or flickr, was more a validation of what needs to occur in education – not to jump on a band wagon of using every tool that pops up but of giving students the skills they need to collaborate with students around the world or even across town.
Though there are some drawbacks, which Shirky points out like the amateurization of certain fields, it seems that the pluses outweigh the minuses.
Definitely worth reading!
The final quest of Percy Jackson did not disappoint. Again, Riordan takes us in with a flying start! Literally! If you liked the first four books in the series, you will enjoy this one as well.
Percy and his friends again go on a quest but this time it is Percy’s final battle. “The Last Olympian” is packed with battles and death and espionage. It’s non-stop fun! Definitely worth reading.
I also want to add that the kids were clammering to get their hands on this one. We had a list of about 15 kids once they found out that we had the book. I am not sure what other libaries do with up and coming popular books but we are adding announcements to our school bulletins so that students come in. It is really exciting to see how enthusiastic students are with books outside their required reading lists.
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