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I rock!  That’s just in case you didn’t already know.  I came home yesterday from a long day at work to find out that my hard work reading paid off this weekend and I earned a 2nd place prize with the 48 Hour Reading Challenge!

There were approximately 40 participants this weekend who read thousands upon thousands of pages.  One impressive participant read 6479 pages.  Can you imagine?  She rocks too!

Bibliophile, the reader of 6479 pages, who slept like 5 hours this whole weekend, spent her 48 hours reading series books, including  Meg Cabot’s Princess Diaries series. 

Jen Robinson and I both read 11 books, but I think I didn’t count my time as accurately so it might be less than 30 hours that I read, but we live and we learn.  Completing this challenge has revved Jen up to where she might do a 24 hour challenge once a month.

Becky of Becky’s Book Reviews announced on her site a YA Romance Reading Challenge that starts July 1 and ends February 28, 2009.  That’s way longer than 48 hours so sign up and fall in love with books again.  Becky also participated this weekend with the challenge and read a book by one of childhood faves, Lois Lowry. 

To check out all of the participants’ blogs, visit Mother Reader and hop away.  I’m sure once you’re done reading and skimming blogs, you’ll find new blogs and books to read.

I’ll never know what it is like to be biracial, but in Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet, author Sherri L. Smith paints a portrait of a biracial family through the eyes of Ana Shen.  Living in Los Angeles, Ana is the salutatorian of her 8th grade class.  Graduation day is hectic enough when a water main breaks right as Ana begins her speech, but now that the graduation dance is cancelled, Ana will have to spend more time than expected with her African American and Chinese grandparents.

Previous events where both sides of the family gathered together were disastrous.  Ana is determined to make today perfect and have her grandparents, especially the grandmothers, make peace.

Primarily set in the Shen’s kitchen, Ana is in charge of making pot stickers, Grandma White will make gumbo, and Grandma Shen will make lion’s head.  Plus there’s a boy involved — Japanese student Jamie Tabata who is the class valedictorian.

The day is filled with tension and at the meal with Ana’s family, Jamie’s family, and two other families, things come to an explosive head.

The story is a winner because it offers an honest look at a family that combines two cultures who try to get along for the sake of the children.  The title describes the meal that the family is preparing to celebrate Ana’s graduation, but I think it describes her family as well.  No family is all good or all bad.  It takes a bit of the hot, the sour, the salty, and the sweet to really make a family.  Ana learns that lesson on graduation day.

I grew up reading Lurlene McDaniel books and I remember crying hard as the protagonists battled cancer, mainly leukemia if my memory serves correctly.

I recently read My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult.  An amazing book by the way and it will be a movie in 2009 with Abigail Breslin.

I saw the movie Stepmom and any Lifetime movies that deal with cancer.

Last year, my grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Daily I work with breast cancer patients.

So it is safe to say that I am familiar with cancer.

I discovered Side Effects by Amy Goldman Koss this morning at the library by happenstance.  I wanted some thinner books to read to balance out the 200 and 300 plus page books that I am reading this weekend for the readers challenge.

This is a great book.  Izzy is diagnosed with lymphoma in the opening chapter, but if you expect her to be weepy and philosophical and brave in the face of this disaster, forget about it.

Her form of therapy to stay sane in the face of nine rounds of chemo, her mother’s tears, her best friend’s mood swings, and people in general being sympathetic to her illness is to draw her way through it.

If you’ve seen the movie Juno, I can totally see Ellen Page being Izzy.  She’s snarky, honest, and outspoken, but at times she keeps those thoughts from her weepy mother and just shares them with us  the reader.

I won’t tell you the final outcome, but I will say that I didn’t cry.

After finishing Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers, I had to follow it up with a frivolous, light read so I grabbed Jen Calonita’s Secrets of My Hollywood Life:  Family Affairs.  The third title in the Secret series, Calonita gives us an inside peek at Hollywood life from the eyes of a teenage actress.

I first discovered Calonita in 2006 and remember reading the first book on a Saturday afternoon rooting for Kaitlin Burke as she sought to have a normal teenage life in the midst of Hollywood with best friend Liz at her side and battling her antagonistic co-star Sky.

In this third title, Kaitlin’s back and so is Liz, Sky, boyfriend Austin, younger brother Matty, and the rest of Team Burke.  But trouble is brewing on the set of Family Affairs, the television show that Kaitlin has been a member of the cast since she was four years old.  New cast member Alexis is making trouble with her back stabbing ways and is so evil she makes Sky look like a saint.  Kind of.

Kaitlin is trying hard to be Zen thanks to a book she read, but it’s hard when she keeps hearing rumors about the future of Family Affairs which impacts her future as an actress.  Plus she’s feeling that she’s missing out on some of the typical teen milestones — driver’s ed, SATs, looking forward to college — but she’s not sure if she wants to go to college at the risk of jeopardizing her career.

Things come to a head on the set and sparks fly.  I won’t spoil it for you, but trust me when I say that Secrets of My Hollywood Life keeps the reader hooked throughout the 300+ page story.

Emotionally, this was a difficult read for me.  Walter Dean Myers put the initial days and months of Operation Iraqi Freedom into words through they eyes of Robin “Birdy” Perry.

I’ve never been in the military so I am very removed from war and what it is like.  My father served in the Navy and I have a cousin and her husband who have been a part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  She’s told me stories and shared with me brief details of what it’s like over there.  She’s shared with me what it’s like once you leave and have to readjust to this life in America.

We’ve seen reports on the news, read articles about the war and those who lose their lives, but today for several hours I read a detailed account of it.  As I read it, I hoped that this character and that character, those who were connected with the protagonist, would survive and get to come back home to live out their dreams, raise their kids, and just simply live their lives with their friends and family.

282 pages is more than enough to share what can happen in a war, but at the same time, it isn’t enough.  Reading about the different places that the soldiers went to and the maneuvers they did as well as the need to be on alert as they moved throughout Iraq was well captured by Myers.   I can only imagine the number of soldiers that he interviewed as well as articles and news clips that he watched in order to write this story.  The details and imagery are very vivid and it encaptured me to the point where I felt that I was riding in the Humvee with Birdie, Ahmed, Marla, Captain Coles, and Jonesy.  I could hear Jonesy sing his beloved blues songs while Birdie tried to figure out Marla. 

Sunrise Over Fallujah is a wonderfully told story by an author who has told so many stories in the course of my lifetime.  It’s a mature YA read that gives a very detailed account of war through the eyes of American soldiers who don’t understand the real purpose of the war nor what exactly is the prize that will go to the victor.

It’s a coming of age story that shows even after you are officially grown, high school diploma in hand, there is still more growing up to be done.

One book read in one hour.  I rock!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid:  Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney picks up where the first diary left off.  The protagonist Greg chronicles more about his love/hate relationship with older brother Rodrick as well as moments of his relationship with younger brother Manny and his somewhat obtuse friend Rowley.

Reading this book puts me in the mind of a season of Everybody Hates Chris.  Every episode of Everybody Hates Chris involves Chris coming up with what seems to be a good plan, but for it all go awry and what should have been the perfect plan falling apart.

Notable moments in Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules include Greg’s swim team escapades, the party Rodrick throws while his parents are not home, spending the weekend with Grandpa, and the sleepover with Rowley that is interrupted by a prank.

There are definitely laugh out loud scenes which are due to the cute drawings that show just what Greg is telling the reader.  Young or old will enjoy this kid’s diary of his middle school years and being the middle kid in his family.

This is the week of the sequel.  Monday, I treated you to the cover of Just Be.  Yesterday, I discussed my excitement about the release of Midnight:  A Gangster Love Story by Sister Souljah.  Today I discuss movie sequels coming out this year.

A month from today, the long-awaited, much anticipated big screen version of Sex and the City opens in theaters around the country.  Sex and the City  began as a book by Candace Bushnell, author of Lipstick Jungle which became a TV show in November 2007.

I’m not sure if Sex and the City  is actually a sequel, but since it is based on a book and happens four years after the TV series ended, it qualifies for this week’s blog.

I have a confession to make first.  I never saw the TV series.  Not even on TBS.  I didn’t have HBO the whole time it was on that channel, but seeing the movie previews has me excited to check it out.  So I think I will rent all of the seasons and watch them as time allows and then see the movie.  

Women around the country are going to flood this movie much like men will when Incredible Hulk, Indiana Jones, and Iron Man come out this year.  I know groups of women who are going to don their fancy dresses, expensive shoes and head out in packs with their girlfriends to catch up with Samantha, Carrie, and the other two women. 

Visit the Sex and the City Movie blog for posts dedicated to keeping you in the know about the movie. 

On August 8^th, a week after my birthday, head to your local theater to catch The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.  Last year, I read the first three books in the series and was hoping that the sequel would be about book 2, but it’s not.  It will skip to the last book in the series Forever in Blue:  The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood.

When I read the first three books, I discovered the differences between the book and movie.  I won’t spoil them for you to allow you the chance to read the books for yourself.  They’re well worth the read and give you a better sense of Carmen, Bridget, Lena, and Tibby.  I will say though that interesting things happen to all of them so I am looking forward to how the movie sequel captures all that has happened to them in books 2, 3, and 4 to be the final result on the big screen.

Visit Random House for details about the movie, its soundtrack and other fun stuff. 

According to IMDB.com, High School Musical 3 comes out in October 2008.  I still have not seen the first two movies, but I have no doubt that Disney will allow me to see both many times before October 24^th when HSM3 hits the TV screens.  Oh wait, per IMDB, HSM3 will debut on the big screen. 

IMDB.com is such a wealth of information for me today.  For all of the Harry Potter fans, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince comes out November 21, 2008. 

So there you have it, four great sequels to check out this year.  I think it’s totally wonderful that three of the four are based on books.  If you didn’t know, now you know!  Happy movie watching and book reading!

Readergirlz rock and so does their Operation Teen Book Drop!  On April 17^th, I will join the readergirlz and their supporters, including The Brown Bookshelf, as they drop books across America.  The readergirlz will be dropping 10,000 books at pediatric hospitals across the country and they are encouraging anyone who participates to drop books where teens can find them.

I was excited to read about Operation TBD, not because I can drop off a copy or two of Freshman Focus, but because of what it means on a larger scale.  I realized the other night I have a $16 credit at a local used bookstore so I plan to shop ‘til I drop there and take my purchases around the city of Charlotte near the local middle and high schools in addition to near other places teens congregate in Charlotte, like the malls.  Inspired by what I see on Oprah’s Big Give, I want to do my part in paying it forward by dropping books at a homeless shelter and a foster home.  I hope to think of other places that need books here in my community.  If you have suggestions, leave a comment in the blog.

So if you’re in Charlotte, be on the lookout for the Book Drop Fairy on 4.17.08.  If you want to be a part of Operation Book Drop, do so!  It’s open to everyone.  I hope you are inspired to participate and pass this along to others in your e-mail address book as we all support the readergirlz and teens reading great books!

Go forth and rock the drop!