PENDRAGON: MERCHANT OF DEATH – GRAPHIC NOVEL by D.J. MacHale

The Pendragon series is extremely popular at my middle school, but I’ve never read any of them for myself.  So, this graphic novel is my first introduction to the series. 

Bobby Pendragon is a “traveler,” but he doesn’t know it.  His Uncle Press picks him up the day he is on the way to a big basketball game and takes him to an abandoned subway station.  Once there, he makes it to the flume and is transported to Denduron.  Bobby has no idea what he’s doing there.  His Uncle hasn’t had time to explain anything.  It turns out he is meant to save worlds like Denduron from disaster.

Bobby becomes very frustrated with the responsibility of saving Denduron and is asked to keep a journal of the events he is going through in order to keep everything straight and for future reference.  He was given a way to send his journals to someone he trusts back on Earth and the only person he can think of is his best friend Mark.  Through Bobby’s journal entries to Mark, we get the whole story of Denduron and the problems they are facing.

I enjoyed the story, but I do feel that I missed some of the story.  I feel like I need to go back and read the whole story. 

 

24 Hour Read-A-Thon Updates

 

 Since WordPress doesn’t allow Sticky Posts I’m going to add to this post with my hourly updates.

ALSO, I’ve been having difficulty reposting this over and over again.  Sometimes text disappears.  Just now when I added my latest update my information for Hour 6 – 11.  UGH!!!  I have no idea what happened.  Oh well.    

Hour 24
I finished my PENDRAGON MERCHANT OF DEATH GRAPHIC NOVEL.  It was 170 pages which gives me grand total of 516 pages.

 

Hours 13 and 14

FInished THE COFFIN CLUB: VK 5 by Ellen Schreiber.  This go round I read 106 pages for a grand total of 346.  I’ve finished two books which I’m happy about.  I can probably squeeze in the Pendragon graphic novel after some sleep. 

Hours 6 -12  Were lost in some mysterious technology, cyberspace incident.  I remember in here somewhere I said that I finally finished ZOMBIE BLONDES and read a total of 67 pages in the final part of the book for a total of 170 pages.  Then I started THE COFFIN CLUB by Ellen Schreiber. 

 

 

Hour 5
Title of book(s) read this hour: ZOMBIE BLONDES by Brian James
Number of books read since you started: still on the first one
Pages read: 20
Running total of pages read since you started: 80
Amount of time spent reading: 15 min.
Running total of time spent reading since you started: 1 hour 15 min.
Mini-challenge this hour: Favorite Quote Challenge
Other participants visited: None. 
Prize you’ve won: Zilch, but still hopeful

Hour 4

No reading.  I had a donkey emergency and did dishes.     

Hour 3

No reading. Did some housework, checked on animals and called my husband so he didn’t fell so left out.

Hour 2

Title of book(s) read this hour: ZOMBIE BLONDES by Brian James
Number of books read since you started: still on the first one
Pages read: 30
Running total of pages read since you started: 60
Amount of time spent reading: 30 min.
Running total of time spent reading since you started: 1 hour
Mini-challenge this hour: Nymeth’s web comic challenge
Other participants visited: None.  I tried to focus on reading after I finished my Mini-Challenge.
Prize you’ve won: None yet.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed though.

Hour 1

 

Title of book(s) read this hour: ZOMBIE BLONDES by Brian James
Number of books read since you started: still on the first one
Pages read: 30 (getting a slow start this morning.  I have got to stay off of the computer)
Running total of pages read since you started: 30
Amount of time spent reading: 30 min.
Running total of time spent reading since you started: 30 min.
Mini-challenge this hour: Introduction Meme
Other participants visited: Care’s Online Book Club
Prize you’ve won: None yet.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed though.

 

 

24 Hour Read-A-Thon Hour 24 Mini-Challenge

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? 
I started getting tired around Midnight.  That is a couple hours after my normal bed time.  Everything was dark and my eyes were already tired from reading throughout the day and even drinking iced tea wasn’t doing anything for me.  I decided to finally go to bed with the intent of getting up in a couple of hours, but lo and behold, I didn’t even wake up until 8 AM.  UGH!!

2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
Well, this is a hard question since tastes are so different, but here are some suggestions.  I didn’t read this for the read-a-thon since I’ve already read it, but for someone needing an entertaining book I’d try FREAK SHOW by James St. James.  This book is hysterical.  It will keep your attention.

3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
I think everything worked great.  I just seemed to me that if I stayed on the computer to participate in a mini-challenge and visiting other readers and cheerleaders I lost most of that hour’s reading time.   Still, don’t change it…I loved the mini-challenges.  I just need to be more disciplined and get off the computer right away.

4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
I think the Cheerleaders did a great job.  It was so motivating to have comments come in randomly throughout the event. 

5. How many books did you read?
I read 3 books.

6. What were the names of the books you read?
ZOMBIE BLONDES by Brian James
THE COFFIN CLUB: VAMPIRE KISSES 5 by Ellen Schreiber
PENDRAGON: MERCHANT OF DEATH (Graphic Novel) by D.J. MacHale
I’ll be posting the reviews for all three soon.

7. Which book did you enjoy most?
I enjoyed ZOMBIE BLONDES the most.  It was a nice horror novel set in a high school setting.  What is more scary than zombie cheerleaders huh???

8. Which did you enjoy least?
PENDRAGON: MERCHANT OF DEATH the graphic novel is the one I enjoyed the least.  I like graphic novels, but I don’t get as much enjoyment out of them as I do a traditional book.

9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
N/A

10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
I would love to participate in the Read-A-Thon again.  I can’t wait.  I will be a reader again I think.  I love the Cheerleaders, but I think I’d want to spend my time reading instead of being on the computer the whole day.

 

24 Hour Read-A-Thon Mini-Challenge

Lori’s Reading Corner is sponsoring a book collage Mini-Challenge.  I have just started exploring Google’s Picasa and love it.  It has a picture collage feature built in.  Check out one of mine below.

 

24 Hour Read-A-Thon Mini-Challenge

Hosted by  Vasily, we are to find a favorite quote from a book we’ve read.  One of my favorite book is FREAK SHOW by James St. JAMES.  So here is my favorite quote.  It is when Billy Bloom, a gender obscurist, is getting ready for the first day at a new school.  He doesn’t want to come on too strong so he plans his first day outfit very carefully.

“OKAY, HERE IT IS.  MY OUTFIT:
Don’t worry.
It’s totally masculine.
Swarthy, even.
Nobody will suspect a thing.
I’m going with the whole retro-now wave/Vivienne Westwood/pirate look.  Fab, right?  What’s straighter than a pirate?  Ruffled lace shirt, unbuttoned down to THERE.  High-waisted blue pants, practically sprayed on.  Nothing gay about that right? Only redneck and Eurotrash dare to wear pants that tights and vulgar.
A thrift story military jacket in Prussian blue, a crimson sash, some rags tied in my hair…
Then what?  Pearls?
Eye patch?
Cap’n Crunch hat?
Trusty sword?
Gold teeth?

No, no, no.  It’s all too much.  Well, maybe one gold tooth……..”

And on it goes from there… this is an absolutely fabulous book.  Check it out.

 

24 Hour Read-A-Thon Hour 2 Mini-Challenge

Nymeth is hosting the Hour 2 Mini-Challenge.  She is encouraging us to read a web comic.  I went to the Unshelved site and searched through the archives a little reading 1 strip at a time.  I came across the June 26, 2008 strip and was able to totally relate.  Unshelved is a web comic based in a library.  The guys who started it even spoke at a conference I went to once.  They are great speakers.  Anyway, the June 26, 2008 strip was about student research and books v. Internet resources.  So true.  Go to the site for yourself and click Archive underneath the current comic strip and search for June 26, 2008.  This is exactly what teacher and librarians go through with kids when they are researching.   

 

24 Hour Read-A-Thon Hour 1 Mini-Challenge

Where are you reading from today?
My home in Washington, OK.

3 facts about me …
I own 30 goats and 1 donkey.
I’m a middle school librarian.
I was a sign language interpreter for the hearing impaired before I became a teacher.

How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?
I have many in my TBR pile since I’m at home.  I’d love to finish 3 today, but I am going to have some interruptions.  I have to get some housework finished today…UGH.  I hate that!  Anyway, I’ll be listening to an audiobook during that time.

Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)?
See my goals listed in a previous post.

Any advice for people doing this for the first time?
I didn’t do this last year so I don’t have advice to give – yet.  I am going into this with NO PRESSURE.  If I have to stop at some point during the day then OH WELL.  I’ll participate as long as I can. 

 

24 Hour Read-A-Thon – Organized by Dewey Monster

On Saturday at 11:00 AM Central Time (9AM Pacific) I’ll begin the 24 Hour Read-A-Thon that is being organized by Dewey Monster.  I’m posting this reminder just in case some of you guys that happen to stop by decide you want to join.  Also, I’m going to post my goals for the read-a-thon.

1) Finish Zombie Blondes by Brian James
2) Read Pendragon Merchant of Death Graphic Novel
3) Post Blog updates once an hour or so to document my progress.
4) Check Dewey Monster’s Blog for information about Mini-Challenges.
5) Write a review for a book as soon as I finish it.
6) Try not to kill my husband when he refuses to turn the TV down so I can concentrate on my book. HA HA.
7) Read as many books as I can.