Mundie Moms

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

I Am Number Four Movie Trailer

Let's just say that this is an indulgence of sorts for a certain Mundie Mom we love. Also, hey, we all like watching Alex Pettyfer's latest film work, right? Right.

I liked the book (see the review here) and I do encourage you to pick it up and read it before heading out to see this, which looks chock full of action:

Banned Books Week Guest Author Post by Christine Johnson

So, during banned books week, there’s always a lot of discussion about how banning is a form of censorship and how terrible that is. That books are a commodity that should be available to everyone. I’m going to go out on a limb here. I’m going come right out and say that I think censorship is okay. Banning books is absolutely fine.

But not in schools. Not at libraries.

Book banning belongs in individual homes.

Listen, I’m the first one to get my back up at the suggestion that someone else can tell me what to do or what to read/not read. And because I try *very, very hard* not to be hypocritical, I recognize that this means that I don’t get to tell other people what to read, either. If someone’s offended by the language in a book, or the content, they shouldn’t have to read it and neither should their kids. If parents have particular religious values or moral codes that preclude their kids from being exposed to certain materials, then they should monitor their family’s literary diets to make sure they’re appropriately wholesome.

I’ve spent a lot of time trying to see this issue from the point of view of the book banners. As infuriating as I find their actions, they *genuinely* seem to feel that they’re doing good work. That they’re protecting the innocent from something harmful by keeping them from reading books that contain material they deem “inappropriate.” But I just can’t manage to digest their position that they somehow have the right to dictate the moral standards of entire schools. Entire library systems.

Why? Why isn’t it enough for them to tell their own children not to read SPEAK, or TWENTY BOY SUMMER, or pretty much anything Kurt Vonnegut’s ever written? Do they have so little control over their own kids that the only way to prevent them from reading this “smut” is to have it eradicated completely from their environments?

Book banning is - at it’s core - an issue of control. Controlling the information that’s available. Controlling what kids experience, literarily and otherwise. And that’s fine. I welcome ANYONE to control what their own kids read. If they are so deeply concerned that their child might stumble across something retina-searing in the public school library . . . all 50 states allow a child to be home-schooled. There are private, religious educational institutions whose literary selections are likely to be less controversial.

I disagree with those sort of strict reading standards, largely because I think the world is built with as much ugliness as loveliness and most of the banned/challenged books are at least trying to make sense of that ugliness. And teens most definitely need a way to make sense of the world’s horrors if they’re going to be expected to face them as adults. But I’m digressing. That’s *my* opinion. That’s why I’ll let my kids read without qualification, though I’ll be watching carefully and talking extensively with them about books that contain difficult topics.

If I don’t want anyone telling me that I *can’t* do it that way, then I realize that I have to suck it up and let other parents lock away those same books I’ll let my kids read. I have to let them hide their children from the ugliness even as I take my children’s hands and walk them through it.

So - message to the book banners, the censors, the zealots - HAVE AT IT. Go nuts. Redact GOODNIGHT MOON if you want to. I’ll even smile and wave as you do it. But keep that crap behind your own doors, please. Because the second you try to take my kid’s copy of HIS DARK MATERIALS or HARRY POTTER, you’ve gone too far. The second that you come into a *public* school and try to impose your *private* standards on the kids in those classrooms - that’s when those of us on this side of the issue will push back. And we’ll keep pushing until you’re safely locked inside your own homes, where your censorship belongs.

----------
Christine Johnson is the author of Claire De Lune. You can find out more about Christine and her writing by visiting her website here http://www.christinejohnsonbooks.com/

Thank you Christine for taking the time to share with us your thoughts about Banned Books Week!!

Book Review- When I Was Joe

Released on January 7, 2010
Source: Publisher
4 Stars- I really liked this book. Go pick it up!

Synopsis (From Frances Lincoln)When Ty witnesses a stabbing, his own life is in danger from the criminals he’s named, and he and his mum have to go into police protection. Ty has a new name, a new look and a cool new image – life as Joe is good, especially when he gets talent spotted as a potential athletics star, special training from an attractive local celebrity and a lot of female attention. But his mum can’t cope with her new life, and the gangsters will stop at nothing to flush them from hiding. Joe’s cracking under extreme pressure, and then he meets a girl with dark secrets of her own.

It took me a few pages to get the hang of this book, since it's the first UK book I've read and some of the words they used for different things and slang was new to me, but once I got comfortable with it I enjoyed it a lot. After poor Tyler goes to the police and confesses to be a witness of a murder he and his single mother are taken away from their home in London are given new identities and lives and are taken to live in a totally different town then what they're used to. Ty/Joe at first is angry about having to go down a grade in school and change his age to a year younger. Once they begin to live in their new home, Joe begins to embrace the change and the new clean slate he's been given to start again. He's seen as the new guy in school and since he's taller and bigger than most of the other boys he becomes very popular with the girls, he soon starts getting used to his life and begins to like himself as Joe.

Most of the book focuses on Ty/Joe's new life and how he tries to make the best of it even though his mother seems very depressed and is not willing to settle in their new home. While I was reading it and wondering where the story was going next we get a new spin in the story when Joe finds a girl that has something to hide and he feels she's someone he can really talk to as they become close and get to know each other. Unfortunately for Joe things don't stay the way he wants them too when the gang members that he's been hiding from get too close to home and his new life starts to crumble around him.

When I Was Joe was something new and very different from what I've read before and I definitely recommend it! It was a realistic view of urban violence and crime from the point of view of a 14 year old boy. Keren David has written a very well developed and original character. Joe was in my opinion a realistic portrayal of a teenage boy, and once we get into his mind while reading this story you can't help but feel the connection to him. I really felt so sorry for him when he was constantly trying to do the right thing but everything just seemed to be going wrong for him. Once you get halfway through the book and you think everything is going right you get all these unexpected surprises and more and more of Ty/Joe's real version of what really happened the night of the murder starts to unravel.

This book has so many serious topics that are woven into the story perfectly in a way that it doesn't make you feel uncomfortable while reading it, but it still seems very real and make you feel like you can relate to the characters and feel for them. Once you get to the end you wish you had the second book in your hands to read on and find out what will happen to Tyler next. Even though this books touches serious topics there's also the big mystery of the murder that keeps you glued to the pages, a bit of a love story that you want to see grow, some wit, and Joe's mind which lightens the story and pulls you right in to the middle of it that you don't want to see it end.

Thank you to Frances Lincoln Children's Books, we have 1 signed book we're giving away.

Waiting on Wednesday & Another NIGHTSHADE Clue


Published by Penguin
To Be Released on October 19th

Calla Tor has always known her destiny: After graduating from the Mountain School, she'll be the mate of sexy alpha wolf Ren Laroche and fight with him, side by side, ruling their pack and guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But when she violates her masters' laws by saving a beautiful human boy out for a hike, Calla begins to question her fate, her existence, and the very essence of the world she has known. By following her heart, she might lose everything--including her own life. Is forbidden love worth the ultimate sacrifice?

Nightshade has everything I want out of a book- action, mythology, wolves, an amazing love triangle, and a very strong female character, who's ultimate choice may cost her everything she's ever known. I highly recommend picking up Nightshade when it's out! This is one of my favorite reads of the year.

You can read more about Nightshade on Andrea's site here http://tinyurl.com/2a5287z and you preorder it here http://tinyurl.com/23cggjg

You can read my mini blurb here http://tinyurl.com/2ujl4og
I'll be posting my full review closer to the release date.
___________________

Recently Shay Doran's been sending out a lot clues about himself to bloggers. The goal is to solve the clues that lie hidden in these messages. *see below*

Shay is the other part of the fantastically written love triangle in Nightshade. I'm going to say that he's already winning over the hearts of many fans, and they've yet to really meet him. Just wait till you read about him in Nightshade. I'll admit, I'm torn between Shay and Ren.

I think I've figured out the first clue, but the second clue is a little harder. I swear it should be more obvious to me what the answer is. I should say I have it half solved. What do you think the clues say? Once the clue is revealed, we'll post it on our blog here and on Shay's facebook page.

I've posted our clues on Shay's Facebook Page here, and you can see the rest of the clues he's sent out. Be sure to watch his vlogs here http://www.shaydoran.com/ and you can subscribe/watch Shay's Youtube Channel here.

Here's what Shay recently sent us: *You can click on the picture to enlarge it*







Labels