Matched by Ally Condie
For Cassia, nothing is left to chance--not what she will eat, the job she will have, or the man she will marry. In Matched, the Society Officials have determined optimal outcomes for all aspects of daily life, thereby removing the "burden" of choice. When Cassia's best friend is identified as her ideal marriage Match it confirms her belief that Society knows best, until she plugs in her Match microchip and a different boy’s face flashes on the screen. This improbable mistake sets Cassia on a dangerous path to the unthinkable--rebelling against the predetermined life Society has in store for her.
The Doomsday Box by Herbie Brennan
The British teen spies from The Shadow Project (2009), gifted with powers of astral projection, gear up for another mission, this time traveling back in time. It�s a convoluted web of logic that gets them to 1962 Moscow to halt a deadly outbreak of the Black Death imported from the fourteenth century, but their run-ins with the KGB are the stuff of classic spy thrillers. Curiously, the action is far more subdued in this sequel than the first book, but the zippy pacing and some tasty paranormal brain-candy combine for an ultimately enjoyable read.
The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen
Jessica has run her personal best at a track meet-then there's a tragic bus accident and the high school junior loses her leg as well as her future dreams. From waking up in the hospital and coping with the trauma, to her return home, then school, she tries to grab her life back. On one level the story offers inspiration to those dealing with physical changes in their own lives and the stages of recovery, fight, survival, and victory as Jessica reaches deep to push past her wall of self-pity and loathing, and moves beyond the "finish line." On a deeper level, there is her blind discrimination toward a fellow classmate who has cerebral palsy. Rosa is hard to understand and easy to ignore. She is anchored to a wheelchair. Jessica, encumbered by her crutches and her tender "stump," is seated in the back of the class, out of the way, next to Rosa. She learns that the girl is smart, wise, and friendly. They pass notes and share lunch. Rosa writes, "I wish people would see me and not my condition." When Jessica is running again-on a specially engineered prosthesis-she challenges herself to help her friend be seen. How Jessica orchestrates putting Rosa in the forefront of a community race and pushing her wheelchair across a finish line is a study in faith and determination.
Lewis and Clark by Nick Bertozzi
Meriwether Lewis, a complex and fascinating figure in American history, was a bold explorer and a man haunted by demons. Both sides of his personality are revealed in this saga of his search for a Northwest water passageway to the Pacific. This retelling begins as Jefferson informs Lewis that Congress has approved this expedition. After recruiting William Clark and obtaining necessary provisions, the expedition departs St. Louis in 1804. Death, stampeding buffalo herds, steep-sided canyons, large bodies of moving water, and encounters with multiple Native American tribes must be negotiated. The author makes excellent use of the generous page size. The vertical orientation of side panels frames a deep chasm and scale the heights of a tall tree. Prairies are depicted with long horizontal panels spanning the gutter, and full-page spreads show the expansive country, contributing to readers' understanding of the vastness of the journey. Traditional panels and speech balloons are used to portray the points of view of the explorers. Shapes and outlines of panels alter significantly when the various Native communities are depicted, with a different design for each tribe. Inventive use of differently shaped speech balloon help readers identify each individual tribe that the explorers encounter.
Roots and Blues by Arnold Adoff
This exquisite collection of poems and paintings celebrates the history and culture of blues music. Adoff traces the horrific journey of slaves to America and the role that music played as a means of survival, of passing on "the ancestor words." Even as the lyrics describe harsh realities, the innate beauty of music made with sticks, spoons, or whatever was at hand speaks of an irrepressible hope: "Under the hot sun: the chop chop/hoe/measures out the beats of freedom." Christie's haunting acrylic images bring to life the drama and emotion of the music, as well as the dignity of his subjects. In the latter half of the book, Adoff introduces blues performers Bessie Smith, Lonnie Johnson, Son House, Ma Rainey, Robert Johnson, Johnny Lee Hooker, B. B. King, and Muddy Waters, stepping down on the "Chicago/train/station/platform/with a suitcase/of Mississippi River/with a suitcase/of Mississippi/Delta with a suitcase of Mississippi/dripping/on side/walk/s."
Cloaked by Alex Flinn
A princess, a cobbler, a witch, and modern-day South Beach mash up in Flinn�s latest fairy-tale retelling. Johnny works tirelessly in a luxury hotel�s shoe-repair shop, dreaming of becoming a high-end shoe designer. He sees an opportunity to get his shoes on famous feet when a hard-partying European princess moves in. Victoriana notices Johnny, too, and thinks he is just the one to find her brother, Prince Philippe, who was turned into a frog as blackmail for Victoriana�s hand in marriage. She gives Johnny a fistful of cash, a transporting cloak, and an earpiece that allows him to understand animals that used to be human, which are a lot more plentiful in Florida than he ever imagined. Instead of a well-known classic, several lesser-known tales combine here to give the book a nice blend of the familiar (the frog who needs a kiss to transform) and the novel (how will a puny kid best two giants?). Readers will keep turning pages to figure out just how many transmogrifications Johnny can resolve, and whose dreams will come true.
The Floating Islands by Rachel Newmeier
When Trei loses his family in a tragic disaster, he must search out distant relatives in a new land. The Floating Islands are unlike anything Trei has ever seen: stunning, majestic, and graced with kajurai, men who soar the skies with wings.
Trei is instantly sky-mad, and desperate to be a kajurai himself. The only one who fully understands his passion is Araene, his newfound cousin. Prickly, sarcastic, and gifted, Araene has a secret of her own . . . a dream a girl cannot attain.
Trei and Araene quickly become conspirators as they pursue their individual paths. But neither suspects that their lives will be deeply entwined, and that the fate of the Floating Islands will lie in their hands. . . .
Filled with rich language, and told in alternating voices, The Floating Islands is an all-encompassing young adult fantasy read.
Demon Glass by Rachel Hawkins
Sophie Mercer thought she was a witch.
That was the whole reason she was sent to Hex Hall, a reform school for delinquent Prodigium (aka witches, shapeshifters, and fairies). But that was before she discovered the family secret, and that her hot crush, Archer Cross, is an agent for The Eye, a group bent on wiping Prodigium off the face of the earth.
Turns out, Sophie’s a demon, one of only two in the world—the other being her father. What’s worse, she has powers that threaten the lives of everyone she loves. Which is precisely why Sophie decides she must go to London for the Removal, a dangerous procedure that will destroy her powers.
But once Sophie arrives she makes a shocking discovery. Her new friends? They’re demons too. Meaning someone is raising them in secret with creepy plans to use their powers, and probably not for good. Meanwhile, The Eye is set on hunting Sophie down, and they’re using Acher to do it. But it’s not like she has feelings for him anymore. Does she?
Fade by Lisa McMann
This sequel to Wake (2008) follows dream-catcher Janie as she navigates the treacherous world of dreaming the dreams of others. Janie and her boyfriend, Cabel, use their skills to work undercover investigating teachers suspected of drugging and abusing students at class parties. Janie takes on more than she can handle in cracking the case, and Cabel is unable to intervene to his satisfaction, which strains their relationship. Janie also comes to understand more about her dream-catching ability and the consequences in store for her, most notably a heavy, irreversible physical toll. The series is moving in a darker, more dramatic direction, with Janie facing evil and needing to decide if she can sacrifice her own health for the greater good. Series of sentence fragments (“She scratches her head. Looks around. Laughs”) take some getting used to but keep the action firmly in the present tense and build suspense. A great blend of mystery, romance, and supernatural elements, and featuring a strong but vulnerable female protagonist, this episode ends with an irresistible hook for the final installment.
Gone by Lisa McMann
Things should be great for Janie--she has graduated from high school and is spending her summer with Cabel, the guy she's totally in love with. But deep down she's panicking about how she's going to survive her future when getting sucked into other people's dreams is really starting to take its toll. Things get even more complicated when she meets her father for the very first time--and he's in a coma. As Janie uncovers his secret past, she begins to realize that the choice thought she had has more dire consequences than she ever imagined.
High Heat by Carl Deuker
Shane Hunter's life of privilege disintegrates when his dad is arrested for money laundering and commits suicide. The teen, his mother, and his younger sister are forced to move out of their palatial home and into subsidized housing in a tough part of Seattle. Shane has a difficult time adjusting, and is eventually arrested for stealing beer from a convenience store. As part of his probation, he must help repair a local baseball diamond. There, he meets the coach of his public school's baseball team, who encourages him to try out. A crucial moment comes when Shane, a relief pitcher with a blazing fastball, faces the team from his old private school. His anger rises to the surface, and he delivers a fastball directly at the head of Reese Robertson, the kid whose family bought Shane's house. Reese is hospitalized, and although Shane affects a lack of concern, he is so rattled that his pitching skills deteriorate. The rest of the novel follows his attempts to get both his arm and his life back on track, and the uneasy bond he forms with Reese.
Monsters of Men(Chaos Walking Book Three) by Patrick Ness
The first word of this conclusion to the trilogy is "war," and war between various factions takes up much of this book. The action begins immediately and is told from two and then three viewpoints with no backstory that might bring readers new to the series up to speed. Todd and Viola attempt to persuade Mayor Prentiss and Mistress Coyle, respectively, that peace is the better path to the future, peace with one another and with the vast army of Spackles that looms above the valley. Unfortunately, the Mayor and Mistress only want peace that comes with victory for their faction. A scout ship arrives from the approaching convoy of colonists, changing the balance of power. The Mayor uses his "Noise," the ability that male humans and all of the Spackle have to communicate mentally, to control his army and to influence Todd. Mistress Coyle and the other mistresses shelter under the protection of the scout ship and work to cure the infection of the bands that threaten the lives of many of the women, including Viola. Ness distinguishes his various narrators by the use of different fonts, further distinguishing Todd with a select few words misspelled.
No comments:
Post a Comment