Monday, April 29, 2013

Accomplice by Eireann Corrigan

Wow, what a plot.  Finn and Chloe are seniors and worried about getting into a top notch school.  Lots of people get good grades, lots of people are in 4H, what will make them special?  This is when they plan Chloe's "kidnapping."  Believing that this will make Chloe and her best friend stand out and be remember when she is discovered, they actually go through with it.  The book takes off from the beginning, the plan is already in motion and its not till later that you get the back story of their planning and what led to their decisions.  I didn't fall in love with this book, but I did have to keep reading it just to see how everything turned out in the end.  Brings up a lot of ethical issues when you see what these girls put their parents, friends and town through.

Friday, April 26, 2013

Ripper by Stefan Petrucha

This is MY kind of historical fiction!  SERIAL KILLERS...well, one very well known serial killer, Jack the Ripper.  This is the story of Carver Young, an orphan in 1800s New York.  Carver wants nothing more than to be a detective. He gets his wish when events lead him to begin looking for his biological father.  In doing this he gets embroiled in the manhunt for the world's most notorious serial killer, Jack the Ripper.  I loved the author notes at the end of the book where he addresses what things he made up and what things were accurate to the time period.  This was a fantastic read, I couldn't put it down!

13 Curses by Michelle Harrison

Oh, I loved this one as much as the first in the series!  This one focuses more on Red as she tries to get her brother back and return to the "real world" after she was sent to the "fairy realm" at the end of the last book.  LOTS happens in this book, secrets are revealed and it really makes you want to hurry out and read the final book in the trilogy.  THIS is where things get disappointing, I don't have this for the library YET...but I am hoping to purchase it today!

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Temple Grandin : How the Girl who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World by Sy Montgomery

What a wonderful biography of a woman who has done so much to help people understand animals and autism.  Most of us know someone who has some form of autism.  We hear a lot about it in schools.  I loved the way the book described the unique way that Temple saw the world and how she went about helping her beloved animals.  This story does talk about the slaughtering of the animals that we use for food (cows, pigs, chickens).  Some of it is hard to read, but I think its important to know where your food comes from.

13 Treasures by Michelle Harrison

I really, REALLY liked this book, but I like books about fairies, those tricky mythical creatures.  I got lost in the magic of this book.  Don't let the cover fool you, it looks like it would be right at home in an elementary school, but this book has so much going for it.  Thea is a great main character.  She can see fairies that no one else can.  When she goes to stay with her grandmother, who she is convinced does not like her, she finds herself in the middle of several mysteries.  I love the setting of this book.  I love the idea of old houses with secret passages and hidden rooms and this book has it!  This is the first in a trilogy.  I have just started the second one, "13 Curses," which we have in the library and the third will be published next year in February.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

What's Left of Me? by Kat Zhang

I was so intrigued by this book. In the future everyone is born with two souls, at about age 5 one becomes dominant and the other disappears.  This is the story of Addie and Eva two souls that remain "unsettled" and they are trying to hide this fact.  I loved the relationship between Addie and Eva, it was like a really intense identical twin relationship because they are sharing one body.  I would have liked more information about how this "two souls" came about.  It seems to be a futuristic novel, but they never tell you if this is far in the future and how the two souls issue came about.  This was a nice twist in the ever growing list of dystopian literature.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

This is the second book in a great new science fiction series called: The Lunar Chronicles.  The first book is titled "Cinder," and I have written about it in an earlier blog entry.  Just as Cinder is a loose retelling of the traditional Cinderella, the new characters we meet in Scarlet remind us of the Little Red Riding Hood tale.  Cinder continues to try to save Emperor Kai and her world from the evil Lunar queen.  The story switches back and forth between Cinder and Scarlet's stories until they finally intersect at the end of the story. These two characters and their friends are going to have to work together to save Earth from the Lunar's that are trying to take over with their mind-controlling abilities.  This one leaves us hanging again and now we have to wait for book #3 in this trilogy. This series is a must read if you like
futuristic science fiction.

Choke by Diana Lopez

Windy is an 8th grade student who, if her parents would let her, would change a lot of things about herself.  She wants to be part of the "in crowd."  Nina, the new girl, maybe Windy's way in to the popular group but it may cost her her life.  This is a novel that explores a game that I hope NONE of the young adults I know ever try to play; the choking game.  It has quite the unexpected ending.  Through a lot of the book I wanted to just shake Windy because she had a really great friend but she didn't see that as enough.  She still wanted to part of the "popular crowd." I really liked the character of the best friend.  She was goofy and loyal and forgiving and very comfortable with herself and that is what I wish for everyone...just be comfortable with yourself!