Saturday, July 16, 2011

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

Here's another "Wow" !  Moon Over Manifest, Vanderpool's very first novel,  won the 2011 Newberry Award-ALA's best book for children-not bad for a new writer!!  I love the story within a story- set both in the Depression and WWI.  Manifest has wonderful, eccentric, well developed characters.  This was the perfect book for me to read while in the hammock...


Twelve-year-old Abilene Tucker is the daughter of a drifter who, in the summer of 1936, sends her to stay with an old friend in Manifest, Kansas, where he grew up, and where she hopes to find out some things about his past.

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Wow!  Bacigalupi's first novel written for teens has won the Printz Award: ALA's best novel of the year for young adults and I can see why.  It keeps you turning the page and forgetting to reapply sunscreen.  Well worth the sunburn!


In a futuristic world, teenaged Nailer scavenges copper wiring from grounded oil tankers for a living, but when he finds a beached clipper ship with a girl in the wreckage, he has to decide if he should strip the ship for its wealth or rescue the girl.

Split Screen: A Love Story

Here's an innovative short film shot entirely using a cell phone.  It was the winner of the Nokia Shorts Film competition 2011...  

Splitscreen: A Love Story from JW Griffiths on Vimeo.