The year is 1453 and all signs point to it being the end of the world. Accused of heresy and expelled from his monastery, handsome seventeen-year-old Luca Vero is recruited by a mysterious stranger to record the end of times across Europe. Commanded by sealed orders, Luca is sent to map the fears of Christendom and travel to the very frontier of good and evil.
Seventeen-year-old Isolde, a Lady Abbess, is trapped in a nunnery to prevent her from claiming her rich inheritance. As the nuns in her care are driven mad by strange visions, walking in their sleep, and showing bleeding wounds, Luca is sent to investigate and driven to accuse her.
Forced to face the greatest fears of the dark ages—witchcraft, werewolves, madness—Luca and Isolde embark on a search for truth, their own destinies, and even love as they take the unknown ways to the real historical figure who defends the boundaries of Christendom and holds the secrets of the Order of Darkness.
This past fall, I partnered with the Kelly Middle School and Teacher's Memorial Middle School ASPIRE program. After school, twice a week, they bused a group of kids to the library and we read Trading Faces. It's a favorite tween book of mine, one that added to the middle school summer reading list when the school librarian and I redid the lists this past year.
We took a few chapters and discussed the book each week, most of the questions were based on Would You Rather, a style they enjoyed. It also got them talking about the book in ways that other discussion questions didn't. We had trivia contests, mazes, and word searches just for fun.
At the end of the program, we decided to create a book trailer. This was several weeks of work, and one day of filming. Our filming was cut short thanks to Hurricane Sandy. They were split up into teams: acting, camera work, script writing, and editing. The editing team didn't get to do their job because we filmed on the last day of the program. However, the rest of the film is all their work.
Here's a book trailer I made for the event featuring The Penny Pinchers Club
Madison has the perfect boyfriend. She even sent in his photo to an uber-popular magazine for best boyfriend. Once they publish his photo, she hopes they will rise in popularity.
Lily has a secret; she's a mermaid living on land due to the fact that her mother was human. Her father is king of the seas, which makes her a Thalassinian Princess. Since finding out about her mother's lineage, Lily began to understand why she doesn't feel at home in the sea. She moved in with her aunt and started attending Seaview High School in order to find the perfect mate. She's convinced she's found him. All she has to do is persuade him that she's the only girl for him.
She better do it fast, because mermaids mate for life at a very early age. When she comes up with a plan to share her secret and the rest of her life with him, her uber-annoying neighbor foils everything.
Now, she's forced to return home to Daddy and straighten out this huge mess, all because she kissed the wrong boy. Can she still convince her true love of her affections and hope that he returns them before her birthday?
My Thoughts: AWESOME! This mermaid story is amazing with its romantic tension, clever, snarky dialogue, secrets, and an underwater world. All of this adds up to a magical tale written by one of my favorite authors.
PLUS I WROTE A BLURB FOR THE BOOK! It's on the inside cover of the ARCs :)
COVER: LOVE!
Source: the awesome Sarah S @ Katherine Tegen Books
review it for http://www.blogger.com/www.teensreadtoo.com where I gave it the:
PLUS check out the book trailer I made :
Last night, I got to meet Sarah Dessen! She was at RJ Julia's in CT - which is fabulous independent bookstore with books filling up every nook and cranny. They also have black and white photos hanging on the wall of all the authors who have visited the bookstore.
I had already read the book as I couldn't wait a week!
Tasha and Emily couldn’t be more different, but each wants to escape their social nightmares. Tasha needs to hide out from the tabloid drama and Emily needs to nurse her broken heart. They swap lives: Natasha heads to Oxford and Emily heads to UC Santa Barbara.
