NBA Jam (Video Game)

Released: October 2010

Console: Wii

Also available for these consoles: Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Interest level: Ages 8 & up

Genre: Sports - Basketball

Contents: For basketball fans, this game is a ton of fun. Choose your favorite players from any basketball team, from the Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant or Pau Gasol or the Miami Heats LeBron James. There are many teams to choose from, but there are only some players to choose from, not the whole team. Some cool features are are you can choose to give your players big heads, which look funny, or you can choose to leave them regular. The Campaign Mode is hilarious: you can choose to play the Clintons, Bush or Sarah Palin. There are many classic players and codes that you can unlock, so play and have some fun. Dunking in this game is great, as well as pushing other players down to get them out of your way ( yeah, don't worry about fouls).

What you need: Wii controls and Nunchuks.

Mario Kart (Video Game)

Released: April 2008

Game Console: Nintendo Wii

Interest level: Ages 7 & up

Genre: Video game - Racing

Contents: For fans of previous Mario Karts, like the one for Nintendo 64 or Mario Kart Double dash for Gamecube, this version has better graphics and a lot of extras. Race on brand new tracks or race familiar old tracks from previous versions. As always you can choose your favorite character like Princess Peach, Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Yoshi, Toad, etc. Then your choose your car, which for me is always the fun part, and if you don't want to drive a car choose a motorcycle! Those are kind of hard for me, but I'm still getting used to them. Another fun feature is of course all the items you can pick up to deter other drivers from winning, like the blue shell with wings, which will blow up the driver in first place and anyone around them, or the bullet that takes you flying through the track past opponents for a short time. This is a really fun game!

What you need: Wii controls, Nunchuks.

Optional: Racing wheel

When You Reach Me

Stead, R. (2009). When You Reach Me. New York, NY: Random House Publishing.

Plot: It is 1979 in New York City and Miranda has lost her best friend Sal after he got punched in the stomach and decided that he didn't want to be friends anymore. Miranda is helping her mom study up because she is going to be a contestant on The $20,000 Pyramid. The spare key is missing after Miranda received a strange note asking about the key and telling her that they are going to save the life of her friend. How does this person seem to know things about Miranda's life, things that haven't happened yet even? Miranda goes on to receive more creepy notes, even when working at Jimmy's Sandwich Shop while counting bread rolls during lunch time. Miranda makes many references in the story about her favorite book, A Wrinkle in Time, which she reads time and again.

Genre: Mystery

Suggested reading level: Grades 6-8

Subjects/themes: friendship, growing up, family, mystery, sci-fi

Awards:

• Newbery Medal 2010
• Publisher's Weekly Best Children's Books 2010
• Book Sense Book of the Year 2010
• Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards 2010

Speak Now (Song)

Album: Speak Now

Song titled: Speak Now

Artist: Taylor Swift

Released: Oct. 25, 2010

Run Time: 4:01

Label: Big Machine Records

Genre: Country/Pop



Partial Lyrics:

I am not the kind of girl

Who should be rudely barging in

On a white veil occasion

But you are not the kind of boy

Who should be marrying the wrong girl

I sneak in and see your friends

And her snotty little family

All dressed in pastel

And she is yelling at a bridesmaid

Somewhere back inside a room

Wearing a gown shaped like a pastry

This is surely not

What you thought it would be

I lose myself in a daydream

Where I stand and say

Don't say yes, run away now

I'll meet you when you're out

Of the church at the back door

Don't wait or say a single vow

You need to hear me out

And they said speak now

Other songs on the album: Mine; Sparks Fly; Back to December; Dear John; Mean; The Story of Us; Never grow Up; Enchanted; Better Than Revenge; Innocent; Haunted; Last Kiss; Long Live.

Personal thoughts: Taylor Swift's lyrics are always so honest and are famously written about guys she's dated in the past. She is a true romantic and I admit that I like her music very much.



Camp Rock (Film)

(2008). Camp Rock. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.

Run time: 98 minutes

Disney Channel Original Movie

Directed by: Matthew Diamond

Starring:
Demi Lavato
Joe Jonas
Nick Jonas
Kevin Jonas

Plot: Mitchie is an aspiring singer and wants to go to Camp Rock, but it is too expensive, so to go her mom has to be the caterer for the camp and Mitchie has to help out in the kitchen. Scandalous Shane Gray, lead singer of Connect 3, is at the camp trying to repair his image and hears a girl singing with a beautiful voice, but she takes off before he can see her. Mitchie tries to keep the fact that she helps out in the kitchen secret and Shane befriends her while still searching for the girl with the voice.

Genre: Musical

Interest level: ages 8-12

Subjects/themes: music, singing, dancing, be true to yourself, romance.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (Film)

(2009). Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Sony Pictures.

Run time: 90 minutes

Directed by: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller

Starring:

Bill Hader
Neil Patrick Harris
Anna Faris
James Caan
Bruce Campbell
Mr. T
Andy Sandberg

Plot: Wannabe scientist Flint Lockwood has been trying all his life to create something amazing but never succeeded, like his spray-on shoes that don't come off. He isn't very popular in his hometown of Swallow Falls, until he finally creates something that does work. He creates the Diatonic Super Mutating Dynamic Food Replicator, which turns water molecules into food. The first time the device works it rains burgers all over the town. The mayor of Swallow Falls sees dollar signs and wants Flint to make it rain food three times a day, and to get tourists to come they rename the town Chewandswallow. He doesn't realize it yet, but Flint might have bitten off more than he can chew. Pun intended. =)

Genre: Fantasy

Interest level: ages 8 & up

Subjects/themes: family, growing up, science, food, romance.

Weekend

Pike, C. (1986). Weekend. New York, NY: Point.

Plot: Shani and her friends are going down to Mexico for a fun weekend at Lena and Robin's beachside house. Robin is ill and has to be on dialysis because her kidneys are failing. Someone has something other than fun planned and terrible things start to happen. Robin was poisoned at a party, which is the cause of her illness, and this person is going to find out who did it, no matter what.

Genre: Horror, thriller

Suggested reading level: Grades 6-9

Subjects/themes: Jealousy, revenge, friendship, family, kidney failure.

Other books by Christopher Pike:

• Remember Me
• Chain Letter
• Bury Me Deep
• Slumber Party
• Spellbound

Personal thoughts: Christopher Pike is one of my favorite authors alongside R. L. Stine because he writes amazing books for tweens and teens. They are always great reads, especially for mystery/thriller fans, though he has written awesome fantasy/sci-fi books as well. His books are classic and I highly recommend them.