48HBC Finish Line Post!

I did it! I made it through again and I didn't falter/fall apart near the end! Nearly 35 hours (34 hours and 53 minutes due to sleeping "too much") and smashed my goal for this challenge! Finished my audio book and Twenty Boy Summer, too. Slept about 3 hours last night. Saw sunrise before going to sleep. That was weird. I was awake for 25 hours straight. I, uh, don't do that. So apparently the caffeine worked! Success! So many exclamation marks! I think I am a little loopy from lack of sleep and so much focus over the past 48 hours. So here are my stats:

9 books
2,408 pages
34 hours, 53 minutes

I spent more time reading/blogging this year than I spent doing all activities last year - 30 hours, 53 minutes. Day 1: 11h, 15m reading and 2h networking. Day 2: whatever's left. No, uh, 19h, 38m reading and 2h networking. Whoa. Granted, day 1 is out of 15 hours (pre-six hours sleep) and day 2 is out of 27 hours. I read 5 books that I'd been meaning to read for awhile - Smekday, the Ockler book, The Big Splash, and the two Roland Smith books. Then of course I read four graphic novels - one reread and three new ones. I actually still have three graphic novels leftover, another Adam Rex book, another Sarah Ockler book, another Roland Smith book, and then a couple others. I like being able to choose, but you can see that I went to authors I like and picked many of them to catch up on.

I had a great time this year. I think I really challenged myself, especially when I had to read in my room for 8 hours and couldn't go outside but still kept reading. I drank A LOT of caffeine - Mountain Dew, Pepsi, Wild Cherry Pepsi, Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi, Coke, and Diet Coke. I ate healthier this year - apples, popcorn, fruit snacks, turkey and cheese sandwiches, and a nut energy mix. I mean, there were also Milanos, Goldfish, and pizza, but I didn't eat most of the unhealthy snacks I bought - Dove chocolate bars, Swedish Fish (how did I not gobble those down at 4 in the morning?), and most of the Milanos.

Usually I can't wait til next year to improve, but for now I'm going to bask in the glory of how well I did, take it easy, and sleep. Really, I can't improve too much next year. I don't think I could do 40 or more hours because I need to sleep. Sleeeeeeeeeeep. So if I can get 36 hours next year, that sounds good enough for me.

I had a great time reading everyone else's blogs and seeing newcomers and finding new people on Twitter. I hope everyone else had just as good a time as I did. Congrats everybody!

Nearing the End

I know, I know, it's been nearly 24 hours since I last posted. But if you look at how long I usually go between posts (oh, about a year), then a day is really nothing. Also, I left to go to the library at 5 pm today, forgetting that the library closes at 5 pm on Saturdays. So, no TenNapel for this year's challenge. I might end up reading it tomorrow after the challenge anyways, though, once the library opens.

So what have I been up to?! Well, I slept, actually sticking to the 5 hour max I wanted so I didn't get too much sleep to the point of grogginess. And then I finished 4.5 more books. I haven't wanted to put the books down, so that's why I haven't been blogging. Read for 6.5 hours, took a break, did some more reading, and am coming off having read for about 4.5 hours. This year's best idea? Audio e-book on my tablet. Portable - can bring it from one room to the next or outside or in the car and can listen to it while putting a sandwich on a plate for my grandma or helping her find the bathroom. Also, glad I picked a long one. It's The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex, and I'm still not done with it. Oh, it was also a lifesaver for the four hours of hockey tonight. Put hockey on mute and could just watch it and listen to the book. No, hockey is not usually four hours, but the Blackhawks went into double overtime. The narrator is phenomenal, and I feel like the characters are talking to me instead of someone reading a book to me. She really might have been a robot in her past life. If you're looking for something quirky and laugh out loud funny, I'd definitely suggest it on audio.

I read three graphic novels - Will & Whit by Laura Lee Gulledge, Peanut by Ayun Halliday and Paul Hoppe, and Brain Camp by Susan Kim, Laurence Klavan, and Faith Erin Hicks. I don't think this has ever happened to me before, but I actually cried a bit during a graphic novel - Will & Whit. It was touching. It was another great book by her but without all the metaphors of the first book. I actually loved the metaphors in the first book, but she used more of plays on words in this book with her different chapter headings relating to light and dark. The main character loves creating lamps out of unusual objects, but she also greatly fears the dark, so the chapter headings brilliantly relate to that. The other thing I loved about this book was how the author uses black outlines for the pages where it's darker (for some reason - I'm not going to tell you) and regular white outlines for the pages where it's lighter.

Quickly about Brain Camp, it was interesting and fun to read a kind of creepy book, but now I know where Faith Erin Hicks (maybe) gets her idea for sudden endings to her books. It's not bad that it ends differently, but it is kind of a cliffhanger or where you would have to fill in the blanks, and it just kind of throws me for a loop.

And then Peanut was interesting, too. Much longer but with simpler panels, and the use of one color in there makes sense - showing how the main character, who is pretending to have a peanut allergy at her new school, stands out or blends in. It's not just color for color's sake. Even though the idea the main character has is outrageous, the story still seems mainly plausible.

I'll end this one here with an update and will hopefully post later. I also finished Tentacles by Roland Smith, and it was even better than Cryptid Hunters. Can't wait for #3 in October. Currently reading Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler. Have been wanting to read the rest of her books, so those made my TBR pile for the challenge. I am at 29.5 hours total time (what what), 7 books finished, and somewhere over 2000 pages read when I count my two not yet finished books. Tonight I plan to go to bed when, or if, I feel like it. I can sleep tomorrow, so why not? I'm having a blast, and hope you are, too.

Nearly Bedtime

I'm planning a 1am bedtime til about 5 or 6 am because I know that's when my grandma gets the most of her sleep, too. She'll probably be up in the next half hour.

So since my last post I had my hour and a half of work (asst. coaching a coach-pitch baseball game. They only play for an hour) and finished Cryptid Hunters. Found out there is a THIRD book coming out in the fall, and I'm excited. Also a correction: the sequel is Tentacles, not Sasquatch which is just a book about cryptids that he wrote a decade earlier. Smekday is still hilarious. Apparently robots can be "boy-boy-boy" just like humans are boy or girl. The narrator on the audio book annoyed me at first, especially when I thought the main character was supposed to be a boy and not a girl, but she does a great job with voices and sounding like a robot and cat.

Anyway, I have a quote I forgot to post from Page by Paige that I really liked: "But all those wrong things also helped get me to where I am right now. [...] If I try to take out the mistakes, then this would all fall apart." It's on a page where Paige is sitting on a tower of cardboard boxes. I'd put a page number, but there aren't any in the book. I really liked this quote because of how it can relate to many people's lives and if people remembered this, maybe they wouldn't hate the past so much. As my mentor in college said, "you can't have mountains without the valleys," meaning that you can't have your good times without your bad times; otherwise everything would be a plateau.

The Roland Smith book was in the vein of his usual books - including animals that are wild and dangerous and people that fit under the same description. It has plot twists and action and adventure, and even though I don't believe in cryptids like Sasquatch and such, it was still a read I couldn't put down. The kids and adults travel from an island off the coast of Washington state to the Congo in search of the Mokele-mbembe (which is supposed to have lots of accents in it), a supposed cryptid. The kids get stranded by themselves and have to use survival skills and conquer their fears in order to survive. They do happen to have a bonobo chimpanzee, a teacup poodle, and a couple of birds with them to help out along with cool gadgets to keep in touch with the adults. I really can't say much more without giving away the twists of the story, but if you like Alex Rider books or survival, adventure, or action books, I definitely recommend this one and the other Smith books.

In terms of my status, I'm at about 12 hours and 850 pages now.

Six Hours In...

It's been a good day so far. Got to sit outside some and read, and it's gorgeous here. Completely blue sky, sun, green trees. I started with The Big Splash by Jack Ferraiolo, and it was excellent. A first novel for him, and a Kirkus star at that. As soon as I read the back cover, it reminded me of The Fourth Stall books by Chris Rylander, but from the opposite viewpoint. In The Fourth Stall books, the kid giving out answers to tests, candy, and hall passes is the good guy. In The Big Splash, that kid is the bully and the "bad guy" in a sense. He's the one to look out for. When he approaches Matt Stevens for a job, $20 is too good to pass up. But the second he finishes that job - getting a figurine back from a girl - the girl gets sent to the Outs, the outsiders, the kids that get bullied. Now Matt wants to figure out who sent the girl to the Outs, as he feels partially responsible. He has to deal with 7th grade love, friends and enemies, and try to keep his mom out of the loop. There was a great part on page 158 where Matt's mom talks about the two girls he kind of likes and how they're different and such, and that really connected with me. By the end, things end up the way they should. There's a sequel, The Quick Fix, that now I am dying to read because the first one was so suspenseful and fun to read. I can definitely see multiple ways that the sequel could go or different characters it could be about.

After that, I read my one reread book - Page by Paige. I loved that book when I read it back in 2011, and after seeing Laura Lee Gulledge finally having a new book out - Will & Whit, I wanted to go back and enjoy her first book. Granted, it was only two years difference, but it felt like much longer. I highly recommend Page by Paige as it is a gorgeous graphic novel but also has many terrific metaphors in it. It's really beyond any words I can say about it.

Then I took some time to go outside and listen to my audio book, The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex, which is laugh out loud funny so far and quite bizarre, but in an Adam Rex-y kind of way. I pushed through even when I wasn't sure it was my type of book, and now I'm glad I did.

Finally, I started a Roland Smith book I hadn't read yet as I love his action/adventure stuff. It reminds me of Anthony Horowitz's books about Alex Rider. This one is called Cryptid Hunters and is about finding those different non-scientifically provable animals such as Sasquatch (which is actually the sequel to this book). I have two other Roland Smith books in my TBR pile because I like to catch up on stuff during this weekend that I've been meaning to read for awhile.

So I'll read a couple more hours and then go to work and probably stop at the library on my way home to pick up the latest Doug TenNapel book, Tommysaurus Rex, and my TenNapel every 48hbc tradition will continue. I love all his graphic novels. Saving my networking time for after work when my grandma will probably be awake and I won't be able to focus on a book too well.

Keep commenting; I love to hear your thoughts and what everyone else is doing!

3rd Time's a Charm - 48HBC Starting Post

I'm about to start the 48 hour book challenge (at 10 am CST) for the third year in a row, hosted by Ms. Yingling this year and helped out by Abby the Librarian. This year I'm planning to do what Jen suggested last year and double my hours again... wait, that's not possible. Okay, well, I'm going for as many hours as I can which is really vague. Let's say more than last year's 26. I definitely want to be in the more than 24 hours grouping.

I did what I suggested to myself last year - weaned off the caffeine since last Saturday and took my first sip of it this morning. I've got snacks, lunches made for myself and my grandma, and therein lies the problem. This year I can't let my grandma out of my sight, so I can only go outside to read if someone else is here, or I might have to get up randomly when she is complaining or gets hungry. So I've got my audiobook ready and hopefully will get some help from the parents this weekend. I definitely plan to skip some sleep each night to get some reading in. My first book will be The Big Splash by Jack Ferraiolo. I'll post a picture of my TBR pile to Twitter later. Lots of graphic novels again to break up the novel reading. By the way, I'm muellerspace on Twitter.

Good luck to everyone participating, and have a great time!

Finished!

Woo, I made it through the final painful hours of the 48 hour book challenge. I think missing my boyfriend, having not seen him in 10 days and putting him off while I completed this challenge, is part of what made the last few hours crawl by. Also, I know I get to see him when I'm done with this, so I was just full of anticipation to finish one thing and go on to another. Also also, maybe I love to read but not to read this much in one weekend!

So my total is 26 hours, more than double last years total, and I am very proud. The note where I kept track of this is just a jumble of times and minutes here and minutes there. I finished 9 books, so I will donate $9 to RIF.

With all my preparation, I ended up not using my audiobook, probably because I didn't work this weekend like I had to last year. I made sure to get outside to switch up the scenery and take advantage of the warm weather and get out of my bed, which is where I read. I probably had too much food stockpiled, but it was fun buying it and of course I'll still eat it. I thought I would read fewer books than I did, so I'm glad I stopped at the graphic novel section to pick up some extras. The graphic novels are great for breaking up the novels. I read books I'd been meaning to for years and also brand new books. I made a good dent in my books checked out from the library. Next year I'm going to do mostly what I did this year, but I'm going to wean off the caffeine in the days before so that when I pile it on during the challenge it actually takes effect. When Mountain Dew doesn't have much effect, you've been drinking too much caffeine! Also, maybe I will drink coffee even as nasty as it is.

So of course you're wondering how much Mr. Sharp's school is going to get. Well, the donations haven't all been specified yet, and my math seems to have gotten screwy, but here's what I know so far.
Mr. Schu - $20.00
Sister - $8.75
Sister - $0.25/hr=$6.50
Dad - $1/hr=$26.00
Boyfriend - $0.75/hr=$19.50
That's a total of $80.75.

Uncle D - ??
Uncle T - ??
Friend - ??
These are the current unknowns.

Whatever it all comes out to, I'm going to match it, so it will be a minimum of $161.50!

What else do you want to know? What? Oh, who won a book? Well, I put all the names in a hat because I am old school like that, and the winner came out as Uncle T! I drew all the names, though, and made an order just in case someone decides to pass. If he passes, I'll let the next person know and so on until someone decides they want a free book!

So what can he/you pick from? Here are the titles I finished:
Graphic Novels
Level Up by Gene Luen Yang
Iron West by Doug Ten Napel
Silverfin: A James Bond Adventure by Charlie Higson and Kev Walker (really a Young James Bond)
City of Light, City of Dark by Avi

Novels
The Anybodies by N.E. Bode
The Nobodies by N.E. Bode
The Devil's Breath by David Gilman
Lexapros and Cons by Aaron Karo
Love & Leftovers by Sarah Tregay

Thanks for joining me on this adventure and all the comments and encouragements! I did have a good time and know I will be back for next year. Good luck to the rest of you finishing up!

N.E. Bode Home?

It must be late into the challenge because here I am making puns or something for everyone to groan at. I did make it to 24 hours though, so I'm mightily pleased, and I still have 2.5 hours left. So why did I write anybody like N.E. Bode? Well, because that is the author of three books in a row that I read. I didn't read them in a row; they just go in a row, but I don't want to call them a trilogy.

Anyway, the first one is called The Anybodies, the second is The Nobodies, and the third which I will finish in the next 2.5 hours is called The Somebodies. Can N.E. Bode tell me where the author got the pseudonym for her author name from? Yuk yuk yuk. I'll get some sleep later, I promise. Her real name is Julianna Baggott and she has written other books under that name, like The Prince of Fenway Park which I happen to be in the middle of.

I read The Anybodies years ago; in fact, I got it from a Scholastic book order. I absolutely loved it for it's silliness, mystery, and mention of many other books. The house where the grandma lives is made out of books and she tests her boarders for book knowledge. The main character, Fern, gets tested in my favorite chapter, Part Three, Chapter 4: The Test. I reread that one all the time. The book is similar to the Dr. Cuthbert Soup books, but I'm quite partial to the bookishness in this book.

One day I found out that there were sequels to this amazing book! Sequels, plural! Now, I am the type that likes to read the books in order and reread the first one to remember everything I can. (By book five in Harry Potter I stopped doing that, but it was hard). So I didn't read the sequels for quite awhile, probably years. Then came this challenge and I decided it would be a great time to get all three books together and be able to read them.

So obviously I recommend The Anybodies. Then I readThe Nobodies, which I read in nearly one straight sitting. I didn't want to put it down. It was really good. The author likes to add this bit about her creative writing teacher being after her and that gets very old after awhile, but she seems to get it and shortens her ranting to one sentence only here and there. The magic in this book is wonderful and unexpected and not like anything you've seen before. Also, the illustrations and covers by Peter Ferguson are awesome. He's great at drawing what I am picturing without even knowing I'm picturing that!

Now I'm on The Somebodies which is good but has a weird beginning, so even though I read 100 pages of it straight, I did have to take a break from it. When I finish this post I will get back to it. Unfortunately a different person did the cover, so they don't all look like they go together, but Ferguson did still do the illustrations inside the book.

The characters have personalities, the books can be funny, you really care for the characters, and the writing in the first two made me read them straight through because they hold your attention so well. Definitely a series I would highly recommend, or even just the first one for something quirky, mysterious, and bookish.

What Have I Been Doing??

Yes, I know, you are probably all wondering what I have been doing and why I have not been posting! Well, shockingly, I have been reading. I have finished 5 books since I last wrote. Yikes. I'm up to 19.5 hours, which was exciting when I beat last year's total of 12, and I have read 7 books (3 graphic novels). I still have over 12 available hours and am hoping to get in at least 5 more hours to hit 24. The caffeine has kicked in so I'm pretty confident. Also, I decided to take myself out of the $2/hr sponsoring and just match the total that I get in donations and sponsors. So we'd be up to $77x2=$154 and then there are three other people I've heard from that will donate but haven't specified an amount yet. So it's going better than I hoped instead of worse than I feared.

So what have I been reading? The two graphic novels that I haven't posted about are Iron West by Doug Ten Napel and City of Light, City of Dark by Avi and art by Brian Floca. I think I took out the Ten Napel one last year but didn't get around to it.

It's classified as a sci-fi western. The sci-fi part I'm cool with, but the western part I don't really do. So even though I love everything Ten Napel (Bad Island, Ghostopolis, Creature Tech), it got off to a slow start for me. However, once it hit Sasquatch, I was hooked. That character, or the way that the main character interacted with him, was hilarious. I like that Ten Napel's drawings have a typical him look to them -the strong jawline, the facial expressions, and the only as much detail needed and no extra. If you haven't read any of his books yet, I would start with a different one, like Ghostopolis,unless you are a Western fan, but if you are a fan, don't put this one down right away because it takes on a life of its own.

The other graphic novel was a surprise to me. I went down to the YA section of graphic novels specifically for this challenge and saw the Avi book. I was surprised and figured I would have read it already because I used to read everything Avi. (If you can't already tell, once I like an author, I read everything by that author I can get my hands on). I fell in love with Avi back in 5th grade, so it'd be surprising if I hadn't read this one.

But, I didn't know Avi had written anything classified as a graphic novel, nor did I know what that meant til a couple of years ago. Having Brian Floca illustrate it could only make it better. I think he did Moonshot, of which I have a print of a picture that I adore. It started off with more words than pictures, but I gave it a chance. Once you get past the pre stuff and get to Chapter 1, it picks up and gets interesting. Floca shines the most when he gets full page spreads and doesn't have to work around dialogue, but he definitely adds to the story. Turned out I hadn't read this one ever and it was from 1993! Also, it seems to be the first work Brian Floca did, as the biographical note says he was working on illustrations for a second book. I kind of felt like I was reading something sacred, the beginning of Floca's career taking off, literally, since airplanes are part of this story and one is on the cover.

I think it's a different Avi but still takes place in the past like many of his books, though I couldn't call it historical because it seems like he made up this long ago world in New York. I was engrossed in it, though, from beginning to end. Definitely a pageturner.

I'll write about the others I read - The Anybodies, The Nobodies, and Lexapros and Cons next time around.

Love and Leftovers Review and Thoughts

Wow, I just finished Love and Leftovers by Sarah Tregay. It was in verse which I used to hate and am starting to see as a viable way to write books, and this one was beautiful. It seemed true to what people feel when they like a boy and don't know if they are falling in love or not, and there were some points where I thought ah ha! That's what it means to be falling in love, but when I'd go back to look for that passage, I couldn't find it. It was like a fleeting thought, just like knowing that you're in love can be a hard thing to figure out, and the thought may be fleeting.

I did mark a few passages that I really liked and thought got to the root of looking for love and possibly finding it and how to know the difference between lust and just wanting a body or being lonely and what it's like when you have passion - "love, conversation, understanding, and the physical stuff - all stirred together" (289). I think that starts to get at it. It's more than hormones and just getting a fix; it's liking someone for their adorable ways that no one else sees and forming a deep friendship and listening to your heart, as abstract as that is.

Have I figured it out yet? Well, I'm not very good at that abstract stuff, but I think I'm on my way with this one guy and thanks to this book. This book gave me chills at the right moments and made me confused when the characters were confused and made me want to start the book over again as soon as I had finished it. I'm not as good as expressing my thoughts as Sarah Tregay, but I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes reading about love and any teenager out there who is confused or who is in high school, because I think this book captures a typical high schooler experience very well.

I'm up to almost 3.5 hours, or $14 so far. Next up is the Anybodies, a wonderful book by Julianna Baggott or N.E. Bode, the first of three.

Level Up by Gene Luen Yang

I finished my first book! Well, it was a graphic novel, but I made it about half way through Love and Leftovers before I needed a break from that. I switched to Level Up about a boy who loves to play video games but has parents that want him to be a doctor. He goes back and forth before he chooses one of them and realizes it's himself that he should please and not his family. I'd heard a lot about it a year or two ago, and it's definitely good. The pictures are recognizable as the NES Nintendo system and other games and the cover is like a controller. I think the art and story are equally good. Now I'm going back to Love and Leftovers with Milanos cookies and still my Wild Cherry Pepsi.

Starting the 48HBC!

Here I go! I'm starting with Sarah Tregay's Love and Leftovers, a Wild Cherry Pepsi, and a turkey sandwich. As of now, I have a $20 donation and 4 sponsors besides myself for a total of $4/hr for Mr. Sharp's school library! But check out my previous post if you'd like to help out, too. The children would greatly appreciate it! Just leave a comment below or contact me by email or twitter (see below post for contacts). Thanks and good luck to everyone!

Welcome back to Bookotomy!

I know it's been a year since I posted, as the last time I wrote was about the 48HBC and that's why I'm writing again! Let me give you an overview of the 48HBC, or 48 Hour Book Challenge. This year it is running from June 8th-10th/11th.

Within 48 hours of the weekend (you get to pick which consecutive 48 hours work best for you), you read as many hours as you can. You also get some blogging time and networking time to tell others what you are reading and see what they've read. For every five hours read, you can network (Twitter, blogs) for one hour. Last year I read the minimum for prizes, 12 hours. This year I know I have more time and I have been planning for this the whole year. (Really, I have been that excited). I know what snacks and caffeine to get, I know that an audio book is a great addition, and I even have a nook from the local library to help me out/sneak in time possibly at my brother's graduation. Now, do you have to read for 48 hours? No, definitely not. Last year I think three people did and got showered with prizes. My goal is 20 hours this year, 24 if I can.

You can learn more about the 48 Hour Book Challenge, hosted by MotherReader at her FAQs section. There is also her most recent post about it where you can see the prizes she is trying to get and asking anyone if they can donate any as well. Also, although a year out of date, here is all the information about it.

Now that you know what I'm in for this upcoming weekend, let me tell you about my "charity." I met this wonderful teacher, Colby Sharp, last year who is really into reading. He gets up on desks to tell students about reading (scroll down on his blog and look at the vodpod video on the right hand side). On his blog, he told us about the unfortunate state of his school library and it really touched me. The Mr. Schu he mentions is actually the person who first got me into graphic novels, and now I can't get enough of them. I think every student deserves the chance to read graphic novels and see the magic in them. I wanted to help.

Then, for a class I was taking, we had to do a leadership project. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to meld the project and my desire to help Mr. Sharp's school library. I went through several ideas to try to raise money for the library at Minges Brook Elementary School in Battle Creek, Michigan, but they all fell through. Well, when I get passionate about something, I get determined, too. So I decided this would be a great way to raise money.

I am asking if you can sponsor me per hour read for as little or as much as you'd like - $0.25/hr, $0.50/hr, $1/hr, $5/hr - whatever you can give. My goal is 20-24 hours. You can also give a specified amount as well. Then I will collect all the money I get and use it to buy graphic novels for Mr. Sharp's school library.

As an incentive for anyone to give, I am going to be giving away a copy of one of the books I read during the 48HBC. Right now I am planning to read Love and Leftovers by Sarah Tregay, The Anybodies, The Nobodies, and The Somebodies all by N.E. Bode, Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos, and Level Up, a graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang. I will randomly pick one person and he/she will get to choose one of the books I read to get a copy of! (What I read may change, and the person will pick from the books I end up reading.)

I am on Twitter @muellerspace and my email address is kcmuel AT gmail DOT com. You can comment right here on an amount you would be willing to sponsor me for or contact me in either of those ways. I will then give you an address where you can send the money at the end of the challenge.

I know the students at Mr. Sharp's school, Mr. Sharp, and I will be grateful for any amount you can give, and want you to know that students will benefit from the power of reading for years to come. Thank you!

48HBC Finale

If this was the 24HBC I would have done quite well. Unfortunately, having work, then more work, then a broken down car in 95 degree heat 30 minutes from my parents right before the construction, then dehydration, then a party all on Saturday, a key day, really killed my time. I knew I wouldn't get to read between 8 am and probably 1 am on Saturday, so about 17 hours, but I didn't know I'd have such an eventful day to completely wear me out either. So in my 2nd 24 hours I read 54 minutes.

But in my first 24 hours I read 9 hours, and 57 minutes, and networked 1 hour and 9 minutes.

So my total time is 12 hours even I just realized. I was aiming for 12-15 hours, and this is my first year, so I'm plenty pleased.

I read 5 books - the ones I posted on and also The Pull of Gravity by Gae Polisner, Calamity Jack, a young adult graphic novel by Hale, and Ten by Lauren Myracle. I figure you're 10 in 5th grade, so it fits the requirements.

I already can't wait for next year and really enjoyed the networking and checking out other people's blogs and twitter accounts! Thanks to everyone for their support and commenting on my posts!

48HBC: Wednesday Wars

Update: Currently at 7 hrs, 52 min of reading/blogging time and 1 hour, 9 min of networking time, for a total of 9 hrs, 1 min as of 17 hours into my start. (I'm using a stop watch to keep track of my time so a)I don't have to remember when I started/stopped reading and b)because I'm kind of anal like that and want to be exact.) I feel quite accomplished. I'm on my 4th book right now.

My second book for today was The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt because I've been hearing so much talk about Okay for Now by Schmidt and read that one of the characters is originally in The Wednesday Wars. I really like to read previous books about people (when I know about them) before the next book.

This book made me wish I had paid more attention in high school English when teachers talked about themes and symbols and "crap" like that. Now that I'm reading more advanced books, I'd like to understand them as well. If I stop and think about what certain parts of the book mean, I can come up with a meaning, but usually when I ask someone else, they come up with what I think of as a better meaning. There may be no wrong or right (contrary to HS English teachers' beliefs) but some meanings are better than others.

The Wednesday Wars talks a lot about Shakespeare, and I'm sure that the author put in the specific parts and plays to make some type of symbolic connection. It makes the book that much more interesting. I thought this book was powerful because it talks about the Vietnam War and a relationship between authority and students, specifically one teacher - Mrs. Baker - and one student - Holling Hoodhood. She hates his guts at the beginning, as he puts it, but she does warm up to her here and there. Schmidt makes some smart moves in this book by making you think all is "swell" when the next chapter, walls (or the ceiling in this case) come tumbling down. He writes a shocker or two into the book as well.

One main theme of the book is being who you want to be, not what someone else wants you to be. Holling learns this early on through The Merchant of Venice but doesn't apply it until much later. On page 48 he says people trapped a Shakespeare character into being a certain way without allowing him to "be anything except for what he was." This plays into the story within Holling's family throughout the book.

There are many parts I found to be profound and many great Shakespearean lines in this book. I highly recommend it and look forward to Okay for Now.

48HBC Blog Post: Creature Tech

Update: So far I'm at about 5 hours of reading time, so I'm going to be blogging and networking for the next hour before work.

I read Creature Tech by Doug Ten Napel, a YA graphic novel. I read Ten Napel's Ghostopolis a week or two ago, and loved it. So when I went to get books for this weekend, I went straight to his last name and found two other books by him, including this one. I recognized Ten Napel's style right away on the cover with the straight lines of the main character, Dr. Michael Ong. This book starts in the past to give the reader an idea of where the plot comes from once we get about 30 pages into the book. We see a giant moray eel fall on a house and crush someone to death.

Then we get to the present day and meet Dr. Ong who becomes a world-class scientist and works at Creature Tech, a place where he and a couple others go through strange things in crates given to them by the government. His town isn't very happy to have this strange operation there. His main task is fighting a ghost who comes back from the dead and all the cats he turns to fight against Dr. Ong.

Although Dr. Ong may sound mature, he is actually a very young man, and there is even a bit of love in this book. Ten Napel combines the science fiction with love with humor, unbelievably. Some parts are visual jokes and some are verbal jokes. For example, at one point the ghost is putting together an aerial view of the town and breaks into an Italian song. Once he finally puts all the pieces together and you realize he is searching for the giant eel again, he says, "That's a moray!" Here it refers to the eel and to the Italian word for love, amore.

Dr. Ong is a very smart, if not sometimes careless, person, but he also comes across as normal in some ways. He has friends, he fights with his dad, he's falling in love with the girl he used to make fun of in high school. The characters in this book, including the bad guys, make this a great story, and the plot twists, foreword, humor, and excellent drawings make it even better.

I should mention something about the foreword. It's written by Terry Mattingly, the director of the Washington Journalism Center, and he gives a very interesting view on the story - he said it feels just like a storyboard for a movie. It's good to read the foreword because when you come to certain parts in the book, it makes them easier to understand.

48 Hour Book Challenge

Here we go! Starting at 7 am on Friday morning but I don't think I'm having cereal for breakfast (catch that reference?). It's time for the 48 hour book challenge. How many hours can I read in the next 48 hours? Well, with work all day Saturday, it certainly will be a challenge, so we'll see.

I'm starting with Creature Tech by Doug Ten Napel, a YA graphic novel.

Here is a link to the challenge: http://www.motherreader.com/2011/05/sixth-annual-48-hour-book-challenge.html



Happy reading!

48 Hour Challenge

Coming up this weekend between June 3rd and 5th I will be trying to read at least 12 hours out of 48 hours in a row for a contest.

Here is the link: http://www.motherreader.com/2011/05/sixth-annual-48-hour-book-challenge.html

Another blogger and fellow tweeter, @motherreader, puts on this challenge yearly. I will be blogging about the books I read, which will probably mostly be YA and will include several graphic novels. Feel free to sign up yourself or just check out the many blogs of people competing and find some more great books to read!

Can I See Your I.D.? by Chris Barton

After waiting awhile for Can I See Your I.D.? by Chris Barton, published by Dial Books, and then waiting for my library to prep it to be checked out, I was stoked to see it ready for me today. I also finished reading it today. It's a quick read, only 121 pages including the acknowledgements. I liked it a lot, so 121 pages went by too quickly for me.

Can I See Your I.D.? gives 10 "true stories of false identities," including the famous one of Frank Abagnale Jr. from the movie Catch Me If You Can. It has stories as recent as 15 years ago and from nearly 200 years ago. It includes men and women.

The most interesting and unique thing about this book is the perspective it's in. Instead of the usual first or third person, this book is written from the 2nd person, using "you." Barton tries to get you in the head of each of these people so you really feel what it's like to be this person and understand his or her motive. Some motives are survival while others are for thrill or a better life.

I liked the way the chapters were set up with the name and fake identity along with date, place, and illustrations about the deception and what's coming up in the chapter. At the end Barton would tell us what happened to the person in the end, possibly my favorite part of each chapter.

While learning a bit about 10 people in our history who you may never have heard of, you're also learning about yourself. What would it take for you to take on a new identity? What IS your identity now? Barton himself realizes that these are good questions to ask and think about, and he writes about this in the Afterword. He asks, "who do you think you are?" (113) and brings more to this book than just a unique perspective and information about these identities. I think his goal is to have the reader put his/herself in the shoes of these people and really think about how he/she would have reacted in each situation. At the end of the Afterword he says that each person had a reason to be someone else and asks, "Can you imagine what yours would be?" (118).

I think this would be a good book for reluctant readers, especially boys, because it talks about fear and stress and the adrenaline of pretending to be someone else but in short chunks and an overall short book.

You can find a discussion guide for Can I See Your I.D.? here: Discussion Guide and his homepage here: Homepage. Chris Barton also wrote Shark vs. Train and The Day-Glo Brothers. Both are excellent books I would suggest checking out. You can follow him on Twitter @Bartography.

Traveling Cross Country with Coke and Pep Part 2

Here is the continuation of Coke and Pep's journey across the United States.

After sleeping in Lincoln, NE, the McDonalds head to Darwin, MN for the other possible largest ball of twine besides in Cawker City, KS.

Next, they stay in MN to see the SPAM museum in Austin, MN. This is the HQ of Hormel. I remember my family trying to see this museum several years back, but we were there too early in the morning for it to be open. It actually sounds very interesting.

The last MN stop is in Minneapolis to find the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices, but it turns out even the museum itself is questionable as it no longer exists. Mrs. McDonald is certainly bummed about this.

The last place the twins get to go before the book ends is in Spring Green, WI to visit the House on the Rock. The author has included some authentic photos of the place in the book, and it looks very interesting. It sounds cool, too, with the labyrinth of rooms to visit and get lost in, ending with the long "room" out over the rock.

When Genius Files #2 comes out, be sure to check back here for another post on the continuation of Coke and Pep's journey across the United States!

Traveling Cross Country with Coke and Pepsi

This post is about Coke and Pep(si) McDonald from Genius Files #1: Mission Unstoppable by Dan Gutman. I wanted to make a list of the places that they travel so people can follow along with them. Gutman makes a point to mention that all these places are real and even helps us follow along with side notes in the book telling us what city to look at next. This post will take the McDonalds from California to Cawker City, Kansas.

First they went to Burlingame, CA and visited the Pez Museum, or Museum of Pez Memorabilia as Gutman calls it.

Next was Chico, CA and the National Yo-Yo Museum. Coke's mom loves all these little random places. He puts it well, though, when he says, "We're driving two hours out of our way to look at some yo-yos?" I think I would feel the same way if I were 12, going on 13. (page 119).

Due to a twist in the story, the twins, Coke and Pep decide it's better if they skip Lake Tahoe, although I've heard it's a great place to go swimming and kayaking.

Instead, they continue on to Truckee, CA and the Emigrant Trail Museum where you can see the Donner Party Exhibit and Donner Memorial State Park, something Pep is delighted to see!

After a night at the campground, they head to Fallon, NV to Sand Mountain to listen to the Singing Sand Dunes.

Next, the group (don't worry, Coke and Pep have their parents along) heads just past the border of UT and NV to Wendover, UT where it's the dad's turn to enjoy the Bonneville Salt Flats.

After UT they went to Evanston, WY, about an hour east of Salt Lake City. This was the first town they hit in WY. But we quickly move on to Cheyenne, WY, the last big city in WY on I-80. The family stops in Kimball, NE for the night.

They stop at Fort Cody Trading Post in North Platte, NE and see a "gigantic Buffalo Bill" statue and "one of the largest souvenir shops in America." (page 182).

Their last stop before Cawker City, KS is in Lebanon, KS to stand in the exact geographic center of the continental United States.

Cawker City, KS - home of the world's largest ball of twine. Coke and Pep have been eagerly awaiting their arrival here, and Mrs. McDonald is interested in seeing it, too. Why would two 12-year olds be so interested in this attraction? What is waiting for them in Kansas?

Read The Genius Files: Mission Unstoppable by Dan Gutman to find the answers to these questions!