What happened to time?

Forgive me for letting so much time go since my last postings to the treasury of the kingdom! With wrapping up a busy summer semester teaching online classes, and starting up a new year at a new school, who knew time would fly by so fast! But now the Queen has returned with a Royal Read to share!

Today's Royal Read:

Sleeping Freshman Never Lie by David Lubar

Freshman year... the excitement, the anticipation, the gut-wrenching nervousness that comes with finding classes and mingling with Seniors... welcome to high school!

Scott Hudson knows first-hand how hard it can be to start high school. As he tries to make his way through his freshman year, Scott finds that life has suddenly become complicated: hanging out with his best friends isn't as easy as it used to be, girls he has known his entire life have become gorgeous and unattainable, he overcommits to practically every known school activity, homework is harder, and oh yeah, his mom is pregnant. Scott's only refuge from the insanity that has become his life is the survival guide he is writing for his soon-to-be-born sibling.

Lubar does an amazing job of capturing the voice, the emotion, the personality of a teenage boy and presenting the reader with a realistic look into the angst that comes with entry into high school. The world presented by the main character is one that is familiar to a variety of readers and Lubar captures the essence of how life is in constant motion, changing from one day to the next.

I loved this book and found myself sympathizing with Scott and reflecting on my own life in high school as he makes his way through the ups and downs of his freshman year. A definite read for anyone who has "been there, done that" or is currently "doing this same thing!"

Enjoy listening to an excerpt from this book at the following site:

http://www.davidlubar.com/sfnl.mp3

KEYWORDS: High school, friends, family, siblings

The Creek

The Creek by Jennifer Holm is an intense and suspenseful novel that is hard to put down. A quiet, peaceful suburban neighborhood is turned upside-down when a juvenile delinquent returns to his parents' home. Horrible things associated with this young man's past begin to happen again when he returns, and it seems as if his acts of violence are targeted toward one particular group of friends who live in the neighborhood, especially a young girl named Penny. To save Penny, the truth of these acts must be discovered, yet in this book the truth is not always what it seems.

The mystery of this story is one that pushes beyond the typical plot of a child-turned-detective tale and I was kept on the edge of my seat throughout the book, waiting anxiously to see what would happen next while wondering what would happen to Penny. The author does a fantastic job of creating a heightened sense of suspense as the action unfolds, making this a book that readers of mystery and suspense will enjoy.

Due to the intensity of the events in this story, I would recommend this book for students in grade 8 and above.

Keywords: friends, neighbors, community, murder, suspense