News from the Curriculum Resource Center

Here’s a review of another YA title in the CSCL collection by BGSU staff member Anne Lake. You’ll find it in the front hall at JUV A277iL.

Title: Illuminate (Gilded Wings #1)

Author: Aimee Agresti

Summary: [from GoodReads]
Haven Terra is a brainy, shy high school outcast. But everything begins to change when she turns sixteen. Along with her best friend Dante and their quiet and brilliant classmate Lance, she is awarded a prestigious internship in the big city— Chicago—and is sent to live and work at a swanky and stylish hotel under the watchful eyes of a group of gorgeous and shockingly young-looking strangers: powerful and alluring hotel owner Aurelia Brown; her second-in-command, the dashing Lucian Grove; and their stunning but aloof staff of glamazons called The Outfit.

As Haven begins falling for Lucian, she discovers that these beautiful people are not quite what they seem. With the help of a mysterious book, she uncovers a network of secret passageways from the hotel’s jazz-age past that leads her to the heart of the evil agenda of Aurelia and
company: they’re in the business of buying souls. Will they succeed in wooing Haven to join them in their recruitment efforts, or will she be able to thwart this devilish set’s plans to take the souls of her classmates on prom night at the hotel?

My Review

This was one of those rare books that I hadn’t heard of before picking it up off the shelf at the library. I didn’t really know what to expect
- the blurb I saw hardly gave anything away. So I was delightfully surprised to find Illuminate was one of those books I just could NOT put down.

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BGSU Libraries staff member Anne Lake gives this review of a new CSCL book found at JUV S8551ra

Title: The Raven Boys (Raven Cycle #1)

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Summary: [from GoodReads]
“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem.
But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

My Review

Maggie Stiefvater is one of those authors that I have a kind of love/dislike relationship with. Every time I read a synopsis for a book she’s written it sounds like the most awesome book ever and I am dying to get my hands on it. Then, when I finally do read them I’ve hyped them up so much that they seem kind of mediocre. I’d been burned a little too often so when it came to The Raven Boys I just kept putting off reading it. I shouldn’t have been worried though – finally I found one that lived up to its fullest potential!

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Today’s review by BGSU staff member Anne Lake is of an audiobook that we have in our Teaching Aids collection.  You will find Starclimber in the middle/high school language arts section at curta 813.54F965s.

Title: Starclimber (Matt Cruse #3) Media Type: Audiobook Author: Kenneth Oppel Studio: Fullcast Audio Genre: Sci-fi Summary: [from GoodReads]
“Mr. Cruse, how high would you like to fly?”

A smile soared across my face.

“As high as I possibly can.”

Pilot-in-training Matt Cruse and Kate de Vries, expert on high-altitude life-forms, are invited aboard the Starclimber, a vessel that literally climbs … Continue Reading

     Two new YA titles that are worth reading were just added to the collection.  Seraphina by Rachel Hartman won the Morris Debut Award for outstanding new authors.  This is a high fantasy novel that is quickly engaging and full of intrigue.  Even non-dragon lovers will be rooting for the scaly ones, or at least some of them. 

   Dodger by Terry Pratchett is another award winner available … Continue Reading

   We finally have the Caldecott medal winner This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen on the shelf!  JUV K632thi  A little minnow steals a hat despite knowing that stealing is wrong.  He struggles with his conscience while pulling off the heist, and the open-ended ending provides a great discussion starter for what consequences may have occurred. 

   We have this and all the previous Caldecott winners and medalists in our collection.  Check out the Caldecott poster for more titles of this prestigious … Continue Reading

We’ve just added the new Tedd Arnold book,  Dirty Gert (JUV A758di).   Gert not only enjoys playing in dirt, she also likes eating dirt.  Her parents take this amazingly well, as do the local worms who find Gert “cool” and “amazing.”   All is fun and games until a bit of rain makes crazy things happen and Gert starts to take root and sprout.  Thankfully Gert’s mellow parents don’t overreact and continue to love her just as she is.

I was impressed with Arnold’s playful use of rhyme that … Continue Reading

BGSU staff member Anne Lake shares a review of a new CSCL title.  You will find Splintered in the hallway of the CRC and in the catalog here.

Title: Splintered

Author: A.G. Howard

Summary: [from GoodReads]
Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers—precisely the affliction that landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. This family curse stretches back to her ancestor Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alyssa might be crazy, but she manages to keep it together. For now.
When her mother’s mental health takes a turn for the worse, Alyssa learns that what she thought was fiction is based in terrifying reality. The real Wonderland is a place far darker and more twisted than Lewis Carroll ever let on. There, Alyssa must pass a series of tests, including draining an ocean of Alice’s tears, waking the slumbering tea party, and subduing a vicious bandersnatch, to fix Alice’s mistakes and save her family. She must also decide whom to trust: Jeb, her gorgeous best friend and secret crush, or the sexy but suspicious Morpheus, her guide through Wonderland, who may have dark motives of his own.

My Review

So many people have said such good things about this book, and yet going into it I somehow had no idea what I was in for. Splintered is a modern “sequel” to the classic Alice in Wonderland. Alyssa, great-(great?)-granddaughter of the original Alice must go back and fix everything Alice screwed up the first time.

One of the things I really loved about this book was the inventive re-imagining of the original. I have never read it, but now that I think about what I know of it from the movie (which was probably Disney-fied) it makes sense that the things she did were incredibly destructive from the point of view of Wonderland’s people. I never really noticed it before, because the original is from Alice’s point of view, and the focus is on her confusion, panic and fear

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