MATCHED BY ALLY CONDIE

IN THE SOCIETY, OFFICIALS DECIDE.
WHO YOU LOVE. WHERE YOU WORK. WHEN YOU DIE.
 Cassia has always trusted their choices. It's hardly any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one... until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia  is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the life she's known and a path no one has ever dared- between perfection and passion.

I enjoyed Matched. It was very well written, considering it was Ally Condie's debut novel, and it was interesting. It was written in first person(which seems to be the new thing, lately).The book was rather slow, though, until about 150 pages from the end, and that's were it starts to become a nail biter. :)
It is the first book to the Matched Trilogy, the second book Crossed, just having come out on November 1, 2011. Matched  is 366 pages long, and was published by Dutton Books, 2010.
I recommend it. 8/10

Katniss

This is my newest sketch: Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games. Shooting a bow :)

Katniss Everdeen

Yearning to Read: The Dragon's Tooth GIVE AWAY!

Hey guys,
On the blog Yearning to Read (check below for link), there is a give away of 3 copies of The Dragon's Tooth by N.D. Wilson. So please check it out, and also, be sure to enter!!
yearningtoread.blogspot.com
Cheers!! ~Jam

Brian Selznick

Brian Selznick wrote The Invention of Hugo Cabret and Wonderstruck. He writes the stories in words and pictures. Sounds like graphic novels, huh? But his pictures are original charcoal drawings(by himself) and they are AMAZING.

The book The Invention of Hugo Cabret is the first one I read by him(the major motion picture, Hugo, just released).It also won the Caldecott Award. Here is the synopsis.

Orphan, clock keeper, and thief, Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter old man who runs a toy booth in the station, Hugo's undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message from Hugo's dead father form the backbone of this intricate, tender, and spellbinding mystery.
This is such a touching story, and the drawings are fantastic. I completely recommend this and as family friendly as it is, it would be a great read-aloud. 10/10

Wonderstruck, the another story by Brian Selznick book(I finished yesterday), and I loved it. It was really sad, but had a very sweet ending. Here is the synopsis(from the book)-

Ben and Rose secretly wish their lives were different. Ben longs for a father he has never known.
Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she chronicles in a scrapbook. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in his mother's room and Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper, both children set out alone on desperate quests to find what they are missing.
Set 50 years apart, Rose's story told in pictures and Ben's in words, the book is absolutely lovely.
(And something-not a spoiler- both of them are deaf)
Adieu!

HaNnah joyA

Hey everyone,
One of my best friends has started a blog called HaNah joyA!
So please check it out! It's really awesome!- hannahjoya.blogspot.com
~JaM