Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Let's BookTalk: Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

from GoodReads
"There's a trick they do with one pea and three cups which is very hard to follow, and something like it, for greater stakes than a handful of loose change, is about to take place" (p. 24).

And that was how the apocalypse began...maybe.

There are no abosulutes when it has come to prophecies about the end of the world, because their are so many versions of it. However, when you have a stylish, optimistic demon and a soft hearted, head strong angel team up together to stop the apocalypse, can a prophecy of impending doom really get things spot on. Agnes Nutter may be the witch and prohetess to have predicted just these events leading to the end of the world and the ulitmate battle between Heaven and Hell.

Than again, was it the friendship of angel and demon that stopped the end of days or the pea and the three cups snafu that really led to the apocalypse of Agnes' prophecy?

Theology, humor, a slight of hand gone wrong...maybe Good Omens come in more ways than we realize.


Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Let's BookTalk: Sweep by Jonathan Auxier

from Goodreads.com

“She and her Sweep had both gone to bed as they always had, nestled against a chimney stack beneath the starry sky. But when the girl woke the next morning, her Sweep was gone” (p. 13).

Nan is an 11 year-old girl in the late 1800s. She is in contracted servitude to work as a chimney sweep, along with four other children ages 7 to 12. Food is scarce, work is dangerous, and there is very little for her to be hopeful for, except that someday her Sweep, original master, may one-day return. All she has left of him is his hat and a piece of char that still feels warm somehow.

The “Devil’s Nudge,” a dangerous method used by master chimney sweeps to get their chimney climbers (child laborers) unstuck from a chimney stack. They light a fire under the stuck child and they either scramble their way to freedom or burn.

One day while cleaning chimneys, Nan got stuck…

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A Note from Ms. Stimpson: I don’t often give my opinion on a book, as I prefer the reader to discover their own preferences in reading. However, there are not many stories often written as this one. Nor do all stories touch your soul. Sweep is one of those stories, because even in the darkness and despair, hope can make the darkness more grey than it had been before.

Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Let’s BookTalk: Guitar Notes by Mary Amato

from Goodreads.com

“It’s as if there are six strings inside him, tuned to the same pitches, and when the guitar is strummed it cause his sting to ring out, too” (p. 22).

Tripp is a loner type, who loves to play the guitar. He is an odd character and very often speaks his mind. Lyla is the first chair cellist in the school’s orchestra. She is Lyla Marks, who has perfect grades, perfect friends and everyone adores her; however, Lyla is keeping a deep secret that she feels she cannot share with anyone.

The story mainly takes place at Rockland school. The characters Tripp and Lyla are both going through communication issues with their parent. Both are feeling pressured by their parents to be involved in activities they do not want to do.

Is there ever a time when you “thrum?”

Written by Amanda Baca
Library Educational Assitant