Leap Into Books Giveaway Hop

This is my first time participating in a giveaway hop.  One lucky reader gets to choose one book from the following: The Man in the Ceiling by Jules Feiffer (used/good condition), Eyes Wide Open by Andrew Gross, Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante, Selected Short Stories by D.H. Lawrence (used), Married to Bhutan by Linda Leaming, A Young Wife by Pam Lewis (ARC), Max on Life by Max Lucado, Hester: A Novel by Paula Reed, You Don't Sweat Much for a Fat Girl by Celia Rivenbark (ARC), and The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli.

100 Greatest Books For Kids

http://www.scholastic.com/100books/

I found this link in another blog.  It is incredibly interesting to see what Scholastic has listed as the 100 greatest books for kids.  Check it out.

Which ones have I read?
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
Corduroy by Don Freeman
The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett
Matilda by Roald Dahl
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks by Joanna Cole
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume

That's 23 out of 100 for a total of 23%.  How many have you read?

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.  Anyone can playing along!  Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away!  You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers.

     I hide in Under Bed beside Eggsnake not breathing even, flat like a page in a book, and it takes hundreds of hours to find me.  Next I choose Rappelling, Ma holds my hands and I walk up her legs till my feet are higher than my head, then I dangle upside down, my braids go in my face and make me laugh.
P. 81 Room by Emma Donoghue

Book Review: Hospice Tails: The Animal Companions Who Journey With Hospice Patients and Their Families by Debra L. Stang

This book made me want to cry.  It's so touching.  Animals are...everything.  I love pets.  I understand how much they mean to their owners.  My own two dogs are my best friends.  That's not saying I can't or don't have human best friends, but they comfort me in ways humans can't.  Pet owners know.

Debra Stang is a social worker with a hospice.  She visits the dying in their homes, mostly.  The tales in this book are about how the dying and their family members cope with the aid of their animals.  For many the only way to touch them, bring them out of their world, is their pets.  Others, the pets help with grieving.  They help in ways no one else can.

I give the book 3/5 stars.  It was a good read, but not the best ever.  I won it in a giveaway.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.  Anyone can playing along!  Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away!  You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers.

     "So what dorky thing do you want to dress up as?" I asked, smiling.
     "Promise not to laugh?"  She raised her eyebrows and her shoulders, embarrassed.  "A unicorn."
P. 69 Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Book Review: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

I don't know what to say.  This book was...amazing.  Throughout the course of the story I felt every emotional possible.

Suzanne Collins knows how to write a story and create characters that one wants to read.  Every chapter ends suspensefully keeping the pages turning.

Where do I begin?

There were so many shocking events, beautiful events, sad events, and happy events.  This book was chock full of everything.  Okay, enough of me saying that.  I actually need to talk about it.  I wish I'd kept a record of my thoughts and feelings as I read it like I did with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

When I first heard the title Mockingjay it was before I ever dreamed of picking up the series, so I have to admit I thought the title was incredibly stupid.  But, now, it's beautiful.  Katniss Everdeen is the face of a movement.  She is the Mockingjay whether she wants to be or not.

Upon returning from the Quarter Quell, Katniss learns District 12 is destroyed and she will be living, along with her mom, sister, Gale, and many others from her district, in District 13.  While District 13 is not bound by the Capitol laws they do have their own very strict regime.  Every morning everyone wakes up and has a schedule tattooed on their arms with ink that won't wash away until the evening.

District 13 along with other districts is in the midst of a rebellion against the Capitol.  The only way for success is if Katniss plays the pawn, aka the Mockingjay.  She doesn't know who to trust.  The District 13 leaders are turning out to be just like the Capitol leaders.

OK, spoiler thoughts, kind of erratic:

Peeta was shock.  I felt so bad for him and Katniss.  He didn't get rescued by Haymitch and company, so the Capitol got him.  They used tracker jacker venom and basically turned him into a monster against Katniss.  They rescued him from the Capitol, but it was too late.  The entire rest of the story he's treated like a prisoner.  He does get better, but he has his moments where he's not sure what's real or not.  He does marry Katniss and convinces her to have children.  I'm Team Gale, but I totally understand that Katniss and Peeta need to be together.

Catching Fire introduced us to Finnick, a previous Hunger Games winner competing in the Quarter Quell.  We learn of his love for another winner named Annie.  Annie's a little crazy due to how she's been treated by the Capitol.  Finnick was rescued by Haymitch's crew.  He comes to District 13 with Katniss.  He has to go through recovery just like her, only I think it takes him longer.  When they rescue Peeta, they rescue Annie. Annie and Finnick love each other so much.  They get married.  I think part of the reason for the wedding is a knock at the Capitol.  They can't stop them from being happy.  It isn't revealed until the end that the two have a baby.  Well, Finnick dies in the war, but it states in the end that they have a child, so one can only assume...  I'm sad that Finnick dies but happy Annie can carry on his legacy through a child--one that will not have to worry about the Hunger Games.

Like I said above, I'm Team Gale.  Katniss and Gale were friends before the games.  I didn't want them to change anything.  But, unfortunately, they did. Katniss is pretty messed up.  She needs someone like Peeta.  Gale--on some levels I think he understands and others it hurts him.  In the end he moves to District Four, I believe.  I don't think Katniss keeps in touch with him.  She knows he got a job, but she doesn't know anything, but imagines he's kissing someone else's lips.  It's sad to hear.  They were hunting buddies.  They kept each other alive, along with their families.  They deserved to have the happy lives together.  But, unfortunately, the Capitol took that away.

President Coin was president of District 13.  She had bigger ambitions.  Once President Snow, president of Panem, died she would take over.  She persuaded Katniss to do everything for her.  Eventually, Katniss figured this out.  Instead of murdering Snow like she planned, she killed Coin.  I knew that was going to happen. I wasn't surprised.  Snow ends up dying, choking on laughter or something along those lines.  So, he dies anyway.  Katniss realized that she was a pawn in a much bigger scheme than she knew.  Coin didn't want to turn things around.  She just wanted to put herself and District 13 in charge.  Nothing was going to change.  They were all going to play the same games.  Katniss had to get rid of that.

Primrose Everdeen. Poor Prim.  The last thing Katniss wanted was for her sister to die, but that happened anyway.  It happened at the hands of District 13.  The reader is to believe that we aren't sure exactly who set off the bomb, but the evidence pretty much points to District 13.  It's so sad.  Katniss's whole goal is to keep her alive and she fails.

I give the book 5/5 stars for being such a page turner and evoking every emotion possible.  I read it for pure pleasure.

Book Review: Supervillain The Concise Guide by Ras Ashcroft

So you want to be a supervillain?  Want a chance at World Domination?  Ras Ashcoft has written the perfect manual for you!

According to Ashcroft, the Patron Saint of Supervillains is former President Richard Nixon.  In fact, a lot of things Republican are labeled supervillanous, such as Fox News and Newt Gingrich, though he is noted as having failed.  It's a little much.  One knock here or there is fine, but it's a complete jab at Republicans.  It's not funny.  There's not really a mention of a liberal or a Democrat.  The political side is not needed and it takes away from the humor of the "self-help" book.  

The book does give helpful insight on every step one needs to take to become a supervillain.  It's a very detailed guide.  Ashcroft seems to know what he's talking about.  Does he have "secret" ambitions on becoming a supervillain? 

One of the last chapters consists of interviews with supervillains.  The answers, while possibly helpful, feel forced.  The characterization doesn't feel quite right.  The interviews don't really flow with the rest of the book very well.

There are a few small grammatical errors, but they are easy to overlook and don't take away from the rest of the writing.  It's decently written and does have it's humor.

The Author's Note at the end is nice.  It's cool to find out why the author wrote the book, but it takes away from the book itself.  It takes away from the humor.

I give the book 3/5 stars.  I read it as a review request from the author using the Kindle app, but all the opinions are my own.  I was not paid for this review.