Genius of the Week

Ok, go ahead. Take a guess. Who's the genius of the week?
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[Insert Jeopardy song here]
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If you guessed Shannon Messenger, you get a cookie!!!! (Yay!) Anyway, Shannon seriously gets some awesomesauce from my stash in a secret part of my desk. (I actually think she already has a lot, but still.) Shannon has written two series, Let the Sky Fall and Keeper of the Lost Cities, but this week we're focusing on Keeper of the Lost Cities.

It's kind of pitiful when you know yourself that you're a freak. Like, really pitiful. Sophie Foster has known she was different since she was five, when her killer headaches started. And the cause of those headaches? Human thoughts. More importantly she has crazy abilities no one understands--or so she thinks. But when Fitz, a aqua eyed boy at a museum field trip, shows up, Sophie finds out that's she's not alone. And she's also not human. Sophie is whisked off to a magical land of her kind, where she juggles problems that every normal girl would face. Mostly.

When I started reading this my eyes widened and I was like, "I feel you man!" And then, I was completely hooked. I couldn't stop reading. Ever. The book had to be pried out of my hands at night. In class, I hid it under the table and read it. (This didn't always work out, especially when it was at a funny part, and I started laughing when we were talking about the Civil War. So, don't try this at school. Trust me, it doesn't work. It just gets awkward.) Anyway, I have to agree with everyone who posted their opinions on the Amazon Book Store. This book was amazing. The average for the ratings are five stars, and man, I have to agree with that.

Shannon Messenger introduces you to this new world that we haven't heard about before, and she doesn't leave out a single detail. "Across the river, a row of crystal castles glittered in the sunlight in a way that would make Disney want to throw rocks at his "Magic Kingdom.""

Shannon hits the perfect spot of school, love, action, humor, and awesomesauce. This is an all around book, anyone who reads it usually fall in love with it, and then runs (or speeds) to a bookstore for book two, and soon, book three. (Super pumped!) You can find Shannon's blog on the very bottom of the B.O.B., on the Awesome List, or click here.

Have a great week!
:)

Cabinets are Overrated. Cupboards are WAY better.

Ok, I realize that some of you might be saying that cabinets and cupboards are practically the same thing. Key word: practically. Cupboards are small cabinets.
Which brings you to a question. Why in the world is Annabeth ranting about cupboards and cabinets? The answer to that amazing question. Is...
100 Cupboards!!

The Goodreads Summary:
"Twelve-year-old Henry York is going to sleep one night when he hears a bump on the attic wall above his head. It's an unfamiliar house—Henry is staying with his aunt, uncle, and three cousins—so he tries to ignore it. But the next night he wakes up with bits of plaster in his hair. Two knobs have broken through the wall, and one of them is slowly turning...

Henry scrapes the plaster off the wall and discovers doors—ninety-nine cupboards of all different sizes and shapes. Through one he can hear the sound of falling rain. Through another he sees a glowing room—with a man strolling back and forth! Henry and his cousin Henrietta soon understand that these are not just cupboards. They are, in fact, portals to other worlds."

N.D. Wilson has created my favorite advanced mystery childhood book of all time. I remember my family saying that I had to read it, and then getting it without me asking for it. It was sitting on my bookshelf, helpfully collecting dust. One day I decided, "What the heck. I'll read it."

I can't say that I was completely disappointed or completely satisfied. That's why Mr.Wilson got *** Three Stars. This book started out really slowly. You get through a quarter of the book or so, and nothing really happens. It was like the soccer game between U.S.A. and Germany in the World Cup 2014. Nothing. Happened. Now, once you get to the end, and Henry actually does something, oh my gosh. Wilson promised a mysterious action filled part, and by gosh, he delivered it. If you get past the boring life and get to the creepy awesomesaucey part, then you are in for a great book.

Mayonnaise Penguin Hats

I have a question for you guys. WHERE IN THE WORLD HAS THE WEEK GONE?????!!!!!!! I mean, seriously, last week was like this for me:
Monday: *groan* It's Monday...
Sunday: It's Sunday! Poop! I have to write my blog post!
Anyway, I have come to you with a book that just was published in April (APRIL people! Of this year!), and now is on my Top 10 book list. This is the author's first SyFy/Romance book and dang, is he good at writing it. And that book's name is Protostar by Braxton Cosby. [Puts on fuzzy Penguin hat] Let's get blogging.

Failure is not an option. Prince William Derry volunteered to take on the mission of executing the Star Child, Sydney, to reclaim his family's honor. Sydney doesn't know who she is. As far as she knows, she's just a regular Earth girl leading a normal life of shopping and gossiping with her girl friends, until a visitor comes along. His name is William, a bot who was recently caught in the middle of a 'car crash', and ran to the nearest house, that just so happens to be Sydney's. But William starts to feel something he has never felt before. So why can't he finish the mission?

I found out about Protostar at Barnes and Noble, but not how I usually find books, by picking out random books off the shelves that sound interesting. I have this thing about meeting authors in person. If I find a person sitting at a table that has been set up by that same person in the middle of Barnes and Noble, I'm like, "IT'S AN AUTHOR!!!!!!!!!" And I run over there like a maniac and find out which book they wrote, and I won't even care if the book is for my age or not. That was the case for me finding Protostar. I got pumped up and everything, so I had high expectations for the book. Most of the time, books don't meet those expectations. Protostar, met most of those expectations.
***** Five Stars for Protostar (no pun intended). The book has pretty much everything. It's relateable, it's got action, it's got romance, it's got awesomesauce. The characters are well formed, and you get to know them well. When the characters were in danger, I found myself screaming "NO. NO. NO. ... C'MON MAN!" I recommend this book to 7th graders and up, because there is one gross lovey-dovey moment, but I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll just say that it has to do with John Mayor (a.k.a., John Mayonnaise, if you ask me). Overall this book is a page-turner that you will end up sneak reading if you can't read it, and if you can, you'll want to read it like there is no tomorrow. Trust me, I know.