Read Books!!!

If you're a young-adult fiction consumer like me, you've probably already realized that not all of the books floating around your local Barnes&Noble are quality literature. Here's a guide, compiled by me, to help you in your search for good books.

Books:
Pictures of Hollis Woods, Patricia Reilly Giff. This might make you cry...I'm not sure.
Scarlett and Indigo Blue, Cathy Cassidy. Bonus: British people.
Holes, Louis Sachar. This is an amazing book and the movie adaptation is also good.
Airman, Eoin Colfer. Adventure, romance, wit-this book has it all!!!
Wildwood Dancing and Cybele's Secret, Juliet Marillier. LOVE THESE!!!
Princess Nevermore, Dian Curtis Regan. Don't bother reading the sequel.
The Teashop Girls, Laura Schaffer. Bonus: tea-related quotes at the start of every chapter.
Mable Riley: A Reliable Record of Humdrum, Peril, and Romance, Marthe Jocelyn. Bonus: funny poetry.
Daughters of the Sea: Hannah, Kathryn Lasky. This book about a girl who turns into a mermaid manages to be interesting and well-written without being like a bad Barbie movie.
Love Among the Walnuts, Jean Ferris. I know it sounds weird, but trust me, it's a great book. (She also wrote Once Upon a Marigold and Twice Upon a Marigold. While you're at it, read them too.)
Undercover, Beth Kepler. Bonus: amazing words for all you logophiles.
Princess Ben, Catherine Gilbert Murdock. Princess learns magic, and falls in love with a prince in the process.
Authors:
Lisa Klein. Writes historical fiction and retellings of classic Shakespearean plays. (Ophelia, Two Girls of Gettysburg, Lady Macbeth's Daughter.)
Scott Westerfield. Writes gripping, creative sci-fi. (Uglies, Pretties, Specials.) Bonus: his wife is also a writer.
Ted Dekker. One of the most amazing thriller-writers ever. (Circle Series, Blink, Obsessed, Bone Man's Daughters, the list goes on and on and on.)
Gail Carson Levine. Retellings of classic fairy tales. She is my hero. (Ella Enchanted, Fairest, Ever, The Two Princesses of Bamarre, and, for those of you who are aspiring writers, Writing Magic. I swear by that book.)
Shannon Hale. Princess fiction. (Princess Academy, Books of Bayern, Book of a Thousand Days.)
Jessica Day-George. Really good fantasy fiction. (Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow, Princess of the Midnight Ball, Dragon Slippers, Dragon Flight, Dragon Spear.)
Margaret Peterson Haddix. Thrillers. Princesses. Historical fiction. She does it all, and it's all good. (Escape from Memory, Shadow Children series, Just Ella, Uprising, Double Identity, Leaving Fishers, and more.)
N. e. Bode. She writes like Lemony Snicket. Therefore, I love her. (The Anybodies, The Nobodies, The Somebodies.)
Jeanne Birdsall. Four sisters, a dog, and a Latin-loving dad. (The Penderwicks, The Penderwicks on Gardam Street.)
Andrew Clements. School stories featuring precocious students and the teachers who push them to succeed. (The Landry News, Extra Credit, A Week in the Woods, Frindle, Lunch Money, Lost and Found, The Janitor's Boy, and more books that I can't remember right now.)
Frewin Jones. Fairy fiction that seamlessly blends our world and theirs, with minimal bad Barbie movie associations. (The Faerie Path, The Lost Queen, The Sorcerer King.)
Series:
Secret Series, Pseudonymous Bosch. It's a five book series, but so far only three are out. (The Name of This Book is Secret, If You're Reading This, It's Too Late, This Book is Not Good For You. I'm doing the second one for my book report.)
Artemis Fowl series, Eoin Colfer. Fairies, technology, a teenaged crime lord, and some majorly cool bodyguards. (Artemis Fowl, The Arctic Incident, The Eternity Code, The Opal Deception, The Lost Colony, the Time Paradox.)
Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket. These books are hilarious in a depressing way. I'm not going to list them all because there are thirteen. But the first one is The Bad Beginning.)
Sierra Jenson series, Robin Jones Gunn. Christian fiction featuring a spunky teen and her relationships with God, her family, her friends, and a mysterious young man name Paul Mackenzie. (There are four volumes, twelve books in all.)
The Looking Glass Wars series, Frank Beddor. Alice in Wonderland meets Call of Duty. (The Looking Glass Wars, Seeing Redd, ArchEnemy.)
Peter and the Starcatchers series, Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. A prequel to Peter Pan. Written by Dave Barry. How awesome can you get??? (Peter and the Starcatchers, Peter and the Shadow Thieves, Peter and the Secret of Rundoon, Peter and the Sword of Mercy.)
The Sisters Grimm series, Michael Buckley. Guess what??? The Brothers Grimm weren't just fairy-tale writers. They were historians. (There are going to be 9 books, and so far there are seven. First one is The Fairy Tale Detectives.)
So, I hope that this is helpful. Happy reading!!!

A New Year

It's 2010! I can't believe I'm writing that. It seems like yesterday it was 2005 and now we're in a new decade.

I don't do New Year's Resolutions; instead, I do reviews of the past year. So here's 2009 in review.

Ten Awesome Things That Happened in 2009

1. Our WACS tournament went well and my quartet got first in state for small vocal ensemble.

2. Our out-west vacation in June.

3. I started 8th grade. (Not awesome that I'm in school, but awesome that I'll be in high school next year.

4. I got contacts.

5. We got our living room remodeled and it looks amazing.

6. I went to volleyball camp with one of my best friends and had a great time.

7. We got a Mac computer which I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

8. Being in The Music Man with one of my best friends.

9. I traded my boring long hair for a cute pixie. (And I don't think I'm going to grow it back out.)

10. Going laser tagging with our youth group.

Have a great 2010!

Luck and Losing Things

I am one of those people who loses things a lot, particularly jewelry. I have lost innumerable earrings, several necklaces (all ones I really liked), and parts of jewelry (stones, earring backs, etc.). And, until recently, everything I lost was never seen again, at least by me.

My mom gave me a pair of turquoise earrings this summer. They had been a present to her, but she'd never worn them, so she decided to let me have them. A few weeks after I received the earrings, we went to Colorado, where I was given a turquoise necklace and a turquoise ring. Then, for Christmas, I got a turquoise necklace, bracelet, and another pair of earrings from my parents.

The first piece of turquoise jewelry I lost was my ring, which was an early birthday present from my great-aunt. I took it off in the school bathroom one morning to wash my hands, and, when I got home that night, I realized that I wasn't wearing my ring.

I looked everywhere for it. When I couldn't find it in my house, I decided that I must have left it at school. Since it was the weekend, however, I couldn't get it until Monday. By that point, I was freaking out because I thought that the ring might have been lost or stolen or mangled or something equally horrible. (Okay, so I was overreacting.) However, when I got to school that Monday and went to the office and asked if a ring had been found, there it was. So, I still have my ring and have learned not to take a ring off in a public bathroom.

The second piece I lost was the bracelet. I have really small wrists, and it's really hard to find any bracelets that fit me. We were at Walmart, and I turned to go to the bathroom. Unnoticed by me, the bracelet slipped off my wrist. Luckily, my little brother saw it and told me. I picked it up and put it in my purse, and I am going to see if I can shorten the chain any so I don't lose it for good next time.

The same night I lost the bracelet, I got home and was taking off my jewelry when I realized that one of my earrings (my favorite pair and the one from my mom) was missing. I completely freaked out. I searched my entire house, the ground outside my house, and my purse thoroughly, but didn't find it. I was almost at the point of calling Walmart and asking them if they'd found a turquoise earring until my mom suggested that I check our van. And, there it was, lying on the floor, unharmed.

Lucky me.