The Giver

It's been years since I've read this book and I was awed by how current it still is. This book was published 21 years ago and is STILL the shit! It's perfect for fans of dystopian novels like "The Hunger Games," "Divergent," or "Animal Farm." I can't wait to see the movie adaptation of this, the casting looks phenomenal.

If you're soo behind that you don't even know what the premise is, let me give you a little breakdown. Everything is the same. There is no color, or choice, or ill will. Everyone is polite, well fed, and has a purpose. At the age of twelve all children are assigned a job. Some get to become engineers, birth mothers, laborers, caretakers of the old. But for one young boy, Jonas, he is about to be given the most most honored job of all, the receiver. In order for sameness to exist one lone person must carry the memories of the past, of pain, of love, of confusion. It is a burden no one else gets to bear. As the giver places the memories of generations back into Jonas they both start to wonder. Is it worth trading memories for relative safety and sameness. Was it enough?

Friggin' phenomenal read. There are three other books in The Giver quartet.

Gooney Bird Greene

Gooney Bird Greene is an adorable story about the new girl in school who quickly wins over every one. Gooney isn't your average second grader, she is a very eccentric dresser and she has some of the most outlandish tales the children and teacher have ever heard, although she insists they are real ("I tell only absolutely true stories!").

As the class starts to learn about what makes a good story they all volunter Gooney Bird as the character because everyone is so intrigued by her. Gooney Bird, happy to oblige, spends the next week telling one story a day. It quickly becomes everyone's favorite part of the day. She doesn't want to steal the limelight indefinitely though. When she runs out of stories, she convinces her classmates that they all have fun stories to tell and helps them figure out just what those stories are.

Overall, this book is a little goofy and a lot of fun. I can see why small children would get a kick out of reading about a character like Gooney Bird Greene. She's inventive, eccentric, and a fantastic storyteller (with tales like, "How Gooney Bird Came from China on a Flying Carpet" or "Beloved Catman is Consumed by a Cow").

This book would be a lot of fun read aloud and I think children up through fourth and fifth grade would even enjoy this book. The School Library Journal writes, "The cleverly titled stories could spark children's interest in writing their own stories." It's not my favorite book that I've read this semester, but I can see where children would thoroughly enjoy this book (and the pictures!).