{"id":409,"date":"2012-05-01T14:11:31","date_gmt":"2012-05-01T14:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cindyfaughnan.com\/cindy2\/index.php\/2012\/05\/01\/books-the-book-of-blood-and-shadowstuck-in-neutral\/"},"modified":"2019-10-23T12:54:42","modified_gmt":"2019-10-23T16:54:42","slug":"books-the-book-of-blood-and-shadowstuck-in-neutral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cindyfaughnan.com\/index.php\/2012\/05\/01\/books-the-book-of-blood-and-shadowstuck-in-neutral\/","title":{"rendered":"Books! The Book of Blood and Shadow\/Stuck in Neutral"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In my current work-in-progress, a librarian gives the main character two books every time she visits: one new one and one older one. I thought I could recommend the same!<\/span><\/p>\n

 \"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

The Book of Blood and Shadow<\/span><\/em><\/strong> by Robin Wasserman, Knopf, 2012<\/span><\/p>\n

             I love good first lines, and this book has a great one: <\/span><\/p>\n

I should probably start with the blood. <\/span><\/em>(p. 3)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/em>            And I love mystery and suspense. And international intrigue. Throw in a little love story and great writing and I\u2019ll read it more than once. That\u2019s how I feel about this book. I read it the first time in big gulps\u2014faster than I\u2019ve read anything recently because I couldn\u2019t stop. I can\u2019t wait to read it again.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nora Kane is a high school student in a private school. She and her friends are translating old Latin manuscripts with a professor at the local college when her best friend Chris is killed, his girlfriend Adriane who witnesses the murder stops speaking or responding, and Nora\u2019s boyfriend Max disappears and is believed to be the murderer. Nora feels the ancient manuscripts hold the key and convinces Adriane to help her translate and follow the clues in them. Travel, intrigue, secret societies, fake cousins, and danger keep you turning the pages of this amazing, smart novel. <\/span><\/p>\n

 \"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Stuck in Neutral<\/span><\/em><\/strong> by Terry Trueman, HarperTeen, 2001<\/span><\/p>\n

 I recently received a note from a friend asking about this book because a school district near her was trying to ban it from being read in 7th<\/sup> and 8th<\/sup> grade. First, I have to say I don\u2019t think there needs to be censoring of what people read. If readers are not ready for the issues\/language\/material in the book they are reading, they will stop reading. Or they will take in what they\u2019re able to take in and be satisfied with that. When you read a book at different times in your life, you will respond to it differently and you\u2019ll understand it differently. <\/span><\/p>\n

I read the letters from the people taking the issue to the school board and the letters from people answering their concerns. It\u2019s hard to know exactly what the agenda of the group was. I think sometimes it\u2019s hard for people to know for sure what it is they object to when a book touches a nerve. This group mentioned strong language (swearing), euthanasia, and murder as reasons middle school readers shouldn\u2019t be reading it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sadly, middle school readers can\u2019t be protected from any of these things. They see the news on TV or the Internet. They read newspapers. They watch movies and television shows. They\u2019re around people. But, I\u2019ve found that middle school students are among the most thoughtful and compassionate people there are. Reading about these issues lets them look at other people differently and think about why people behave the way they do.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stuck in Neutral<\/span><\/em> is narrated by Shawn, a teen confined to a wheelchair by severe cerebral palsy. He can\u2019t do anything for himself or communicate with anyone. But, trapped inside his non-functioning body is a smart boy and he tells about the world as he sees it. He\u2019s worried that his father wants to kill him because Shawn must be suffering. And Shawn can\u2019t tell him that\u2019s not true. This book explores what it might be like to be trapped inside a body that doesn\u2019t work.<\/span><\/p>\n

 Let me know if you read either of these and what you think! What would you recommend for me?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my current work-in-progress, a librarian gives the main character two books every time she visits: one new one and one older one. I thought I could recommend the same!   The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman, Knopf, 2012              I love good first lines, and this book has a great one: … Continue reading “Books! The Book of Blood and Shadow\/Stuck in Neutral”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cindyfaughnan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cindyfaughnan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cindyfaughnan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cindyfaughnan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cindyfaughnan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cindyfaughnan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1216,"href":"https:\/\/www.cindyfaughnan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409\/revisions\/1216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cindyfaughnan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cindyfaughnan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cindyfaughnan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}