Logan Lerman's Smirk and My Library of Greek Mythology Books.

Hellooooooo!!!!
It was a very long week for me. I'm holding out until Winter Break.
58 days.
I have two months.
-.-

Anyway, onto the BOOK HAUL!!!!!!
This week it's Greek mythology reference books that every middle school kid should read.
(Just a warning: I have too many Greek mythology books.)

Exhibit A:

(And I'm pretty sure I have more than those.)

Best Short, Straightforward book:

The Mythology Handbook

Year of Publishing: 2009
Publishing House: Candlewick press
Genre: Informational, Greek Mythology
Age: Children's/Middle Grade
Short/Long Read: VERY Short Read (I read this in a day.)
Rating Out Of Five: **** (Four Stars)

This book gives you straightforward information about the gods, monsters, and heroes in the Greek mythology world. It also has stickers in the back and a guide to the language of Ancient Greek, with extra copies of it so you and your friend can pass notes to each other in Ancient Greek during Social Studies. (Teachers, you thought you got us with note passing...just wait until I use this!!!)This doesn't go into deep descriptions of everything, but it is a book of accurate stories for someone who just wants to dip a toe in the sea of Greek mythology.

Best Comedy books:

Percy Jackson's Greek Gods and Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes

By Rick Riordan

Year of Publishing: Greek Gods-2015 Greek Heroes-2015
Publishing House: Disney Hyperion
Genre: Informational, Greek Mythology, Comedy
Age: Children's Middle Grade
Short/Long Read: In between. I can read these within a week and a half, but you can most definitely stretch out reading these books.
Rating Out Of Five: *** (Three Stars)

These books are great because, ya know, IT'S PERCY JACKSON.

So WHY NOT read it?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm......

Maybe because it's inaccurate???

I know, I know. How can something that's fake be inaccurate? Well, the way Rick Riordan messed up is that his stories don't always match up with all the other stories that have been told in other books about Greek Mythology. So, these books (along with the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and the Heroes Of Olympus series) aren't the best reference books.

However, the content is hilarious and the pictures (Yes, there are pictures!!! XD) are amazing.

Best Accurate Storytelling book:

Treasury of Greek Mythology

By Donna Jo Napoli

Year of Publishing: 2011
Publishing House: National Geographic Society
Genre: Informational, Greek Mythology
Age: Children's/Middle Grade
Short/Long Read: In between.
Rating Out Of Five: **** (Four Stars)

This book was very accurate (as it is National Geographic) and the pictures were pretty good. It tells the stories of the gods, heroes, and monsters in depth. It's not as much fun as Percy Jackson's Greek Gods and Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes, but it is a really good book for someone who wants to dive head first into Greek mythology and wants to learn something new about it.

Other great Greek mythology books you absolutely MUST read:

Mythlopedia: Oh My Gods!

This is a straightforward, yet comedic take on the Greek gods.

Olympians

By George O'Connor

I've read Hera and Athena. This is a series of graphic novels that explain the life of a certain Greek god. These are great books!!! My cousin gave this to me as a gift after she met the author and he signed Hera and Athena.

My cousin is super cool.

D'aulaires' Book Of Greek Myths

This book tells stories about the gods, minor gods, mythological creatures, and mortal descendants of Zeus. This is a great book that I eventually ended up having to read for school, so this book has knowledge of Greek mythology that is useful to have in your back pocket. (This book was also the first mythology book I ever read, and it was the start of my fascination with it.)

Well, that's it for this week. Not a lot of news for you guys from me, but how have y'all been? Thanks for sticking with me through my random hiatuses and rants.

:)

Have a great week!

:)

(Yes, you!)

THE BEAST MAN

The person that sits next to me in Science saw me reading this book and thought that the title was "The Beast Man." And not like beast as in monster, but as in being really good at something like:

"YOU'RE A BEAST, MAN!!!!!"

But it was a Monday. We were all tired.

As am I right now, writing this post. Yes, I know it's been a while. I'm drowning in homework and I'm lacking sleep...

-.-

But I'm here!!!!!!

That's what matters right???

Anyway, here is the book I was talking about:

The Best Man by Richard Peck

The Best Man Summary

Year of Publishing: 2016

Publishing House: Penguin Random House

Genre: Realistic Fiction, Comedy

Age: Children's Middle Grade

Short/Long Read: Short Read (I read this in less than a week.)

Rating Out Of Five: **** (Four Stars)

I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!!!!!

This is basically the journey of a kid through his life up to sixth grade, including two weddings.

And it's hilarious.

Exhibit A:

"'You saved my butt.' I still tell her.

'Actually, I didn't,' Lynnette says. 'Your six year old butt is still on YouTube'"

Favorite quote from the book by far.

This book is funny, sentimental (I mean, there are two weddings in it, how could it not be?), it captures the odd people that you are most likely to find when you go to Elementary/Middle School, and it gives you all the warm and fuzzies. I absolutely love all the characters, especially Mr.McLeod and Uncle Paul.

Side note:

Do you pronounce McLeod like Mc-Cloud or Mc-Lee-owed? I think it's the latter, but my mom says different.

All name pronunciations aside, you're probably wondering why it didn't get five stars:

• There were a lot of reused lines that I sometimes didn't understand. Ex: "[Insert character name here] was there." And this wasn't location. I'm pretty sure that that means you have your stuff together, but I'm not 100% positive. I like one or two reused lines every now and then, but over that is too much, and this book used too much.
• There were gaps in the story. There were parts of the book where it said "I don't remember [specific detail]." I guess Richard Peck was trying to keep things realistic with memory. I mean, the amount of events recalled from when the main character was five/six is already remarkable, and I assume that Mr.Peck was trying to make the character more like an actual person. But when you're writing a book that tells someone's life story, I want all the details. Saying that your character doesn't remember a part of the story looks sloppy and makes you look like you just don't want to give the effort to fill in those blanks.

And that's all my complaints about the book.

But if you're looking for a quick, light-hearted book after reading a heavy book (*COUGH* BLOOD OF OLYMPUS *COUGH*), this is the way to go.

So here's some news and fun stuff:

• I tried a new format this week because I have the attention span of a ferret (that's what my band teacher always says about herself...I've kind of adopted that quote...) and I'm sure there are people like me out there. XD I'm 100% positive there are. And it's a lot easier to write, and I'm making sure I don't miss anything. Do you like it more? Which format should I use? Really long/story telling format or straightforward one??? Please comment and let me know. :)
• That short film I mentioned in my review of Frankenstein, yeah, it's getting pretty close to filming!!!!!!! WOOT WOOT!!!! I'll give you guys more details about it soon.

Anyway, that's about it!

Have a great week!!!!

:)