Sad dog and Payback Time

I originally started this blog thinking that I would be able to keep up with making posts. Once a week was my goal, once every other week would have been great too. EPIC FAIL. I still really like the idea of doing book reviews and restaurant reviews, life stories, but it may not be as often as I would like. I think I make myself way too busy. Amongst the 4 games of softball a week (Thad is one 2 teams, Thad and I are on another 2) we have the helpful dog obedience class for d'Artagnan, getting out to school to work library "stuff" once a week,  I have an online class (only 1 left after this and the c'est la vie school.... for awhile?), and I decided that I really need to do something for others so I am doing volunteer work at the People's City Mission a few hours Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Doing day care. DAY CARE. For those of you that know me, you are probably cringing at the thought of me doing day care. You elbow a kid in the face one time and you get a stigma. But it is actually going really well. I'll admit, I still am not completely sure how to talk to 4 and 5 year olds, (or 7 and 8 year olds for that matter) however; I am figuring out how to explain why sharing is the best, good ways to do story time and slide in a educational perk with it (identifying colors in the room as well as counting) and when all else fails, getting mass amounts of coloring pages. These kids will color like 10 pages in 20 minutes, so when I say mass amounts, I mean mass amounts. I could probably wallpaper my entire house in coloring pages.

My goal this summer was to get through all the Nebraska Golden Sower nominees (in the young adult category)  as well as a chunk of books that were popular checkouts and that I think might be popular next school year. I read the Delirium series by Lauren Oliver and thought it was actually pretty good. I don't know what it is about trilogies, but the first book is always the best, and then either the 2nd is just terrible or it ends just terribly. Why can't the series be made of equal goodness? Anyway, read it and you can decide which was terrible. Or it may be just me...

Here are the Golden Sower Nominees for this year:
Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker. Jefferson’s Sons.   This one was actually really good, especially if you like historical fiction. It follows the life of Sally Hennings and her children by Benjamin Franklin.
Condie, Ally. Matched.  Another trilogy issue, the book is great, I BARELY got through the second. The book is set in a futuristic society where you are matched with the person you will marry before being assigned to a specific job, life, etc.
Deuker, Carl. Payback Time. 
 Evans, Richard Paul. Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25  I'm just starting this one
Falls, Kat. Dark Life. Also futuristic. People are starting to colonize the ocean floors, especially after a flood wiped out parts of the coast. Younger audiences will like.
Kalkowski, John. Red Cell.
Lu, Marie. Legend.  I very much enjoyed this one. Dystopia once again, but I like the dual narration we get from June and Day.
 Patneaude, David. Epitaph Road.
Sepetys, Ruta. Between Shades of Gray.
Sonnenblick, Jordan. After Ever After.

THE REVIEW

Payback Time by Carl Deuker

I enjoy Deuker's writings, they are sports oriented and are great options to appeal to reluctant male readers. I gave his book Gym Candy to one of my reading strategies boys one year (he really didn't want to be in class or reading) and he devoured that text in a week. I recall him asking me if he could just spend one class reading rather than doing some of our activities. YES, was my jubilant response.

Payback Time is not as great as Gym Candy but I still think Deuker does a good job of drawing readers in to get interested in the story. The book follows the main character of Dan True. Dan is 5'4'' and over 200 lbs. He has always been overweight and because of this he gained his nickname Michelin Man, eventually being just called Mitch. It is the start of Mitch's senior year and he dreams of being a journalist so he is devastated when he doesn't win the editor position of the school paper. In fact, he gets assigned to be the sports reporter. Mitch thinks about quitting at first, but realizes that he can make the best of the situation. He goes to interview the coach, Coach McNulty about the team and their start quarterback and Mitch's former friend Horst Diamond. Along with school photographer Kimi, Mitch sees a student throwing far superior to Horst in practice and asks the coach about him. Angel Marichal is that student and to Mitch and Kimi, he looks suspiciously old. Also, when the coach calls him over, he doesn't play nearly as well as when he did when he wasn't being watched. As the season goes on, Mitch and Kimi develop a friendship and see that Angel is an outstanding player who doesn't receive much playing time or any recognition. They know something isn't right and do some investigative reporting to uncover the secret of Angel and coach McNulty. As the story develops we see that Mitch makes some efforts to get into shape and starts to shed his shy shell and that he really does have a knack for sports reporting. There is nice suspense woven throughout the story, but it is a little predictable. I do think students will enjoy the read and see how the main characters develop. I would have liked to see more about Angel's character in the end or even tie up some loose ends, but not knowing jives with the elements of the story.

Have a great afternoon! I am off to start Michael Vey: Prisoner of Cell 25.

I'll leave you with d'Artagnan showing off his sad dog pose.