Spy School

Spy School
by Stuart Gibbs
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
 2012

I picked up Spy School for two reasons.  First, it is  a Colorado Children's Book Award Nominee this year, and second, a student checked it out last week and came in two days later saying "Ohmygosh, Mrs.Covington this book is AMAZING howhaveyounotreadityet?!?!"

I didn't have an answer, and I didn't have a book to read that night, so I took it home. And I'm glad I did!  It's a great read - just enough suspense to keep me reading, along with some truly humorous moments.

Ben Ripley is a 12-year-old dork.  There's no two ways about it.  When he comes home from school one day to find out he's being recruited for the undercover CIA spy school, he's overjoyed.  Finally, he'll be able to do something cool.  Unfortunately, it's all top secret - he can't even tell his best friend.  However during his first day at spy school, after being shot at a few times and fighting off an attacker in his dorm room with a tennis racket, he finds out that he actually didn't qualify for spy school - they brought him in to use as a decoy to flush out a mole within the school.  Luckily for the CIA, Ben is actually smarter than he seems and he turns out to be a pretty good agent-in-training, especially since his life is on the line.

While the plot is extremely fantastic, and I was a little annoyed with how absolutely inept every single adult in the book was portrayed, Spy School is a fun read.  And though I'll admit I figured out who the mole was before the book actually revealed it, I will say it took some re-reading and deep thinking for me to actually figure it out.  I would say this book is a great read for anyone between 4th and 7th grade - depending on their reading level, and it's a great read for any kid who likes spy novels.

Impartial Witness by Charles Todd

An Impartial Witness
Charles Todd
Narrated by Rosalyn Landor
Audiobooks America 2010

As a librarian, my list of "must reads" is always longer than Crystal Gale's hair, so it's rare for me to just grab a book at the library.  However, two weeks ago I had to make an emergency trip to Denver, and none of my requested audio books were in yet, so I decided to pick one off the shelf.  Two things happened: one, I perused books on the shelf and chose a book based on cover art and the short summaries you find either on the back or on the inside of the dust jacket.  I'll explore this topic in more depth later.  Two, I found a great book by an author I'd never heard of that I really enjoyed.
The book I chose was An Impartial Witness by Charles Todd.  It's a Bess Crawford mystery, and now that I've finished it, I know that there are actually multiple books in the series, and An Impartial Witness is the second of the series, and the newest of the series will be out next week.  The Bess Crawford mysteries are historical mysteries, set in England during World War I. Bess is a very strong female - she's a field nurse for the military and she was an "army brat" of sorts, growing up in India where her father was a high-ranking officer (I can't ever keep military ranks straight, and since I listened to the audio book, there's no way I'm going to figure out his rank, sorry) in the British military. In all of the mysteries, Bess doesn't go looking for trouble, but she definitely doesn't know how to leave trouble alone once it finds her - a fact that is eluded to often in An Impartial Witness.
The book starts out with Bess treating a severely burned pilot who keeps a picture of his wife near him at all times.  After transporting the man to a hospital in England, Bess takes a train to London for a few days leave before she must return to the front.  As she's walking through the train station, she sees the woman from the photograph - the pilot's wife - but this woman is utterly despondent as she bids farewell to a different soldier.  A few weeks later, Bess finds out that the woman was brutally murdered later on that same day.  When Bess volunteers to help Scotland Yard with the investigation, she's caught up in the mystery and nearly gets herself killed a few times.
I loved that the book had a historical element to it that added to the "intrigue", however on the same note, I'm not too sure of the historical accuracy of the book.  For example, the book takes place in 1917, and Bess has her own motorcar that she drives around like it's no big deal.  That seems odd to me - but I wasn't alive in 1917, so maybe women were driving quite a bit back then.  Also, I love that Todd has created a very strong female character who doesn't back down just because she's a female, but I was surprised at the fact that no one objected to her nosing around all the time.  In the end, the flaws didn't outweigh the enjoyment I had listening to the book - Rosalyn Landor did a great job with voices and keeping the pace quick enough so that it wasn't boring.
I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction, mysteries and strong female characters, but I wouldn't recommend it to readers who are particular about details.  There's nothing terribly risque in the novel, so it could be HS appropriate, but the historical references and vocabulary would make it difficult for a reluctant reader or MS reader to follow.

Paper Covers Rock

Paper Covers Rock

Jenny Hubbard

Delacorte Press

2011

Most people think that I’m super smart because I’m a librarian.  Completely untrue.  I’m really not that smart, and in reading Paper Covers Rock, I realized that I know nothing about classic literature.  Nothing. Zip. The amount in my bank account. Nichts.

Paper Covers Rock is written in diary form, and it is the diary of Alex Stromm, a student at a boarding school in North Carolina.  One afternoon in the fall, he witnesses one of his best friends die in a terrible swimming accident.  In an attempt to deal come to terms with his grief and feelings of guilt, Alex starts keeping a journal; one that is partly reflective in nature and one that tells the story of what happened the day Thomas died.   What keeps the book moving is the fact that Alex isn’t exactly sure what happened that day at the rock – he knows that he, Thomas and their friend Glenn had been drinking, and Thomas had been drinking the most of all of them.  He knows that they decided to jump from the rock into the river, and that he and Thomas played Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who would jump first.  And he knows that when he surfaces from his dive, Thomas is unconscious, and shortly thereafter, he’s dead.  The school has a very strict no alcohol policy, so Glenn and Alex must cover up some of their story in order to stay in school, and Alex quickly begins to suspect that Glenn is trying to cover up more than just the incident on the rock.

So what does all of this have to do with classic literature?  Alex has a bit of a crush on one of his teachers, Miss Dovecott, and in trying to help Alex deal with his loss, she recommends that he read different classics: Moby Dick, the Old Man and the Sea, etc.,  and he weaves lots of literary references into his diary.  For example, he refers to himself as Is-Male (I got that one), and he asks Her-Mann lots of questions (got that one too), and apparently the title to each chapter is a quote from Moby Dick (missed that one).  While I was reading I could tell when the narrator was referencing something, but I rarely had the background knowledge to make the connection.

Regardless of being able to make connections, Hubbard did an amazing job of creating a realistic voice in Alex Stromm.  I don’t know for sure, because, well, I’m not and have never been a teenaged boy, but Alex’s guilt and uncertainty are absolutely real and palpable. And the ending is absolutely true to life.

I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book for middle school or reluctant readers because of all the literary references (I’d call them obscure, but they probably aren’t).  However, I think that just about any high school student can relate to Alex because everyone, at some point, has to choose between seeing the truth even though it’s painful and difficult, or continue to turn a blind eye because it’s easier.  And everyone, at some point in their lives, goes through an event that will change their existence permanently.

The actual review for Daughter of Smoke and Bone

The Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Laini Taylor

Little Brown

2011

Ok, so yesterday’s post was kinda mean.  Well, not mean, but it wasn’t really a review as much as it was a demanding rant.

Sorry about that.

But The Daughter of Smoke and Bone is one of the best books I’ve read in a while.  Holy crap it’s good.  It’s so good that when it ended, I didn’t pick up another book for three days because I couldn’t imagine reading anything else.  And in my world, not picking up a book for three days is a big deal.  HUGE.  My guy was a little worried when I was reading magazines and…gasp…talking to him instead of ignoring him (in my defense, he likes to read as well and is rarely offended when I ignore him).

Every time I give the premise of Daughter, people look at me like I’m nuts.  It’s so involved and so intricate it can be a little confusing.  So stick with me for a minute mmkay?

17 year old Karou lives a double life in Prague.  On the one hand she’s an extremely talented art student who doesn’t have a family and is a little mysterious. On the other hand she’s an errand girl for the chimaera (mythical beings made up of different animals and human parts) who raised her.  However, because they are part animal, part human, the chimaera do not venture out into the human world.  Karou must access them through a one-way portal: she knocks on a door and it is opened to her.  If she tries to open the door from the outside, she cannot enter.  Brimstone, the head chimaera, is a Wishmonger – if you bring him things he wants, he pays in wishes.  And usually what he wants are teeth.  Karou is usually sent out to collect teeth from all kinds of people, both normal and…well…unsavory.  Upon returning from an errand, Karou notices a handprint has been seared into the door of the portal. About a week later, she is attacked by a seraph – a super hot angel dude.  Shortly thereafter, all the portals burn down and Karou is left alone in the human world.  As she tries desperately to find a way back to the only family she’s ever known, the seraph – Akiva – reappears in her life, and Karou is drawn to him for completely inexplicable reasons.

And that? Is only about a third of the actual plot.  The plot is amazing – twists and turns and creativity I never would have imagined. The world Taylor creates is mystical and fantastic and so completely believable you will get lost in it.  And not lost as in “ohmygoodness where am I”, lost as in “I have animals to feed and a job to do? Pah.  I shall read and nothing else”.

And on the last page, you will simultaneously want to hug and curse Taylor.  Hug her because she has created this amazing work of fiction that is romance, action, fantasy wrapped together with a little comedy, and curse her because the sequel Days of Blood and Starlight  (the title was just announced Friday on Taylor’s blog) isn’t due out until this fall.  Oh, the horror.  I seriously don’t know if I can wait that long.  I’ve already contacted Taylor and begged for an advanced copy.

And yes, I will be sending her a link to this review in the hopes that she finds me witty and charming and sends me an advanced copy.

If not, you can bet your knickers I WILL NOT work immediately following the release of Days of Blood and Starlight. I will be reading and neglecting the rest of my life for at least 24 hours.

I also just noticed on her blog that Universal already owns the film rights.  There are only 52 days left until Hunger Games the movie is released.  And you all know how excited I am about that right?  NO LIE: I’d trade Hunger for Daughter.  THAT’S HOW AWESOME IT IS.

So go read it. Now.

The Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

The Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Laini Taylor

Little Brown

2011

There are about a thousand ways I could/can start this review. But I feel like this one sums it up the best:

Stop what you are doing RIGHT NOW and go check out Daughter of Smoke and Bone and read it.

RIGHT. NOW.

Why, dear friend are you still reading this review?!?! Were the capital letters not urgent enough?  Did I not make myself clear?

Go.

Now.

I swear, you’ll love this book and be completely annoyed that the sequel isn’t due out for another six months.

Now go.

JUST GO ALREADY.

Sheesh.

Updated:  I felt bad about this review, so here's the for realsies review 

Trapped by Michael Northrop

Trapped
Michael Northrop
Scholastic Press
2011

It’s winter, it’s cold, and it snows.  Luckily where I live, it doesn’t snow too much (yes, I live in Colorado, but newsflash, the western side of Colorado is the desert), so we rarely get snow days (darn).  When I lived in Chicago I always hoped for snow days, but in the four years I lived there, it just never happened. As a teacher, I love snow days.  It’s the greatest feeling in the world – wake up, start getting ready for school and ring ring YES no school!  I’ve never thought about the fact that a snow day could be bad.

Then I read Trapped by Michael Northrup and I realized a snow day could be bad. Especially if it meant I’d be stuck at school on a snow day.

Trapped takes place in New England – a place where monster snow storms are more common.  And the storm that takes place in this book is the big one – the perfect snowstorm. The book starts out and it’s a regular day with snow expected.  When the snow starts to fall harder and sooner than expected, school is released a little early so the students can get home.  Of course, a few students and a teacher stay late – grading papers, working on projects, etc.  By the time they decide to leave a few hours later, the snow is so bad, cars are no longer driving on the road and it looks like they’ll be stuck overnight. The next morning they wake up and it’s still snowing and it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop.  They realize that no one is going to be coming for them anytime soon, so they make themselves comfortable – they raid the cafeteria for food and try to make the best of it.  But when day three and four pass and the snow hasn’t stopped, no power and no sign of help coming, things get interesting.

I enjoyed the premise of the book, and I really enjoyed that it was told from a student’s point of view – for the first day or so, they aren’t worried because they’re at the age where they still rely on adults to take care of them.  Once there are no adults to make the decisions, things get a little tricky.  The characters are relatively true to “typical teenagers” – though I must say, they were pretty tame for teenagers.  I liked this book, but it wasn’t really a page turner, and my reliable student reader Anna called it “a little kid-ish”.  It has action, it has suspense, but it’s just a little…vanilla.  Having said that, I liked that it wasn’t over-sensationalized – it’s definitely realistic fiction.

Though it didn’t make my top ten list of greatest books ever written in the history of the world, I would recommend it to some of the readers I have who don’t like fiction because it’s “fake”.  I think those readers who enjoy reading books that are realistic and not dramatized at all would enjoy a book like this.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

A Monster Calls
Patrick Ness
(inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd)
Candlewick Press
2011

First off, let me say that usually, I don’t do scary.  I’m the girl that has night terrors and is truly afraid of things that go bump in the night.  When I do read scary books, I usually only read them during daylight hours, and they usually have a pretty profound effect on me – especially on my ability to sleep.  When A Monster Calls came across my desk, I knew the book would have an effect on me, I just didn’t realize how much of an effect.  And…spoiler alert…it’s actually NOT scary.

A Monster Calls is about Connor, whose father has moved to America and has a whole new family, whose grandmother is hard-working and pretty cold toward him, and whose mother is battling cancer.  Connor has suffered from a terrible nightmare for months – his mother falling off a cliff being consumed by a monster.  When another monster appears at his window one night, he isn’t scared.  This monster has not come for his mother, it’s come for him.  The monster will tell Connor three tales, and then Connor must tell him a tale – the only truth Connor knows.  But Connor isn’t sure he can tell the only truth he knows.

Throughout the book Connor tries to convince himself that the monster is just a dream – I mean really, it’s a talking tree!  But as his mother gets worse, and things at school get worse, the monster continues to visit him, tell him stories and have a profound effect on him.

I don’t want to tell you much about the book, because I think part of the reason it affected me as much as it did is because I didn’t know much about the storyline.  I will say that the book really isn’t about monsters.  It’s about coping with grief and loss.  Patrick Ness has done a superb job of creating a new way of viewing the human condition and what is “unfair” in life.

What I will tell you about the book is that while it was written by Ness, the idea came from another great writer – Siobhan Dowd. She has written several excellent novels which I can’t keep on my shelf, and in 2007 she lost her battle with breast cancer.  Last night as I finished the book, I couldn’t help but think about her and her battle.  Did this idea come from her difficulty in dealing with her mortality?  I also kept thinking about a conversation I recently had with my dear friend Katy– is it easier to deal with loss when it’s sudden or when it is a slow process?  In the end, we realized that loss is difficult regardless of when and how it happens, but the most important part of loss is dealing with it.  I hope I never have to deal with loss similar to Connor’s (I’m hoping beyond all hope that my parents are actually immortal…), I’ve learned a lesson from Connor’s story – speaking the truth is the only way to truly deal with loss.

I would recommend this book to just about anyone – unless they’re looking for a traditional “horror” book.  The illustrations (by Jim Kay) are haunting, but the book really isn’t about monsters in the traditional sense.  This book really is about as close to realistic fiction without actually being realistic fiction as humanly possible.  This book is heart-wrenching, deep and thoughtful.  So if you’re looking for funny, don’t pick this one up.  But if you want a book that will make you think about truth, the human condition and the tough stuff in life, I highly, highly recommend this book.  And yes, I cried (shocker).

Here's an article/review written by Jessica Bruder, a woman who knew Dowd well: It Takes a Monster to Learn How to Grieve

Another great review from Stackedbooks.org

Here's an article written by a 17-old-student here in GJ. Genrefluent's Bistro Book Club - Teens Talk About Books


Here's a link to Siobhan Dowd's website The Siobhan Dowd Trust

Liar by Justine Larbalestier

Liar
Justine Larbalestier
Bloomsbury
2009

Audiobook read by Channie Waites

I got this book because I liked the premise: Micah has been hiding her true identity for years but when her boyfriend is killed, she decides to come clean (to the reader at least) about the fact that she is a werewolf.

Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out as I’d planned.  But I’ll get to that later.

As I said, the book is about Micah – a girl who doesn’t fit in anywhere.  The truth is she’s a werewolf.  Her family on her father’s side are all werewolves, and she inherited the “family illness”.  The book starts off with Micah telling us about all the ways she’s lied in the past – pretending she’s a boy, not telling her parents where she’s going or with whom.  Then her boyfriend (secret boyfriend) turns up missing and since everyone knows she lies all the time, they assume she did or knows something.  When it turns out her boyfriend was mauled by wild dogs, Micah has to figure out who really killed Zach and convince her parents it wasn’t her so they won’t ship her off to live with her crazy, red-neck were-relatives.

As I said, the book ended up being very different from what I imagined.  For one, Larbalestier does an amazing job of weaving lies and truth together.  She does such an amazing job, in the end, you have no idea what is lie and what is the truth.  Truth be told, I think I need to go back and re-read the end of the book because I really don’t know what was true and what was fiction, and I can’t decide whether that is a plus or a minus for the book.

I’m also not sure how I feel about this book because I listened to it on audiobook and, well, I pretty much hated it.  It was read very slowly and the different accents the narrator attempted were forgotten relatively quickly or just plain bad*.  Usually when I don’t like an audio book I quit listening and finish reading the book in print and that often helps.  However in this case, by the time I got the print book, I’d listened to so much of the book, I only had about a chapter and a half left – not enough to be redemptive.

I would recommend this book to high school aged students who are fans of science fiction and romance – anyone who likes secrets, werewolves and “forbidden love”.  It’s definitely a girl book, and the language and violence are a bit much for the average middle school student.  I will not give up on Justine Larbalestier because of this one book though!  Mostly because she’s married to Scott Westerfield (one of my favs), and because the title of her other book – How to Ditch Your Fairy – is just entirely too tempting!

*I say this with all due respect to Ms. Waites.  I couldn’t do her job no matter how hard I tried.  Just ask my friends.  Last year I tried reading a passage from a book aloud to them and it was crapski.

Hereafter by Tara Hudson

Hereafter

Tara Hudson

HarperTeen

2011

Truthfully, I’m about done with teen-angsty books.  And teenage romance?  Ugh.  So when someone recommended Hereafter, I wasn’t terribly excited.  But since the reviews were mixed (book reviews often recommend appropriate ages for books, but they rarely agree) I put the copy at our local library on hold.  And I’ll admit that I didn’t really pay a ton of attention to the description.

I’m glad I didn’t, because I think not knowing what I was getting into when I started the book helped a ton.  The book is told in first person by Amelia, who is a ghost.  She doesn’t remember her life at all, she just remembers her death.  Other than reliving her death as a nightmare, Amelia doesn’t have much of an existence.  Until she sees someone dying in almost the exact same way she did.  As she tries to save him, a connection is made between them, and all of a sudden, someone – the very hunky Joshua she tried to save – can see and hear her.  And the fact that he happens to be attracted to her as well is icing on the cake.  As Amelia and Joshua try to unravel the events of her life and battle Eli – the powerful ghost who seems to have all the answers to Ameila’s past – they find out all kinds of interesting secrets about the town where they live, Joshua’s family, and the bridge where they both almost perished.

I’ll admit that the book is pretty typical in its storyline – boy and girl meet, they can’t be together, they fight of the bad people, blah blah.  What takes Hereafter up a notch is that Hudson keeps the twists coming.  Though I could tell where the book would eventually end up, I truthfully didn’t have the slightest as to how it would get there.  For example (WARNING: slight spoiler alert) I knew from pretty early on that Eli was responsible for Amelia’s death, but when it came down to the how…dang dude, I did NOT see that twist coming (see, slight spoiler alert).

Back to the main reason I read the book, and that is the mixed reviews.  No, the reviews were not mixed about whether or not the book is good, they were mixed as to the age-appropriateness of the book.  In my career as a librarian, I’ve tended to err more on the safe side of things unless a book is extremely well written, or I can name at least 5 low readers who would eat it up.  And though I loved the book, I’m not sure that too many of my low readers would be able to get through it, so I’m not going to buy it for my middle school library.  I think the majority of middle school students could handle it though, despite the alcohol and mild language (which totaled much less than a typical episode of the new 90210).  And yes, anyone who loves a good romance story (ugh) that has some action and intrigue in it would love this book.

Flip by Martyn Bedford

Flip

Martyn Bedford

Wendy Lamb Books

2011

This book was awesome!  It’s the story of Alex who, one morning, wakes up inside Phillip “Flip” Garamond’s body.  He doesn’t know how he got there, but his body is in a coma and he’s not sure if the switch is permanent or if there is a way for him to return to his body.  Living someone else’s life is extremely complicated and as Alex tries to figure out if he should stay Flip or return to Alex he continually gets himself in trouble and can’t seem to keep his emotions or actions in check.  Eventually he meets someone who has had the same experience, which helps, but when he learns that his family (Alex’s) is thinking about removing life support, he is faced with a very difficult choice – figure out a way to return to his own body or spend the rest of his life as Flip.

I really enjoyed this book – it made me think about what makes my life good and what annoys me about life, and that's something I don't think teenagers think about very often.  Alex is asthmatic and clumsy, but Flip is an athlete.  Flip is quite the ladies man, Alex isn't.  So for a few months, Alex has the opportunity to life a life he wouldn't otherwise have.  But is it worth it?  The book attempts examines whether or not the grass is greener on the other side from a teenager's point of view.  Pre-switch, Alex had an OK life - it wasn't perfect and he was kind of a dork.  Once he switches and gets the life that all teenagers think they want, he realizes how much he loves his family and is able to see all the great things his life had to offer. When I think about the students I serve here in comparison to Alex, I wonder if they would have the same reaction.  If life weren't great, would you miss it when it was gone?  As a teacher, we see all kinds of life situations, and I wonder - if psychic evacuation (the term Bradford coins for what happens to Alex) were possible, would everyone really miss their previous lives, or would it be a massive improvement for some people?

I guess I'm just going to be thankful that I love my life enough to not want it to end.

I would definitely recommend this book to just about any middle school student.  The only caveat I have about this book is that it might be difficult for reluctant readers because Bradford English so some of the terminology would be difficult for them.  While this book hasn't made it on to my favorite books of all time list, it was definitely worth the read and I will admit that I stayed up late the other night just to finish it!

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Ransom Riggs
Quirk Publishing
2011

Holy creepy book Batman!  I've admitted to being a wuss before, but I really think this book would give just about anyone the heebie-jeebies.  Having said that, YOU REALLY NEED TO READ THIS BOOK.  Wow.  Wow wow.  It's sooooo good.  And I hate scary things.  But this book had me hook line and sinker from the get go.
So here's the basic storyline.  Jacob has grown up around his very peculiar grandfather, Abe, who always told him stories of children with special gifts - an invisible boy, a levitating girl and a boy who had bees living inside him.  When Jacob was very young he believed his grandfather's tall tales, but as he got older, he realized that there was no way the stories could be true.  When Jacob's grandfather dies mysteriously, Jacob suddenly wants to know more about Abe's odd childhood.  Finally, Jacob convinces his own father to travel with him to the small British Island where Abe grew up in search of some answers.  What he finds are more than answers and will lead him to believe all his grandfather's stories and lead him into great danger.
And that's all I'm going to tell you.
Ok, I lied.  Here's some more.  This book has it all: history, fantasy, science fiction, time travel, creepy crawlies, bullies, bad guys, good guys, bad guys disguised as good guys, oh...and some serious sheep do-do.  But what really makes the book stand out is Riggs' use of antique photographs.  First off, some of the photographs are down right creepy (demonic Santa Clause posed with two innocent children on a reindeer?  Creeptastic).  However all of the photos add to the storyline.  The story starts out with Abe showing Jacob the pictures and telling him the stories, and it comes full circle in the end.
I will admit that I started reading this book one night before bed and promptly had to put it down.  The next day I went through the entire book looking at the pictures in an attempt to un-creepify them.  Then I restricted myself to reading only when it was light outside (though the middle of the book is not so creepy, it's just great writing, so that part I could read before bed).  I also started to freak out about shadows (eeeh...they're ruined for me forever) and, I won't lie, considered sleeping with a lamp or two on one night.  And you can bet your knickers I checked and double checked the locks before going to bed each night.  Which reminds me....

Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

Cryer's Cross
Lisa McMann
narrated by Julia Wehlan

Truthfully, I'm on the fence about this book, and I'm not sure if it's because I listened to the audiobook or because the book is a bit weird.  I'm starting to wonder how my opinion of books is shaped by the audiobook.  I wonder if the audio version doesn't absolutely thrill me from the get-go then I don't like the book in the end as much, or if I think it's boring or moves slowly because the narrator speaks slowly.  But that's another debate.
Cryer's Cross is a remote town in Montana where students are starting to mysteriously disappear.  The book begins with the main character, Kendall, recalling how she felt being a part of the search party for the first missing teen, Tiffany.  Then a few months later when Kendall's boyfriend starts acting weird and disappears as well, her life is thrown into turmoil.  To make matters worse, Kendall is extremely obsessive compulsive, so her brain races all the time - except when she's playing soccer or dancing.
When Nico (Kendall's boyfriend) disappears, the obsessive compulsive in Kendal notices that Nico and Tiffany sat at the same desk, and that the desk had been brought up earlier in the spring when the class got too big.  She convinces herself that it has to be a coincidence and works very hard to distract herself with soccer and dancing so that her constantly racing OCD brain doesn't take over.  But the oddities that keep cropping up make it impossible for Kendall to let go of the possibility that Nico is alive and needs her help, and she must constantly decide whether what's happening is real or whether she's going crazy.
What made this book difficult to finish is that the jacket cover promised a sci-fi thriller type of book (which it is) but the first half of the book is more realistic fiction with really odd teasers at the beginning of each chapter which are, at first confusing and a little intriguing, but then become annoying and confusing until about the last chapter of the book.  The book's saving grace is the ending - very thrilling (read: it scared the pee out of me*).
I don't know who I would recommend this book to, but I have a feeling that it would be pretty popular with teenagers for two reasons.  First, Lisa McMann is a pretty popular YA author (she wrote the crazy popular Wake series).  And second, the plot is sooooo out there - I think kids will like it because they really think if they spend too much time at school they'll go crazy and disappear.

*Author's Note:  I am an absolute wuss.  If something "scares the pee out of me" it could be anything from creepy music in a commercial to someone walking into my office without me seeing them coming. So really...probably not that scary.

XVI by Julia Karr

XVI
Julia Karr
2011

I can honestly say that I don't remember where I first read about this book or who first recommended it to me.  By the time I got around to reading it, it had been recommended so many times, I just grabbed it.  Rarely do I randomly grab books (I am a dedicated patron-initiated-hold-placer, thankyouverymuch) without at least remembering what they are about.  But I remembered the cover and I knew I'd only heard good things, so I went for it.  This is one of the library books I faithfully carted to and from Germany this summer and with weight restrictions the way they are nowdays, I can honestly say this book is worth it's flight weight!  Such a fantastic read and such an interesting storyline.

Nina Oberon is fifteen.  The day she turns sixteen she, like every other girl will receive the "XVI" tatoo on her wrist.  And she'll be legal - as in it will be legal to have sex with her.  Nina lives in a world where sixteen = "sexteen" and girls can't wait to get their tatoos and become legal.  But Nina can wait - she, unlike her best friend Sandy, isn't interested in sex and boys.  She is extremely close to her mother and half sister, and cares more about getting her creative designation so she can study art and make something of her life.  When her mother is murdered, Nina discovers that there is a possibility that her father - who died when she was very young - is still alive, and she finds herself in the middle of an extremely dangerous conspiracy theory.  She doesn't know what is true and what isn't, and she is forced to rely on people she has just recently met to keep herself, her sister and her family's secrets (that she doesn't completely understand yet) safe.

While I would not recommend this book for middle grade students, I would definitely recommend it for high school aged students - male and female alike.  The idea that sex is legal at a particular age, and then sensationalized is really not that far fetched.  Sandy's obsession with turning sixteen and her constant desire to make herself attractive to men/boys is something that, I think, teenagers do without realizing.  By reading a book where those sorts of behaviors can be dangerous in a very real way might help some girls understand the risks they take - even if the dangers in our present society aren't as strikingly obvious and prevalent (at least they aren't in my happy little world).  And on the other side of the gender coin, by reading a book like this, boys might realize that just because a girl dresses a certain way does not make her "fair game" or "available".

But the beauty of Karr's debut novel is not only that it will make students think, it's action packed and well written.  I could not put the sucker down (I know, I know, which books can I put down?).  And though the ending does lend itself to a sequel, a sequel is not necessary (though according to her website, the sequel Truth will be available Jan 2012.  AND according to her website XVI has been translated into German (that makes this former-German-teacher very happy!)

Other reviews of XVI:

Review by another Colorado Librarian, who wasn't necessarily a fan: http://yalibrariantales.blogspot.com/2010/12/review-xvi-by-julia-karr.html

Student review as found on Genrefluent's Bistro Book Club:
http://genrefluentteentalk.blogspot.com/2011/03/xvi-by-julia-karr.html

Blood on My Hands by Todd Strasser

Blood on my Hands
Todd Strasser
2010

Once again, Karol Sacca was right on with a recommendation.  This was a darn good book, and I can totally see why teens would be all over it.  In fact, I can see this book being made into a movie it's so good.  Imagine Mean Girls meets Carrie...kinda.

The book opens with Callie standing over the body of Katherine - top school mean girl - holding the bloody knife.  *Click* people start taking pictures with their cell phones.  "You killed her!" Shouts someone.  The only problem is that Callie didn't actually kill Katherine.  But now that there are pictures and accusations, Callie knows no one will believe her, so she hides.  While she's hiding she tries to figure out who really did kill Katherine and why they would want frame her.  And the ending is totally unexpected!  And you all know how much I hate obvious endings.

What I really liked about this book is that it's actually plausable.  Most books about teens and murder are completely unrealistic (I'm thinking of Blank Confession by Pete Hautman).  That isn't to say that such books are not great reads - it's just rare that you come across one where a teenager is able to hide out for days without getting caught, the mistakes and motives are believeable, and the ending is both shocking and excellent.  Strasser did a great job of making Callie's story believeable, and kept just enough details from the reader so that the ending make sense but isn't obvious.

Not only could I not put the book down, I let out a little yelp this afternoon when, while reading the book, my boyfriend's cell phone went off unexpectedly.  That?  Is the sign of a good book and an engrossed reader.

Might want to check out these reviews as well:

From a student at Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines, IA:
http://youngadultbookreviews.com/2010/11/09/blood-on-my-hands-by-todd-strasser/

A great synopsis from ReadingJunky's Reading Roost:
http://readingjunky.blogspot.com/2010/12/blood-on-my-hands-by-todd-strasser.html