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Hello all me mates out there in the Land of Blog, It's me once again Crocodile Bill!!!!!! Well I hate to admit when I make a mistake, but I'm big enough to do so see. The infamous Brunner Boys came to pay me a visit just the other day and corrected something I said about crocks living in the ocean. Well instead of me telling ya, let's roll the video!!!!!!!




From me world wide renowned Tele show; produced and filmed by Mrs. Brunner!!!!!


I must make an apology to the Brunner Boys. They found this information in an encyclopedia and gave me the information on a piece of paper where it could be found. Naturally I lost the information, but what they say is right on the money mates!!!!!!

You may also remember from our January 18th post that are good friend Bobby reviewed "One False Note" from the 39 Clues Series. Well I gave him his book for doing a review but could not find our camera, so we did a little impromptu video. Take a look mates:



World Renowned Book Reviewer Bobby!!!!!!


Alright now it's time for me to talk about a book I recently finished reading that really blew me away. Check it out:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - Now I have to warn all you potential readers off the bat that this book is probably a little to intense for younger readers. Not really any language problems, violence and the cruelty of the world portrayed may not be to all our blog readers taste. Okay now that I've got the obligatory warning out, let me tell you about this roller coaster ride book. It is by Suzanne Collins, who also wrote the Gregor Books, and set in depressing future. The United States no longer exist and what remains has become known as Panem. Panem is made up of the Capitol, where people have it easy and control the rest of the Panem, which is divided into 12 Districts. The Capital basically rules the Districts as a Dictatorship. Sometime in the past the Districts rebelled against the capital and lost. After the Districts defeat "The Hunger Games" were initiated. The Hunger Games is basically a reality T.V. Show where 2 tributes, a boy and girl, between the ages of 12 to 18 are selected from the 12 Districts (making a total of 24 teens) to compete against each other until only one player remains alive. The story centers on District 12's tributes Katniss Everdeen (16 years old) and Peeta Mellark (18 years old). Katniss becomes involved when her 12 year old sister is chosen for the games, which she can not bear to happen, so she takes her place. The games are violent and the tributes put through terrible treatment in the outdoor arena (encompassing a fast forest) all of which is televised for the Capital to watch. This book has so many twist and turns you will not be able to put it down. Can Katniss and Peeta beat the rest of the District tributes and even so what happens if they are the last two remaining. Only one victor is allowed. Don't miss this book!!!!! Even better news is that it is the first in a trilogy. Great Stuff!!!!!!!!! There is also a pretty cool website for this book that you might want to check out:
http://www.scholastic.com/thehungergames/about-the-book.htm.



Also I want to make a general announcement that every Tuesday in February we will be having a Wii Bowling Tournament from 4 to 6 p.m. at ImaginOn for guys and girls between the ages of 7 - 12 years old. Registration is encouraged so if you want to give it a go, call us at 704-973-2720.


Until next time guys,

Bill

Hey, everyone, this is Carl, welcoming 2009 with my first review of the year. And what better book to start the year than One False Note by Gordon Korman, the second book in The 39 Clues series. This one finds Dan and Amy Cahill, with their au pair Nelllie Gomez, traveling to Vienna, Salzburg, (in Austria) and Venice to track down the next mysterious clue left by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. I turns out, though, that Mozart had a sister Nannerl that was as brilliant as he was. The location of the clue is in her diary, but the megastar rapper Jonah Wizard has already gotten hold it. And that's just the start of their troubles! They have to outsmart their incredibly rich, sinister, and tricky Cahill relatives, jump out of hotel windows, survive an underground cave-in, and out race the bad guys in the canals of Venice. Does this sound exciting? It is!! In fact, I missed the stop on my bus ride home last night because I was so totally into the story!!! You'll enjoy it a lot. Now I will have to say that I liked the first one better--there seemed to be more danger and suspense, but his is a minor detail. I liked this one a lot and I bet you will too. I have one criticism though--in an early chapter, Dan and Amy debate wheteher or not they should steal Nannerl Mozart's diary from Jonah Wizard's hotel room. They talk back and forth over whether or not it's right to steal and finally decide that they should do it. This is the kind of thing grownups love to do. They love to complicate things. A lot of grownups have bought into the idea of "situational ethics", which basically means that nothing is right or wrong in itself; the situation determines whether something or right or wrong. Don't believe it guys--we know deep in our guts what's right and what's not. Does that mean the author sat down and tried to write a book to get us to believe it? Of course not. But some grownups will and you guys should be aware of it. Besides, this was an unwelcome intrusion in good book. That whole discussion could have been left out and it wouldn't have made the slightest difference.  But, as I said, these are minor criticisms of a really good story. The next book, The Sword of Thieves, comes out on March 3. Ohhhhhh, boy!! I'll be ready!

And here's more from cyber kid 303!

First of all, I am a Tomas, and One False Note was sweet! They talked a lot about Mozart which was cool to me since I play piano. Gordon Korman wrote this instead of Rick Riordon. Dan and Amy break into the Janus base, too! It is better than the first!

I haven't read The Tales of Beedle the Bard yet, but I want them for Christmas. I heard Hermione Grainger and Albus Dumbledore are part of it. Right now I'm reading The Skull of Truth by Bruce Coville. I met Bruce Coville one year at Novello. He was really nice. After Skull of Truth, I'll read Inkheart by Cornelia Funke, if I can get it away from my mom. Have you seen the movie previews?


Thanks again,cyber kid! Or should I say, my fellow Tomas brother!! Let's go out and pump some weights or push around an Ekat!! I've met Bruce Coville at Novello also and he is a great guy! I even got to drive him to his school visits! Hve any of you other guys read his books? He seems like a really good guy writer. No, I haven't read Inkheart but I do have the official trailer to show you all. Take a look!


Looks like a good one!

Carl

Always quick with a response, cyber kid 303 has written to us already about One False Note, the latest 39 Clues book:

I am reading One False Note and it is really good. If you are a Janus at www.39clues.com you will especially love it. It zooms in on the Janus branch. I've only got 41 more pages to go. I'll write a full report when I'm done.

Thanks, cyber kid! Can't wait to hear your full report. And are you planning to read The Tales of Beedle the Bard soon? It turns out that the library already has copies (I made another mistake yesterday when I thought they didn't have any!) but there are 124 people waiting in line for it! But I'm ninth on the list to get a library copy of One False Note. So you're a Janus, huh? I'm a Tomas and I hear they cause a lot of trouble in this book.

And another cool video for your holidays. It's that king of retro rock, Brian Setzer, tearing it up with the old Chuck Berry song, "Run, Run, Rudolph." Rock out!!!!

First of all, let me give a shout-out to Darth Bill. He was good enough yesterday to point out a mistake I made. Your real friends will tell you when you goof up. On top of that he was good enough to give me a compliment a few days ago on my reciting the Gettysburg Address--and you know how hard it is for a sith to give a compliment. AND he put in a picture that same day of me in my true form and said that the CARLMAN is not an Odin rip-off!! Two compliments in one post!!! Quite an accomplishment for a sith! Thanks, Bill!

Cock-A-Doodle-Dooo!!

What was that??

COCK-A-DOODLE-DOOO!!!
Was that a......

COCK-A-DOODLE-DOOOOOMMM!!!!!

Ummmm--gotta go!!!

Wait a minute, Bill would never let me run away from a rooster. I'll stand up bravely and......is it gone??? Good!!!

Some of you may have wondered why we haven't written anything about One False Note, the latest 39 Clues book. Well, it's simple--it takes the library takes a long time to get new books and then it takes time to get them on the shelves. So I'll just sit patiently and wait. I'm still waiting to write about a book that came out the first of November. But if I really get impatient, I can write to She Who Orders Books For The Library and ask to hurry things along. I did that for The Battle of the Labyrinth. Same thing for Beedle the Bard, the newest form J. K. Rowling. To tell the absolute truth, I haven't read all the HP books. Yes, that may shock some of you, but I read the first 3 and just never got around to finishing them. Maybe I'll make that a project for next year. What about you, Darth Bill? Or you, Master Jedi Zack? Are you planning to read this one soon? In the meantime, some guys at the Guys Read blog have written about both of them. Take a look.

The Great and Powerful (COCK-A-DOODLE-DOOOO!!!), I mean, the plain and simple

Carl

The 39 Clues, Book 1: The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan - How would you feel if you had a close relative who you thought you knew very well and they passed away leaving you wondering if you really knew them at all? Add to this that you find out that you belong to a huge family whose family tree is divided into four clans that includes some of the most famous individuals in world history such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Harry Houdini, Mozart, Annie Oakley, Marie Currie and so many more. Finally let include one more ingredient, you along with many other relatives, some you know, some you do not, are invited to the reading of the will and given the choice between receiving 1 million dollars or receiving a clue that could lead to something so grand and wonderful that its value is incalculable. Well this is exactly what happens to orphaned brother and sister Dan and Amy Cahill. They find out near the start of the book that their beloved Grandmother Grace, whom they were both close to, has passed away and that they along with many other relatives are in her will that offers the strange and challenging choice described above. Of course Dan and Amy take the clue and thus begins a great story that you will not be able to put down and will keep you up into the late hours of the night reading.

Now the book alone would be cool, but if you go to the very cool "39 Clues Website" at http://www.the39clues.com/ you can sign-up and chase after clues with the characters of this great book series. As a part of the signing up process, you get to learn what clan of the Cahill Family you belong to of the four that exist (Janus - that's what clan I the Great Dark Sith Lord Darth Bill belongs to, Lucian, Ekatrina and Thomas). After that you can start searching the web site for more clues and information not included in the books. There are also cards you can purchase that will help you as seek to solve the mystery that is the "39 Clues." There will be ten books in all each written by a different author. The next book in the series to come out will be written by Gordon Korman and will be titled One False Note. This is a great book without the website, but I highly encourage everyone to checkout the website. I will warn you though that once you do you will not have any choice be to keep revisiting.