Oscar Banks has everything under control. In a town called Candor, Florida life is perfect. Everyone is happy, healthy, and well-behaved -- because Oscar's father is brainwashingeveryone with secret subliminal messages that are embedded in classical music that is played all over town day and night. Oscar's found a way to secretly fight the messages. But he's got everyone fooled: he's got the perfect GPA, the perfect girlfriend, and the perfect cover. Nobody would suspect the town founder's son of treason, so nobody knows that Oscar's made some messages of his own to deprogram his brain. Oscar has even found a way to get rich. For a hefty price, he helps new kids escape Candor, Florida before they're transformed into cookie-cutter teens. But then Nia Silva moves to Candor, and Oscar's carefully-controlled world crumbles.
"CALL ME ZITS" is the opening line of FLIGHT by SHERMAN ALEXIE, casa’s next book club book.
zits is a 15-year-old half-indian, half-irish, acne-covered, time-traveling mass murderer. he never knew his alcoholic father; his mother died when he was six; his aunt kicked him out when he was 10 (after he set her sleeping boyfriend on fire because the boyfriend had been molesting zits). he runs away from his 20th foster home, and ends up, briefly, in jail; soon after, he enters a bank, shoots several people, and is shot dead himself. zits then begins time-traveling in other people’s bodies, finding himself inside an fbi agent in the '70s (who helps assassinate radical indian activists); a mute indian boy at the battle of little big horn; an irish soldier; a homeless indian drunk; an airplane pilot who helps a muslim terrorist; and his own father. zits eventually becomes himself again and finds an unexpected redemption. smart, funny, and resilient, zits is profoundly transformed, as the hero in a tale of ordeals is supposed to be, by his time-traveling and shape-shifting experiences. he learns that anyone of any background is equally capable of good and evil. alexie's fast-paced novel sucks you in; it makes you laugh, and makes you think about flight in a whole new way.
okay, you totally missed out on meeting like the coolest author ever! darlene & i met up @ copperfield's books in petaluma and heard author laurie halse anderson talk about reading writing, and what it was like when she was a teen. it was great to get the inside scoop on her books, like the one we just read -- twisted -- and her new one -- wintergirls -- both of which you can borrow from the big house library anytime! and it was so awesome to have her autograph our copies and take pictures with us. she even took a picture of us and uploaded it to her website from her i-phone! we had the best time and wish you had been there, but since you weren't, at least you can look at our pics, it's the next best thing to being there. :)
we knew there had to be a better way to k.i.t. than the bulletin board... well, now we've found it! =)
it's our very own social network! =) it's not a group of friends on facebook or myspace. it's our own space. on ning. =)
nings are password-protected, invite-only, safe-havens online. free from perps, pervs, online predators, and spam, nings rock hard core!
our network is open only to casa students (and after this year, maybe, alumni) who are also big house book club members. e-vites have been sent out to current clubbers. so if your friends want to join, well, we can't blame them, now can we?! =)
seriously, just tell the anyone interested in our club and our ning that they need to email me and ask to join. and while they're at it, tell them it'd be nice if they'd stop by the library for an old-fashioned face-to-face chat, too. =) call me old school, but i still find a hello and a handshake quaint. =)
well, in case you missed the announcement last thursday, last friday was our first potluck. yeah, we probably should have reminded you more maybe, but it has been plastered on our homepage for about a month now, so i don't feel too badly about it. but we did miss those of you who couldn't make it. a lot!
here's a quick recap of what went down: we introduced ourselves, watched a video of sarita reading from the dead & the gone, read an email i got from sue pfeffer (the author of the book!), passed out autographed stickers that ms. pfeffer mailed us (she's so nice!), shared what we loved about the book (it made darlene cry!), recorded (like 3 times!) a video thank you card for ms. pferrer, and we talked about what to read next. click here to see pics of the potluck!
so, yeah, we did a lot, and we did it all while stuffing our faces w/ slice after slice of delicious dominoes pizza (whom we profusely and graciously thank for their very generous educator's discount)! =)
we do not have a next meeting scheduled yet because a lot of you still haven't turned in your books yet. we can't buy new books until we have the old ones back to trade in. so turn them in. like asap. please. thank you! =)
Hi, I'm Ms. Koval, your librarian and book club advisor, and mostly I'll be the one blogging. Occasionally, though, club officers and members will add a post or two to the mix. :)
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