Green Books Campaign/Book Reviews: Stagestruck & I was a Teenage Alien

On Wednesday, November 10, 2010, at 1:00 PM Eastern Time 200 bloggers will take a stand to support books printed on environmental paper by simultaneously publishing reviews of 200 such books.

Launched in 2009 by Eco-Libris, this campaign is aiming to promote “green” books by reviewing 200 books printed on recycled paper or FSC-certified paper. By turning a spotlight on books printed using environmental paper, we want to raise the awareness of book buyers to this issue and encourage them to take it into consideration when purchasing books.

For more information or to see what other blogs are participating you can go to  http://www.ecolibris.net/greenbookscampaign2010.asp

I am proud to be a part of the Green Books Campaign it started with an email from Heather, she had done this on her last blog so asked if we wanted to do it on this one and my response was a definite yes, than I started doing some investigating on what exactly we were promoting, here is what I found.

More than 30 Million trees are cut down annually for virgin paper used for the production of books sold in the U.S. alone. That’s definitely a problem – trees are one of the most valuable natural resources we have. They literally form the foundations of many natural systems and provide us with numerous benefits (carbon dioxide absorption, soil and water conservation, avalanche control, desertification prevention to name a few).

I was shocked when I read this!  Now there is no way any of us can give up our books, but it does put a little different perspective on ebooks for me now.  And I do wonder why more publishers are not using recycled paper to print books.  I have learned that books on recycled paper are no different than a regular book.

Eco-Libris started a program where you can balance out those books, by donating $1 for every book you purchase and a tree will be planted (it actually averages out to 13 trees planted for ever $10 donated, not a bad deal and well worth it if you ask me.  For more information you go to:  ecolibris.net

This is the second year that I have participated in this, and so when I got the email about the campaign I told Mel and she of course was immediately on board. In our family there are two people that try and make us all go green, and we have in a lot of ways. Those two people are Mel and my son Mike. The book that I read last year has become a favorite of both boys, Mike loves the fact that is was printed 100% on recycled paper. This year I read a YA book as all the childrens books would have had to come from overseas and as this is the go green campaign well I had to choose a different book. Mel of course got her first choice Stagestruck.

By Shelley Peterson

From the author of the best-selling Sundancer, Dancer, and Abby Malone comes a reissue of Stagestruck — a fan favorite chock-full of adventure, mystery, and romance. With his owner, Hilary, off at university, the magnificent showjumper Dancer is restless and in need of exercise. Abby is thrilled when Hilary offers her a chance to train this magnificent horse, but she soon finds herself caught in a tangle of mysterious events. As Abby prepares Dancer for the prestigious Grand Invitational — and the community comes together to mount play at the old theatre — strange things begin to occur. Is someone out to hurt Abby, or is Dancer the target?

This was a nice book that any pre-teen or YA who loves horses would enjoy reading.  It had a little bit of everything; mystery, romance, intrigue and even a resident ghost.  It was a good coming of age story written in the classic Little House or Anne of Green Gables style that could be cherished for years to come.

Grade B

I was a Teenage Alien

Jane Greenhill

Oas is sent from her home planet of Zorca-twenty-three to rescue her brother Ralb from the worst humanoid known in the solar system-a teenage girl. With her traveling companions, Rotsen, a plant with an attitude who watches too many Sopranos reruns, and Lehcarr, a Venus Fly Trap with the habit of eating her friends, they set out to find Ralb. Traveling through a black hole, Oas is transformed from her ananoid shape into a teenage humanoid, becoming what she fears most-a teenager. They land in Bedrocktown to find the teenagers aren’t as bad as they feared-they’re worse. Zen her handler has warned her to stay away from pizza and popcorn but she tries both, with horrible results. She needs to find her brother, figure out how humans kiss, save the town from an E. coli outbreak, and meet Johnny Depp, not necessarily in that order. Then all she has to do is find her way home, but are her ties to Earth too strong?

When I picked up this book I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from it, the one thing that I wasn’t expecting was that the people from Zorca twenty-three was that they would be actually bugs, as in the creepy crawly’s that are always around. Now my boys will be the first to tell you that I HATE bugs, I don’t just hate them I LOATHE them. So I had a really hard time getting past that.

Over all the story is a cute fast read if a bit unrealistic. The romance between Josh and Oas never really felt real to me, but then again I am not a teenage girl that falls in love every 5 minutes with a new boy. I am sure that if I was to have given this book to a couple of my former students they would have loved it.

If I was a teenager I would give this book an A however as I am not and there was somethings that I just couldn’t get past (the big thing) I am have to lower my grade just a bit.

Grade B